Ash Ketchum: Type Specialist One Shots

Ash was eight when his father left the gym to Brock, his older brother. Their mother had just gone into hospital, severely ill with a sickness Ash didn't really understand, leaving the care of Ash and his nine other siblings solely on Brock's shoulders, on top of being Gym leader so they still had money to feed themselves. Ash was young at the time, but he wasn't stupid, he had always been good at picking up the emotions of people near him. No matter how much Brock smiled, or assured them he was okay, Ash could tell he was overwhelmed. Brock did everything for them, cooked, cleaned, read them all stories before bed. Ash loved and admired his brother, and he promised to help him as much as he could.

Even though Ash was but a child himself, he pushed himself to help Brock as much as he could. On days Brock had to be at the Gym, it was Ash that watched over their siblings, even though he couldn't cook well, he tried his hardest, cleaning and feeding his siblings when Brock couldn't, no matter how often Brock assured him it wasn't his responsibility. And Brock was right, it wasn't Ash's responsibility to look after nine children, but it wasn't Brock's either, it was their father's job. He was the adult, it was his responsibility to look after them, to run the gym and make sure they did well in school, to encourage Brock to become a breeder like he had always wanted. Ash held no ill will towards his mother, she was hospitalized, and always cared for them when they went to visit her, but Flint, Ash was uncertain he would ever forgive his father.

Ash was nine the first time he saw Brock cry. It was late at night and the rest of the kids were fast asleep, Ash had gotten up to ask Brock if they could go to the library the next day so he could pick out some new books on fossils. As Ash was about to open the door to his brother's room, he heard a sob. Peaking through the door, he could see Brock hunched over his desk, hands covering his eyes as he sobbed, a pile of books on Pokemon breeding pushed to the side. Ash had quietly closed the door, and walked quietly back to his room, his own eyes misted over, and chest heavy with headache. Standing alone in his room, Ash pushed aside his fossil books, and made a vow that would later shape the rest of his life. He would win the Pokemon League, become Pewter City's Gym Leader, and finally give Brock the ability to follow his own path. It sounded fantastical, something a child would think up but not be able to actually pull off, but Ash was a special brand of stubborn.

After making that vow, Ash poured over every book on Rock Type Pokemon he could get his hands on, drilling strategy and battle mechanics into his brain until he had them memorized. He would practice with the Gym's Pokemon when he had the time, practicing until battling strategy became second nature to him. Truthfully, he never cared much for battling itself, he liked watching Brock battle, but Ash had always seen his own path go in a different direction, one paved with Pokemon long thought extinct and covered in mineral dust. The idea that there were ancient Pokemon Ash would never get to meet had offended him when he was a young child, and thus he had become enamored with their fossils and archeology as a whole. But some things were more important, Brock set aside his own aspirations to care for them, and Ash was determined to do the same. It wasn't like Ash would never be able to study archeology, Rock Types and fossils went hand in hand, and Forrest had always loved battling, much more than Ash or Brock ever did, so there was a likelihood that the third Harrison son would eventually want to take the position as Gym Leader, it was just a matter of waiting.

Soon, a year of studying passed, and Ash's tenth birthday was upon him, the birthday that would mark the start of Ash's journey, and the official start of his vow.

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Ash grumbled as something warm and wet lapped against his face. Whining, he turned and buried his head onto the book he had fallen asleep on, but the offender didn't stop. Finally, Ash peeked his right eye open, his vision blurry for a few moments until it cleared, allowing him to see a bright pink nose, round brown muzzle, and sky blue eyes. Confused, Ash raised his head, and the Pokemon continued to lick his face until he pulled himself up into a full sitting position. Sitting on his bed was a brown puppy looking Pokemon, with a rocky collar and fluffy white tail. Wrapped gently around the Pokemon's neck was a red bow, and a tag. In an instant, Ash was fully awake, squawking in surprise before tumbling out of bed.

Giggling by his door drew Ash's attention to his ten siblings, who stood in his doorway, Forrest and Yolanda* holding up a simple white frosted cake while Brock held the twins, Billy* and Tilly*, who each held a single balloon. "Happy Birthday Ash!" They all said loudly while Salvadore*, Timmy*, Cindy*, Tommy*, and Suzie* pulled out confetti poppers.

"Ruff!" The dog Pokemon yapped loudly in agreement.

Ash smiled up at his family, and pushed himself up to stand. "Thank you." He rubbed the back of his head shyly, and picked up the Pokemon, who greeted him with more face licks.

"This is Rockruff, he was sent over as a Birthday gift from one of mom's relatives in Alola." Brock explained.

"I love him!" Ash grinned widely at his brother, and snuggled into the puppy's fur, careful to avoid the rocks jutting off from around his neck.

The family soon departed from Ash's room, heading to the kitchen for some breakfast before eating any cake. As they ate, Ash glanced at all his siblings. Admittedly, Ash didn't really look like any of his siblings. Flint's genes were really prominent, with the only signs of their mother coming from their hair, eyes, or skin color, except for Ash. Ash largely took after his mother, save for his tan skin, his hair was somewhat spikey, but mostly smoothe, and he had his mother's larger eyes, smaller nose, and more heart shaped face, though he did haveFlint's dark hair, if a few shades darker making the brown locks almost look black, unless he was in the sun. As he looked around the table, Ash was hit with a sense of loss, he knew for a fact he was going to miss everyone while he was gone, but he had to beat the Indigo League, and he had to become Gym leader.

======

Saying goodbye to his family was difficult, there wasn't a single dry eye by the time Ash finally departed. He couldn't battle Brock, having only a single Pokemon, but he had plans to travel to Mount Moon to train for a while before he started actually trying for Gym Badges. Rockruff was a good Pokemon, and already seemed pretty loyal, but the truth of the matter was that they weren't very close, yet. Training at Mount Moon, on top of trying to catch Pokemon for their team, was also a good way for him and Rockruff to bond, outside of the fact that Ash simply kept Rockruff out of his Pokeball.

Camping in Mount Moon wasn't exactly easy, on top of trying not to scare the wild Clefairy, Cleffa, and Clefable, there was also quite a few territorial Rock Types that they had to deal with, meaning Rockruff got quite the workout battling against the onslaught of attackers. With the mountain, however, came the first addition to their team, an Alolan Golem.

To be fair, Ash actually caught a Kanto Graveler, Graveler was difficult to deal with to say the least. Graveler was rather lazy, and didn't enjoy battle training, nor Ash and Rockruff in general. As hard as it was, Ash was thinking of releasing Graveler, if they didn't like Ash, then it was better for them to be released back into the wild to live happily, rather than Ash forcing them to conform to what he wanted. It was during a trip to the Pokemon Center at the bottom of the mountain that Ash met an old man, and his energetic Graveler.

The man's Graveler looked different from Ash's, they had the same rocky skin, but he also had chunks of gold, and metal wires. The man was having trouble getting down the mountain, so Ash offered to help him down, and they started talking, leading to Ash learning that the man was actually from Alola and had traveled to Kanto for vacation. In comparison to the Ash's Graveler, his was the complete opposite, he loved battle, and the man had trouble making sure he was exercised enough. By the time they made it to the Pokemon Center they had agreed to trade, Graveler really liked the old man. During trading, the two Graveler ended up evolving into Golem, but Golem was just as excited to battle as he had been as a Graveler, and the old man was pleased with the docile Golem he got in return.

After saying goodbye they were back up the mountain to continue training. It was harder to train a fully evolved Pokemon, on top of trying to build a bond with them, but through many nights of camping, fishing, and battling, they became a nice little group. Once Ash thought they were ready, they headed back down to Pewter City, determined to win his first badge by beating his brother.

===

Ash took a deep breath as he stood outside his Brother's Gym. After glancing at Rockruff, who sat primly by his side, for some courage, Ash flung the gym doors open. "I challenge you to a battle!" He said strongly, grinning as the Gym lights flickered on to reveal Brock, standing on his perch. Ash glanced up to the observation deck, biting back a giggle as he saw the spikey hair of his younger siblings, and turned back to his big brother.

"I was wondering when you would come. I accept your challenge!" Brock spoke strongly, his voice barely shaking with pride. "Geodude, come out!" He flung out his Pokeball, revealing a Rock Pokemon with two arms."As you know, the rules of Pewter City Gym is two on two, no substitutions."

"Rockruff, I choose you!" Ash snapped his fingers. Gone was the joyful, wagging wolf pup, as Rcokruff took his place on the field his eyes glared and muzzle pulled back into a nasty snarl. "Since I'm the challenger, it's your right to make the first move!"

Brock smirked, "In that chase, Geodude, start off with Tackle!" Geodude nodded, balling up his arms and hurling itself at the rock puppy.

Ash nor Rockruff seemed deterred, "Catch it and use Rock Throw!" Rockruff rose onto his back paws, bringing them down sharply to catch Geodude, holding on strongly as the rocks around his collar glowed a brilliant white. With a great heave, Rockruff picked Geodude up, throwing him up into the air while he was hit by an onslaught of sharp white stones controlled by Rockruff.

Brock gasped in shock. "No! Geodude!" Brock cried out as Geodude fell to the ground, breathing a sigh of relief when he picked himself up, scuffed up but still going strong. 'I guess I should have known better than to underestimate him. He's come pretty far in such a short time.' Brock mused proudly, before shaking his reminiscent thoughts away. "Alright Defence Curl, and then move into your own Rock Throw!"

"Don't let him move, move in with Bite!" Rockruff snapped his jaws, the sharp puppy teeth oozing with dark type energy as he sprung forward. The sudden movement, coupled with the sharp sting of Rockruff's jaws, caused Geodude to flinch, making him skip Defense Curl, but Geodude still tried for Rock Throw, hurling sharp, close range rocks at the puppy. Rockruff, despite taking damage, refused to let go, biting down harder. "Fight back with a Rock Throw of your own!" Growling, Rockruff dropped Geodude, and leapt back a bit before firing his own Rock Throw attack. As the rocks soared overhead, distracting both Brock and Geodude, Ash smirked. "Tackle!" Rockruff jumped onto the sailing rocks, leaping between stones with practiced ease until he smacked right into Geodude, using his head to tackle the rock to the ground. Geodude tried to push back, but after Rock Throw, Tackle, and Bite, just didn't have the HP, and collapsed onto the rocky terrain.

"Geodude is unable to battle!" Forrest, who had scrambled down to act as Referee, called out, signaling the end of the first match.

"Alright! Good job Rockruff!" Rockruff, panting heavily, let out a joyous howl, but Ash wasn't a fool. Rockruff didn't have much energy left, and Ash knew exactly what his brother's second Pokemon was. Still, he couldn't forfeit for Rockruff, he would never forgive him.

Brock sighed, "Return Geodude. You were great, Ash just knows all our tricks by now." He chuckled warmly, and set Geodude's Pokeball into his pocket while pulling out his second Pokeball. "Alright Onix, your turn!" From his second Pokeball, came out a massive rock snake, who roared as it came onto the field. Onix almost faltered at the sight of Ash, but seeing the determination in his and Rockruff's eyes stopped him. They were trying hard, so he would have to as well. "You have the first turn this time Ash!"

"Rush in with a Bite Attack Rockruff!" Rockruff growled, and rushed forward, leaping onto Onix's tail and running up his body, but Brock was one step ahead.

"Screech Onix, and knock it off you!" Onix opened his mouth, and released a loud, piercing wail towards the wolf pup. Rockruff howled in pain, stopping in his tracks and covering his ears with his paws.Taking the opportunity, Onix shuffled his rocky body, dispelling Rockruff from his back, and using his tail to bat him away. Rockruff tried to push himself up onto his paws, but he was too tired from the previous battle and collapsed.

"Rockruff is unable to battle! The Winner is Onix!" Forrest called out.

"Nice go Rockruff, we just have to work a bit harder." Ash smiled gently as he returned Rockruff, placing his Pokeball gently onto his belt before pulling out Golem's Pokeball. Ash took another calming breath, and turned his hat around so he could see better. "Alright Golem, I choose you!" The Rock-Electric Type took the field, sparking and ready to battle, much to the confusion of Brock, and Onix, who had never seen an Alolan Golem.

They were not deterred for long though, as Brock sent out his first order. "Screech!"

"Defence Curl!" Golem curled in on himself, rising his defense as Onix screeched. "Now use Charge, and Heavy Slam!"

"Use Bide Onix!" Onix flashed a pale white while Golem shone silver, and slammed into him. Onix grunted, taking a bit of damage and storing the rest of the attack energy.

Ash frowned in thought, before his eyes looked up. He eyed the sprinkler system and smirked. "Use Spark!"

"What?" Brock blurted out in confusion, because Onix was part ground type, Spark, an electric type Move, would do nothing.

But Golem didn't hesitate, releasing a strong spark attack at the rock snake. Ash grinned as his plan played out, the electricity traveling through Onix up to the sprinkler system above, attracted to the steel beams in the ceiling. The sprinkler system above snapped, exploding water all over the gym, causing both Onix and Golem to flinch, though Golem less so.

"Alright, let's end this Golem! Thunderbolt!" Golem growled in agreement, and released a large discharge of electricity.

"Onix use Bide!" Onix glowed a soft white once more, but it did little due to the continuous spray of water that weakened Onix's defense. When Thunderbolt struck, Onix cried out in pain, and soon collapsed, no longer able to battle.

Forrest, torn between cheering and being disappointed, called out the end of the battle. "Onix is unable to battle, the winner is Ash!"

Brock sighed heartily, and returned Onix. When he looked back up he couldn't help but smile, watching as Ash celebrated with Golem. He could only feel unbridled pride as he watched him. Brock knew it was just the start of his brother's journey, but there was no doubt in his mind that he would take the Pokemon world by storm. Stepping off his platform, he approached Ash, Boulder Badge clutched in his hand.

"Ash, it is my pride, and honor to present you, as proof of your victory here at Pewter Gym, the Boulder Badge."

Ash gently took the badge, admiring the simple silver eight sided polygon. Though he had seen, held, and polished the same badge multiple times, the one in his hand was different, because it was his, proof of the start of his journey. "Thank you!" Ash beamed up at his older brother, chuckling when the older teen ruffled his head affectionately.

======

Ash stayed in Pewter for a few more days, resting, washing his clothes, and restocking his supplies before he once again set off, heading for Cerulean City, and his next Gym Battle. On his way he met Misty, a Water Type Specialist, and while they mixed as well as Water and Rocks at the beginning, it didn't take long to discover that they were actually kind of similar, both wanting to become Gym Leaders of their respective Gyms, though their reasonings were quite different, with Misty wanting to prove her worth, and Ash wanting to give his brother a break. By the end of the exchange, they actually managed to become pretty good friends, and Misty decided to join him on his journey to Cerulean City. With Cerulean's official Gym Pokemon out of commission, Misty was Ash's opponent. Starting off, Ash was at a type disadvantage, even with Golem's secondary typing being electric, and Misty was really good, if a bit unpolished, but in the end, Ash pulled out a sneaky move, leading to his overall victory, and his second badge. Ash and Misty parted ways in Cerulean, the ginger girl deciding to stay in Cerulean City to train her Pokemon up to snuff so she could become the official Gym Leader in her sisters' absence, while Ash traveled onwards. Through his travels he managed to catch a few more Pokemon, including a very special Onix to send home to Forrest, and a Zubat for Brock, as well as a few other Pokemon for his younger siblings, such as a very stubborn Pikachu. Ash didn't win every battle, he lost a few times, but he was still unwavering in his determination, challenging the Gym's again until he could beat them.

A lot of Ash's work outside of battle resulted in training and exploring, taking every opportunity to explore a few small caves or gulches. When he heard of Grampa Canyon allowing trainers to search for Pokemon Fossils, Ash was on an air taxi, and flying to the canyon before Rockruff could so much as yip. Ash was in heaven as he and Rockruff searched the canyon for fossils, rejoicing when they came upon a simple grey fossil that looked as if a sail was carved into the thick stone, and an odd white, red, and blue Pokemon egg. After taking copious amounts of pictures to later study, Ash placed the fossil, and egg into his backpack and headed back up. When he came up, he was immediately scooped up by an Aerodactyl, an ancient Pokemon that had been woken up by the drilling caused by the many trainers in search of fossil Pokemon. Rockruff was just barely able to bite into Ash's jeans to try and save him, but the pup weighed nothing to Aerodactyl, nor could he battle when it was all Rockruff could do to keep his jaws clamped on Ash's jeans so he wouldn't fall, so getting down was up to Ash.

First, Ash had to ground the Aerodactyl, so he had Golem use Thunderbolt, crying out as the electricity struck not just the partial Flying Type, but also Ash, who only just caught Rockruff before he could fall. After crash landing, Ash had Rockruff use Rock Throw, pelting the grounded Aerodactyl. The Aerodactyl wasn't giving up however, fighting back ferociously, and Ash didn't think it would give up unless it was caught, or heavily injured, so after having Rockruff deliver a nasty Bite, Ash threw a Pokeball, watching anxiously as they ball fluttered back and forth until eventually stopping, meaning Ash caught Aerodactyl.

The organizers of the event, who were meant to keep all the trainers safe, felt guilty that Ash had gotten scooped up by Aerodactyl, and even though that encounter led to him catching the Pokemon because of it, they offered to hook Ash up with a scientist on Cinnabar Island who could reanimate his Fossil for him, not one to look a gift Ponyta in the mouth, Ash accepted, and traveled to the nearby Cinnabar Island, meeting and welcoming to the team Amaura, the Tundra Pokemon. As for the egg, Ash sent it home to Brock. Training Amaua up and dealing with Aerodactyl's issues, and searching for more Pokemon, on top of Rockruff becoming increasingly more brutal during battle for some reason, took up a lot of Ash's time, and he couldn't take care of an egg.

The Indigo League was coming closer and closer it seemed, and Ash still needed three badges, and a full team, so he dedicated his time searching for more Pokemon when he wasn't training or sleeping. Amaura was doing well, though getting used to warm weather was a bit of a pain for her, Ash took to carrying ice packs around for her until she could regulate her own body temperature. Aerodactyl was slowly calming down, and after a few days of gentleness he snapped out of his rage and adjusted easily to Ash, he also made traveling a lot easier, Rockruff was a bit more of a concern. He was listening during battle, but he was considerably more brutal, refusing to back down when Ash tried to recall him. Outside battle he was fine, but inside battle, not so much.

Rockruff's sudden aggression made a lot more sense about a month later. They were traveling through a cave, they were searching for new members for their team, until the sun hung low in the sky. They were headed back out of the cave when they came across a Shieldon growling at the mouth of the cave. It was a bit of a surprise, Shieldon were known for being in Sinnoh, but Rock Pokemon more or less popped up everywhere so long as the environment had the appropriate materials for them to feed on, so it wasn't that surprising. Rockruff attacked before Ash could give a proper order, attacking almost ferally until Ash threw a Pokeball, more to save Shieldon than to really catch it. Rockruff snuffled at him, a bit disgruntled until his dusty brown pelt started to glow. The sudden aggression made a little more sense, too much energy in Pokemon could make them act out, especially evolution energy. Distantly, Ash wondered what evolution he would get, Midday or Midnight, given the sun was neither up nor down Ash really wasn't certain. However, instead of getting a grey furred quadruped, or crimson pelted biped, the Lycanroc before him sprouted wild ginger orange fur, standing easily on four legs as his bushy white tail wagged, reflecting the dusk light as he raised his head and let out a mighty howl. Ash greeted his evolved partner with blind enthusiasm, tackling the wolf and rolling around with him in the dirt with shared excitement. Later, after getting all his Pokemon seen too, Ash welcomed Shieldon onto their team, smoothing over any animosity between Sheildon and Lycanroc while he helped the four legged shield dinosaur polish the steel on his face.

The final addition to Ash's team before the indigo league came in the form of a small muted green egg Ash found while journeying through the Safari Zone. He hadn't intended on keeping Larvitar, having recognised them as a protected Pokemon, but after trying to return them to the reserve, Larvitar wouldn't let go of Ash's pants leg. The reserve ended up having to give Ash a pass, allowing him to take Larvitar, because once a Pokemon has made a decision on who they want their trainer to be, forget it.

With a full team, Ash made quick work of his last few gym battles, working hard to get his last needed badges. Admittedly, getting the Earth Badge was more of a headache than a challenge, Team Rocket, even with the help of Gym Leader Pokemon, were pretty easy to defeat, and the back and forth was more annoying than it was witty, but Ash won in the end so he couldn't really complain.(No, he was definitely going to complain. How does the Pokemon League not realize they are funding an illegal organization that borders on terrorisim? Team Rocket is not that sneaky, in fact they're quite blatant!)

Anyway, annoyances aside, with his final badge in place, Ash headed back to Mount Silver to train until the Indigo League. Mount Silver seemed like an odd choice, given the ice and snow, but since Rock Types were weak to Ice, Ash felt it was a good way to work on endurance, as well as make it easier to train Amaura, so they didn't have to worry about keeping her temperature. It was too dangerous to train at the top of the mountain, but there was a nice snowy clearing about a fourth of the way down, still a bit far from the Pokemon Center, but close enough that they wouldn't be in serious danger if there was an accident. He knew he probably should have gone home to visit, but Ash needed as much time to train as he could get leading up to the League. Looking at his team of Pokemon, Ash had a nice range of Pokemon, even if they were dual typed with rock, Ash also had Electric, Ice, Steel, Flying, and eventually Dark once Larvitar fully evolved. Ash doubted he could raise Larvitar, who was still more or less a baby, into a Peupitar, much less a full Tyranitar in only two months, but Amaura could easily be trained up into an Aurorus, the evolution would allow her to control her own body temperature, which was definitely needed at the league, and Aurorus gave them a much needed boost, Sheildon was also about ready to evolve into Bastiodon with a little more work and time, though Ash wasn't sure if two months was enough for him either, maybe three or four, but they would figure it out eventually.

Two months went by a lot faster than Ash had anticipated, and like he had guessed Auorus was able to evolve, but Sheildon, while close, just wasn't quite ready to evolve yet. Regardless, Ash headed to Indigo Plateau, Lycanroc matching each step as they were both ready to face their greatest challenge yet.

The Indigo League was nothing to sneeze at. Leagues in general were at a different level, as each trainer participating beat all eight required gyms, proving their worth, and they all wanted to win. Looking around, Ash noticed that there weren't many people around his age actually competing. That wasn't a huge surprise, while 10 year olds could compete, and often did, they were beginning trainers, and a lot of the time they didn't make it far, with only about 5-8 beginning trainers actually being good enough to compete. There were a lot more older trainers, some older adults, a lot more teenagers(ranging 13-19), and about 6 children(ranging 10-12). On average, beginning trainers didn't often make it past the first few rounds, a lot of the time they just didn't have the experience nor the maturity to make it far, sometimes you'd have the odd upstart that made it into the Top 20 or so, but those were rare and far between. And Ash, well Ash was planning to go for the top. Technically he didn't have to win to prove he was ready to take of the gym, he really just had to make it into the Top 15, but Ash wasn't one to not try his very best, if he was competing, he was aiming for the top spot.

Ash had been elated when he saw his siblings in the crowd, all holding up signs with his name drawn on. To his joyous surprise, his mother also sat beside them. She was still very pale, her hair had a few more strands of white than he remembered her having, and she was thin, still looking a bit sickly, but she had a bit more color in her cheeks, looked fuller, and overall looked a lot healthier than the last time he had seen her. Sitting with them was Misty, who yelled that he had better win or she'd never forgive him. Seeing his friend and family rooting for him, made warmth spread through Ash's body, fueling the determination he felt in his gut like a roaring inferno. He was going to win the whole league, for himself, but also for them.

As expected, the battles were rough, a constant back and forth, with some easy wins, some harder wins. Ash never lost focus of his goal, fighting tooth and nail as he thought up strategy after strategy, counter after counter. At some point, Sheildon evolved into Bastiodon, just in time to up his defenses against a rambunctious trainer's Pikachu. Auorus battled beautifully, freezing one trainer's Blastoise in place with a powerful Freeze Dry before finishing it off with a Thunder Wave. Aerodactyl shined his best in the air, outflying one trainer's vicious Charizard, while also felting him with Stone Edge. Battling with Larvitar was a bit different due to their age, Ash had to rely on stealth when battling with the young Pokemon, masking them with Sandstorm against a Marowak, and defending with Rock Slide and Crunch. Golem was especially fun to battle with, since Golem was native to Kanto, Ash's Golem tended to lead many trainers into a false sense of security, only to be completely thrown off guard when they hit them with a Spark or Thunderbolt. And Lycanroc really shined during Ash's toughest battle.

The battle wasn't tough because the trainer was really good, or because they had especially strong Pokemon, but because of the emotions that the trainer welled up in Ash. All in all, Ash had never wanted to see his 'father' again, but across the platform stood Flint. The man looked just as surprised as Ash did, before he bowed his head in shame. Rage, an emotion Ash truthfully did try not to feel, welled up in him, and the battle was brutal because of it. Lycanroc and Ash were close, Lycanroc was Ash's first Pokemon, they had been through their entire journey together, Lycanroc in general were loyal and intune with their trainers, but with a trainer like Ash, who was also especially intune with his Pokemon, it bled into something more. Lycanroc fought with near feral ferocity, slashing and clawing his opponent Pokemon, acting on every whisper Ash ordered without so much as a second thought. It was a spectacle to see, as its not something many trainers can accomplish, at least not at such a young age. To be fair, Flint had something of his own to prove, and while he was ashamed by his own actions, and insanely proud of his son, he wasn't going to cower away, and met his son's attacks with his own. But, no matter how much he fought back, Ash always had a follow up, rather that be an Accelerock to Onix's face, or a particularly harsh Counter attack that disoriented Flint's Rhydon. In the end, Ash won the match, and despite the amount of Pride Flint felt for his son, he couldn't help also feeling self deprecating, because he gave up his family to pursue his own journey, and in the end his own son defeated him. Flint hoped it wasn't too late, and that maybe he could reach out to them.

After defeating his father, Ash battled with a lot less ferocity. He and his Pokemon still fought their hardest, but it was like a weight had been lifted off of them, like something that not even they had realized had been holding them back, but it was now gone. There were still multiple close calls, when Ash almost lost a match, but in the end he somehow always won in the end, and he somehow made it into the finals.

The crowd was going crazy. Never had such a young trainer made it to the finals, maybe once a trainer had made it into the quarterfinals, but never the actual finals. The crowd was divided, between thinking the older man was going to win, or the young upstart that had taken the league by storm. Goodshow was particularly happy, as the crowd was more wound up than usual, he secretly hoped Ash would win, if for nothing more than to encourage more Pokemon trainers to try the Kanto Gym Challenge.

The final battle was harsh. Neither side wanted to waver, and the entire battle seemed to go back and forth like a tennis match until each trainer only had one Pokemon left. Ash's throat was sore from yelling, sweat dripped off his brows, and his chest heaved, the other trainer, an older man with spiky black hair, dressed head to toe in red, was no better. On one side, Aerodactyl flapped his leather wings tiredly, a bit worse for wear, while on the other, a Charizard breathed heavily, posture stiff as he waited for a command. Both Pokemon, oddly, started flickering, looking different for a reason neither trainer understood. Charizard's skin had darkened significantly, like it was seconds away from turning a charred black, while Aerodactyl seemed bigger, with what looked like stoney spikes trying to burst from his skin. Neither trainer really understood what was happening to their Pokemon, but they also felt closer to them for some reason. Ash took a deep breath, and his opponent straightened his shoulders. These would be the last moves, the final moves that decided the victor of the Indigo league, and the audience held their breaths.

"Aerodactyl-" "Charizard-" "Hyper Beam!" "Dragon Rage!"

BOOM

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====== Four Years Later :3 ======

Ash lazily pet Lycanroc as he looked over some documents, the now 15 year old needing to revamp the budget to add some safety features. After taking over the gym at 11, and forcing his brother to do something for himself for once, Ash had fallen fitfully into the Gym Leader Position.

Adjusting to being back home was difficult, but with his mother newly out of the hospital, Brock had stayed around to help look after the kids, at least until their mother felt well enough to take over. Once she was well, she too forced Brock out of the house and onto a journey of his own, and the man had been on a journey ever since, coming home every six months or so to update them. A major change was that Flint also came back, Ash wanted him nowhere near the gym, but for the sake of his siblings Ash and his mother allowed the man to visit and spend time with the kids. Ash seemed like the only one against Flint coming back, even Brock caved, but Ash couldn't. He wasn't rude to the man, nor did he talk badly about him around his siblings, but Flint understood where he stood with Ash, and didn't push him further than simply asking how he was. As it was, even after four years Ash and his father's relationship is more like that of coworkers than that of father and son, but it works for them, somehow. Forrest took off on his own journey at 10, traveling around Kanto and competing in the Indigo League, reaching into the top 16, much to everyone's pride and joy, after Kanto he went to Johto, and now at age 13, Hoenn.

All in all, Ash liked being Gym Leader well enough, he'd much rather be out and about adventuring in caves and what not, but he was comfortable as Gym Leader, and didn't mind settling for the position. Whenever he got pictures of Brock at medical school, he couldn't help but feel more certain in his decision. Speaking of:

"Brock's coming to visit soon Buddy." Ash mused, getting a wet lick to the face from the massive wolf. Like with most things, Ash took after his mother in the height department, so it was easy for the wolf Pokemon to jump up and lick him like he did when he was a Rockruff. Coughing, Ash affectionately shoved the Pokemon away. He reread the letter Brock sent, informing him of his visit.

"You know I sent that letter two weeks ago, right?" Ash jumped at his brother's voice, and whipped around, a wide smile growing on his face when he did, indeed, see Brock standing in the doorway, a Togekiss by his side.

"Brock!" Ash grinned wildly and ran to his brother, jumping into his arms. Brock laughed heartily, spinning Ash around in his arms like he did when they were younger. The hug was sturdy on both ends, showing how much bigger and stronger both boys had gotten since they last saw each other. "How long are you staying this time?" Ash asked hurriedly, not wanting to let go just yet.

Brock laughed and heaved the teenager up with great effort, short as he was Ash had a lot of muscle from working with Rock Types and he was heavy. "Actually~" Brock sing songed, pulling Ash over to the chairs he had at his desk, "I'll be moving back to Pewter for quite a while."

"Really?" Ash finally let go so he could plop down into his seat behind the desk, Lycanroc coming over to rest his head in his lap.

Brock shot Ash a smug look. "Guess who's doing their residency in Pewter City Pokemon Center?"

"No way!" Ash screeched joyously, falling into a small babbling fit. "Thats awesome! We all miss you so much, have you told mom yet? She's going to be so happy!"

The older man sighed fondly. "Yes she knows, I told her when I stopped by the house. You would know that if you checked your mail more often." He scolded lightly, and Ash whistled innocently. "In other news, I brought you a little something." Brock pulled out a flier, and easily passed it to Ash.

"A paper, cool." Ash said cheekily, before unfolding the flier. Ash felt his mouth go dry. The flier was for trainers to go to Sinnoh and work under the Pyramid King, Brandon, as he went on an archeology expedition. The date was set to six months in the future, and the expedition would last for eight months to a year and a half depending on what they found. With the paper came an application form.

Ash glanced anxiously up at his brother, and Brock smiled sadly at him. "I'm not stupid Ash, the whole family knows you love fossils, and archaeology, and that you hate it here."

"I don't hate it here!" Ash protested.

"Maybe not, but you're not happy." Brock relented gently. "I'm going to be here for my residency, mom is out of the hospital, and dad's sticking around, you don't have to do everything on your own anymore." Brock sighed sadly and ruffled Ash's hair before cupping his face so Ash would look at him. "I'm sorry I never realized what you were doing sooner, you deserve to be just as happy as the rest of us."

Warm tears bubbled up in Ash's eyes. "I tried really hard." He murmured as Brock brought him back in for another bone crushing hug.

"I know, but you don't have to anymore." Brock said softly while Ash cried years of repressed stress and anxiety into his shoulder.

After he was done crying, Brock would help him fill out the application, and in six months time Ash would be pursuing his own dreams, but for the time being he sat in his brother's arms, letting himself be comforted for the first time in a long time.