Interestingly, as Misty approached me, I noticed something off about her. She was carrying a pokemon in her arms, or rather arm since she was waving to me with the other.

And it wasn't Togepi.

It was an Oddish.

"Haven't seen you in a while," Misty grinned as she stopped in front of me, "How've you been?" she asked.

"Better than you," I grinned back as I looked her over. She was dirty as all hell, scuff and mud marks over her clothing and bare skin, "Had it rough on the way here?"

She scowled and glared over her shoulder at my words, "Yeah, somebody thought it was fine not to ask anyone for directions." she replied, pointedly looking at Ash as he and Brock approached.

"It's not my fault Brock can't read a map." Ash shrugged.

"Hey, you weren't any better either," Brock shot back, before nodding at me, "Hey Jord, You and Fearow are looking good."

"He's right, have you gotten taller?" Misty nodded in agreement looking me over, "And you're a lot broader now as well, how'd that happen?" she noted appreciatively.

"I train every day with my pokemon," I shrugged, placing my hand on Fearow's long neck and patting it fondly, "Gotta be tough to keep up with these….guys." I trailed off when I noticed Fearow wasn't leaning in to my touch.

In fact, the large bird pokemon was ramrod straight and staring, or rather glaring bloody murder at the small yellow mouse pokemon on Ash's shoulder, and at Ash himself.

And Ash seemed to notice as well, "Hey Jord…is something wrong with your Fearow?" he asked hesitantly.

Oh yeah…

"Yeah…he really doesn't like you and your Pikachu," I winced and explained, "You kinda smacked him on the head with a rock."

Ash's eyes widened, "Ah, that Spearow!" he said in realisation, before rubbing the back of his hat wearing head and giving Fearow a sheepish smile, "I'm really sorry about that Fearow, can you forgive me? I was a big idiot." he actually didn't hesitate to apologise

"Pika pika, pi Pikapi!" Pikachu added and gestured from Ash's shoulder towards my pokemon.

In response though-

"Row!" Fearow reared up on his feet and spread his wings wide and challengingly at them both.

Despite his massive wing span, I didn't feel threatened even standing right next to him.

The other three on the other hand.

They all quickly leapt back out of the way, getting some distance. Quick reactions on their part. As expected really, since both Brock and Misty were technically Gym Leaders and Ash was well…Ash Ketchum.

"I don't think Fearow accepted the apology." Brock grimaced.

I tightened my grip on Fearow's neck a bit, not squeezing, but making sure he felt my hand, "Calm down," I ordered and the huge bird whipped around to glare at me, the first sign of disobedience he'd given me since that very first day. I glared back, "Don't look at me like that, you aren't mad about the rock, it was your pride that got hurt because Pikachu beat you back then even with your huge flock backing you up."

"Row!" Fearow barked at me, angrily.

He wasn't happy about me bringing up that loss. And I don't entirely blame him. It was one thing to lose to Pidgeot one on one, and even two on one, but a thousand to one?

That was just plain embarrassing.

If one guy kicked my ass alongside a thousand others that I was ganging up on him with, I'd be embarrassed too.

"Suck it up and stop being a pansy," I barked right back, staring him right in the eyes, "I don't train pansies. There's a world of difference between the you of back then and the you now."

We glared at each other for a few seconds and I could practically see the electricity sparking between us, before finally, Fearow reluctantly looked away.

I sighed, reaching over and placing my hand on his neck once more, squeezing gently and fondly. Pidgeot wasn't my only pokemon that had some of my same traits, "Don't worry, I'd be no better in your place," I assured him, before looking over at the three, specifically at Ash, "How about you get your own back now, taking Pikachu on one on one?"

"Row row Fea?" Fearow perked up at my words, eyes shining now with glee at the thought.

I grinned and nodded, before looking over at Ash, "You up for a battle? Fearow won't be happy with you and Pikachu until he gets a chance to prove himself." I asked.

Ash blinked, "Is that all?" he asked, then grinned widely when I nodded, "Heck yeah, fine with us, right buddy?" he thumbed his nose and asked Pikachu.

"Pika!" Pikachu grinned as well, looking over at Fearow, cheeks sparking. Fearow's beak somehow split into a malicious grin.

"Oh c'mon, it's always a battle with you," Misty groaned, "You battled like at least five trainers a day on the way here, I'm dirty as all hell and need a bath and to clean my clothes, and you want to battle?"

"Go ahead if you want," Ash shrugged, "No way me and my pokemon will back down from a battle though. Especially from Jord! I've wanted to take him on ever since Brock told me how he beat him."

"Lighten up Misty, it won't take that long," Brock assured her, "Besides, I'm curious to see how strong Fearow has gotten since facing my Onix, Fearow was just newly evolved then after all and had only been with Jord like a week."

"…Fine…" Misty grudgingly agreed.

With Misty's agreement, I led the three out to the back of the pokemon centre were there was a battlefield free to use.

I took up space at one side of the battlefield while Ash took the other, both Brock and Misty at the side.

"So how do you wanna do this?" I called over, while Fearow settled in front of me, ready and waiting, "Wanna stick to just a one on one or anything more?" I wanted to get moving already, but at the same time, this was a good chance to see how Ash was improving.

If I'm going to leave the world ending events to him, I've gotta make sure he can handle them after all.

"How about a standard two on two?" Ash shouted back, Pikachu leaping off of his shoulder to land on the battlefield at the ready, facing off against Fearow, "Course Pikachu and Fearow will fight first, but I want to show off some of my other pokemon to you as well!"

"Fine with me!" I agreed, seeing one of his other pokemon besides Pikachu should give me a good basis to go from and get me out of here quicker as well.

"Alright, then I'll referee," Brock took it upon himself, "This will be a two on two battle between Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and Jord Odhar of Viridian City, begin!"

Ash acted instantly, "Pikachu thunderbolt!" he shouted.

"Pika!" the small yellow rodent nodded, cheeks sparking and an instant later, a huge aura of electricity forming around his body and firing off in a massive bolt through the air towards Fearow.

My eyes widened, 'Holy shit.' I almost gaped, the power behind it was near comparable to Surge's Electivire!

"Ground it!" I countered.

"Row!" Fearow instantly obeyed, his wings glowed with bright silver metallic energy and he thrust both huge feathery appendages down into the ground below him, sheathing them deep within the earth just as the Thunderbolt landed.

"Woo direct hi….t?" Ash wooped, before trailing off as he noticed something odd.

Fearow didn't even make a sound as the electricity arced over his entire body. After all, it was all being directed into his steel energy enhanced wings and harmlessly into the ground.

"What…?" Ash gaped at Fearow.

I grinned, "Throw some rocks at them." I ordered next.

Fearow nodded, before jerking his wings, hard.

With the leverage he had, the ground cracked and split apart, and a second later, two large boulders torn from the ground were tossed through the air towards Pikachu.

Who said Fearow couldn't learn Rock Throw?

"Quick Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Ash hastily commanded.

"Follow it with Razor Wind." I ordered at the same time.

Pikachu was completely dwarfed in size by the two huge rocks Fearow ripped from the ground and lobbed at it.

Despite that though, it didn't stop the electric rodent from shooting into the air and cleaving straight through them like a hot knife through butter with a metallic silver glowing tail.

A bad move though, because at the same time, Fearow began to beat his wings rapidly, unleashing a heavy barrage of compressed wind blades from his wings in the dozens.

"Block it!" Ash shouted quickly.

To Pikachu's credit, the mouse rotated rapidly mid-air and using his tail, rapidly cleaved through a few of them, but, he couldn't move well in the air and was quickly overwhelmed.

Dozens of wind blades slashed into Pikachu, tearing the mouse from the air with a cry of pain and slamming him into the ground hard.

"Pikachu, are you okay?" Ash cried, worried.

Pikachu trembled on the ground.

"Lunge in with Peck and hit it with Toxic." I quickly ordered Fearow, giving no mercy.

I knew this wouldn't put that Pikachu down.

"FEAROW!" Fearow shrieked and took off through the air, charging towards Pikachu, shooting over like a bullet, massive beak igniting with power.

"Pikachu! Quick Attack and Double Kick!" Ash ordered the yellow mouse as it struggled to its feet slowly.

Showing grit that just shouldn't be possible for a freaking Pikachu, the yellow mouse recovered and white light exploded from his body throwing him towards Fearow, he flipped around, both little feet glowing.

Foot met beak, and surprisingly, despite the sheer size difference, Pikachu held his own, a small shock wave erupting from the clash of attacks.

Pikachu was quickly being overpowered though, and cried out in pain a moment later as Fearow's beak changed from glowing white, to an ominous dark purple that seeped into Pikachu's body.

Unable to hold on, Pikachu was sent flying back and that was my chance, I punched forward, "Hyper Beam!"

Fearow opened his beak, an orb of glimmering black energy swirling and compressing into existence.

And then Fearow launched his head forward and unleashed his attack, a huge black beam of energy launching through the air and slamming into the mid-air, immobile and stunned Pikachu and washing over its body.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted in worry.

Fearow released the attack a moment later, and a heavily bruised and beaten Pikachu fell to the ground, limp and unconscious.

Ash wasted no time in rushing over and picking him up.

"Pikachu is unable to battle!" Brock declared, "Jord and Fearow win, Ash, send out your next pokemon!"

Ash made his way back to his position, Pikachu in his arms and laid the little guy down gently, "Good job Pikachu," he praised the electric type before turning to me, "Fearow is really strong, huh?" he mused.

I grinned, "Definitely, he's worked incredibly hard since I caught him." I replied.

Fearow spread his wings wide at my praise and crowed to the sky in victory, "FEAROOOOOW!"

He had avenged his loss to Pikachu before.

"I can see it, but don't think for a second this is over," Ash smirked at me, and I blinked as he suddenly reached up and turned his cap around, "This battle has just begun actually!" he reached down, grabbing a pokeball from his belt and enlarged it.

"Scizor, I choose you!" Ash shouted, unleashing the pokemon within.

My eyes widened in shock as a legitimate gleaming metallic crimson red Scizor appeared in front of him, quickly falling into a crouched and ready stance.

I knew he had a Scyther after what Misty told me…but he'd evolved it already!? Not only that, but comparing Pikachu to what he was like before in the original was like night and day, Pikachu refused to battle half the time at this point and here he actually put up a fight against Fearow!

Interesting, very interesting. This was a whole new Ash Ketchum, there wasn't a single variation of Ash I'd ever seen in any of the canon sources that had a Scizor.

And honestly, Scizor was probably one of the best suited pokemon to Ash. He was always best with fast pokemon, especially ones that could take a hit and keep on trucking.

Scizor was practically geared towards Ash actually now that I think about it.

"Fearow versus Scizor, begin!" Brock declared.

"Quick Attack and then Metal Claw!" Ash wasted no time in getting right down to business.

Like before with Pikachu, white light erupted from Scizor's wings and the bug and steel type zipped through the air, a blur to the eyes.

…And was faster than Pikachu!

"Protect!" I instantly countered.

A green spherical barrier erupted around Fearow, and none to soon as Scizor, red claws glowing metallic silver smashed into the barrier a split moment later.

Not as fast as Pidgeot, but…faster than anything else I had currently. What the fuck?

And that wasn't all…

Fearow's Protect wavered beneath the pair of heavy speed enhanced Metal Claw attacks.

Insane, so not only was it incredibly fast, it was incredibly strong as well!

Scizor reared back and slammed another set of Metal Claw's into the Protect, once again, the barrier wavered massively.

'It can't take another hit like that.' I quickly noted. Another pair of attacks, maybe two more at most and Protect would go down.

This didn't make sense.

Not unless….

'Technician!' my eyes widened.

Its ability had to be Technician!

Let me say one thing here, Technician is a bullshit ability. I only know how it works exactly because my Persian has it. and I looked it up when checking out his moves.

Technician basically massively amplified the power of all attacks used by a pokemon. Not just weak ones like in the games, all of them, and that included their secondary effects. Electric type attacks were more prone to paralyzing, fire type attacks more prone to burning, and Quick Attack for instance…would boost the speed to even greater degrees than normal!

"Scizor, give him a taste of your own Hyper Beam!" Ash altered his command to Scizor.

What, Ash has a pokemon with Hyper Beam as well already!?

A grin spread across Scizor's metallic red face and the bug and steel type opened up his claws, twin spheres of dark energy swirling and compressing into existence into them.

Twin Hyper Beams at that!

Which would be amplified by Technician!

Oh shit…

Facing down the powerful twin Hyper Beam attack about to be unleashed upon Fearow's barrier, there was really only one option for me here.

If he just took the attack, it would blow right through his Protect barrier and shatter it like glass after all!

"Astonish!" I roared.

And Fearow copied me.

The huge flying type dropped his barrier at the same time his beak spread wide open, "ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

A red energy sound wave erupted from his beak and slammed into and over Scizor at point blank range just before it could unleash its Hyper Beams.

Scizor noticeably grimaced and flinched back.

And at the same time, lost control over the twin spheres of dark energy compressing between its claws.

They both exploded.

Powerfully.

Both Fearow and Scizor were caught up in the attack and carried away in opposite directions.

Each skipping hard across the ground like stones skipping across the surface of a serene lake.

I winced at the loud thumps that echoed each time Fearow's body smashed into the ground, leaving small craters behind with each one.

Thankfully, Fearow was made of tougher stuff than your standard pokemon. He did go through the grind with me after all.

After the fourth ground shaking bounce across the battle field, Fearow's wings glowed metallic silver and he lashed out, stabbing his wings into the ground and stopping himself from going any further.

Fearow thankfully, was a little bit more away from the attack than Scizor and had the time to guard with his wings to blunt the damage.

His body was scuffed up, but he hadn't taken too much damage.

I wish I could say the opposite about Scizor.

But…

When the dust cloud that erupted from the explosion died down to show the other side, it was just in time for me to see Scizor's entire body glowing metallic silver.

'Iron Defence.' I grimaced.

So Quick Attack, Metal Claw, Hyper Beam and Iron Defence. That was quite the powerful move set, especially with Technician.

"Heh, it'll take more than that to bring Scizor down!" Ash called over, a proud grin on his face, "He's my strongest pokemon!" he happily boasted.

"I can see that." I snorted.

I'm honestly still flabbergasted a bit that Ash already has a fully evolved pokemon that isn't a basic fast evolving bug type!

Well whatever, this time I'm taking the fight to him.

"Go for it with Peck!" I ordered my pokemon.

Fearow obeyed, zipping through the air towards Scizor at a blurring speed, beak glowing with power.

"Meet them head on, Quick Attack and Metal Claw again!" Ash repeated his beginning combo.

Once again, light erupted from Scizor and its claws glowed metallic silver and it rocketed forward to meet Fearow.

"Double Team!" I quickly called an instant before they collided, knowing Scizor would win in a straight up physical clash thanks to both its metallic body and Technician.

Fearow shimmered and Scizor tore right through him, literally.

The now copy of Fearow disappeared, while dozens of Fearow surrounded Scizor on all sides, beaks still glowing and as one converged on the dual steel and bug type.

To its credit, Scizor acted incredibly fast, rapidly rotating into a blurring spin and lashing out with his glowing claws.

He tore straight through every single Fearow that converged on him.

"Scizor?" it stopped in place, looking confused.

And then the real Fearow came down from above, driving his Peck attack straight into the top of Scizor's cranium. and slamming it into the ground hard enough to crater it.

Pinning Scizor beneath him in the ground, Fearow didn't let up for even a second and began unleashing a barrage of lightning fast peck attacks on the stunned pokemon.

"Scizor, Iron Defence, tough it out!" Ash countered quickly.

Again to its credit, Scizor despite taking easily a dozen Peck's from Fearow, obeyed, body igniting into a metallic silver.

Not that it stopped Fearow, my bird continued to stab his back against Scizors armour over and over and over, head moving so fast I could barely follow it.

Iron Defence would massively blunt the damage Scizor took, but it wouldn't make it null and void, and Fearow had the bug and steel type pinned beneath him, with no leverage to throw him off.

It would come down to a battle of attrition at this rate.

Not.

Screw that.

"Hyper Beam and jump!" I switched tactics a second later.

If Scizor was Ash's strongest, I expect it'll hold on no matter how many Peck's it gets hit by and find a way to counter somehow.

That was the kind of thing expected of an Ash ace.

Best nip that in the bud.

As Fearow's head came up from another Peck to prepare to stab down again, he instead opened his beak, black energy swirling and compressing into a familiar sphere of power.

And then he beat his wings and jumped up, lunging down with his beak at the same time and unleashing a huge black beam of power a split moment later straight down into the prone Scizor.

Scizor pushed up out of the crater almost immediately, but wasn't quick enough to dodge the huge beam of energy as it slammed into it and dragged it back into the ground.

When the beam died down, it was to reveal Scizor laying prone in a now much larger crater, body a gleaming and beaten crimson red once again, its Iron Defence had faded in the face of Fearow's Hyper Beam.

And gliding in the air, Fearow panted raggedly, utterly exhausted. And I don't blame him.

To my astonishment though-

The rocks and debris that covered Scizor was pushed aside and the dual bug and steel type pushed itself back up despite the massive damage it had taken.

"Scizor!" it pointed one claw up at Fearow and challenged my pokemon.

"That's the way Scizor, yeah!" Ash pumped his fist into the air and roared his encouragement.

And for a moment, just a split moment, my vision seemed to flicker and change and I swear I could see Ash with a raging blue inferno burning over his body like an aura of power.

But it was gone a second later.

The hell?

Am I seeing things?

I shook my head, no matter, "Alright, if you aren't done then, let's finish them Fearow!"

"Don't back down, get up there and Metal Claw!" Ash shouted, no backing down at all.

"Throat Chop, finish it off!" I ordered.

Fearow's wings glowed with an ominous dark colour, while Scizor's claws once again glowed a metallic silver.

As one, they charged each other, Scizor zipping up and Fearow scything down.

Unknown to either of the boys having a hot blooded battle behind the Pokemon Centre, within the Centre itself, in a locked off room, set securely on a table, a pure blue egg sat within a container.

For years this egg had remained in this state, drifting between pokemon breeders, trainers and pokemon centre alike, all losing hope for the egg ever to hatch.

The blue egg twitched.

And deep within the protective shell of the egg, crimson red eyes snapped open for the first time ever.

"Man, I can't believe we didn't even manage to take down one of your pokemon," Ash groused, collapsing on the seat opposite me in the main room of the Pokemon Centre, "You really weren't kidding about how strong Fearow is now compared to back on my first day."

"We train multiple times a day, and we mostly fly everywhere, so don't waste as much time on the road," I shrugged, also, I had Chansey, the amazing cinnamon roll who made it so we basically got the efforts of like five or more training sessions out of the one in pure conditioning, "I'm actually surprised you put up as well a fight as you did, besides Surge I've pretty much dominated every battle I've been in."

Scizor lost in that final clash against Fearow, the accumulated damage from its own Hyper Beam attacks blowing up in its face, dozens upon dozens of Fearow's Peck attacks and a point blank Hyper Beam of Fearow's own, wore it down too much for it to overpower Fearow in the end.

Still, Fearow pretty much collapsed himself as soon as he brought down Scizor, so I'd say that one was closer to a draw than a loss. And my try hard bird was now under the tender mercies of Nurse Joy and recovering.

I'll have to wait a few hours before he'll be rejuvenated enough for me to fly on and leave this place behind.

"He's right Ash, you done really well, Jord and Fearow are a tough combo," Brock added from where he sat beside Ash, I was of course next to Misty, "Even back when he fought me they were formidable, but now they're on an entirely different level, even Steelix, evolved now would still lose outright if I battled them I think."

I blinked, "You evolved your Onix?" I asked, surprised.

"Yup," Brock grinned, "Back in Cerulean when we came across a stall selling some Metal Coat's, when Ash bought one for Scizor, I decided to get one for my Onix as well and le him choose if he wanted to evolve or not and he chose yes."

Huh.

Well there was another massive change. Originally, Brock's Onix wouldn't have become a Steelix until he returned from Hoenn.

"Considering Brock got beaten easily by Jord and you lost the first time to Brock even with Scyther, I'd take that as a compliment," Misty pointed out, "Besides, you've been getting a big head from all the other trainers you've been beating lately, you haven't lost since you battled Brock, popping that ever growing ego of yours will be good for you."

"Like you're one to talk," Ash rolled his eyes at her, "Your constantly praising how awesome a trainer you are just because you taught your Starmie thunderbolt, with my Pikachu's help by the way."

"I'm not the one that claimed he could take on every Gym Leader in Kanto at once yesterday!" Misty huffed and fired back. She shook her head and looked to me, a smile spreading across her face, "Thanks for telling me that by the way, and even the stuff you left for Ash has been a big help, I taught Oddish Bullet Seed!" she beamed at him.

"Yeah, really, thanks for that!" Ash nodded in agreement, "Thanks to what you left for me, I taught my Ludicolo Bullet Seed as well, and taught Steel Wing to Pidgeotto and a bunch of others and Iron Tail to Pikachu! I totally wouldn't be as awesome without your help!"

"Don't mind it," I shrugged, "Though that does beg the question, where did you get an Oddish, and why?" I asked Misty, curious.

"Oh, I got this little cutie at this little hidden village we came across on our way here from Cerulean City, there was a bunch of abandoned and weak pokemon there," the beautiful orange haired girl replied, "A bunch of thugs attacked the place while we were there and the lady overseeing the place was scared it would happen again after we left, so she asked us to take the pokemon with us."

Huh…

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same I guess.

"Yep, I caught a really strong Bulbasaur that was the protector of the place!" Ash happily supplied, "Not to mention a seriously cool Staryu that's way better than Misty's."

I blinked.

Huh?

"Like hell it is, you've hardly even trained Staryu!" Misty shot back, but nodded at me, "I also caught a Magikarp that was there."

Okay, now that was massive change-

"I got two while I was there as well, a Weepinbell and a Paras, they're a big help!" Brock happily supplied.

Another change. And what the fuck Brock, if Onix had evolved, that meant he only had one rock type pokemon now. He had more grass types than rock types even now!

This is seriously a lot to take in.

I turned my attention to Misty, "I thought you were afraid of Gyarados?" I asked her.

She'd mentioned such on our date when I brought the topic up.

"…I am," Misty reluctantly nodded, "But I couldn't just leave it there after it was attacked, besides she's a total sweetie."

Well, fair enough I guess. My respect went up for her a bit. Actually training up a Gyarados of her own instead of the one her sisters trained.

That always bugged me in the original series. In Johto, Misty harped on at Ash constantly for using Charizard and his other older pokemon all the time in battles, which, was the in world explanation for most for why Ash constantly started over with new teams in other regions. Only for Misty to do the exact same and only use her Gyarados, except, the Gyarados she used wasn't even trained by her, but by her sisters, making her not only a massive hypocrite, but also someone that relied on others to train her pokemon for her.

Which reminds me, I know where to find a giant Magikarp and a shiny one.

Just then, Nurse Joy approached us all, "Excuse me, Ash," she said, stopping at our table, "May I speak with you for a moment?" she asked, pointedly looking away from me.

Ash blinked, "I guess so." he agreed with a shrug and stood up.

Nurse Joy looked at Brock thoughtfully, "You said you were a breeder correct?" she asked him.

Brock practically pranced out of his seat and took a knee in front of her, "Oh Joy, I'll be whatever you want my love." he proclaimed.

She wrinkled her nose, but nodded, "Can you come as well then? A breeder's perspective here would be welcome." the pink haired nurse said

"Lead the way, I shall follow you to the depths of hell and back!" Brock nodded vigorously.

It was kind of cringe to see this happening in front of me. And this was the second time at that, the second we entered the pokemon centre and dropped off our pokemon, he'd been all over the pink haired nurse.

She bid them to follow her, and as they did, she looked over, glancing briefly at me. I winked.

Her face flushed and she quickly turned back around and quickly walked away, Ash and Brock in tow.

Wonder what she needed those two for?

"What was that about?" Misty asked me, giving me an odd look, "Nurse Joy was doing everything she could not to look at you, and she went all embarrassed there just from meeting your eyes."

"She walked in on me naked," I shrugged, well, not exactly but close enough, "She was very impressed by what she saw." I added shamelessly.

Misty raised an eyebrow, "…You're something else, you know that?" she pointed out.

"I am indeed. I'm just built different." I agreed.

"Built something alright," she rolled her eyes, before giving me a teasing grin, "Should I be jealous? You took me out on a date before and now you're showing yourself off naked to other girls."

"If you want to see me naked, you just have to ask," I fired back, "Though, I'm pretty damn amazing, so you need to pay me in return, I think you getting naked as well should work."

Her cheeks tinged pink just like Nurse Joy's, but she snorted, "I'll pass, thanks," she replied, "Speaking of though, since those two left us behind to go with Nurse Joy, how about I go have a shower and put some fresh clothes on and we can have another one maybe?"

Oh-ho? Misty was coming on to me?

"I'd love to," I replied, before shrugging, "Can't though, not really got the time. I was supposed to leave this place behind ages ago, I've got stuff I want to get done."

If I want to get what I plan for Hilda before her flight lands, I can't really spin my wheels here after all.

"Oh," Misty reared back as if slapped, before nodding, "Well, you are on your own journey and all….and have a travelling companion of your own from what my sisters were gossiping about."

Ugh, lovely.

"We split up to go our separate ways this morning actually," I replied, and a thought came to mind, "There's just a few certain pokemon I want to go for, but how about I make it up to you?"

Misty blinked, perking up, "How so?" she asked.

"How about you give me your number," I said in return, pulling out my phone and wiggling it at her, "We'll keep in contact, and we can plan out a proper fun date for in the future, I definitely wouldn't be passing up a date with you if I wasn't so busy."

"Okay, though that seems to favour you more than me." Misty agreed with a roll of her eyes.

"Well obviously that's not the gift I've got planned to give you," I rolled my eyes back, "This is just so I can contact you when I have it."

"Oh, and what's this gift then?" she raised an eyebrow and leaned forward to look me in the eye, "It'll have to be pretty good to soothe my hurt feelings from you blowing me off, it took a lot of courage to ask you out you know." she gave me a mockingly sad pout.

"How about a Squirtle?" I smirked at her. Soon I'd have dozens of them after all, what was giving one away to endear myself even more to Misty? I was much more tight lipped about them before, but now, I don't need to worry about her going after them before me if I reveal too much, I'll be going after them by tomorrow if my times match up properly.

My destination today for what I wanted, then to Cinnabar and tomorrow, the island full of Squirtle, Wartortle and a Blastoise.

Misty gaped at me.

"Are…are you proposing?" she asked after a moment.

I froze, gaping right back.

Wait…what?

"You remember I told you how much those are worth right? Even at the cheapest I've ever seen one sold, twenty thousand," Misty pointed out and explained, "It's a bit much for a mere apology, not that I'll turn you down, Ash caught a Squirtle annoyingly, and I've wanted to get my hands on one for ages, but it's still…"

She trailed off, her eyes glancing at my neck and her mouth hung low, "Is…is that a love bite?!" she gasped, lashing out and grabbing my collar and dragging me forward so she could look closer at my neck, "It is!"

…Woops. Forgot Hilda marked me up just as much as I did her. Mistakes have been made.

"How'd you get that?" Misty asked me, letting go of my collar and giving me a suspicious look.

"I fucked my travelling companion Hilda all last night before we split ways," I bluntly replied, no point beating around the bush, besides it's not like I owe Misty anything, and I hadn't exactly kept it as secret around here, so may as well let her hear it from my mouth instead of someone else, "Good time, you shoulda been there, bet you would have made it even more fun."

Misty pursed her lips, and fiery as she is, I half expected her to explode in a rage, but instead, she just sighed, "I figured as much," the orange haired girl shook her head, "Didn't want to think you would have, but, knew it was a long shot."

"…You did?" I blinked.

Now I'm the confused one. How and why would she expect that?

"Your common sense is just as skewed as it was at Pewter City," Misty shook her head, "Don't you remember how much I told you even those training methods you told me about would go for?"

"Yeah…?" I answered back, still confused, what did that have to do with anything.

"There's a lot of gold diggers out there, especially ones targeting young successful trainers, I've even had to ward off a few hussies from getting their mitts on Ash," Misty huffed, "You're bound to make big bank with what you know and with how generous you are, and a bit younger or not, they'll still hop into bed with you to seduce you and get their claws in you, heck, I hear my sister already tried it with you."

Oh, it was about that! Huh, if even Misty is bringing it up with me after Hilda, it really must be incredibly common.

"Yeah, your sister Violet practically invited me to her bedroom after I beat Lily." I admitted, "Though I pretty much turned her down, hot as she was, cuz' I figured that'd ruin my chances with you."

And Hilda, since y'know, she was right there at the time and blocked off Violet.

Misty blinked at my admission, "That was why?" she asked, surprised.

"Pretty much," I shrugged, "I figured we'd meet up again at some point and I wanted to continue where we left off, but if I banged one of your sisters, all bets would probably be off."

"Oh…" Misty uttered, then a slight smile spread across her face, and she seemed very pleased with that, "Well, I figured you'd have had sex with this Hilda girl cuz' Violet told me she got 'Cloyster-blocked' by her when she came on to you." she admitted.

Cloyster-blocked? The fuck?

I shrugged, "Well, not quite how it went, but not far off either," I admitted, "I've only got so much self control you know when she was walking around in a pair of shorts around me just as skimpy as yours."

"That so?" Misty's smile turned into a smirk and she stood up, returning her Oddish to its pokeball. Then reached over to grab my hand, "Come with me for a bit."

I blinked, "Okay…?" I agreed, confused once again.

She led me out of the main waiting room of the Pokemon Centre, down towards the training area and into one of the empty rooms.

And an hour later, when I left the Pokemon Centre behind with Fearow now fully recovered and ready to get a move on, my lips were bruised and I had another love bite on the opposite side of my neck where Hilda left her own.

A massive grin on my face.

"I'm the man." I laughed, swaggering on my way.