Paragon

Remnants of the Great War [11]

PARAGON

Remnants of the Great War Arc [11]

Chapter 20 : Secret Training

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Kanto Region - Route 6

A flock of Pidgey chittered overhead and a pair of Goldeen splashed in the crystalline shallows of a nearby river. Ash walked up a grassy hill until he arrived within a large open field with a giant waterfall crashing down before him and flowing down the sides of the hill.

Pikachu squealed and jumped off his shoulder to go and explore while Ash put down his belongings.

There's a hill to the south of the city. The forest grows in such a way that the path to the top cannot be found except by those who already know it's there. I've never been disturbed whilst training there, and even though we can be quite loud, no one has ever even noticed us up there either. I think it will suit your needs quite well, Mr. Ketchum. Now, once you reach the tall grass, you'll want to head southwest through the trees...

That was what Saffron Gym Leader Rosen had told him after Ash had asked about a quiet place to train his pokémon. After arriving here, it certainly lived up to Rosen's description, and Ash could see numerous crevices in the grass and burns across the rocks as evidence of Rosen's own training.

Although Ash was here for training, the part about training his pokémon was a white lie.

"This is crazy," he muttered after walking to the center of the field, away from his stuff. He held up his hand and spread his fingers, then turned it over to look at his palm. He certainly still looked human. And he still felt human too.

"Platebearers are supposed to be invincible," he said. "Let's see." He knelt down and felt around until he found what he was looking for. He stood up with a small, sharp rock. Sticking out his pointer finger, he dragged the rock across his skin.

"Ah." Blood beaded up from a glistening cut, and he dropped the rock and sucked on his finger. "What the hell? So I can still damage myself?" Maybe this has to do with what Albrecht was saying about why my clothes weren't destroyed. I guess it depends on what I want.

He was a little peeved he wouldn't be able to reliably test the extent of his durability, since dealing excessive damage to himself would be going a bit too far. Perhaps the Ash of the past may have done something as reckless as that, but Ash had promised to be more careful, and he intended to keep that promise.

But, that wasn't the only thing he'd come up here to do.

"So, how does this work?" He stretched out his arm and closed it into a fist. He said I had the Electric Plate, right? Might as well try this. "Ash, use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu stopped his playing and perked up instinctively at hearing his command, but frowned after noticing he wasn't the one being addressed. An amused grin danced on his face.

The wind whistled through the silent field.

"Of course it wouldn't be that easy," Ash sighed. He closed his eyes and tried to feel the power within him, like he imagined some wizened master might tell him to do, but after a few moments, he still didn't feel anything strange at all. He sat down on the grass and rested his arms on his knees. "Pikachu, c'mere for a sec."

Pikachu bounded over and jumped into his lap, fixing his trainer with a confident smile. Ash smiled back and rubbed his head, then moved his fingers down to his cheek, and pinched it. Pikachu giggled and released a jolt of electricity.