Aries

The Unbeatable A.J!

"Cerulean is very pretty." The armoured Pokemon floated down, his feet planting themselves down in the middle of nothingness. Ash could only looked out at the slightly blurry image in the middle of the white, glitching a little as the Psychic type beside him struggled to hold up the image in his dream. He was doing part of the work, he supposed. Figuring out how to lucid dream had helped. "But... clearly it is imperfect."

Ash nodded silently, when the Rocket part of his memory of the Cerulean Gym Battle completely glitched apart in boxy and blurry motions in his head, sending a sharp pain. His eyes snapped open.

"Again?" Steven was already beside him, his face smiling down him with a patient concern. Ash didn't say a word- as was customary, and Steven had stopped trying to figure out the why. "Get some more sleep before we travel.. it's still quite late."

"Mhm." Ash mumbled sleepily. "Will do."

He missed the worried glances Steven shot him anyway as he curled back up in his sleeping bag.

-

"So, that's why I'm thinking the four-move limitation isn't real." Ash began as Steven raised an eyebrow in interest. They walked along the wooded route to Vermillion City, surrounded by picturesque trees and rushing streams and tributaries. "Momma used way more than four moves. I think the- the trained Pokemon just only get really good at four at a time."

Steven hummed, tapping his chin in response. "I suppose so, I haven't really tried it with Metagross. I should, shouldn't I? I'm sure Professor Kukui would love the topic to take a stab at."

"Who?"

"A professor in Alola," Steven replied. A trainer ran down the path before pointing at Ash. He had a blue shirt on and yellow shorts and wore a cheap suncap. He grinned and raised a Pokeball, throwing the red and white sphere into the air.

"I challenge you to a Pokemon Battle!"

Ash blinked in surprise as Steven rolled his eyes and stood between them both. He gave an apologetic smile, before making a little hand gesture he had made up with Ash back in Cerulean. It had come up in one of their many late-night conversations sparked by both restlessness to create them- when words were too long and the information too important. "I'll explain my reasoning later."

Ash smiled as Steven did the standard Referee speech- one one-on-one Pokemon battle. He released Pikachu, who felt a bit bashful zapping the life out of a Rattata who had barely seen a battle, but the trainer just shrugged and returned the little rat, with zero shame about sending his Pokemon out to be slaughtered.

"Wow! You're really strong, you should try to beat A.J!" The trainer made a grin. "He has an unofficial gym down the road- and!"

That took Steven's interest and Ash seemed to understand why Steven had him fight the trainer- the after conversation. And the experience, that was important too, but he wasn't exactly strapped for strong trainers to train with. The trainer continued. "His Pokemon are savage! His Sandshrew has never lost a fight in one hundred battles!"

"Has he now?" Steven raised a single eyebrow. This kid sounded like he was teetering on the edge of cockiness, and Steven was somewhat interested in knocking the kid down a few pegs. And the unofficial gym thing- what would it even look like? The trainer nodded and ran down the path back to Cerulean as Steven smirked.

"Let's see this unbeatable A.J."

-

A sign blinked over the area, indicating a "98" with LEDS. Steven snickered at the sign. "A little tacky, isn't it."

Ash nodded as a sharp crack filled the air. He visibly jumped, moving to scurry away quickly. Steven quickly grabbed his wrist, stopping Ash before he ran too far. He pulled himself back while taking deep breaths to try to steady his breathing. Just as he managed to calm down though, a kid stepped forward.