Out Of The Ashes (A Pokémon Fanfiction) ~on Hold

chapter 19: now we've got courage!

Chapter 19:
Now we've got courage!

This time, when he woke up, the very first thing Ash did was wiggle silently to the edge of the bed and slowly lower himself until he could see under it.

Shade wasn't there, and Ash breathed a sigh of relief. Being scared that way yesterday had taken years off his life. Ash wasn't looking forward to a repeat experience. The coast was clear, however, so Ash shoved Tank until the Pokemon woke up mid-snore and sat up, face stretched by a splitting yawn. Ash could hear muted crashed coming from the private attached bathroom—this PokeCenter seemed affluent than the Viridian one—and assumed Shade was playing around behind the closed door. He had better get up and put a stop to whatever Shade was doing in there before the PokeCenter charged him for damages.

Sighing, he stumbled upright and plodded to the bathroom. He still felt sore, but hopefully that would dwindle as his limbs became accustomed to vigorous exercise.

"Shade," he said warningly as he neared the bathroom. "If a single thing is broken in there, may Arceus have mercy on your soul."

Was that a decent threat? Did Gastly have souls?

He shook the errant thought from his mind as all activity in the bathroom ceased. For a long moment all was quiet—and then Shade burst into a thunderous racket.

Ash flung open the door.

Shade levitated there in a perfectly neat and orderly bathroom, an "innocent" smile crinkling his wide eyes and stretching his mouth. Several objects still vibrated softly as whatever energy had encompassed them faded. Ash dragged a hand down his face in defeat. Though it was obvious Shade must have been doing something, at least he could reverse or fix his damages.

"Out," Ash grumbled, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. Shade didn't want to push his luck; the ghost sailed past him with a leery smirk. Before Ash had finished closing the door after him he heard Tank's irritated growl and Shade's interested chuckle.

Tank was possibly one of the best matches Ash could have picked for Shade. Even though his attacks before had been completely ineffective (not anymore with the addition of Metal Claw to his arsenal), Shade was almost just as inefficient against the Aron. Poison-type moves didn't affect steel-types. Even Gastly's signature attack of suffocating their victims was nearly worthless, as Aron could go up to nearly an hour without breathing. It was an ability they had developed due to tunneling or eating their way deep into mountains, where pockets of smothering gas could be released, or where rockfalls and landslides could collapse without a moment's notice.

An ideal match for Shade would have been another ghost-type or a dark-type Pokemon.

Ghosts were effective against one another because they were the only types of Pokemon able to harness and wield their brand of peculiar energy. So even though a Gastly could dematerialize its body at will, and render itself invisible in shadows, a fellow ghost-type would be able to track and attack it easily. Because of their cruel, mischievous base nature and general rarity, ghost-on-ghost battles were some of the most highly-watched and brutal battles in league-sanctioned events. Only dragon-on-dragon fights drew more money.

Ash started up the shower and waited for it to get warm, cranking up the spray to block out Tank and Shade's bickering.

The sun was shining strongly as Ash finally took the last few steps up to the gym. He chose to take it as a good omen and tried to unknot the bundle of nerves that had twisted in his stomach.

It was five o'clock. Ash had figured he might be arriving a little earlier than Brock had recommended, but he would rather be early than late on such an important day. And who knows? Maybe Brock would finish his battles earlier than expected.

For the first time in what felt like a long time, Ash was completely alone as he crossed the threshold. Tank and Shade had been withdrawn into their Pokeballs. Taking advantage of the free time left to them earlier that day had done wonders in their training, but Ash wanted his fighters to be as fresh as possible for the match. Since Pokeballs preserved their Pokemon in perfect stasis, he had let them rest for a time before recalling them.

Even though it was for their betterment, Ash couldn't help but feel naked and helpless without his hardy friend by his side—or even the playful (occasionally obnoxiously so) Shade looming over his shoulder.

The same secretary from yesterday looked up from her paperwork at Ash's entrance. She smiled kindly and motioned him over.

"Ah, you're that young trainer from yesterday, aren't you?" she asked warmly. "Brock talked a lot about you today, says you have a lot of potential. He's been looking forward to your match."

Ash blushed shyly at the praise. In his town, he'd never been the best of anything—the prodigious Gary had stolen that title from him. To hear an adult notice his talents was more gratifying than he had imagined it would be.

"Thank you," he said demurely as he started the paperwork. The secretary helped explain some of the clauses—the agreement not to sue if serious injury or death was incurred on either side, the fixed income ratio for prize money either side would forfeit upon losing, and so on—until he only had to sign his name at the bottom of the form to finish it.

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Find out what happens in the next chapter as the journey continues!