"Everyone!"

Five year old Ash Ketchum quieted down, as did the numerous other kids that were chattering away as they reached the base of the large hill.

Still within Pallet Town, although away from most of the buildings. It was the closest that they ever got to entering into the outside world of Indigo,

Until they all became Pokemon trainers, of course.

In front of the sizable group was Gary Oak, standing proudly with his fists against his hips as everybody immediately directed their attention onto him.

Everyone followed Gary. Grandson of Professor Oak, the man who practically ran the town. The children saw Gary as someone who was to them what his grandfather was to everyone else in the town.

Ash wasn't particularly close to the boy, but they got along fairly okay. They were mostly friends due to being a part of the same exact group. Ash wasn't sure if there were any sort of specific kids that he was closer to than the others.

Gary had quickly taken to his status as the leader of the children. Not to mention how much he clearly enjoyed it.

Much like everyone else in the group, Ash simply went on with whatever Gary did.

And today, Gary had picked a fun game.

"Today, everyone…" said Gary with dramatic build up. He slowly extended his index finger outwards towards the large hill behind him. "We are going to climb Mt. Moon!"

The children cheered.

"Now then…" Gary continued. "This is going to be a very important expedition, so we will need to split into groups. And be wary of the wild Pokemon that shall attack us!" he continued dramatically. Pointing towards a section of the kids, he continued. "All of you! You are wild Pokemon! Bloodthirsty creatures who want to eat all of us!"

The kids cheered enthusiastically as they began making animalistic noises, doing their best to sound intimidating.

Gary next pointed to the group of kids that Ash was a part of. "You guys are all powerful trainers of the League! You must protect everyone else! Researchers who are here to uncover the Moon Stone!"

"I want to be a Rhyhorn!" one of the wild Pokemon kids.

"My partner's a mighty Dragonite! Like Lance!" One of the League Trainer kids.

"I'll dig up the Moon Stone up first!" one of the researcher kids.

Smiling to himself, Ash happily prepared himself for the upcoming game.

As he did so, he continued to look out towards the hill, where Gary still currently stood.

Mt. Moon… he couldn't wait to go there for real someday.

/

Ash eyed the quadruped creature carefully. In the same vein, it eyed him with a great deal of steel caution.

Of all the Pokemon that he could have run into here… an Eevee?

It hadn't taken long to reach the Pokemon Center that rested at the foot of Mt. Moon.

On the road in between Pewter City and Mt. Moon, Ash and his team were lucky enough to run into a decent amount of fellow trainers to battle. Not only did this give Nebula the perfect chance to break in her evolution, but it supplied them with a fair amount of prize money as well.

The newly evolved Staravia had received incredible boons in every single regard since evolving. Her abilities were incomparable to that of when she was a Starly. She saw the most action on the road thus far, easily winning every battle that she fought in.

Pikachu and Valiant had won all of theirs as well, apart from when Valiant had been defeated by a Drowzee. The creature had a much better handling of its own Psychic Abilities than the young Ralts did. Thankfully, Nebula had pulled off a comeback.

Now they had arrived at Mt. Moon's foot. The Eevee had emerged from the last of the tall grass and forest trees to give way to the rocky landscape that stood before them.

Ash had arrived in the morning, but wasn't going to Move out with his team just yet. They needed some time to recuperate first, so he figured that a day or two at most would suffice.

Amazingly, if he hadn't made such a choice, he never wouldn't have had this encounter. He had simply just been exploring some of the area outside of the Pokemon Center with Pikachu, not really expecting to find anything…

But then this had happened…

A few trees surrounded them. There had been less and less of them as they had continued to approach the mountain. Right now, they were in a grassy area off the beaten path, not too far away from the Pokemon Center itself.

Eevee were revered Pokemon in the training world. Famous for their quality of evolving into one of many different Pokemon, each of them with a completely different Typing.

They were also among the Pokemon that the League would give out as substitute Starters. Karen of the Indigo Elite Four had received one as her first ever Pokemon. That Eevee had Evolved into an Umbreon.

They were incredibly rare, however. The discovery of one out here was the greatest stroke of luck.

Ash wasn't one to let luck go to waste.

Nebula appeared in front of him and Pikachu.

From his position of Ash's shoulder, Pikachu offered a friendly wave to the Staravia, which she returned as she prepared herself for battle and locked eyes with the Eevee, who began to tense up almost immediately.

The chance to capture an Eevee, of all Pokemon…

It was… exciting.

"Alright, Nebula! Get ready!" As Nebula took to the skies, Ash watched her for a brief moment before turning his attention back to the Eevee, who was frantically attempting to track the flying Staravia's movements.

It was time.

Nebula easily had the best chance of capturing Eevee due to the boons that her evolution had granted her. A Pokemon with such versatile Evolution options was too good of a chance to pass up as a member of the team, so Ash wanted to go all out right from the start.

"Alright then Nebula, Wind Blast!"

Nebula's blast of wind just barely missed its target as the Eevee sprinted away, eyes locked onto the Staravia with an angry glare as Nebula soared downwards.

"Aerial Ace!"

Eevee just barely managed to jump over Nebula's attack as the bird swooped downwards, but was grazed and lost its balance in the air. It did not give up, however, turning in midair and opening its mouth to fire a series of golden stars at the rising Staravia.

Ash blinked. Swift. He hadn't expected that.

Swift was a decently powerful ranged attack that could be fired with very great and easy accuracy and precision. Particularly high leveled variations of the attack could even zero right in on the target, homing in on them and being very difficult to avoid as a result. Even lower level versions of the attack had these same exact qualities to at least some certain extents.

Thankfully, this version of the attack wasn't too much of a problem. Ash wasn't quite sure just how well Nebula would fare against advanced variations of the technique, but her maneuverability in the air allowed her to avoid the incoming attack all the same.

Eevee landed on all fours and glared up at Nebula as she dive bombed downwards with Steel Wing.

Nebula was too fast for Eevee to reliably avoid. That was a good sign, but they couldn't let their guard down.

Nebula yelped as the Eevee suddenly assaulted her face with sand. A Sand Attack. Nebula's vision was blinded for a moment, making her unable to properly strike with Steel Wing, but she still collided head first into the Eevee, sending both Pokemon tumbling across the ground together as Nebula lost her balance, already off balance due to the Sand Attack blending her vision and still not quite ready for the sudden impact.

Nebula recovered first, but was still the the midst of trying to get the sand out of her eyes before taking off, leaving her open for Eevee to leap upwards and chomp down on her head.

The Staravia shrieked in anger and pain, but the struggle was brief as she ignored the pain in her eyes and slammed a Steel Wing into the Eevee, forcing it off of her. Now with painful teeth marks and tears in her eyes from the Sand Attack, Nebula glared after the Eevee as it tumbled into a tree, making its way to its feet and charging forward again.

Nebula hadn't been able to put her full force into that Steel Wing due to being preoccupied with the Sand Attack and also caught off guard by the Eevee's assault, but Ash took note that the attack still seemed to hurt Eevee quite a bit, as the evolution Pokemon had staggered to its feet, despite still getting up quite quickly overall.

Eevee lowered its head as it charged head first towards Nebula, but was met with a painful Steel Wing that blocked its assault. Pushing back against the metallic feathers, Eevee eventually lost the struggle, and was forced backwards, skidding across the grass on all fours as Nebula took to the skies yet again.

"Whirlwind!"

Eevee found itself growling in frustration in agony as the large gust of wind almost immediately overwhelmed it. Nebula's raw power was just far too great, and the quadruped Normal Type Pokemon could do very little to resist the win as it was picked up off of its feet, sailing back first into a tree trunk.

"Wing Attack!"

Before Eevee could recover from the painful impact, Nebula was already upon it, slamming her wing downwards into the opposing Pokemon's cheek, leaving the Eevee laid out in the grass as Ash prepared his Poke Ball.

Tossing the orb at its target, Ash watched with a glint of satisfaction as Eevee wa scuked inwards. After a few seconds of struggling, the Poke Ball beeped, and Eevee was caught.

Excitement surged through Ash's heart as he rushed forward to pick up the Poke Ball, looking at it triumphantly as Pikachu leapt off of his shoulder to congratulate Nebula.

Just like that…

"Way to go, Nebula!" Ash praised, turning to his bird companion as she soaked up compliments from Pikachu. "Once again, we didn't even need to use your Reckless Ability!"

Nebula's Evolution had allowed her to get a better handle on Reckless. It wasn't perfect, but with practice, she was now mostly able to activate it at will, although some times took longer than others.

Nebula's Evolution had already granted the Staravia an astronomical increase in physical capabilities, but Reckless only further added onto that to an even greater extent; unlocking the inner reserves of Nebula's body and physical strength in order to quickly bring all of it out to the forefront at once.

Obviously, it wasn't without its drawbacks, of course. Given that bringing out said reserves would inevitably tire out Nebula much more quickly, and that Nebula and Ash did not yet know how to turn the ability off (or even if it was possible to do so at all, for that matter) Ash was currently determined to save the ability for a last resort, especially since Nebula still wasn't completely perfect at activating it just yet.

Not to mention the fact that Reckless would completely change Nebula's behavior during a battle. Making her significantly less cautious. Little to no self preservation. Very easily something that could backfire, especially combined with how she would also end up being tired out much more easily. It was an incredibly powerful Ability for sure, but certainly not one to be abused. They hadn't even completely mastered it yet. Ash wasn't even sure what a mastered version of the Ability would look like.

They were still quite far off from perfecting it, and it would most certainly be a very long time until they actually did so. So for now, Ash felt that it was best to only use Reckless in moments of necessity. Against opponents that Nebula couldn't possibly hope to defeat without it. So that it would only be used when all other alternatives were no longer viable. That was the best course of action… for now. And Nebula and the others seemed to agree.

Thankfully, they hadn't even needed to resort to the ability just yet. Nebula had won all of her fights without it. Ever since evolving, anyway. Just like with the Eevee.

Nebula chirped happily at Ash's compliment as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder.

As much as he wanted to celebrate, they needed to get Eevee checked up on quickly. Thankfully, Pikachu and Nebula both seemed to understand.

"Come on, you two. Let's go."

/

A decent amount of trainers were staying at the Pokemon Center.

Mt. Moon was a popular tourist attraction during certain times of the year, but at the moment, Ash noticed a distinct lack of people who weren't his own age. He wasn't sure what times of year that Mt. Moon's tourist attraction status was at its most active, but this time of year apparently was not it.

The boy took a moment to watch the other trainers going about their daily business. Some of them were mingling amongst themselves, others exiting the Pokemon Center, either to head on over to Mt. Moon or to explore or train.

It was certainly a blessing that the League had stationed a Pokemon Center at the foot of Mt. Moon. Not just for trainers, but for tourists as well. As a result, the Pokemon Center was larger than what one would normally expect from one that was on the road. It was, however, still not nearly as big as in the city.

Thankfully, the line to the front counter wasn't very long, so checking in Eevee didn't take too much time. Ash was told by Nurse Joy that the recovery should probably be quick.

Eevee had been completely overwhelmed by Nebula, not able to do much against the Staravia's newfound power. However, the injuries that the Evolution Pokemon had received were fairly superficial and would heal easily after an hour or two at the most in the Pokemon Center's machines.

Before long, Ash was back in his room, with Pikachu, Nebula, and Valiant all out and ready to greet their new teammate.

Eevee had a bit of a confused expression on its face when it appeared out of its Poke Ball. Looking around to take in its surroundings, it suddenly started as its gaze settled on Ash and Nebula.

With a bit of a yelp, it took a step back as a low growl escaped its throat, eyes locked onto Nebula.

Ash frowned at that. Either Eevee was holding a grudge or it was afraid of the Staravia. Either one made sense.

"Hey…" Ash cautiously approached the Evolution Pokemon, who tensed up as he knelt down to look at it at eye level. "It's fine, we're not here to hurt you."

But right after saying that, Ash felt like a blatant liar. Did they not just attack Eevee unprovoked? All of a sudden he felt selfish. It was common for trainers to attack Pokemon out of the blue. That was part of what being a trainer was, after all. To capture Pokemon. But his reasonings for attacking Eevee and wanting to capture it essentially amounted to being excited about acquiring a Pokemon with so many different evolved forms. Putting it that way…

Ash's encounter with Paul suddenly flashed back into his mind.

That other boy… hadn't really gotten inside of his head, had he? The knee jerk reaction to capture such a valuable Pokemon on sight was just a natural feeling that just about any other trainer would have felt. An opportunity to be taken advantage of. Right?

Or was it really just because of all of Paul's talk about potential?

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Ash returned his focus on Eevee. He would worry about determining whether or not his motives were problematic later. Right now, this was more important. The deed had been done, and now it was his responsibility to calm Eevee's nerves.

The Evolution Pokemon was not growling at him, thankfully, but it didn't seem entirely trusting, either. Its uncertainty remained as Pikachu approached the pair, although as Eevee turned its gaze over to the electric mouse, Ash noticed that the doubtful expression on its face wasn't as strong.

Probably because Pikachu wasn't the one who attacked Eevee, Ash realized. Or, he thought with renewed guilt, the one that had told Nebula to attack Eevee in the first place.

The two small Pokemon locked eyes for a few moments, before leaning forward cautiously and sniffing each other.

Behind Pikachu, Valiant had begun to approach as well, but still kept his distance and chose to leave it to the mouse. Nebula hung back, likely realizing that she was the member of the group that their new member trusted the least.

Looking over at the Staravia, Ash could feel the guilt on her expression, too. As Pikachu began to try and make conversation with the Eevee, Ash approached Nebula and crouched down next to her.

"Hey, you okay?" he reached out and patted the bird's head.

She seemed to appreciate the gesture, easing up a bit, although her expression remained the same whenever her gaze turned to Eevee.

Trying not to frown, Ash did his best to console his feathered companion. "I know you're guilty, Nebula…" he spoke slowly, softly, hoping to sound comforting. Was he good at this? " I am too. It's just…" his words trailed off as he found it a bit hard to come up with any justifications.

He knew the answer was simple. He was a trainer. As a team, they were supposed to capture Pokemon. But how was he supposed to give Nebula an explanation like that? It certainly wouldn't make her feel better.

Nebula herself had been captured against her will. Ash suddenly found himself mentally slapping himself at the realization. The hypocrisy that Nebula likely believed herself to be guilty of was probably the main source of her guilt, not the simple fact that she had attacked a wild Pokemon unprovoked.

And Ash, instead of realizing that, had thoughtlessly chosen Nebula of all Pokemon to make the capture. All because it would be easy with her. A pragmatic decision, for sure, but one that had completely disregarded his own Pokemon's feelings.

"Nebula…" he locked eyes with his bird friend. "I'm… sorry… I didn't realize…. But I should have. You went through this same thing when Pikachu and I caught you, didn't you?" At her solemn expression, Ash gently wrapped his arms around her. "Don't worry." he whispered softly. "I won't send you out to capture any more wild Pokemon if you don't want me to."

A small smile made its way to his lips as he felt Nebula's feathered wings wrapping on him in response.

/

"Eevee, the Evolution Pokemon of the normal type. By altering the composition of its body, it can suit the surrounding environment, and its unstable genetic makeup gives it many potential evolved forms.

"This Eevee is female and knows the moves Tackle, Sand Attack, Quick Attack, Swift, Bite, Take Down, Dig, Shadow Ball, and Body Slam. Its ability is Adaptability, which gives it a significantly easier understanding of moves that match the user's type, which consequently greatly boosts their power."

Putting the Pokedex away, Ash glanced down at the Eevee, who was looking up at him a bit more calmly, albeit curiously, right now. Sitting in between Pikachu and Valiant, she seemed fairly indifferent to him, not expressing any real dislike towards the young boy, but not really giving him the impression that she liked him, either.

It was a step up from before, however. While Ash was busy consoling Nebula, Pikachu and Valiant seemed to make decent enough progress with their newfound teammate. It helped that Valiant could sense Eevee's emotions, and had occasionally coached Pikachu on how to approach the conversation. Eevee seemed appreciative towards Valiant's inherent understanding of her own feelings, almost gravitating towards the young Ralts to a degree. Overall, she wasn't the most open so soon, but he and Pikachu seemed to have passed whatever test she was trying to give them when checking them out.

The only one that she didn't seem to trust was Nebula.

The young Staravia hadn't made any real attempts to converse with the Evolution Pokemon, due to Eevee's very clear dislike towards her.

Ash was frowning at that. Up until now, everyone on the team was getting along just fine, Pikachu and Nebula were inseparable, and both of them were quite fond of Valiant.

Would things become any more difficult now that Eevee was very clearly not fond of Nebula?

He'd have to talk to Professor Oak about it. Or his mother. He was cursing himself for not thinking far enough ahead. Did he really expect to go through his whole entire journey with no drama between his team members.

He was getting stronger, and yet he was still making a lot more mistakes than he thought. Was this a common issue that all rookies went through? Yet another oversight that beginners were often prone to?

For now, he'd talk to Eevee for a bit and help her get settled in. Now that she'd calmed down, she seemed to be more open to conversation, despite not being completely accepting of the situation, understandably.

"You okay now?" He asked, not sure how to start the conversation. He kept his voice gentle, soothing, hopefully. He wanted her to know that he was friendly, despite her first impression.

She sniffed his hand as he kneeled down next to her, and seemed to grow a bit more at ease as she did.

/

The night had grown a bit more progressively smoothly afterwards.

Although Nebula kept her distance (Pikachu keeping her company) Ash and Valiant made good progress with Eevee, although in Ash's case it was simply that she had accepted him as her trainer, rather than actually liking him or seeing him as a friend. Ash wasn't offended by it, given that he had gone through the same thing with Nebula and had a much worse start with Pikachu back on Opening Day. A lot had happened since then as he abruptly found himself realizing, and all of a sudden, it felt surreal to say that he had four Pokemon on his team.

Valiant's ability to read emotions was a massive boon for interacting with Eevee, as Ash realized sooner rather than later. The young Ralts had a better understanding of how to approach a conversation and ease the newcomer into things, which was perfect given that she had been understandably on edge after being captured. They were all still strangers to her, but Ash was given hope that the overall dynamic of the team would still be positive.

He just needed to figure out how to work things out between Nebula and Eevee. Thankfully, Professor Oak was just a call away.

Ash had risen early and left his team in the room. All of them were still sound asleep at the time, so he chose not to disturb them as he made his way to the video phones.

He wondered if Professor Oak would be up this early, as it wasn't quite 8:00 AM yet. Thankfully, he had picked up.

"Hello, Ash! Wasn't expecting to hear from you." The Researcher's face appeared on the screen and smiled at the boy, who returned the expression quite quickly. "Where are you calling me from, might I ask?"

"I'm at the Pokemon Center just at the foot of Mt. Moon." Ash replied. "We got here yesterday morning. I'm planning on going through the mountain tomorrow, although I might wait an extra day to get things situated with my new teammate."

The Professor perked up. "Oh, yes! The Eevee! I noticed that she was added to your roster yesterday. A surprising catch."

Ash nodded with a grin. "Yeah, I felt really lucky. Although, that's actually why I'm calling."

The man's face was curious, but not concerned. "Is there an issue?"

Ash subconsciously scratched the back of his neck. "I'm hoping it's not too serious, but I had Nebula fight Eevee when we found her. She beat Eevee pretty easily and now Eevee seems to hold a grudge. She was okay with me after a while, and she seems to get along fine with Pikachu and Valiant, but she hasn't opened up to Nebula. She keeps shooting her glares or dirty looks."

The Professor nodded understandingly "Yes, that's not too surprising. Not every Pokemon is going to be happy about being captured, and even though you're the one who gave the order, she likely associates Nebula with her loss of freedom. Or maybe the humiliation of being beaten the way she was is the real issue, if she's not hostile towards the rest of you."

Ash frowned. The guilt was coming back now. "What do you think I should do? This hasn't happened with the other three before. At worst Nebula was just neutral towards me and Pikachu when we first caught her. I don't want there to be too much drama between the team."

"Understandable. Team dynamic is everything for a variety of aspects to Pokemon training. Unfortunately, it's not always going to be this simple. I'm afraid an issue like this was unavoidable. Whether it be because of a grudge or really anything else, it would have been miraculous for you to never run into conflict between any of your teammates." he paused a moment. "As for advice, there's no miracle cure, but that doesn't mean it's hopeless. She's only just joined, so it'll inevitably take some time for things to cool down. I wouldn't worry about it too much, but for now, just try to have them give each other some space. Give Eevee some time to get to know Pikachu and Valiant better, and yourself, of course. Once things have had time to cool down, start prioritizing training exercises between Nebula and Eevee to hopefully build some camaraderie between them. Once you get through Mt. Moon, it shouldn't take you too much longer to reach Cerulean City, so I'd recommend getting started once you've gotten there. By then, a few days or so will have passed, and I'm sure the upcoming Gym Battle will be giving your team motivation. If Eevee herself takes interest in it, that would be especially helpful. Try not to worry about it too much for now, but that's my recommendation." He gave Ash some time to take it in.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

After a few moments, Ash nodded, and smiled gratefully. "Okay, thanks Professor. But what do you think I should do if things haven't settled down by then?"

"Good question. I unfortunately can't say much in that regard but you may just have to give it more time in that case. Every case will always be different. But for now, I'd recommend not letting it stress you out too much and just try to focus on integrating her into the team. A new capture will always be a very big moment for everyone in your group. The dynamic will never be the same. If it takes a long time for things to settle down, try to observe their behavior and interactions and see if you can determine any additional root causes. I can help you out with tha myself, of course."

Ash nodded, but was also deep in thought. The dynamic will never be the same…

Those words echoed in his thoughts for the next few moments as he contemplated the true meaning of the Professor's words.

...It was true… wasn't it? Up until this point, Ash's team was a well rounded trio. Pikachu, Nebula, and Valiant were all very good friends with little to no drama between them. And they had been his new family along with that too.

The overall simplicity of the group dynamic had been easy. Convenient. They were all just a small group of friends traveling together and fighting battles. Helping each other train. Conversing with each other.

Things would become much less simple, and much less convenient, as the adventure went on. New Pokemon would be joining their team. New relationships would be established and would inevitably have to be taken account for. This was just the beginning. Eevee was far from the last teammate that they would ever have.

"You okay, Ash?"

Realizing that he had spaced out and had spent longer contemplating on his own inner thoughts than he had initially anticipated, Ash shook himself out of his stupor and grinned awkwardly at the Researcher, a slight tinge of red appearing on his cheeks.

"It's fine. Sorry about that." Trying to forget the embarrassment, Ash quickly changed the subject. "So… ummm. Where's Clefable?" he asked awkwardly, thinking of the first thing to come to mind.

"Oh, she's asleep. We were both up late last night watching movies, but I still woke up early somehow. I chose not to disturb her, so I'm letting her sleep in."

Ash grinned a bit at that. Professor Oak wasn't always one for free time, but he certainly made good use of it whenever he took a break from his work. Despite being a workaholic, he could at least effectively relax whenever he gave himself the chance.

The two of them didn't talk for much longer, after that. Oak was a busy man, and along with not wanting to keep him for too long, Ash was hungry for breakfast. It was still early, but he would need to wake his team soon so that they could eat.

/

The cafeteria was modestly filled with other rookies this morning as Ash and his team made their way in.

Eevee stuck by Valiant on one side of Ash while Pikachu and Nebula occupied the other. The Evolution Pokemon was still displaying some coldness towards the young Staravia, which only furthered Nebula's guilt, but much to Ash's gratitude, Pikachu was there to console her.

At the moment, Ash was concerned with filling his team's bellies, as well as his own. Professor Oak's advice continued to replay through his mind, so he was sure to make sure that Eevee had time to adjust before rushing into things. Right now, everyone still seemed to be equally excited to eat. Ash had explained the Pokemon Center's cafeteria to Eevee after waking everybody up and she seemed to have perked up at it. The rest of the team's enthusiasm seemed to have been contagious, too. They had all certainly taken a liking to the Pokemon Center's cafeteria food while in Pewter City, and each Pokemon Center was essentially the same in that regard. At least in Indigo, that is. It hadn't taken too long to get ready to head out of the room.

It was still rather early when Ash had woken his team. Pikachu had been the first to respond, while the others got up shortly afterwards with help from Pikachu.

His call with Professor Oak hadn't lasted too long, but it had shaved off some time. Still early in the morning, but past 8:00 AM.

Ash had always enjoyed the simplicity of morning, even back in Pallet Town. Before the day got fully started, before it was time to progress with their agenda. Just an enjoyable breakfast as they all got settled in. That was how it always was, and he always looked forward to it.

At the moment, he wasn't sure which food Eevee liked, so he tried some experimentation with berries and a couple of different assortments of traditional food. Eevee seemed to respond quite positively to the berries, but only seemed to be mildly interested in everything else.

It was a start. He would get a better grip on the Evolution Pokemon's diet in time. Meanwhile, the rest of his team devoured their food happily, Pikachu especially eating quite fast, much to Eevee's bewilderment, and everyone else's amusement.

The mouse never did take the time to enjoy his food when he liked the way that it tasted. Not that Pikachu ever seemed to mind, of course.

Enjoying his own food, Ash opted to eat a bit more slowly as he went over his plans for the day. Taking a bite into one of his pancakes, he thought about it for a moment.

Eevee had just joined them.

Outside of her brief scuffle with Nebula, Ash didn't know much about where she stood in terms of capabilities. Going over her moves and taking the ti9me to observe her would be a good way to get started on that. At the moment he only knew what she was capable of using, but not really anything else. He'd have to base his training regimen for her on his findings in that regard.

Pikachu was now working on Thunderbolt. Although Electro Ball could still use some fine tuning, he was in a position where Ash felt that he could start working on Thunderbolt in hopes of having it ready for their upcoming Gym Battle in Cerulean City.

Getting Pikachu to actually use the move was simply enough. It was essentially a more powerful version of Thunder Shock at the moment. However, Pikachu couldn't use it as reliably just yet. He was still in a position where it took longer to charge up, and although it was still much more powerful than Thunder Shock, he still had yet to access the full power of the move, and it seemed to be a bit more draining on his stamina.

It could still be used more practically in battle, but it couldn't be abused. The longer charge time meant that they had to be a lot more careful about the timing, and that, in addition to the stamina issue, made repetitive use of it a no go. It was a nice trump card to pull out and surprise the opponent for big damage, but not a signature technique at the moment.

At the current stage that Pikachu was at, there weren't any other specific moves that he was desperate to teach the mouse that he felt that his Starter was ready to learn. He wanted to work on Volt Tackle eventually, but he doubted that Pikachu was ready for it yet. He had tried Double-Edge with Nebula recently, but despite her having a far physically superior body post-evolution, it was still not a very practical Move for her to use. Lots of power even without her being able to tap into the full power of the technique (which Reckless admittedly helped to make up for), but she had injured herself quite notably with just one use. Nebula had much better control over her techniques, as well as power in general, after evolving, but even she still had a great ways to go. Pikachu likely wouldn't be able to tap into nearly as much power with Volt Tackle as Nebula could with Double-Edge, and yet he would still probably injure himself a lot more. Ash was planning on starting work with the technique once they reached Cerulean, but it still wasn't a priority just yet.

Apart from that, teaching Pikachu Agility should hopefully be quick and easy given the young mouse's experience with Quick Attack. But even then, it was a psychic type move with a necessity for understanding those elements as well, so it would likely require Valiant's guidance. Ash planned to have Pikachu and Valiant help each other out once it was time to teach Valiant Thunderbolt, but for now, Ash and the young Ralts were still working on Dazzling Gleam, which was progressing quite well.

That left Nebula. Rather than teaching her new Moves for the moment, Ash was planning to have her work on Double Team a bit more. Her evolution had given her a bit of a boon with the move, now allowing her to split into four instead of just two, but the Staravia was still only able to move one copy along with herself, and only if she was split into two and not three or four. Maintaining any other copies took up too much effort for her to allow one of her copies to also move along with her simultaneously.

For now, Ash's plan was to have her keep working on producing more copies of herself. At a later date, maybe they could train to get her to move more than one copy along with herself, but Elacia had warned him that that would be much more difficult and also take much longer, and had advised him to simply start focusing on increasing the quantity of the clones for now.

Speaking of Elacia, the Egg that she had given him still had yet to hatch, which didn't surprise Ash too much. According to her, it wasn't too far off, but that didn't translate to "any second now!". Valiant had quickly taken to helping him take care of the Egg. The dedication that the young Ralts showed was still quite admirable. Ash had always been touched by how quickly Valiant had hopped on board with him and the rest of the group, and the Feeling Pokemon seemed to be determined to do anything that he could to help them with just about anything, really.

Ash still hadn't opened the folder that Elacia had given him, which would reveal the species of the Pokemon that the Egg would eventually hatch into. He really wanted to. It was tempting. But he could live with the suspense for now. As agonizing as it was to not know what the Egg would hatch into, it would be much more satisfying to find out when it hatches, rather than from simply reading it.

The rest of his team seemed to agree, too, although Valiant had apparently wanted to peek into the folder himself, without giving away the surprise to anyone else, which Ash eventually deduced was because the young Ralts wanted to see if there were any recommended ways to take care of this specific kind of Egg. After Ash had assured him that the method of taking care of Pokemon Eggs was pretty much universal among every species, however, the Feeling Pokemon had changed his mind, and had simply resorted to waiting anyway. As a whole, care for the Egg seemed to be going along smoothly, although Ash and his friends were still all anxiously waiting for their new teammate to finally hatch.

"Is this seat open?"

Ash and his team perked up at the voice and turned to see a girl about Ash's age standing in front of them, holding a tray of food consisting of orange juice, applesauce, and crepes.

Her hair was a bright orange, tied into a single ponytail on the side. She probably would have looked quite pretty if the look on her face was a bit more positive. It seemed like a mixture between a frown and a scowl, not necessarily looking sad or angry, but just not in the best mood. Ash couldn't even really place what was putting her in a down mood. She didn't look annoyed or irritated… just not happy.

Perhaps she was masking whatever the source of her unhappiness was. Ash couldn't say that he was the best at reading people. His social skills still needed work, despite them getting better from spending time with Rick and Emily (and Janine to an extent).

"Hey, are you listening?!" her voice grew a bit more aggressive, causing the boy to flinch out of his inner thoughts. The sharp tone behind her tongue had caught him off guard.

Realizing that he hadn't answered her question yet, an embarrassed Ash shook himself from his inner stupor as that familiar sensation of a tinge of red in his cheeks returned to him. Looking up at her and trying to make eye contact (her scowl did seem a bit more irritated now), he gave her an awkward, apologetic smile in response. "N-no, it's fine."

Her mood softening a bit (although she still didn't smile), the girl placed her tray down on the table and sat down next to him, his team eying her for a moment before returning to their food once they were done sizing her up.

Ash found himself eating a bit more slowly as he awkwardly stole a glance at the newcomer every now and then. She wasn't paying them much mind, simply taking to digging into her crepes and applesauce, while sipping the orange juice on occasion.

Something about her seemed a bit intimidating. Maybe it was just her more hardened, moody features. It was a stark contrast from Janine, Rick, Emily, or even Gary (despite him not being friendly), all of whom were a lot more cheerful in comparison. This girl seemed to be a bit temperamental, based on the brief first impression that Ash had from her behavior. She didn't give off the same unsettling vibe as Paul, at the moment, although he still felt intimidated by her.

Which, Ash realized, could have also been because she was right next to him.

Apparently his attempts to look at her weren't as secretive as thought, as in his latest attempt, he was met with a piercing stare as she suddenly turned her head to face him. The boy found himself flinching as her fierce, viridian eyes locked onto his.

"Any reason you keep staring at me? I'm trying to eat."

'She's the one who wanted to sit next to me.' Ash thought out loud, but knew better than to voice it. It wasn't like that gave him an excuse to keep staring at her anyway, even out of curiosity. She was right.

"S-s-sorry." he stumbled out pathetically.

"Hmmm…" she almost seemed disappointed by his submissive response, the look in her eyes briefly losing some of its inherent irritation to temporarily replace it partially with one that somewhat resembled that of pity, before reverting back to their usual hardened gaze.

As she turned back to her food, taking a bite out of one of her crepes and chewing silently, Ash worked up the courage to say something else.

"So… ummm…." he flinched a bit as she paused her chewing and turned her eyes to him, although she didn't turn her head. Regaining his bearings quickly, he continued. "Is there- I mean… why do you seem so upset?"

'Damnit. Was that question too personal?' he quickly thought to himself. He braced himself for an aggressive response, but thankfully got none.

The girl took the time to swallow the food in her mouth for a moment, before letting out a quick sigh as she craned her head towards him slightly, not looking at him directly but offering a bit more acknowledgement than before.

"Some older Trainer goaded me into battling him and poisoned my whole team. Now they're recovering and I have nobody to eat with." she turned away again, taking another bite into her crape. After chewing for a bit, she swallowed and continued. "Jerk probably just wanted some easy money from me. Probably preys on rookies all the time. Too afraid to pick on people on his own level so he has to antagonize the newbies like some lowlife."

Her words quieted into angry mumbling as Ash shifted in his seat uncomfortable. He returned to his food for a bit before he heard her voice again.

"So… you're going through the mountain, I'm guessing?" mercifully, her voice sounded a bit softer and less irritated than before, although it still didn't carry a very friendly tone.

Swallowing down the bit of pancake in his mouth, Ash looked over to her and nodded, a bit surprised that she was trying to make conversation so suddenly. "Y-yeah. Either today or tomorrow. To get to Cerulean, of course…" he said awkwardly.

"Obviously." her voice was blunt. She finished the last of her crepes before turning to her applesauce, which was half done. "Glad I don't have to deal with any of those annoying tourists right now. They can be obnoxious."

Ash... wasn't sure if he would put it that way, but it was no secret that tourists could get a bit out of hand with their behavior sometimes. He didn't want to assume the lowest of them, however.

Deciding not to contest the girl's statement, he simply nodded along with her. Looking over to his team, he could see that they seemed to be a bit interested in her, particularly Valiant, but kept to themselves for the most part. Pikachu and Nebula seemed to be engaged in some sort of discussion, which Eevee seemed to be listening in on at the current moment.

Taking a leap of faith as he turned back to the orange haired girl sitting next to him, Ash managed to croak out. "U-Um… I'm Ash." he managed to get out.

The girl stopped eating her applesauce just long enough to answer.

"Misty."

/

Breakfast was over not too long after, with Ash and Eevee now outside of the Pokemon Center with Pikachu and Valiant. Misty had returned to her room after they were finished, offering Ash a curt nod and a quick goodbye before she was gone.

The girl had opened up just a tad bit during their conversation, but remained blunt and somewhat aggressive throughout. Her dismissive attitude left Ash a bit confused about why she wanted to eat with him in the first place, unless she just wanted someone to sit next to in place of her team, rather than simply being left alone.

Nebula was flying overhead to continue working on her aerial mobility for the time being, with Ash planning to start the day by assessing Eevee and her capabilities. He had gotten a brief glimpse of them on the previous day from when he and Nebula had captured her, but he needed more in order to be able to truly properly gauge her.

Pikachu and Valiant were both at his side as Eevee stood in front of him, both Pokemon offering her encouraging smiles as she looked up at her new trainer with a sort of unsure gaze adorning her face.

She seemed ready, at the very least, Ash assumed. That was something. The boy wanted to see each of her moves in action at least once. Even the Moves that he had already seen before, he should probably see again, now that his focus was solely on her, herself, and not a battle.

The young trainer nodded to Eevee.

"Alright, you ready to get started?"

Eevee nodded.

He offered her a friendly smile. "Good. Pikachu and Valiant are going to be your sparring partners for this. You'll be testing your moves out on them."

Eevee nodded again, eying her new teammates carefully. They both gave her encouraging looks (particularly Valiant) before taking their places.

First up, Valiant stood face to face with Eevee as the two teammates locked eyes.

"Okay, first use Tackle!"

Eevee took off running, her quadruped body being carried at a decently fast rate towards her opponent by all four of her feet. It wasn't her top speed, as she was not using Quick Attack, but Ash was relatively pleased by her agility.

THUNK!

Eevee winced painfully as she crashed head first into Valiant's erected barrier, the Reflect easily absorbing the impact and leaving the young Ralts unharmed. She plopped down on her butt, giving her new teammate the stink eye as she made her way to her feet.

Offensively, her Tackle attack hadn't been strong enough to even remotely damage Valiant's barrier, but that could have been saying more about Valiant than Eevee herself.

Ignoring the small bruise on the top of her head, Eevee returned to her stance and awaited further instructions. Valiant casually dropped the barrier and crossed his arms professionally, viewing the Feeling Pokemon with a hint of an analytical attitude.

Next up, Pikachu locked eyes with Eevee as Ash gave his next order.

"Alright, Sand Attack!"

Eeveem dug her paws into the ground and flung multiple large patches of sand consecutively towards the electric mouse. Pikachu's tail became cloaked in metal as he deflected the onslaught with precise swipes.

Eevee's Sand Attack was traveling pretty far. And fast. She was very good with the technique. However, Ash also took the moment to take pride in Pikachu's reaction time.

Next up, Pikachu and Eevee stood side by side, eying each other on occasion as both Pokemon got into their own respective stances on all fours, ready to take off into a sprint the very moment that Ash gave the order.

"Quick Attack!"

Now it was time to test Eevee's top speed. What better way to do so than to see how she stacked up against Pikachu? He had practically made his name on the team with his speed and agility.

Both Pokemon took off in a blur, putting everything that they had into their own respective top running speeds as Ash and Valiant watched excitedly from the sidelines.

The moment he took off, Pikachu was already ahead of Eevee, and the Evolution Pokemon growled in frustration as the electric mouse trailed further and further ahead of her as the race progressed. She kept pushing herself more and more, doing everything that she possibly could to add more and more effort into her sprint, but the distance between them just wouldn't close. It kept widening, and widening, and widening even more until the mouse completed his lap and waited for her to finish.

To Eevee's credit, she was definitely really fast. Ash didn't fault her for losing the race to Pikachu. Nevertheless, she obviously didn't see it that way, if the somewhat dejected expression on her face as she made her way back to Ash and Valiant after finishing her own lap was of any indication. Ash could also see her breathing a bit heavily, having been a bit notably more fatigued from the exercise than her Electric Type teammate.

"Hey, it's fine." the boy commented, reaching down to gently pat her on the head in assurance. She flinched at first, but soon accepted the touch, closing her eyes for a second, just long enough to briefly nod her head. "Pikachu is really fast. His speed has really got us places in the past too." he thought back to the decisive battle against Brock and Onix. A fight that would have been impossible for Pikachu to win without his amazing speed. "You'll get there, don't worry. You're already quite fast yourself. We'll work on your speed for sure."

She seemed to be mildly encouraged by that, although the disappointment of the loss was still clearly there. Not too unexpected, Ash supposed. It wasn't like it was just going to go away with just a few simple words of encouragement.

He knew the feeling.

Shaking off his frown, Ash called for a quick break, offering Eevee some water and some extra time to catch her breath.

After a few minutes of drinking and resting, Eevee was facing off against Valiant again, with the young Feeling Pokemon already preparing for himself to erect a barrier.

"Swift!"

Ash had gotten a glimpse of Eevee's control over the technique when she had used it against Nebula. He had considered testing it out once again against Pikachu, by having the young mouse try to maneuver around it, but he figured that they could get back to that after going over all of the other techniques. For now, he just wanted to see how powerful that it was, and if it could stand up to Valiant's impressive barriers.

The golden stars escaped from Eevee's now open mouth as the glowing projectiles sailed over towards Valiant at impressive speeds as Ash and Pikachu observed from the sidelines in interest.

Valiant's Light Screen intercepted the long ranged attack, which pelted against the glowing, golden cube with a good deal of might, but couldn't break through it. Ash took note of the tiny crack in the barrier, however, and smiled at the sight.

Eevee's Swift was actually pretty potent, at least offensively.

After Valiant dropped the barrier, it was Pikachu's turn again.

"Bite!"

Eevee's mouth opened as wide as she could manage as she sprinted forward towards Pikachu. The young mouse's response was to raise his now metallic tail and hold it outwards defensively as Eevee bit down on it.

The young Evolution Pokemon yelped as her teeth painfully clamped down on the metal, not strong enough to handle it. Ash winced a bit, and gave Eevee a few moments to gain her bearings.

Next up, Valiant stood in front of Eevee.

"Take Down!"

This was the move that Ash was interested in the most. Take Down wasn't quite as potent as Double-Edge, but it was still, all the same, a very powerful move with an absurd amount of offensive potential. However, much like Double-Edge, recoil damage would be a problem.

Eevee became cloaked in a bright, white light as she charged forward with her head down, taking aim at Valiant as she let out a battle cry and leapt forward.

BAM!

Valiant's Reflect was raised to block the attack, but the impact from Eevee's assault was strong. Ash and Pikachu could mildly feel the shockwaves as Eevee's charge clashed with Valiant's protective silver cube, and although the Evolution Pokemon staggered backwards growling in pain from the impact, a large hole was left in the part of the cube that Eevee had just shattered.

To his own credit, Valiant seemed mostly unharmed from the assault, although the wind pressure seemed to have reached him, as he was still reeling just a little bit.

Ash grinned, and made his way towards Eevee with Pikachu in tow.

"Good going!" he said excitedly. "That Take Down of yours sure is powerful!" he knelt down to make eye contact with the Evolution Pokemon, who's cheeks reddened a bit as Pikachu seemingly voiced his own compliments to her.

In front of them, Valiant was also grinning, impressed by the destruction of the portion of his barrier that Eevee had struck. With just one hit.

"Alright, next use Dig."

Valiant's barrier was back up as Eevee began clawing away at the dirt, burrowing her way underground. Ash noticed that it took her a decent bit to do so. It wasn't instantaneous, and left her wide open. It wouldn't be practical for battle yet.

And when Eevee surfaced, she was nowhere near Valiant, looking around in confusion to find her opponent.

Understandably, she couldn't tell where she was going underground. It would need practice.

A few minutes later, Eevee and Pikachu were facing off again. Pikachu had an Electro Ball at the ready, waiting on the tip of his tail to be fired.

"Shadow Ball!"

Eevee opened her mouth, and a series of purplish black, distorted energy appeared within her jaws. At first a tiny speck, the mass of energy began to gradually grow, eventually concentrating itself into a perfect sphere.

The charge time wasn't perfect, but the form was great.

And the ball itself was actually quite large. It looked pretty potent.

As Eevee fired off her attack, Pikachu flung his Electro Ball into the Shadow Ball to intercept it. Ash and Valiant flinched at the explosion, bracing themselves from the shockwaves and the wind that was kicked up from the impact.

Although Eevee remained perfectly fine, some of the shockwaves reached Pikachu, who held an arm out in front of his face as he was suddenly pushed a few inches backwards by the wind force.

It seemed like Eevee's Shadow Ball was the attack with more power behind it. Eevee herself seemed to realise this, grinning cheekily at the sheepishly grinning mouse who had upstaged her previously in their race.

That left just one more move…

"Body Slam!"

Eevee ran forward towards Valiant, leaping in the air into an effort to pounce on him. Once she reached her maximum height, she repositioned herself, and suddenly came rocketing down at high speeds.

Body Slam seemed to be a move that she was quite good with.

POW!

Eevee crashed down on top of Valiant's barrier, with a tiny crack forming in the Reflect. As she bounced off of it, Ash took note that her Body Slam was certainly quite strong. Take Down was definitely her best move, but along with Shadow Ball, this attack also gave her a lot of offensive potential as well.

"Good work, Eevee!" The boy approached her, accompanied by Pikachu and Valiant. Eevee grinned at them, the overall success of her training seemed to have improved her mood. That was a good sign. "I just wanted to go over what could do a the moment real quick. You did great." she allowed him to pat her head, this time smiling a bit more. Standing back upright again, Ash eyed his team for a bit. "Alright, we'll take another break, and then we can-"

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

Ash froze on the spot, and so did Pikachu. Valiant and Eevee were mostly curious than anything else, but the difference is that they did not recognize the voice.

Whirling around, Ash faced the source of the sudden voice, and his stomach became a pit.

Gary Oak.

Looking smug as ever, he locked eyes with Ash, his arms crossed the way he usually liked them.

Coincidentally, Nebula had chosen to take a break from her flying, landing next to Pikachu and eying her friend with concern as he snarled at the newcomer on all fours.

Eevee and Valiant both grouped up behind Ash as the two eyed the newcomer with a good deal of scrutiny Both of them could sense the tension in Ash and Pikachu (particularly Valiant) and so neither of them were comfortable with this new boy.

Ash didn't snarl. He didn't grit his teeth. He didn't even glower. The glare on his face was simply a normal one, one with some anger but mostly annoyance.

Awkwardness with Misty aside, he had actually been having a really good day. But one of Gary's greatest talents (and boy did he have a lot of them) was instantly bringing down his mood just by being there.

"What do you want, Gary?" Ash managed to get out. It wasn't in an angry voice. It wasn't in a fearful voice. It wasn't in a devastated voice. It almost came off as a half groan. As though Gary's very presence was just a mood killing inconvenience.

Gary snorted. "You sound a lot less cheerful than you did just a few seconds ago. I'd like to say you're less annoying like this, but…" He straightened himself up. "I was just taking a walk when I overheard whatever this training of yours was supposed to be. I just got here."

"And you couldn't just… I don't know… pass by?" Ash tried to sound as exasperated as possible. But maybe that was just making it worse.

Gary flinched in mock offense. "Hey now, is that any way to talk to an old schoolmate? You should be honored that I've even considered making the time for you."

Appearing in front of Ash, Pikachu growled aggressively at Gary, settling down a little bit when Nebula walked back up to him and placed a wing on his back, but never losing his angry face.

Gary's smirk widened. "Whoa there! Isn't that Pikachu that pathetic starter of yours from before?" Nebula and Valiant both glared, while Eevee simply narrowed her eyes. He put a hand behind his head and laughed a bit. "Guess you still haven't gotten the little thing's behavior under control! I'm surprised you even survived getting this far. You have a taxi surface of bodyguards escorting you past all of the dangers?"

Ash's glare deepened for a moment, but suddenly, the image of the Boulder Badge flashed through his mind…

...No… He wasn't going to get worked up over this. Gary didn't know what he was talking about.

"Or maybe he just realized that you kill the mood wherever you go." Ash spat back.

Gary's brow raised at that. "You're… awfully quippy there, Ashy boy." his face scrunched up. "You better watch what you say."

Hardening his gaze dangerously (at least, he hoped it looked that way) Ash crossed his arms and tried to eye Gary on an even level, doing his best to remain hyper focused on the other Trainer and stand upright in the face of the slightly taller boy.

"Why's… that?" he did his best not to be intimidated. "I have a badge now, I'll have you know. Why should I listen to you." he did his best to ensure that his voice remained even. Trying to hide the anger in his mood, and not come across as though Gary was intimidating him.

Gary's lips tugged upward again. "A badge? From Brock, you mean? What sort of favors did you do for him? How many toilets did you stick your head into? How many boots of his did you kiss before he finally agreed to give you a freebie?"

Ash's fists tightened, and behind him, Valiant began backing away a bit as the tension in the air turned fiercer. Denser. Doing his best to ease up, the boy kept eying Gary.

The other trainer seemed so… relaxed. Like he could do this all day. This was all just a game to him, wasn't it? A game that he had beaten Ash at so many times before… until Ash stopped even trying.

Not trying anymore was a mistake. Ash should have kept arguing back against Gary in the past, but lost all his nerve eventually. Ever since that stupid incident with the Poke Ball…

It didn't really matter much, anyway, he supposed. It's not like he was ever good at arguing back, in the first place, as it ever was. The fact that he had eventually just stopped and given up still did nothing to change that.

But that was still a mistake. And he was done making mistakes. Gary had had his fun for far too long at this point.

"What did you do?" he growled back a bit. Did he sound intimidating? His tone of voice was always so timid by nature. If he came across as squeaky or gentle Gary would probably just be laughing on the inside. "Flash your stupid grin at him, lean against his wall with your arms crossed, and talk to him in your nasally voice that makes him want to throw up until he tossed ten of them at you and told you to get the hell out of his Gym?"

There… that was serviceable… right?

To his surprise (and, to his shame, his delight) Gary's eyes widened. He almost took a step back, but the spikey haired kid stopped himself from doing so, glowering at Ash with blazing fury in his eyes.

The smugness was gone.

"You… you little prick!" His hand went to his belt as a Poke Ball was pulled out and enlarged. "Have the past few weeks seriously been enough for you to suddenly forget your place?! Maybe I'm going to have to remind you of where you stand. It'd be a real shame if your memory had given out from whatever rock you must have tripped on while on the way here."

Ash's glare tightened as Pikachu's cheeks crackled. Nebula and Valiant both began to sink into stances while Eevee, while reacting less, eyed the scene carefully.

"Fine." said Ash. "I won't lose to you this time, so remember that you asked for it."

Gary's grin was back, although it was much more malicious than smug this time. "I think… I'm gonna enjoy this. How many Pokemon do you have?"

"Four." Ash stated simply, gesturing to each of his team.

It was at this point that Gary froze, as if suddenly noticing everybody else that was currently with Ash and Pikachu.

"You… have the same as me…"

Ash wanted to say that he technically had more. That he had an Egg in his backpack. But… no, he wasn't just going to start rubbing things in like that.

Something like that was practically trademarked by Gary in terms of behavior. No way Ash would start practicing it too. He'd get enough satisfaction when he put Gary in his place on the battlefield.

"Something wrong, Gary?" Ash grumbled at the boy's somewhat pale face, Gary's eyes slightly distant.

Shaking his head furiously and then glaring at Ash with a somewhat reddened face, Gary snarled at the boy.

"Nevermind. Let's just get to the Pokemon Center already. And keep your damn tongue in check, you hear me?"

Ash's gaze stiffened as Gary turned around. He waited for the boy to clear a few extra feet between them before he followed.