Ash's Journeys: Kanto

Finding the Cure For Poison

Ash POV

I walked down to the city park as usual to figure out my strategy for this next gym fight. Poison types were weak to Ground and Psychic type moves, something I could definitely work with. However, type advantages weren't everything, especially with gym leaders who trained specifically to help minimize their weaknesses to those types.

The battle was going to be a two on two, so it would make sense to bring Gabite, being Ground type. However, I wasn't too sure on who else to bring with me. Even though Larvitar was Ground type, he didn't know any Ground type moves, so it wouldn't make too much of a difference.

'Who do you think I should take with me to the battle, Pikachu?' I asked.

'Well, obviously you take Gabite, and from there you can pick anyone to be honest. You could take Larvitar, Squirtle, or one of the newer Pokemon to help them get some experience in high stakes battles. It would be a good learning experience for them and you'd still have Gabite in case things start to go wrong.'

I gave Pikachu a surprised look, genuinely surprised.

'What?' the Pokemon asked indignantly. 'I can give good advice if I want to.'

With a slight chuckle, I decided to start training training my Pokemon. Out of everyone, Larvitar definitely had the least amount of experience battling. While Squirtle had yet to participate in a gym battle, I knew that he was a competent battler, Larvitar had shown grit during previous battle, but there were a lot of things to improve with it's technique and skill, things that battling would definitely help with.

Once everything was set, I let out Gabite and Larvitar, getting them both up to speed. Then I informed them what they would each be working on, as I had planned out different things for them. While I'd never say this to Gabite's face, he had to work on his power and brute force. He relied to much on his small size and agility as a Gible which would not work well as a Gabite and eventually a Garchomp. Specializing in natural skills would be more beneficial, while the added bonus of the training in the agility would definitely prove to be handy.

Larvitar was also in the same boat, using agility and it's small size to it's advantage. However, this would be fine for now as power and finesse weren't things that Larvitar would be able to work on now in it's current evolution or in the time we had today. So, he was going to work on his agility as well as his aim with Rock Throw, something that I had noticed to be very poor in his debut against Surge.

I had Poliwag help Gabite out with his drills, creating ice blocks for Gabite to break and bite through. I had Gabite progressively increase the intensity to see exactly where he stood, and I found out that he was able to smash through a 140 pound block of ice and bite through a 6 inch thick block of ice.

I had him work on some more drills to help him in those areas before turning my attention to Larvitar, who had Bulbasaur and Squirtle working with him. I had Bulbasaur use Razor Leaf to help Larvitar with his agility and dodging while having Squirtle create bubble ring for Larvitar to toss rocks into. 

By the time we had finished, it was well after sunset, and I trudged back to the Pokemon Center with Pikachu on my shoulder. He had somehow found some ketchup packets at the park, so now my right shoulder looked like it had been stabbed by a knife.

With the gym battle tomorrow, I had to make sure I got some rest before I had to wake up early in the morning. I decided to make a quick stop one of the Pokemon Center's PCs to call my mom and Professor Oak.

After a short conversation with my mom and convincing her over and over that I was perfectly fine, I called Professor Oak.

He picked up the call after a few seconds and his face popped up on the screen.