Universal: Kanto Adventure

Chapter 2: New Friends and Meeting a Rival part 1

Ashley stretched her arms and giggled when Conall tried to copy her. He ended up tripping over his own paws. Esther was currently in her Poké Ball since she didn't feel like flying. "Alright buddy, let's go find a lake and catch ourselves a Magikarp." She said excitedly as Conall barked in agreement.

After passing many Pidgey, and Rattata, they finally spotted a lake. There seemed to be a redheaded girl that looked to be her age there. She was currently throwing a Magikarp back into the water in frustration. "Hello there," Ashley said, making the girl jump at the sudden noise.

The redhead gave her a sheepish look. "Sorry about that; I didn't think anyone else was out here."

Ashley just gave her a smile. "That's alright. Say, my name is Ashley Ketchum and this is my partner, Conall. I was wondering if it would be alright for us to fish here?"

The girl smiled. "Of course you can. I have to warn you, though; there's mostly Magikarp in this area. My name's Misty Waterflower, by the way." She introduced herself.

Ashley just gave Misty a wide grin as she got her old fishing rod ready. "That's just the Pokémon I wanted to catch for my team. I just love their evolved form, which is called Gyarados."

Misty gave off a shiver at that and Ashley raise her brow at her. "Afraid of them?" She asked her.

Misty nodded. "Yeah, ever since I saw one when I was a little girl, their appearance terrified me and the stories I heard about them afterwards didn't help." The Waterflower girl explained. Ashley hummed as she released her fishing pole into the lake. Misty gave the other girl a look. "So what are your goals while travelling?" She asked her.

Ashley turned her eyes while paying attention to her fishing rod. "Well, first is to get my Pokémon strong so it would be easier to travel anywhere, which I can do by battling Gyms and getting their Badges. I prepared myself before I left, making sure to know the rules and how different they are from a regular battle. After that, I'm not sure. Maybe challenge the League or something. Maybe take a year off after the Gyms to get stronger before the League. I'd like to be strong enough to get there, unlike others from my hometown, who only want to rush ahead of things unprepared." She explained and hummed to herself while looking to see Conall huffing next to her.

Misty sighed and turned to her own rod, knowing it was useless to get any Pokémon that weren't Magikarp. Guess she would have to get moving soon. She jumped when she heard Ashley gave an excited yell and saw her pole shaking and moving around in the water.

Conall barked readily as a big dark red Magikarp jumped out of the water with a splash. Conall barked out a challenge for his human and the Magikarp accepted with a cry of 'karp!"

"Alright, Conall get ready and use Tackle attack on that Magikarp!" She said sternly.

Conall nodded his head in affirmative and took a running start and managed to slam into the fish Pokémon. Conall yelped in surprise when the Water type dodged using Splash. Ashley just grinned and said: "Ember, Conall."

Conall barked, inwardly he was confused as to why his human asked him to use a Fire attack on a Water type, but did as he was asked and blew out a strong burst of fireballs.

The Magikarp cried out in pain as flashes of fire burned through its scales, burned by the Ember.

Ashley grinned in triumph as the fire move did its job, slowing it down. "Now Conall, use Tackle full power!" She said a bit loudly.

Conall barked and gave out a burst of speed as he slammed into the fish Pokémon, effectively making it a bit dazed. Taking out a Poké Ball, Ashley threw it hard enough and the Magikarp was sucked in. All three present watched, tense as the ball shook once, twice, and then finally after the third time, it pinged. It was a successful catch. Conall took the ball in his mouth and went up to his human, tail wagging as she gave him a gentle rub on the head.