A while later, Ash and the gang went their separate ways from the other gang; Green went off with Silver. Kris and Lyra went together since they were sisters, and Casey went off on her own, marching in victory as she kept singing her team's song.
Then there were Ethan and Vincent; they went on their own to race to try and qualify for the league first. They both already had two badges, and they wanted to beat the other one, although there was a subtle hint that Vincent was going to follow along with Kris while Ethan was more serious, even if he was also a goofball.
Brock, Misty, Yellow, and Ash went their own way, mainly led by Ash since he knew where he wanted to go to get what, so they traveled through the day, and it's worth noting that as of now, no one knows what Pokemon Ash caught in the Orange Islands.
Once they finally stopped for camp and set everything up, Brock started bottle feeding Bonsly as he put his Egg safely in his bag next to him. Yellow let all her Pokemon out, and it looked like her Omanyte evolved into an Omastar over the break.
Meanwhile, Brock and Misty's teams didn't change, but it looked like Misty got a Poliwag. But other than that, everything stayed the same.
As for Ash, when they stopped for camp, he finally threw out his Pokemon, besides the ones he saved from Kanto to use now: Oddish, Zubat, Growlithe, and Vulpix.
There was the Pokemon that caught them by surprise: Lapras, Snorlax, Togepi, and Fuecoco for obvious reasons, but with just that, it didn't knock their socks off.
Brock walked up next to Ash, "Looks like you got some good Pokemon, but a Snorlax? Are you sure we have the supplies for that?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it, still got that Oak Black card, we don't have to worry about feeding this big guy," Ash said, patting Snorlax's stomach as he was sleeping peacefully, as he did, his hand sunk inside, it was almost like memory foam.
Obviously, they saw how soft it looked, so Yellow walked over and leaned on Snorlax, almost falling inside, "Wow, he's so warm and soft…"
Misty, upon seeing Yellow do that, went over and got on his stomach and relaxed, "Hey, you're right, this feels nice…like a teddy bear…I could take a nap right here,"
Ash and Brock looked at each other looking, concerned, "Well, that's fine, but we're going to make dinner. I don't think you'll want to be next to him then…"
"Mhhh, I'll deal with that later…just let me take a nap here…" Misty said as she started dozing off.
Brock wanted to say something but stopped when Ash put his hand on his shoulder, "Don't bother, let her live with what's going to happen, anyway, I have one more Pokemon I wanted to show you." Ash said as Fuecoco was riding in his hood.
Brock sighed helplessly but nodded, "Alright, what Pokemon is it? Can't be any more impressive than a Pokemon from all the way from Paldea,"
Ash smiled as he held up one more Pokeball, "Well, it's an Onix,"
Brock's non-existent eyes lit up, "Oh really, an Onix, that's great I can help you train it too, bring it out I want to see what we're looking with!"
Ash smiled and tossed it out as the light from the Pokeball released a large snake-like creature, but instead of the grey, rough, rocky skin it usually has, it had a light blue, shiny, and smooth crystal body.
Immediately, Brock's eyes opened in shock, his actual eyes, this is something he's never seen, heard, or even dreamed of, "A-a-a-a-sh, that's the Onix you're talking about?"
Ash smiled innocently, acting like nothing was wrong as he pat the big snake, "Yep, caught this big guy over in the Orange Islands, real interesting place, and this guy also loves water like yours,"
Brock looked like his brain was about to fry, he only snapped out of it when Bonsly headbutted him because the bottle ran out, "Oof… right thanks Bonsly… so, Ash this Onix… it…"
"Yeah, it's entirely made of crystal," Ash said casually, "Don't know if it's a new species or something, but that's just how I found it,"
Brock got Bonsly on his lap and just decided to sit down for a bit, Onix looked at Ash confused, thinking he did something wrong, Ash just shrugged back, "I dunno, he's acting kinda weird, I guess I'm cooking for everyone alone,"
Fuecoco looked excited, "Coco!"
"Oh, you wanna help?" Ash asked, to which he nodded happily, "Alright, let's get started," he said as he rolled up his sleeves
—
Later, as Ash was starting to prepare food, he set apart a big pot where he was making a large curry specifically only for Snorlax; you see, Snorlax train in a strange way..they don't.
The way they get stronger is entirely dependent on two things: the quality of food they eat and how much they have to eat. In the wild, they have to eat more, which you'd think would be better, but it's not because it gives them less time to process the food.
So, to train a Snorlax, it needs to eat and then sleep, and it will naturally get stronger, in fact, training it actually makes things worse, which also means the only real way to Ev train them is with Pokeblocks.
As he was thinking that, Fuecoco lit up the fire to start cooking it, and Ash put a lid on it to not let the aroma get to Snorlax too soon as he went back to cooking for everyone else.
As he started cooking, he saw his Pokemon starting to get ready seeing him cook, and eventually, Brock accepted the reality that a new Onix was here and went over to help with the cooking as well, but Misty and Yellow were napping on Snorlax still along with a bunch of other Pokemon.
As time went on, he eventually went back to the pot and opened it to stir and add more ingredients at that point, the fragrance came out and flew over to Snorlax, as soon as he smelled the aroma of good food, his eyes lit up, and he got up knocking all the Pokemon and Misty and Yellow off from him.
"Waaaa!!!" everyone that was thrown off by Snorlax yelled as they hit the floor.
Snorlax didn't bother looking at them as he rushed forward to Ash and Brock cooking. He was about to reach down to take the food Brock was preparing since that was the first thing he could see, but before that, Ash slapped his hand.
"Hey, Snorlax, that one isn't for you, that one is," Ash said, pointing to the large pot where the delicious smell was coming from,
Snorlax didn't complain at all as he smelled the food and walked over, seeing it was a delicious Curry. He was about to grab it, but Ash stopped him again.
"Snorlax, it's not ready yet, give it a few more minutes!" Ash said, putting some Aura into his hand as he patted Snorlax
Snorlax calmed down and nodded happily like a kid before sitting down. Waiting over by Brock, Misty and Yellow walked over, holding their backs after falling off Snorlax.
Misty grunted, "Oh come on, he made a Snorlax wait for food, this is just getting ridiculous."
Brock sighed, "But if anyone could do it, it is probably Ash, right," at this point, after seeing the Crystal Onix, if Ash said he could fly, he might believe him.
Yellow nodded but was starting to heal Misty, "Still, I wished he woke us up so we didn't fall,"
A moment later, once Misty's back was better, she sighed happily, "Still, it was comfy sleeping on Snorlax,"
Ash, they discussed that Ash had Fuecoco stop shooting fire, and he put handles on the side of the pot, "Alright, Snorlax, here's yours,"
As soon as he said that, Snorlax grabbed the pot, not even caring about the heat since he did have Thick Fat, and he started guzzling it down happily. It took a few seconds, but eventually, Snorlax put the pot down, giving a satisfied sigh.
"Snorrrrr…(─‿‿─)," he said, rubbing his stomach.
Then Snorlax grabbed Ash and hugged him tightly; Ash didn't fight back, enjoying the sensation even if he could feel that he was getting crushed and probably got a broken rib.
After he was put down, Ash had to take a moment to steady himself as he patted Snorlax, "Alright, bud, go get some sleep,"
Snorlax smiled as he walked over to a nice, comfy tree and laid down, falling asleep immediately.
Ash stumbled over to the table set up and sat down, almost falling, everyone looked over at him as Yellow asked, "Are you ok?"
Ash waved his hand, "Yeah, I'm fine, Snorlax just is a tight hugger, I think he broke a rib, but it's fine, it's only the 3rd most painful hug I've ever had,"
They were about to panic, but they realized Ash said that last part with full seriousness, so they dropped it, but Yellow did still walk over and put a hand on Ash to heal him.
—-
After they all ate, they started relaxing. There was still sun, but not for much longer. But as they relaxed, suddenly, they heard some ruffling from the forest, they weren't worried since they still had their Pokemon out.
And from there, Rattata jumped out, looking around as if in a panic, and the reason why was made clear as beyond it came a Chikorita wearing a yellow headband and a purple-haired girl that was wearing her yellow uniform, Casey.
"Rattata is trying to steal, but star hitter Chikorita won't let that happen!" Casey said, "Chikorita, decide the outcome with a straight shot! That's it, use [Tackle]!"
Chikorita started running, but because Casey spent so much time talking, Rattata easily dodged,
But Casey didn't give up, "The first throw was a bad one, but Chikorita still has a second chance! Chikorita, use another [Tackle]!"
Chikorita didn't waste time and rushed forward, hitting the rat and knocking it out, finally.
"Success! Rattata was defeated by Chikorita's direct attack! It's time to be captured now!"Casey said as she threw the ball and caught Rattata easily.
From the side, everyone was watching as Casey started singing the Electabuzz theme song, Yellow was looking especially….let's say, concerned.
She leaned over to Ash, "Was that how I was when I caught Ratty?"
"Less singing and more acting like a Headless Chicken, but yeah pretty much," Ash said bluntly, making Yellow blush in embarrassment seeing how different things became after she learned, she couldn't even imagine acting like that anymore.
Then Casey stopped singing and finally noticed them as her eyes lit up, and she ran towards them, specifically Ash and Yellow, who both had their Pikachu out, "It's you two! The guys who have those super cute and fluffy Pikachu!"
Ash and Yellow sweated helplessly since it hadn't even been 5 hours since they saw each other, but she only remembered them as trainers with Pikachu.
As Casey was fangirling over Pikachu and Chuchu, Casey felt a lightbulb go off in her head.
"Hey, battle me!" Casey said confidently
Everyone: "..."
Casey scoffed and nodded confidently, "Yeah, I want to battle an experienced trainer, this is a Pokemon battle there is no difference between a Rookie and an experienced trainer! So I will beat you!"
Ash had to hold back a laugh, and he could see Misty glaring at him as if telling him not to do it, but behind her, Brock was also holding back a laugh, and when she noticed, she pulled on his ear.
Ash took a breath, "Ok, but first, do you want me to use new Pokemon or-"
"No way, don't underestimate me, use your strong Pokemon!" Casey said with full confidence.
Ash was really trying his best not to laugh, so he looked at Pikachu, "Hey bud, take care of this one and go easy on her she doesn't know what she's doing,"
Pikachu sighed and walked up on two legs, not four like he usually does. Casey seemed happy and pulled out a Pokeball, "Don't think because your Pikachu is adorable, I'll go easy on you!"
"Sure, let's do this," Ash said, finally getting his Composure back
{1 minute later}
Casey was on her knees, almost having an existential crisis; she was beaten so easily Ash didn't even call out on Pikachu to use attacks.
Ash walked over and leaned down close to her, "What's wrong, You crying?"
Misty was about to go over and yell at Ash, but Brock stopped her, knowing what Ash was doing.
Casey flinched and looked like she was about to run away, but Ash stopped her, "What's wrong, you lost once, and your're torn up about it, that's stupid,"
"S-shut up, you don't know I have more than just myself I'm fighting for, my family there cheering me on, and I-" Casey said, her voice shaky.
Ash flicked her on the head, "And what are you gonna give up? What about the Electabuzz they come in last every year, but they don't give up, there's no such thing as starting strong, everyone becomes strong their own way, and losing is something that helps us grow,"
Casey looked up at Ash, "B-but…I'm the only other thing they're rooting for, how can I-"
"Casey, you're not listening. Losing is natural, and being weak is ok, staying weak isn't, you want to prove them right in believing in you, then get stronger, learn from your loss, and just like the Electabuzz, don't give up,"
Casey wiped her nose. She didn't even realize she was crying; she looked over at Chikorita, who was shakily getting up and nodded at her encouragingly, "You're right. I shouldn't give up, and I won't!"
Casey got up, "I'll get better, and next time, Ash, I'll beat you!"
Ash gave a smile, "I look forward to seeing you try,"