After that, Ash and Silver started training on the top floor together and went down to battle the random Bellsprout. Eventually, when the sun was going down, Ash and Silver walked out of the tower and went back to town.
As soon as they returned, it did not take long to find Green doing Green things.
As Green looked back and saw them, she smiled and walked over and grabbed the 2 in her arms, pulling them down to her, "Well, what do we have here~ my two favorite boys hanging out, without me, I almost feel betrayed~"
Of course, Ash didn't buy that for a minute, but Silver kind of believed it, he flicked Silver on the head, "She's joking, you really need to learn humor, you're as stale as a three-month piece of bread."
Green giggled, "Yeah, you really do. I swear I've been trying, but you can't take a joke."
"Sorry, I'm still not used to this…" Silver sheepishly scratched his head
Green ruffled Silver's hair, "Come on, you don't need to apologize, you idiot,"
Ash chuckled and looked at his phone, "By the way, since you're both here, I assume you're here for Silver to take on the Gym, right,"
Silver nodded, "Yeah, I wanted to challenge it now, but Green told me I wasn't ready,"
"Dang right, I did. You have 2 Pokemon, and you're barely trained, you're just going to lose and make me look bad," Green said, half serious, half joking.
"I still don't see how, I'm much stronger than I was, Totodile even evolved, aren't I ready yet."
"Ha, how naive thinking they are ready for any challenge, I remember back when we were as inexperienced and naive as him," Ash said, looking like he was in deep thought.
"Wha! We're the same age!" Silver argued
"Actually, Ash is younger than you," Green added in her usual teasing tone
"Right, but even still, you only have one year of experience, how can you say that!" Silver said, letting a bit of his counterpart show.
Ash smiled, "Alright, you want to know, I'm planning on taking on the Gym tomorrow you're more than welcome to come to see it~"
Silver was going to say something, but Green jumped in, "Ohh really, it's been a while since I saw you battle, who are you gonna use, do you have a new team, or are you just going to cheat and use Pikachu,"
"You'll just have to see that for yourself," Ash said, returning her smile
Green grabbed Silver around her arm and brought him into a headlock, "Alright then, Silver, this is perfect for you, we're going to go watch!"
"Okay, but can you let my head go…." Silver said, his voice slightly muffled by Green's arm
Ash chuckled and gave them a pat on their shoulders, "Alright, I'm a go prepare you guys can do whatever you do together, see ya around"
—--
{Next morning}
Ash, Brock, Misty, and Yellow met up and had dinner last night, and in the morning, they were walking to the Gym.
Ash checked on Pikachu, but he was still not up, so he put him in a lighting-resistant blanket and, wrapped him like a burrito, and carried him while everyone was looking concerned since he even refused to eat Ketchup last night.
As they got to the Gym, they saw a familiar blue-haired boy with a Hoothoot on his shoulder tending to some other birds, as they got close, he turned and finally noticed them.
Falkner waved at them, "Oh hey, you guys are here, good to see you again how's things been since 'that'?"
Ash raised his electric mouse, "It's been better, but other than that, everything has been fine,"
"Yesh, that seems bad…" Falkner said, looking over the electric mouse
"Yeah, he just needs some rest," Ash said as he got a baby bottle filled with Ketchup and started feeding Pikachu.
Then another voice called out, "That is both adorable and disgusting,"
From the road, Green and Silver came walking up as Green walked up next to Ash, looking at Pikachu. "So what happened?"
"Don't worry about it," x4, Ash, Brock, Misty, and Falkner said in unison.
Falkner then cleared his throat, "Friends of yours, I assume,"
Ash chuckled, "Wellllll," then getting an elbow in the chest from Green, "*cough*Yeah we're friends,"
"Uhh…ok, well, I suppose I owe you that battle, don't I," Falkner said, brushing past that, "How many badges do you have?"
"None, this is my first battle here in Johto," Ash said, rubbing his chest and handing Pikachu over to Yellow.
"Really? I'm going to assume you're using a new team instead of those other powerful Pokemon. Otherwise, I'm afraid this won't be fair," Falkner said, scratching his cheek and looking sheepish.
"Don't worry about it, yeah, I'm using Pokemon I just started training, so it's going to be fair," Ash said, waving his hand.
Falkner took a sigh of relief, "Ok, that's good, I wanted to give you a truly worthy battle after all your help with 'that.' I'll need a second to get my team ready since I was expecting to use my 7 or 8-badge team,"
Ash nodded, "Alright, go on ahead I'll meet you there,"
As Falkner went in, everyone else was starting to go up to the bleachers to watch the battle, but Ash stopped Misty, grabbing her shoulder, "Hey, Misty, you mind if I borrow something~"
—-
A bit later, the field was set, and everyone was in the bleachers. Yellow had Pikachu and Ash and Falkner standing across from each other as a ref walked into the center.
"This is an official Gym battle for the Violet City Gym. This is a 3 on 3 battle between Falkner and the the challenger, Ash Ketchum. Only the challenger is allowed to switch, and the battle is over when one trainer has no more Pokemon able to battle. Are both sides ready,"
"Yes!" x2 Ash and Falkner said in unison
The ref raised a flag, "Then release your Pokemon and begin!"
Falkner threw out his first Pokemon, a Murkrow, with specifically Super Luck and a Scope Lens as the crow flew up in the air.
Ash released his first Pokemon, being Lapras, as she had specifically Misty's Mystic Water around her neck, but more importantly, she countered Murkrow because of Shell Armor, so its gimmick in this battle was useless.
The battle began as Falkner pointed at Lapras, slightly surprised and slightly frustrated that the Scope Lens was now just dead weight, "Murkrow, so what if we can't crit, [Nasty Plot] then [Dark Pulse]!"
Murkrow's eyes gleamed an evil red color as it shot out a blast of dark energy in the shape of an orb, hitting Lapras in her shell, but she took it just fine.
"Good work now right back at them with a [Ice Beam]!" Ash commanded
Falkner waved his arm and pointed to the sky, "Murkrow evasive maneuvers, don't let it touch you!"
Murkrow began to spin in the air as the beam of Ice was shot into the air, the beam shot in an elegant light show as Murkrow was flying around for its life.
After a moment, Murkrow's right wing had a few frozen feathers, but Murkrow was fine as it shifted its body, flapping its wings and breaking the ice.
Falkner then followed up, "Murkrow now [Air Cutter]!"
Murkrow flapped in the air as Lapras kept shooting around, sending blades of air into Lapras's side, if she didn't have her ability, that would have been a crit.
Lapras took it, and it forced her to look down as the beam of ice froze some of the ground in places as her beam flickered out, making Murkrow have a moment to take a breath, but it was a trap, "[Confuse Ray]!"
Lapras looked back up as a hypnotic beam shot from her and hit the crow by surprise, making It confused.
"Now [Ice Beam] again," Ash said with a smirk
Falkner, in a panic, tried again, "Murkrow evasive maneuvers! Fly!"
As the [Ice beam] came at Murkrow, Murkrow had a confident face ready to dodge as it swiftly moved its wings into a pattern and started its flight…..directly into the [Ice Beam]
Murkrow had its right wing frozen along with taking hard damage, and it was still confused.
Ash extended his arm and looked at Murkrow, "Lapras now [Surf]!"
Water began to be summoned around the ground and stadium as it started adding up,
Murkrow was trying to break out of its ice cast, but it was doing it by literally slamming its head at it.
Meanwhile, the water coiled under Lapras as she began to ride it, getting some air and approaching the crow.
Falkner was yelling commands at Murkrow, but in its confusion, it wasn't paying attention as it kept slamming its head into the Ice. Eventually, it did break, and the headbutt that did it knocked the confusion out of him,
It was about to turn to Falkner for its next move, only to be greeted by a wave of water slamming into his side and sanding him in the wave, spinning like a washing machine. Eventually, it was spit out, but now its feathers were now also wet.
Falkner grit his teeth as Murkrow was in a bad state, but he was still up, which is an important part. He might not be able to take Lapras down, but he can do something.
As Lapras was falling down and landed from the [Surf], Falkner pointed at her, "Murkrow use [Thunder Wave]"
Murkrow ran over and, using the water left on the ground, sent a weak shock at Lapras, as it hit her, it made her body tense up, and she was suddenly paralyzed.
Falkner didn't give them any chance to think, "Murkrow now [Dark Pulse] again!"
Murkrow struggled to get up, but this time, its eyes shined red as it created multiple small spheres of darkness and started hurling them at Lapras one after the other.
Lapras let out a small cry as it got bombarded one after the other, if it wasn't for her ability to negate crits, most of these would have been one, and she probably would have gotten knocked out.
Lapras took the damage, and while she struggled, starting to have her fatigue catch up with her and the paralysis, she was still up and wanted to finish this 1v1,
Ash saw Lapras wasn't willing to go down yet, so with a smile, he clapped his hands together, "Let's end this with a [Brine]!"
Lapras' cute cheeks puffed up with boiling water as she shot it at Murkrow, Murkrow was definitely below half, so this would double.
Murkrow began flying up, trying to dodge the hot water, but with the added weight from the water in his wings, it was a losing battle, so it chose to try and take Lapras down with it,
Murkrow shifted its body as it went into a [Brave Bird] going directly down the center of the hot water as it forced its way down, burning its own wings.
Murkrow struggled to push down harder as Lapras was trying to shoot a stronger blast of water so that Murkrow wouldn't, but then the paralysis from before caused the Muscles in her neck to tense up making her stop for just a moment.
That moment was what Murkrow needed as it shot down, breaking past as its wings were covered in a bright orange Aura and slammed into Lapras. However, Murkrow was already so low that the recoil knocked it out finally.
As Murkrow's body was sent back from the dust from the collision, Lapras was still up, but she was barely up, she was breathing heavily, paralyzed, and hurt, that last attack would have been a crit is the worst part, too.
Falkner returned Murkrow, and Ash did the same with Lapras, she was in no position to keep fighting; if she was out, all she would be was a punching bag since most flying types are fast.
Falkner put Murkrow's ball away and grabbed another, "I must say, this is certainly much more interesting, I thought one of us was going to be overwhelmed,"
Ash also got a new Pokeball, "Please, using my real team would just be boring, it's much more fun to start training up a new team,"
"I can agree to that. However, I'm not going to go down that easily, here's my next," Falkner said, throwing out his Pokeball and releasing a Pidgeotto.
Ash smiled, "Alright, I won't either, but just a warning, this Pokemon is something you've never seen before,"
"How bad could it be?" Falkner said as in the stands, Brock, Misty, and Yellow gave each other a knowing look
"Sssssss…." x 3, they said as Green and Silver looked at them strangely, wondering what the big secret was.
Ash's smile turned into a grin, "Alright then, Onix, show your stuff!"
Falkner, Green, and Silver didn't think much of it; they thought, 'Oh a, Onix, good Pokemon for this,'
But as the Pokeball opened, Onix's shiny body simmered as it glared down at Pidgeotto.
Falkner, Green, Silver: "Ehhh!" Σ(°△°|||)