Pokemon: The Wandering Guardian

...

After waiting a while no one had returned to the Gym, Lan then walked out of the Gym and finally further down the road was four people. There was Ash, Misty, Brock and an Older gentleman who looked exactly like Brock.

Lan approached them and waited for a sec before Ash saw him. Ash remembered him back at Oaks Lab when he got his Pikachu He then yelled excitedly " Hey, Hey guess what I got? I got my first badge!!"

Lan smiled but it was a little forced and walked toward the group " Ash don't you remember my name? I mean I have known you for a couple of months now. You also ate some of my cooking."

Misty asked, " Ash do you know this arrogant guy?"

Brock and the Older Man turned around and watched Lan as he approached.

Ash replied "Um kind of, He was there when I got Pikachu as for the other things I don't remember. " He mumbled the last part while patting his the back of his head trying to remember everything.

Lan made it to the group and put his hand on Ash's shoulder. Ash was not that tall and his head was only at Lan's c.h.e.s.t.

Lan then introduced himself to the group " Hello, my name is Lan Birch I am Pokemon Researcher but currently I am also a trainer who is participating in the Kanto Leauge I came here to challenge the gym today but I saw Ash battling when I arrived."

The others all nodded at this and Misty just snorted and "Humphed"

Lan then turned to Brock and asked: " I was wondering if you could have a match with me?"

Brock sighed and said " I would love to but my Pokemon are tired right now and ... " Looking at the other man " I just stepped down as gym leader so my Dad is now the new Gym Leader"

The other man sighed and stuck out his hand "My name is Flint I will happily accept your battle. Umm, my son informed me that the gym floor still needs cleaning so would you mind if we battle here?"

"No problem sir" as they shook hands and started to head to an open field.

...

Lan and Flint were still heading to open field when Ash, Misty, and Brock were trailing behind them.

Brock then asked, " So Ash what kind of Pokemon Trainer is Lan?"

Shrugging his shoulders and gave a clueless expression

" I don't know I haven't seen any of his pokemon or have seen him battle before. I know he worked in Professor Oak's Lab but that's about it. I know Gary always talks about him like he going to surpass him and win the bet and such."

Misty " Who's Gary?"

Ash " My rival and who I have to beat to become a Pokemon Master," said with an iconic arm pump

Brock then replied to Misty" Gary is the same age as Ash and started from Pallet town and he beat me a couple of days ago. He was in a rush to get to the next Gym."

Ash screamed " WHAT ?! He already left here I need to hurry up."

Misty "Didn't you want to see Lan's match?"

Ash started to calm down and nodded and Pikachu nodded and said " Pika Pika " while pointing to the field where the battle was about to start.

...

Flint " This will be a 1v1 battle and you will not be able to switch Pokemon out. Are there any questions? "

Lan smiled and replied " Nope let us continue"

Flint " Alright Here we go. Go get them Graveler"

"Graveler!!!!!"

Lan smiled and threw out he Pokeball

"Vulpix it is your turn!"

"Vul - pix"

It leaped down and raised its head not looking at its opponent.

Graveler don't keep them waiting to use Rollout!

Graveler immediately started spinning its body rapidly and sped towards Vulpix.

Lan smiled "Vulpix use quick attack." Vulpix immediately charged at the Gravvler. The two pokemon were moving at such speeds and in an instant, they were very close to colliding.

...

On the sidelines

Brock " He using a fire type versus my Father's rock and ground type. Lan knew about it beforehand and still used his fire type. Fire-types are weak against Graveler. I don't understand why people send them out at a Gym that specializes in Rock types. Especially against Dad as he has been training his Graveler for years now."

Misty "Don't tell me he is another one like Ash? Is his pokemon going to be all right?"

"What are you trying to say, Misty?" retorted Ash

" I am saying unknowingly using a weaker type against a Pokemon it does not have the advantage"

Brock " It looks like he knows what he is doing watch"

...

Back at the battle

Vulpix ran straight toward her opponent, right when she was about to collide with him she jumped to the side to dodge the rollout. She then spat a powerful ember at the backside of Graveller. It kept on hitting. Graveler who was still going fast in a straight line, it was trying to turn and go back at its opponent.

Graveller took a little damage from Vulpix's attack and continued to rollout and slowly curved towards its opponent due to its built-up speed. Vulpix stood still staring at Gravvler as it charged at her. Lan then calmly responded, "Jump and use ember on the ground." Vulpix did exactly that. She jumped up and the ground exploded and smoke filled the air.

Graveler was traveling so fast that it disappeared into the smokescreen.

Thunk

Vulpix "Iron tail"

Vulpix who was still in the air tucked in her paws and used the momentum from her jump to twirl around.

Her tail started to glow with a gray hew.

Vulpix then immediately slammed her tail down on the head of the now stuck Graveller.

Boom!

a shocking sound was heard.

When the smoke cleared Graveler could be seen KOed in the middle of a small crater while Vulpix was happily trotting back to Lan.

"Graveller Return " Flint smiled and returned his pokemon to its Pokeball. He then walked over to Lan and shook his hand "That was a great battle even though it was a little short for my liking, it showed me I still have a lot to learn at this age."

He then rustled through his bag and brought out a dusty gym badge and handed it to Lan "Here you go it's a little older but that won't matter"

Lan "Thank you for agreeing to battle me in this short of notice" and shook Flint's hand.

Flint "Now let us go see our spectators"

The two battlers walked back to the group on the sidelines.

Ash was excited after watching such a battle. He was bouncing around and ran up to the two of them.

"Wow that was an awesome battle your pokemon went like SWOOSH then PAK then BANG it was so fast!"

The two people trailing him nodded in agreement.

Brock"It was a fast battle but it was well fought. Your Vulpix seems to be well trained and very healthy. Its fur has a nice l.u.s.ter and seems to be brushed constantly" While looking at the Pokemon who was resting at Lan's feet.

Lan nodded "Yeah my whole crew have been training hard in order to get better. We tried our best to improve so our future adventure will be fun."

The others nodded at this. Ash then stood up and said, " Nothing is going to get in the way of my dream of being a Pokemon Master!!"

Brock " I am going to be the best Pokemon Breeder!!"

Misty also infected by the atmosphere said: " I am going to be a Water Pokemon Master!!"

Lan just smiled he knew that Ash's enthusiasm was infectious back at the Lab but he did not know to what extent.

Ash smacked his hands together like he came to a realization " Lan why don't you travel with us? Brock just joined the group."

Misty snorted "It's not like I wanted to be in the group I am just waiting for Ash to pay me for wrecking my bike" She then turned away.

Lan just raised an eyebrow at this and replied " Maybe some other time I was planning on leaving this afternoon and spend some time at Mt Moon before nightfall then I will be heading to the next town so I don't think it would be best. Since yall don't look like you are packed and ready to head out. I will am sure I will meet you all in the future."

He then picked up his back and followed the road with Vulpix trailing behind him.

Ash and the others were stunned at the abrupt dismissal of Lan and were in silence until Misty broke it saying "What an arrogant guy."

Brock shook his head at the two younger trainers and said " I don't think so he gave us a reasoning and we were going to spend the night here anyway before we go to Mt Moon tomorrow. It will take us a couple hours at least to get there so I can understand him"

Ash " ALRIGHT we will meet him in the future right now I am hungry. Where do we get food?"