So it was pointed out to me by PutsAsideDevil that Ash should technically be nicknaming his Pokémon in order to comply with the rules of the Nuzlocke Challenge. I looked it up and the rule isn't really enforced but most people do it anyway. I've considered doing it for Ash, but it doesn't really work here. Not only would I have to come up with nicknames for all of the Pokémon Ash gets, I would also have to come up with nicknames for every Pokémon belonging to the other trainers taking part. Also, if Ash was just having a team of six then it would probably be OK, but he'll be catching as many Pokémon as he can so that he has reserves and switch-ins and it could all get a little confusing, so sorry but it ain't happening!

Pokémon Anime Nuzlocke Challenge!

Chapter 3: A Full Team of Six!

At the sound of footsteps entering their cavern, the colony of wild Zubat broke free from their roost and swooped down en masse to attack the intruders.

"Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball and Razor Wind, now!"

A flash of electricity, a blob of shadow energy and a blade of pressurised air all shot through the cavern and collided with the incoming swarm. Panicked, the colony wheeled about and fled.

"Nice work guys," said Ash as he stepped deeper into the cavern.

His three Pokémon, Pikachu, Gengar and Absol followed him. They were still deep inside the Rock Tunnel and had been making their way through it for hours. However they had used their time well, gaining strength through battling with the many wild Pokémon found within the cave system. The three Pokémon were beginning to gel as a team and Ash, as their trainer, was really coming to grips with the strengths and weaknesses of each Pokémon.

"Man, this place is a real maze," commented Ash as he stepped into the centre of the cavern.

There were five tunnels leading off in different directions, well, six if you counted the one that Ash and his Pokémon had just travelled through.

"Any of you guys got a clue where we should go next?" Ash asked his Pokémon.

Gengar drifted off through a wall and disappeared from sight. About a minute later he reappeared out of the second tunnel to the left and beckoned the others over.

The path that they now travelled was sloping slowly downwards. Ash took that to be a good sign as so far they seemed to have done nothing but go uphill.

After a while they came out into another wide cavern where a group of several wild Cubone scattered at their sudden arrival.

There were two tunnels leading off from this chamber and Absol sniffed the air before selecting one of them. Ash could soon tell why, as the air seemed to be getting a lot fresher as they made their way along the underground pathway.

Before long the pathway opened up into another chamber. As luck would have it there was actual sunlight streaming through an opening at the opposite end and Ash and his three Pokémon promptly made for it.

Warm sunlight hit their bodies, removing the chill caused by spending so much time underground. Well, except for Gengar of course as he was meant to always be cold.

"Right," said Ash as he rubbed some warmth back into his right arm. "This is Route 10 so we can catch a new Pokémon here."

"Pika pi!" said Pikachu and pointed to a river flowing nearby.

"Great idea Pikachu. We need a water type on our team."

So Ash and his Pokémon set themselves down onto the riverbank and Ash pulled his fishing rod out of his bag. He cast the lure into the water and sat back to wait.

The bite came a lot sooner than Ash had expected and the hooked Pokémon pulled with such force that the rod was nearly pulled right out of Ash's hands.

Ash stood and planted his feet firmly on the ground and pulled back hard. The hooked Pokémon fought hard but Ash managed to swing around and haul it up onto the bank.

It was a Seaking, a Pokémon that looked like an oversized goldfish. It had a red body with white fins, black markings and a large horn jutting out the top of its head.

The Seaking used its powerful fins to push itself upright and then fired an orb of water from its mouth.

Gengar had already taken up its position at the front of the group and shielded them all from the Water Pulse attack with a Protect of his own.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!" shouted Ash.

Pikachu jumped towards Seaking, his tail taking in a metallic glow.

Seaking met the attack with one of its own –Poison Jab.

Pikachu's tail hit the side of Seaking's body, only for the water type to twist its body and jab its horn, which was now glowing purple, into Pikachu's side.

Pikachu rolled away and stood up, only for a crackle of purple energy to pulse up through his body, indicating that he'd been poisoned by Seaking's attack.

"Thunder Wave," ordered Ash.

Pikachu's red cheeks crackled and a jolt of electricity shot out of each electric pouch. The electricity formed a ring and surrounded Seaking, paralyzing it.

"Now use Quick Attack!"

Pikachu bounded at high speed towards Seaking and tackled it.

As the effects of poison ran through Pikachu's body Ash took out a pokéball and threw it.

Once the water type was caught, Ash heaved a sigh of relief and handed Pikachu a Pecha berry from his pocket to cure him of poisoning.

As Pikachu happily munched on the berry Ash pulled out his Town Map and looked it over.

"Come on guys, there's a Pokémon centre to the north."

Seated in the Pokémon centre whilst waiting for his Pokémon to be healed by Nurse Joy and her Chansey, Ash decided to look in on how the other trainers were doing.

While the rest area had only one television there were also several computers where trainers could do research. It wasn't difficult to find a website dedicated to explaining every detail about the ongoing Nuzlocke challenge, including each trainer's progress.

While no one had yet challenged a gym they were all making progress without anyone being knocked out of the running.

Ash soon found his own profile, which detailed his past accomplishments as well as a full listing of the Pokémon that he had caught throughout his various adventures. But the main part of his profile was dedicated to his current performance in the Nuzlocke challenge.

Pikachu, Gengar and Absol were all listed as his active Pokémon, with their abilities and currently known moves listed beneath.

Even as he read the page updated to add in his newly caught Seaking.

He clicked a link to May's profile to see how his friend was doing. She had added three Pokémon to her party as well – a Cubone caught in the Rock Tunnel, a Linoone caught on Route 10 and, of all things, a Pikachu that she caught in the nearby Power Plant!

Ash made a mental note to go to the Power Plant. There were many electric Pokémon found in and around that building and it would be handy to have a second electric type to fall back on should anything happen to his own Pikachu.

Not that he liked to think about such things.

May's current location was listed as being Route 9 and a video screen in the corner of the page showed that she was in a battle. Ash clicked on the full screen button and the entire screen was covered by the video, which showed May and her Cubone battling a wild female Nidoran.

May's Cubone attacked with a Bone Club attack and the Nidoran stumbled. A moment later May had caught it.

Ash closed the video, frowning. May was now one Pokémon ahead of him. He needed to get his finger out, just as soon as his team was healed.

He checked on Serena, who had started in his home town, Pallet Town. She had caught a Staryu by fishing from the small beach in the south part of the town and had then headed up along Route 1 where she caught a Pidgey before making her way into Viridian City where she had again done some fishing and caught a Poliwag.

Serena's current position was listed as being the Viridian City Pokémon Centre.

Before Ash could check on any more of his friends and rivals he got a call to say that his Pokémon were healed and ready to go.

After collecting them, he made straight for the Power Plant.

Even from a distance it was easy to see all the electric Pokémon surrounding the functioning Power Plant. They were all drawn there by the electricity generated within the building.

Ash looked over the Pokémon gathered there and asked Pikachu which one they should approach for their encounter.

Pikachu was puzzled. Mostly the Pokémon gathered consisted of Voltorb and Magnemite, though there were one or two wild Pikachu scuttling about as well.

Quite unexpectedly the decision was made for them when a Magneton snuck up on them from behind, evidently attracted to Pikachu's natural electricity.

"That'll do!" said Ash, enthusiastically.

There was, of course, a slight problem. Due to Magenton's electric/steel typing, there was very little that Pikachu could do to it as Thunderbolt, Electro Ball, Volt Tackle, Quick Attack and Iron Tail were all resisted by Magneton.

Absol couldn't do much either as the Magneton was resistant to both Razor Wind and Play Rough. Night Slash was an option, but not the best.

Gengar would struggle as well as Shadow Ball would do very little and Sludge Bomb would do nothing.

Seaking, being a water type, was a no go altogether!

In the end Ash sent in Absol and hoped for the best.

"Night Slash!"

The horn on Absol's head turned black as the disaster Pokémon pounced on Magneton, dragging the horn against the electric/steel type's body.

Magneton rotated its three sections, its three eyes regarding Absol without expression. Suddenly three orbs appeared in front of Magneton, one in front of each eye. One was icy blue, one a fiery red and the last an electrical yellow.

"That's Tri Attack! Absol, use Detect!"

As Magneton fired all three orbs, Absol's eyes lit up and the orbs passed by it harmlessly.

"Razor Wind!"

Absol swung his head and sent a blade of pressurised air towards Magneton.

Magneton took the full brunt of the attack but remained floating in the air, completely unfazed.

"This isn't working," commented Ash before holding up Absol's pokéball and calling it back.

He took out Gengar's pokéball and opened it up, calling out "Gengar, use Shadow Ball!"

The ghost type appeared and threw a shadow ball at Magneton. The attack looked like it did more than anything Absol had done, but Magneton still seemed rather unfazed as blue electricity crackled around the magnets that protruded from its body.

Magneton's Shock Wave attack struck Gengar hard, but the ghost type held out.

"Use Shadow Ball again, then follow up with Hypnosis!" ordered Ash.

Gengar threw out another Shadow Ball, which hit Magneton forcefully before waving his arms in a hypnotic pattern as his eyes glowed a sinister red.

Magneton's three eyes drooped and the electric/steel type sank to the ground as sleep took it.

Ash grabbed one of his empty great balls and threw it. Magneton vanished inside and the button clicked, indicating that Magneton was caught.

Ash took his hat off and wiped at his forehead. "That was a tough one."

After a brief stop at the Pokémon centre on Route 10, Ash and Pikachu ventured westward on Route 9.

This was where May had caught her Nidoran and in all honesty Ash was hoping to have similar luck. While he already had Gengar for poison type attacks, a male Nidoran would eventually evolve into a Nidoking while a female one would become a Nidoqueen. Both were part ground types and either one would make an excellent addition to his team as a result.

With that thought in mind, Ash had taken to higher ground. Rather than wander through the grass and few trees in order to try and find a random Pokémon, he and Pikachu were sitting on a high plateau of rock surveying the scene below them, waiting to catch a glimpse of a Nidoran of either gender.

The moment they spotted one they would make straight for it, making sure that it was their first encounter for Route 9. Both trainer and Pokémon were determined. Even if the Nidoran tried to escape they would chase it all the way to Cerulean City if they needed to.

The problem with this plan, however, was that the Nidoran of the route were not upholding their end of the bargain and were outright refusing to put in an appearance.

Ash checked his watch and saw that it was four in the afternoon. They had been sitting there for two hours now and Pikachu had curled up and gone to sleep a while ago.

Taking out his Pokédex, Ash decided to pass a little time by fully examining his team, including his two newest captures.

The main screen of the Pokédex lit up and Ash tapped his finger against an icon of a pokéball. The screen changed to show six white squares, each one representative of a Pokémon that was in a slot of his active party. An image of a Pikachu was in the first square, followed by Gengar, Absol, Seaking and Magneton in their own squares. The sixth square was empty as he hadn't yet filled the sixth slot of his party.

Ash tapped the image of Pikachu and a new screen loaded up relating to his Pikachu.

Pikachu.

Gender: Male.

Type: Electric.

Ability: Static.

Attacks: Thunderbolt, Quick Attack, Iron Tail, Electro Ball, Volt Tackle, Thunder Wave, - - -, - - -.

Well that confirmed that the Pokédex was working accurately. The - - - sections under the attacks listing indicated vacant move slots for Pikachu. Ash realised that he would have to seriously think about which two moves he would teach to Pikachu to fill those slots. Perhaps he should have Pikachu go back to learning Agility…

He places his finger on the screen and swiped to the left, changing the screen from Pikachu to Gengar.

Gengar.

Gender: Male.

Type: Ghost/Poison.

Ability: Levitate.

Attacks: Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, Hypnosis, Protect, - - -, - - -, - - -, - - -.

So Gengar had four vacant move slots. Perhaps Ash could get it to learn Dream Eater to go with Hypnosis. He remembered how Agatha had used that attack combo to devastating effect on him and Pikachu shortly after they had returned to Kanto from their journey through the Hoenn region.

He swiped at the screen again.

Absol.

Gender: Male.

Type: Dark.

Ability: Justified.

Attacks: Night Slash, Razor Wind, Detect, Play Rough, - - -, - - -, - - -, - - -.

Ash had no idea what the ability Justified was meant to do so he tapped on it with his finger and Absol's status page faded slightly as a small box of text appeared over part of it.

Justified – This Pokémon's attack is raised slightly if it is hit by a dark type attack such as Snarl, Pursuit or Bite. The effects end if the Pokémon is withdrawn from battle or if the battle ends.

Ash made sure to make a note of that. It could prove useful if he was fighting a Pokémon like Sneasel or Mightyena.

He swiped the screen to load up the status screen of his next Pokémon.

Seaking.

Gender: Male.

Type: Water.

Ability: Water Veil.

Attacks: Water Pulse, Poison Jab, Waterfall, Fury Attack, - - -, - - -, - - -, - - -.

Ash was surprised that he had somehow caught all male Pokémon. But as he thought about it he realised that that was actually rather normal for him. Of all of his Pokémon, the only ones he was certain were female were Bayleef, Snivy, Unfezant and the Aipom that he had traded to Dawn. Apart from that he didn't really know if he had many other females. It wasn't something that he had ever bothered checking, though now that he thought about it, Pidgeot, Lapras, Noctowl, Swellow, Gliscor and Goodra may have been female as well.

Magneton.

Gender:?.

Type: Electric/Steel.

Ability: Magnet Pull.

Attacks: Tri Attack, Shock Wave, Thunder Wave, Mirror Shot, Metal Sound, - - -, - - - , - - -.

Okay, so maybe he didn't have all male Pokémon. Though the whole "genderless" thing did beg the question "How does Magneton not become extinct?"

Regardless, Magneton was certainly a useful addition to his team as Mirror Shot would do plenty of damage to rock, ice and fairy types.

A rustle in some grass near the plateau of rock Ash was sitting on drew his attention, but whatever it was, it didn't come out and soon the rustling stopped.

Ash sighed as he tucked his Pokédex back into his pocket before looking over at the napping Pikachu.

A nap, he decided, sounded like an excellent idea and laid back on the rock before pulling his cap down so that the peak covered his eyes.

The peaceful air of the early evening was interrupted by a startled yell that send Pokémon all around scampering and fluttering towards their burrows, hollows and nests.

Ash had rolled over in his sleep and fallen off of the rocky plateau. Fortunately his fall was broken by several thick bushes saving him from serious injury, though he was scratched and bruised.

"Ouch…" he groaned as he crawled away from the bush.

Suddenly the bush next to him rustled violently and a Pokémon burst out of it, looking very angry.

But it wasn't a Nidoran.

"It's a Venomoth…" Ash said to himself as he got to his feet. Not exactly what he was hoping for, but it would certainly prove useful.

"Magneton, I choose you!" he shouted, throwing out Magneton's ball.

The moment Magneton appeared, the bug type Venomoth beat it wings and blew a cloud of purple coloured pollen at Magneton. Ash easily identified the attack as Poison Powder. Fortunately Magneton's steel typing made it completely immune to poison attacks.

"Mirror Shot!" ordered Ash.

A blue aura surrounded Magneton's body before collecting as an orb in front of it. The orb then shot like a bullet at Venomoth and hit it hard.

Venomoth reeled from the attack but quickly returned fire with a Bug Buzz attack. Unfortunately for it, the attack barely did anything to Magneton, whose steel typing was really coming in handy for it.

"Tri Attack!"

Three orbs formed before Magneton, one in front of each of its eyes. One was red, one was light blue and one was yellow. Magneton then fired all three orbs at Venomoth, with the red one hitting first, followed by the yellow one and finally the blue one.

As it impacted, the blue orb expanded and enveloped Venomoth, covering its entire body in ice.

Ash let out a whoop of joy and called out "Nice job, Magneton. You froze it."

He took out a great ball and threw it, catching Venomoth with ease.

Ash took out his Pokédex and examined his newest capture.

Venomoth.

Gender: Female

Type: Bug/Poison

Ability: Tinted Lens

Attacks: Poison Powder, Bug Buzz, Quiver Dance, Confusion, Supersonic, -, -, -.

Ash had to admit he was impressed. Bug Buzz would come in handy against dark and psychic types while Confusion would do plenty of damage to poison and fighting types.

All in all, Venomoth was a pretty decent addition to his team. True, capturing Venomoth meant that he would not be getting a Nidoran on that particular route, but there were plenty of other places throughout the Kanto region where they could be found.

Pikachu hopped up onto his shoulder as he recalled Magneton to its ball. Together they then returned the shot distance to the Pokémon centre on Route 10.

A good night's sleep was in order before they continued along Route 9 and made it to Cerulean City.

Ash wondered if he should challenge the gym in Cerulean City. He looked forward to seeing the Gym Leader, Misty, again as it had been a few years. But was he ready actually challenge her to a gym battle?

Before starting on this challenge, he had been told that the Gym Leaders were not going to hold back at all and would be using full teams of six against challengers.

Misty, Ash knew, was a water type specialist, meaning that he likely had a distinct advantage against her, what with having both Pikachu and Magneton on his side. Not only that, his team was rather strong. Each of them was a pretty decent Pokémon and they all had a variety of moves that could come in useful, so there wasn't so much of a problem there.

The problem was that he didn't really have much of a bond going with half of his team. While he and Pikachu had gelled pretty well with Gengar and Absol during their travel through the Rock Tunnel, he still needed to develop a relationship with Magneton, Seaking and Venomoth.

Hopefully that would happen as they travelled along the route to Cerulean City and he'd be able to take on Misty for his first badge of the challenge.

As he got into the bed he had rented for the night, he wondered if anyone else in the challenge felt ready to challenge a gym yet.

I was as surprised as you are that the number generator churned out so many decent Pokémon in a row for Ash. While I was admittedly hoping for a Quagsire capture on Route 10, Seaking will do very well. And yes, I was hoping that Ash would end up with a Nidoran on Route 9, but Venomoth is fine.

For those of you who are feeling grouchy at Ash having such strong Pokémon from the off, all I can say is wait a bit. I've used the generator to determine what Ash will be catching on every single route and in every city in Kanto, and there are a few duds to come!

Anyway, in the next chapter should be challenging Misty to battle. It's been a few years since she was last seen in the anime. What new moves will her Pokémon know? And will she own anything new? You'll just have to wait and see!

(Hopefully it won't take so long to get the next chapter out!)