When Ash had been little, he'd seen Growlithe all over the place. They'd been a favorite pet, both in real life and TV, and they'd always been pictured as some of the sweetest, smartest Pokemon around. Not only that, but Arcanine like Professor Oak's also showed that they could also be very, very strong.

The one Ash had caught?

Wasn't acting like that at all!

His Growlithe was disobedient, and didn't care about battling at all, much less spending any time with Ash. It (she, as he'd quickly found out) wouldn't even go to the bathroom where he said.

"Growlithe!" Ash shouted, chasing down his Pokemon who had, once more, taken off in the middle of training to go who-knows-where for who-knows-what reason.

The good news, at least, was that he wasn't expected to do the stupid chores anymore. Instead, he spent all day, every day, trying in vain to get his newest fire type to listen to him.

It really wasn't going well.

Ash grimaced, squirming past an ill-placed dumpster to keep tracking Growlithe.

It had been nearly four days since he'd captured Growlithe, and since then she had been nothing but trouble. When she wasn't running away, she was pestering anyone in sight, and when she wasn't doing that, she was breaking into whatever food stores she could find. Ash had already wasted all of the rest of his money paying damages for Growlithe's damages, and now he had no choice but to chase after her until she was caught.

"Growlithe!" Ash chased Growlithe down a set of stairs, but the good news was that she'd found herself caught—the only way out was the staircase or the canal, and as far as Ash knew—

"You can swim?!" Ash yelped, blinking at the fire type which was now doggedly paddling up the canal. Ash looked around. He couldn't exactly swim after her, what with the Frillish in the water, and he hadn't yet gotten near enough to return her. He also couldn't exactly run up the stairs—that would definitely put him out of range to return, and Ash didn't know how long it would take for…

oh no.

Out in the water, several meters from any wall, Growlithe had suddenly flinched. She wasn't moving nearly as fast now, and Ash could just make out a couple of eerie shapes beginning to surround the fire type.

"Shit." Ash muttered. He looked around, but no one was in sight. Growlithe had chosen a street mostly lined with offices, and it was only ten; no one was leaving for lunch yet. He had to do something risky, then…

He hoped that this would work. Otherwise it may be one of the most miserable days of his life.

He released Cyndaquil.

"Hey, buddy. I need you to do me a favor." Cyndaquil squeaked, and while Ash could tell that meant 'yes', he also seemed in a mood. Now, however, was not the time. "See Growlithe? I think she's surrounded by Frillish, and I need your help. You learned flame wheel, right? Well, I need you to hit the Frillish with that.

Cyndaquil squeaked again.

"I know it's not very effective, but it's not exactly like I have many options, okay? And anyway, you're much stronger than the Frillish, so I'm sure you can take them down no problem." It took some more cajoling—Cyndaquiil didn't seem to have nearly the faith in his plan as Ash did—but finally, Cyndaquil chirped and turned to the canal. Thankfully, in the intervening time Growlithe had apparently decided her best option was heading back where she came, and she was finally within range of Cyndaquil's fire attacks, if not her pokeball's ability to return.

"Now!" Cyndaquil let out a series of fast Flame Wheels, hitting at least two of the now visible Frillish dead-on. Some of his flames hit Growlithe, but thankfully she had the Flash Fire ability.

Growlithe was still paddling, maybe even moving a bit faster now that the end seemed to be in sight, and Ash pulled out her pokeball.

"Come on… come on… a bit closer…" Ash muttered. He leapt back as several of the Frillish launched a counter attack, slamming a series of Bubble Beams into Cyndaquil. Thankfully, that had taken their attention off of Growlithe, but the fighting meant that Ash had to jump back, and so she still wasn't within reach.

"Come on! Paddle, Growlithe!" Cyndaquil looked hurt, now. He was doing the best he could, but he was basically fighting at a type disadvantage four against one, and it really wasn't going well. Thankfully, Cyndaquil's distraction was finally enough to allow Growlithe to scramble over the ledge of the canal, and Ash finally managed to return her. He turned, dashing up the stairs as he yelled for Cyndaquil to follow behind him.

The next day Ash re-tried training with Growlithe, and it went much better. Now that he had managed to show his own usefulness, she was now much more willing to listen to his instructions, and so he finally managed to go through all her moves and begin working on her physical fitness. In the meantime he had Cyndaquil work on his own—he could manage it, and Growlithe needed the attention.

Shortly after lunch, however, when Ash was congratulating Growlithe once more on strengthening her ember, Cyndaquil seemed to snap: he turned suddenly from the rock he had been practicing on, and attacked Growlithe in full force, hitting her with Quick Attack after Quick Attack. Ash, after trying and failing to stop Cyndaquil, began to order Growlithe to attack back—he wasn't the brightest, admittedly, and he didn't know what had caused Cyndaquil to act this way, but even he knew that simply returning him would do nothing to change his behavior; he'd had enough of that with Growlithe.

"Quick Attack back, Growlithe, then Ember!" He shouted. Growlithe faithfully did as he asked, but Cyndaquil quickly leapt out of the way and hit her with a smokescreen. "Try to bite him, Growlithe!"

Growlithe willingly jumped forward once more, and while it took a few strikes, he did manage to latch on to Cyndaquil's side, at least temporarily. Cyndaquil whimpered, but refused to stop attacking, and he was suitably stronger than Growlithe that even his lack of orders weren't enough to make victory certain.

"Um… oh!" Ash shouted. He hadn't actually memorized all of Growlithe's moves yet, having preferred to focus on the attacking ones, but if he remembered correctly… "Roar, Growlithe!"

The larger fire type did as she was told, and Cyndaquil scrambled back in stunned fear, completely abandoning the battle.

"Okay, stop!" Growlithe sat, and Ash ran forward. While he had no doubt she was just as hurt, it was Cyndaquil who more clearly needed help.

"Cyndaquil, are you okay?" The fire mouse whimpered, and turned away from Ash. He had a few gashes on his side, but none that would take longer than a quick check in at the Pokemon Center to fix. "What was that about, buddy?" Cyndaquil outright growled, and Ash flinched back in surprise.

"Cyndaquil!"

"He feels abandoned." A voice said from behind him. Ash whipped around, finding Brycen watching the scene calmly.

"What?"

"Since you caught your second Pokemon, you have been ignoring the first. He feels as if you no longer care for him, and so far you've done absolutely nothing to prove him wrong."

Ash blinked at Brycen, then turned back to Cyndaquil who was now nosing around in the dirt, still ignoring Ash.

"Is that… is that true, Buddy?" Ash asked. "I… I didn't mean to abandon you, I swear. It's just, you're so strong, and so loyal, I didn't need to focus on you, and Growlithe wasn't behaving, at first, so I had to focus on her all the time just to get that to change, and then when it finally did she was so much weaker than you that I…

But that was wrong, Cyndaquil. You deserve just as much attention as she does, and when she had been misbehaving you deserved even more than her. Okay?"

Cyndaquil slowly turned towards him, and then suddenly let out a squeal, scrambling into Ash's arms as he began to glow. His body turned red hot, and Ash jumped away from the sheer amount of heat but still felt as if he were burning, being consumed, and then—

"Cyndaquil… you're a Quilava!" Ash leapt up excitedly. He grabbed the fire type who he could now barely pick up (where had the weight come from?) and hugged him excitedly. Quilava—Quilava!—trusted him, believed in him, had evolved for him!

"Very nice." Brycen said. "But now you have two Pokemon who have to be pretty intensely trained, and your next battle is in three days. Please remember—if you fail it, you will not be able to try again for six months."

Shit.

The next seventy two hours passed in a blur of attacks and defenses and Ash flipping through textbook after textbook while Growlithe practiced strengthening her flame and Quilava practiced fighting in his new body.

It was, honestly, the hardest three days Ash had ever spent. Trying to divide his attention between his two Pokemon, constantly worried about making a mistake like he had over the past week, attempting to learn anything trick he could to give them a leg up in gym battles, exercising himself, because it had quickly become clear that he needed to if he wanted to keep up with his Pokemon, waking up earlier and earlier every day, and trying and failing to find a job after Brycen made it clear he'd only give him enough money for three cheap meals a day for him and four each for his Pokemon.

But now Ash was ready.

The stadium, at least, looked the same. White floors, white walls, short racks of bleachers in the corner and a padded and insulated referee chair opposite the door. Ash hadn't spent much time reviewing the surroundings when he'd fought last time, but it was clearly in favor of the ice types—a blizzard in this room would be devastating, and act even better than a smokescreen could.

Not to mention, neither trainer nor leader was insulated in the least, and that made Ash very, very happy that he'd remembered to put on his jacket, no matter how clearly it fell below what he should be wearing.

Ash grinned. He'd noticed the environment, which he hadn't before, and he now had two Pokemon—one of which was evolved.

"I'll release first." Brycen said. Out came Delibird.

Ash's grin widened. He was not the same guy he was ten days ago. That was the wonder of being as young as he was—older people took forever to change. He was better than that—he could change overnight, and no one would expect it.

He released Quilava.

Again, Delibird tried to poison Ash's Pokemon. This time it took two tries.

Again, Delibird tried to evade Ash's Pokemon using Protect and Double Team. This time it wasn't nearly as effective.

Most times, admittedly, it worked. Quilava could only move so fast, after all, and Delibird was well trained in his technique, so it was exceedingly difficult for Quilava to hit the flightless bird. But with a new, faster body, and a better fire attack, Quilava slowly, slowly pushed his advantage, and Delibird fell.

Ash nearly shouted with glee as Brycen returned his Pokemon.

"Will you be returning yours, too, or continue to battle with Quilva?"

Ash thought for a second, but Quilava had still been poisoned. No point keeping him in more pain when Growlithe may be able to take care of the second Pokemon, or at least wear them down to the point where Quilava didn't have to do as much work.

He withdrew Quilava, and released Growlithe.

And then Brycen took out his own Pokemon.

"Come on!" Ash whined. "A Cryogonal?" It may look like a giant floating snowflake, but in the time he'd spent training with Brycen, he knew one key aspect of the Pokemon which would make it hell for any fire type: under high heat, it disappeared, and it didn't count as fainting.

Brycen didn't seem to care, and instead immediately sent his giant hexagonal monster straight after Growlithe with a Rapid Spin.

"Dodge then start biting!" Ash shouted. Growlithe faithfully followed his command, leaping to the side before whipping around to gnaw at one of Cryogonal's outcroppings, only for the ice type to float out of reach.

Again, the giant snowflake spun, and again Growlithe dodged. Again, Growlithe made to counterattack, and again Cryogonal simply moved out of the way.

Out of desperation, Ash finally cried, "Ember!" That attack, at least, had enough range that Growlithe began to hit her opponent.

Unfortunately, it also did just as Ash feared: Cryogonal began to dissipate, becoming too thinly spread for Ash to perceive as the temperature started to rise.

Then—

After Roar had ended up being so helpful in ending the battle with Cyndaquil, Ash had taken a full six hours (the most he was willing to spend, and even then he felt constantly compelled to move on) on Growlithe' and Cyndaquil's non-attack moves. The dedication, at the time, had felt far too useless to Ash (the Roar had been helpful, yes, but defeating Cyndaquil outright would have had the same effect), but now…

"Okay, Growlithe, Odor Sleuth! Sniff Cryogonal out!"

Growlithe immediately began sprinting around the arena, nosing in every direction until she suddenly stopped, growling at empty air. Ash smiled once more.

"As many embers as you can." Cryogonal may have been impossible to see, but the snowflake's condition also left it unable to attack, and now that Growlithe knew where it was?

"Congratulations, Ash. You have greatly improved." Brycen said, handing over Ash's second badge.

"Yes!" Ash shouted.

"Now, as for your apprenticeship… as you now have your badge, I assume you'll want to challenge more gyms, and with my movie's workload increasing, I am unable to help you with that. The good news is that I have found you an apprenticeship nearby, so that you may challenge the neighboring gyms easily as you continue to be trained. Your new master will meet you outside my trailer tomorrow morning, at six am.

As Ash walked away, oddly pleased about switching masters (Brycen was powerful, he knew, but he was also not a particularly attentive master, and barely spoke a few sentences to Ash since he'd stopped being one of his many assistants), he wondered who it would be.

Given that Brycen was a gym leader, Ash didn't think it was too unreasonable to believe that Brycen could be sending him to Roxie. Or—given that the area was flush with trainer schools—he might be sending him to take up an apprenticeship with Alder, given that the former Champion's prestigious school was just outside of Virbank. Or maybe he'd do a mix of both, sending Ash two towns over to Cheren's gym/trainer school combination.

Whoever Ash ended up with, he was glad he got to stay in the area. Besides the poison and normal gyms, the place just had an abundance of trainers, and with trainer battles being a great way to make money and his second badge being possibly enough to have him taken seriously, he couldn't wait to start showing every single person in the city just how good he was, regardless of his age.

Six am though… Ash hoped that waking up that early wasn't going to become something expected of him every day. He was still not quite used to waking up at dawn like Brycen did, and had been hoping that that wasn't something he'd have to keep doing until he became champion. It was odd, actually—Baoba had always woken them up early, too. It was as if no one had any idea just how awesome sleeping in was!

Ash spent the evening packing and repeatedly congratulating both Pokemon, and he even went to bed earlier than he usually did—at ten, instead of eleven—just to make sure he was up on time. He couldn't wait to meet Roxie, or Alder, or Cheren, and he wanted to make a good impression.

At six am sharp Ash found himself standing in front of Brycen's trailer with his best (and cleanest) shirt and pants, with washed and combed hair and two loyal Pokemon behind him.

Opposite him?

His new master.

The owner of Virbank Daycare Center.

If you have any questions/comments/concerns/ideas/edits, put them in a review and I'll try to answer/read/explain/incorporate/fix them.