Notice, after this there will only be four or five more chapters, the last gym, mewtwo and the league is all that's left,. After those there will be a few extra events tagged on at the end. For those that didn't know this story is me showing how greasy I can make this story. While on my hiatus I've started to develop two other stories, I think you guys will love my new pokemon story as it makes is rather OC in comparison. It will probably be released when I feel comfortable with its plot, and when I have enough words down.

Also review what shinies I should go for in Let's go Pikachu, I currently have Pidgeot(2), Pidgey, beedrill, raticate, nidorina, growlithe, ponyta, and chansey(3). This game is what caused me to update.

Seafoam islands

On him he currently had Umbreon, Pikachu, Lucario, Jaqueline, Magmortar, Rapidash, Zorua and dratini. He was on his way to Cinnabar island where he was going to challenge Blaine. On the way there however, he decided to go to the Seafoam Islands first. These islands were connected underwater to each other and the lower levels were commonly freezing. He decided to explore them because why not, it was also one of the few places in the world that he had yet to explore. As he shivered a little from the cold he brought out his Jacket, keeping it close to keep all the warmth in that he could.

Seafoam Islands were legendary in how cold they were, literally. Ash only knew this because he could literally feel the aura from the islands themselves as he approached them. With the path he had chosen he decided to explore the islands anyways. After all, that was what he had set out on a journey for, to explore the world and learn to make his own choices.

So far he felt as if he had made a name for himself. Already he was admired by local trainers who had begun to watch his matches. In fact, there was a small news channel which had gotten wind of his debut on the scene. Reporting about his success on the battle circuit, he'd had to decline an interview about his style of training since he didn't want his competition to know his secrets.

Instead, he'd managed to break off from those who were tracking his progress. Managing to lose them before entering the caves. That was step one. Step two was exploring the caves, after all it was an iconic part of the region. If he didn't explore then what was the point of the journey?

Though the Seafoam islands were primarily a cold environment, that didn't mean that they were empty. The entire cave system was swarming with ice types and cave dwellers a plenty. Especially on the outer levels, seel especially seemed to thrive on the outer levels. Lounging about in all the shallow ends of the frigid waters. He'd found out how bad idea it was to swim when he frist entered the caves. With the temperature nearing freezing point he decided not to risk it. Instead deciding to check out the islands for any abnormalities.

The deeper he went into the caves the colder it got. If Ash didn't know who his mother was he would have assumed it to be a freak course of , knowing the legends of the lands, the coldness started to make sense as he went deeper into the caves. Already having a friend ready in mind he was preparing for the scenario he was about to walk into as he went deeper into the caves.

He knew when he could see ice all over the cave, with the temperature freezing everything in its vicinity keeping everything frozen solid. There was only one other living being in the room with Ash and his entourage of pokemon. The moment he had seen the majestic bird he had frozen on the spot. Afterall it wasn't everyday one met up with the legendary bird who controlled winter. Sure there were other legendaries of ice including regice and Kyurem, but they did not control the weather like Articuno. The bird Trio was known for their affinity of the weather overall, compared to their fellow legendaries who focused on the other aspects of their types.

Ash honestly was expecting to just explore another part of the region, maybe make a few friends with the wild pokemon in the cave systems. Whar he wasn't expecting was to meet up with the legendary bird who would change his life as he faced off with it. He honestly didn't knwo what he did. One second he was exploring the caves the next he saw his brother block a shot right for him before engaging the bird in an equal battle.

Thankfully for Ash he let his brother eat his wheaties and made sure that he battled everyday to make sure that his senses were sharp. Otherwise Ash might have been an icicle for the rest of could also tell that this was a test. Not just any test though, one that actually mattered. This was one that would prove himself capable in the eyes of his mentors. One that would show to them that he was ready for the responsibility that they think he wasn't ready for.

These were the thoughts running through his head as he stared down his opponent for the upcoming battle.

Choosing before Articuno could make a second pass at him, he decided Pikachu would be able to keep up with the legendary. Not just because of his speed or experience, but because of how determined the little mouse was to prove itself. Even without its Ginachu form Pikachu had already proven itself to be a valuable member of the team. Ash decided to test that today.

"Pikachu use rain dance." Ash called. Step number one: get weather on your side. Seeing Articuno try to counter with ice beam, a bolt of lightning interrupted that, with Thunder's now impossible to miss, Pikachu was already looking better than its opponent. Realizing this the bird of ice tried to change the weather to hail. Unfortunately it left too big of a gap in its wild change of strategy and was hit full on and stunned by a blot of thunder that absolutely knocked the bird out. Not too long after, Ash was able to revive the bird with his aura, bringing it back to the land of the conscious.

Finding out it was all just a test slightly bored Ash, knowing that they limited themselved to his strength honestly bothered him, but he couldn't do anything about it. If they thought he should be at a certain strength at a certain point then who was he to deny it. He didn't know how they would react if he was too powerful for them. After all, he only knew his Meema that well and she was more friendly with the other legendaries in the first place so who knew what kind of rumours he got.

Yet as he gazed upon the majestic sight of the Articuno Species, he honestly couldn't think of a more perfect species to be deemed as the entity in control of the frigid weather. After all come great power comes great responsibility.

That didn't mean that Ash had stopped his tradition of spending some time on a route developing his abilities. In particular in the caves, he tried his best to keep his internal temperature as high as possible. He had to admit, this cave system really prepared him for future frigid explorations. The temperature easily rivaling that of the highest mountains, but with a higher concentration of oxygen making it easier to breathe. The caves weren't that difficult to navigate, with the obstacles on the ground easily avoided by going on the back of his fearow to clear the frigid waters and to quickly reach the Articuno residing there.

He knew this was a younger Articuno, the energy emitting off of it much younger than his Meema's making it easy to discern to be a younger Articuno. The raw power it held was unparalleled among common pokemon, but the way it wasted the energy was not wasted upon Ash. In fact, he took advantage of such, making the opposing pokemon revise it;s strategy as it found its previous one lacking. INstead a large barrage of overpowered attacks were flung at Lucario.

Unfortunately for the bird, it had picked the wrong target to go up against. While Lucario had plenty of power to be able to keep up with other pokemon, his main attribute was his control over his power. This meant that he was the opposite in a sense to the legendary bird.

The clash between the two was explosive. While it was clear that Articuno was more brute strong, the bird became more cocky. Ash had already heard about how cocky some legendary pokemon could be and had decided to see for himself how they behaved. Seeing the legendary bird be all show and no go really triggered the mon. All he saw was an overpowered pokemon that didn't deserve it. After all, Articuno didn't work for its power, instead it had had it its entire life. He could see it in the way they approached it. With It lacking any finesse at all. This meant that Articuno was taken down easily by the veteran fighting type. After all, Lucario was the perfect counter for the legendary bird, with its steel and fighting typing really annoying the Articuno's attempts to shield from such an attack.

That was how the battle went, with Lucario slowly chipping down the legendary bird until it couldn't respond anymore, too tired to continue the fight. Now with a legendary on his team he felt confident he could prove himself as more than just a strategist on the battlefield. Ash wasn't stupid, he knew how that there was more to taming the legendary beasts than just catching them. He was raised by one after all, he was probably more qualified than anyone else in the world.

Over the next month, Ash would get to know Articuno. Training alongside the bird in some intensive regiments helped the two bond. Ash knew that he wouldn't use Articuno in any battles, what would be the point for the most part. Aside from being able to flex to the world there was no advantage to him in using legendaries in battle. After all, if one trained a legendary properly like he currently was doing, it would be able to steamroll any average pokemon. That's also what Ash began to see. Where at the beginning of the month Articuno was on the back foot against Lucario, now it was on the other side of the fence. Articuno had proven itself in its hard work and had earned its spot as a powerful pokemon. Now the only one on Ash's team who could keep up with the bird was Blaziken, and that was only due to its typing and its experience. There were few pokemon on the circuit with Blaziken's experience, and none shared his fire typing. This meant that unless you had another legendary you wouldn't be doing so hot against Articuno.

Now with the seafoam islands explored, Ash decided to move onto the next challenge, the Cinnabar island gym. There he would face against a fire type specialist and he had just the team to do it. After all, it wouldn't do to not show a fire type specialist some real firepower.

Blaine

As Ash got onto Cinnabar island, he realized how much of a tourist trap it really was. People were everywhere, taking over the pokemon centre, so much so that they didn't have any room left at all. There was also vendors all over the place trying to sell god knows what to the unfortunate victim of their attention. There were even tour groups walking around the island, with tons of tourists with big flashy cameras and they wore the brightest hawaiian shirts they owned. As he tried his best to ignore the loud noises as well as the snaps of the cameras, the pointing and staring at his companions. Most of them were Kanto native so they had little idea about the Sinnoh native Lucario. What grabbed their attention even more was the shiny Pikachu that was on his shoulder. Although Pikachus had become much more easy to obtain recently with the opening of so many breeding centres, they were still pretty rare to find, So now he had even more snaps of pictures as people tried to get some pictures with Pikachu.

As he wandered the island, he noticed the burnt down gym nearby the pokemon centre. Realizing that Blaine had probably left the gym behind, he started searching the island for a sign of the gym leader. He searched well into the night, in the forests of the island where he found the only empty motel on the island. So empty in fact, that there was only one person in the building!

The old man, who was obviously wearing a fake mustache and beard was giving of the impression of knowing more than he should. Following the riddles was a piece of cake, sure it required some thinking but anybody who put more than one brain cell into the problem would be able to solve it. As he travelled from location to location he couldn't help but admire the beauty of the island. Watching the sunset from the apex of the volcano had to be his favourite.

Ash knew that he wouldn't have too much difficulty with the next gym. He'd trained long enough to know that. He'd spared some blood sweat and tears with his pokemon. Together they were were an army. Literally, He'd caught so many pokemon so far he didn't know whether he could be fair to all of them. He knew he had treated them unfairly in the past. Like all people he had inevitably gravitated towards those that would need his help the most to become their strongest. That was why Umbreon and Blaziken had received so little training time with him, because they were so experienced, he felt they had enough experience to start being leaders among his pokemon. Essentially being his assistant in training them all. WIth the duo on his side it was actually rather simple to bring up most of his pokemon up to his standards. Sure some of his pokemon didn't want to battle and he respected that, letting them instead go back to the corral to settle down and start a family.

Honestly, the riddles were annoying, with each one bringing him on another adventure across the island. It was easy to see that this was to weed out the softer trainers, with those with less brain cells out of luck with the challenge. Finding the last destination to be the volcano, where the Cinnabar island gym battle would take place. Making his way into the main chamber of the volcano, where there was a platform set up with Blaine already on the other side with a grin on his face.

On an unspoken agreement between the two they both threw their pokeballs in the air releasing their pokemon to the world. On Blaine's side a lithe ninetails appeared, with its fur showing how well it took care of itself. On Ash's side Magmortar appeared, both arms turning into canons and letting out some heat. The match became a stare down for a second as both sides drilled holes into the opposing sides.

It was interrupted by a stream of fire facing towards ninetails. The size of it too big to avoid, and too large to manipulate it with its long ranged attacks. With the quick burst it was released at too, did not help poor ninetails react in time. Fortunately it resisted fire because of its typing, but it still suffered significant damage to its fragile body. Before ninetails could react again, Magmortar had already teleported in the air beside ninetails. Slamming the ground and initiating an earthquake attack that wrecked the poor fox pokemon that could not react to any of the larger fire types strategy. With a beam of red light the fox pokemon was returned to its pokeball. With a flash, and a heavy thud, a Rhydon took its place opposing Magmortar. The magma pokemon looking no worse for wear as the second battle began. The match quickly became one of physical prowess. The two tanks were very prideful in their strength and were matched evenly in raw muscle. As the wrestling match developed further, they began to add some elements to their fight. With Magmortar enveloping its fists in fire and Rhydon coating his arm in stone. As their blows kept on connecting it eventually led to a draw between the two, with neither of their prides getting damaged too much.

This battle would be the one to determine the strongest fire type in Kanto outside of Moltres. The pokemon to previously hold the title was the magmar released by Blaine as his final pokemon. The contender was Blaziken, as he calmly settled himself into place opposing the magma pokemon. This would be a pure fire type battle, with the heat reaching insane levels of heat. Ash and Blaine had to back off from the battlefield the moment the two got in the zone.

The battle was very intense and very short. The two pokemon giving their all in that short amount of period. If one were to look at the volcano from a distance they would think it was active with how passionate the duo were battling. Jets of flame erupting from the top of the volcano as the two titans battled against one another. Both pokemon were getting older in age, yet one kept in better shape. One was actively helping another generation to reach its strength. One kept up its daily training regime. One was able to keep on getting to battle with new styles rather frequently. When all those things were considered, it wasn't a shock when Magmar ran out of fire first. Nor when it gave up after realising its opponent could still go another round before being in the same boat.

It was to the handshake of respect between the two pokemon that Ash and Blaine reentered the gym to, once the heat and sounds of battle had ended. Seeing the look on his pokemon's face, Blaine walked up to Ash to give him his Volcano badge.

Seven badges down, and one to go, Ash was ready for the final test of his journey through Kanto.

On a secluded island

He needed a helper, someone to be his face while he operated in the shadows…someone the world would never expect to oppose them...