Disclaimer : Pokemon is not owned by me.

"Jason quick attack!" The rodent swift charged his opponent at blistering speeds.

"Nidoran, take the blow and counter with double kick!" the poisonous creature dug its claws into the ground to avoid being knocked back when Jason slammed into it. The small spines in the Nidoran's body punctured the rodent inflicting it with poison.

Jason was stunned by the sudden pain coursing through its body as the fast acting poison of the Nidoran species did its work. The Nidoran used this opportunity to land a devastating double kick, taking advantage of Jason's normal typing to deal super effective damage.

"Jason, hang in there!" Ash encouraged to his Rattata. The rat stood up suddenly filled with power, it then charged Nidoran again. This time, Jason managed to send Nidoran flying into a tree. After a moment, the Nidoran got up, heavily damaged by Jason's sudden increase in power.

Jason was ready to keep going, but the poison still flowing through him caused what little energy it had left to fade. It slumped down unconscious, losing the fight.

"Yes, I win!" shouted Ash's opponent. A picnicker who had challenged him to a battle when they met each other while training.

After healing at the Viridian Pokemon Center, Ash decided to start training along Route 22. It was a path to the west of Viridian City that led towards the Indigo Plateau. Many people tried to find their first catch here due to it having more variety in the species found than in Route 1 or 2.

Ash frowned, but quickly shook it off and handed the picnicker his prize money. "That was a fun battle, but why did Jason get hurt so much when it hit Nidoran?"

The picnicker grinned, "That was Nidoran's ability, Poison Point. The spines on its body are filled with poison, so getting hit by physical attacks mean it can poison its attacker."

Ash remembered hearing about this before, each species had a set of special abilities it could have. He could never remember what pokemon had what ability, so he didn't know about Nidoran's Poison Point.

"It was a close one though, your Rattata's Guts ability almost turned the tide when it got poisoned," grinned the picnicker still in his post battle excitement.

"Guts?" Ash asked, he remembered learning about it, but he didn't remember what it did exactly.

"It's one of the abilities Rattata can have, whenever it gets inflicted by things like poison, burn, paralysis, freeze, or sleep its gets a lot stronger. You got really lucky with this one, the other ability it can have is Run Away."

Now Run Away was something Ash knew about. It was one of the abilities that were completely useless during trainer battles and official matches. There were so many jokes about that ability that he would be hard pressed not to know it.

After the picnicker left, Ash used a potion and an antidote to treat his fallen companion. The Rattata looked a bit downcast, so he decided to encourage him. "Well Jason, even if we lose. As long as we keep going we'll be unstoppable! Besides, we learned from that battle, and as long as we learn something in defeat. We'll still get stronger!"

Jason's expression lifted at Ash's encouragement and they started to train once more. Jason had shown Ash his full move set while on the walk towards Viridian. After they arrived at the Pokemon Center, Ash stayed up late on the Pokemon Center's computer looking up what moves Jason could learn, and how to learn them.

Ash had decided that he needed to work on a move that would help him against Brock, the Pewter Gym Leader. While most trainers who made it to the conference that weren't sponsored by the regional professor were usually expected to challenge mostly minor gyms with one or two major badges if they were talented enough. Ash decided that he would reach for the stars and challenge the eight major gyms.

His father had only been able to get four minor badges, which was about average for trainers who couldn't make it to the conference. He had never been able to touch the major gyms. With gym battles scaling to the number of badges the trainer held, he had no chance even after he earned four badges.

Ash recalled what he had read online. It had said that normal type energy was special in that it was extremely extremely volatile. It could easily take the form of many other types as long as the pokemon was used to the element.

This was why normal types had such a variety of learnable moves. However, the article had also stated that the first attack of a different type was also extremely important, because while normal energy remained volatile after learning a move. It would still end up with a preference for the type it first learned.

Most people who trained the Rattata line usually did not bother teaching it a different element before it naturally learned a dark type move which made its energy learn towards the dark typing which did not cover it's typing very well. This weakened its coverage moves and was part of the reason why no one used a Raticate in the higher levels of competition.

Ash had spent a lot of time online looking through type match-ups and pokemon that the Rattata line usually had trouble with. He ultimately decided that the best element to teach with the limited time and resources he had before Jason learned a dark type move would be water gun.

For a normal type like Jason, it would be a invaluable early move that could damage the sturdy rock types that gave his kind so much trouble. It would also give him an inclination towards water type energy which would help him learn stronger water types moves when the time came. It would help Jason against rock types, and could have a much easier time keeping away fighting types than normal or dark moves.

So Ash thought it would be the perfect first move to learn.

He had read that learning the water typing needed ample access to a natural body of water as give an example to the normal type energy on what to mimic. This was the reason that Ash chose Route 22 which had a small lake that was big enough to give Jason a good sense of the energy, but small enough that there weren't any extremely dangerous pokemon lurking.

So with Jason healed up from the battle, they got back to working on manipulating water type energy. Jason went back into the water to try and get a feel for it. Ash had Jason occasionally put water into his mouth and spit it out to mimic the motion of water gun.

Ash didn't know any other way to do this, as normal type energy had to naturally shape itself into the form you wanted if you didn't have access to TMs. So all he could do was wait till the for Jason to adapt to it.

For the next four hours, he had Jason constantly use his normal type energy while in the water using moves like quick attack (well as best he could while in the water) and focus energy. Eventually Jason was able to produce thin stream of water from his mouth. It was primitive water gun.

"Yes! Jason you did it!" Ash cheered at his companion who was shooting water from his mouth in excitement. "Right, now stay in the water and practice generating more and more water." While Brock's pokemon were way to strong to defeat with mere type advantage, it would give Ash more options during the fight and would be much better than just fighting with normal or dark moves.

After about another hour of practicing water gun, the thin stream became slightly wider, and was enough to damage weaker foes. While it was still pathetic compared to the power of water moves naturally held by water types, it would do for now.

"Hey Jason, how about now we work on your aim a bit? Even if you get really strong with water gun, it won't matter if you can't hit anything." Ash suggested as he got out an empty water bottle. "Let's start with this, I'll put a bottle on the ground and you have to hit it."

Ash then placed the bottle on the ground around 5 meters away from Jason, and told him to fire. A weak water gun shot out from Jason's mouth and knocked over the bottle. "Alright, now lets move it further away"

The next thirty minutes were spent shooting water guns at the bottle while Ash moved it farther away. After he was satisfied with Jason's current aim. He started throwing the bottle and having Jason shoot it out of the air.

While rough, Ash could make do with Jason's current aim due to the fact that they were still early enough in their journey where they wouldn't have to face foes that are insanely fast. So he decided to call it a day and head back to the Center in Viridian.

At the Pokemon Center, he gave his pokemon to Nurse Joy for healing. Nurse Joy took Jason and recognized him as the boy who came in last night injured by a Fearow last night. "You didn't get into any more trouble today right?"

"No mam, Jason and I just did some training." Ash responded.

After Jason was all healed up, Ash knew what he had to do next. He had find and win a couple battles to afford a pokeball. Since he did not score in the top three, he was not entitled to the starting bonus of three thousand given. So he had to rely on the small allowance given by his mother, he had spent most of the already small sum on medical supplies and lost the rest to the picnicker. So if he wanted a new companion he would have earn the money from battling.

He left the Pokemon Center and headed towards Route 2, keen on finding an opponent he could defeat. He walked on the trail when he encountered a youngster with shorts and a blue cap. Ash was about to challenge the boy when their eyes met, but the boy beat him to it.

"Hey! I challenge you to a pokemon battle!" shouted the youngster. The boy got out his pokeball ready to release it at the moment of Ash's agreement.

"Alright, your on!" replied Ash getting Jason's pokeball ready mirroring the youngster. At the agreement, the youngster threw his pokeball to reveal a Pidgey. Ash mirrored it by throwing out Jason. They both walked a fair distance from each other and began the battle.

"Ha! Your Rattata can't hit my Pidgey when its flying. Pidgey fly up and use gust!" commanded the youngster, sure of his victory. The Pidgey complied and flew up before unleashing a weak blast of wind at the rodent.

"Alright Jason, dodge and use water gun!" With that, Jason deftly moved out of the gust and shot a water gun into the air, the Pidgey wasn't able to dodge in time due to being too used to being unreachable and never being hit.

"Wha-! How does it know water gun!? Darn it, Pidgey get up!" shouted the youngster in clear shock. The Pidgey attempted get up was about to be successful, but Ash didn't give it the chance.

"Jason, use quick attack to finish this!" The rat was covered in a colorless energy as it slammed into the fallen bird ending the battle. The bird was completely knocked out.

It took a moment for it to register to Ash, but it finally hit him. He had just experienced his first ever victory. "We won... WE WON! We did it Jason!" he cheered, excitement filling him.

The Rattata was just has happy and jumped around in celebrating before jumping into Ash's arms. While they knew that it wasn't that impressive. They still won, and this would be the first step towards their goal.

"Ah jeez, I didn't think your Rattata knew water gun. I was so used to having Pidgey just stay in the air and spam gust. I should've quit while I was ahead." grumbled the youngster as he handed Ash a bout sixty poke-dollars. The youngster then fled towards the Pokemon Center to heal up his pokemon.

Now that the excitement had left him, he gathered himself and got ready to find more trainers to get that pokeball. "Okay let's do this Jason, if we keep going we'll be able to catch a new friend!"

The Rattata was happy and motivated at the prospect of a teammate, and got ready to win as much as he could to make it happen. The pair walked further along the path until they encountered a bug catcher.

Ash and Jason looked at each other and grinned, ready to get their next pay.

xxx

It had taken a while, but with three wins and two losses they had enough money to afford a pokeball. Ash took Jason back for healing once more, and rushed to the Poke Mart. He had quickly bought a pokeball and walked back to the Pokemon Center to pick up Jason.

After picking him up, Ash walked back to Route 22 knowing exactly what he wanted to get. Recently, a herd of Ponyta had moved into the area from Johto. A Ponyta would add variety to the team and cover what types Jason couldn't with his current moves.

They were also known to be extremely sturdy, fast, and powerful if raised properly. Blaine's Rapidash being a major example. Back in the Kanto-Johto Civil War, it was famous for its blazing speed that meant death for any enemy that wasn't prepared for it. Blaine had famously rode upon it during the Battle at Cherrygrove, charging through the enemy defense and burning all opposition to ash.

To this day it stayed a mainstay of Blaine's true team, and on the rare occasion that he was pushed hard enough to use it. It's power and grace were a thing to behold. It was actually fast enough to keep up with Lance's Salamance which was known for being the fastest of his dragons.

These factors meant that Ash was dead set on having a Ponyta as his first capture. It was starting to get late, but it wasn't late enough that the Ponyta herd would be inactive. If he couldn't find one by dusk, he would go back to the Pokemon Center and try again tomorrow.

Ash spent the next hour searching through the route, trying to find some trace of the Ponyta herd. Eventually he found hoof marks with the grass around them scorched. They pointed west towards Route 23, but he hoped that he could catch up before the herd managed to cross over there.

He followed the hoof marks hoping to find the Ponyta herd, but he started hearing pained cries. He quietly, but quickly ran towards the noise. The noises became clearer and clearer until he heard two distinct sounds. It was the fearful cries of the Ponyta, and the voices of two men.

He hid himself in a bush as he got closer and tried to get a better look at the scene. What he saw almost made him throw up, the field was covered in blood. There was a dead body of a Rapidash which he assumed was the herd's leader. There were several Ponyta injured, but most of them seemed too afraid at their leader's death to try anything.

He heard the two men arguing. "Damn it Robert, you killed the most valuable one! All we have left are the weak Ponyta now. You just lost us half our profit!" one of the men yelled out, enraged. He was holding the other man by his shirt collar.

The other man tried to defend himself, "It fucking rushed me okay?! I didn't wanna get burned to death and I acted out of panic! Besides, we still get some money at least." The man was holding a metal rod with a sharp end, electricity visibly flowing through it. He pried himself away from his partners grip and adjusted his uniform and cap.

"That uniform..." Ash thought, shocked. It was completely black and had a big red R on it. Ash was now shaking in fear. It was the uniform of the infamous Team Rocket. Ash had constantly heard of them on the news They were famous for their cruel treatment of pokemon and their opposition of the League.

Ash remembered when he had first heard of their deeds. He had been seven-years-old and was watching the news with his mother when a sudden report came through. "Breaking news! The popular cruise known as the S.S. Anne has been completely plundered and destroyed! We will get back to you when we have more information."

Eventually, the League had figured out the culprit behind that heinous act. It was Team Rocket. The League put as many resources as they could, but while they managed to take down bases and capture executives. They never managed to completely crush their organization or figure out who the leader was.

This was one of the biggest failures the Indigo League had ever experienced. The sheer loss of life during the S.S. Anne incident was astronomical, and the families of those who died never got the closure of having the organization behind bars.

Ash guessed that this was one of their smaller operations because of the lack of personnel and actual profit. He was about to run and report the crime, but he caught sight of the fearful look in the eyes of the Ponyta. It was complete despair. He knew that going to report the crime would not actually do herd would be long gone by the time the police came. All it would do is protect himself from both the pair of rockets and the responsibility of helping these Ponyta.

His love for pokemon couldn't bare it. He had to think of a plan, and he had to do it fast. He looked at the weapon in one of the grunts hands. Considering their apparent incompetency, he assumed that they did not have any powerful pokemon and were just given the rod for their main defense.

He couldn't let Jason be hit by that. So he looked around to find a decently-sized rock, and picked it up. As a kid he would constantly practice throwing pokeball-sized objects as practice for when he became a trainer. He was actually pretty accurate with his arm.

Steeling himself, he leaped from the brush and flung the rock into the head of the grunt holding the weapon, knocking him out. "What the hell?!" shouted his partner before the man's eyes landed on Ash. The rage in the man's eyes was clearly visible, "Damn kid, I'm going to teach you a lesson!"

Ash reacted quickly and sent out his pokemon. "Jason, use water gun on the man in black!" The rat following his trainers command immediately shot a stream of water at the man upon release. Ash then ran and grabbed the unconscious man's weapon. He pressed the buttons to active it, and he ran up and smacked the other grunt in the head before he could recover. The electricity from the weapon combined with the impact of a hard metal object knocking him out.

Ash was overcome with relief, there was a million things that could've gone wrong with his plan. Thankfully the grunts were as incompetent as they seemed. Ash then grabbed a rope that his mother had packed, and tied up both of the grunts. He turned to the herd and gently said, "It's okay, they won't hurt you anymore."

The Ponyta that were previously frozen in fear, cautiously started to move towards him. Ash then reassured them, "The men are tied up now, you can flee." The Ponyta slowly began to understand what just happened as the shock wore off. This boy had saved them from those evil humans that killed their leader. They all neighed in gratitude towards the boy as they began to gallop away.

Ash smiled, while he would've liked to get a Ponyta. He knew that this was not the time to do it. They had just had a bad encounter with humans who wanted to capture them, and he wouldn't betray the trust he had just earned by trying to catch one of them.

However, one Ponyta stayed behind. She shyly walked up to him, looking at him with gratitude and admiration. She couldn't express the joy she felt from being saved by this boy. All she could do was admire the courage and heroism displayed by him. She wished to both thank him, and learn how to be so brave. She knew she only had one choice. She resolved herself and gestured towards the only empty red and white ball on the boy's belt.

Ash took a moment to take in what was happening. When he realized what the Ponyta wanted, he was shocked. "Are you sure?" asked Ash, to which the fire horse simply nodded. Ash then slowly grabbed empty ball, making one more confirmation with Ponyta and thew the ball. In a white light, the fire horse was sucked up into the ball which started shaking.

One.

Two.

Three.

Click.

A/N : Alright, chapter 2 is done. Ash learns about Jason's ability, teaches water gun, buys a pokeball, rescues a Ponyta herd, and gets a Ponyta. For the next chapter, lets just say Jason's ability is going to be really important. Also for those who are confused, in gen 1 Rattata can learn water gun. While it is by TM only, I took a few liberties.