Pokemon Ranch

After walking through a forest Ash, Misty and Brock arrived at a lot of fields.

"Do you think we're in the country?" Misty asked.

"We very well could be." Brock answered. "There are fields everywhere."

"Let's see whoever or whatever lives here." Ash said. "We might be near a farm or ranch."

Just then they felt the ground shaking.

"Is it an earthquake?" Misty asked.

"No." Brock said, pointing to a field. "It's those Pokemon over there."

A herd of bulls were stampeding in a field.

Ash looked at the Pokedex.

"Tauros, the Wild Bull Pokemon. When it targets an enemy, it charges furiously while whipping it's body with it's long tails."

"I'd like to have a Tauros." Ash said. "I wonder where their owner is."

Just then a Growlithe came up from behind them and growled at them.

"Hey a Growlithe." Brock said, remembering his own Growlithe back home.

Ash looked Growlithe up.

"Growlithe, the Puppy Pokemon. Very protective of it's territory. It will bark and bite to repel intruders from it's space."

"Hey Growlithe." Ash said. "Where's your master?"

"I'm right here." A voice said.

The source was a blue-haired girl, riding a fiery horse.

"Hey." Ash said. "Would you mind telling us where we are?"

"You're at the Pokemon ranch." The girl answered. "We preserve and raise wild Pokemon here."

"So those Tauros are yours then?" Ash asked.

"That is correct." The girl said. "I'm Lara Laramie and my family runs this ranch."

Lara showed the group the fields of the ranch, which contained different Pokemon. One field had Sandslash, another Nidorina, another Nidorino and other fields had different Pokemon. Lara stepped down from her fiery horse to stretch.

Ash looked up Lara's horse on his Pokedex.

"Ponyta, the Fire Horse Pokemon. It's hooves are ten times harder than diamonds. It can trample anything completely flat in little time."

Ash thought about his Rapidash, as Ponyta evolves into Rapidash and released it from it's Poke Ball. Lara was amazed by Ash's Rapidash.

"Wow." She said. "Your Rapidash looks magnificent. When did you get it?"

"Well..." Ash told Lara about Damian and how he, Misty and Brock adopted Damian's Pokemon.

"I'm glad you three have Damian's Pokemon." Lara said. "A guy like that doesn't deserve to have any Pokemon. Rapidash looks well cared for now."

"Rapidash was initially afraid of me." Ash explained. "She feared I was just like Damian, but I managed to prove to her that I'm not and gained her trust, right Rapidash?"

Rapidash nickered and nuzzled her trainer. Rapidash liked Ash and was happy to have him as a trainer. Lara smiled, knowing that Ash treated his Pokemon with friendship and kindness. Ponyta watched the bond between Ash and Rapidash with wonder in it's eyes.

Just then they felt the ground shake a bit.

"The Tauros again." Misty said in alarm.

"No, it's not Tauros." Lara said. "That might be Dario."

A flock of bird Pokemon ran past them. Ash wanted to look the Pokemon up on his Pokedex, but they were too fast for him to scan. One ran up beside him. with a purple-haired boy on it's back.

"Howdy Lara." The boy said.

"Dario." Lara said.

Ash scanned the bird.

"Dodrio, the Triple Bird Pokemon and the evolved form of Doduo. Uses it's three brains to execute complex plans. While two heads sleep, one head stays awake."

Dario smirked at Lara.

"I thought I'd let you know that Dodrio and I are going to win the race tomorrow." He said. "I hope you're ready to lose."

Then he left on his Dodrio.

"Who was that guy?" Misty asked. She didn't like his attitude.

"That's Dario." Lara said. "A Dodrio trainer. He loves to show off his Pokemon's speed."

"Hey Lara." Ash said. "What race was he talking about anyway?"

"Well tonight we're having a festival." Lara explained. "And you three can come as my guests. Tomorrow we're having the Pokemon race. It's a race where people riding on their Pokemon compete against each other. The winner becomes a member of the Laramie clan."

That evening Lara led Ash, Misty and Brock to the festival. Lara got a lot of good luck from everyone for the Pokemon race.

"Lara sure is popular." Misty said.

"Yeah both her and her Ponyta have fans." Brock added.

"I get the feeling that tomorrow's race will be great." Ash said, munching on a chocolate Magikarp. Just then Dario showed up.

"Your Tauros are going crazy at the ranch." He told Lara. Lara called her Ponyta over and both she and the gang went over to the ranch.

When they arrived at the ranch, Lara's Tauros were tackling each other like crazy. It was like they were really fighting with each other. Lara sent her Growlithe to calm them down. Growlithe ran around the Tauros, barking to get their attention. Just then the Tauros calmed down completely. Lara was just about to inspect them, when suddenly something flew past Ponyta frightening it. Ponyta was so spooked that Lara fell off Ponyta and injured her left arm. Brock and Misty helped Lara, while Ash tried to calm Ponyta down.

What caused the Tauros to go crazy was Team Rocket. Dario was involved as well. He intended to win the race, even if he had to cheat, so he made a deal with Team Rocket. If Team Rocket helped him win the race, they would be rewarded with a lot of money.

At Lara's house, her arm was in a sling. She seemed down that she couldn't participate in the race tomorrow.

"Too bad for the Laramie clan." Ash said.

Lara then came up with a idea; she decided that Ash could race in her place.

"I can't." He argued. "Ponyta will only listen to you."

"You can do it Ash." Lara said. "After seeing you calm Ponyta down I know for sure that you are perfect for this. Everything will be okay."

After seeing Lara's pleading look and words of encouragement from Brock and Misty, Ash agreed to enter the race. He stepped outside with Lara and Ponyta. The two stared at each other. Ponyta wasn't sure if he could trust Ash. Ash could see that Ponyta didn't trust him, so he was hesitant to approach Ponyta.

"It's fine Ponyta." Lara petted him. "You can trust Ash."

Ponyta remembered the bond he had with Rapidash and then smiled, agreeing to let Ash ride him. Ash slowly and carefully walked up to Ponyta and petted it gently. His hand wasn't burned at all. It probably helped that he wasn't completely human. Then Ash climbed on Ponyta's back.

"Ready to practice for the race tomorrow?" Ash asked. Ponyta nickered, meaning he was ready.

The next day it was time for the race to begin. All those that were competing in the race were getting ready at the finish line. Brock and Misty decided to enter as well; Misty entered with Starmie and Brock entered with Onix. Ash had released Pikachu from it's Poke Ball and he sat next to Lara and her Growlithe in the stands.

"Ready Ponyta?" Ash asked.

He and Ponyta were excited. So excited in fact that Ponyta's flaming mane was blazing. Then a whistle blew, meaning the race had begun.

The racers took off immediately. Dario took off in first place on his Dodrio. The first portion of the race was a simple run across the field. Everything was smooth at first, but Team Rocket started sabotaging it. They shot two sling shots which hit a Tauros and it's trainer. It spooked Tauros so much that it ended up tackling a Nidorina and her trainer. Nidorina was so angry that she picked a fight with Tauros. The poor trainers of Tauros and Nidorina got caught up with it, so they were out of the race. Team Rocket was hiding in the long grass, finding it very funny.

The second portion of the race was going up a steep hill.

"This might be tricky." Ash said to Ponyta. "But try to run as fast as you can."

Going uphill was not easy for the racers, but when going downhill it was easier. An Electrode and it's trainer found it really easy. They flew by the racers at high speed. The bad news was that Team Rocket had dug a hole and Electrode and his trainer fell into it. More bad news was this had caused Electrode to explode, hitting Ash and Ponyta in the process. It also knocked out a Raticate and Sandslash in the process. Team Rocket was pleased with themselves. To their dismay Ash and Ponyta stood up again. Lara, who had seen everything on the screen, was relieved that they got up again. Pikachu wasn't worried; he knew that his trainer was tough.

The third portion of the race was crossing the river on the stepping stones. Dodrio easily crossed the stepping stones. But Onix and a Rhyhorn had a harder time doing so. The Rhyhorn stepped on a stepping stone to see if it was all right. But the stepping stone sank with Rhyhorn still on it. Onix watched in horror and groaned in tears. Since it was a rock type Pokemon, it didn't want to go into the water. Brock petted Onix's head to reassure it.

"That's okay." He said. "We tried."

So Onix and Rhyhorn were out of the race. But Ash and Ponyta didn't have any problems and neither did Misty and her Starmie.

The fourth portion of the race was that the Pokemon had to eat a tray of food before heading towards the finish line. Of course Dario and Dodrio got to the finish line first. But due to the fact that Dodrio had three heads, they were fighting about who should eat first. This gave Starmie and Ponyta a chance to catch up and get to their portion of food.

"Do something!" A frustrated Dario yelled at Team Rocket.

A thick cloud of smoke appeared and Team Rocket made their presence known.

"What do you three want?" Misty asked.

"Let's just say that we want to mess you up again." Meowth said.

"So you're responsible for Lara breaking her arm." Misty accused. "And you're the ones that caused all those accidents during the race."

Dario rode on ahead.

"Team Rocket's working for Dario." Ash said. He knew Dario was a no-good individual from the get-go.

He was about to light his fist on fire when Misty stopped him.

"Ash, you catch up with Dario." She instructed. "Leave Team Rocket to me."

"Got it." Ash agreed and set off with Ponyta leaving Misty behind to handle Team Rocket.

Dario was heading towards the finish line.

"I'm gonna win this one." He laughed.

Then he saw Ash easily catch up to him.

"No way!" He exclaimed in disbelief.

Ponyta and Dodrio were neck and neck towards the finish line. Dario made one of his Dodrio's heads peck Ponyta. Ponyta winced in pain and started to slow down a bit.

"That was a cheap shot!" Ash shouted.

"I do whatever I can do to win." Dario smirked, taking off again.

Ponyta was really mad at Dario and started to glow. Ash, Lara and the audience watched in amazement as Ponyta evolved into Rapidash. Rapidash galloped fast and caught up to Dodrio. It was neck and neck towards the finish line, but with one more push Rapidash managed to cross the finish line first. Ash and Rapidash were the winners. Dario was angry about his loss.

"Cheater." He said. "You interfered with me."

"Shut up! You're the one who had Dodrio attack me." Ash replied.

Dario was just about to have Dodrio attack Ash and Rapidash, but Rapidash used it's Stomp attack and sent Dario and Dodrio flying.

After being declared winners of the race, Lara thanked Ash.

"Thanks Ash." She said. "Not only did you win the race for me, Rapidash and I are now members of the Laramie clan."

Rapidash nickered and licked Ash on the cheek to say thank you.

"It was nothing." Ash laughed.

Lara took the group to the end of the Pokemon ranch.

"If you want to catch Pokemon." She said. "There's a Safari Zone up ahead."

The group agreed to go there.

Lara walked up to Ash and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Thanks again Ash." She smiled.

"You're welcome." Ash replied.

Misty, Brock and Pikachu sniggered at their friend. Lara thanked them once again and Ash, Misty and Brock headed to the Safari Zone.