Emotions of all kinds: Ash vs Paul

**"Emotions of all kinds: Ash vs Paul"** is the seventeenth chapter of *Pokémon Reset Bloodlines.* After leaving Lavender Town, Ash and his group head for Celadon City for Ash's next stop in the gym challenge. On the way there, he runs into Paul and the two end up having a battle with each other when the latter ends up blasting Ash's Primeape away. Meanwhile, Misty starts realizing her feelings for Ash and fears that Iris' presence might somehow interfere with them.

## Plot

In Celadon City, Paul finds to his chagrin that Erika will not take his challenge, as male trainers are currently banned from the Celadon Gym. When he protests, Erika tells him he can present his case during a hearing to take place within a month. Suddenly, a woman named Morana, a Dojo Breaker, comes up to challenge Erika for ownership of the gym. Paul notices how Erika stares at Morana's chest for even longer than he himself does, realizing that the rumors of her being a lesbian are true. At Erika's suggestion, Paul stays to watch the match. Morana demands that Erika uses her best team against her, only to notice that Erika suddenly fell asleep standing up, confirming the rumors that she also suffers of narcolepsy. The battle goes underway with a best two out of three, with Morana bringing out a Glalie and Erika using an Exegguttor. Paul's Pokédex does commentary about the Pokémon Morana uses in a way that sounds like a "valley girl", which he finds annoying but cannot get rid of it. Erika's Pokémon easily defeats Morana, and the second round goes underway, with Morana using an Abomasnow and Erika bringing out a Victreebel. Victreebel uses Sunny Day to counter Abomasnow's Snow Warning, then a Weather Ball that knocks it out in a single hit. Erika then politely requests that Paul leaves, which he grudgingly complies.

Meanwhile, somewhere between Lavender Town and Celadon City, Iris recalls how she once asked her adoptive Dragonite grandfather what she was, as she didn't look like any of the Dragon-types and couldn't fly like many of them. Iris' grandfather explains that even so, there's a lot of things she can do and the others can't, and that makes her special in her own way. Iris wondered if her birth parents would have loved her had she been a normal human. Her grandfather explains that humans tend to fear what they don't understand, while also pointing out that many Pokémon species aren't great parents by nature, but humans in general are overall a good, if flawed, species and the majority of them strive to be better despite their flaws.

Waking up from her memories, Iris takes notice of Axew sleeping next to her and then runs into the Team Rocket trio who introduce themselves. When she asks them what they're doing, James explains they're stalking Ash, which she takes to mean they're like predators stalking a prey to eat, and she scares them away using Dragon Claw.

Later that morning, Ash gathers his Pokémon to consult them about something important he realized after the Battle Dome Tournament. Surrounded by Pikachu, Pidgeotto, Snivy, Goomy, Squirtle and Aipom, he's taken to realize that being unevolved means a lack of defensive and offensive power on their part that could probably give them trouble in the future, and asks them if they'd be willing to evolve, also being aware of Bulbasaur and Pikachu's decision to remain this way and Charmeleon's desire to regain his evolved state. Snivy states that she never got a "spark" to evolve herself, but she might have done so against Cameron's Riolu had she been given a chance. For Squirtle, he likes being the way he is, but doesn't discard doing so in a do-or-die situation should he be forced to. Both Pidgeotto and Aipom are more than eager to regain their evolutions but still need more experience, while Goomy, whom Ash is still unable to understand, says through Pikachu that he does want to evolve, leaving Ash to wonder what kind of Pokémon he'll evolve into.

At his ranch, Professor Oak finishes setting up the berry growing sets that Ash and company sent him after competing in the Battle Dome tournament, thinking that they'll make a good way to keep Pokémon fed for a low cost. Suddenly, a flock of Pidgey and Pidgeotto come and land in front of him, all of them seemingly following Ash's Pidgeotto who brought them here. Oak then tells her she and her new friends are free to stick around so long as they don't break anything or eat all the food, while also letting him take notes for his research and make poetry.

Back with Ash, his Pokémon are doing some training on their own, with Charmeleon trying to relearn Flamethrower and Aipom Double Hit to evolve. Krabby had succeeded in learning several moves himself, while Bulbasaur successfully relearned Leech Seed. Ash himself is trying to teach Goomy offensive moves, but isn't having much success. Iris approaches him noticing how he seems to be stuck, and she explains how Dragon-types, despite being naturally powerful, usually require a lot of willpower to learn new moves or evolve, usually triggered by a powerful reason or desire. She then offers to teach Goomy an offensive move on her own. He accepts while he goes off to train himself to use Power-Up Punch, and three hours later, not only does Goomy learn to use Dragon Breath, but also evolves to Sliggoo, much to Ash's joy. Meanwhile, Misty watches from afar, and suddenly gets a feeling in her chest over seeing Ash and Iris training together.

Two days later, Misty runs into a Golduck that she wants to catch for herself, who seems unusually aggressive. However, her mind is distracted due to her seeing Ash and Iris together and the Golduck easily defeats her Wingull and Poliwrath. Desperate, Misty uses her mind-control abilities to force him to stop, and she notices how he tries to resist. Psyduck comments how creepy it is that she does that, and she agrees that Golduck probably won't listen to her, but she decides that he could hurt somebody if left alone, and decides to catch him. Psyduck then comments that she wasn't focused and something is bothering her, which Misty denies until Psyduck mentions Iris. Misty finally accepts that Iris is bothering her and she doesn't know why. Much to Misty's surprise, Psyduck goes on a tirade that Misty is jealous of Iris while also afraid that she might want to take Ash away from her, as she noticed that Iris, like herself, is attracted to him.

Ash's group reaches the scrublands before Celadon City, where Ash is eager to find Primeape. However, much to his shock, an explosion goes off that sends something flying up in the air. The Pokédex identifies it as a Primeape, while also stating that it might not survive that, and Pikachu confirms that it was the same Primeape they knew, leaving Ash in shock. Then, Paul comes out of the tall grass and runs into Ash. He immediately mocks him for "cheating [his] way to the Pokémon League by beating a bunch of talentless bimbos". Ash, who is still in shock over seeing Primeape being blasted away, feels anger building up within and immediately takes the bait, and Paul continues to taunt him by mentioning that he saw him at the Battle Dome tournament and was surprised he made it to the final round with such weak Pokémon. Ash immediately challenges him to a battle, and Paul agrees to a best two out of three.

While they pick a nearby area off the road to battle, Iris asks Misty if this is normal behavior for humans, even comparing it to male Pokémon trying to compete for a mate. Misty explains that's not the case, although the thought causes her to feel disgusted, as she finds Paul rather repulsive unlike Ash. She's however worried by Ash's anger, and feels this can't end well.

Both trainers release their first Pokémon, Paul using Grotle and Ash using Charmeleon. Grotle puts up a good fight, but Charmeleon manages to win without much difficulty, defeating him with a Fire Pledge, though before going down Paul snaps his fingers and Grotle sets up a Stealth Rock without Ash noticing, but Misty does notice something is off, as that victory seemed a bit too easily earned. The second round goes underway, with Paul using Nidoking and Ash sending Pikachu, the latter of which is immediately pelted by the Stealth Rock. Despite the type disadvantage, Pikachu holds his own and Paul compliments him on his strength, but Nidoking ultimately manages to defeat him, knocking him away towards Ash who's forced to catch him.

Ash then hands Pikachu over to Misty, who immediately tells Ash that he's unusually angry and that's hampering his battle performance, as she noticed during the fight against Nidoking. She tells him that he needs to calm down or otherwise Paul will defeat him and will gloat about it. Misty's words get to him and get him to hold off his anger, before grabbing his hat and turning around and then returning to battle with Paul.

Paul continues to taunt Ash over talking to his "girlfriend" and wondering if he's gathering "cheerleaders", as well as for turning his hat around. Ash replies that Misty and Iris are his friends and he enjoys their company, so he might not understand about it being a loner and all. The two immediately release their final Pokémon, Ash using Aipom and Paul sending out a Drowzee. While at first it seems like Paul's Drowzee has the upper hand, Aipom manages to perfect Double Hit and evolve mid-battle, giving her the power boost to turn the tide around. Ash then recalls that when he fought Paul in the past timeline, the two were equally experienced, but this Paul is still a rookie while he still has all the memories and experiences from the old timeline, and thus has an edge over him. Ambipom defeats Drowzee with a Double Hit, and immediately hugs Ash to celebrate, while Misty and Iris quickly follow suit. Defeated, Paul simply leaves, as if wondering what he'll do with Drowzee after this.

## Continuity

* First appearance of Erika and Morana.
* Ash and Paul have their first battle against each other in the new timeline, ending with a victory for Ash.
* Ash's Aipom evolves to Ambipom after learning Double Hit, and Goomy evolves to Sliggoo.
* Misty catches a Golduck.
* Ash's Primeape is blasted away by Paul's Pikachu, with his fate remaining uncertain until **"Battle! Janine, Heir of Poisonous Tricks."**

## Characters

### Humans

* Paul
* Erika
* Morana
* Iris
* James
* Jessie
* Ash Ketchum
* Professor Samuel Oak
* Misty Waterflower

### Pokémon

* Glalie (Morana's)
* Exeggutor (Erika's)
* Abomasnow (Morana's)
* Victreebel (Erika's)
* Dragonite (Wild; flashback)
* Axew (Iris')
* Meowth (Team Rocket)
* Pidgeotto (Ash's)
* Snivy (Ash's)
* Aipom (Ash's)
* Goomy (Ash's)
* Squirtle (Ash's)
* Pikachu (Ash's)
* Pidgey (Wild)
* Pidgeotto (Wild)
* Charmeleon (Ash's)
* Excadrill (Iris')
* Sliggoo (Ash's)
* Golduck (Misty's)
* Wingull (Misty's)
* Psyduck (Misty's)
* Primeape (Wild)
* Grotle (Paul's)
* Nidoking (Paul's)
* Drowzee (Paul's)

### Pokédexes

* Paul's Pokédex
* Ash's Pokédex