The first pale light of dawn was just beginning to bleed into the sky. A thin morning mist draped itself like gossamer silk over the ancient eaves and quiet courtyards of Fuchsia Gym.
This Gym was, at its core, an ancient structure. Though it had been renovated many times over the years, its exterior had never lost its original character and charm. The one thing that most visitors couldn't help but lament was that the Gym simply wasn't fully open to the public. Plenty of tourists wanted to come in and have a look, but the accessible areas were limited. Even during these past few days, Ash, Brock, and Misty had only seen a fraction of what the place contained. Many secrets were tucked away in its depths — fitting, really, for a place run by ninjas.
Ash, Brock, and Misty gathered at the Gym's front gate, where they met up with Janine. It was time to leave Fuchsia Gym. They'd had a wonderful time here these past few days, but they couldn't stay forever. The journey had to go on — didn't it?
"My father asked me to deliver this to the Safari Zone and hand it to the Warden, Kaiser," Janine said, patting a sealed scroll tube at her hip. "It's on the way, so I can walk with you for a bit."
"The Safari Zone?" Misty asked curiously. "Is that the place where you can only catch Pokémon with specific Poké Balls?"
"That's right," Janine nodded, taking the lead and setting off at a brisk pace. "Fuchsia City's jurisdiction covers a wide area. From the city beneath our feet, to the great plains where the Laramie Clan lives, to the Safari Zone beyond that — and even extending outward to the fringes of the Great Fool's Valley — all of it falls under our watch."
"Having such a large territory is its own kind of sweet burden, I suppose," she added.
There was a thread of pride in her voice — the pride of a guardian — along with a weariness she wasn't quite able to hide. A vast territory was impressive, but managing that territory was an enormous headache. A sizable chunk of Fuchsia Gym's ninja corps spent their rotations simply running from one end of it to the other.
In that regard, Fuchsia was hardly unique — every Gym dealt with something similar, except for one notable exception: Celadon Gym.
Celadon Gym and Celadon City had money. Real money. Their interest began and ended with their own city's economy; the surrounding wilderness wasn't their problem and they made no pretense otherwise. Not that it was a bad approach, necessarily.
The areas surrounding Celadon City had been carved up accordingly — the north went to Cerulean City, the south to Vermilion City, the west to Celadon's own borders, and the east to Lavender Town. As one of the world's premier economic centers, Celadon City sat at the heart of that arrangement, ringed by those four settlements.
The group left the city's ninja-infused streets behind them, and the scenery gradually opened up.
Before them stretched a vast, rolling expanse of brilliant green — a seemingly endless savannah, fresh and alive. The blue sky was wide and clear, and a clean breeze carrying the scent of wild grass swept over them, filling their lungs with something that felt like pure freedom. This was the famous Pokémon preserve — the great plains of the Laramie Clan.
"Look over there!" Brock's sharp eyes caught it first, his arm shooting out to point.
Rumble — rumble — rumble —
A herd of Tauros came thundering across the plain like a living avalanche, their hooves churning up great clouds of grass and dust. Nearby, a few Dodrio went racing through the tall grass on their powerful legs at astonishing speed, their three heads tilting sideways in unison to peer curiously at the unexpected visitors.
Then, cutting across the plain like a streak of fire —
A girl in vibrant traditional attire came galloping toward them on a magnificent Rapidash, her posture easy and confident. She brought the blazing horse to a smooth, precise halt right in front of the group. Beside her ran an Arcanine, which let out a low, authoritative rumble, faint waves of heat shimmering around its powerful frame.
"Lady Janine!" The girl swung off her mount with practiced ease, dipping into a respectful bow. "Welcome to the plains of the Laramie Clan. I'm Fumi."
"Fumi, no need to be so formal," Janine said warmly, reaching out to help her up. "These are friends of mine. We need to cross the plains to reach the Safari Zone — could we borrow a few Rapidash to ride?"
The road out of Fuchsia City was a long one, after all. Riding was the sensible choice. And that, incidentally, was one of the things that set this Ash apart from other versions of himself in other worlds — he didn't get lost. He and his companions traveled intelligently, making practical use of their Pokémon rather than wandering on foot forever, and with no detours into the wild unknown. Their heading was always clear.
"Of course! Any friend of Lady Janine's is our honored guest!" Fumi agreed without a moment's hesitation, then put two fingers to her lips and blew a sharp, clear whistle.
A few moments later, several Rapidash with brilliantly colored coats and graceful builds came trotting forward with elegant, measured steps. The manes and tails flowing from their necks blazed like living fire — radiating a warm, luminous heat — and yet, somehow, it didn't burn a thing around them.
"They're beautiful!" Misty exclaimed — but her enthusiasm faltered almost immediately. "But... the flames on them..."
The fire of a Ponyta or Rapidash was something special. For creatures the Pokémon disliked, it was real, genuine fire — capable of burning. But for those the horse accepted, the flames were as harmless as if they didn't exist at all. This was, after all, a world where the rules of nature bent to accommodate the extraordinary. A Pokémon that could master control of its own power could choose not to harm. Even Ghost-type Pokémon could manage it — though with considerably more difficulty.
"Please don't worry," Fumi said with a smile, reaching out to affectionately stroke the neck of a Rapidash that had drifted closer. "An untrained Rapidash, yes — only someone who has bonded with it can ride safely. But these are partners who've gone through our clan's special training. They've already mastered control of their own flames."
"They're all my Pokémon," she added. "Very gentle."
As she spoke, she moved with practiced efficiency, assigning a mount to each member of the group.
The one assigned to Ash was a particularly tall and powerful specimen — with a gleam in its eyes that spoke of spirit and a certain untamed wildness. Not that it was easy to read a horse's personality at a glance. But sometimes... you just knew. Some horses were simply different.
"If only you'd come two days earlier, Lady Janine," Fumi said, a note of genuine regret in her voice. "You'd have made it in time for our clan's Pokémon Obstacle Race — it's the biggest event on the plains! The whole savannah comes alive for it."
It was easy to forget, watching Ash casually interact with Gym Leaders, just how much status those Leaders actually carried. People looked up to them. Respected them. Even Brock, who sometimes gave the impression of being not entirely reliable, was spoken of back in Pewter City as — a man as strong and steadfast as the rocks themselves.
"There'll be another chance, I'm sure," Janine said reassuringly, then stepped lightly onto her Rapidash.
Ash drew a slow breath. He reached out and placed his hand against the neck of his assigned Rapidash.
The fiery mane was warm and soft to the touch — no burn, no heat. He closed his eyes, and let his mind grow quiet. The power of Aura unfurled from within him like a silent stream of water, reaching gently outward.
The Rapidash's mind was simple and direct — filled with a longing to run, a yearning for open space, like a dancing flame just waiting for wind to fan it. Ash's Aura eased into that warmth without forcing anything. It wasn't a command. It was more like a murmur between friends — carrying goodwill, and a shared invitation to run together.
"Neeeeigh——!"
The Rapidash felt it. That strange, wonderful connection.
It reared up excitedly, letting out a resonant, ringing cry, its eyes — already gentle — suddenly shining with something warmer and closer.
Rapidash: This human...
Rapidash: ...I like him!!
"Let's go!" Fumi called out, seeing the exchange, and drove her heels lightly into her mount's flanks.
Her Rapidash burst forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. The Arcanine streaked after her like a bolt of golden lightning.
"Let's go, partner!" Ash said under his breath, leaning slightly forward. The Aura link meant no words were truly necessary — the intention was already shared. His Rapidash launched into motion on all four hooves, becoming a streak of red fire as it surged after them.
"Hey — wait for us! ...Honestly..." Misty grumbled, watching the two of them already pulling away.
"Ha ha ha — if you don't move now, there'll be no one left to wait for you!" Brock laughed, kicking his own mount into motion. This was, truthfully, his first time riding a Rapidash. Not that he had any intention of admitting that out loud.
"Don't rush — I'll ride with you," Janine said, staying back calmly. Riding a Rapidash was routine for her — she'd done it so often for work that there were days she'd felt genuinely nauseous by the end of it. That was the Fuchsia City life.
"Hmph~" Misty stuck her tongue out at Brock's retreating figure, then turned with a grin. "Let's ride together~"
And so Misty and Janine brought up the rear, riding side by side. In a certain sense, they were both young women who were heirs to their respective Gyms — girls on the cusp of something important — and they had plenty to talk about.
Ahead of them, Ash had started carefully at first — controlling his speed and balance, feeling the wind rush past his ears, tuning into the powerful rhythm of muscle and motion beneath him. But very quickly, through the subtle, resonant harmony of Aura, his movements began to merge with the Rapidash's own.
Aura was an extraordinarily useful ability. Through it, Ash could feel every rhythm of the Rapidash's breath, the contraction and extension of every muscle, and even the fierce, eager beating of its heart — a heart that craved speed above all else.
A feeling of boundless freedom rose up in his chest.
Ash wanted to go faster. The Rapidash wanted to go faster.
"Faster!"
"Go faster!"
"Fastest!"
"Just a little faster——!"
Ash chanted it silently in his heart.
The Aura acted as an invisible catalyst — not only deepening the understanding between human and Pokémon, but awakening something latent within the Rapidash, unlocking reserves of vitality and energy that had been waiting for exactly this kind of call. The Rapidash's stride grew more powerful, its steps lighter, its speed climbing by a degree that defied easy explanation.
Both of them were consumed by the same singular obsession. The same unbroken will to accelerate.
This — this — was As One.
Of course, achieving this level of synchronization required a certain baseline of physical conditioning. Ash, as established, cleared that bar without discussion.
"My God..." Brock, riding hard behind him, stared open-mouthed.
He watched the red silhouette ahead grow smaller and smaller — a boy who seemed to have genuinely become one with his mount — and couldn't stop himself from shouting, "How is he doing that?!"
Brock had assumed Ash knew nothing about horseback riding. Based on everything he was seeing right now, that assumption was completely, catastrophically wrong.
Super Pallet Town graduate. Pallet Town Superman. The legend is real.
Misty was staring with her jaw dropped, clutching her reins. "Is that really a Rapidash? It looks like it's flying!"
Even beneath her mask, Janine's expression had gone slack with shock. This experienced ninja girl, who had seen more than most people twice her age, knew perfectly well what these specially trained Rapidash were capable of at full gallop. And what she was watching exceeded it completely.
That meant whatever ability Ash carried within him was capable of amplifying the Pokémon he made contact with.
The moment that realization landed, Janine felt the impact of it like a stone dropped into still water.
This defied rational explanation.
She was beginning to understand — truly understand — why her father Koga had chosen to take Ash so seriously. To do what others cannot. That was the measure of it.
Only Fumi showed no surprise at all. Where everyone else's eyes held shock, hers blazed with unmistakable, radiant admiration.
This was a girl who had grown up on horseback, who loved nothing more than riding free across the open plain with the wind in her face.
"Incredible!!" she cried out at the top of her voice. "To resonate with a Rapidash like that — you must be a hero blessed by the plains themselves! This is what true riding looks like!"
Fumi couldn't hold back her praise. She was utterly certain of one thing: if Ash had arrived two days earlier, a brief warm-up run would have been all he needed to take the gold in the Obstacle Race. She was that sure of it.
As a trainer of the Laramie Clan, Fumi had a depth of understanding and love for Pokémon — and for Rapidash in particular — that went far beyond the ordinary. She could see clearly that Ash wasn't driving the horse by force. He was reaching it through some method she couldn't fully grasp, achieving a synchronization at the level of souls.
It ignited something fierce and competitive inside her.
Fumi: Why do you know my Pokémon better than I do?!
Fumi: RAAAGH!
"We're not falling behind!" Fumi shouted to her Rapidash and Arcanine. "Show them the true speed of the Laramie Clan!"
"AWOOO!" The Arcanine let out a long, howling cry, and surged forward with a burst of renewed speed.
As if catching the spirit of their trainer's fighting will — and the unspoken challenge laid down by the rider ahead — the Rapidash carrying Brock, Misty, and Janine all lifted their heads and let out fierce, ringing cries. The fire in their blood had been fully ignited. Pride and competitive spirit drove them all into a full, all-out gallop.
Speed. That was what a wild Rapidash on the open plain was born to pursue.
What had been a leisurely ride transformed in an instant into an all-out race sweeping across the entire savannah.
"Ha ha — come on then!" Ash glanced back at the surging cloud of dust and pounding hooves behind him, and laughed freely. The wind roared past his ears. The wide sky and the broad earth felt like they belonged to him and no one else.
He pressed his body lower, Aura running at full capacity, his connection with the Rapidash reaching a depth he had never touched before.
"Sprint, partner — the finish line is right ahead!"
In the distance, a fence and a signpost had come into view — the entrance to the Safari Zone.
"NEEEEIGH——!"
The Rapidash felt it — the absolute, unguarded trust pouring from Ash, and the wild, soaring joy that rode with it. It let out the most impassioned cry it had ever made.
Rapidash: I don't know who you are.
Rapidash: But I will run for you.
The fiery mane — until now warm and gentle — seemed to truly ignite. Streams of crimson light flowed along every strand. Its speed, already at what should have been its absolute ceiling, tore through that ceiling and kept climbing.
Its hooves barely seemed to touch the ground. It became a streak of burning scarlet light splitting the open plain — blazing forward with the force and conviction of something that owned this moment and everything in it, driving toward the destination in one final, breathtaking charge.
Grass flew. The wind screamed.
Ash pressed himself flat against the Rapidash's back, feeling that incomparable speed and exhilaration fill every part of him. His heart was soaring.
In one word: glorious.
Five Rapidash thundered forward with the force of a stampede of thousands.
When Fumi came galloping in on her own magnificent Rapidash — Arcanine bounding at her side — and arrived second at the Safari Zone entrance, what she found waiting for her was Ash. Already there. Perfectly at ease.
Beside him, his Rapidash was still buzzing with energy — nuzzling its head against him affectionately, snorting hot breath from its nostrils, clearly not ready to be done.
Fumi stared. Something felt strange in her chest. Even she hadn't been able to push a Rapidash to that speed.
But Ash could.
This was...
Fumi's feelings were a complicated tangle she couldn't quite sort out. She — a professional, a race rider born in the saddle — had been beaten by a complete amateur.
Ash gently stroked the Rapidash's sweat-damp neck, sending a quiet wave of warm, grateful Aura flowing through the connection between them. The Rapidash half-closed its eyes with contentment.
"You're incredible!" Fumi leaped down from her mount, her cheeks flushed red from excitement and the wild wind of the chase. Her eyes as she looked at Ash were full of undisguised respect. "I have never seen anyone ride for the first time and push a Rapidash to that speed!!"
Ash scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed. "It's really down to how excellent the horse is," he said with a sheepish smile. "And... it just felt really good to run."
Not like he could come out and say he'd been using Aura to cheat.
Please don't look at me like that.
The more you look at me that way, the less I know what to say!
A little while later, Brock, Misty, and Janine arrived in turn.
Brock and Misty both climbed down from their mounts with legs that had gone somewhat unreliable — partly from the sheer thrill of the ride, and partly from the shock of watching Ash do what Ash had just done.
"Ash... next time... could you maybe give us a heads-up first..." Misty said, hands pressed to her lower back, still catching her breath.
Janine said nothing. She simply looked at Ash for a long, quiet moment — as if searching for something.
The group returned their Rapidash to Fumi's care, offering their thanks once again. Fumi said she hoped there would be another chance to race together someday — and then, with evident reluctance, climbed back onto her Rapidash and disappeared into the vast savannah the same way she had come, like a flame receding into the distance.
____
👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Re:Zero: Wrath Route Yandere Emilia Watches the Projection
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