Wanderer

xxx

Ranma was frustrated.

From what she understood about Nabiki's game, the tall grass was the place to go if you wanted to find wild Pokemon. You apparently couldn't take two steps without tripping over one of the things.

She'd been walking through the tallest, thickest patches of grass she could find for the last six hours and all she had to show for it was insect bites.

"Where the hell are all the damn Pokemon!"

Ralts shifted, then teleported off of Ranma's shoulder and onto a rock. Then it began waving its arms in an apparently random fasion.

"Oh. Charades. Great. I hate charades. Lets see. Timmy... fell... down... the... well...?"

Ralts hung its head in shame and began going through the motions again, more slowly this time.

"Okay, try this again. Hunched over... head waving around randomly... jittery... Nervous? No not quite, huh? Scared, then?"

Ralts hopped into the air and started nodding rapidly.

"Scared? The Pokemon are scared? Of what?"

Ralts went back to charades. First it went down on one knee with its hands pressed together. When Ranma didn't seem to get it it moved on through several different poses. Eventually, out of frustration, it just curled up one arm and slapped at its bicep. Ranma finally seemed to get it, somewhat.

"Muscles? Why would they be scared of... no, wait, Strength. They're scared of me, running away, because I'm so strong? That... that sucks. That's really going to throw a monkey wrench into things."

Ralts hesitated, then nodded once. That wasn't exactly what it had been trying to convey, but it was close enough. Actually it wasn't really sure it could convey what it meant through charades... especially not to the red-haired facet of its master. It wasn't just strength, although from what it had seen as it drifted through the master's twin sets of memories, she had that in abundance... the red facet at least. It was something else... an indescribable aura of POWER that resonated with the very fiber of the creatures being.

It was most disturbing, and were they not its master, it would be as terrified of them as the wild brethren of the fields were. Even so, Ralts could feel itself growing stronger as time passed, simply by being in close proximity to its master. Even so, it knew that the humans would collect their kind from the wild and seemed to only be able to amuse themselves by making them do battle. Not that many of the brethren had a problem with this... in fact, you would be hard pressed to find a single one of their kind that did not enjoy a good fight now and again. The problem was... Ralts was a fair bit more intelligent than most of the brethren it had met. Granted, that was mostly because it was of the Psychic type, which naturally increased its brain activity, but it was much more intelligent than the rest of its broodsiblings had been as well.

The humans would not only make 'their' brethren fight, but they would automatically place wagers on the outcome of the match. That worried Ralts... not because it was in any way unconfident in its own abilities, added to by the strange aura of power and the red facets mental hints during battle, but in that it knew that if it was the only brethren with the master, then they would have large areas of weakness. Any of the Dark brethren, for instance, would be completely immune to any and all of its psychic abilities with the barely possible exception of maybe Telekinesis. If Ralts was lucky, and caught it off guard.

If Ralts lost a battle, and its master had no other brethren to back it up, then Ralts would have lost master money. With less money, things would be more difficult for both Ralts and the master. Most brethren would never put such a convoluted line of thought together, but for Ralts it was like connecting numbered dots.

The problem was the Master's aura. With the wild brethren not only avoiding them, but actively fleeing the area when they sensed her prescence, it would be a very difficult matter to add to the masters store of brethren. Of course, there would always be the brethren that were born on the humans special breeding farms and raised alongside humans. Granted, they would all be weaker than a member of the same class of brethren that had lived in the wild its whole life, but not so much as to be too noticeably different.

The problem with that was that there were generally two ways to get them... either in a trade, where two humans would swap brethren, something that was out of the question, or to exchange one of the tamer brethren for money.

Money that Ralt's master didn't have.

"This is just great." Ranma muttered as Ralts came to the conclusion that there was no simple and easy conclusion in this situation.

"Whatever. Lets just head on to town then. North is that way, so it's probably somewhere in that general direction!"

Ralts teleported back to the red facet's shoulder as she pulled off on a steady lope northward.

xxx

Deep within their shared mind, Rei let off a sigh. She was drawing a complete blank on the whole matter. If she did not cause Third Impact, there seemed to be no way to cause it, now that the Angels were all gone. Not that leaving an Angel in control of Third impact was a good idea anyway... like leaving a fox to guard a henhouse.

The commander would have a solution. Granted, the odds were that his solution would be to have her eliminated and activate the fourth, but it was a solution nontheless. No matter how distasteful she found it.

Then again, did it really matter? She could only start Third impact from Tokyo-3, so until she returned there, all her plans would be best left on hold. No need to put the cart before the horse.

She carefully re-opened her mind, mildly curious about what Ranma had been up to in her absence.

xxx

"So, this is Viridian city. It's... different, from what I had expected."

Indeed, Ranma had been expecting a small, sleepy little country town. The eighth gym was supposed to be located there, but that was about all he knew about it. Still, having traveled through quite a few out of the way towns, she'd had some vague idea of what to expect.

This... this was nothing like what she'd expected.

For one Viridian was easily large enough to bypass 'town' completely. More like a small city. And a good chunk of it was covered in a thin haze of smoke and smog. Some sort of industry? The remaining third was made up of large, expensive looking mansions and a building that could be a good sized warehouse, but was probably the gym. A good sixty, maybe seventy, years had passed judging by Professor Ash's age, so that might explain it. Many things could happen in such a space of time.

Still... she couldn't help but wonder what had led to these changes. Then she stiffened as she noticed something.

Walking casually down the street, without a care in the world, was a man in a purple hat and outfit, with a small red 'R' emblazoned on the left chest pocket. The uniform, and insignia, of Team Rocket, the game's main antagonists.

What was odd was that none of the other commuters gave him so much as a second glance.

However, once he caught sight of her, he made a beeline through the crowds to her position. Ranma froze... what would she do now? Was he going to challenge her to a Pokemon match? She wasn't ready! But as he stopped near her and smiled lightly.

"New trainer, huh?"

Ranma blinked, then fidgeted lightly... acutely aware that the face on the I.D. in the dex in her pocket wasn't hers.

"Something like that." She temporized.

"It's hard at the beginning, isn't it? Oh, by the way, let me know if you see a girl... bout your age, but with blue hair and red eyes. The boss wants me to deliver her an invitation to his manor when she gets here from Pallet."

She blinked and nodded slowly.

"I'll do that..."

She turned to leave, but he called after her.

"Hold on, one more thing... while you're here, how about a practice match? No bets on the outcome, of course... just for the sake of training."

This was more like what she'd expected.

"... okay. Where?"

"There's an empty lot two blocks this way. Or alternatively, there's a small ring four blocks that way. Your choice... you'll have to walk further to get to the ring, but there'll be more people watching."

He arched an eyebrow as she immediately turned for the empty lot. That said that she was either lazy, or private and didn't care for hordes of people watching her matches. The one wasn't so good, but the other showed promise. Most young trainers were just in it to have people cheer at them. The first sign of hardship, they would break and they would run home to mommy, half the time just ditching their Pokemon off the side of the road somewhere.

He hated that kind of spoiled brat.

Still, this was good. The report said that the Ayanami girl had been given a Ralts as her starter... coming across another trainer with a Ralts would prepare him for the battle that would be her invitation. Technically, he didn't have to win... but it would give an overall better impression if he did.

"Here we are... now, are you prepared? Zubat, you're up!"

"Ralts... well, you know what to do."

Ralts hopped off her shoulder and took a place on the ground as the batlike opponent appeared in a flash of red light. Ranma subtly began prodding the pokedex, looking for all the world like she was checking the information on Zubat before the fight began, but really re-checking what moves Ralts had available.

'Confusion? When did that happen? And... holy crap, 13? When and how did it hit lev... thirteen percent if all we've been doing is just walking around? Maybe it was because of it not being in the Pokeball the whole time...'

"What are our current circumstances, Saotome?"

'Battling. You're back then? No more extended periods of locking yourself away in our skull somewhere?'

"For the moment, no."

"If you've found what you're looking for, then let's begin! Zubat, Wing Attack!"

As it dive bombed towards Ralts, Ranma's gaze snapped back up from the dex.

"Teleport behind it."

It worked perfectly and the Zubat missed by a mile, then flapped back up to hover and wait for the next command.

"Fascinating..." the Rocket grunt muttered as he stroked his chin, then raised his voice as he continued. "Using Teleport as a short range dodging maneuver rather than the long range travel that it's typically used for. Such an innovation... can be called nothing less than genius. No wonder you didn't want crowds watching, that's one hell of an ace card, if nobody sees it coming."

"Thank you... I guess."

"Let's continue. Zubat, supersonic!"

"Confusion."

Ralts' eyes and horn flashed, and the Zubat dropped to the ground, twitching.

"Hmm... I see. Zubat didn't even faze you. Return."

As it faded into red light and he put the Pokeball away, he unclipped another from his belt.

"My second Pokemon, however, will win me this match. You're up, Sneasel!"

Ralts nearly had a heart attack as the Dark brethren entered the battlefield. Ranma went slightly stiff as well, but for different reasons.

'Not a cat... it just resembles one slightly. Really more of a... something that isn't at all like a cat, really. Like a squirrel. Or a mongoose. Yeah, that's better.'

"You would not believe what I had to go through to get it, but I can confidently look back and say that it was worth it."

Ranma checked the dex for real this time, scanning the description and focusing on the point naming its main elemental type as Dark.

'That's new... oh crap. Immune to psychic attacks. We'll have to go all out.'

Ralts wholeheartedly agreed, and subtly, its muscles tensed, knowing that this would be a very difficult battle.

"Sneasel, Slash it!"

"Teleport behind it!"

"Ice beam!"

"Telekinesis, move the log in front of you!"

The ice beam impacted with the dead log, freezing it solid at an angle, but otherwise expending its energy uselessly. As Ranma glanced around the lot, an idea hit her.

'Gotta bank on it really being able to read my mind, though... if I explain what I want out loud, the Sneasel will have a chance to dodge.'

"Ralts, the special technique! Gravel shield!"

'Lift all the pebbles you can find with your telekinesis attack, and gather them close to you, spinning around you.'

Ranma sighed with relief as Ralts did exactly as she'd intended, and the rocks formed into a half-sphere in front of it. The Sneasel and its trainer both hesitated for a moment, gaping in astonishment at the new move. They would recover in seconds, but by then it would be too late.

"Special technique, second stage A, Stone Wave!"

She clearly pictured what she wanted to happen, and was rewarded as the pebbles all surged forward, too fast for the stunned Sneasel to dodge. They impacted, and it screeched at every impact as the rocks crashed into it like a tidal wave. After nearly a full minute of the relentless assault, the waves shot into the air, then looped around and smashed into the ground all at once, hitting it one final time and burying most of its body. Ralts dropped to its knees from exhaustion... the new technique had taken a lot out of it. The Sneasel made a half hearted attempt to dig itself out, but gave up after a moment and waited pitiably for its master to rescue it. After another moment of gaping, he did so, and it was reduced to red light as it withdrew into the Pokeball.

"I'm... most impressed. You've beaten me, fair and square. And that move... you made it yourself, didn't you? You're one of a kind, girl."

He shook his head in admiration.

"I'm only supposed to invite young miss Ayanami... but I don't think the boss will be too upset when I let him know that I've extended the invitation to you as well. Catch."

The Rocket grunt flipped something at her and she dextrously plucked it out of the air. It was a small card, about the size of a credit card.

"That'll give you access to the Rocket training facility. It's two blocks east of the gym... I wouldn't advise hitting the gym just yet though. Just to be qualified to enter, you have to have raised every Pokemon in your team to at least seventy percent of their full potential. That's a hell of a lot harder than you might think. But feel free to use the training facility at any time... you can usually find the boss there during the day, and he's always happy to interview new faces. No pressure to join up though... You don't have to be a member of Team Rocket to use the facilities... you just have to impress one of us enough to earn a pass card. You've done that and more."

Ranma blinked again as the man turned to leave, probably heading for a Pokemon center, as she tried to formulate a response. This was not at all how she'd expected things to happen.

"Hey... hey wait! Why... exactly are you doing something so nice? I don't know much about Team Rocket, but from what I read, I expected you to act like some sort of thug..."

The man bit off a short laugh.

"You must have been reading about the original Team Rocket... that was a long time ago kid. When old Giovanni was the boss, and when he dissappeared and his nephew, Johann, took over. But something like twenty years ago, Johann just dissappeared and his son, Giovanni the second, took up the reins. Since then, we've gone through something of a reorganization in the ranks, and of our priorities. The boss could explain it better though. Like I said, during the daytime you'll almost always find him at the training facilities."

He turned to leave again. This time, Ranma didn't call him back.

"And what, exactly, was that in aid of?"

'...Not sure. But this is way different from what I was expecting. It almost sounded like... he was trying to convince me to join up with them.'

"Why not do so?"

'Well... they're the bad guys... I think'

"Did he not claim that they had changed from their original purpose?"

'Yeah... I guess that makes sense. It has been a long time since the timeframe I was familiar with, even though I wasn't that familiar with it. I guess things really have changed. Crap... that means that whatever foreknowledge I might have had is completely shot.'

"You are only just now realizing this?"

'Well, 'scuze me for clinging to my pleasant delusions that I might be able to plan ahead a little for once. Though given the chaos that was Nerima, I suppose I should be used to it by now.'

"... I suggest you take him up on his offer."

'What? Why?'

"If you wish to plan further ahead than simply struggling day to day until we find a way to leave this world, the first step would be getting a job. I may be wrong, but there do not seem to be a multitude of prospects."

'Y'know... you got a point... but..'

"And your acquiration of a job would mean we would be aquiring a second paycheck."

'And THAT is a much better one! Damn, without Nabiki around... I had almost forgotten what it was like to hold on to my money for more than a day or two! This'll be great!'

"..."

Ranma scooped the panting Ralts up off the ground and hopped up to a nearby rooftop with it. The casual display of superhuman strength and agility left Rei momentarily speechless, even though she'd vaguely known about it already.

'First, though, I gotta check on some stuff. Lets see... this button... then that one... then, uh...'

She fell silent in confusion and blinked.

'Uh... little help here Rei?'

The patient girl very nearly let loose a sigh.

xxx

'Okay, I know most of these. Fire beats grass, which beats water, which in turn beats fire and so on. These two though... they're new to me. Dark and... Steel. Okay, I know already that dark types are, for whatever stupid reason, completely immune to Psychic based attacks. Aside from that... Okay, they're strong against Psychic, obviously, and Ghost types too. That's interesting to know. Weak to Fighting and... Bug types? Huh. Well I was interested in getting ahold of a fighting type anyway, so lets take a look at Steel... Immune to all forms of Poison, that's neat. Really good against Ice and Rock, but they're not that great offensively. Defensively though, wow... except against Fire, Fighting, and Ground types. Still got a lot of resistances, though.'

"Perhaps it would be wise to aquire one or both of these typesets?"

'Maaaybe. Still not sure yet. But let's get back to Ralts... 15 Percent! Just half an hour ago it was only 13... Whatever, it can only be a good thing. But lets see... evolutionary line... It evolves to Kirlia at 20, still completely a psychic type... and then it has two possible evolutionary trails. This one's simple, just wait for it to hit 30 and it'll become a Garden.. Gardez...'

"Gardevoir."

'Yeah, that. Then there's the other... it looks a bit more complicated, but not much. Give a Kirlia a Dawn Stone and it'll become a Gallade. Eh? There's a side note... oh. That only works if it's a male Kirlia, huh.'

Ranma considered, then tapped a couple of buttons. After a moment of waiting, he got the Pokedex's reply.

'Female. Pity... Gallade is Psychic and Fighting based. I'd have liked to see how that worked.'

By this point, Ralts had long since caught her breath and was now sitting back on Ranma's shoulder. Every so often she would rub her cheek against the soft red hair, as though fascinated by it.

"I do not completely understand these 'elements'. If we are somehow incapable of capturing wild Pokemon, would it not be more efficient to simply train the one we have until it needs no backup?"

'Aha! That's what I thought too, but Nabiki ended up drilling this into my head! Pokemon all have strengths and weaknesses to the others based on their elemental types. It doesn't matter how strong a Pokemon is, if it faces up to a type its weak against, or if the opposing Pokemon type is immune to all its attacks, its chances of victory will be slashed drastically. Earlier was a fluke... If I hadn't come up with a spur of the moment deviation of a move, or if the Sneasel had dodged, or if it had been strong enough to dig itself out after it was buried, we would probably have lost. Also, if it had managed to hit Ralts with any Dark type attack, it would probably have been a one-hit knockout.'

"I see."

'It's like why most people don't use a full team of the same type. Dragons, for instance, are really rare and really strong if you raise them right, but if your entire team is made up of Dragons, then a single good Ice type can blast through them all without much trouble. Given that most gyms focus on a single type, it'll help a lot to keep the advantages in mind and try to set up a team that can cover as many bases as possible, but still have each individually strong enough to take on the right gym themselves.'

"Ah. So you are not completely devoid of strategy.'

'Please. My main attack involves pissing people off and leading them into a spiral. I've been using it for months, on the same people, and I can STILL get them to fall for it. Granted, these aren't the brightest bulbs around, but still. Now then...'

Ranma tapped a few more buttons and brought up a graph that showed each types weaknesses and strengths in relation to the others.

'Psychic is covered by Ralts, here, and that gives us an advantage against Fighting and Poison right off the bat. Um... Ice would be a good bet, and that would cover Dragon, Flying, Grass and Ground. Most fully evolved Dragons are Flying type as well, so that's a double bonus. Fire would be good too, that covers Bug, Ice, Steel, and Grass again... That's nine of seventeen with just three. Lemme think... we need to cover Normal, Rock, Ghost, Fire, Water, Electric, Psychic, and Dark... A Dark type would get Psychic and Ghost types... that leaves six with only two slots. A Fighting type would cover Normal, Dark and Rock, with a back-up for Ice and Steel... that just leaves one... Hmm... Ground would cover both Fire and Electric, but leave a big gaping hole towards Water types. Wait... lemme check something... yes! Ralts can learn multiple electric moves, and that right there covers our weakness to water!'

"Impressive analysis. But how had you planned to collect these specifict types, with wild Pokemon actively avoiding us?"

A loud gust of air blew past them.

'I... I'd completely forgotten about that. That's starting to really shape up to be a problem.'

"How is it even possible to forget such a large problem?"

'Sh-shut up...'

xxx

Meanwhile, back in Nerima, Genma was pondering the slip of parchment. It was an easy enough decision, right? All he had to do was remove it from its hiding place, scribble out something about the boy wanting to come home on it, then hide it again, and the boy would be focusing all his attention on coming home without Genma having to do anything else.

So why was he feeling so uneasy?

Shrugging the feeling off, he reached into his travel pack, pressing a catch that moved aside a false bottom and pulled the sheet out. Then his danger sense flared, and he leapt back, sheet in hand, as what appeared to be a beach ball on a stick slammed into the floor where he'd just been standing.

"Amazon! What are you...?"

"Shampoo realize something. If Shampoo take magic paper from Panda-man, can make Airen fall in love with Shampoo!"

Genma pondered this for a brief moment, then leapt out the window. The engagement with Tendo's daughter was the most profitable, in his eyes, and he stood nothing to gain from letting Ranma run off with the Amazon.

"Panda-man not get away so easy! Shampoo will take magic paper from Airen's father!"

In the kitchen, Akane squeezed her chopsticks so hard that they splintered as she watched out the window. Then a red aura manifested, even as her thoughts whirled around this new twist. What could that chinese slut possibly...? Of course. The stat sheet. With that, she could make Ranma do anything she wanted when he returned. Image after image flashed through her mind, each one lewder and more perverted than the last.

"RANMA-NO-HENTAI!" She bellowed, her typical war cry, as her mega-mallet appeared in her hands and she darted after them. Their parents had given Ranma to her. Ranma was HERS and NO ONE elses.

Genma heard the cry and put a little more speed into his run, then came to a complete stop and hurled himself to the side as an umbrella and a multitude of chains struck where he'd have been if he hadn't stopped.

"If I had that sheet-" Ryoga muttered.

"I could eliminate Saotome as a rival forever-" Mousse put in his two cents.

"I could make his life a living hell."

"I could just make him not want to come back."

"I could make him so depressed as to commit suicide."

"AND SHAMPOO/AKANE WILL BE MINE!" They cried as one, renewing their assault.

Genma took a few moments to escape, allowing Akane and Shampoo to catch up and join the boys as they chased him. From there things grew progressively worse for the portly martial artist.

"Hold, varlet! What is this I have heard about a magical parchment that controls the very soul of the Fiery Pigtailed girl? It will be mine, and she shall be free to express her love for me!"

"You shall give me the parchment that binds my Ranma-sama to the trollop, Tendo Akane!"

Genma zipped past them without stopping.

"Do you think you can outrun three thousand years of Amazon tradition, father of my son-in-law?"

He took to the roofs in an effort to escape.

"Woohoo! Genma my boy... give me that paper, and I'll convieniently 'forget' to come pick you up next time it's time for you and Soun to go on a training trip."

Genma almost broke at that, but something within him held firm.

"And what would you do with it?"

"Do with it? Why, what WOULDN'T I do with it my boy! I would mold Ranma to be my perfect heir... and that's just for starters! He'll never interfere with my liberation of silky darlings again!"

The thought of Ranma suddenly becoming a... a... a miniature HAPPOSAI had Genma breaking out in a cold sweat. Combined with the few fatherly instincts remaining and an image of what the dread master would certainly do to his son's female form, and he broke the seal on the Umisenken and faded into invisibility. The Nerima Wrecking crew went mad, thrashing and destroying everything in the area as they searched for him, or alternatively tried to flush him out of hiding.

All thoughts of altering the parchment forgotten, Genma was now searching for a place to hide the damn thing... he hadn't run like this for years, since the time he and Ranma had stolen their food money from some guy who had turned out to be head of a large clan of ninja. He wasn't built for running like this anymore.

And so he headed to the only person in Nerima who would not only be able to arrange to hide the thing properly, but would be too scary for everyone else to try to steal it from.

xxx

"Ten thousand yen."

As the disgruntled old man paid and left her in the cafe with it, Nabiki regarded the parchment solemnly. Granted, it would be a boon to someone like her... but manipulating Ranma had always been easy, and a crutch like this just seemed like too much of a cheating device. Shrugging absently, she crumpled it up and set it into an ash tray and lit one of the complimentary matches and set it aflame, never realizing just how much of a bad idea that could be.

And as the paper burned, the tiny, tightly coiled, yet invisible strings of magic that made it up began to spring away, one by one, returning things to the way they once were, or at least to as close as possible where some things had been irreperably damaged. As she watched the parchment slowly shift to ash indistinguishable from the rest in the tray, she never realized that now, should Ranma return, if he returned, he would be almost unrecognizable from before, save physically.

And somewhere, as a red-haired girl slept on a roof, cuddling a small, but powerful beast, invisible crackles of magic swirled around her. Focused mainly at her head.

xxx

A.N. What have I done now? I dunno... you'll just have to wait and see.

Anyway, now the stat sheet is gone for good, and I doubt there will be much more action shown in Nerima. And kudos to those of you who have pieced together what I'm leading up to. Apologies, also, to the person who suggested evolving Ralts into a Gallade... I've had Gardevoir in mind since the very moment they entered pokemonland. Of course, there are still five slots of seperate elemental types, with the different pokemon I'm considering. Take a look, if you're interested.

The Ice slot-

GLACEON. It's an Eevee evolution, and so it's rare, and I've not got much info on it, but it seems interesting.

SPHEAL, eventually to evolve into Sealeo and Walrein. This one's an Ice/Water type and proved invaluable to me in the game. Definitely a possibility.

LAPRAS. A Water/Ice type that's been around since the beginning of the series of games. This one's pretty rare, like Glaceon is, but aside from a Legendary this is the only other Ice-type that stood out to me. And I don't want them to have Legendaries.

The Fire slot-

VULPIX, which will evolve into Ninetales. The first thing that stood out once I knocked all the Legendaries and starter pokemon off the list. Vulpix stands a good shot right now.

PONYTA, which will evolve into Rapidash. I've liked these things for a while, so it definitely stands a shot.

HOUNDOUR, which will evolve into Houndoom. Technically, this is a Dark type, with only a secondary Fire characteristic, but I just can't pass up the little demon hound. This is the best bet, but I still haven't decided.

The Dark slot-

HOUNDOUR again. Just because it's so nifty. It's entirely possible that I'll decide not to use this little guy at all, but not likely.

MURKROW, which may or may not evolve into Honchkrow. Its secondary Flying type definitely puts it up for consideration.

ABSOL deserves a second look too. Raise these things right and they're useful. Of course, they are slightly difficult to find.

The Fighting slot-

GALLADE. Like I said, the Ralts that they currently have is going to become a Gardevoir. However, there's still the possibility that they might pick up another Ralts, that might become a Gallade eventually. It's not likely, but still a possibility.

MACHOP, eventually to become Machamp. This guy's a good bet, but there's always the chance I'll decide to pass him up for something else.

TYROGUE. Ah, choices. If I go for this one, I'll have to decide its evolutionary path. Will it become Hitmonlee, or Hitmonchan? Not gonna go for Hitmontop, if only because just looking at the thing spinning about on its head makes me feel dizzy and nauseous. Don't like that, tough.

And the Ground slot-

TRAPINCH, to become Vibrava and Flygon later. The addition of the Dragon type upon evolution isn't something to scoff at.

PHANPHY, which will evolve into Donphan. The little elephant looks cute, but once it evolves it can be a real powerhouse.

BALTOY, and the evolved Claydol deserve consideration too. Especially with the secondary type of Psychic. As long as you have extra attacks to help you deal with the Dark types before they can finish you off, Psychics are still, in my opinion, the best type out there.

I'm not asking for votes here, just putting the possibilities out there. I could use any or none of these, depending on how I decide to write it.