AN: I have accepted the challenge! The challenge I say, to be awesome~ *coughs* Anyway, this is the Ash's Master Quest challenge from xMathiasNightlord01 (visit his page for the challenge details). This will have a T-rating for language and violence, cause it's Pokémon and they battle. I also don't own Pokémon in any way, shape, or form. So, anyway, I hope I did a good job! I also don't have a beta reader. Sorry everyone. ._.
~A Spirit's Second Chance~
In life, there are many truths that are learned as people and creatures alike grow and evolve together. These creatures, along with humans, learn where true strength and love come from. These wonderful creatures, coming in all forms and sizes, are called Pokémon.
However, not everyone experiences a true partnership and friendship between a human and a Pokémon. In this world, certain truths are learned painfully.
"Spirit…," a raspy voice hissed out. There was a strange fog coming from an odd stone, not quite forming anything, but looking as if the fog was trying to form something yet sadly not able to hold the form. It was tired, too hurt and weak to maintain whatever shape it truly had.
But, these truths are not the only ones in a vast world of multiple people and Pokémon. Each creature is special, holding a different set of feelings and personalities that set each one apart from another, whither they be Pokémon or human. This realm of possibilities, of hope and hopelessness, leaves for both pain and joy. The experience to grow and understand just what life is meant in such an existence, even one that seems empty at one point.
"Hello?" The strange fog jolted at the sound, jerking before forming an odd eye. A swirl slowly appeared, making the iris of the eye and allowing the creature to see who had found it. Foe or friend, neither seemed welcomed yet to the piercing glare the fog held that tried desperately to hide its pain. "Ah! A Pokémon! But… I've never seen one like this….," the voice trailed off.
The creature looked at the person who found it, a human like the one who hurt it. However, unlike the other, this one was young, so very young. The person was a young boy, black hair and warm brown eyes. The boy didn't seem to care that it was glaring at him, continuing to walk closer to the wounded Pokémon.
"Are you okay boy?" At the question, the boy received an angry hiss. "Ah! Okay! Okay! Girl! You're a girl! Sorry…," he trailed off sheepishly, noticing the chipped and scratched up rock the fog was coming from. "You're hurt…," he stated obviously, looking horrified and saddened.
"Spirit… tomb," the now identified female Pokémon called out softly. The boy just sighed softly, reaching out and gently touching the rock. "Spirit!"
"Ahh!" the boy yelped, jerking his hand back in shock. He didn't expect such a violent reaction from the Pokémon. "I'm sorry! But, I'm only trying to help!" the young child argued back angrily. Huffing, the boy glanced up at the midday sky, pouting and ignoring the injured Pokémon as punishment.
The half-formed fog looked away from the child, slowly starting to feel guilty as the human refused to leave despite being upset at her reaction. She sighed before mumbling softly. "Tomb… tomb, spiritomb."
"Huh? Spiritomb?" the child tried slowly, as if a question. "Is that your name? Mine's Ash! Ash Ketchum! I'm going to Pokémon Master one day with a bunch of Pokémon friends by my side! The strongest," the boy, named Ash, said confidently with such fire in his eyes. "But, before then, we need to get you healed! It looks painful… But, your body sure is pretty! Blue is one of my favorite colors!"
The Spiritomb was indeed a lovely shade of blue, only a single purple eye visible as her form wobbled from the pain she was in. Nodding slowly, Spiritomb slowly let her form fall apart, retreating back into the important rock that held her form. She was placing her trust in this boy. This was her second chance, the last time she would ever trust another human. Depending on the outcome, Spiritomb knew she would either die, come to hate humans, or maybe – just maybe – have hope in a race of creatures she had been tormented by for her supposed rarity.
Gasping, the boy gently picked the rock up, noticing the strange smoothness and look to the rock. Ash smiled as he started running home, promising he wouldn't fail his new friend. However, on the way home through the forest he had grown used to playing in, Ash couldn't help but wonder where such a strange Pokémon came from and why she was so injured.
~ɤ§ɤ~
In the forest where Ash had just left, a tall man walked out, growling to himself. "Dammit… where did that Spiritomb go?" he asked, looking around from under the hat he wore on his head. He was dressed in dark clothing, nothing special besides the large weapon he had strapped to his hip that had some odd circles outside the barrel making a square shape.
"Gengar!" The man looked as a strange creature stepped out of the shadows of the trees, looking ashamed of itself for some reason. It stared down at the ground, floating slightly above the ground. The dark purple creature glanced up at the man with its red eyes, looking hopeful.
"You lost it, didn't you? You useless ghost of a Pokémon!" the man snarled, ignoring the way his Pokémon flinched at the insult. The ghost mumbled to itself, pointing in the direction the boy ran. "A town? So… someone must have found that pathetic ghost. Shit, that is the direction of Pallet town isn't it? That Professor Oak lives there if I remember… My client won't be happy, losing a shiny Spiritomb."
Walking toward his Pokémon, the man placed a hand on its head, careful of the large ears and spikes on its head and going down its back. "Next time, you won't lose the target… Right, Gengar?" the man asked with a menacing grin. After watching his Gengar squirm while nodding its head frantically under the pressure of his hand, he mumbled quickly, "We are leaving. That damn Professor will alert the police as soon as he realizes what we did to that Spiritomb. I can't risk jail over one Pokémon that isn't even a legendary."
Turning away from the direction of the town, the man started walking as he pulled his hat down over his eyes slightly. He glared ahead, ignoring his Gengar that followed quietly, not wanting to upset its trainer anymore. No matter how strong the ghost became, Gengar was always nervous when that man was angry. Gengar had seen what happened to people who angered the Pokémon poacher its trainer was.
~ɤ§ɤ~
After the departure of the man that had hunted Spiritomb, Ash finally made his way home. He was panting from the long run, wanting to get to work on fixing up his new friend. Looking down at the strange rock, Ash rushed up to his house, pausing before entering. He couldn't tell anyone about Spiritomb. The boy feared losing his new friend and the fragile trust between them.
While Ash was deep in thought, the Spiritomb groaned from within the stone. Bringing the child out of his thoughts, Ash looked over at his mother's garden. He blinked a few times before smiling. Walking over, the black haired child held onto the Pokémon with one arm and started picking the new special berries with his other hand. There were several different berries in his arms with Spiritomb by the end of his picking. They ranged from round and blue to a pear shaped yellow berry, a pink peach shaped one with twin leaves to small red berry with a long green stem on it.
"I'm sure mom wouldn't miss some… They are for the Pokémon after all! Besides, she mostly just grows them for the Pokémon at the lab and Spiritomb needs them more anyway!" Ash nodded to himself at the logic, not knowing that Spiritomb could hear him the entire time. The ghost in the stone slowly let herself relax as Ash carried her upstairs, making sure his mom couldn't see him if she was home. "Good, she must be visiting the neighbors…"
Walking upstairs to his room, Ash made sure to shut his door before setting Spiritomb down on the bed, dropping the pile of berries beside the stone. "Here you go! All sorts of berries that are good for Pokémon! I heard these can heal you too!"
The child watched with excitement as the Spiritomb slowly let herself out of the rock. She groaned in pain as she slowly formed her full body from the blue fog. She became a large, jagged disk shape of blue fog with several purple circles around the edges. Her purple eyes and jagged mouth were both closed as her entire from trembled before she forced herself to open her eyes. "Spirit…"
"Here, eat some! They'll help for sure!" Ash watched as the Spiritomb looked over to the pile of berries. The ghost sighed happily before slowly inching over and nibbling on a few. She was focusing on the round blue ones and the yellow pear shaped ones the most it seemed.
The two sat in silence for a while, one eating and slowly recovering her heal and the other watching in great interest. "You know," Ash started suddenly, breaking the awkward silence, "I always tell people I wanna be a great Pokémon trainer one day, but I don't even know what Pokémon you are! And these berries, mom told me they heal Pokémon and the Professor asked her to grow them to help with his research, but I didn't even pay attention when they explained it to me… I haven't been taking this seriously have I?"
The Spiritomb looked at Ash as he talked, eating her pile of berries happily as she thought about his words. She swallowed before nodding her head at the question. "Spiritomb, tomb spiritomb to~mb," she said, before realizing Ash probably didn't understand the more complex Poké-speak.
"Uhh… did you just say I'm childish? But I'm only six!" Ash pouted before snorting as he tried not to laugh at the face Spiritomb made from Ash getting the basics of what she said to him. "I hang out with lots of Pokémon at the Professor's lab! I think I'm getting the hang of what Pokémon say. Besides, lots of people learn to understand the basics of what most Pokémon say nowadays! Especially trainers, like I'm going to be one day."
Spiritomb snorted at the child, looking much healthier as she continued her meal. She was starting to like the child, as dense and naïve as he seemed to be at times. So innocent, she couldn't help but warm up to him. "Spiritomb tomb tomb spir-it!"
"I am not naïve! Uhh… what does that mean?" Ash blinked, looking at Spiritomb with wide eyes as the ghost sighed before giggling at the boy. "Well, at least you look better! But, what do I do now? If I show you to the Professor he'll just take you away…," he mumbled dejectedly. "If I don't, I won't be able to take care of you properly. I didn't even know you were called Spiritomb before you said your name. I can't go through with hiding you."
Spiritomb finished off the last of the berries, looking much better, but still a bit worn out. "Tomb? To-omb, spirit spiritomb," the Pokémon said seriously, looking at Ash in the eyes. Her purple ones were boring into the child's brown ones.
"Try explaining everything to him? Yeah, maybe if we show him how serious we are, we can stay together! And… and maybe I can get lessons from him! I wanna know what you are Spiritomb, how to care for you so you won't ever be hurt again," the child said just as seriously, but with such optimism that is shocked the ghost. A warm smile formed on the ghost's face, nodding her head as she allowed Ash to pick her up and enjoying the way Ash perked up at how much the stone had healed.
"Hey, Spiritomb," Ash called, looking down to see that the ghost was paying attention to him, "if everything works out, you wanna be friends even if I go on a journey? I'm going to make sure you're okay after all, even if you aren't my Pokémon! And… and I wanna learn how to handle and care for all kinds of different Pokémon if I ever need to, you know?"
Warmed but such a declaration, the ghost just snuggled into Ash's arms more, enjoying the warmth he gave off. "Spiritomb tomb spirit-it tomb," she stated, smiling at the huge grin Ash was sporting.
"Yeah! Together, we are going to be the strongest ever Spiritomb! We can beat anyone together, for sure!" Ash cried out as he started jogging to the Professor Oak's lab, wondering what was in store for him and this strange Pokémon in the future. The boy knew that if he was with his friend, nothing would stop him for long. It was feeling he had, as sure as he was in his dream to be a Pokémon master.
As Ash and the Spiritomb saw the lab on top of the hill they approached, both had a strange feeling that somehow their journey had already started, if only a little. Both had much to learn, especially Ash. The child wanted to be as prepared as much he could, even if he had to stop playing around as much or help in the lab if he got the chance. Ash would be the best trainer he could for his new friend just as Spiritomb would be the best Pokémon she could be for the strange human she decided to trust.
Together, the two began to learn the reality about the relationship between a trainer and their Pokémon, of being true friends and partners in battle. However, they had a long road ahead of them and many hard battles they would soon have to face in this world of Pokémon.
End of the prologue! I hope everyone enjoyed the beginning of this story! I hope I do a decent job of following the anime while changing certain parts. Now, I will cut out some episodes that seem pointless - unless I just like that episode. *coughs*looksatfirstseason*coughs* So, I plan to update at least once or twice a week, depending on college, family, and how fast I can go through the episodes.
And make sure to look at those challenges xMathiasNightlord01 has if you are interested! I know the other two are very tempting to try and write as well. owo But, I won't even think about that unless I get this one well into Jhoto. So, this looks like it is going to be a long one... WOOOO! Now, time to plan the next chapter~ Cya everyone! :D
P.S. Pairing is not picked yet. Still debating on who I like best with Ash. Though there will be hinting to crushes, both adorable and silly. Cause, you know, crushes happen.
Ash's Team:
Spiritomb - (shiny) Female, ability: unknown, known moves: unknown
I'll post the moves and stuff for his on hand team, while listing the Pokémon he can call on. Makes it easier to look at the current six he has with him. Peace ^w^ v