Ok, so this is my first pokefic and, I'll be honest, I'm using this story more as practice to get my creativity flowing while I plan some other fics. This fic will be mostly unplanned and the editing will probably be quite light, so before you say anything about the quality, I know :p
Again this is more just a filler story while I properly plan out another doc, but I hope you enjoy it. Rate and review!
Dawn broke over Pallet Town. The town was silent save for the tweets of pidgeys and the gentle rustling of the wind. As the sun climbed higher the first rays of light pierced through the curtains and fell onto a sleeping figure's face. Ash groaned slightly and turned, trying to hide from it, but he was already awake. Slowly, he cracked his eyes open and yawned, looking up at the ceiling and letting his thoughts collect. Twenty years old. He couldn't believe how quickly the time had gone; it felt like it was yesterday when he ran to Professor Oak's lab in his pajamas. He sighed wistfully; back then it was so much simpler. Back then it was all just about finding the next new pokemon, now it was an endless quest to beat the next league. He still loved it though; just travelling itself was thrilling, especially with his partner Pikachu, who was dozing in the corner.
His thoughts were broken as the figure next to him shifted, her breath tickling his neck. Ash'a gaze drifted across her freckled face, her soft lips, the flow of her red hair across her neck, her slender body hidden by the bedsheets. He couldn't help but smile just by looking at her; she was so beautiful in her sleep, her normally energetic and wild personality replaced by a calm, peaceful look; that is, until one eye opened and a sly smile twitched the corners of her mouth.
"Watching me sleep again?"
Ash chuckled, "I enjoy it. You're much easier to deal with when you're unconscious" he said, which earned him a playful thump on the shoulder. She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his lips before sinking down and closing her eyes again, her head on his chest.
"Happy Birthday, Ash."
"Thanks, Misty." He looked back up to the ceiling again. "I can't believe how quickly it's all gone by, I still remember my first day, the Johto League, seeing you again at Battle Frontier, all of it like it was yesterday." Misty grinned and snuggled in closer.
"I know, we're so old now." She replied with a soft laugh. "I bet the others feel the same way. Well, maybe apart from Max."
"Yeah." For a while they just lay there in silence, enjoying the quiet together. "Do we have to get up?" Ash eventually asked. "I'd rather just stay here all day." Misty grinned, her eyes still closed. "I know I'm wonderful and all, but I think the others would be pretty annoyed if the birthday boy didn't turn up to his own party."
Ash sighed, "Yeah, I guess, and sat up, withdrawing his arm from under Misty. "And I suppose mum will be cooking breakfast already." As if on cue, his stomach rumbled. Misty giggled. "I swear your stomach has a mind of its own."
"Shut up." Ash teased in response and stood up, but before he could move Misty grabbed his hand in hers. "Wait." She said softly, Ash turned to see her looking up at him, the bed sheet around her waist, with a smile that was both sleepy and seductive. "I haven't give you your birthday present yet."
Ash grinned, and let himself be pulled down into her embrace.
Eventually, they both came downstairs, where Ash was immediately tackled by Delia and Mr Mime in a bone-crunching hug.
"My little boy is twenty years old!" she squealed, "You've grown up so much since you left home."
"Mum...can't...breathe." Ash managed to choke out until she finally released him, leaving him to cough as she dashed over to the stove. "Breakfast is almost ready, sit yourselves down, this is going to be the best breakfast you've ever eaten."
Ash and Misty shared a look; she was clearly going to be this hyper all day. Just as breakfast was about to be served Misty saw a shadow pass over the window, and heard the thud of something large landing outside. "What the..." She got up and went over to the door, opening it. She gasped. "Ash, come look."
"What is it?" but his confusion turned to joy at what he saw. "Charizard! Pidgeot! Butterfree!"
The three Pokemon stood outside, enormous grins on their faces, as Ash ran over to them and caught them in a group hug. "Did you guys come to visit for my birthday?" They nodded enthusiastically. "Thanks guys, come join us for breakfast. I'll get some pokefood." but just as he turned away the ground began to rumble. He looked for where it was coming from, but all he could see was a huge cloud of dust. He squinted to try and see better, but they opened wide when he realised that it was the rest of his Pokemon stampeding towards him.
"Hey guys," he yelled, slightly nervous as they charged closer and closer with no sign of stopping, but they came to a halt just in front of him and soon he was surrounded, each one of them giving their own little greeting.
"Thanks for coming guys," he said as he disentangled himself from Bayleef's vines, "but how did you get out of the lab?"
"Well it's only a small wooden fence around the outside, they stay because I look after them well." Said a kindly voice from behind the crowd.
"Professor Oak," Ash said, greeting him with a handshake, "thank you for bringing them all."
"I couldn't have stopped them if I wanted to, my boy." Oak said warmly, "they've been dying to see you. Don't worry: I've brought enough Pokemon food for this lot."
"Thanks, please join us for breakfast yourself." Ash looked around at the large crowd of Pokemon. "Uh, mom? I think we may have to have breakfast outside."
"I must say, Delia," the Professor began as he put down his fork, "that was the best meal I have had in a long time."
"Thank you, Sam." She replied, blushing.
"Yeah it was really great, mum." Ash added. "You must have really worked hard on it."
"Oh anything for you dear." She said, and locked him in a bear hug, planting a kiss on his cheek. Misty and the Professor tried not to laugh as Ash blushed heavily, but it was cut short by a voice in the distance.
"Hey, we didn't miss the party, did we?"
They all turned to see, in the distance, Brock, Tracey, Gary, May, Max and Dawn walking towards them.
"Guys! You're here!" Yelled Ash in joy.
"Of course we are, Ashy-boy, we couldn't miss your twentieth."
Ash smiled; Gary would never let that nickname drop as long as he lived. "Well come on then, we've got a party to start." He replied with a grin.
Delia stood up and called to them. "I hope you're hungry, I made so much food even Ash couldn't finish it." The group laughed in response, while Ash sweatdropped.
Once everyone was inside Ash put some music on and everyone started catching up on what had been happening in their lives. In the last year Ash had only seen Brock and Gary out of all of them.
"I'm training more and more to become a proper co-ordinator." Said Dawn. "I want to make sure I'm ready before any big competitions."
"That's fan-" Ash began, but was cut short by his mother.
"Everyone! Presents time!" Everyone quickly scrambled through their bags. From Brock Ash got a fossilised piece of Amber, which had a tiny bug in the centre. "Since you're always after new Pokemon" he said "I figured I'd add a bit of mystery to your gift, you'll find out what it is if you take it to Cinnabar."
From Tracey he got a collection of sketches of rare Pokemon he had seen on his travels. Max got him a full set of Legendary Pokemon figurines. Ash couldn't help but smile; although he tried to hide it Max was still a bit of a kid. Gary got him a copy of Cynthia Shirona's latest battle techniques - her latest book. May gave him a new jacket, one that was black with red trim, and a matching cap. Dawn got him a crystal model of a pikachu midway through a Volt Tackle, which the real Pikachu was very impressed with.
"Now sweetie." Delia said to Ash "I wanted this to be something really special for your twentieth, sooooo..." She let the sentence trail, and ended it by holding up a set of car keys.
"No..." Ash was stunned.
"Yep." His mother proudly replied, and this time it was Ash who tackled Delia into a hug, to the collective 'awww's of the room.
"Best. Mum. Ever."
After they broke off Ash surveyed everything he had gotten: it was a pretty impressive haul. "Thank you so much guys, this is incredible."
"Hey, we're not finished yet!" Said Misty, indignant. "This is my gift." She handed him a small box. He opened it. Inside there were two pieces of paper. He looked at them.
"These are.." His eyes went wide. "These are cruise tickets for the SS Anne 2. How did you get these?"
"Never you mind, I wanted it to be something special so I pulled some strings."
"This is unbelievable, hey Brock, want to go on a cruise with me?" He said before smiling cheekily back at Misty, who had already gone red with anger. The others couldn't help but laugh. "Well, thank you everyone." Ash began again, but was stopped yet again.
"Actually, Ash, there is one more present." Said Professor Oak, and they all turned to look at him. "But first, there is a little bit of a story behind it." Gary groaned inwardly; his grandfather's stories had a history of lasting far longer than planned.
"Many years ago, when I first became a Pokemon professor I was very well renowned for my research, and as a result of that I made some friends in rather high places. Specifically, one Charles Goodshow, who I assume you have all at least heard of." They all nodded. "Well, Charles and I have been friends for many years, but it was only a few years ago that he gave me this." He produced a small, elegant wooden box which bore the official Pokemon League stamp." Ash Stared at it. "What is it?"
"A very powerful item. Charles told me that they were made as league prizes, but were eventually scrapped for giving trainers an unfair advantage over others. This is the only one that remains; the rest are locked up in a vault somewhere, but Charles gave this one to me, and told me that I should give it to the trainer who I deem most worthy of it." He looked at Ash, a kindly smile on his face. "I have seen your exploits on TV, and I have seen how well you care for your Pokemon back here at the lab. After ten years I have decided that you are the one who deserves this." And with that, he opened the lid of the box. Everyone craned over to look inside.
The box held a pokeball, but it was different from any colour they had seen before. Instead of being red, or blue, or yellow and black it was purple, and it had a small "m" written just above the centre.
It was a master ball.
Stunned silence filled the room, with a mix of awe, jealousy and wonder. None of them knew what to say.
"Professor..." Ash eventually said. "This is... This is..."
Oak started to grow a little worried. "Do you not like it?"
"No, no, I love it, but- are you sure I'm the right person?"
"I've never been more certain. I've seen many trainers over the years, but you are the one who has impressed me the most."
Ash reached out and ran his fingers over the ball's surface, he picked it up and examined it: it was an excellently well made pokeball, the edges were covered in strange, minute patterns that were clearly the work of some master craftsman. "I...thanks, Professor. This is incredible."
"You earned it, my boy."
"Well," Gary said, breaking the strange silence that had filled the air, "whilst I am sick with jealousy, I think gramps made a good choice. Now then, let's get this party started!" And, seemingly from nowhere, Gary produced some party poppers and showered them all in streamers. They all cheered in approval and got up to prepare. Food was brought out and everyone started chatting and mingling. Ash gathered his presents and took them up to his room. Whilst arranging them on his desk he couldn't help but linger on the master ball. He still couldn't believe he had it, and he wondered what Pokemon he would catch with it. His thoughts were broken as he heard the door open behind him.
"Is Mr Pokemon Master hiding from his own party?" Misty teased, hugging him from behind. Ash smiled and put his hands on hers. "I'll be down in a sec, it's just these gifts have blown me away." He twisted around in her grip so that he was facing her, "And how did you manage to get hold of two tickets to the most luxury cruise liner in the world?"
Misty snorted in laughter, "You always seem to forget that I'm a gym leader. Every leader gets a two week holiday once a year, paid for partly by the league. I never bothered before since it was just me, and I didn't fancy taking my sisters, but now," she leaned in closer to him "I have you to go with."
Ash smiled and leaned in for a long, emotion-filled kiss. Slowly he pulled away and looked into her eyes. "I love you so much, you know that right?" She smiled back. "I love you too, Ash."
And then, the world rippled.
At first Ash thought he imagined it, but then it happened again, everything rippled like the world was a pond and somebody had dropped a stone in it. He frowned, but suddenly he was punched in the gut by a churning, roiling nausea. He pushed himself away from Misty and bent double, feeling like he was about to vomit.
"Ash? What's wrong?" Came Misty's panicked voice, but it sounded like it was far away. He saw her turn to get help but he grabbed her by the arm and, as fast as it had arrived, the feeling vanished and he felt normal again. He stood up slowly and took several deep breaths. It was as if the pain had never been there.
"Ash, what he hell was that?"
"I don't know, I suddenly just felt really sick, but then it went away." He added a nervous laugh to try and ease the mood. Misty sighed in frustration.
"I told you, you eat so much that one day your stomach isn't gonna keep up. Don't scare me like that."
Ash looked into her eyes; under her tomboyish bravado he could see that she had been really scared for a moment. "I'm sorry, Mist. I'll make sure I don't eat so much again." Yeah, that must have been what caused it, he thought to himself. "Well, shall we go join the others now?"
A small smile returned to her face. "Fine, lets go." And she walked out of the door, but as Ash turned to follow her he caught a glimpse of something out the window, a flash of purple hair before it disappeared out of sight.
"Is that..." He said to himself, before heading downstairs to the front door.
"Paul, um, I didn't expect to see you here." In the doorway stood Ash's old rival Paul. He had grown a little since Ash had last seen him, but that hair and that scowl was impossible to miss.
"Nice to see you too." Paul responded drily.
"Sorry," Ash recovered "it's just a surprise, is all."
"Yeah well, I was in the area. Is everyone here?"
A wicked grin crossed Ash's face. "You mean 'is Dawn here?'"
Paul suppressed a twitch. "Yes." He said through gritted teeth.
"Well I don't know," it was wasn't like Ash to enjoy someone's suffering, but for Paul he could let it slide. "She might be. What's it worth."
Paul sighed before pulling out a pokeball. "Happy Birthday Ash."
Ash stared at it. "You got me a pokeball?"
"Scan it you idiot."
He pulled out his pokedex and activated the scan function. After a moment a picture of the Pokemon inside appeared.
"Paul, this is a Dratini."
"Yep. You're welcome. Can I come in now?"
"Where the hell did you get a Dratini?" He asked incredulously, ignoring his question.
"Never mind, anyway-"
"Hang on, Dratinis aren't normally pink. Is this-"
"Look, Just forget about it, I wouldn't have got it if you were gonna make such a fuss."
Ash couldn't help but smile. "Thanks Paul. Come on." Without another word Paul walked past and into the living room, Ash just stared at the Pokedex screen, ignoring the mixed reaction coming from the living room at Paul's entrance. The Dratini was clearly well looked after, but why had Paul given him such a rare Pokemon? While they no longer hated each other they weren't exactly friends. He made a mental note to ask him again later.
The world rippled again.
Ash closed his eyes trying not to panic. What was causing this? Maybe it was just-
This thoughts were torn away by the roaring, blinding pain, this time behind his eyes instead of his stomach. Ash clenched his fists and tried not to scream; he didn't want to alert the others. It would pass soon, he thought, but it didn't, it seemed to be building. He couldn't think, couldn't speak, couldn't breathe. He sunk to the floor, tears squeezing out of his clenched eyelids. The pain wasn't stopping, it was getting worse, Ash tried to touch his head, to ease the pain, but his forehead was too hot to touch, like there was a fire burning inside his head. What little thought he could manage begged for it to stop, anything to make it go away.
And suddenly, it did.
Ash looked up, feeling like he was hungover, and wiped the sweat of his brow.
"Pikaa." Came a soft, worried voice from beside him. Ash noticed the small yellow paw resting on his arm, and looked up at Pikachu.
"Thanks Pikachu," he said as he scooped the Pokemon up in his arms and hugged her. "What the hell is happening to me?"
Pikachu nuzzled into his shoulder and murmured quietly. For a moment Ash just held her, letting his breath steady and his muscles relax.
"Hey Ash, who's this guy?" Said Gary from behind him. "Hey, are you ok buddy?" Ash turned to face him, a broad smile already appearing.
"Yeah I'm fine. That's Paul, and old rival of mine. I wasn't expecting him to turn up either."
"Oh, well come on, he seems alright but the reception he's getting is kinda frosty. You could probably help smooth things over."
"Sure thing." Ash replied, and followed him in.
A while later everything was flowing smoothly. It was a rather chilled out party but everyone was enjoying themselves, possibly due to the wine and beer that May had broken out. Delia seemed to be enjoying the wine quite a lot, Ash noticed, as she progressively got more and more giggly. He sighed, knowing he'd probably have to drag her to her bed later.
"Hey, Ash." Said Misty in his ear, clearly a little drunk. "Come with me a sec." She pulled him off the couch and dragged him away before he could say anything.
"Misty, what-" he began as they entered the hall, but before he could finish as pushed him up against the wall and kissed him passionately. Ash was surprised but sank into it, enjoying her closeness. Misty didn't stop until she needed air, eventually pulling away and resting her head on his. "I just wanted to do that, is all." She said dreamily. Ash grinned. "Well I want to do this." He said and leaned in again.
But then the world rippled.
He had the tiniest moment of fear before every nerve in his body exploded in white hot agony. He screamed and fell to the floor, and began convulsing. Misty screamed, but he didn't hear it, he didn't hear the others rush in, or the panicked voices, or May rushing to the phone. He didn't even notice Pikachu, Misty and Delia run to his side and try to hold him down. He was lost in his own mindless hell. He screamed and screamed and screamed, but the pain didn't end, it only got worse.
"May, get an ambulance." Yelled Delia, before Ash's flailing grew too wild and he smashed her in the face with his arm. She jerked back and fell over, unconscious.
"Pikachu, calm him down." Screamed Misty as she turned to pull Delia out of the way. Pikachu jumped onto Ash's chest and cling on.
"Piiikaaachuuu!" She screamed as she fired a thundershock to try and calm him down, but to Ash it was like a pinprick in an inferno. Then ash started to glow.
"What on Earth?" Cried Oak, panic in his voice. Everyone froze as Ash's whole body glowed in white light that grew brighter and brighter.
"What's happening?" Tracey whispered to himself.
To Ash it was a just a blessed end to the pain, but to the others the light grew to bright to bear. They covered their eyes and, and cried out to him.
"Pikaaaa!" was the last thing they heard before, after an enormous flash, Ash and Pikachu completely disappeared.
Everything was suddenly silent, everyone staring at the empty space where Ash and Pikachu had been. Only the sound of a voice from the phone broke the silence. Misty stared into thin air, her eyes blank.
"Ash?"
Ash opened his eyes and grimaced. He felt like he had fallen off of a waterfall in a barrel. He sat up and looked around; everything around him was a thick fog. There was nothing else apart from Pikachu, who was out cold next to him. Ash nudged her but she didn't move. Ash could see her chest moving slowly, so he let her sleep.
"Where am I?" He said to himself. "Am I...dead?"
"Not quite, Ash Ketchum." said a deep, booming voice from behind him. As scrambled to his feet and turned around. There was nothing there. "Who are you?" Ash yelled. "Show yourself."
From out of the fog, Ash caught sight of something huge moving closer. From out of the fog loomed an enormous Pokemon, it's colour deep blue and metallic silver.
"What..." was all Ash could say.
"My name is Dialga." Boomed the enormous Pokemon, it's voice full of grandeur and sorrow. "And I am very sorry for what I have done."
So what do you think for the first chapter? Rate and review below and, since I'm doing this on the fly, if you have anything that might add to the plot feel free to drop me a message. Thanks :)