Raised in the shadows

by drammon

what if ash did have a father growing up but he was abusive, what if ash lost Delia when he was young due to his father.one day after playing in the forest with some of his pokemon friends, the pokemon's parents see ash and follow him home.what will happen to ash when he finds out that his friends weren't shiny, to begin with. this is my take on ash being raised by shadow pokemon

1. Chapter 1

Raised by the shadows chapter one: rescued by the shadows

"human speech"

'pokespeech'

It is a peaceful night in the small town of Pallet, or so everyone thought. In the town, there were only two families living in it, the oaks, who are related to the great professor oak, known all over Kanto as the main pokemon professor in Kanto. The next family are the Ketchum, they are a relatively new family, no one knows where they came from but were welcomed to the small community of pallet which at the time was only of 1 wife, Delia Ketchum was a kind gentle woman and a had cooking skills that could rival the chefs at a 5 star restaurant, she was a part-time breeder for a while, but when she married her husband she stopped being a pokemon breeder, no one knew why though, but she still comes over to professor oaks ranch to help care for the pokemon there. Delias husband Richard 'dick' Ketchum was an aspiring Pokemon trainer he had also competed in a few pokemon tournaments and was about to challenge the elite 4 and champion of Kanto, until he sustained an injury on his travels that caused him to walk with a cane for the rest of his life, which stopped him from being able to travel. They have one son, Ashura "ash" Ketchum, he was a weird child, instead of being loud and well childish like most children his age. Ash was quiet and always reading books about pokemon even some of his mother's old breeder books. When he turned four he started going into the forest near pallet for a few hours and would come back slightly dirtied but was smiling, though no one seemed to notice this except for his mother. They seemed to be like a somewhat normal happy family, with their few quirks, but as soon as no one was around and the door to there house closed everything changed, as the saying says "nothing is as it seems." this saying perfectly describes the family.

Once behind closed doors, the entire family characteristics change. Richard is a heavy drinker, with a very low fuse that just got shorter when he drank. He is also very abusive towards his wife and son, both physically and mentally. He gave ash a huge scar over his left eye using a broken beer bottle, luckily he is still able to see out of that eye but the attack changed the color of that eye from a warm chocolate brown to a deep crimson red this happened when ash was three. Sadly though a year later Delia lost her life from her so-called husband's short fuse and drinking. Richard got so drunk that night, he grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Delia repeatedly in the chest unknowingly that ash saw the entire thing. Ash just stared scared Delia saw him and silently mouthed ' 'm sorry' and 'i love you' just as the life left her eyes. Seeing this ash silently ran upstairs and began to cry for the loss of his mother.

After Richard stabbed Delia the 15th time he stopped and palled realizing what he's done, he remembered that the entire oak family went to vermillion city that day for a week-long vacation, so no one heard Delia's scream, forgetting about ash who was asleep upstairs from crying. Richard then removed the knife in Delia's, and began to wipe his fingerprints off the weapon, he then went into the garden out back and buried both the weapon and the bloodied rag. He then put on some gloves and began trashing the entire downstairs area making it look like a random break that had gone wrong. Richard then stepped outside and broke the door in. richard then called the police acting terrified about what had supposedly happened. The cops came by as soon as possible, they got Richards alibi and began to do a search of the area. After doing so they left the area telling Richard that he would need to stay somewhere else for the next 2-3 weeks.

After returning to their house dick then turned his 4-year-old son into his slave, forcing him to do all the cleaning, cooking, laundry, gardening, etc… ash still has his mothers old breeder books and notebooks which he keeps hidden in his bedroom closet under some loose floorboards. Ash then began trainer school a year later and was a prodigy at the school, he was even ahead of Gary oak which caused a bitter rivalry to form from the young Gary. Gary had then told all the children a the school saying that he was a loser and wasn't worth hanging around with, since being the grandson of the professor oak all the children believed him and the teachers were beginning to think so as well and began to ignore him in class and forgetting that he was even there sometimes. But he stilled excelled in his classes being the top student in the school.

Ash has only one escape from the loneliness and feels truly free, and that is when he is in the forest playing with the young pokemon in it. His main friends though are a Pichu that has one ear slightly shorter than the other and a clipped tail, a nidoran ( ), and a zorua. Each were a different color than the original coloration of their kind but ash doesn't care about it, only caring that they are his best friends and that's what matters most to him. It I also thanks to them that he is able to understand and speak pokespeech, this was easy because he talks more about the pokemon than with you humans so it was easy to learn. He meets his group of friends by the biggest tree in the forest and hangs out with them for the next 4-5 hours. Just as the sun starts to go down ash says his goodbyes to his friends and heads back to his 'home', on his way back he wishes he could just disappear into the forest and stay with his friends, but knowing Richard he would act worried and call the police to search for him and they would drag him back home, sighing. His good mood gone as soon as he hears dicks order of food, sighing again though this time silently, he entered the house and went towards the kitchen to begin to cook dinner for his father.

What ash didn't know was that his wish would come true that night. He didn't notice the other pokemon watching him play earlier, or that they were following him on his way back home. They then did something impossible for normal pokemon except for Giratina and few dark type pokemon they fell into the shadows and began to travel through them into the young hatchlings (ash's) home, they all wondered why the little human hatchling seemed very sad and afraid to be back home. On this day ash will finally be free.

*Ketchum residence 8:30 p.m*

Ash is standing on his stole in front of the stove cooking dinner for his 'father', 'he doesn't even deserve that title I'm just going to refer to him as dick from now on.' ash says mentally as he finishes up making the food. Ash did get a few traits from his late mother, and that is her cooking skill.

"hurry the hell up kid I'm starving over here," his da-dick said sh just silent grit his teeth and began to put the food on the plates, tonight's meal was carbonara pasta with garlic bread and to drink 4 cans of beer. Upon placing the cans of beer on the table, ash is then smacked in the head by dick, ash after receiving the hit falls to the ground face first.

"took you long enough next time I won't be so-" dick then harshly stomps on ashes back causing ash to bite his lip to stop the pained shout in his mouth, knowing if he did so dick would use the studded belt on him again.

Dick then removes his foot from ash's back, "what are you still doing here go to room, and don't think of grabbing any food from the fridge or the counter, you came home late and made me wait for my dinner, your punishment is no food for tonight or breakfast tomorrow. If I find out that you took food well-" after ash got up dick then punched him hard in the gut causing ash to lose his breath and clutch his stomach folding his knees and his head hitting the hardwood flooring.

"you will become well acquainted with the ground, as my new 'housewife'." dick said smirking, ash froze and slowly nodded knowing what dick meant.

"Well what are you still doing here, you wanna become my new housewife now," Richard said loudly causing ash to begin shaking. Ash then sits upward and shakes his head no his body still shaking and his eyes full of fear.

"well then get out of my face you stupid brat, and I better not hear a peep coming from you tonight or else…" dick said, implying the new punishment if he did not comply, ash nodded again and stood up still clutching his stomach and rushed upstairs to his room. Dick began laughing as he began to eat his food and drinking the beer, not noticing that he was being watched from beings hidden in the shadows, or the glares and heavy growling/snarling coming from them.

The beings in the shadows soon head to where they suspect the hatchlings bedroom, staying within the shadows.

When they reached the boy's bedroom, or what was supposed to be his bedroom. The room was, if there was light, had soft blue coloured walls, and a few shelves filled with dust, the floorboards in the room were all badly damaged and stained with a few blots of a crusty dark red colour, same on the walls, which was what they suspected to be the hatchlings dried blood. There was a small ratty old mattress in the far corner of the room, under a window (was his bed right next to a window?) on the mattress were a very thin black blanket and a small lump underneath it. They soon figured out what the lump was, it wasn't hard though since it was shaking and silent sobs could be heard through some of the group's super sensitive hearing.

Ash not noticing the audience hidden in the shadows of his room, continues to silently sob into his Pikachu plush toy, the last gift his mother got him. His one comfort, that plush toy hugging it reminds him of his mother and helps him get to sleep. Ash soon fall's asleep, tears still falling down his face.

*within the shadows*

Growls could be heard, though this time it was even louder than before. Enraged at how despicable the human thing is, harming his own hatchling though three out of the eleven beings hidden within the shadows were growling louder than the rest. Though another three just stared at ash with sad eyes.

'How dare that-that thing, do such a thing to a hatchling' a voice snarled out, receiving multiple angered growls of agreements. They began thinking of multiple ways to end the pathetic things life for doing such a thing. Suddenly everyone within the shadow's felt part of their group leave, turning around they saw that the ones that left were in the human hatchlings room. Some of the beings wanted to jump out of the shadow and drag the ones that left back in.

'Wait' one voice shouted out, causing everyone in the shadows to stop moving.

'Let them go, they could make it easier for us to talk with the hatchling if he has friends around him. Give them a few minutes with him, and then I will go out alright.' the voice stated and got some growls of protest mostly from the parents of the beings that left.

'Listen, he has never harmed them before and I highly doubt he would harm them now. Just give them a chance alright.' the voice stated, gaining a few grumbles. All of them soon turned to see what would happen, just as he turned they noticed that their hatchlings had just made it to the human hatchlings bed.

*in Ash's room*

The three small figures had just jumped onto Ash's bed and began to slowly move towards ash's curled up form as they got closer they noticed that he was shaking in his sleep and was whimpering probably a nightmare. The sky became cloudless to reveal a full moon, and the light of the moon had entered through ash's window revealing who the dark figures were. They were ash's friends from the forest zorua, Pichu and nidoran ( ) the three friends just stopped moving forward and stared at their friends curled up form in shame. They didn't stop what happened they could've done something earlier, they should've done SOMETHING to help their friend. Shaking out of her depressing mood, zorua slowly walked forward and gently nudged the top of Ash's head. Though this was a bad thing to do, you see ash after going through almost two years of abuse had become a light sleeper so when he felt the nudge on his head his eyes opened in fright. Thinking that dick was going to do what he said downstairs to him ash curled in more and tried to move away from what he believed to be Richard. Zorua watching this was shocked, before realizing his fear she spoke softly.

'Ash, ash it's me zorua. Ash its alright its just me and the others.' zorua states, making sure to keep her voice as low as gentle, not wanting to scare ash. Ash didn't stop shaking, he actually began to shake even more. nidoran ( )and Pichu looked at each other before slowly walking forward to ash.

'Ash its true it's me Pichu, zorua, and nidoran ( ). Come on don't tell me you forgot us, I mean we just played our favorite game of hide N tackle.' pichu said nidoran ( ) gave a grunt of agreement. Ash's shaking almost stopped, he then lifts his head slightly from his curled up body and opens his discolored eyes which still have fear in them.

'P-pi-Pichu, zo-zorua, ni-nidoran ( ) ho-how are you-u here-e, how di-did you ge-get insi-side.' ash stutters out. Nidoran ( ) gently speaks up.

'We had a friend of ours take us here' nidoran ( ) stated. Ash was still shaking but was uncurled and sitting cross-legged on his bed. He didn't know about the silent watchers hiding in the shadows.

'We got worried about you today ash, and not just us. When we were heading back to our home, we ran into our parents. They said they smelt something off about you, they said that you smelled like you were sad.' zorua started slowly, doing her best to not startle ash. Ash though slowly nodded but felt like he wasn't going to like the next bit that was coming.

'So, we got worried about you and we decided to follow you home. Ash why didn't you tell us.' zorua continued, and ash slowly paled.

'T-tell you wh-what.' ash got out, zorua shook her head. Pichu decided to get the last bit out.

'Ash we saw what happened downstairs. Why didn't you tell us we could've told one of the adults at our camp.' pichu said ash paled more, Pichu noticed his friends paling skin but decided to continue. So he moved onto his friends crossed legs, and stared up at the feared fill eyes of his friend.

'Ash we heard him talking about what he would do to you, heck from the way you were acting we could tell. Why didn't you tell us you were getting abused.' pichu said.

'And don't try to deny it we saw what we saw ash. We care about you, you're our friend. So tell me why didn't you tell us.' Pichu continued. Pichu could feel ash shaking harder than earlier. Ash had a million thoughts going through his head, though was brought out of his thoughts when he felt Pichu rub his head on his (ash's)chest.

'Its alright ash were your friends. We aren't angry at you for not telling us, we are just worried about you.' pichu said softly. Pichu began to feel droplets of water fall onto the back of his head, when he looked up he saw tears falling from ash's eyes.

'i - I co-couldn't te-tell any-anyone. He-he said tha-that he wou-would ki-kill you gu-guys i-if I to-told any-anyone. I di-didn't wa-want to lose you gu-guys.' ash stutters out, and suddenly clutches onto Pichu and begins crying, hard onto the little mouse's fur. The three pokemon were in shock at what ash had told them, but for those within the shadows were enraged at what Ash had said. Enough was enough, and this was going to be dealt with here and now.

'Ash…' zorua started, but another voice joined the conversation.

'Hatchling' the new voice said, causing ash to tense up at the voice. Ash then clutched Pichu to his chest, fearing the unknown owner of the new voice.

'Calm down hatchling, I won't hurt you. I was the one who brought your friends here.' the voice said, seemingly coming from all over ash's bedroom. Ash began to shake harder and clutched Pichu tighter to his shaking body. Ash's eyes began to frantically search his room, in search of the owner of this new voice.

'Who-where are you' ash asked. Suddenly in one of the darker corners of his bedroom, a pair of glowing red eyes could be seen coming from the shadows. Ash noticed the eyes and just stared at them. Soon some of the darkness began to move outwards, scaring ash as two small paws came out of his wall soon followed by a pure black snout. Soon it's small body comes out, with two long feet. And finally a long skinny tail with a bit of a bulge at the end. It was floating in the air and was staring right at ash who just clutched onto Pichu tighter than before, staring at the floating cat with blood red eyes and pitch black fur. The floating cat then moved towards ash, slowly so that he doesn't scare the hatchling more than he is already. Just as the floating cat was about a few inches away from ash it stopped moving forward and moved its tail upward and moved it towards Ash's forehead and poked it so fast that ash didn't have time to flinch back. Slowly ash began to calm down, his iron-like grip on Pichu was loosening and his shaking seemed to lessen as well. The floating cat then removed its tail from ash's head.

'Feeling better now hatchling.' the cat asked and got a slightly dazed nod from ash. This caused a slight giggle to come out of the cat's muzzle.

'That's good, oh I haven't introduced myself yet. I am shadow mew, leader of the fallen ones.' the now proclaimed shadow mew states, causing ash to slightly tilt his head to the side.

'Um-m, i-i've ne-nev-ver heard o-of a sh-sha-adow me-mew be-before.' ash said, and s. Mew (shadow pokemon will have an s. Before their name.) just shook his head.

'Well, I was caught when I was younger by a group known as team cipher. They are a truly evil organization, turning the gentlest of pokemon to cold-hearted killer. They had done research and found a way to seal off a pokemon's emotions, which made them lose their sense of good and bad. They were destroyed along with their research after a few years, but sadly though they had decided to attack the only place were the purification process was along with the notes and the professor so tha no-one could restore a shadow pokemon to its original state.' S. Mew said explaining the whole deal behind shadow pokemon. Ash though paled as he heard the explanation.

'Wh-why would they d-do something like that' ash asked, and thankfully he seemed to get used to 's presence. just shook his head.

'I don't know hatchling, most humans are true monsters like that thing downstairs.' said glaring at the door leading out of Ash's room. Sighing turned back towards ash, a slight gleam in his eyes.

'Hatchling I have a deal for you, and I think it would be one that you would really enjoy.' states grabbing Ash's attention as well as the attention of the other pokemon in the room and those within the shadows.

'I want to offer you a place in our little group, you will still be able to go to the human school and become a trainer. If you want to take this deal there is a catch too, we will be… Removing the thing downstairs. It's your decision to make.' S. Mew states, causing ash to go wide-eyed and a few of the beings in the shadows to become wide-eyed too. Tilting his head down ash began to think about the deal, seconds ticked by then minutes. 5 minutes later ash finally spoke, though it was rather silent.

'What would happen if I agree to this, is there something else I need to know. ' he asked. S. Mew just floated closer to him.

'he will be… Removed from here. You won't ever see it again.' S. Mew answered. Ash then spoke up tilting his head upward to stare at S. Mew.

'b-but, wouldn't people notice that he has gone missing-' ash was suddenly interrupted by S. Mew.

'They won't even notice he's gone. I and two other members of our little pack can shapeshift to look like anyone, we can look like and sound like the thing downstairs. Now i'll ask this again hatchling, do you accept my offer.' S. Mew states, causing ash to go silent again. He remains silent and then looks over at his little plush toy, the last thing he has from his mother. His eyes then harden slightly before he looks back at the floating pokemon before him.

'i-i would like to accept your offer, but I do have a favor to ask of you. ' ash said quietly, S. Mew nodded his head for ash to continue.

'I-i want you to make him pay, wh-when you are re-removing him, I want you to do it for as long as you want. ' ash said, tears falling down his face as he began to remember the night of his mother's passing. just nodded and used his tail to wipe away some of the tears that were falling.

'Don't worry hatchling, we will make sure that he pays for what he has done to you.' S. Mew states, a gleam in his eyes that seemed to give ash some form of reassurance. Smiling back, though still having tears falling down his face, ash had given the Pokemon a silent but grateful thanks before passing out his crying and amount l of things that had happened to him today greatly exhausting him. His head then fell onto the pillow, the small smile still on his face still present. sighed at the sight before turning towards, and.

'Alright, I want the three of you to stay here with the hatchling I will also have two more stay behind too.' then turned towards the shadows and signaled for someone to come out.

The first being to come out was an Umbreon the dark type Eevee evolution, but this one had a different coloration. Instead of the rings around its body being a bright yellow, they were a crimson color instead. The Umbreon's crimson eyes were instead a bright yellow. Its fur was still a sleek black color.

The second figure was an absol, this one was a different coloration as well. Its fur was pure black, almost like Umbreon. It has red skin and almond shaped, dark crimson eyes. The fur on his head was shaped like a crescent moon, and the top part of the crescent was more orb-like. The absol has a dark red crescent-shaped horn sticking out of the left side of its head, it also had a scythe-like tail which was dark red as well.

'S. absol, S. Umbreon, I want the both of you to stay here and keep watch over the hatchling's here alright. I'll be back in an hour or so, so you two can have the finishing blows.' states before vanishing back into the shadows. S. Umbreon just looks at the spot her leader vanished into before turning around and jumping onto the ash's bed. She then curled up at ashs feet and kept an eye out for if the door opens. Absol, on the other hand, sat down in one of the corners of the room and kept watch over ash and the others. Ash's friends though, they quickly curled themselves around Ash's body and tried to stay awake but quickly joined their friend in sleep.

To be continued….

If you think I should continue this story, and if you think I should then please give me some ideas on how I should continue with the story. Also i recomend that you check out my other stories as well. Ja Ne.