Alright, this is my first pokemon fanfic, and I am seriously new to this section. I have no idea what shipping means, I don't know what is "cool" to change so I'm just going to tell you stuff that I'm changing to suit my story.
I'm focusing on the first generation pokemon (because they're awesome) but the rest will be included. Also I'm trying to stay in the Kanto region, but there is no way to write this in one region so forgive (and tell me about) any mistakes I make about where they are, what pokemon are there, timeline, etc. I'm also mixing the game version and the anime in really weird ways that may only make sense to me (For example, Ash defeats the elite four from the red, blue, and yellow games). I'll try to be as clear as I can to avoid confusion. Roll with it? Or say "hey, I don't know what the hell is going on."
This is an OC-centric story, but familiar characters will be playing lead roles.
Oh and I'm adding a Pokemon of my own creation. Just one; I promise.
What the hell is shipping? Seriously.
"Ash Ketchum has defeated the Elite Four! He is the region's youngest champion ever!"
"Pokemon champion, Ash Ketchum has been chosen to be the new Pallet Town Gym's leader. The decision was made by..."
"Just two years after becoming champion, Ash Ketchum is here cutting the ribbon at the grand opening of the Pallet Town Gym, where he will take his first challengers in just four minutes..."
"This once sleepy town has been growing at an impossibly fast rate for the last three years. Some say this is credited to the arrival of the gym and the popularity of leader..."
"Up next: Pallet Town Gym Running out of challengers? The undefeated Ash Ketchum is feared by some to be too good of a trainer. What this could mean for the young gym leader's..."
Before the Pallet Town Gym was built, the sun would have to rise over tall, healthy trees to shine on Delia Ketchum's modest house. Today, the light was delayed over an hour by the beams and cranes that had arrived across the street. A new pokemon center, department store hybrid was being built. Delia refused to let her house be torn down before the new one was furnished and rather than move in with family or a (paid for) motel, she felt they would be more comfortable if they just weathered the noise, dust, and occasional visits by the workers asking to use the restroom. Because of this, her son would be woken up everyday at six in the morning until either the construction was completed, his mother finally relented and allowed herself to be put in a hotel, or he strangled the lead contractor with his nice black belt he wore to "fancy" places.
Today, Ash Ketchum awoke to the sounds of jackhammers and other, various machinery before the sunlight touched the tip of his roof. His mother was also awake. This was not due to the construction, she had always been an early riser. She had the workers beat by an hour and the sunrise beat by a good thirty minutes. Sounds and smells of breakfast reached Ash's bedroom, waking the boy further.
Knowing he was not going to be able to get back to sleep, Ash rubbed his eyes, yawned, and lifted himself out of the bed, forgetting that he was not in his bed and smacking his forehead on the wooden planks that held up the mattress for the top bunk.
His mother noticed the red mark when he entered the kitchen and laughed.
"Ash, that's the fourth time you've hit your head. Your cousins get out of bed without bonking themselves, why can't you?"
Ash sat down at the simple table and rubbed the sore spot. He huffed at her question.
"They fit in it."
Delia laughed again.
"Sorry, sweetie. I guess I kept those beds in there in case your aunt sent them to me again. It just seems like a waste of energy to put your old bed back when the new house is so close to being finished." She stirred the pan slowly with the wooden spoon, thinking. "Why don't you take another trip? It's been a while since the last one. The new house should be ready when you get back, and you can have a proper bed again. How does that sound?"
Delia set a flowery porcelain plate in front of her son and filled it with a generous helping of her food. Ash took the fork his mother handed him and shoveled some of it into his mouth. In between chewing, he replied, "Yeah, maybe."
"Great! Well, you should get ready to go to the gym! You're behind on your quota for this month, let's not upset the board members! They won't want to give you vacation time. Mimey, could you get Ash his pants?"
The Mr. Mime Ash had just recently gotten used to having around the house suddenly appeared from under the table and pushed a pair of blue jeans into Ash's face.
"Mr. Mime!" the pokemon cried over Ash's muffled shouts.
In the living room, Pikachu opened one sleepy eye. He stretched out on the couch he had been resting on and went back to sleep until Ash would wake him up to head to the gym.
xxxxx
"It's Ash Ketchum!"
"Ash! Are you going to take a challenger today?"
"Can I hold your Pikachu?"
Ash had reached the end of his driveway and then the crowd of young trainers mobbed him. Like always. For the most part he ignored the crowds. Over the years, the crowds shrank, maybe bored with his fame or his refusal to speak to them. But, there were still the children; new trainers ready to prove themselves at his gym.
These trainers. Not one of them older than thirteen. Pokeballs bouncing hopefully on their hips or shining merrily in their hands. Ash tried to place their pokemon to them. A Rattata for that one, a Caterpie for this girl. That tanned boy looked like he had traveled, maybe a Totodile or a Hoothoot.
The girl ended up owning a Pidgey. Ash sent out Pikachu, who shocked the little pokemon into a deep paralysis and double kicked it into the stands. The Pidgey remained in the broken section of seats, unresponsive to the trainer's calls. The referee waited ten seconds before ruling the battle as a loss for the girl.
"Pidgey is unable to battle. Ash Ketchum is the winner!"
The little girl did not wait for the referee to call the match, she was already digging her pokemon out of the rubble. The Pidgey was unconscious and in need of a pokemon center, but there was no permanent damage. The girl quickly recalled the pokemon to the pokeball and burst into angry tears. She pointed hatefully towards Ash and his Pikachu.
"You're nothing but big... JERKS!"
The word hung around the quiet gym after the girl stormed out. Seizing this opportunity, the referee crept out.
Ash and Pikachu stood alone in the arena. Ash was long used to the angry outbursts of a young trainer whose dreams were destroyed. Pikachu, however, never developed the tough skin Ash had. He sat down in the middle of the battlefield and stared at the door the girl had run through, pointed ears drooping.
Ash knelt next to his pokemon friend and patted his furry yellow head. "Hey, buddy," he said to get Pikachu to turn around, "Let's get something to eat and take the rest of the day off. Sound good?"
The pokemon had no time to answer. From directly behind him -a few inches to maybe a foot- a familiar, strong voice frightened Ash into letting out an embarrassingly high pitched shout and jumping two feet in the opposite direction.
"Only one today, Mr. Ketchum?" the voice said. This voice belonged to Kisaragi Nagisa, personal assistant to the president of the board of the Kanto region gym league. There were rumors of her holding more power than the vice president, and she looked every bit that part.
A designer handbag hung from the same arm two large diamond rings adorned. Her dark hair was meticulously cut into a bob that just barely touched the pearl necklace clasped around her neck. This, along with a white silk shirt and coal pencil skirt said three things: money, power, and responsibility.
Her manicured fingers danced along the surface of the electronic tablet in her arm, and behind her signature horn-rimmed sunglasses, her eyes followed them.
"You didn't take any challengers yesterday," she said, reciting the information on her gadget, "and you only had three the day before that. That makes twelve for the month. Now I have a question for you."
A chill ran down Ash's back. He could not prove it, but he felt her glaring at him.
"What is your quota this month?"
Ash kept his head lowered, but Pikachu was at his feet worriedly looking up at him, so he switched his gaze to across the room. "Fifty. Can I go now?" he asked, softly.
There was a moment of emotionless silence, and then a heavy and uncharacteristic sigh from Kisaragi. She put away her tablet and took off the sunglasses. Ash glanced at her briefly, and saw for the first time that her eyes were brown. Her voice held what could have been mistaken for care or pity, another first for Ash, who had only ever experienced the robotic tone.
"I want to help you, Ash," she said, and as far as Ash could tell, meant it, "In the beginning, it was great that you were undefeated, preferred, even. But, if no one can win a badge from you, then no one will challenge you. No challengers means no money is coming into the gym. The League has been forced into accepting badges from the other regions. Because of that, the other gyms in Kanto are losing challengers. I'm doing what I can to hold off the board, but you're not making my job easy. If you would just give away one badge..."
Ash bent down unnaturally and became suddenly very preoccupied with smoothing the fur on top of his yellow friend's head. Pikachu's worried stare was now hinted with confusion.
Kisaragi's sympathy had run its course. She pushed the glasses back onto her face, and turned towards the exit quickly. Ash was stubbornly going to refuse her advice, as he always did, and she would have to make this visit again in a week. She was already halfway out of the arena when she paused. She hesitated for a few seconds but did not turn back to look at him when she spoke.
"I'll do what I can to get your quota lowered. And convince them to look the other way about the badges. Is that enough? Will you work with me, then?"
She did not expect an answer and Ash did not give her one. She left without waiting. The large electronic doors swished closed. Ash stopped his overlong charade of pretending to pet his Pokemon and stood.
"She doesn't understand, does she?" he said to the silence. "But you do. We can't give badges to trainers who don't deserve it."
Pikachu wanted to nod, but truthfully, Ash had become a mystery to him.
He understood what winning badges meant back when Ash was eleven, but was having trouble grasping the gym leader side of it. They were so excited when the first of the challengers were defeated (they both loved to win) and then suddenly Ash grew quieter. He began leaving immediately after the challengers were beat and avoided talking with his electric friend about the battles. When he did, it was cryptic and sarcastic, as if daring anyone to try to understand him.
Their bond was fading and Pikachu honestly did not know if Ash could see it. Still, Pikachu did not want to hurt his friend, so he would try to support him as best he could.
He nodded anyway.
"Yeah. Let's go to the cafeteria."
The Pallet Town gym was highly anticipated by everyone in the Kanto region. After the Veridian City Gym closed its doors, every new development concerning the replacement was covered in great detail by the local news and when the location and leader was finally named, the world news. Ash was among those buzzing with excitement. He dreamed of an arena only a teenager aged thirteen could dream. Manned cameras that displayed the entire fight on the largest screen in the region for the huge crowd that would fill the bleachers at every one of his battles, a separate training arena just for him, a large open field for his pokemon and sometimes other trainers pokemon to play with, and a center for teaching skills to fledgling trainers that he could hold every weekend.
He had no part in designing the place. The result was a technologically advanced ode to the discovered types of Pokemon in the form of a museum-esque gallery right as you walk through the main entrance, complete with a slowly rotating holographic mural of the most popular pokemon in Kanto that made the trip along the walls of the entrance hall every two hours. The outside was an even more flashy attempt at being cutting edge, what with the steely, asymmetrical walls and the dance of colored, flashing lights that played on the front of the building at night. A standard, dirt battlefield, scoreboard, and judge arena was to the left of the hall. Go to the right, and you would hit the public cafeteria/gift shop, where you could learn a few facts off of the walls about the exploits of Ash Ketchum (like the date he won the P1 Grand Prix with his old Primeape) and purchase a novelty pokeball that held a different battle scene when you looked into the release button part (most featured Ash's Pikachu). If you walked straight from the entrance to the back, a restroom, a storage area, an office that Ash had never been inside of, and an employee break room would greet you.
Ash and Pikachu were in the cafeteria, which was empty and previously locked as it is on Sundays. Thanks to print reading sensors next to the doors, only he and the higher ups could get around the gym when the doors were locked, and of course the janitor. In fact, the only other person in the gym this morning was Tony, the janitor. Luckily, the absent cooks did not mean they would go hungry. From behind the cash register counter, Ash grabbed a packaged pastry and a bag of dried fruit for Pikachu. They sat at the table and spent the first few minutes of their meal in silence. After half of his pastry, Ash shared what had him thinking so hard.
"Mom's right. The trip to the Nacrene City gym was more business than pleasure. How would you feel about taking a break from all of this?"
Pikachu's enthusiastic bites at his apple slices slowed to a stop.
"We can visit Castelia and see the Dragonspiral Tower and then we can battle some of the gym leaders. Drayden especially. It'll be fun."
The pokemon sensed that Ash was becoming too entranced with this potentially harmful idea, and spoke a warning.
"Pi-pika. Pikachu." 'The challengers,' he was saying, 'The quota.'
Ash pinched a yellow ear, pretending to admonish the pokemon.
"Of course we'll be careful," he said, confusing Pikachu for a while, until he realized Ash had misunderstood him. "Sure it's been awhile, but we used to be pros at traveling. And I'm older now, so it should be even easier." Ash smushed Pikachu's head down jokingly. Pikachu reacted accordingly, although it was hard to get into a playful mood.
Ash leaned back and sighed. The idea ran through his head repeatedly, becoming clearer and more tangible each time he went over it. Pikachu sighed as well, and returned to his snack; Ash would sooner or later realize that his plan could only ever be a fantasy.
As if on cue, a sour look passed over the boy's face and he whispered to himself, "The board members... How are we going to get them off our backs?"
He had not started to ponder this for more than three seconds, when a pounding on the cafeteria doors knocked the thought clear out of his head. The two were not exactly startled, but Ash's voice had a wary edge to it when he asked who it was.
Three more knocks answered him, louder this time. Ash called out again.
"Tony? Is that you?" When he still did not receive an answer, he rose from his chair and made his way to the doors. Pikachu jumped on his shoulder protectively. "It's pretty clean in here Tony. You can go home; everybody else left."
He lifted his hand to place on the sensor for opening the door, when four even louder knocks caused him to jump a bit and Pikachu to also let out a small charge. Feeling the electricity in the air, Ash turned to look at the pokemon.
"Hey," he started with a laugh, "Relax. It's only Tony," he hoped.
Now thoroughly fed up with his skittishness over a few sounds, Ash quickly placed his palm on the sensor. The doors whirred open and a stinging liquid was sprayed onto his face making direct contact with his eyes.
Ash's immediate thought was of a an acid attack, and the next was of the attack he could call out as soon as he was done screaming in pain. Just as he fell back and was about to yell 'thundershock', the "attacker" beat him with his own shout.
"Oh shit, did I get you dude?"
Three minutes later, multiple gallons of water wasted, and Ash could see again. He could see that his eyes and the skin surrounding was as red as the pokeballs on his belt and also Tony leaning against the sink next to him. He was reading the back of a spray bottle of cleaning solution- most likely the one Ash had the pleasure of coating his eyeballs with.
"Think we should call the poison center?" Tony asked as Ash held his head under the tap and did his best to keep his eyes open. "It says flush 'em out and call some poison control place. What the hell is that, anyway? Whatever. Wanna call? Nah, I guess you're alright." at this time he smacked Ash on his back, "Why didn't you say you were behind there, dumbass?"
Ash looked up to give Tony a well-deserved glare, and broke when he saw the easy grin he was sporting on his heavily pierced face. That, plus the green mohawk should have kept him from working at the Pallet Town Gym, but his father had donated the scoreboard.
"I did," Ash grumbled and went back to pouring water in his eyes.
"You what? Oh! I had my headphones in. That's probably why I couldn't hear when I was banging the trash cans against the doors. Ha ha I'm sorry, dude."
Still laughing, he pulled away from the sink and turned to check his hair in the mirror. Ash could not help but notice the grime on the edges of the sink (not to mention the rest of the bathroom) and how cleaning that would be a better use of his time. Tony made no effort to see the mess and continued to admire his features.
In the middle of tugging at the giant gauge in his left ear, he asked, "Hey where is everybody? I know it's Sunday, but I thought we were taking some challengers today since the quota's low."
Now Ash's eyes were returning to their original color and they no longer stung. He pulled some paper towels from the holster and began drying off. "The board has graciously decided to give us the day off," he said behind the paper, "They also apologized for calling us in on a Sunday. You especially."
"Sure they did. I bet Kisaragi came by today, huh? I like you, dude, but I kinda needed the hours from today. Next time you want a day off, do it during the week. That way they can't make us leave."
Ash said nothing.
"Well," Tony started. He pushed away from the sink and lazily raised his arms into a long stretch. "I guess I'm going to get out of here. Do me a favor and put my cart up for me, will ya?" With a parting 'thanks' Tony was gone before Ash could protest.
"Asshole. It's not even that far away," he said to the empty restroom.
The neglected state of the place made him chuckle. He wondered if anyone had ever told Tony how terrible he was at his job. Not that Tony would care. He'd give the comment as much attention as the grime on these mirrors.
Through the film of gunk, Ash saw that he was getting a pimple right in the middle of his forehead. It was not often he would break out, but the teen hated them all the same. Being in the public eye did not help the matter. Pikachu would laugh in his pokemon way whenever Ash would stress himself out over a blemish.
He touched it, not surprised at the tenderness, and planned a skincare regiment solely for that mark. It would have been over at that had the blotch not suddenly throbbed with a surprising amount of pain. He quickly pulled his hand away though it did nothing to stop the ache- it may have even been intensifying. Now, Ash leaned over the sink and pushed his hair back to get a better look at the bump.
It did not look any different from a regular pimple. It may have been a little redder but the tiny bump was unremarkable in any other way. It sure felt different, though. The dull throbbing continued to persist unlike any pimple he'd had before. Ash hissed, not concerned with the abnormal pain, but close to it. He felt maybe some cool water would help bring relief and ran the cold tap for awhile before splashing some onto his face.
Immediately, he swiped at his face in panic when the pain spiked into a searing stab splitting down the middle of his forehead. A strangled cry escaped him as a tremendous pressure steadily built, wrenching his head open between his eyebrows. Through the white haze of agony and tears he could barely make out his own frightened features in the mirror. Horrifically, the bump was getting bigger. It was as wide as his thumb and if he was to touch it (he wouldn't dare, right now) he would feel it grew a quarter of an inch in height.
What could he do? He did not know what was happening to him. Think. What could it be? It hurt unlike anything he'd ever experience. He felt as though something was escaping his head. Microscopic parasites attacked the brain sometimes, he read once, but this could not be it, could it? The pain was unbearable but superficial, not inside of his head, specifically at the forefront of his skull. And it did feel as deep as his skull. He swore it was splintering, about to break through his skin.
The bump was as wide as Pikachu's red cheek circles and now a full three quarter inches high. His skin had turned sickeningly translucent. The white of the bone underneath shined through, and as he suspected jagged edges of what had to be splintered skull roughened the smooth texture of the bump itself underneath his stretched skin. He violently threw up his pastry and much more digested pieces of his mother's breakfast into the sink. In a desperate attempt to keep the illusion of control of his own body, he threw his hand over his mouth and tried to keep his food within him, causing the mess to be directed at everything from his shirt to the floor under the sink he originally was aiming for. A tiny hard chunk of some substance fell into his hand and Ash, afraid it was somehow the bone of his skull, immediately dropped it into the sink.
It was a tooth. And that was not the only one. Another of his canines was sitting two centimeters away from the one he threw in, partially covered in thick, yellow bile. There was no time to feel shock over this; he felt something in his mouth. Things. Two of them. He knew they were teeth before he saw them join the other two in the sink.
His hands trembled as he brought them to his face. He pulled on his bottom lip, slipping on the blood that had already turned his chin red. Where the four teeth had previously been (the canines and bicuspids) gaping red holes bled lazily. In the middle of these holes was a single white protrusion to each side. They almost looked like more canines, pointed, and grew fast enough for Ash to visually track. They were emerging much larger than any human tooth, taking up both of the empty spaces of the fallen teeth.
His forehead had torn a long time ago. The blood trickling from the split joined the blood on his chin and ran down to the neckline of his undershirt. Ash paid the bone-like point no attention, or the pain from it. The teeth were growing much faster. They passed the tops of the remaining teeth in height and the width almost completely filled the empty spaces.
Tusks. That's what they looked like. And a horn.
White clouded his vision like mildew film on a long disregarded bathroom mirror. He lost consciousness.
Tell me what you thought! I know Ash is like REALLY OOC but I like the thought of disillusionment :/
I hope no one is too confused by anything, if so, please tell me! Or tell me something you like! First chapters are always kinda iffy, so I would really REALLY like to hear from you!
Isn't it so cruel that Psyduck always has a headache? ;_; Those sick bastards...