Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of its characters!
Note: I have very mixed feelings about writing this fic. I hope yall like it.
Revised note: I decided to change the names back to the American version just because I was having trouble keeping it up and the fact that I don't know the Japanese names for the Pokemon ;;; But the Japanese names are still the bestest!! -
Evolution
Chapter 1 - Nightmares
By Tippy
Darkness clouded his vision as he opened his eyes. It seemed to seep into the room from every shadow, blocking out the light from a single barred window. He reached out heavy arms towards the glow, as if trying to pull it back and defeat the darkness. He could feel himself being restrained, tight cords wrapping around his form as he tried to move forward towards the light, towards freedom. He clenched his teeth, pulling with all his strength, trying to free himself from his web. His eyes widened in fear as the light slowly vanished and all was dark, and he was alone.
Ash awoke with a start. He lay on his side, beads of sweat rolling down his face and he looked around him. The camp fire had long gone out and darkness filled the area. The only light that shown was cast by a half moon, creating an eerie glow over the other sleeping travelers. Pikachu still lay by his side, asleep and undisturbed by his waking. Ash brought a shaky hand up to his face, wiping away the damp trails. He'd never had a dream like that before; it had felt so real, the desperation, the helplessness… the fear.
He lay there for a while, staring up at the sky, unable to sleep after the dream. He guessed it was about 6 in the morning from the increasing orange glow coming from the east. Deciding it was impossible for him to get any more sleep, Ash decided to get up and find a stream to replenish their water bottles.
The dawn air was damp, chilling his skin as he walked through the dense woods, the containers hanging loosely off his shoulder. He could hear the soft flow of a stream up ahead, dry leaves crackling under his feet as he stepped through a grove of moss-covered trees. A victorious grin spread across his face as he was greeted by the crystal clear water flowing in front of him. Bending down, Ash began to fill the canteens.
Pikachu dosed, his small ears twitching as he dreamt happily of a world of ketchup. The others continued to sleep, unaware of Ash's absence or the approaching figures lurking in the bushes around them. They were oblivious to the think cloud that quickly fell on them, throwing the travelers into an even deeper sleep.
After a few minutes had passed and the cloud had dissipated, four figures stepped out into the campsite; a woman, a man, and two pokemon.
"Good job, Victreebel! Return." James spoke, recalling his pokemon.
"Wait a minute," Jessie spoke, observing the campsite, "where's the other twerp?"
"Who cares! Let's just grab that Pikachu for da boss before it wakes up!" Meowth ordered. The two humans nodded, grabbing the incapacitated rodent and putting it inside a special insulated container.
The group froze as they heard a faint sound of footsteps coming from behind them. Without hesitation, team rocket was off, headed for their escape balloon and the team rocket headquarters.
Ash yawned as he stepped out of the woods and into their camp, placing the filled water bottles next to their packs. He yawned again, stretching his arms above his head tiredly. [Maybe I should get some more sleep before everyone wakes up,] he thought, glancing over his two companions then over to his own sleeping bag where he had left pikachu. He cocked his head as he searched the area of his sleeping bag. He couldn't see pikachu anywhere. He quickly stepped over to it, all thoughts of sleep having vanished as the sudden surge of worry crept through his form. He through back the cover of his sleeping back, checking to see if his friend had burrowed in for more warmth. He bit his lip as the worry grew, having not found pikachu anywhere near the area of his sleeping bag or around it. Quickly, he stepped over to Misty, who was closest to his sleeping bag, shaking her shoulder gently to rouse her without angering her. Her form didn't protest to the gentle disturbance, laying still as it was before. Again he shook her, a little harder this time, whispering her name. Again, she didn't wake. "Misty…" He urged again, getting a soft moan from the sleeping girl, but nothing more. Frustrated, he stood, getting ready to go try and wake Brock, when he noticed a thin layer of dust that covered the palm of his hand where he had touched Misty's shoulder. Carefully, he brought it up to his nose, sniffing it slightly, shaking his head as he suddenly felt drowsy.
"Sleep powder…" He spoke, absentmindedly wiping the powder off on his pants leg. His heart began to pound as his fears were proved true, sending him into a frenzy to wake his friends. "Brock! Misty! Wake up!" Shouting didn't seem to be doing the trick as he noticed his companions shift in their sleeping bags, only to return to their deep sleep. In three quick strides, Ash scooped up two of the filled water bottles, removing their caps. If it had been any other time, this might have seemed extremely humorous to him, but right now he was worried about his pokemon.
"ASH!!! What are you doing!?!?!" Misty yelled in surprise as she sat up, freezing cold water dripping off her orange hair. She quickly lost her anger as she noticed the worried and determined expression he was wearing as he quickly moved to Brock, unloading the bottle of water on his head. The older teen gave a startled shout, stringing too his feet, water dripping down his face.
"ASH! What wa-" He was quickly cut off by his waker, who was quickly throwing things into his pack.
"Pikachu's missing, something or someone put you to sleep with sleep powder. We have to go after them! Hurry!" He shouted the order, causing the two teens to spring into action, grabbing there things.
"But we don't even know which way they went!" Misty commented, rolling up her sleeping back and shoving it in Brock's pack.
Ash pulled a poke ball of his belt, glancing at it before throwing it into the air, "Noctowl, Go!" The flying pokemon emerged, giving a soft coo to its trainer. "Noctowl, I need you to fly over the trees and see if you can find Pikachu!" Noctowl gave a sharp nod before flying up above the clearing, its eyes darting around the area.
The sun was just beginning to rise as the owl-like pokemon came over the treetops. It squinted as the golden beams shown into his vision. The trees were dense all around the group making it hard to see anything moving through them. Noctowl hooted as he noticed something strange poking out of the forest top. It looked like two tan cat ears. Before the pokemon could make another guess on its identity, the large object began to move, lifting into the air and revealing the head of a meowth; team rocket!
Ash watched as his pokemon quickly swooped down to him, frantically hooting what it had seen.
"Lead the way, Noctowl!" The raven haired boy shouted, and his pokemon obeyed, flying ahead of them in the direction of the balloon.
Ash almost tripped for the second time as they ran through the woods, following Noctowl. He regained his balance and continued, his eyes locked on to his pokemon and the area ahead. It was only a little farther until they hit a small clearing. Noctowl stopped just outside the woods, motioning up into the sky. Ash sprang through the bushes, quickly followed by Misty and Brock, their gazes reaching the dawn sky.
"Team Rocket!!" Ash shouted up at the balloon, which had made it over the treetops.
Three heads popped out over the edge of the basket, triumphant grins on their faces. "Hey, Twerp. Looks like you're too late to save your pikachu." The red-head taunted, sticking out her tongue as she held the container with a sleeping pikachu in it.
"Noctowl! Wing attack! Take out their balloon!" The pokemon quickly obeyed, flying up and attacking the meowth balloon with a powerful attack, but nothing happened.
The group stood confused as they watched Noctowl continue the wing attack, but to no avail. They grimaced as they heard laughter come from the balloon, followed by the irritating voice of Meowth. "We beat ya dis time, twoip! Dis balloon is impenetrable!"
Ash could only watch as the balloon sprouted some sort of booster rockets and flew off. He vaguely noticed Noctowl following them, its wings beating quickly to catch up.
Tbc…
Hope yall liked chapter 1 ; im hoping to really get into gear with this fic and not leave it half baked like just about all of my other ones ; I have an event web! holds up the randomly scribbled on paper sooo I do have an idea of where its all going! - next chapter soon unless school work says otherwise! Thanks for reading!