A/N:Hey guys, PseudoMew here with my newest edition to the FanFiction World! Most of you might remember me as Electricmouse123, but that's the past. I had the inspiration to do this fic from le picture on DeviantArt. I'll probably post the link or something. Please enjoy and please REVIEW.
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Current Character Ages
Ash: 18
Dawn: 18
Brock: 24
Serena: 17
Gary: 19
May: 17
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Ash stood on the snowy ledge, staring off into the relentless blizzard before him.
He had endured countless blizzards before. Being an experienced pokémon trainer often brought him to snowy areas, but this one was a little off… As Ash continued to gaze into the swirling clouds, he noticed that some of the hailstones appeared to hurtle straight at him, but he didn't feel the sting of ice hitting flesh.
"So… You're here." Ash said, his gaze not wavering.
A deep chuckle reverberated throughout the mountain side. Suddenly, the snow underneath Ash's feet turned a deep crimson. The red snow extended in a circle until the entire mountainside was the color of blood.
Ash turned around and saw a black figure floating about a foot off the ground. Shadows extended from it to create thin, makeshift legs. A red, spiky ridge, like a crown, protruded from it's upper torso, and a single white plume of shadow of twisted above it.
Most species of these creatures had a single, brilliant blue eye… but this one's was a shade of crimson deeper than the blood-soaked snow that surrounded them.
Ash's face began to contort in rage.
"Why are you here?! Why do you continually give me these nightmares?! What do you want from me?!" Ash screamed at the silent creature. "Answer me you goddamned Darkrai!"
The Darkrai continued to stare at the young man as it held out it's shadow-like hand. A small ball of darkness formed in it and continued to grow until it was about the size of a pokéball. Then the creature suddenly threw it into the air.
Holograms of people, made from darkness, started to appear from the ground. Men, women, children, families all started scrambling about, looking for shelter. The ball then exploded and shadowy blobs, like a black rain, fell upon them. The people started to writhe and scream, twisting their bodies in unnatural ways…
Ash stood there, horrified. Each night for the past week he would see this same event… but it always managed to wrench his stomach out of his body. What was this? Why did this Darkrai show him this every night?
But this time, something occurred that didn't happen in the earlier dreams. The writhing people's eyes began to glow a bright bluish-white. The light from their eyes all accumulated into the Darkrai's body and turned into pure darkness. The Darkrai began to change, it began to morph into something even more ghastly than what it already was. It's spike became rigidly sharp, like blades. The people's distorted faces began to appear all over it's body, all of them reaching out to escape the hell they were imprisoned in, before being pulled back into the void.
The Darkrai's eye began to glow and tendrils of black shadows erupted from the ground and bound Ash where he stood.
Ash resisted against the coils of shadow, he tried to escape with all of his might, but his strength failed. The shadows began to sear his skin and he screamed in pain. Suddenly, yellow lightning struck him from above, and he blacked out…
~O~
"Pikaaa!" Pikachu cried. The little yellow mouse thought it best to let out it's battle cry as it tried to awaken Ash from his nightmare.
"Waaaah!" Ash yelled as he landed on the floor. His muscles constricted from being electrocuted by the Pikachu. "Ow… My head."
"Pikachu!" Pikachu jumped off the bed onto the floor next to Ash. Ash's muscles started to loosen and he sat up, rubbing head.
"Aw great! That's the third pair of pajamas you've singed this month!" Ash sighed. His shirt and pajama bottoms were ridden with burn marks. "Pretty soon, I'm gonna have to start buying rubber sleepwear…"
"Chu…" Pikachu apologized.
Ash rubbed Pikachu's head affectionately. "It's alright. Thanks actually, that was a pretty intense nightmare…"
Pikachu gave a concerned look. "Pika pii."
"Why is this Darkrai showing me these things? Each night they get worse and worse…" He shuddered. "Nobody else is having these nightmares. I'm wondering if this is something only I'm supposed to see. What do you think Pikachu?"
"Pika… Chu…" Pikachu shrugged. "Pika pikachu pii pika pikachuu!"
Ash nodded in a knowing way. "You do realize I have no idea what you're saying right?"
Pikachu glanced at the clock and started pointing to it. "Pika! Pii!"
Ash gasped and looked at his clock. "Holy shit! It's 12:30! Pikachu, why didn't you wake me up sooner!"
Pikachu shrugged again. Ash scrambled up from the floor and threw some clothes on.
"Great, the grand opening of my own goddamned Gym is today, and I'm gonna be late!"
~O~
"Well where is he?" Dawn spat into her Pokégear. "He was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago, the entire town is waiting!"
Dawn was standing just outside a huge crowd of people that had gathered in front of the newest addition to Pallet Town, the Pallet Gym, right smack in the middle of town. To commemorate this momentous event, the town threw a festival to honor Pallet's number one pokémon trainer.
Music blared from speakers placed all over the central plaza of town, vendors sold food and drink to the happy townspeople, and youngsters engaged in exciting pokémon battles around the square.
"I don't know! I went over to his house, but he wasn't there!" Gary's voice said through the speaker. "Maybe he already left."
"He had better have, or else we're gonna have to open the Gym without the damn Gym Leader!"
Dawn glanced over in the direction of a small group of men in the far corner of the mob, sitting under the shade of a food vendor's umbrella. Most of them wore business suits, but there was one man with red hair who looked very much like he was wearing a costume. His red cape draped behind him as he tapped his foot impatiently.
She gulped. "I think Lance is starting to get impatient. What are we gonna do?"
Gary sighed. "I don't know… Stall them or something! You're good at contest appeals right? Dazzle them with an Empoleon Ice Shower Whirlwind or some crap like that!"
"Are you kidding me? That's a horrible idea!" The ravenette huffed. "He probably overslept… again."
"Hey Dawn, what's up?" A Brock said to her as he stepped out of the crowd. He was wearing an orange V-neck and black undershirt with olive cargo pants and a pair of tan boots. He let his hair grow out a little bit since the last time Dawn had seen him, but other than that, he looked exactly the same.
Dawn's eyes widened in joy. "Brock! Sorry Gary, I'm gonna have to hang up now. Find him!"
"Wait! But what about-"
Dawn shoved her Pokégear in her bag and hugged Brock with all her might. "Oh my god! Brock how are you? I haven't seen you in forever!"
"I-I'm fine… Just a little out of… breath!" Brock wheezed.
After a final squeeze, Dawn released the older man. "I'm so glad you're here! You can help us find Ash!"
"He's late isn't he? I'm not surprised." Brock sighed. "Well, that's Ash for ya."
"You got that right…" Dawn shook her head, defeated. "Did anyone else show up?"
"Uh, I saw May over by the snow cone stand and Cilan was evaluating some kids' pokémon, he told me that Iris couldn't make it. She was really busy with her being the Unova Champion and whatnot…" Brock explained.
Dawn's jaw dropped. "Unova Champion!? When did that happen?"
Brock shrugged. "I didn't ask any details, the kids were begging for Cilan to finish telling them how much their pokémon loved them."
Dawn smiled. She remembered when Piplup and her first met. Even then, she didn't need a pokémon connoisseur to tell her that he loved her. Now he was a big, strong Empoleon on the outside, but a prideful Piplup in the inside.
"Hey!..." A voice called down the road. Dawn turned around towards the sound of the voice, hoping and praying it was Ash.
Lo and behold, Ash Ketchum, with his faithful yellow companion, were running up to the duo at full speed
Ash arrived in a panting heap. His lungs felt like they were about to explode from the constant panting. Pikachu wasn't in a much better state… The little mouse was laying on his belly, gasping for air.
"Pika pi…" Pikachu sighed in resignation.
After catching his breath somewhat, Ash looked up at an extremely infuriated Dawn looming over him like an hibernating Ursaring just woken up from his nap.
Now it was Ash's turn to gulp. "Now Dawn, I can explain everything… sort of."
Dawn's eyes glinted red. Her twitching fists and heavy breathing betrayed her sugar-coated voice. "Oh, can you now? Then please, explain why you've kept the entire town and Lance waiting for a half of a damn hour!"
Ash rubbed his head sheepishly. "Well… um, you see… what had happened was… I overslept?"
"You overslept?" Dawn growled. "YOU OVERSLEPT!? Oh I'm gonna beat you Ash Ketchum!"
Brock and Pikachu both facepalmed.
"Chu…" Pikachu sighed.
"You said it Pikachu…" Brock agreed.
Just as Dawn raised her fist to beat the air out of Ash's lungs, Gary appeared, and he was panting almost as hard as Ash and Pikachu. "Whoa Dawn, easy there. You don't want to ruin the star of Pallet's face just yet."
Ash looked up from his fetal position. "Gary? What the hell are you doing here?"
Gary gave his signature smirk. "Please, I wouldn't miss Ashy-Boy's rise to victory. If I did, then I wouldn't be able to throw a wad of dirty toilet paper at you from the crowd! Oh, and I was helping Dawn coordinate the event… before I became a lab rat."
Ash stood up and looked Gary in the eye. He remembered the start of their journey, when they couldn't stand the sight of each other. Now, they finally looked at each other as equals… and friends.
Gary stuck out his hand. "You shake it dumbass."
Ash accepted the gesture with a smile. "Glad you're here Gary."
"Well this is a great reunion, but shouldn't we be on the stage now?" Dawn snapped.
"Erhm… You're right Dawn. Knowing Lance he's probably getting impatient by now." Ash said.
"When am I ever wrong, and ya think?" Dawn huffed.
~O~
"And so I'm extremely overjoyed to present you Ash Ketchum with the Gym Leader's badge. May you become a shining light from not only Pallet, but the entire Kanto Region!" Lance exclaimed as he gave Ash a gold and emerald badge in the shape of an olive leaf crown.
The crowd roared as Ash accepted his badge and took his place at the podium of the stage. He hadn't planned on giving a speech, which was something Dawn added last minute, so he had to wing it.
Ash cleared his throat. "Uh, Erhm… Good afternoon fair citizens of Pallet. I am extremely overjoyed that you all have decided to attend a momentous occasions in not only my, but our lives…"
"Cut the crap Ash! We know that ain't you!" Someone from the crowd yelled.
"Hey, I'm trying my best here! Ah, whatever…" Ash grinned widely. "Let me take a different approach to express my gratitude then… Who want's to battle?"
The entire square erupted in cheerful laughter. This was the Ash they knew! However, not a single person raised their hand. They knew that no one could beat Ash, at least no one in Pallet.
"I will." Said a man with long, dark blue hair. He wore an expensive looking, maroon trench-coat and had piercing eyes.
Ash's heart skipped a beat. "Tobias…"
Tobias smiled. "I accept your challenge Gym Leader."
Ash's face broke into a face-splitting grin. "Oh man, you are on!"
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A/N: Well? What'd ya think? Not bad for my first fanfic in about a year (-.-*) huh? Please, Please review! I know you guys feel like, "Meh, I'm to lazy to actually write stuff…", but when you do, not only doe sit make the author (ME) very, very happy, but it also keeps a baby puppy from dying of starvation! (This has not been scientifically proved). I luv constructive criticism and suggestions! Right now I have no idea where I'm going with this, so suggestions are welcomed. No flaming! It makes me sad…
(ATTENTION ALL GRAMMAR NAZI'S, I LOVE YOU GUYS!)
I will probably post a new chapter every Saturday (excluding this one). So be patient and be awesome! XD