Friendship, Love and Rivalry
Welcome, fellow fanfiction people! Yes, I, Princess Tiger have re-wrote Chapter 1. Why? Because I think I can improve it, in my opinion the first few chapters are rather sloppy in comparison with my usual standard of work, so these will be rewrote too. You want to know what this story is about? I don't really know as such. I have a general idea for the plot (and a great ending too) but we'll have to see where this goes, anyway, enough blabbing, time for the improved (hopefully) Chapter !.
Disclaimer: You all know I don't own Pokémon, if I did, would I be stuck doing my GCSE's? I don't own Mr. Men either, or anything else mentioned in this chapter, or story.
Chapter 1 – A New Friend
Brock sighed inwardly, this journey back through Sinnoh the long, scenic way was a good idea, at first. Except when he made the plans, he didn't realise this meant he'd be stuck with two moody teenagers. After losing to the Sinnoh League Champion, Ash was not happy, to say the least, in fact place him next to Little Miss Sunshine in his current mood and you would have polar opposites. Dawn was not much better, she had lost in the Sinnoh Grand Festival, and was almost as despressed as Ash. And to make matters worse, they appeared to be lost, in the Eterna forest, just great. Bored with the familiar and rather repetitive sight of identical trees, Brock went back to analyzing his friends. Ash had seemed fine just after the match, but now on his way home to Pallet, his feeling of self-remorse had returned. Ash didn't like the fact he'd lost to a girl, who not dissimilar to Misty in some respects. Even at the age of seventeen, Brock was still positive that Ash still believed in the 'girl germs' thing, much like his younger siblings, who had recently developed such traits, after starting primary school. Brock, even though he wouldn't admit it, had a slight crush on the Sinnoh Champion, Nika, but this was mainly based off of the fact she looked a little like Jasmine, the Kanto Champion, who, in Brock's opinion was far prettier. The reason Dawn was wallowing in self-pity was a little more understandable, after hours of training, she had suffered a spectacular defeat in the final to none other than her rival, Zoey. After having to drag the two out of their respective rooms, Brock had suggested they head back to Pallet, via Twinleaf of course. The awkward silence was broken, when Dawn stopped and pointed to something up ahead.
"Is that someone tied to a tree?" Sure enough, as they approached, the object became easily distinguishable as a human being, albeit, one they recognised too, by the waves of long dark green hair that fell beyond her shoulders. Nearing closer, they saw she had been gagged with a piece of ragged cloth.
"Nika?" The woman, looked up as her name was mentioned, and her eyes showed signs of relief at the three acquaintances of hers. Taking out his pocket knife, Brock slashed the ropes that tied her to the tree. Removing her gag, she smiled up at Brock and Dawn, and then looked over at Ash, who was still sulking at the rear of the group.
"Thanks," she responded. "I must have been there for about an hour."
"What happened?" Brock inquired.
"Oh, Team Galactic stole my pokémon again, but no worries, I just need to go to Eterna and get them back."
"Can we come with you?" Brock pleaded, hoping for some company that was vaguely cheerful.
"Sure, we need to go the Pokémon Centre first though."
"Right, come on Ash, Dawn, we're going this way now," Brock gestured back the way they had come from, causing Nika to give him a curious look,
"Where are you going, Eterna's this way." She pointed in the direction she was facing.
"Oh, no wonder we were lost," Brock chuckled.
**~**
After arriving at the Pokémon Centre, Nika had sprinted to the front of the queue for the video-phones, ignoring the disgruntled trainers waiting in line, once she had got through though, they seemed more interested in eavesdropping on her conversation,
"Nika, slow down, what did you say?"
"Adam, Team Galactic. They stole my pokémon, again," she repeated, articulating each word as loudly as possible.
"Again? Man, those guys never give up, so what do you want me to do?"
"Send over Geoffrey and Gengar."
"Geoffrey and Gengar, right, one sec." He turned away from the screen, and yelled out for someone by the name of Dominic to go get Nika's pokémon.
"Thanks Adam, you're a wonderful cousin, how was the honeymoon?" Nika questioned Adam, in an attempt to engage in some small talk before Dominic came back,
"It was good thanks, though not as memorable as the reception."
"Ha, of course, poor Riley will regret tha- Oh!" She exclaimed as the two pokéballs appeared on the pad beside her. "Well they're here now, so tell Professor Rowan and Dominic I say 'Hi'!"
"Sure Nika, I'll see you when you get back to Twinleaf!"
"Sure see you!" Shoving the ball in the pockets of her dress, Nika dashed over to where Ash and Dawn were watching Brock be dragged away by his Croagunk, their faces showing a look of pity for their friend, but their eyes showed they were actually finding it a little amusing. Leading them through the streets of Eterna, Nika brought the group to an alley beside a rather ominous looking building which she confirmed as the Galactic Eterna Branch. Releasing her Gengar, Nika then began to give it a small briefing, while the others were gawping at it, for her Gengar, was no ordinary one, it was black, not purple, and this trait alone made it seem so much more sinister looking. Add that to the fact it was at least a foot taller than your average Gengar and you learn that this is quite an extraordinary specimen. After Nika had finished, Gengar disappeared through the wall, leaving Nika, Brock, Dawn and Ash in the alley. The group waited in silence, anticipating Gengar's return any moment. Sure enough, the mysterious pokémon reappeared and communicated with Nika over the stolen pokémon's location using psychic powers Ash's pokédex didn't even know a Gengar could possess. Taking her other pokéball from her pocket, Nika then edged along the wall towards the dead end of the alley, indicating for the others to do the same. At the end of the alley was a small door, a concealed entrance to the Galactic building, through which, Nika boldly stalked through. They were now in a long grey corridor, lit dimly by fluorescent lights overhead. Focused on finding their destination, Dawn Brock and Nika were oblivious to Ash, who was bringing up the rear, as he prodded an elegant Ho-oh statue. Immediately the lights began flashing red and loud whirring alarms echoed through the desolate corridor.
"Intruder Alert, Intruder Alert," a monotone voice sounded over the loudspeakers. Wirling around, Dawn caught sight of Ash, who was blatantly at fault, since he was still mere inches from the Ho-oh statue.
"Ash!" she hollered. "What did you go do that for?"
"Errm I-" He was interrupted by Nika's frustrated cry
"Never mind that, let's get outta here!" She dashed down the corridor, the others hot on her heels, until she reached the small door of a broom cupboard, picking up on her implication, the quickly darted inside, just speedy enough to avoid the Galactic guards that had come careening around the corner. Several minutes went by in silence, as the guards had obviously gone to search another part of the building. Poking their heads round the door, Ash and Nika checked to see if the coast was clear, before cautiously tip-toeing out onto the corridor, pokéballs at the ready. Leading the group through a maze of corridors, Nika surprised them by actually knowing her way around, a reason for which she had promised to provide the curious Dawn with once they escaped. They came across a locked door, which required a code to open.
"Ash," Nika whispered. "Do you think you can get Pikachu to give this lock a small jolt of electricity, it should open then?"
"Sure, Pikachu, you heard what she said." Jumping off his master's shoulder Pikachu landed on the floor almost inaudibly. Sending out a bolt of yellow electricity nothing more than a millimetre or so thick, the lock gave out a odd hissing sound and the door swung open.
"Wait here," Nika instructed, as she crept into the room, where six pokéballs lay unguarded on a heavy steel table, she snatched them without hesitation, forcing Dawn to take two since she already had to many, then taking out the pokéball from before they ran back along the corridors, towards the exit . As she had anticipated, a gang of guards blocked their door, preventing their escape.
"Ah Nika, how did we know it was you?" The senior guard hollered at her sarcastically.
"How could you not?"
"You really are quite mouthy aren't ya? Too bad I'll have to fix that, Crobat go!"
Nika sighed and rolled her eyes, "Haven't you realised by now that you can't beat me? I mean, I'm the Sinnoh Champion for God's sake." Then she half-heartedly threw the pokéball in her hand,
"Well Geoffrey, looks like I'll choose you." A loud roar echoed through the narrow corridor, as Nika's huge Gyrados appeared,
"Now Geoffrey, use Thunderbolt on these buffoons so we can get outta here!" He roared in response and electrocuted not only Crobat, but the entire squadron of guards too, with enough power to rival Pikachu (though not as much, of course). Returning Geoffrey, Nika carefully picked her way across to the door, avoiding standing on any of the unconscious, singed guards.
**~**
After sending Geoffrey back to Professor Rowan, Nika had requested for Dawn to take care for Gengar for a while, since she was tagging along with the others on their way back to Twinleaf, that being her home town. After several more minutes talk, the group had established they were all heading back to Kanto too, which was the current topic of conversation, as they travelled through the Eterna forest again.
"So Nika, why are you going to Kanto again?"
"To watch my sister in the Indigo League."
"Really? Has she competed before?"
"Of course she has, she's Champion."
"Jasmine's your sister?" Brock sounded practically delirious.
"You didn't know? Anyway Ash, I was about to say, that I think you should compete, you have a good chance of winning you know."
"I do?"
"Sure, I've battled you, and I say you can and trust me I know whocan beat my sister and who can't."
"Well thanks, I think I will." He turned to his little yellow buddy, who was sat, as usual in his perch on Ash's shoulder. "What do you think Pikachu? Shall we go win the Indigo League?"
"Pika, pika!" came the joyous reply.
"All right then, let's go win that trophy!" Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a huge mechanical hand came down, scooping Pikachu up and into the air.
**~**
If you've read the original version of this chapter, hopefully you thought this was better, if you are new to this story, firstly welcome, and secondly, I want to apologise in advance for Chapter 2, as I have not rewrote that yet and a couple of things may be repeated and others may not flow ( I will see if I can get a rewrite out before the end of the week ), other than that I hope you enjoyed it, Chapter 17 will be a little late, but I want to be completely happy with it first. Please review!
Princess Tiger