This is my first fanfic, but I expect it to be the best one I ever write. It's a tale of adventure, excitement, mystery, drama, courage, determination, discovery, fun, laughter, but most of all, of the unbreakable bonds of true friendship. For over two decades now Pokémon has taken people worldwide to a magical place, as the anouncer guy first put it, filled with "non-stop action, millions of laughs, heart-pounding perils, and endless excitement"; a place where they've encountered "fantastic friends, evil enemies, and creatures beyond their wildest imaginations".

Unfortunately along the way some things have been lost, as if some great thing were coming, but never appeared as foreshadowed in the first few generations of the series. Ash was downgraded and "little-kiddified" more than once, and never allowed to mature into who he could have become if they had just stopped firing the writers and pandering only to the 10 year olds of the world. And so, in honor of the great fun and enjoyment Pokemon has given me over the years, I dedicate this fic to Pokémon; to Ash, who was never (or at least has not yet been) allowed to become the master he was destined to be (that is, until now), to Pikachu -Ash's best friend and eternal comrade, and lastly, to everyone who, like me, has been there from the beginning more than twenty years ago, and is still rooting for our favorite would-be Pokémon master. This is for you guys, and for everyone else who remembers the oath Ash swore the night before the first day of his journey. So now it is with immense pride and deepest pleasure that I present to you the first of what is sure to be many chapters, in The Prophecy of Thunder.

Chapter 1: Bolt from the Blue

Static buzzed in the air. The reek of ozone still filled the chamber.

I almost couldn't believe it.

It was done! Finally, after all this time, it was done! He had survived the first rite, and confirmed what I had so desperately hoped! He was the Chosen One!

I looked down at him laying on the ground there on the dais in the center of the room.

I decided to give him a few moments to recover. Seeing as he was kind of unconscious right now, talking would do little good.

We'd have our 'chat' as soon as he woke up. From experience, it would take at least a few minutes for him to come to.

The others were already leaving, probably a little frightened at what had just happened. It was the first time they had ever seen anything like this, and I hadn't exactly prepared them beforehand.

I, however, was not going anywhere. Their roles might be over, but mine had just begun.

I turned my face from them back to the center of the room where his "friend" -who also had not been expecting what had happened- was now shaking him worriedly, trying to wake him up.

I would have told him that he didn't have to worry, but I was a little distracted right at this moment.

I was so excited. Not only about what had just happened, but what was about to begin.

No. Excited is not the right word for what I was feeling right then. Excitement might be the cute, baby brother of the feeling that coursed through my veins just now.

Exultant. Now, that was a better word for it. But still, even that didn't quite sum it up. What word do you use for the culmination of years of unrewarded effort? What word describes how you feel after finding what you had been looking for after so many decades of disappointed searching?

I looked around at the enormous chamber we were standing in. The walls were made of smooth rock. All of them glinted with hundreds of raw naturally occurring gemstones. The ceiling, twenty feet above us was even more impressive.

It had been so long since I'd been here; since anyone had been here really...

I stopped.

I couldn't start down that train of thought. It reminded me too much of what I had lost. Of what I had had to give up. I didn't want to go there. Not tonight. Not now.

I closed my eyes, took some slow deep breaths, and it was gone.

I looked back.

Surprisingly, not only had his 'friend' managed to wake him up. but he was sitting up, and even trying to stand. Understandably, he was still a little wobbly after his ordeal.

Slowly but surely though, he was getting to his feet.

It was time.

"Greetings, Chosen One," I said softly. "Your arrival has been long awaited."

Obviously during his bout of unconsciousness he had forgotten I was there because he spun around to face me, eyes wide with surprise. The combination of the sudden movement, and the sight of me was so unexpected that he lost his balance, tottered for a second, then fell back to a sitting position with a soft thud on the smooth stone floor. A small 'ouch' left him, but the pain was quickly forgotten as he continued to stare in awe.

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. Not only had I timed it perfectly, but the way it had come out was calm and controlled, exactly what I had wanted. And the way he just sat there looking thunderstruck at me was particularly amusing. I'd seen such looks before, but none of them quite this satisfying.

How could they be?

This look was the one that finally marked the beginning of what I'd been waiting for for so long.

He just sat there for a second with that comical mix of surprise and fear on his face, trying to take everything in, and obviously failing. He finally snapped out of it though, and confused, asked, "Chosen One? What do you mean Chosen One?"

I silently chuckled to myself again and had to try hard to keep from smirking. He was so young, and he just didn't get it yet.

I savored the moment. It'd been so long since I'd had much of anything to be happy about, let alone laugh at.

The euphoric feeling that had swept over me since I first realized he was the one, was like a gentle, cooling rain on a desert so parched, so dry, so thirsty, that it had almost forgotten what rain tasted like.

Oh! It was almost overwhelming!

My thoughts turned back to him now as he struggled his way back to his feet, helped this time by his friend.

He was quite sore, I could tell.

It hit me again just how young he was. And even so, he'd already done so much! But still, he was about to shoulder a huge responsibility; one I'd waited for years to give to him. And unfortunately for him, he'd have little choice but to accept it. Especially now…

His confusion began to turn to anger as the exhaustion of the night's events began to take its toll on him, cutting through his quickly fading surprise.

"Why did you bring us here?! What just happened?! Why-" He stopped, looking for the right words. He couldn't seem to find any adequate to express all the confusion, and the turmoil, and the hundreds of questions that must have been flying through his head right now. He finally just said, "Why did you do this to me?!"

I slowly began to walk toward him; my inner chuckle turned into full laughter now, and I couldn't keep the smile from my lips this time. This was getting better by the minute! Since this all began, I'd waited so long for him to come. So many cursed, drawn-out years of looking at the hatefully empty horizon, hoping that maybe today would be the day; and when it wasn't, going to sleep the same way I had yesterday -hoping desperately that he'd come tomorrow, and knowing that he probably wouldn't.

Always, the same dreadful, heartrending questions plagued me. 'Where is he now?' 'Has he even been born yet?' 'Did I somehow miss him?' 'Why has fate done this to me?!' and a thousand other questions of 'why', 'how', and 'what if'. But worse than all the rest, the one that haunted me, and ate at me, and mercilessly taunted me in my nightmares was:

When?

I'd been the one waiting all this time, with centuries of questions hanging around my neck, and he was now indignantly questioning me?

It was too funny.

I had been waiting for what seemed like an eternity in a veritable hell of heartache and anticipation; waiting for him to show up so I could finally put my friend's soul at ease, and maybe, just maybe -a maybe I'd hungered after ever since that terrible day so long ago- find peace myself.

But now my wait was over. The when was now! I was finally meeting him face-to-face, instead of just imagining it to try to keep myself sane. Just thinking about it sent waves of bliss rolling through me. I felt like dancing around in a circle yelling "Woohoo! Yes! Whoopee!"

But no; I had to stay as calm as possible for now, at least on the outside. I had to play the cool, confident, all-knowing guardian, or he would never believe me –never trust me- and then all that I'd waited for would be for nothing.

I stopped a few feet away from the dais where he was now standing and said, "The answers to your questions lie within the prophecy. In it was foretold all that just happened, and also that which is about to unfold."

He looked confused again, but I could still see the anger just below the surface, only momentarily deterred.

I didn't blame him for being upset. Getting hit with as much electricity as had been in that 6-foot-wide lightning bolt tended to make one a little grumpy.

"Prophecy?" he said. "What prophecy?"

I almost choked.

What prophecy? What prophecy?

No, no laughing.

No, no, NO, NO! Have to hold it in!

Even though I probably should have been expecting that question, it still had caught me off-guard, and keeping this laugh in now was like keeping a huge thunderstorm in check! It was fighting tooth and nail to get out, and I had to fight just as hard to keep it in.

After a moment, I was able to get enough control over it that I could trust myself to not bust out laughing, but just barely.

Still, the way he'd asked his question -as if it were some minor everyday thing- was just so absurdly funny!

Even as I thought about it, the laughter bubbled up in my chest again, threatening to burst out like a geyser.

I was tempted to answer him 'Oh, its nothing really. Just the prophecy that flipped the world as we knew it on its head. Just the thing that's kept me sane and given me the will to actually continue living all this time. Merely the thing that's been eating me from the inside out every day, and fueling my most desperate dreams at night. Only the thing that plucked all I ever cared about from me, then held the hope of regaining it in front of my face tauntingly! That's all really.'

As much as I wanted to though, I knew I couldn't. No, I had to finish this; play it out to the end.

I decided I'd paused long enough now. The suspense was at its peak, and any more delay in answering him would look stupid.

I took a deep breath and pushed the laugh down just far enough that I could talk if I was careful.

"The Prophecy..." I said slowly, "of Thunder."

As the last word left my lips, a large crack of thunder ripped through the air -probably from the storm outside- resonating through the entire chamber and bouncing off every wall and the ceiling high above us. It was as if the very spirits of the storm were on my side and wanted to help give my words emphasis. It was perfect!

He jumped a little at the unexpected thunderclap, but his face showed recognition and (I was pleased to note) a fair amount of awe at what I said.

"What do you mean my answers lie in the prophecy? There were pieces of it missing, and a lot of it was worn away." he said. "And how do you even know about the Prophecy of Thunder, anyways?" he asked. "We only found the city yesterday, and it's been abandoned for hundreds of years."

I tried, I really did. But that, that right there, was the last straw. There was no way I could hold it in any longer.

An explosion of laughter tore a path out of my chest, up through my throat, and out of my mouth, rumbling and echoing around just as loud and powerful as the thunder a moment before.

Who could blame me though, right? I mean, normally not even my "siblings" can match me when it comes to control; I'm as cool as they come. It's just that, well, today wasn't a normal day for me.

First I woke up just to get blindsided by what I've wished for since before his great-grandparents had great-grand parents; then I was floating in the clouds for the rest of the day, stewing in a mix of tension, ecstasy, and fear of what I would feel if I were wrong; and if that wasn't enough, tonight when the rite was finally performed, he had the gall to ask me about how I knew about it?

But even after all that, I still probably could have held it in if it weren't for one thing, the cherry on top.

All this time, the thing I'd fantasized about most was what the Chosen One would actually look like when I saw him. I mean, the Prophecy gave me a few vague things to go on, but nothing that was at all specific. Some days I imagined he'd be a mighty warrior, highly experienced and unbeatable in a fight. Other times I imagined him as some kind of great leader or king. Sometimes he was all-powerful and 10 feet tall. Never in all of my wildest imaginings did I ever think he'd be this... well, this boy!

Just the thought of it intensified the laughter that was still gushing from my mouth as tears welled up in my eyes.

Oh forget this whole mysterious guardian act! It doesn't matter anymore anyway now that he's seen me laughing like this!

Loosed from my own restraints, I mustered everything I had and slowly, very slowly, regained control over myself.

I looked up to see him looking the most confused I'd seen him all night.

Oh fine, I'll tell him everything, I thought. Anyone who can give me a day like today and make me laugh like that deserves it.

I looked him straight in the eye, still chuckling softly.

"I'll tell you how I know about it," I said in an almost challenging way.

"I was there."

So if you were here when I first published this chapter, you'll notice that it has changed dramatically. If you weren't, then just know that this version is much better than the original. Second, I love reviews, and would appreciate any feedback (especially what you liked/enjoyed most) but any and all feedback is welcome and greatly appreciated, even (and I might say especially) if you already reviewed the original version. Lastly, the second chapter is two thirds finished, and no, it will not be delayed for more than a month I should think, possibly just a few weeks. I'm very excited about it. There is a clear direction into the main story now, unlike when I supposedly "already had the second chapter half-finished" some eight years ago. I look forward to seeing you then when I publish Chapter 2: The Day the Thunder Roared.