The Explorer
The sound that echoed in the room was the rustling of clothing against each other as they were being compressed into a blue traveling backpack. Strapped on to the side of the pack were a miriad of outdoors tools for convenience's sake. The boy who was packing his clothing for his travels had a raven-colored hair and brown muddy eyes.
The window in the room gave vision to the dark outside of quiet and pacific Pallet Town. The clock on the room pointed at the time, late 11:30 P.m. On the Tv at the corner of the room, a Pokemon battle was on display where a gengar, a Ghost/Poison type, had just knocked a onix out-cold with a well aimed Shadow Ball in the forehead and was now battling against a nidorino. The young boy looked at the battle and smiled, maybe he could delude himself into believing the fairy tale being told on the monitor.
Pokemon battling was his dream of life, sure, but he knew better than to believe his Trainer Journey was going to be sunshine and rainbows. Ash Ketchum considered himself to be quite a competent human being for his age. Contrary to popular believe among his peer, he knew better than to just rush out in this world without prior planning. The result of nights of study now strapped on his backpack.
It was a great opportunity to be able to get a Trainer's license at his age, 10 years-old. Kanto was famous for its approval of young battlers to go out early and get experience, contrary to say Hoenn or Kalos where you needed to be 13 for the former and 15 for the latter (Both said tha older trainers were more responsible). ''The early pidgey takes the most caterpie'' or so said the Kanto Pokemon League. Fat load of good it did the region to have a bunch 10 years old running around the world collecting , in ancient times worshipped monsters, Pokemon. Not that he was complaining, for he was one of those snot-nosed 10 years old. A bit more matured, but still one of them.
The battle in the Tv programn was at its peak with gengar trying to hipnotise the poison pin Pokemon, where one of the trainers had a huge grin in his face, the Ghost's owner obviously, and the other was manniacaly shouting to his Nidorino. Ash let the now full backpack rest close to his bed, and sat on it to apreciate his last momments just watching, for so soon was he going to be one of those two on the field. And to be honest, Ash wanted to be the one winning, displaying that grin for the world to see his victory.
Being a trainer was more than just a dream to Ash, it was going to be a money source. His mother, Delia, did her best to give the both of them a good life, but there was a limit at how much a single mother could provide with just a restaurant. They didn't live a bad life, but it was modest. Ash wanted to provide to his mother a much better life style, mostly now that the family savings had hit bottom due to the necessity of buying gear for his journey.
Delia would never let her son be in danger and if that meant buying more expensive stuff, so she would do. She could always word hard extra time and cover the expenses. Her son needed not to know their financial situation. Not that she knew that a good 50% of the reason that he was leaving on journey so soon was to win money as soon as possible and take the family account out of the red.
Had the boy not known his family's money problems, he would have delayed his journey a year or two, to get the most of his studies under Professor Oak. The good professor had instructed Ash the best he could in the year the young one had come to him to study about Pokemon and to better prepare himself fo his journey. Only drawback the Ketchum had when visiting the Professor was his grandson, Gary Oak.
To describe the young Oak without bias from the Ketchum (which was really hard for him to say), he would be a arrogant, cocky boy who knew how to get on his nerves from time to time. There was a time in which both of them would play and talk like normal kids, but an accident caused the two to split their friendship and now Gary was the teasing-master-2000, who was better looking, stronger, smarter, and more popular than poor ol' Ketchum who had to be born under the unlucky star. Huh...He had sighed again.
Ash noticed himself sighing quite frequently ever since he took his studies as serious as a 9 year old could. Now 10 and walking to 11, he would frequently find himself away from the other '' cool kids'' and with his face buried into various books and notes he took time to prepare himself. The other kids would call him 'Adult-wannabe' and Gary would lead them telling to the four winds and whoelse would hear him that the Ketchum would imitate his Granpa, and pretend to be 'hot stuff', whatever that meant.
Oak would notice the situation and laugh weakly at the Ketchum for his antics before chastising lightly his grandson about how Ash was right to prepare for his journey and how the other kids should follow his example. That would be right where his grandkid would cut his speech calling it old fashioned and boring or saying how ''Pros don't need no plan as long as they 've got their guts and their wits'', and leading the kids to play or tell about how his journeys would be and how he would beat the elites in one fell swoop and beat the champion himself.
At first the antics would very much annoy the Ketchum. He was a normal kid, although a bit anti-social and a bit over enthusiastic about doing things, quite odd extremes if he was to say it himself. With time Ash found himself caring less and less for the jokes and names, and the one day the raven haired teen found himself caring for none of what Gary's 'lackeys' would talk about him. Even the girls in Pallet Town had grandly lost his interest. If all girls would be like Gary's fans, he would want none of that and would be much better by himself. The girls had the cooties by the way...
...Sigh...
He was rambling on his mind again. Of course girls did not had cooties, did they ? His mother laughed joyfully when he would come home pissed off by the young Oak and his fans and would listen to him rant hours on hours before she would correct him about thing he did not know. Relationships with other people were really complicated, couldn't other people be more rational about things?
Sometimes Ash wondered if Gary was really a human and not some Pokemon with some weird variant of attract or a Giga Drain that sucked the intellingence out of people and threw it straight into the trash. What do you know? It could be the reason why those around the Oak would be as annoing and ilogical as him.
.. .Sigh...
There he was again, ranting in his mind like a old man. Maybe he picked the habit from Professor. Spending some time with the older Oak was fullfiling, if a bit tiresome. The schollar would talk hours on end if given the chance and would drag you into doing work with him.
Seing that the battle on the Tv had ended in the victory of gengar once more Ash grabbed the controler and turned the channels to get any bit of important information before bed. He would have a full day tomorrow.
''...and the Police Department is recommending ultmost care for all trainers as sighting of the criminal organization known as Team Rocket have been frequent on some routes. Gym Leader Geovanni and a team of officers are on the case and have been aprehending the criminnals but their extensive actions have been...''
And he was done with bad news. He turned off the Tv and headed to be bathroom to shower. 15 minutes later and in a simple pair of white sleeping shorts and a black tanktop, he heard the living room Tv playing some overly complex drama novel and decided to just tip-toe his way to the kitchen to grab a late night snack. He wasn't feeling sleep come yet so he would enjoy a bit of late-night-reading, with some tasty snacks to pass. Arceus knew he would miss his mother's cooking out in the boonies.
Assaulting the freezer as quiet as humanly possible, the Ketchum quickly grabbed himself some chocolate cake and juice and headed back to his room. His mother normaly would have noticed him by now but the drama on Tv was at least good distraction for his late night escaped. Something about the romance between Prince Nidoking and Sleeping Nidoqueen made no sence for him, but who was he to question his mother's tastes.
Back to his room with his treat now in hands, Ash pondered again about which starter should he choose. The question plagued his mind his first day at Professor Oak's Lab and corral, and the teen thoght for the millionth time about the combinations possible. He thought about letting luck choose but quickly found the idea dumb. Luck had done nothing but be in his way.
Should he choose his starter irresponsably, he would regret deeply the decision. If going Advantage route both bulbasaur and squirtle were good choices against Pewter City Rock type but the advantages would mean little in the face of experience. Not to hate on chamander, the fire lizard could early learn Metal Claw to go against the rock types. The plans would go on and on without stoping in his head. His choice was going to be charmander. The lizard would be strong with Ash's notes on training, and his final evolution was a beast. Who woulnd't want a giant fire lizard that could fly and rain fire from above as if some sort of helicopter-monted flamethrower of doom ?
Laying his head on his pillow as soon as he finished his night treat, Ash closed his eyes and awaited drowsiness come to him. Tomorrow would be the start of his legend.
''Sometimes life doesn't go your way. Who to blame then? Arceus, praise be unto Him, for not helping you? Or maybe your luck, who likes to screw with you as if it had a deep grugde on you? None of those should be subjets to your anger for the falt lies in no one. You are not special and bad situations will happen to you one day or the other.''
-Some stupid author, 2017
If Ash could curse outloud he would have done so already. His alarm clock, which had the shape of a pokeball, had decided to stop working in the middle of the night, making the tanned boy wake one hour later than his appointed time to pick up his starter. When the Ketchum woke up suddenly and took a peak at the clock, any sleepiness had been squezzed from his body in mere seconds.
Jumping out of his window, the Kantonesian rushed to the lab in the first decent pair of clothing he could manage to put on. If Ash had ever believed in destiny, now was when any of that belief died.
He ran as fast as his legs could carry his weight, and scared countless rattata and pidgey in his mad dash to Oak's Lab. It was a short 20 minutes walk to the lab, but Ash had managed to run in 5 minutes.
Panting and almost choking on his own saliva, Ash pressed the bell of the white building in hopes of Oak forgiving his irresponsible behavior. Goddammed alarm clock.
When the door opened, Ash went in fast, not even giving the assistant who openned the door a glance so rushed was he. Reaching a big area where Oak's table stayed, normally full of stacks of paper and anotations, Ash glanced around to find the Older Oak talking with Gary, who had a big grin on his face, which grew bigger noticing the Ketchum rushing to talk with the old man.
''Professor I can explain, please just tell me that still have time to choose my starter.'' So desperate was the Ketchum that he grabbed on Professor Oak's white coat with surprising strength
''Calm down my boy, I haven't seen someone so desperate in a long time. Gary wait outside, I have to talk with young Ash.''
Gary passed without saying anything by Ash's side, but the grin in his face told Ash all that he needed to know. The mocking smile of someone with life given on a silver plater. Ash would wipe that shitty smug grin off the younger Oak's face whatever the cost.
Professor Oak stared at his grandkid and shook his head in slight desaproval. Now focusing in Ash, the man put a light hand in one of the youth's shoulders.
''Ash my boy, I am very sorry to tell you this but the group of starters I received from de League's breaders have already been given away.''
The hand on his shoulder felt heavy, like lead. Would he really have to wait 4 months to have a starter and not be able to enter this year's League? Was all his planning during about one and half years useless? Must his opportunity be striped away from him like this? So close, yet so far...
''...ou there Ash?'' The voice of the older Oak felt muted for a moment before coming back.
''Of course you could still get one starter from me but it would be a bit...hmm...let's see ah...Well lad, wait a bit, I have a surprise for you!'' The man went to another area with surprisingly quick feet, leaving Ash there standing in front of the podium of the trio of starters that had no pokeball.
The panic that had settled in his stomach was slowly dissipating. It felt like lead for a moment, but Ash signed. Even if he was not getting one of the trio of Fire-Water-Grass he could work his way around other type. It was illogical for him to not be a trainer. Good try destiny, good try indeed.
When Professor Oak came back, Ash had calmed himself quite a bit. The Ketchum had determined that being a trainer was his path, and he would follow it through whatever the world would throw at him, but if he received help he would not complain. It was illogical to deny help if he needed it.
"Well Ash, here it is! The only Pokemon that I have available on me to give to you as a starter in this wonderful world is this. Ready to see who is going to be your companion?" The teasing was something Ash could do without, but the joke did let him release any accumulated tension. Professor Oak knew what to say, when to say.
"Yes sir, I am ready!"
"Go ahead then Ash." Said Samuel as he gave the device in Ash's hands.
As the Pokeball was given to him, Ash just stood there taking in the moment and the round object with his new companion in it.
So soon as the device was in Ash's hands, it opened up in a flash of light and released his newest friend. The glow faded and it revealed a small, yellow mouse. Its tail reminiscent of a straight thunder and red, round circles in its cheeks. Ash perked up and recognized the yellow pokemon; Pikachu the electric mouse.
As soon as liberated from its confinement, Pikachu squeaked in delight before doing little stretches. It soon looked up at the two humans in the room and gave a curious glance at both.
"Getting an electric type as a starter ain't so bad Professor, what was the deal? Wanted to scare a beginner trainer for a small mistake, not much mature…" Ash joked with the Professor, his intimacy with the older Oak allowing for the little joke.
"To be honest Ash, I caught this little fellow about a week ago munching on some of my electric cables. He's got quite the Shocking personality if I were to say it so."
Wondering what as the deal with the Older Oak, Ash went to approach Pikachu, offering his hand as a compliment. It much surprised Ash when he felt his hairs stand on their end as he quickly got some distance between the him and Pikachu due to the signs of electric currents acting up. His quick action proved to be a pain saver when a current of electricity arced around the yellow mouse, not much to hurt him but enough to be quite….shocking.
"Feisty little one huh?"
"Yeah, this one really isn't much found of either of us" The Professor confessed signing and scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Well, I think I can deal with him. It's him right? The tail is straight so I just assumed, hope I'm right." Confessed the Ketchum, wondering how to best deal without receiving thundershock.
As he continued pondering, Professor came carrying other five pokeballs and a small, red and rectangular device. Ash stared at the scholar wanting some explanating.
"This is my invention, The Pokedex. As you know Ash, there is much we don't know about pokemon. They are magnificent creatures and their interactions with humans can be quite interesting." His time studying together with the Professor had proved that. "To see the end result of those interactions is one of my topics of research and I was hoping you could help me with the deed. Capture as much pokemon as you can and scan others whenever the opportunity presents itself. With these tools in your hands I hope you can achieve your dreams Ash, I know you have potencial."
"Thank you Professor! I surely will become a Pokemon Master!" The wonders of adventure were fueling in his veins as racionality tried to calm him down. It failed miserably as his eyes lit with fire. He glanced to his new partner to see Pikachu glancing at him with an annoyed expression. It would be fine, he could work around that.
It surprised Ash to see his mother and a couple of other residents of Pallet come to congratulate him. As Ash walked down the slope that gave access to the Ranch, Pikachu puffed under his arms. The yellow mouse clearly not amused but not overly aggressive as his first time trying to shock him.
Dodging a couple of snot filled hugs from some of the habitants, the Ketchum came to his mother and hugged her in a silent manner. His silent promise to give her a better life was only know to himself. Pikachu seemed oddly quiet for being pressed between the two Ketchums, but Delia knew better than to press much on the yellow electric mouse. The organs of Pikachu were all filled to the brim with electricity and were quite sensitive to the touch. Risking a shock because she was too excited and pressed Pikachu the wrong way would ruin the moment.
After some rapidly said good-byes to the acquaintances, the Ketchums headed to their house, Delia rushing to the kitchem to give her Ashy one last homemade meal. His journey would not allow for much stopping back at Pallet Town.
Taking a proper shower and putting on his traveling clothes which consisted of camping boots, dark blue jeans, a durable belt, a black undershirt and an all-weather light jacked that was dark blue and white with a black hoodie, and lastly his mother's gift, a pokemon league hat. His pack was slung over one shoulder as he descended the stairs to go to the kitchen and eat quite a bit. Before entering the room, he double checked to see if everything was in order before placing his backpack close to the living room door. Pikachu was at the kitchen table eating pokemon food with passion. The mouse would glance his way time to time, trying to find an opening to shock the younger Ketchum.
Siting on his place with had a stacked plate, Ash began eating slowly as to appreciate his last moments home before his journey.
"You sure you have everything sweety?"
"Yes, mom. I double checked it"
"But what if you are missing something and don't know, or maybe you don't have enough spare unde…"
"Love you mom!" Bolted Ash after a quick hug and a kiss on his mother's cheek. Pikachu under his arms as the pokemon refused to walk by him. The only thing preventing the electric shocks were pink rubber gloves the boy wore over his black fingerless gloves.
"Okay buddy, it seems you don't like the pokeball" Ash lightly winced and said as he withstood the light shock. He had removed the rubber gloves and tried putting Pikachu back on his red and white device.
He had walked a good hour before trying to talk with his traveling companion, so best make amends early on right?
Well the yellow right had other plans as he climbed a tree not too tall and sat there looking at the brunette. His red cheeks sparked with the remains of his last shock on Ash. The boy wondered what to do to have the cooperation of his starter. He took his pokedex and looked at the info available to him. When nothing too interesting popped up, he shook his hand to Pikachu which then looked at him.
"Just gonna scan you up ok? To see how you are doing and all that jazz…if you still trying to shock me it means you are fine." Ash signed as he sidestepped out of another possibly thundershock. Pikachu stayed still as the machine blinked and started talking in its robotic, monotone voice:
"Pikachu, The mouse pokemon. Pikachu tend to put their tails in the air to check its surroundings and sometimes get struck by lightning, powering up their electric attacks. It hates having its tail yanked or stepped on" Common knowledge but useful to remember. "This Pikachu is male and its Ability is Lightning Rod. It knows the moves: Tackle, Agility, Thundershock, Thunderwave, and Volt Tackle"
Quite a good setup for a started, Ash had to admit. He waved to Pikachu hoping to get some cooperation out of the mouse. He didn't want to be sentimental on his partner nor talk much about his situation, nobody would help him besides himself.
"Well Pikachu, I'm going to be straight here with you, I want to win the League and be a Pokemon Master. I want to be the very best and stand at the very top, but all of that pales in front of my number one objective: I want to give my mom a better life" The mouse perked up to the boy's little rant. Would that be it?
"I love pokemon and want to be a Master, training them to achieve their very best form and live their dreams, but I also became a Trainer because the pay is big. The Family is only me and mom, and you now. I want to gather much more companions and grow the family to be a big one, but for that I need money and becoming a trainer is the only way to go." Pikachu was still in the tree, but seemed to be listening to him. Progress was slow but steady.
"It would be easy for me to lie to you and say I have some other noble goal or have some profound meaning to my journey and actions, but this is it, laid bare and crude. I love pokemon from the bottom of my heart, but I need the money too, both to make mother's life easier and ours too. I will do my ultmost to help you be your very best and achieve anything you want Pikachu, will you help me on my journey?"
The mouse seemed static. That was quite a bit to digest upfront like that. Pikachu expected the human to sugarcoat his words and try to appeal to him with lies on top of lies. Was he really telling the truth or was he just telling some cheap lie. Hard to tell it from the human expression.
Ash wondered what Pikachu was thinking. Would he be willing to cooperate now that he heard a bit of his story? It still banged on Ash's mind the idea of using his companions to earn cash like that but Ash was upfront about it. Lies would make the Ketchum feel worse, so the upfront truth would at least allow him some peace of mind.
Both their lines of thought were interrupted by the sound of flapping wings. A pidgey descended a couple of feet in front of them and was pecking at the ground. Perfect chance to add a new one to the roster.
"Would you mind helping me Pikachu?" Suggested Ash, pointing to the bird. Pidgey were easy enough for beginners to capture and their final evolution was quite powerful. Pikachu was still on the tree, but was considering helping up his honest trainer.
"Won't force you to do it as I won't force you on your pokeball. See?" The Ketchum made sure Pikachu saw all of his actions. From the unpriming of the pokeball, to the easy but ready attitude of the trainer. He stayed on the tree and shook his head.
Ash signed. He would try again later
"Okay then Pikachu, stay there. I'm going to try and capture him, just wait for me a moment." Ash went close to the tree Pikachu was on, much to the pokemon's suspicion. He just nodded and pointed to his pack. Taking it and prodding it against the tree, Ash started to tip-toe his way to the pidgey.
Pikachu looked to the trainer and a smile planted itself on the mouse's lips. This was going to be fun.
As Ash went towards the back of the pidgey, he focused his all on stealth. When a good distance to the bird pokemon, he took one pokeball and primed it. The pokemon felt a foreign closing the distance and turned around to see the human. The bird cooed at him and cocked its head to the side as curiosity and caution appeared on its face.
Sneaking his way had done most of the job, but now it was time to act. Slowly and making sure to not frighten the bird, he searched his pockets for a treat. Finding some pokefood, he put some on his hand and approached the bird who now eyed him and his treat, mostly the treat.
He gave the hand and the pidgey closed in, pecking him hand for the food. Few other pidgey saw the action and came to flock around him for the food.
"Any of you would be willing to be my partner? I want to travel the world and become a Pokemon Master, but I need partners to be able to do that. Want to join in?" Ash smiled and he put the pokeball down and went to pat a few of the pidgey around him. Some looked up and cooed at his patting but a fierce screech made them fly away rapidly.
Ash stood up annoyed his moment had been interrupted and looked for the source of the noise. A spearow had seen the cachophony and came to crash the party. It pissed Ash off, for it had interrupted his moment of maybe getting a new friend, and the treats he had in his hand were now gone thanks to the loud aggressive bird.
It came flying and rushing its way towards the trainer, but instead of attacking him it went towards Pikachu who was perched on the tree. The jealous and aggressive nature of spearow making the creature attack in swoops at Pikachu who was having trouble and was now hanging from the branch he had been sitting.
Ash's hand went for the survival knife in his belt. He kept it there in case he would need to cut a few branches or some berries or even to help him set camp. In last case it could also serve as protection from overly aggressive pokemon. He opted for not pulling the blade.
If truly felt frightened, spearow would call upon its allies and a flock of angry spearow pecking him was not great sounding. If he was unlucky there woulde be a ferrow close by guiding the flock, making it overly aggressive and territorial. Should he draw blood from the bird, trouble was sure to follow.
Instead Ash broke into a sprint towards the tree. When close enough and timed rightly, the raiven haired boy leapt at the tree, using the recoil of impact to go high enough to reach the branch Pikachu was hanging from. At the same moment spearow swoop by ready to peck Pikachu, but meet not the mouse. Instead the bird met the heavy soles of a boot that knocked the bird down to the ground.
Too stunned to notice the perpetrator, the bird could only scquack when a jacket fell upon it, covering and stopping any chance of it taking flight. A heavy body held the jacket.
Pikachu was surprised greatly by his trainers actions. He jumped to help the moment Pikachu had been in trouble. The mouse pokemon was surprised by the quickness of his trainer who had subdued the aggressive bird without hesitation.
Ash put up his arms to catch Pikachu if he fell but it was not needed as the yellow mouse pulled himself up to the branch. A soft smile went on his lips only to be exchanged with a somewhat more sadistic
"Pikachu, Thundershock!" Ash called pointing to the crumpled jacket he was holding the now fighting spearow. The bird struggled for but a moment before the jacket was lifted and Ash jumped away. Pikachu didn't think twice before firing his electricity at the bird, shocking it and knocking it out. It twitched a bit and gave some smoke from some of its burnt feathers but otherwise fine.
Ash now grabbed Pikachu and his pack with newfound speed as he fixed he jacket upon himself. He hurried along route 1 hoping to get some distance from the site. If any other spearow caught sight of his mishandling of its kin, trouble would not be short.
The Ketchum started laughing as he runned, Pikachu now perched in his shoulders and felling pretty good about itself.
"That wasn't so bad now was it? See, let's be good partners from now on Pikachu!" Ash said running, his breath started to run short as he had been on the run for the past 30 minutes straight.
Pikachu squeaked happily and laughed together the Ketchum.
He had laughed a bit too early. The spearow had more endurance than he imagined and now he had been forced to be on the run, again, but now from the damn flock. Goddammed birds didn't knew when to give it a rest and recognize it was their fault. Pikachu on his shoulders held his breath and stayed as quiet as possible.
When one of the aggressive birds passed by and attracted the rest, Ash almost swore outloud. He ran into the forest and found himself in front of a small waterfall. Grabbing Pikachu tightly against his chest, Ash made the jump before the flock caught on. The flow of the river dragged him and Pikachu, but Ash floated rapidly, making sure Pikachu was out of the water first.
He felt a tug on his jacket and a little pain on the shoulder before a pull came. Annoyed, Ash swan to the margin, which thankfully wasn't far. The pull continued, a bit stronger this came and the brunette thought that someone was stupid to not notice that the bait and the sinker were out of water.
The pull came a third time and Ash looked at Pikachu, the electric type was shaking himself to get rid of the water that clinged to his fur. Ash made a snicker at the mouse which returned with one of his own. When the pull came a fourth time, Ash grabbed the line and rolled a bit around his gloved hand. He better positioned himself on the ground and gave the line a good pull.
The scream as someone fell into the water in front of his was sharp. Pikachu, now free of any water jumped on his shoulders and murmured what Ash thought was a thanks. He patted the electric type in the head between the ears, receiving a pleased noise from Pikachu.
The girl came out of the water almost screaming his ears off. He pulled the hook of her Super Rod from his jacket and winced as the tip of the hook came off. It had pierced a bit of skin but nothing too upsetting. The girl on the other hand annoyed him with her screaming and complaining, half of which he ignored. He offered a hand to get her on the margin, and she promptly took it.
Raising the girl, Ash could get now get a good look at her features. She seemed a bit older than him. She was a redhead and had the hair done in some weird (in his opinion) side pony-tail. She wore short shorts and suspenders that were slung over her shoulders. Her Shirt was a dull yellow and as his mother would say it was 'a bit on the nose'. Her sneakers were red and now were drenched, making slouching noises which made her looks a lot less fierce.
"Done being an idiot or my looks have captivated you?" She spoke, cranky but a lot less angry and her machine gun talk had ended.
Ash answered with silence, a comeback at the tip of his tongue. He looked more worried about the sky. Black clouds formed quite fast, and he as listening any sound he could. If the flock was still hot on his heels he would ask Pikachu to shock them good.
Annoyance became more apparent on the girl's voice as she approached him to start again complaining but he felt annoyance build up inside him. The redhead was brash and quick on the trigger, both fine quirks for distraction, but with he didn't need right now. She was so illogical right now he felt no words he would say would work on her.
As Pikachu's ears perked up at the sound of something, Ash turned his head away from the girl and towards him friend. He heard her make a pissed off noise and start to stomp the ground. He moved towards her quickly, hand going over her mouth in an attempt of keeping the loud girl quiet.
It worked for a moment before she started to trash around violently, face showed a fierce blush and Ash struggled to keep him hand in her mouth. Eventually, due to her trashing around, both ended up falling to the ground, he on top of her. Her face blushed crimson as his eyes looked towards Pikachu and his perked up ears.
His partner shook his head and started talking fast and pulled his shirt to hurry him up. Ash signed and got up. His hand away from her mouth now
"ARE YOU OUT OFF YOUR DAMN MIND!?" Her shout made he wince up. Ash disliked sudden loud noises.
"Shut up and start packing. Haven't got time to explain and thanks to your damn shouting, they now know where we are, thanks a bunch, girlie" He sounded as snarky as he could
"What are you talking about you lunatic? You don't just push a girl to the ground and…." Her argument fell on deaf ears as Ash swept her camping site of anything and just stuffed all he could find in a basket.
Done with the packing, he secured his pack by the straps tighter, and grabbed the girl's hand. Normally he would really abstain from doing anything like it, but his survival instincts honed from the wildness around Pallet and the countless survival and safety books he had to swiftly read to keep up with the studies with Professor Oak were in overdrive and made he take the reins for the sake of survival. She squealed again and tried to shake him away but his harder grasp on her hand seemed to pass the urgency of the situation.
Both hurriedly climbed the slope and reached the redhead's bike. Ash shoved her things in the bike's basket and hurried her along, the girl tried to argue but he and Pikachu who had descended from his shoulder were already running and gaining distance.
She could hear the flock of aggressive birds closing the distance and she hurried, her legs working fast to let her keep up with the boy and his Pikachu.
"Split up! Spearow only focus on one or two targets!" Ash shouted to her as he got closer to the right side of the earth route.
"YOU CRAZY? They would pick us off one by one." She tried picking one of her pokeball in the basket but only managed to make the device fall.
As Ash heard the brakes stop her momentum, he cursed loudly before stopping on his tracks and returning to her side. Her shaky hands tried picking up her pokeball but failing as rain had started a bit ago and made the dirt road muddy. Mud caked the pokeball making the grasp on it hard.
Panic is the worst enemy of a person. Panic leads to illogical choices and trouble in basic problem solving. A calm mind is the best friend a trainer may have, for your tools might fail you and break, but your knowledge will never abandon you.
Ash lifted the girl from the mud. The rain was beating down harder. He shoved her right back to her bike. When she tried to turn around and come back, he grasped her pokeball (his gloves adding the necessary friction) and threw the device to her. The Flock was already here and some of the birds already swooning down and pecking both Ash and Pikachu.
He let his friend down from his shoulders and protecting him the best he could. He put the pokemon a bit away from him, his pokeball in front of the rodent. Ash then walked a bit in front of the flock of annoyed and persistent Pokemon. His hand grasped the big survival knife and in his eyes the flame of determination.
What happened next was quite fast. Pikachu used him as a jumping platform and straight into the spearow flock. The rain in its heaviest point released a thunder, which went straight into Pikachu. The powered up mouse then released all his extra electricity as well as any stored. The lightning bolt that was released shocked the entire flock as well as Ash himself and some big chunk of metal nearby.
Then everything flashed white for some seconds as Ash could only hear the ringing in his ears. His muscles refused to obey him and twitched lightly. Then everything cleared up as he could feel the touch of ruffled fur upon his face. His arms lifted his tired form lightly, enough for him to sit up.
The countless spearow were felled all around him. He could smell charred iron close by. The rain cleared up as if it never had been there. He lifted Pikachu's form on his arms and put his buddy on his shoulders. Making effort to move seemed nigh impossible, but the Ketchum managed to do it.
The Redhead was nowhere in sight, probably rushing to Viridian city. He could just make some outlines of civilization, and realized he cut quite a bit of time in his mad dash against the spearows. Normally traveling through the route would take him a bit over three days to reach Viridian. He had cut that to about 8 hours of traveling. The waterfall had cut quite some of the distance it seemed. But right now he didn't care. All he wanted was to reach a Pokemon Center and sleep like a goddammed log. The grime and mud stuck on his seemed so minor right now.
His buddy perched up. Both trainer and pokemon were sluggish. The thunder had provided the majority of the power needed to defeat the flock, but his friend still needed to provide some power of his own. Besides getting loaded with that amount of electricity was dangerous, it could have fried Pikachu insides. His organs, mostly his eletrogeno were built to withstand great quantities of electricity being produced by the pokemon and not just shoved in like some sort of battery. Pikachu's secondary electric organ would help flow and distribute the energy but had Pikachu not have a strong enough secondary organ to store the electricity, it could have been truly dangerous.
He looked in the sky when he felt it warm up a bit. A massive rainbow spread on the horizon as a giant…something flied throughout the sky. The pokedex in his front pocket flash, annoying the youth as he dragged himself to Viridian City