Contains characters from POKEMON: HUNT FOR THE CHOSEN ONE
Ages:
Laurence, Zach, Ash: 15
John, George, Dawn (Ash's sister in this): 14/ 15
The Pokemon Leagues Unite (Version 2)
Chapter 1
The Letters
"Eh," Ash groaned slipping out of bed"COME ON ASH, GET UP!" Delia yelled.
"I'm up, I'm up!" Ash shouted, he slipped on some clothes and walked downstairs, while putting on his poke belt.
"Morning," Ash said
"Good morning, Ash," Delia said, "Could you fetch the post?" Delia
asked
"Sure, mum," Ash said, walking outside to the Ketchum mail box. He opened it up grabbed the letters and walked inside.
"The Newspaper, Junk, letter for mum, letter for me, J-" Ash halted, "a letter for me?" he asked walking into the kitchen, where he found Laurence in the middle of a conversation with John. Zach was tending to his Magneton, George was listening to Laurence and John's conversation.
"Hey guys," Ash said, sitting down
"Hey," they replied.
"Anything good?" Laurence asked.
"One for everyone and two junk letters" Ash said throwing his mums letter to her and the junk on the table in front of him and everyone's letters to them. Laurence opened his before everyone else, and stared in amazement at what was written, the others had similar reactions.
"Woah... who woulda thought it?" George said, being the first to recover from the shock, music started to play in the background
If I'm young and stupid
At least I'm doing it while
I'm young and stupid
Not when it's out of style
Laurence fished around in his jean pocket, until he found his phone.
"Hello? Yeah, we got them, quite something, isn't it? Hmm, yeah, right now? Okay, cheers, thanks, see ya," Laurence said, he hung up and switched the TV on in the kitchen, "channel seventy four... here we go," Laurence muttered to himself.
"What is it?" Ash asked
"The Pokemon News, something about the uniting," Laurence replied, turning the sound up.
"Ash, is your sister still in bed?" Delia asked, Ash nodded
"I think so," he replied
"Breaking news, and it is very exciting for all you battle fans," one newscaster said.
"Very much so, the four Pokemon leagues are uniting! That's right, UNITING, for the first time ever, Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh's leagues will be combined, we don't know many details about this sudden merge, but as soon as we get them, we'll be sure to let you know."
"We do know that there are a few selected contestants into the uniting, with some challenges and battles being planned, we here the Sinnoh Champion Laurence Roberts has been invited alongside second placed Ash Ketchum, third placed John Miles, fourth placed Zach Hoad, and seventh placed George Galway."
"Lets take a look at some of these trainers in action."
For several minutes it showed various victories of the aforementioned Pokemon trainers, Delia was still in shock that the boys hadn't told her, but she didn't care, they were some of the only trainers invited. The final clip was the last moments of the Sinnoh final, Ash vs Laurence, where Laurence used his Pikachu, Sparks, to defeat Ash's Typhlosion.
"Aah, good times," Ash said, looking at Laurence, and vice versa
"Yeah," Laurence said, nodding and grinning
"So, this new tournament begins in a few weeks, we will try and get an interview with Lance and hopefully with the champion of Sinnoh, Laurence Roberts."
"Great, exactly what I need, the press looking for an interview!" Laurence said, throwing his hands up in the air, in a exasperated manner, a giggle came from the door way
"Morning guys," Dawn said, nervously walking into the room, she sat down next to Laurence, "morning Laurence," she said, even more nervously, Laurence had started to read paper.
"Mornin' Dawn," he said, not looking up, Dawn sighed lightly, Delia noticed her daughters behavior, and smirked
"Morning sis, check this out!" Ash said enthusiastically, giving Dawn his letter. She read it quickly, and was amazed herself, even if she was a coordinator.
"Cool huh?" Ash inquired
"Yeah!" Dawn said, reading it through more thoroughly, "it says you can take guests!" she exclaimed, Laurence raised an eyebrow.
"Guests?" he asked, looking at Dawn, who caught his eye then looked away, blushing, Laurence was oblivious, he picked up his own letter and carefully re-reading it, "hmm... interesting," he murmured, before quickly switching back to the paper. Dawn frowned, and Delia smirked even more, then had an idea
"What time will you have to leave?" she asked, Ash looked at the letter.
"Uhh, it says, there is a boat leaving from Pallet Town tomorrow at eight o'clock in the morning," Ash replied
"So you have today to do something?" she asked, John noticed what she was up to.
He smirked as well
"Yeah, we can do something today," John said, winking at Dawn, she got the idea and blushed.
"Why don't we go shopping in the mall?" George suggested, also catching the idea, Laurence looked up at George, a quizzical look on his face, one eyebrow raised
"Did you actually just say that? George, I thought you hated shopping?" Laurence asked.
"Only food shopping," George replied, Laurence shrugged
"Eh, why not?" he said, "could be fun," he added, "but first," he said, standing up, "I'm gonna check on my Pokemon."
"Can I come with you?" Dawn asked eagerly, it flew right over Laurence's head, but not Delia or John's, they smirked at each other
"Sure," Laurence replied simply, walking out, Dawn frowned again.
No matter what she did, it seemed like Laurence just wouldn't notice her
"You have a really big crush on him, don't you?" John said, smirking
"Yeah... wait no!" she said hurriedly, but it was too late, everyone there knew. Except the one who needed to know the most.
"It's fine Dawn, honestly, if it were anyone, I'd most like it to be him," Delia said smirking, Dawn smiled at her mum
"Thanks, but... I don't know why I like him so much!" Dawn said.
"Maybe it was the Mew, Mewtwo and Mewthree incident?" John suggested, everyone looked at him quizzically, 'oh shit' he thought 'I forgot that they wiped everyone's memory, except mine and Laurence's.'
"The what?" Dawn asked
"Sorry, i-it was just something I dreamed about," John lied, looking away, he didn't want anyone to remember that, Laurence especially wanted to forget about it.
"You better catch him up!" John said, prompting Dawn to leave, she did, in a Dawn-shaped cloud of smoke
"What was that about?" Zach asked.
"Nothing, it was a dream, a really bad dream," John said darkly, looking down at the table
"Hmm... okay," Zach muttered, though he wasn't convinced.
-TPLU-
Laurence was walking slowly, so Dawn had the chance to catch up, he had been hiding his emotions ever since that fateful event, he had nearly lost everything, and that changed him.
"Wait up!" Dawn shouted, Laurence stopped completely, and turned to look at Dawn running up the road, the wind moved his brown bangs slightly, his face, the endless veil of emotionless, stared in the direction of the bluenette. She finally reached Laurence and caught her breath, she held herself up on her knees.
"What are you planning to do?" Dawn asked, as they started walking again
"To check up on my Pokemon, and think about my team for the tournament," Laurence replied simply.
"Is Sparks at Professor Oak's?" Dawn asked, Laurence nodded, Dawn frowned again, could she do anything to get his attention?
"You gonna take anyone with you for the tourny?" Dawn asked, Laurence pondered this for a second.
"Dunno, pretty sure Ash'll take you, so I guess I could bring Misty, or maybe Brock?" Laurence was thoughtful, and seemed distant, so he failed to notice Dawn's facial expression change.
"Who's Misty?" Dawn asked, her heart aching
"Oh, we used to travel together through Kanto and Johto, really strong Gym Leader, been through a lot together, she used to have this massive crush on Ash, but it completely went over his dense head," Laurence explained, reminiscing about the 'good days'. Dawn's hopes rose again, at least it was Ash that Misty had liked, though they were both wrong, and they would find that out soon enough.
They slowly ascended the many stairs up to the door of the Oak Laboratory, Dawn kept glancing at the serious face of her crush, he didn't seem to notice her at all, he rarely acknowledged her anymore, there was a time when they were best friends.
But that changed.
And Dawn had no idea why. Laurence calmly knocked on the big doors at the front of the Oak laboratory
"Who is it?" a voice asked
"It's Laurence and Dawn, you can open up Tracey," Laurence said, rolling his eyes and tapping his right foot impatiently. The flew open, catching Dawn by surprise, and standing there was the smiling Tracey.
"Why do you do that every time?" Laurence asked, Tracey shrugged, which made Laurence roll his eyes, the three went through the building and out into the ranch
"How has Ai Sky been?" Laurence asked, talking about his shiny, yes shiny Rayquaza.
"He's been fine, he's had help settling in from Sparks and Garchomp, even Ash and George's Charizard has helped!" Tracey said, which made Laurence smile, then it was replaced by a quizzical look.
"Ash's Charizard?" he asked, Tracey nodded
"It's a surprise for Ash, he's available for the tournament," Tracey said, grinning, Laurence smiled again. They reached the ranch and stepped out into the cool morning breeze. Laurence whistled.
Dawn braced herself for the rush, before remembering it was only Ash's Pokemon that do that. Though with Ash's Pokemon, generally there isn't a ear bursting roar. Laurence looked up to the large black flying lizard.
"Ai Sky! How you doing buddy?" Laurence shouted
Ai Sky (Great! Charizard has helped LOADS! And Garchomp and Sparks!)
"Where is that ketchup loving beast?" Laurence asked.
Sparks (I heard that!), Laurence chuckled at his companions behavior, the said Pikachu was currently in a tree... with ketchup... you work out the rest
Laurence shook his head.
"Guys, meeting, usual spot!" Laurence shouted, before jogging off towards the woods
"Wait for me!" Dawn shouted, running to catch up, well more keep up, Tracey just watched the duo run off, he shook his head.
"She loves him too much," he muttered, before going back into the lab
When Dawn finally caught up with Laurence he was standing on a rock, with fifty odd Pokemon in front of him, Sparks was on his shoulder, with Ai Sky floating behind him, Laurence noticed Dawn, and motioned for her to stand with him. She tentatively stood by Laurence's side.
"Everyone, while we're waiting for the rest to arrive, we have a guest today, most of you know Dawn," Laurence said, Dawn nervously raised a hand in hello, all the Pokemon there cheered, Laurence smiled at her, and Dawn's heart skipped a beat. Lots more Pokemon started to file in, finally, when it seemed as if all were there, Laurence began.
"As you must've noticed by now, we have a guest with us for the meeting today, some of you know Dawn, we traveled together in Sinnoh," Laurence said, Dawn, yet again, raised a hand in greeting, there was a deafening roar from the many Pokemon. Once everyone had settle down, Laurence started again.
"There has been some... interesting news, the Pokemon Leagues have united," Laurence said, Dawn expected lots of noise, and chatting, but the Pokemon remained silent, "and there is a tournament for the occasion, and I have been invited, along with Ash, John, George and Zach, so there is opportunity for rematches, there is a strong possibility of... Sparks battling John's Blastoise again.
"We are able to take up to eighteen Pokemon to swap throughout the tournament, which is a tough selection with you lot, but we are also able to take fourteen wild card Pokemon, they are hidden from the opposition, as every Pokemon registered is stored on a database, for all trainers, and spectators to look at!" Laurence finished, noise slowly started to build, the latter turned to face Dawn.
"How'd I do?" he asked
"That was impressive, how did you get them to stay silent during gaps in speech?" Dawn asked, Laurence shrugged.
"It's probs because they respect me," he replied simply, he looked thoughtful for a minute, "who should I take?" he muttered, "EVERYONE!" the Pokemon immediately silenced.
"My friends and I are going to the mall today, I will decide on my thirty-two Pokemon, and hold another meeting tonight, you are all dismissed," Laurence said, he started to walk off, with Sparks on his shoulder and Ai Sky flying behind him, Dawn walked beside the trainer. They reached the laboratory and walked in.
"Trace! We're going now!" Laurence shouted, returning Ai Sky to his Poke Ball, "just in case," he added, noticing Dawn's confused look
"See ya later Laurence, you too Dawn!" Tracey shouted from somewhere.
Laurence held the door open for Dawn, then they made there way back to the Ketchum residence, in silence, when they reached the house, the guys were waiting outside
"About time!" John exclaimed.
"Sorry, took a while, they didn't get there as quickly as they should've," Laurence said, smirking
"How we getting into town?" Dawn asked.
"You live here, you should know," John joked, Dawn hit him playfully, the two had become like brother and sister during their travels
"Bus or car, your choice," Laurence said simply, they looked at him quizzically.
"What? Did I stutter? Bus or car, your choice," Laurence said again
"No you didn't, but car? Who's car?" Ash asked
"Mine," Laurence replied.
"Car," everyone said in unison, Laurence rolled his eyes
"Took 'em long enough, ay, Sparks?" Laurence asked his companion, telepathically, Sparks nodded in response.
"Where is it?" George asked
"There," Laurence replied, pointing down the road, it was a seven seater Porsche Cayenne, "I decided to spend some of my tournament earnings," Laurence added.
"I call shotgun!" Dawn shouted, as they walked down to the car, Ash rolled his eyes
"Such a kid," he muttered, Dawn glared at him, which made Pikachu and John laugh, as they were in earshot. They filed into the car, Laurence and Dawn in the front, with Sparks on Dawn's lap, in the middle Ash and John, with Pikachu on Ash's lap, and in the back George and Zach.
"You all set back there?" Laurence asked
"Yeah, we're all good," Ash answered, Laurence started the car and they headed off
"Do you like shopping Laurence?" Dawn asked, Laurence shrugged
"Eh, don't mind really," Laurence replied. Dawn sighed lightly, what had happened to Laurence? The old Laurence, the one that would go on and on about almost anything? The one that would stay up late at night helping Dawn with contest routines? The Laurence that actually seemed to care.
Only John and Laurence knew. And neither would speak about it.
They arrived at the mall around 9 am, Laurence parked the car in the multistory car park.
"Alright everyone, you got money?" Laurence asked, as they exited his Porsche
"I think so, I do," Ash replied, it turned out everyone except Zach had brought money with them.
"You didn't bring any money, to a shopping mall?" Laurence asked
"I don't have any money, my bank card is in my suitcase!" Zach said, Laurence sighed exasperatedly.
"Lets just go now, if you want anything, let me know, but I'll keep tabs!" Laurence said, Zach grinned at him, and they walked off into the mall, which was massive
"Where should we go first?" John asked.
"We don't have to stick together, but we do have to meet up every few hours," Laurence replied.
"If we meet in the center of the building, we all have each others mobile or PokeNav number right?" the others nodded, "if anyone's there in a couple of hours or so, ring everyone else, and we'll meet up," Ash said.
"Sounds good to me-" Laurence cut short, his eyes seemed to glaze over, and go blank, he started to walk off in a random direction, John's eyes widened in shock
"Uhh, I'll see you guys later!" he said hurriedly. The others looked at each other, confusion written on their faces, Dawn and Ash decided to follow, the rest went about their business.
John followed Laurence through the crowds, he seemed to be following an unknown source, he seemed determined to get somewhere, suddenly he stopped and looked to his left, with the blank eyes, he walked into a shop. John followed, and it turned out to be a jewelery shop, Laurence was staring into a glass cabinet, the shop owner looked at him in confusion.
"How much is this?" he asked, his voice seemed to reverberate, it had a evil, sinister feel to it
"I-I don't know which specific item you are talking about," the owner said.
"Oh no, sir! I advise you to get out!" John warned, he got a confused look from the owner
"Why?" the latter asked
"He had an incident with Mew, Mewtwo and Mewthree, and he is about to... lose control of... power... please, for your safety, leave!" John said. The owner obliged, "oh and if you see a girl with blue hair, and a boy with raven hair and a Pikachu stop 'em, please!" John shouted.
The door slammed shut, and John turned to the preoccupied Laurence, who was standing next to the cabinet, his right hand seemed to glow, it had a blue tint to it
"Is it time?" John asked, Laurence nodded slowly. John looked at Laurence, who had turned his head, his eyes had gone from brown to purple.
"What needs to be done?" John asked, Laurence punched straight through the glass, and picked up the item, John looked at him, confused
"I-I... need... D... Dawn..." Laurence said weakly, as if he was fighting a great power.
"Why?" John asked
"I... I... need... a... source... of... joy," Laurence forced out, John understood what he meant, and nodded, as Laurence held the item to his chest, John called Dawn on his PokeNav, her face popped up on the screen.
"Where's Laurence? What's wrong?" she asked hurriedly, John made sure Dawn couldn't see Laurence, but Laurence smiled, but it was wiped from his face, he buckled to one knee.
"Here... we... go!" Laurence forced out, before he let out a gut wrenching scream...
TBC
This is just a test chapter! If you want more of this version, let me know! PLEASE REVIEW!