Welcome to Chapter 1. English translations of Pokémon speak has been provided, enjoy!
Chapter 1: Memories Deep Within Our Heads
6 Months Ago
"Is my Shadow Infuser ready for use, Doctor Krayten?"
"It is ready for testing, Sir, not use. I will not allow this device to be removed from my lab until I am certain you will not inadvertently injure yourself on its use in the wild." Doctor Krayten explained.
"My, looking out for my safety are we, Doctor?" A half sarcastic question was asked.
"Of course, Sir, you pay my wages. It is in my best interests to ensure your safety from an accident, especially the silly and easily avoidable kinds. Now before you give a retort, please follow me into the next room and put on a pair of goggles that hangs on the rack on the back wall."
Krayten picked up the Shadow Infuser device, which resembled a kind of sniper rifle, and walked over to the door to the next room. The door opened automatically, allowing Krayten and the other man to walk through into Doctor Krayten's test firing chamber.
The test firing chamber was a long rectangular shaped room, about 15 metres wide and 60 metres long. The room was divided into two by a solid reinforced steel wall that was about 1 metre in thickness and was about 1 metre high. There were a series of small gaps, large enough for things such as guns, each surrounded by more steel immediately followed above by a large Perspex glass frame that covered the entire width of the room. The final 20 centimetres above the Perspex was more reinforced steel to add stability and strength to the whole structure.
"Live targets?" Krayten was asked by the man.
"Of course, Sir." Krayten nodded.
As Krayten set his weapon up, the other man did as Krayten had instructed; he placed a protective pair of goggles over his eyes. He stood behind Krayten, impatiently waiting for the Doctor to finish.
"So, Doctor, I'm assuming all I have to do is...aim and pull the trigger?"
"More or less, Sir. Be mindful of the light, though, it can be quite bright, despite the fact it is actually called dark energy that is being used and also the dark energy release after firing isn't safe on contact with eyes, hence the goggles. It'll leave a burning sensation and without treatment you will want to claw them out." Krayten explained.
"Interesting, you will have to tell me more when I am done, Doctor Krayten."
"I will be only too happy to oblige, Sir. Knowledge is power, as they say, and the more knowledge you have of this weapon and all its little foibles will mean the better prepared you will be once it is ready for use in the field."
"Excellent, I am ready Doctor, release the first target!"
As Doctor Krayten moved over to a control panel, he pressed a small red circular button. Part of the wall at the far end of the chamber retracted to reveal a Caterpie and a Butterfree.
"I do so love live target practice." The man stated as he aimed at the Caterpie and fired.
"So tell me Doctor, what happened to the Magikarp I gave you to experiment on?"
"I'm afraid that it has...passed its usefulness now, Sir."
Doctor Krayten and his employer were back in the main lab after a lengthy testing session with the Shadow Infuser. The weapon now lay on a table while Doctor Krayten was running tests and examining on its performance.
"So what did you do with it?"
"Opened it up and removed its heart. I had the rest of its carcass incinerated." Doctor Krayten glanced at the other man to gauge his response.
"I see, I suppose I should feel sad, but really I don't. I never liked it. Most useless Pokémon ever in the Kanto region. Experiments like this are only what good they are for."
"But surely the prospect of a monstrous powerhouse that is Gyrados makes it worthwhile?" Krayten was a tad surprised that other man dismissed the fate of his Magikarp with such disdain.
"Normally I would agree, but that thing would have been worthless as a Gyrados too, hell I had had it for five years and it still hadn't learnt Tackle. No, Doctor Krayten, I have no regrets about Magikarp dying; it finally did something right and served me as a Pokémon should do...Still, why did you take its heart out?"
"I wanted to see the effects that the dark energy had had on it. I've dissected the heart and found some strange mutations - the heart had the signs of being ripped apart and then re-formed to a new internal structure design to pump the dark energy around the body in the bloodstream." Krayten explained, using hand gestures to emphasise his point.
"Most intriguing, please, tell me more."
"Very well, Sir..."
Present Day
'So, here I am again; Hearthome City. It doesn't look like it has changed very much in the years that have passed since I was last here...here with Brock and...her.'
Ash Ketchum, Pokémon trainer, stood outside the city remembering times that had been long confined to the annuls of history in his memory, even though those memories would be partially sketchy at best. One particular memory remained in full though: his old travelling companion from this part of the world, Dawn Berlitz.
"Pika-pi?" *What's wrong?*
Ash looked at Pikachu who was balancing on Ash's left shoulder with a querying look on his face.
"Just thinking of the past old buddy."
"Pikaaa. Pikachu-pi pi pika!" *Riiiight. You're think about Dawn!*
The knowing look on Pikachu's face was more than enough for Ash to know what Pikachu had said to him. Ash hated it when Pikachu was right and Ash knew it and could even see it.
"Fine, yes I was thinking about Dawn alright?" Ash sighed. "I haven't spoken to her in quite a few years and...well, I guess I'm a bit apprehensive about how she'll react to me just suddenly appearing again."
"Pika! Pik-achu pika chuuu." *Come on! She'll be glad to see you again.*
"Well, her contest is tomorrow so I guess I should go and buy a ticket before they all go." Ash smiled. "It's starting to feel like old times again. You and me watching Dawn's contest and cheering her on...except Brock isn't here with us. Plus there is the small matter of my Gym battle as well."
"Chuuuu!" *I'm ready!*
Taking a deep breath, Ash steeled himself and walked forward, entering Hearthome City once again.
Dawn Berlitz, Pokémon Co-ordinator, leisurely walked through Heathome City's market place, browsing the many stalls for interesting items that would hopefully help her gain a few extra points for her next co-ordination challenge. Her faithful friend, Piplup, was busy dancing from Dawn's left shoulder to her right shoulder and back again, quickly eyeing up everything for sale hoping to find something he liked. Dawn smiled at Piplup's eagerness to find something good.
"Piplup!" *Look at this!* Piplup was on Dawn's left shoulder and pointed at the stall next to them.
Dawn stopped and looked at the stall. Nothing immediately grabbed her attention as she scanned the contents until...
"Hey! Is that...?"
It was a picture. Dawn picked it up and looked closer at it. Piplup looked at the picture too.
"Hello there miss, I see you've taken an interest in the picture there." A male voice said.
Dawn jumped, not expecting a voice.
"Oh dear, my apologies miss, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm the owner of this stall." The man apologised.
"It's alright. Actually can you tell me about this picture?" Dawn asked as she handed it over.
"Of course! That is a picture of the top sixteen trainers who competed at the Indigo Pokémon League six and a half years ago. They were a mixture of experienced hands and some very talented and promising youngsters who were there for the very first time." He explained.
"I think I recognise one of them..." Dawn pointed at a boy at the end of the front row. "It has to be! That has to be Ash! He competed at the Indigo Pokémon League in Kanto back then and I'm certain I remember him telling me he finished in the top sixteen."
"Oh! Yes that is Ash Ketchum. Are you a fan of his?" The stall owner asked.
"Huh? What? Oh no! No, no, no! I mean, yes, but.." Dawn stammered, she could feel here face flushing a bit.
'It's almost as bad as being with Lyra all over again. Just keep calm.'
"We travelled together some years ago when he wanted to compete here in the Sinnoh League...we haven't spoken for..." Dawn trailed off and sighed.
"I see, would you be interested in buying this picture then, especially since you know one of them and I presume is a friend of yours?" The stall owner decided not to question why this customer had trailed off her story, as that wouldn't get him a sale even though it would have been interesting to hear the rest of it.
"Erm..."
"Piplup! Pip lup-pip pip!" *Buy it Dawn! It would be nice to have a picture of him!* Piplup gestured at the picture almost pleading with Dawn to buy it.
"Well...I dunno. I suppose I could...okay. How much is it?"
"Twenty dollars, miss."
Dawn fumbled about for her purse and pulled out the money, handing it over a little reluctantly. The man graciously accepted the money, bagged up the picture and handed it over to Dawn.
"Thank you very much, miss! Please stop by again soon." He smiled at her.
Piplup waved farewell at the man, pleased Dawn had bought the picture.
"Thanks." Dawn walked off to the man saying 'goodbye' to her. She held the packaged picture in both her hands, looking at it and sighing heavily.
'I was supposed to have grown up and got over not having been able to go on adventuring with Ash. I thought I had but now I find myself longing for adventure with him and Pikachu again. Maybe I should call him and see what he is up to...'
Piplup gently patted Dawn on the back of the head as they headed towards the Pokémon Centre.
'I don't know if I can actually do this. It has been so long and it doesn't feel...right.' Dawn thought as her index finger hovered over dialling pad on the video phone at the Pokémon Centre.
"Piplup?!" *What are you waiting for?!*
Dawn frowned as she turned her head to look at her Pokémon. She knew Piplup was indicating for her to get it over with, but it still didn't feel like it was the right time and that bothered Dawn. It's not that she didn't want to see Ash again, far from it, but she knew there is a time and a place for everything and she had serious doubts about this being the right time, not necessarily the place, to contact him again.
"It doesn't feel right Piplup. I don't think this is the time to break the silence that fell over us."
"Piplup pip-lup!" *Don't give me that just contact him!*
Another deep sigh escaped from Dawn. "Fine, but I'm holding you responsible if anything bad happens." Dawn pointed at Piplup accusingly.
Dawn dialled Ash's number and waited...and waited, the phone ringing.
"Come on Ash, pick up." Dawn whispered as there was still no answer.
While the phone was ringing, Dawn realised that she hadn't actually thought about what to say if he DID pick up. What do you say to someone that you haven't spoken to for years? Hello? Sorry I haven't been bothered to call you? I got fed up of waiting for you to phone me so now I'm phoning you? I'm disappointed in you, I thought you liked me?
All these openers crossed her mind, and still the phone was ringing. Dawn snapped out of her little world to realise this.
"He's not answering." She sighed as she ended the call.
Dawn wasn't surprised and she felt some disappointment over it as well as a twinge of relief which in turn did start to make her feel guilty about being relieved that Ash didn't answer.
"Piplup." *I'm sorry Dawn*
Piplup patted his trainer on the head gently.
Dawn wasn't going to let this get to her though, after all she does have a contest to prepare for. She and Ash haven't spoken for a long time and she was certain the pair of them could go a little longer without speaking.
"Come on Piplup, let's go and make sure everything is ready for tomorrow." Dawn said as she turned and walked out of the Pokémon Centre.
Nurse Joy watched Dawn leave and frowned. She had been watching Dawn ever since Dawn had stood in front of the video phone for quite a few minutes without doing anything.
"I never knew that Dawn could be so strange." Joy said quietly as she pondered why Dawn had stood at the video phone for so long.
To be Continued...
AN: I read somewhere that someone had said that Pikachu had his own phrases for saying "Ash" and "Dawn". "Pikachu-pi" was one of them and I can't remember the other one, nor can I find or remember where I read it.
If anyone knows can you please let me know? Also if "Pikachu-pi" is Pikachu saying "Dawn", which I think it is. Feel free to correct me if it isn't.