3Yo! It's me, Zeo! I'm here with the third and final chapter of the triple update! I kinda want to just put out the next chapter too since any past readers already know the next chapter's story, but I need to pace myself and that means writing ahead, not just spilling everything at once. I've learned that in my time away.
But with aaaaaaaaall that out of the way, I present to you...
Master Quest: Kanto Saga!
Chapter 3:
"The Road To Viridian City!"
Ash and the group were making their way through Route One, and thus far, it had been a pretty uneventful trip. Save the conversations they had, Route One had been fairly boring. No Pokemon had encountered them, they hadn't bumped into any other Trainers, it was just a plain old walk down Route One.
Needless to say, they had expected a bit more excitement when they became Trainers.
"My legs are kinda tired," Bianca groaned suddenly, stopping, "Can we take a break now?" Ash yawned, plopping down in the grass.
"I'm down for a break! How 'bout you, Cheren?" The aforementioned boy sat down crisscross apple sauce style in the grass as well, although he didn't look too pleased about it.
"Well, since you two seem to already be breaking," He replied, "I don't have much of a choice." Ash chuckled, laying down in the grass. Bianca plopped down beside him.
"So Bianca," Ash questioned as the girl sat down, "Have you thought about what you're goal's gonna be?" Before she could answer, Cheren piped in.
"You're telling me you went on a Journey without any goals in mind?" He asked in what sounded like disbelief. The blonde scratched the back of her head sheepishly.
"Since you and Cheren were leaving, I kinda just went along with you two so I wouldn't get left behind," She admitted, and Cheren shook his head in disapproval.
"Reckless as always," The boy sighed, and Bianca stuck her tongue out at the glasses wearing boy.
"You're just too uptight!" She shot back, and Ash laughed at Cheren's surprised expression. he hadn't expected her to have a decent comeback.
"Whatever," He mumbled, adjusting his glasses. He wasn't uptight, he just acted how young adults were supposed to. It wasn't his fault she acted like a toddler. Before he could voice that thought, the sound of fluttering wings drew everyone's attention.
A bird-like Pokemon landed a few feet away from them, with brown feathers covering most of it's body, with the exception of it's cream colored face and underbelly. Black, angular markings covered it's eyes, and the Pokemon had cream colored feathers on the tips of it's wings.
"It's a Pidgey," Ash noted, taking out his Pokedex to scan it.
"Pidgey, the Tiny Bird Pokemon. Among all the Flying Pokemon, it is the gentlest and easiest to capture, making it a perfect target for the beginning Pokemon Trainer to test their Pokemon's skills. Pidgey's Gust power can create tornadoes, and it can use Sand-Attack to flee from battle."
"It's a Normal and Flying Type, too," Ash noted, closing his Pokedex and smirking. "I'm gonna catch it!" Cheren adjusted his glasses as Ash rose to his feet.
"Normally I'd try to capture it," Cheren sighed, "But it's your birthday, so you can have this one." Bianca nodded, enthusiastically as always.
"Yeah! Pidgey's cute, but it's not my style. Go for it Ash!" Ash turned his hat backwards, something he always did for good luck. This would be his first attempt at catching a Pokemon, the next step towards achieving his goal.
"Pidgey," Ash announced loudly, drawing the flying type's attention, "I challenge you to a battle!" Pidgey stared at Ash like he grew a second head. Battle? With some random human? As if it would waste it's time on some lowly weak creature like that.
"Pidgey!" Pidgey huffed, turning it's head away from the group. Ash face faulted. Rejected by a wild Pokemon?
"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Ash shouted, marching over to the tiny bird Pokemon. "I challenge you to a battle!" He repeated. Pidgey turned to Ash with a glare. This human had some nerve talking to Pidgey like that. Who did he think he was? He was just some lowly, cowardly Human that had to bark orders at Pokemon to do the fighting for him. Pidgey had no reason to acknowledge his challenge, let alone accept it.
"Pidgeee!" Pidgey used Gust to send Ash tumbling away before turning around this time. Ash coughed as he was assisted by Cheren and Bianca.
"Ugh...thanks guys," Ash groaned as they lifted him back onto his feet.
"No problem," Cheren replied, looking back at Pidgey, "Although I do now have to question the validity of these Pokedexes now. They said Pidgey was easy to capture, but it's being quite difficult with Ash at the moment." Ash rubbed his back a bit before smirking.
"Maybe most Pidgey are easy to catch," Ash started walking towards it again, "But this one's different. It's a fighter, and I like fighters." He walked up to Pidgey again, and again, Pidgey ignored it. "Pidgey, I challenge you to a battle!" Pidgey ignored him entirely this time, and Ash growled, taking out Charmander's Pokeball. "I'll show you not to ignore me! Charmander, come out and use Ember!" Charmander emerged in a beam of light, firing a barrage of fiery pellets at the Tiny Bird Pokemon. Pidgey sighed. Was this human stupid enough to think it would sit there and let itself be hit?
Pidgey flew into the air, easily evading all of Charmander's attempt to hit it with Ember. Charmander taunted Ash by doing tricks in the air as it dodged, flying on it's back, and generally being a jerk. Charmander growled in frustration. Why was Pidgey so easily dodging all of it's attacks? Was Ember that slow?
Meanwhile, Pidgey was starting to grow bored of this human. It had been fun for a little bit, but now all of the human's angry shouting was becoming annoying. It quickly dodged another Ember, but this time, instead of slowly fading as it shot through the air after missing their target, the Embers struck a tree, lighting it on fire.
"Ohcrapohcrap!" Ash panicked as the fire began to grow, "Cheren, you gotta put that fire out fast!" Cheren wasted no time in calling out Squirtle.
"Squirtle, use Bubble to put out that fire!" Squirtle nodded breathing in as much as it could to try and create as many Bubbles as possible , before finally blowing out a huge stream of Bubbles at the tree. After a few more shots, the bubbles managed to put the fire out, but there was hardly a tree left to burn. The tree had lost all of it's leaves, most of of it's branches, and looked more like a tree in fall than a tree in spring.
"I hope no pokemon were in that tree," Bianca said with concern, causing Ash to frown. If it weren't for that Pidgey...
That's when Ash realized.
"That Pidgey's gone!" The others looked around as if to confirm his sudden realization, and it was indeed true. The Pidgey Ash had been after was nowhere to be seen.
"It must have snuck away while we were putting out that fire," Cheren concluded, adjusting his glasses. "That Pidgey was one slick bird." Ash's head drooped. He'd really wanted to catch that Pidgey, or at least teach it a lesson. Seeing Ash's bummed expression, Cheren added, "Pidgey's a very common Pokemon on the Routes surrounding Pallet Town. There's a high probability we'll see a more friendly Pidgey next time around." Ash reluctantly nodded as the group began walking again.
He wanted that Pidgey.
Meanwhile, Pidgey watched the group from afar. It had hid once the fire started so it could see how the humans run away and laugh at how cowardly they were. But surprisingly, they were competent enough to actually put the fire out. Pidgey decided to follow them from afar, taking to the skies once they were far enough away not to notice it. It would keep an eye on these humans, it decided. They were interesting.
The group had been travelling for about twenty minutes when Cheren's predictions from their earlier encounter with that Pidgey came true. Well, not quite. As the group walked, they spotted another bird Pokemon in their path, though this one was not a Pidgey like last time. Instead, it was a small bird Pokemon, with It rough, brown plumage on its head with a short, hooked beak. It's belly was beige with two thin stripes, and it's wings where pinish red with light pink tips. It's pink talons were digging into the ground, and it was pecking furiously at the earth with is's black colored beak. Ash quickly whipped out his Pokedex for the second time that day.
"Spearow, the angry bird Pokemon. Unlike Pidgey, Spearow has a terrible attitude. It is very wild and will sometimes attack other Pokémon and humans."
"I think you jinxed us when you said 'plenty of friendly Pidgey," Ash dead panned, and Cheren crossed his arms.
"Jinxing is just another example of superstition," He huffed, "This is simply a matter of irony." Bianca giggled.
"You said supatisin again!" She cheered, and Cheren scowled.
"It's superstition!" He corrected, before adjusting his glasses. "Anyway, since you got, well, tried to get that Pidgey last time, i'll take this opportunity to capture Spearow." Cheren stepped forward, and Ash put his hands behind his head.
"Go for it," Ash stepped back, giving Cheren room to battle as the latter pulled out Squirtle's Pokeball.
"Alright Squirtle, on guard!" Squirtlew appeared, calm as usual, on the battlefield. Again, Ash and Bianca couldn't help but notice how similar the two acted. It was like the two were made for each other. "Spearow," Cheren's calm but strong voice rang through the area, "I challenge you!" The Spearow looked up from it's pecking to examine the human that was challenging it. The human didn't look too shabby, but it would need to test him before it let itself be captured.
"Spear," Spearow seemed to accept the challenge as it flew over to the area where the group was, and Ash fell over in disbelief.
"Are you kidding me!?" He exclaimed, "I get a mean Pidgey, but he gets a nice Spearow?" Cheren smirked.
"Tough luck for you, huh Ash? Losing to me and getting a mean Pokemon on your first try," He teased, and the spiky haired boy stuck his tongue out at him childishly. Bianca giggled at their interactions. Those two acted like brothers, one minute cool and the next teasing each other. Turning his attention back to Spearow, Cheren returned to his serious mode. "Are you ready Squirtle?" Squirtle nodded. It was going to keep up it's winning streak right now by going 2-0.
"Squirtle, use Leer!" Squirtle's eyes took on a soft glow, and Spearow shuddered as it felt it's defenses drop. Ash's eyes widened as he realized quick what Cheren was planning.
"He's gonna do the same thing he did to me!" He exclaimed, and Bianca turned to him curiously.
"What are you talking about?" Ash, without looking away from the battle, proceeded to explain.
"Well, Leer's a move that lowers defense," He began as Spearow shot at Squirtle with peck, only for Squirtle to dodge easily, nailing it with a bubble. "So he uses Leer every chance he gets, and uses Bubble to get you to forget that Squirtle has Pound. Then once you're tired and your defenses are low, Squirtle can use Pound and end the battle." He finished, just as Spearow use Gust to blow a flurry of Bubbles black at Squirtle, who held it's eyes in pain for a moment.
"Oh," Bianca muttered, turning back to the battle as well, "Cheren's really smart." Ash nodded, a smirk on his face.
"Totally."
Cheren grimaced as Squirtle was blown off it's feet by another Gust. This Spearow wasn't holding back one bit. if he wasn't careful, he'd end up losing the battle. "Squirtle, Leer!" Squirtle began focusing on Spearow, eyes glowing, but before it could establish a strong connection Spearow interrupted with a Peck to it's belly, sending the turtle Pokemon tumbling backwards. Squirtle landed on it's back, and much to Cheren's dismay, was stuck.
"Oh no..." Cheren groaned as Squirtle flailed it's limbs in an attempt to flip itself over, but the struggle was in vain, as Squirtle's shell had made it too high in the air to stand back up,it's legs unable to pull hard enough to bring Squirtle down. Spearow took this opportunity to fly upwards, it's beak slowly taking on a white glow as it did so.
"If that hits, Squirtle's done for," Cheren mumbled, pushing up his glasses just as Spearow began shooting down downward. "Squirtle, Bubble the ground to push yourself up!" Squirtle nodded, turning it's neck as much as it could and firing a stream of bubbles at the ground. Just as Spearow was about to collide with it, Squirtle managed to flip sideways, causing the Spearow to bury itself beak first into the dirt. Squirtle fully turned itself over, before regaining its stance. Cheren smirked. He'd won this one.
"Squirtle, Leer, once more." Squirtle's eyes glowed, and Spearow felt it's defenses plummet again. This human was more than good enough for it...
"Now, Pound!" Squirtle reared it's arm back, allowing it's fist to be coated in glowing white light, before swing right at Spearow's unprotected gut. The angry bird Pokemon crashed to the ground, and Cheren unclipped one of the vacant Pokeballs from his belt. "Pokeball, go!" He said as he threw it, watching with baited breath as it connected, sucking the Spearow inside with a beam of red light. The Pokeball wiggled for a few seconds before finally clicking shut, signalling that Spearow was caught.
"Target acquired," Cheren adjusted his glasses again as Squirtle brought him the Pokeball. Squirtle smiled with pride. It had won again, just like it planned on. "Thank you, you did an excellent job. Have a nice rest," Cheren smiled, rubbing Squirtle's head before returning the turtle Pokemon to it's Pokeball to recover. Ash and Cheren ran over to him.
"Great job, Cheren!" Bianca congratulated, "You looked super cool!"
"Yeah, good job man!" Ash added, although he didn't sound as enthusiastic. Truth be told, he kept thinking back to that Pidgey from earlier. "I just wished that Pidgey had been as nice." Pidgey, who had been watching from afar, was surprised at this. That human still wanted it, after all it did to him? Well, he was stubborn, it gave him that. Deciding it wanted to toy with Ash and the others more, Pidgey flew out, cawing loudly to garner the group's attention.
Predictably, it got the exact reaction it wanted.
"It's back!" Ash exclaimed with a grin, and Cheren smirked.
"Maybe your birthday luck's finally kicking in," Cheren proposed, and Bianca gasped.
"I thought you didn't believe in souperision!" She exclaimed, and Cheren's eyebrow twitched.
"For the last time, it's superstition!" He seethed, before adjusting his glasses. "And I don't, that comment was intended to be humorous, not to be representative of my actual thoughts and views." Bianca tilted her head to the side, clearly not getting a word he just said.
"Kay," She replied simply, and Cheren felt the urge to bang his head on a wall. She was impossible.
Meanwhile, Ash was standing face to face with Pidgey, this time determined to catch it. it wouldn't get away again, if he had anything to say about it. Pulling out Charmander's Pokeball, Ash pointed at Pidgey. "I challenge you, Pidgey!" He shouted, and Pidgey rolled it's eyes. Again with this battle nonsense? Pidgey wasn't going to get it's feathers dirty fighting some lowly human trained Pokemon and it's even more lowly coward human of a Trainer. Humans weren't worthy of that privilege.
Pidgey huffed, turning away from him again, and Ash scowled. "If you weren't gonna battle me, why'd you show up again?" He asked angrily, and the tiny bird Pokemon just shrugged. It thought annoying these humans was fun, is all. And they were a little bit interesting. Ash's scowl deepened. "Well if that's how you're gonna be, then I'll force you to fight back! Charmander, i choose you!" Without hesitation Ash tossed out Charmander, the orange lizard Pokemon landing on it's feet and frowning much like Ash was. That Pidgey had played around with them long enough!
Pidgey just rolled it's eyes again, though it did find it amusing how easily riled up the two got. That was always entertaining to watch.
"Charmander, Scratch!" Charmander ran at Pidgey as fast as it's legs could carry it, hands glowing with energy. Pidgey flew into the air just in time to avoid the swing, before landing on the ground a few feet away. Ash was about to command Charmander to use Ember again, when he rememberd what happened last time. He didn't want to burn any more trees, especially when there was the possibility of Pokemon being in them. He'd have to rely on Charmander's speed to hit Scratch, or use Ember once he was sure Pidgey couldn't dodge it.
"Use Scratch again!" Pidgey merely flew out the way again, flying circles around Charmander as if to pour salt into the wound, before landing behind it. Pidgey just laughed at Charmander's enraged expression. Toying with these Humans and their stupid, Human trained Pokemon was just too easy. Seeing that this was getting nowhere, Cheren spoke up.
"Perhaps I could lend you Spearow," He suggested, "Since Pidgey's flying abilities give it the edge when dodging your attacks, and Charmander can't fly up there to reach it, maybe the answer to that is another flying type." Ash looked as if he was considering it for a moment, before shaking his head.
"No thanks," He denied, "It's a great idea and all, but this is my first catch! I'm gonna do this all by myself, so you just watch me!" Cheren sighed, shaking his head.
"Stubborn," He muttered as Ash returned his focus to Pidgey.
"Okay Charmander, time to take it up a notch! Use Scratch, one more time!" Ash shouted, and Charmander smacked it's tail against the ground before shooting towards Pidgey at an alarmingly fast speed for the flying type. Pidgey narrowly flew to the side of the forward charge, before flying up to avoid the follow up swing. Pidgey looked down at the duo in disbelief. Had that stupid Human and his Pokemon got faster? Pidgey shook it's head. No, that must've been a fluke. No Human trained Pokemon could ever reach it's level.
"Charmander, jump up and Scratch again!" Charmander jumped as high as it could, hand glowing with light as it swung, again narrowly missing Pidgey, who managed to propel itself out the way of the swing just in time. Charmander jumped again, and again came up just short,l but it was getting closer each try. Charmander smirked. It was going to get fast enough soon. It could feel itself getting faster and stronger by the moment. It could catch that Pidgey if this kept up!
Pidgey, on the other hand, was absolutely furious. How? How was this human and hist weak Pokemon able to keep getting stronger? How was Charmander able to even get close to reaching it's level of speed? This wasn't happening! It wasn't going to allow this to happen!
Pidgey dodged another swing, and another, and another, before finally flying to the side to avoid a powerful swing from the fire type, however, Charmander's momentum caused it to keep flying down until it collided with a small figure who happened to be resting in the tree. Ash Charmander landed flat on it's behind. The figured cawed loudly, drawing everyone's, even Pidgey's, attention. The figure flew from out of the Tree and revealed itself to be a Spearow, a large bump on it's head showing where Charmander hit it. The Spearow had tears in it's eyes, and looked very upset with the group.
Ash sweat dropped. He'd messed something up dealing with Pidgey for the second time that day. "Uh...sorry?" He apologized meekly, and the Spearow didn't even bother replying. It just cawed even louder than it had the first time, and suddenly, a bunch of distant caws answered back. Ash and the others gulped. This couldn't be good. Pidgey took this time to hide while everyone was distracted. It had no desire to fight any Spearow, especially after that close encounter with Charmander.
"We need to get moving, now!" Cheren exclaimed, and nobody argued with him. The trio all mad a mad dash in the opposite direction of the oncoming Spearow, not even sure what direction they were heading. That compass sure would've came in handy, but he was a bit too busy running for his life to stop and check inside his backpack to see if his mom packed it. The trio kept running ahead until the Spearow, being faster naturally, started catching up. Charmander, who was the fatherst behind Cheren, was the first to feel it firsthand.
A Spearow pecked Charmander right in the leg, causing the fire lizards to trip up and fall, before quickly being surrounded. "Char!" It screamed as it started being pecked all over, and the group stopped to see what was up. Ash quickly whipped out Charmander's Pokeball once he figured out what was happening.
"Charmander, return!" He shouted, but it wouldn't work. The beam couldn't reach Charmander's body due to all the Spearow blocking the way. Ash grimaced. That meant there was only one way to do this. "Here I come Charmander!" Ash called out as he ran head first at the Spearow, much to Ash and Bianca's disbelief.
"Ash!" The duo cried as Ash dived through the Spearow surrounding Charmander, ignoring the pain of all the Pecks he received while reach Charmander. Picking the fire lizard up, Ash burst through the flock again, holding Charmander's unconscious body as he started running again, followed by Cheren, Bianca, and the horde of Spearow.
"These Spearow just don't quit!" Cheren commented as they continued running, "You alright Ash?" Ash nodded, still wincing in pain.
"Yeah, I'll be fine, and you're right," Ash sighed, "They don't quit at all." As the group kept running, they were forced to stop once they reached a dead end. Cheren cursed under his breath. Of all the times to hit a dead end...
"Crap!" He shouted, "What now?" Bianca peered over the side of the cliff, and saw the large body of water down below.
"I say we jump into the water!" She suggested, and Cheren's eyes widened.
"Are you crazy!? From this altitude, the force of impact we'd feel from hitting the water could break our bones, or even kill us!" Ash turned to look at the Spearow flock. They didn't have much longer to decide.
"Well if we stay up here much longer we'll definitely die, so I'm jumping!" Returning Charmander, Ash turned his cap backwards, gulping. Cheren turned to Ash, the same bewildered expression on his face.
"What is wrong with you two!?" He questioned, but without another word, Ash walked to the edge.
"Giranomo!" Ash shouted, jumping off just like that. Bianca stepped up next.
"Well, I guess it's time I learned how to swim! Weeeee!" Cheren paled as Bianca dived off too. She didn't know how swim, and she dived into a river from a freaking cliff? Had they both lost their minds? Cheren's thoughts were cut off by a loud cry, and Cheren turned to see the Spearow weere near inches away.
"Well if I'm gonna die," He muttered, running to the cliff, "Might as well make it quick!" And Cheren jumped off as well, straight down into the river below, certain they were all going to die.
It had been a pretty mundane day for Misty Waterflower thus far. The redish orange haired girl had been fishing at the River for about three hours, and in that time, she'd managed to catch...absolutely nothing. Sure, she'd fished up into plenty of Magikarp, but not only were they completely useless in battle, but they evolved into Gyrados.
And Misty hated Gyrados.
Almost as much as she hated Carrots.
And Bugs.
And stupid boys.
So, in short, it hadn't been a very exciting day thus far for the girl dressed in a yellow tank top, suspenders, and sneakers who was fishing by the lake on a warm spring afternoon.
But that was soon to change.
Just as she was considering calling it a day, a sudden tug on her line seemed to bring the girl to life. Jumping to her feet, Misty began trying teel the fish in.
"This is a big one!" She noted, pulling even harder as she struggled to yank whatever it was out the water. Just how big was this fish!? Well, at least she knew it wasn't another Magikarp...
...Wait.
What if if was a Gyrados!? What if one of the Magikarp she tossed back earlier had evolved underwater and was coming back to get it's vengeance? What if it tried to eat her? What if-
Misty, having gotten so lost in her train of thought, hadn't noticed she was still reeling whatever fish it was in until she heard the sound of something breaking the surface. Turning, very slowly, to what she reeled in, she shrieked when what she reeled in wasn't even a Gyrados...but some dead kids! Dropping them on the surface, Misty hesitantly approached them. Two black haired boy, and one blonde girl were laying on the ground.
If they're dead, I run. If they aren't dead, I'll try and help, She mentally decided, shaking the nearest one, the spiky black haired one. "Hey, are you...uh...alive?" She questioned awkwardly, and after a few minutes, Ash slowly began to regain consciousness, coughing up a bit of water, thankfully not at Misty, or he might've went back to sleep for a bit longer.
"Ugh...Cheren was right about that whole water impact thing...I'm hurting everywhere..." Ash groaned, rubbing his eyes, before finally realizing she was there. "Who're you?" Misty blinked, staring at the boy who'd just been fished out the river curiously, before shaking her head.
"Misty! Misty Waterflower! And you are?" Ash sat up completely, finally seeming to get back to his senses.
"Ash Ketchum." The boy looked around, before raising a brow. "How did I get here?" Misty pointed to her Fishing Rod with a giggle.
"I kinda fished you out of the ocean," She explained, and Ash sweat dropped.
"Really? Sorry. You see, me and my friends were..." Ash's eyes widened. "My friends! Did you see them anywhere?" Misty nodded, pointing behind him. Ash quickly turned around, and saw both Cheren and Bianca, albeit unconscious, lying down too. Ash reached up, and felt his hat, still soaked, but nearly stuck to his head. "If you fished me out the river, how'd my hat stay on?" He wondered aloud. Misty shrugged. Now that she thought about it, how had his hat stayed on?
"Maybe you just got really lucky?" She suggested Ash nodded.
"Maybe." Deciding to wake up his friends, Ash started with Bianca. "Hey Bianca, wake up, we lived!" He called out to the blonde, who slowly woke up in a similar manner to Ash.
"Is dinner ready yet, Momma?" She asked groggily, "I wanna have blueberry ice cream!" Ash and Misty sweat dropped. Even when she wasn't fully awake, she was a bit strange.
"Uh, Bianca?" Ash called awkwardly, and finally the blonde snapped out of her dream.
"Huh? Ash? Where am I? Are we dead? OH MY GOSH, IS THIS HEA-" Ash cut her off.
"No!" He exclaimed, "We lived! Calm down." Bianca scratched the back of her head sheepishly, before noticing Misty there.
"Hiiii!" She greeted, "I'm Bianca!" Misty blinked, realizing the weird girl was addressing her.
"Uh...I'm Misty." She replied slowly, as if still not sure what to say to her. Ash woke up Cheren next, who, much like Ash, realized what happened the moment he opened his eyes.
"How in Arceus's name did we live that fall?" Cheren questioned, and Ash shrugged.
"Birthday luck?" He suggested, chuckling. Misty's eyes widened.
"Oh! That reminds me! I forgot to ask, but Ash, how did you three wind up in the river?" Ash opened his mouth to answer, but a loud cawing sound drew everyone's attention to the cliff Ash and his friends had jumped off of. Coming down said cliff were the same Spearow that had been casing Ash, as relentless and angry as ever.
"That's how!" Ash replied frantically, getting to his feet and starting to run. Before he got too far, something caught his eye though. A Bike, lying against a tree. It must've been Misty's. "Can I borrow this?" Misty blinked, before turning to the Spearow Flock. She could see why he needed it more than her right now.
"Sure," She agreed, "Just make sure you return it in one piece!" Ash have the read head a thumbs up.
"Got'cha! Thanks Misty! I owe ya one!" Ash then blinked, realizing that Cheren and Bianca also had to get away. Turning back to the duo, Ash sweat dropped. "Which one of us are gonna take it?" Cheren adjusted his glasses.
"Based off the size of that seat, although it goes against every bike safety book I've ever read, two people could fit on there. So the question is, who has to here with Misty," He explained, and then smirked. "I can do that. You and Bianca can go." Ash frowned.
"But I can't just-" Ash's argument was cut short by the shrieking cry of the Spearow. They were getting closer.
"Ash, now isn't the time to argue. You and Bianca need to go! Now!" Ash solemnly nodded. getting on the bike, followed by Bianca. "Good luck." Bianca winked, giving Cheren a thumbs up.
"We got this!" Cheren watched as the two rode off.
"I sure hope you do." Another shriek from the Spearow brought Cheren back into reality.
"We better get to hiding, before they attack us!" Misty suggested, and Cheren nodded.
"Right." The two disappeared into the foliage right as the Spearow flock flew overhead, still going after Ash and now Bianca. Cheren prayed that they'd manage to escape them somehow.
Pidgey meanwhile, continued to follow Ash from afar. Seeing him try to escape the Spearow was pretty entertaining.
Ash was pedaling away like it was professional race as he and Bianca sped down Route One's path. At least, he thought it was Route One. At this point, he wasn't quite sure where they where, and he really didn't care. They just needed to outrun these insanely determined Spearow. Directions could come after that.
"Speeeeeaarooooow!"
Another loud shriek, and Ash turned around to see how close they were, and they were a bit too close for comfort.
"Ash! Turn around!" Bianca cried, but it was too little too late. Ash turned around just in time to see they were approaching a small cliff, and before he could stop, the duo rode clean off the top, flying through the air and off of the bike, before crashing to the ground. The Bike crashed and skidded across the ground, while the two children were laying out across the ground. Ash groaned as he sat up.
"Another crash like that, and i don't think i'll make it," He sighed, rubbing his sore back. Bianca dizzily sat up as well, though she was a it disoriented.
"Ash, that's tree's made of swirlies!" She gushed, pointing at a perfectly normal tree with a dazed look in her eyes. Ash sweat dropped. Now wasn't the time for this!
"Bianca, snap out of it!" He shouted, and the girl blinked, before realizing where they were. The Spearow finally caught up with them, and Ash gravely realized they couldn't keep this up forever. Sooner or later, they'd get caught. Which meant that this chase had to stop now.
Ash slowly detached Charmander's Pokeball from his belt. "Listen Bianca," The blonde turned towards him as instructed, "I need you to take Charmander and run as far away from here as you can."
"Are you crazy!?" She gasped, "I can't leave you here all alone!" Ash handed her the Pokeball anyway, before turning to face the Spearow.
"I promised your Dad that I'd protect you, and that's what I'm doing!" He shouted, "Now hurry up and go!" Bianca bit her lip. She knew that if she stayed it wouldn't make much of a difference, and if she ran, then maybe she could reach a nearby city and get Ash some help from the police or something. She knew that, and the sensible part of her brain, as often as she ignored it, was telling her to go. Her mind drifted back to the conversation she'd had with Ash and her dad, no more than a few hours ago...
"My Dad told me the most important thing I'd ever have is my family. To me, friends are family, and Bianca's one of my best friends! She's family, so that means I'm gonna protect her with all I've got!"
That's right. Friends were family too, and Ash was protecting her because she was his family. But if she was family, then she couldn't just abandon him...could she?
"Listen up, you stupid Spearow!" Ash shouted, "My name's Ash Ketchum, and one day, i'm gonna be a Pokemon Master! Hit me with your best shot, i'm not dying today! You hear me!?" If she didn't do something, both of them would die, but there was nothing she could do to help either of them...she was useless. Useless as always.
The Spearow, seemingly done listening to Ash's words, all charged straight at him. But Ash didn't even blink. He just stood there with the same defiant fire in his eyes, arms wide open to take on anything the wild flock could dish out. Even now, as it looked like everything was about to end, he was still strong as always...
That was when Bianca decided.
"You heard Ash!" Ash turned in surprise to see Bianca, arms spread, standing right beside him.
"Bianca...what are you doing!? I told you to get away!" He exclaimed, and Bianca shook her head fiercely. She wasn't going anywhere.
"You said that you're supposed to protect your family, right? Well, just like how I'm your family," She flashed him a grin, in spite of everything happening at that moment, "You're my family too!" Ash, for a moment, wasn't quite sure what to do besides stare at her in disbelief. This whole time he'd been trying to be the hero and protect his friend, he'd forgotten that he was her friend too. It worked both ways.
"...Right." Ash and Bianca both turned back to the Spearow, who were mere seconds away from impaling the young trainers. "Family sticks together." They closed their eyes, accepting their fates with smiles on their faces...
...But nothing happened.
Except for some wind?
Ash opened his eyes first, and instead of the angry Spearow flock he'd stared at moments before, a giant tornado of sand was twisting about in front of him. Ash's jaw dropped. What in the world was going on?
Before he could question it for too long, a familiar stuck up bird appeared before him, and pointed in the opposite direction of the tornado.
"Sand Attack...Pidgey? But how-why-what-" Pidgey pecked him on the arm, and he quickly got the message. He didn't need to he pecked twice. "Bianca, we need to get outta here!" The duo wasted no time, running as far away as they could after running for so long already. Finally they stopped, the two collapsing against a large tree.
"We...did it..." Ash sighed, and Bianca nodded.
"Yeah...we did," She agreed, and suddenly, the two found themselves laughing. Maybe it was the exhaustion getting to their heads, maybe it was falling off of things one too many times, or maybe it was just a result of their relief at being alive. Regardless of reason, the two just laughed and laughed, until a familiar cry drew their attention.
"Pidgeeee!"
Both children turned to the source of the cry, and as they thought, Pidgey was there, flying towards them. Gracefully landing on a tree branch, Pidgey gave Ash a stare that the boy wasn't quite sure he completely understood.
"Pidgey, why did you help us?" Ash asked as he slowly caught his breath. Pidgey didn't answer, instead flying down into Ash's lap. Before Ash could question it, Pidgey pecked one of Ash's vacant Pokeballs, allowing itself to be sucked inside and almost instantly being caught. Ash and Bianca looked down at the Pokeball, then at each other, then back to the Pokeball, before shrugging.
"...I guess I just caught a Pidgey." Ash finally broke the silence. Bianca slowly nodded.
"Yeah, I guess you did." The two sat there for a while longer, staring at the sky and processing the past hour of events that had transpired, when an odd noise rang through the air, and for Ash, time seemed to slow to a stop. The leaves stopped mid rustle, the grass froze, everything came to a screeching halt. Even Bianca had seemingly been frozen.
"Wh-what'ts going on!?" Ash shot to his feet, eyes darting back and forth for any sign of moment. His answer came in the form of a loud, earth shaking screech and powerful gust of wind that nearly knocked Ash off his feet. "Woaaaaaah! What the heck!?" He grunted, managing to withstand the wind. Looking upwards to the source of the birdlike screech, Ash's jaw dropped.
The silhouette of a monstrously large birdlike creature was staring down at him, piercing red eyes meeting with his own. Ash collapsed to the ground against his will, a sudden gravity weighing on him, and involuntarily, he began to tremble in fear.
"What's...happening?" He whispered, staring down wide eyed at his shaking hands but unable to stop them, before looking back up at the creature. With another loud screech, the creature flapped it's wings and an immensely powerful wind, alongside a blinding light, enveloped the entire clearing, forcing Ash to shield his eyes.
"The world is dying, child of Gold."
"Ash?" Ash's eyes shot open and he looked to Bianca, who was staring at him with a confused and seemingly concerned expression.
"Huh? What happened?" Ash mumbled, shaking his head.
"You zoned out while I was talking to you and then closed your eyes really tight and I was kinda scared," Bianca explained, sheepishly scratching her head, before frowning. "Hey, what's that thing on your head?" Ash blinked a few times in confusion.
"What thing are you..." He reached up, feeling around on his head until his fingers ran across something he didn't recognize. He took it down to examine it, and his eyes widened. It was a feather, a rather large one at that. But the interesting part wasn't its size. It was that it seemed to radiate a strange power, that drew you into it. It shined with all the colors of the rainbow, and sparkled in the sunlight. Ash and Bianca were staring as if hypnotized by the feather, until a familiar voice snapped them out of it.
"Ash!" This time, coming from the same direction Pidgey had came from, was Cheren and Misty, the latter of which was carrying a large, black ring. Wait a minute, Ash squinted, looking closer. That wasn't a ring, it was a wheel...
Oh no.
"ASH, YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD EXCUSE FOR BREAKING MY BIKE, OR I'M gonna have a great excuse to BREAK YOU!" Ash paled in fear at the redhead.
It was one disaster after the other today, he noted dryly with a sigh.
So much for birthday luck.
For those of you who read the last version of this story, you'll notice there's something...new, happening, heh heh. Wonder what it is? Maybe it's connected to something new from a different chapter? I dunno, I'm just the author. *Wink*
Also, starting next chapter, I'll start answering review questions, so feel free to ask me anything about the story(obviously nothing too spoiler heavy) and I'll answer it before the start of the chapter!
Hope you guys enjoyed the Chapter, and if so, stick around for next chapter, because Ash gets introduced to a certain electric yellow rodent. 'Till then,
Peace!
*Next Week*
Chapter 4: "The Bandit Of Viridian Forest!"
