Author's Note: Thanks to The Changer of Ways here on FanFiction.net for
his help with putting this story together. I was having trouble writing
it, and he was kind enough to suffer through repeated suggestions of mine
and help me come up with something worth reading. Please read and review.
Be sure to tell us both what you think. Remember, I want BAD reviews. I
want EVIL reviews. I want to know what it is you HATE about this story.
So start sending in those reviews! All of you who are eager for Ash/T. K.
to make his entrance, just hold on. It's coming. I promise. Really, it
is. You've got to believe me on this. It's not in this chapter, but it's
coming. Trust me, it is. (Dodge cane from side of stage) Come on, guys,
you've got to believe me! (Tries to dodge cane again, but it gets author
by the wrist and pulls off stage. Grabs at stage floor) It's coming!!!
(Shouting like a madman) It's coming, and there's nothing you can do about
it!!! (Insane laughter. Sound of cane hitting author on the head and
author falls to the floor.)
Chapter 3
A Strange Alliance
"Well?" Misty tossed her pokeball up and down in one hand like a baseball. "Are you going to talk or not?"
Shawn said the first thing that came to mind. "I'm looking for Ash!"
Ash's name seemed to catch them both off guard, as if he had said something that should never be mentioned, especially by a stranger.
"What do you want with Ash?" Brock stood with his arms crossed and a pokeball in one hand. Shawn realized that neither the game nor the cartoon showed how strong he really was. He had a good six inches on him, and Shawn was considered to be quite tall. Shawn was also considered to be muscular, but Brock probably had fifty pounds on him there, too. All things considered, when Brock was angered, he formed a very menacing figure. And at the moment, Brock was fuming. Every line on his body said that he wanted to rip Shawn limb from limb. He made a mental note never to cross him if he could help it. Although it seemed a little late for that now.
Since he had already blurted it out, Shawn decided to go with it. "Giovanni has taken over my dimension, and I need Ash's help to stop him." Shawn immediately regretted taking that route, noticing how truly stupid it sounded.
"A new dimension, right," Misty said, grinning sardonically. "Now, you want to tell us the truth? Last chance."
"It is the truth!"
Brock gripped his pokeball in a death grip. "I've had enough! If you won't talk, then I'll make you! Onix, go!" He threw the pokeball up into the air as he and Misty both jumped back. In a flash of red light, his Onix appeared right in front of Shawn, its rocky, boulder-sized segments spinning in opposite directions as it landed on the ground. Brock turned to his Onix, and said, "Onix, don't be tricked by his clothes! This guy's a member of Team Rocket! He won't tell us what he's up to, so why don't you see if you can convince him to talk?"
Onix turned around to face Shawn. He heard a low rumble start in whatever represented the colossus's throat. Then, in one jerk, it shot its head right in front of Shawn, and let out a mighty roar. The gust from the rock snake's throat sent Shawn flying through a pile of trash bags and up against a brick wall. Onix picked him up by the collar of his shirt and brought him around to hang up above Brock.
"So, are you ready to tell us the truth, yet, Rocket," Brock demanded.
Shawn grunted from the pain of the impact that still flowed through him. "I already told you the truth. I came here to find a way to stop Giovanni, not to help him!"
"I don't believe you!" This time it was Misty. She threw her pokeball up into the air with a back kick of her leg. "Starmie, I choose you!" Out came the starfish pokemon, its two halves spinning in opposite directions before coming down to hover in front of Misty and wait for instructions. "Use your water gun on him, Starmie. Not enough to hurt him," she warned, grinning evilly. "Just enough to make him sputter."
Obediently, Starmie flew up in front of Shawn, and started spraying pressurized water in his face. Shawn closed his eyes against it. It felt like someone was using a sand blower on him. Unfortunately, he couldn't do the same thing with his mouth. In a matter of moments, he found himself gasping for breath, only to suck down water, which made the urge to breathe even worse.
"Okay," Misty said, "that's enough, Starmie!" Thankfully, the spray immediately stopped, and Onix brought him down in front of Misty and Brock again.
"Well," Misty asked sweetly, partly out of sarcasm, partly out of pride for her water pokemon.
Shawn was about to deny them again, but then he struck on another thought. He chuckled low, as if he was really getting a kick out of something. "Who's acting like Team Rocket now, huh? Torturing someone for information is what they do best, is it not? And yet, here you are, battering me with your pokemon trying to get me to talk, and I haven't even raised a hand against you. I understand that there is a law against punishing people for something they haven't even done yet, and all I've done since getting here is change my clothes and get a bite to eat." He smiled widely, a charming smile, the one he used when negotiating to woo his subjects. He focused it on Misty. "Unless, of course, there's been a law made about eating out. There hasn't, has there? I mean, if there was, where could a guy take a beautiful girl like yourself out?"
Initially, it had the desired effect. Shawn had a silver tongue, had wooed his way out of many dangers, and had plenty of practice. Misty went starry- eyed, saying, "You hear that, Brock? He wants to know where a guy could take a beautiful girl like me out!" She put an overbearing amount of emphasis on the word, "beautiful."
"Don't listen to him, Misty," Brock ordered, immediately seeing what Shawn was doing. "He's playing with your ego!"
A look of shock passed over Misty's face, but not over the fact that Shawn was playing her. She turned angrily to Brock, saying, "Are you saying that I have an ego problem? Because I don't! I am the most beautiful girl in the world, and there is no ego problem about it!" She emphasized her point by hitting him in the head every time she said, "ego," "problem," and "don't." Then she went starry-eyed again, saying, "Is it so hard to believe that a guy would think that I'm pretty, and would want to ask me out?"
Shawn, Starmie, and Onyx all sweat dropped, listening to this. Shawn couldn't believe that the two of them, friends and partners that they were, couldn't even get along.
"Yeah, whatever," Brock replied to Misty. Then, turning to Shawn, he yelled, "But one thing you are wrong about is how we act. We are nothing like Rockets. We've seen what they do in their heartlessness. Onyx, throw him in with the rest of the trash."
Onyx obeyed, and, once again, Shawn found himself on top of the trashcans and up against the brick wall.
Shawn stood up as fast as he could, with all of the pain that was running through him. Could this really be the Brock and Misty that everyone who had ever played or watched Pokemon had heard of? Could their experiences really have changed them this much? "You know," he said, "In my dimension, before Giovanni came there, Pokemon was nothing more than a popular cartoon and video game series. You two were two of the three main characters, and there were hundreds of fan clubs devoted to each of you. You were role models. But now, I wonder how all of those people who idolized you would respond if they knew that, in your anger and hatred of Team Rocket, you had become the very people you fought to stop."
Brock exploded. "I've had enough of your mouth! I think it's about time to shut you up! ONYX!"
Onyx threw its head up and roared, then backed up and charged at Shawn in a full-blown tackle.
Nasty images of what whatever was left of him would look like after that giant rock snake hit him flashed through Shawn's mind. There wasn't a doubt in his head. He was going to die.
Before the Onyx could get to him, there was a flash of red light from Shawn's belt, and out of that flash appeared a dinosaur-like pokemon. It roared its own reply to Onyx's battle cry as it stood ready to defend its partner. It grabbed Onyx's great head in both of its arms, and, giving a great cry, threw it high up into the sky.
"Wow," Misty said, impressed for the instant. "What an arm!" Then, as the details of the giant pokemon became visible again, "Uh oh. It looks like Newton was right. What goes up must come down. Ugh!" she said as Brock jumped on her to get them both out of the way and the mighty pokemon came down in a crash.
"Nidoking!" Shawn yelled in surprise. It must have broken out of its pokeball.
Nidoking turned around and grunted, giving him a look that said, "I'm not going to let you die that easily!"
Brock ran over to his Onyx. "Onyx!" he yelled. "Onyx, are you okay?"
The rock pokemon groaned, a sound like a mountain creaking, but then slowly got up, standing on the back of its tail so that it stood at its full height. Nidoking and Shawn both backed up a step, looks of shock on both faces.
"What!?" Shawn yelled. "How could anything survive a fall like that?"
"Get them, Onyx," Brock yelled, confident now that his pokemon was okay. Immediately, Onyx charged again.
"Nidoking, Barrier. NOW!" Already, the dinosaur was putting up the shield. Onyx hit the barrier with a mighty crash, causing the whole thing to shake like a pool. Shawn suddenly realized that the only thing between him and doom was a mental wall thought up by a pokemon whose species wasn't exactly known for their intelligence. For a split second, he was sure that the rock snake was going to tear through the fragile barrier like tissue paper and kill them both.
Amazingly, the barrier held, but barely. It looked incredibly thin, and, as Onyx backed up for another attack, Shawn knew that he had to do something. "Nidoking!" he yelled. "Focus your energy and use your Hyper Beam! If he gets another hit in, we're done for!"
Nidoking turned its attention from the doomed Barrier and, putting its gigantic claws together in a sphere on one side, it started focusing its energy. Suddenly, the air around Nidoking seemed to burst into flames as the great dinosaur pokemon glowed with a bright light.
Onyx was coming fast. It was going to be close, and Shawn was praying that Nidoking would have enough power to stop the mighty pokemon, and, more importantly, that it would be able to do it in time. "Nidoking, hurry up!"
Nidoking grunted in response as a yellow ball of light began to grow in between its hands. The Onyx crashed into the Barrier once again, but this time, it shattered like glass into a million pieces and disappeared, but the rock snake kept coming.
"Nidoking! NOW!"
The dinosaur pokemon brought its hands around in front of it and fired a great blast of energy just as the Onyx closed the final feet between them. The Onyx slowed down until it stopped inches from their faces. Shawn could see small pieces of rock breaking off and disintegrating off of the great colossus's face. Then he saw its eyes. He could see that it was in pain. He bowed his head. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.
Then, as if someone had hit a rewind button, the great rock snake pokemon flew back and over Brock's head. It crashed into the building across the street and didn't move. Brock ran over to it again, yelling, "Onyx," but this time, it didn't get up.
Shawn let out a deep breath that he didn't know he had been holding. Bending over and putting his hands on his knees, he said, "We did it, Nidoking! You did it. I only wish that there had been another way."
Nidoking turned halfway and gave him a faint smile, then a soft cry fell from its lips and it fell to the ground, first to its knees, then to its stomach.
"Nidoking!" Shawn was at his pokemon's side in a moment. "Nidoking, what's wrong?" The pokemon only laid there, breathing heavy.
Misty came up beside him hesitantly. "Your Nidoking is exhausted. It put all it had into defending you. All of its heart and strength was put forth to defend you. It just doesn't have any more to give. Return it to its pokeball and come on. We'll show you to the nearest Pokemon Center."
Shawn broke into tears. His Nidoking was willing to die for him. "Thank you," he said as he pulled the pokeball off of his belt and Nidoking returned to it in a flash of red light.
Brock, having his Onix return to its pokeball, stalked over to Shawn and Misty. "You aren't suggesting that we should help him now, are you, Misty? After what he did to my Onix?"
"Are you so blind, Brock," Misty yelled, "that you can't see what is so obvious in front of your own face? He didn't fight back until you went in to kill him! And even then, he wouldn't have if it weren't for his Nidoking! And another thing, you saw the way that pokemon fought to protect him! It gave everything it had to defend him. You, of all people, should know that that kind of friendship, that kind of DEVOTION, doesn't come from a relationship based on cruelty. You should have seen him cry, Brock. He loves his pokemon, just like you and I do, and they love him in return." She started to calm down, and finished, "That's why I trust him, and why you should trust him, too." She crossed her arms over her chest, taking a stance that clearly said that it was an order, and that it was final.
Brock hunched over and sighed, saying, "I guess you're right, Misty."
Misty was once again her arrogant self. "Yep, that's right. And when I'm right, I'm right, and, well, let's face it. I'm always right!"
Brock and Shawn both sweat dropped, and Brock said, "Whatever." Then he walked over to Shawn and said, "Just so you know, I still don't trust you as far as I can throw you, so you can consider yourself on probation. If you even look like you're thinking about doing something wrong, I'm going to be on you before you know what hit you, do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal," Shawn said as he threw Brock a mock salute.
* * *
As the three came in through the door of the Pokemon Center, Brock and Shawn already prepared with the pokeballs of the two injured pokemon in hand, the live-in nurse was on them in a flash. Immediately, she was out from behind the counter, her pink hair bouncing behind her.
"So it was you two who were causing all of the ruckus out there," she started before the door had even slid shut behind them. "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. You are so lucky that that building was abandoned. Even so, you still gave us a start here. How do you expect sick pokemon to get better with racket like that all of the time. Well, don't just stand there," she said, taking the pokeballs from their hands, "give me those pokemon so I can start treating them. Follow me," she said as she went into another room. "I'm not done with you yet. Oh, Brock, by the way," she said, suddenly softening up, "we're so glad that you're back. Your father has been worried sick about you. Not to mention that those kids are such a handful. He loves them to death, but the numbers are against him."
As they followed her into the other room, Shawn whispered to Brock, "Let me guess. That's Nurse Joy. Is she always this way?"
Brock shook his head as he whispered back, "No, we caught her on a good day."
"Oh, great," Shawn sighed.
"I heard that," Nurse Joy called over her shoulder. "Now, hurry up!"
"Man, she's got good ears," Misty muttered as they ran to catch up with her, Giovanni's Persian loping along lazily behind them.
* * *
Misty sat staring at the Persian as it nonchalantly lapped up the last bit of a bowl of warm milk that Shawn had gotten it.
Shawn sighed. "Okay, Misty, I give. You've been staring at that cat for the last hour, and you're starting to freak me out. Would you mind telling me what it is that's going through your head that could keep you entertained for so long?"
Misty broke her gaze, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples with her fingers. "I don't know. It just seems like I've seen that particular Persian before, but I can't figure out where."
Brock came up from behind them, holding a cup of coffee in each hand. "Sure looks regal, though, doesn't it," he asked as he handed Misty a cup and sat down to sip at the other. "Look at how glossy its fur is. It has been treated well. It probably belonged to a very rich person."
Misty's eyes shot up suddenly as the answer came to her. "Say, Shawn, that Persian doesn't happen to belong to, uh, you know . . . ?"
Shawn looked uneasy. "Yeah, it belongs to, uh," he hesitated as his eyes darted to Brock, around the room, back to Brock, then back to Misty, "the Boss."
Brock leaned forward over the table. "What are you doing with Giovanni's Persian?"
Shawn grinned really wide and scratched the back of his head. "It, uh, kinda came through the portal with me."
When Brock had come over with the coffee, Misty's Togepi had woken up, and Misty had taken it out of her knapsack to let it play on the Pokemon Center floor. Now, Misty looked up from where Togepi was playing near the Persian. "The portal? So, you mean that what you were saying about coming from a different dimension was true?"
Shawn nodded. "Completely and utterly."
"So how was it that you ended up going through it," Brock asked, ever cautious of anyone who had ever worn a Rocket uniform.
Shawn sighed and leaned back in his seat. "It's a long story. Are you sure you want to hear it?"
"Well, according to Nurse Joy, we still have a few more hours before you and Brock's pokemon are ready," Misty answered, picking Togepi up and feeding it a piece of fudge. Togepi, of course, gobbled it down, gurgled happily, and begged for more, which Misty was more than happy to do. "There you go, Togepi! Now, no more, or you're going to get sick." Togepi gurgled happily again, then started squirming. Misty set it down again, and it went back to playing.
Shawn smiled as he watched the Baby pokemon entertain itself. "Togepi is definitely the cutest pokemon of all."
Misty smiled as she watched Togepi. "Yeah, I agree." Then she turned back toward Shawn. "But you're still trying to dodge the question."
"Fine, okay. I'll tell," he said as he leaned forward again, and he told his story from the beginning.
* * *
Shawn had just finished telling his story when Nurse Joy came back out into the lobby, carrying two pokeballs. "Okay, you two," she said, "your pokemon are all better. From now on, though, you're going to have to make sure that you don't push them so far."
Brock and Shawn both bowed their heads and sighed. "Yes, Nurse Joy," they said in unison as they took their pokemon back. She may have loved pokemon, but when it came to their trainers, she was strict, and there was no arguing with her.
"So," Misty said once Nurse Joy had left the lobby, "what do we do, now?"
Shawn closed his eyes and rubbed them. It had been a long day, and he was exhausted. "I don't know. All I know is that I have to find Ash. He's the only one that can help me save my dimension." He opened his eyes again and stared at them both beseechingly. "Come on, you guys are his friends, right? You have to know where he is!"
Brock held his head, elbows on the table. "That's just the problem. He's not here."
"Of course he's not here, Brock! That's why I need to know where he is!"
Brock stood up suddenly, and slammed his fists down on the table. "You just don't get it, do you, Shawn. He isn't here! He isn't anywhere on the planet! He's gone!"
"He's in another dimension," Misty mumbled, barely loud enough for them to hear, her eyes cloudy and unfocused. "As another person."
Shawn's jaw fell slack as the realization hit him. The vision of the halves of two boys put together returned to him. "T. K."
The eyes of both Brock and Misty snapped to him. If the name of Ash was sacred to them, the name T. K. was one of the foulest words of all.
Shawn, though, was oblivious. In his own mind, he was putting the pieces together. A boy of several dimensions. Not just one, or two, but several. The Pokemon Dimension, The Digimon Dimension, and the Digital World, itself. A guardian of them all. A protector of the three. A Digi- Destined, and a Pokemon Master. One thing still didn't seem to fit, though. Why was he two people?
"I think it's time," he said, "that you tell me your side of this story."
Brock nodded, then turned to Misty. "Can you handle it, or do you want me to do it?"
"No, that's okay, Brock," Misty said, close to tears. "I can do it."
She rubbed her eyes in an attempt to clear them, then began.
"Ash wasn't from this dimension. When he was just a little kid, and he was still in his own dimension, he was with other people, a different group. I think he called them Digi-Destined, or something. Anyway, their so-called destiny was to defend another dimension from evil. To travel to that dimension, they used these weird little computers.
Anyway, they had won, and they had returned home. He, T. K., was walking down the street some time later, when a car came out of nowhere and hit him, knocking him into an alley. When they went to find him, the boy was gone. Somehow, that little computer had sent him across dimensions. When he woke up, he was, apparently, in the middle of Viridian Forest. Somehow, he managed to wander all the way to Pallet Town, where Mrs. Kechum found him, fixed him up, and, when no one came to claim him, adopted him. When nightmares that tormented him at night got so bad that he couldn't even look at himself in the mirror, she dyed his hair and got him colored contacts. He had amnesia, so she named him, herself, and he grew up as Ash Kechum.
You are probably already familiar with most of the rest of the story, about how he got Pikachu as his pokemon, and began his quest to become a Pokemon Master. I'll skip by that.
One day, though, some memory came back to him. Not much. Just his real name and that he didn't belong here. He insisted that we call him T. K., and we did. After all, he was our friend, and finding out that he was regaining memory that we never knew that he had lost was one of the happiest things that we ever knew.
Then they came. The people from his other life. They insisted that he come back with them, and they took him. They brainwashed them and they took him. Or so we thought, and assured ourselves, was true. He had gotten all of his memory back, and he wanted to go back to that life, because that was where he thought he belonged. He insisted that we go back to our own dimension because we didn't belong there, and we did. We left because he chose that life, and that girl! That Kari!" The last name she said with such venom that Shawn actually jumped back away from the red head, for fear that she was going to lash out. But she calmed down again, only to break down in tears.
"Excuse me," she said, and went to get a tissue.
When she got back, she asked again, "So what do we do?"
Brock stood up again, purposefully, saying, "We don't have much of a choice. We're going to have to go find Ash again. That means that we're going to have to go back to Pallet Town and get that Dimension Ball of Professor Oak's again."
Shawn and Misty stood up. "Well, what are we waiting for," Misty asked as she put on her knapsack, careful not to wake Togepi. "Let's get going!"
Suddenly, Nurse Joy burst back into the lobby, pulling a cart with three cots, blankets, and pillows. "Oh, no, you don't! You three just stop right there! Do you have any idea how late it is? It is way past your bedtime, that's for sure! You are all staying here for the night!" Already, she was setting out the cots in a corner out of the way.
Shawn, though, was eager to get going. "Please, Nurse Joy. We need to get going! You have no idea how important this is."
"I don't care how important it is," she said as she pushed him down on one of the cots, threw a blanket over him, then proceeded to do the same to Brock and Misty. "I take just as good a care of my trainers as I do my pokemon, and I won't have anyone running off in the middle of the night! Whatever it is, it can wait until morning when you've had a good night's sleep!" She went over to the doorway and put her hands on the light switch. "Good night, you three!"
"Good night, Nurse Joy," the three said resignedly.
* * *
In the next chapter of The Pokemon Master's Return:
Shawn has met up with Misty and Brock in the Pokemon dimension, and has found out the story behind Ash's strange double identity. Now, the three have agreed to go to Pallet Town and find a way to get to his dimension. What awaits them in Ash's hometown? Will they be able to find a way to the Digimon Dimension? If so, how will they convince T. K./Ash to help Shawn? Find out all this and more in Chapter 4 - Old Friends Reunite!
Sorry it took so long, people. Since starting this chapter, I've been tied up in finals and all of the other stuff that comes with the last year of high school. Hopefully, now that I've graduated, I'll be able to have more time to work on this stuff. Please forgive me for taking so long, and I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think.
Ninmast
Chapter 3
A Strange Alliance
"Well?" Misty tossed her pokeball up and down in one hand like a baseball. "Are you going to talk or not?"
Shawn said the first thing that came to mind. "I'm looking for Ash!"
Ash's name seemed to catch them both off guard, as if he had said something that should never be mentioned, especially by a stranger.
"What do you want with Ash?" Brock stood with his arms crossed and a pokeball in one hand. Shawn realized that neither the game nor the cartoon showed how strong he really was. He had a good six inches on him, and Shawn was considered to be quite tall. Shawn was also considered to be muscular, but Brock probably had fifty pounds on him there, too. All things considered, when Brock was angered, he formed a very menacing figure. And at the moment, Brock was fuming. Every line on his body said that he wanted to rip Shawn limb from limb. He made a mental note never to cross him if he could help it. Although it seemed a little late for that now.
Since he had already blurted it out, Shawn decided to go with it. "Giovanni has taken over my dimension, and I need Ash's help to stop him." Shawn immediately regretted taking that route, noticing how truly stupid it sounded.
"A new dimension, right," Misty said, grinning sardonically. "Now, you want to tell us the truth? Last chance."
"It is the truth!"
Brock gripped his pokeball in a death grip. "I've had enough! If you won't talk, then I'll make you! Onix, go!" He threw the pokeball up into the air as he and Misty both jumped back. In a flash of red light, his Onix appeared right in front of Shawn, its rocky, boulder-sized segments spinning in opposite directions as it landed on the ground. Brock turned to his Onix, and said, "Onix, don't be tricked by his clothes! This guy's a member of Team Rocket! He won't tell us what he's up to, so why don't you see if you can convince him to talk?"
Onix turned around to face Shawn. He heard a low rumble start in whatever represented the colossus's throat. Then, in one jerk, it shot its head right in front of Shawn, and let out a mighty roar. The gust from the rock snake's throat sent Shawn flying through a pile of trash bags and up against a brick wall. Onix picked him up by the collar of his shirt and brought him around to hang up above Brock.
"So, are you ready to tell us the truth, yet, Rocket," Brock demanded.
Shawn grunted from the pain of the impact that still flowed through him. "I already told you the truth. I came here to find a way to stop Giovanni, not to help him!"
"I don't believe you!" This time it was Misty. She threw her pokeball up into the air with a back kick of her leg. "Starmie, I choose you!" Out came the starfish pokemon, its two halves spinning in opposite directions before coming down to hover in front of Misty and wait for instructions. "Use your water gun on him, Starmie. Not enough to hurt him," she warned, grinning evilly. "Just enough to make him sputter."
Obediently, Starmie flew up in front of Shawn, and started spraying pressurized water in his face. Shawn closed his eyes against it. It felt like someone was using a sand blower on him. Unfortunately, he couldn't do the same thing with his mouth. In a matter of moments, he found himself gasping for breath, only to suck down water, which made the urge to breathe even worse.
"Okay," Misty said, "that's enough, Starmie!" Thankfully, the spray immediately stopped, and Onix brought him down in front of Misty and Brock again.
"Well," Misty asked sweetly, partly out of sarcasm, partly out of pride for her water pokemon.
Shawn was about to deny them again, but then he struck on another thought. He chuckled low, as if he was really getting a kick out of something. "Who's acting like Team Rocket now, huh? Torturing someone for information is what they do best, is it not? And yet, here you are, battering me with your pokemon trying to get me to talk, and I haven't even raised a hand against you. I understand that there is a law against punishing people for something they haven't even done yet, and all I've done since getting here is change my clothes and get a bite to eat." He smiled widely, a charming smile, the one he used when negotiating to woo his subjects. He focused it on Misty. "Unless, of course, there's been a law made about eating out. There hasn't, has there? I mean, if there was, where could a guy take a beautiful girl like yourself out?"
Initially, it had the desired effect. Shawn had a silver tongue, had wooed his way out of many dangers, and had plenty of practice. Misty went starry- eyed, saying, "You hear that, Brock? He wants to know where a guy could take a beautiful girl like me out!" She put an overbearing amount of emphasis on the word, "beautiful."
"Don't listen to him, Misty," Brock ordered, immediately seeing what Shawn was doing. "He's playing with your ego!"
A look of shock passed over Misty's face, but not over the fact that Shawn was playing her. She turned angrily to Brock, saying, "Are you saying that I have an ego problem? Because I don't! I am the most beautiful girl in the world, and there is no ego problem about it!" She emphasized her point by hitting him in the head every time she said, "ego," "problem," and "don't." Then she went starry-eyed again, saying, "Is it so hard to believe that a guy would think that I'm pretty, and would want to ask me out?"
Shawn, Starmie, and Onyx all sweat dropped, listening to this. Shawn couldn't believe that the two of them, friends and partners that they were, couldn't even get along.
"Yeah, whatever," Brock replied to Misty. Then, turning to Shawn, he yelled, "But one thing you are wrong about is how we act. We are nothing like Rockets. We've seen what they do in their heartlessness. Onyx, throw him in with the rest of the trash."
Onyx obeyed, and, once again, Shawn found himself on top of the trashcans and up against the brick wall.
Shawn stood up as fast as he could, with all of the pain that was running through him. Could this really be the Brock and Misty that everyone who had ever played or watched Pokemon had heard of? Could their experiences really have changed them this much? "You know," he said, "In my dimension, before Giovanni came there, Pokemon was nothing more than a popular cartoon and video game series. You two were two of the three main characters, and there were hundreds of fan clubs devoted to each of you. You were role models. But now, I wonder how all of those people who idolized you would respond if they knew that, in your anger and hatred of Team Rocket, you had become the very people you fought to stop."
Brock exploded. "I've had enough of your mouth! I think it's about time to shut you up! ONYX!"
Onyx threw its head up and roared, then backed up and charged at Shawn in a full-blown tackle.
Nasty images of what whatever was left of him would look like after that giant rock snake hit him flashed through Shawn's mind. There wasn't a doubt in his head. He was going to die.
Before the Onyx could get to him, there was a flash of red light from Shawn's belt, and out of that flash appeared a dinosaur-like pokemon. It roared its own reply to Onyx's battle cry as it stood ready to defend its partner. It grabbed Onyx's great head in both of its arms, and, giving a great cry, threw it high up into the sky.
"Wow," Misty said, impressed for the instant. "What an arm!" Then, as the details of the giant pokemon became visible again, "Uh oh. It looks like Newton was right. What goes up must come down. Ugh!" she said as Brock jumped on her to get them both out of the way and the mighty pokemon came down in a crash.
"Nidoking!" Shawn yelled in surprise. It must have broken out of its pokeball.
Nidoking turned around and grunted, giving him a look that said, "I'm not going to let you die that easily!"
Brock ran over to his Onyx. "Onyx!" he yelled. "Onyx, are you okay?"
The rock pokemon groaned, a sound like a mountain creaking, but then slowly got up, standing on the back of its tail so that it stood at its full height. Nidoking and Shawn both backed up a step, looks of shock on both faces.
"What!?" Shawn yelled. "How could anything survive a fall like that?"
"Get them, Onyx," Brock yelled, confident now that his pokemon was okay. Immediately, Onyx charged again.
"Nidoking, Barrier. NOW!" Already, the dinosaur was putting up the shield. Onyx hit the barrier with a mighty crash, causing the whole thing to shake like a pool. Shawn suddenly realized that the only thing between him and doom was a mental wall thought up by a pokemon whose species wasn't exactly known for their intelligence. For a split second, he was sure that the rock snake was going to tear through the fragile barrier like tissue paper and kill them both.
Amazingly, the barrier held, but barely. It looked incredibly thin, and, as Onyx backed up for another attack, Shawn knew that he had to do something. "Nidoking!" he yelled. "Focus your energy and use your Hyper Beam! If he gets another hit in, we're done for!"
Nidoking turned its attention from the doomed Barrier and, putting its gigantic claws together in a sphere on one side, it started focusing its energy. Suddenly, the air around Nidoking seemed to burst into flames as the great dinosaur pokemon glowed with a bright light.
Onyx was coming fast. It was going to be close, and Shawn was praying that Nidoking would have enough power to stop the mighty pokemon, and, more importantly, that it would be able to do it in time. "Nidoking, hurry up!"
Nidoking grunted in response as a yellow ball of light began to grow in between its hands. The Onyx crashed into the Barrier once again, but this time, it shattered like glass into a million pieces and disappeared, but the rock snake kept coming.
"Nidoking! NOW!"
The dinosaur pokemon brought its hands around in front of it and fired a great blast of energy just as the Onyx closed the final feet between them. The Onyx slowed down until it stopped inches from their faces. Shawn could see small pieces of rock breaking off and disintegrating off of the great colossus's face. Then he saw its eyes. He could see that it was in pain. He bowed his head. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.
Then, as if someone had hit a rewind button, the great rock snake pokemon flew back and over Brock's head. It crashed into the building across the street and didn't move. Brock ran over to it again, yelling, "Onyx," but this time, it didn't get up.
Shawn let out a deep breath that he didn't know he had been holding. Bending over and putting his hands on his knees, he said, "We did it, Nidoking! You did it. I only wish that there had been another way."
Nidoking turned halfway and gave him a faint smile, then a soft cry fell from its lips and it fell to the ground, first to its knees, then to its stomach.
"Nidoking!" Shawn was at his pokemon's side in a moment. "Nidoking, what's wrong?" The pokemon only laid there, breathing heavy.
Misty came up beside him hesitantly. "Your Nidoking is exhausted. It put all it had into defending you. All of its heart and strength was put forth to defend you. It just doesn't have any more to give. Return it to its pokeball and come on. We'll show you to the nearest Pokemon Center."
Shawn broke into tears. His Nidoking was willing to die for him. "Thank you," he said as he pulled the pokeball off of his belt and Nidoking returned to it in a flash of red light.
Brock, having his Onix return to its pokeball, stalked over to Shawn and Misty. "You aren't suggesting that we should help him now, are you, Misty? After what he did to my Onix?"
"Are you so blind, Brock," Misty yelled, "that you can't see what is so obvious in front of your own face? He didn't fight back until you went in to kill him! And even then, he wouldn't have if it weren't for his Nidoking! And another thing, you saw the way that pokemon fought to protect him! It gave everything it had to defend him. You, of all people, should know that that kind of friendship, that kind of DEVOTION, doesn't come from a relationship based on cruelty. You should have seen him cry, Brock. He loves his pokemon, just like you and I do, and they love him in return." She started to calm down, and finished, "That's why I trust him, and why you should trust him, too." She crossed her arms over her chest, taking a stance that clearly said that it was an order, and that it was final.
Brock hunched over and sighed, saying, "I guess you're right, Misty."
Misty was once again her arrogant self. "Yep, that's right. And when I'm right, I'm right, and, well, let's face it. I'm always right!"
Brock and Shawn both sweat dropped, and Brock said, "Whatever." Then he walked over to Shawn and said, "Just so you know, I still don't trust you as far as I can throw you, so you can consider yourself on probation. If you even look like you're thinking about doing something wrong, I'm going to be on you before you know what hit you, do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal," Shawn said as he threw Brock a mock salute.
* * *
As the three came in through the door of the Pokemon Center, Brock and Shawn already prepared with the pokeballs of the two injured pokemon in hand, the live-in nurse was on them in a flash. Immediately, she was out from behind the counter, her pink hair bouncing behind her.
"So it was you two who were causing all of the ruckus out there," she started before the door had even slid shut behind them. "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. You are so lucky that that building was abandoned. Even so, you still gave us a start here. How do you expect sick pokemon to get better with racket like that all of the time. Well, don't just stand there," she said, taking the pokeballs from their hands, "give me those pokemon so I can start treating them. Follow me," she said as she went into another room. "I'm not done with you yet. Oh, Brock, by the way," she said, suddenly softening up, "we're so glad that you're back. Your father has been worried sick about you. Not to mention that those kids are such a handful. He loves them to death, but the numbers are against him."
As they followed her into the other room, Shawn whispered to Brock, "Let me guess. That's Nurse Joy. Is she always this way?"
Brock shook his head as he whispered back, "No, we caught her on a good day."
"Oh, great," Shawn sighed.
"I heard that," Nurse Joy called over her shoulder. "Now, hurry up!"
"Man, she's got good ears," Misty muttered as they ran to catch up with her, Giovanni's Persian loping along lazily behind them.
* * *
Misty sat staring at the Persian as it nonchalantly lapped up the last bit of a bowl of warm milk that Shawn had gotten it.
Shawn sighed. "Okay, Misty, I give. You've been staring at that cat for the last hour, and you're starting to freak me out. Would you mind telling me what it is that's going through your head that could keep you entertained for so long?"
Misty broke her gaze, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples with her fingers. "I don't know. It just seems like I've seen that particular Persian before, but I can't figure out where."
Brock came up from behind them, holding a cup of coffee in each hand. "Sure looks regal, though, doesn't it," he asked as he handed Misty a cup and sat down to sip at the other. "Look at how glossy its fur is. It has been treated well. It probably belonged to a very rich person."
Misty's eyes shot up suddenly as the answer came to her. "Say, Shawn, that Persian doesn't happen to belong to, uh, you know . . . ?"
Shawn looked uneasy. "Yeah, it belongs to, uh," he hesitated as his eyes darted to Brock, around the room, back to Brock, then back to Misty, "the Boss."
Brock leaned forward over the table. "What are you doing with Giovanni's Persian?"
Shawn grinned really wide and scratched the back of his head. "It, uh, kinda came through the portal with me."
When Brock had come over with the coffee, Misty's Togepi had woken up, and Misty had taken it out of her knapsack to let it play on the Pokemon Center floor. Now, Misty looked up from where Togepi was playing near the Persian. "The portal? So, you mean that what you were saying about coming from a different dimension was true?"
Shawn nodded. "Completely and utterly."
"So how was it that you ended up going through it," Brock asked, ever cautious of anyone who had ever worn a Rocket uniform.
Shawn sighed and leaned back in his seat. "It's a long story. Are you sure you want to hear it?"
"Well, according to Nurse Joy, we still have a few more hours before you and Brock's pokemon are ready," Misty answered, picking Togepi up and feeding it a piece of fudge. Togepi, of course, gobbled it down, gurgled happily, and begged for more, which Misty was more than happy to do. "There you go, Togepi! Now, no more, or you're going to get sick." Togepi gurgled happily again, then started squirming. Misty set it down again, and it went back to playing.
Shawn smiled as he watched the Baby pokemon entertain itself. "Togepi is definitely the cutest pokemon of all."
Misty smiled as she watched Togepi. "Yeah, I agree." Then she turned back toward Shawn. "But you're still trying to dodge the question."
"Fine, okay. I'll tell," he said as he leaned forward again, and he told his story from the beginning.
* * *
Shawn had just finished telling his story when Nurse Joy came back out into the lobby, carrying two pokeballs. "Okay, you two," she said, "your pokemon are all better. From now on, though, you're going to have to make sure that you don't push them so far."
Brock and Shawn both bowed their heads and sighed. "Yes, Nurse Joy," they said in unison as they took their pokemon back. She may have loved pokemon, but when it came to their trainers, she was strict, and there was no arguing with her.
"So," Misty said once Nurse Joy had left the lobby, "what do we do, now?"
Shawn closed his eyes and rubbed them. It had been a long day, and he was exhausted. "I don't know. All I know is that I have to find Ash. He's the only one that can help me save my dimension." He opened his eyes again and stared at them both beseechingly. "Come on, you guys are his friends, right? You have to know where he is!"
Brock held his head, elbows on the table. "That's just the problem. He's not here."
"Of course he's not here, Brock! That's why I need to know where he is!"
Brock stood up suddenly, and slammed his fists down on the table. "You just don't get it, do you, Shawn. He isn't here! He isn't anywhere on the planet! He's gone!"
"He's in another dimension," Misty mumbled, barely loud enough for them to hear, her eyes cloudy and unfocused. "As another person."
Shawn's jaw fell slack as the realization hit him. The vision of the halves of two boys put together returned to him. "T. K."
The eyes of both Brock and Misty snapped to him. If the name of Ash was sacred to them, the name T. K. was one of the foulest words of all.
Shawn, though, was oblivious. In his own mind, he was putting the pieces together. A boy of several dimensions. Not just one, or two, but several. The Pokemon Dimension, The Digimon Dimension, and the Digital World, itself. A guardian of them all. A protector of the three. A Digi- Destined, and a Pokemon Master. One thing still didn't seem to fit, though. Why was he two people?
"I think it's time," he said, "that you tell me your side of this story."
Brock nodded, then turned to Misty. "Can you handle it, or do you want me to do it?"
"No, that's okay, Brock," Misty said, close to tears. "I can do it."
She rubbed her eyes in an attempt to clear them, then began.
"Ash wasn't from this dimension. When he was just a little kid, and he was still in his own dimension, he was with other people, a different group. I think he called them Digi-Destined, or something. Anyway, their so-called destiny was to defend another dimension from evil. To travel to that dimension, they used these weird little computers.
Anyway, they had won, and they had returned home. He, T. K., was walking down the street some time later, when a car came out of nowhere and hit him, knocking him into an alley. When they went to find him, the boy was gone. Somehow, that little computer had sent him across dimensions. When he woke up, he was, apparently, in the middle of Viridian Forest. Somehow, he managed to wander all the way to Pallet Town, where Mrs. Kechum found him, fixed him up, and, when no one came to claim him, adopted him. When nightmares that tormented him at night got so bad that he couldn't even look at himself in the mirror, she dyed his hair and got him colored contacts. He had amnesia, so she named him, herself, and he grew up as Ash Kechum.
You are probably already familiar with most of the rest of the story, about how he got Pikachu as his pokemon, and began his quest to become a Pokemon Master. I'll skip by that.
One day, though, some memory came back to him. Not much. Just his real name and that he didn't belong here. He insisted that we call him T. K., and we did. After all, he was our friend, and finding out that he was regaining memory that we never knew that he had lost was one of the happiest things that we ever knew.
Then they came. The people from his other life. They insisted that he come back with them, and they took him. They brainwashed them and they took him. Or so we thought, and assured ourselves, was true. He had gotten all of his memory back, and he wanted to go back to that life, because that was where he thought he belonged. He insisted that we go back to our own dimension because we didn't belong there, and we did. We left because he chose that life, and that girl! That Kari!" The last name she said with such venom that Shawn actually jumped back away from the red head, for fear that she was going to lash out. But she calmed down again, only to break down in tears.
"Excuse me," she said, and went to get a tissue.
When she got back, she asked again, "So what do we do?"
Brock stood up again, purposefully, saying, "We don't have much of a choice. We're going to have to go find Ash again. That means that we're going to have to go back to Pallet Town and get that Dimension Ball of Professor Oak's again."
Shawn and Misty stood up. "Well, what are we waiting for," Misty asked as she put on her knapsack, careful not to wake Togepi. "Let's get going!"
Suddenly, Nurse Joy burst back into the lobby, pulling a cart with three cots, blankets, and pillows. "Oh, no, you don't! You three just stop right there! Do you have any idea how late it is? It is way past your bedtime, that's for sure! You are all staying here for the night!" Already, she was setting out the cots in a corner out of the way.
Shawn, though, was eager to get going. "Please, Nurse Joy. We need to get going! You have no idea how important this is."
"I don't care how important it is," she said as she pushed him down on one of the cots, threw a blanket over him, then proceeded to do the same to Brock and Misty. "I take just as good a care of my trainers as I do my pokemon, and I won't have anyone running off in the middle of the night! Whatever it is, it can wait until morning when you've had a good night's sleep!" She went over to the doorway and put her hands on the light switch. "Good night, you three!"
"Good night, Nurse Joy," the three said resignedly.
* * *
In the next chapter of The Pokemon Master's Return:
Shawn has met up with Misty and Brock in the Pokemon dimension, and has found out the story behind Ash's strange double identity. Now, the three have agreed to go to Pallet Town and find a way to get to his dimension. What awaits them in Ash's hometown? Will they be able to find a way to the Digimon Dimension? If so, how will they convince T. K./Ash to help Shawn? Find out all this and more in Chapter 4 - Old Friends Reunite!
Sorry it took so long, people. Since starting this chapter, I've been tied up in finals and all of the other stuff that comes with the last year of high school. Hopefully, now that I've graduated, I'll be able to have more time to work on this stuff. Please forgive me for taking so long, and I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think.
Ninmast