Author's Note: Um, yeah .. Oddish is adorable. I want one :D
Disclaimer: Just in case you haven't realised it yet, here it is again: I don't own Pokémon.
Intuition
Chapter Three
By the time night was rolling in, the pink tinted sky becoming shadowed with blackness, Ash and Tracey were tackling the final, surprisingly challenging task of recalling all the Pokémon on the Corral. It was challenging in the sense that many of the Pokémon wanted to stay outside during the night, which, for safety reasons, was only allowed in shifts, and in their attempts to get what they wanted, an all out battle of wit and strategy ensued.
While some of the less reluctant Pokémon seemed at least willing to cooperate, and some even helped search for the run aways, Ash and Tracey were stuck doing the most of the work, each dragging around a sackful of Poké balls, and doing their utmost best to outsmart the surprisingly quick variety of Pokémon.
Needless to say, it was a long, exhausting job; one that Ash was beginning to feel sorry for Professor Oak having to do everyday. Though how he managed to do this each and every evening was beyond anything Ash could imagine.
The two worked at a fairly uneven pace, though slowly, but surely, each Pokémon was found and captured, until all that was left to find was a rather crafty Oddish. But thankfullt, it wasn't much longer until Tracey had eventually located it buried in the vegetable patch.
Once the weed Pokémon had finally been called back into it's Poké ball, Tracey let out a heavy sigh. "Okay, that's the last of them," he called over to the younger trainer, dropping the now occupied Poké ball into the sack.
Hearing this, Ash breathed out his own sigh of relief and slumped back against a nearby tree. "Finally," he huffed, Pikachu mimicking his actions against his leg. "How does Professor Oak do this everyday?"
"Pikaa .. " Came a call of agreement.
Heading back over to the raven haired trainer, Tracey hauled him back to his feet and replied with, "I guess having a Dragonite has it's advantages outside of battling."
Ash nodded slightly. "I guess so," he mused. It sounded reasonable enough. "When d'you think he's coming back?" He then asked.
Tracey paused for a moment as he thought about it, then shrugged. "Now that you mention it, he didn't really say. I was just doing some chores around the lab, when he suddenly ran straight past me, shouting that he was going to Cinnabar," he explained. "I didn't even get a chance to ask before he was gone."
The trainer frowned slightly. "It's kinda weird for Professor Oak to just run out like that. I mean, he usually says how long he's going away for."
Having led the way back to the lab, Tracey was now opening the door to the Poké ball room, Ash walking in behind him. "That's true, but I guess maybe he doesn't know," he said, dropping the sack on the floor and beginning to sort the Poké balls into their aqquired shelves. "After all, you can't really predict something like this, can you?"
Ash, now starting his half of the job at hand, shrugged. "I guess you can't." There was a slight pause before he added, "But it kinda makes you wonder why he went there in the first place."
Tracey turned around to face the younger. "What do you mean?" He inquired.
"It's just that he's a Professor," Ash explained, unknowingly abandoning his task to lean against the wall. "I mean, chances are there's already a lot of help with evacuations and everything, so I just don't know why he'd be in such a hurry to get there. And even with you here, it's also kinda strange that he just left his lab without much of a warning."
Humming a little as he thought this through, soon enough, Tracey came up with a conclusion. "Well, he didn't exactly say what he was going there for," he said. "So for all we know, he's doing something other than helping the residents move."
"Like what?"
Tracey shrugged. "Could be anything. But my guess is that he's trying to find out exactly what caused the eruption."
Ash tilted his head in mild confusion. "What caused it?" He repeated. "Don't those things just kinda .. explode?"
Choosing not to tease the younger on his choice of description, Tracey went on with his explaination, "Actually, it's very much possible to predict when a volcano can explode. There's various ways, but I'd say the easiest, and most common way is by monitoring any underground vibrations." By this point, he was copying the younger in leaning against the wall behind him. "Usually, you can get a fair warning to these kinds of things, but if you'd seen the news, they said that it was all pretty sudden. They barely had enough time to warn everyone."
"Whoa," was all Ash said in response to this.
Tracey nodded ever so slightly in return. "And they said that because it was so sudden, along with the minimal warning, they think that this may not have been a natural cause."
It took a moment for Ash to catch the implication. "You mean someone caused this?!" He yelped, jumping upright and startling Pikachu, who had been resting on his shoulder.
Seeing the younger's distress at the news, Tracey was quick to add, "They don't know for sure. At this point, it's still just a possibility."
Unfortunately, this did little to reassure Ash, who slumped back against the wall again. "It's still horrible," he said, after a moment of silence. "I mean, it's bad enough that all those people lost everything, but to think that someone actually caused all this .. "
When Ash trailed off, Tracey, feeling bad for his young friend, went over to him and placed a hand on his unoccupied shoulder. "Hey," he consoled, offering a small smile when Ash looked up at him, "I know it's a bad thing, but it could still be worse, right? Those people are still alive, and no one even got hurt."
Though Ash had long since realised this, it felt better to hear it from someone other than himself. "Yeah, you're right," he said, smiling in gratitude. "Things could always be worse, huh?"
Intuition
More or less half an hour later, when most of the Poké balls had been sorted into their correct locations, Ash was yawning with every other breath he took. As the trainer had been travelling for most of the day, and had recently spent the best part of the evening running after a wayward Oddish, Tracey decided he could finish up the rest of the job on his own, and insisted that Ash go home and get some rest.
Of course, this offer had been quickly accepted, and with Pikachu at his side, Ash said his goodbye and was on his way home.
Without the raven haired trainer around, the lab suddenly seemed oddly dark and quiet, almost to an eerie level, but Tracey decided that now he could finish sorting the Poké balls without any distractions. Though this was something easier said than done, as barely a few minutes later, he was alerted by the phone ringing, which cut through the settling silence quite violently.
He got up to answer it, following the ringing into the living room, and after pressing the call accept button, a familiar face instantly appeared on the screen.
"Oh, hey, Professor," the Pokémon Watcher greeted with a smile. "It's good to hear from you."
Professor Oak, though visibly tired, offered a smile of his own in return. "And you too, Tracey. How are things at the lab?" He inquired.
"The usual," Tracey informed. "Though you could have told me how hard it is to get the Pokémon to cooperate. It took me and Ash over an hour to find them all," he recalled in good humour.
The Professor rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh yes, I'm sorry about that. I suppose I wasn't really thinking about it at the time." He chuckled slightly, then asked, "And Ash is back? I didn't think he would be home so soon."
Tracey decided to fill him in, "Apparently, he's been travelling all day. He only got back to Vermillion this morning."
The elder raised an eyebrow. "My, my, he's never usually this eager to get home," he mused. "What's the occasion?"
Tracey just shrugged. "I guess he just wanted to get back," he guessed. "After all, he has been away for over a year."
"That sounds reasonable," the Professor continued. "Is he there now?"
Shaking his head in the negative, Tracey replied with, "No, he was pretty tired, so I told him to go home and rest."
"I can't say I'm surprised," the elder responded. "That Oddish wasn't giving you two trouble, was it? If it weren't for that one, I don't think recalling all the Pokémon would be nearly as hard. That little one gets the others all riled up."
Tracey laughed as he recalled the moment in which Ash had tried to sneak up on it from behind, only to dive head first into a mild Stun Spore. Thankfully, there was an antidote to it inside the lab, though Ash's wounded pride had only fueled his determination to catch the Grass and Poison type. "You guessed correctly, Professor," he confirmed. "It took about half an hour just to get that one."
"In the vegetables again?" Professor Oak asked, and Tracey nodded.
"Yeah, I think I would have missed it if it was with the carrots. But lucky for me it was with the pumpkins, so it wasn't hard to track down."
Chuckling slightly at this, Professor Oak responded, "Yes, I've had that problem more often than not." He sighed. "Well, in any case, I'm on my way back. Though I need to talk to you, Ash and his mother about something, and I think it's best if we all do it face to face rather than over the phone."
"Sure thing, Professor," Tracey replied. "Do you want me to call Delia and let her know? Ash should be home in a few minutes, so I could tell him, too."
There was a pause.
"A few minutes?" Professor Oak asked, then he looked worried. "Wait, when did Ash leave?"
Though confused at the sudden concern, Tracey looked at the clock on the wall, before answering with, "Uh .. about five minutes ago. Why .. ?" He trailed off once he saw how pale the Professor had become. " .. what's wrong?"
When the Professor suddenly shouted, in contrast to his usual speaking voice from only a few moments ago, Tracey almost fell out of his seat. "Does he have his Pokémon with him?" He urged.
Though stunned for a moment, Tracey managed to snap out of his state and utter a response, "Uh, yeah, I mean, he left most of them here, but he still has Pikachu with him."
Whatever colour had remained in the Professor's face was now gone. "Tracey, you have to go find him right now!" He snapped. "Go get him, stay together, and for Arceus' sake, no matter what happens, don't go anywhere without your Pokémon!"
Giving him no chance to reply, Professor Oak instantly ended the call, leaving Tracey frozen in shock. The Professor's outburst had shaken him, but not as much as what he'd said.
What on earth was that about? He wondered, before he suddenly realised what had been asked of him, and jumped to his feet, not bothering to end the call from his side.
He ran for the front door, but just as he was reaching for the handle, he skidded to a halt and hastily reached into his pockets. They were empty.
Cursing under his breath, Tracey ran back into the storeroom and quickly snatched up his Poké balls, before rushing back outside, throwing the door open and, in his panicked state, forgetting to shut it.
Though he didn't have a clue as to what was going on, as he ran as fast as his legs could move, there was only one thought in his mind.
Ash, whatever's going on, please be safe.
Intuition
A fair distance away, just arriving on the road where he lived, Ash was humming to himself as he kicked a stray rock into the ever increasing darkness. Before leaving the lab, Ash hadn't even noticed just how dark it was, but now, if it weren't for the flickering porch lights on the houses surrounding him, he wouldn't have been able to see his hands in front of his face.
Stretching his arms out behind him, Ash yawned loudly, after which his arms slumped to his sides. "I'm so tired, Pikachu," he murmured.
"Pikapi," the electric mouse cooed knowingly from his shoulder.
"I can't wait to just go to bed," he continued sleepily. "What about you?" He inquired, turning his head slightly to look at Pikachu.
But before the electric mouse could respond, his stomach grumbled loudly. And when Ash raised an eyebrow, Pikachu grinned sheepishly, hanging his head in embarassment.
Fortunately for him, Ash was admittedly far too tired to tease him about it. Even a little.
Before too long, Ash had pushed open the gate to his house, and was walking up the pathway leading to the front door. "Looks like the lights are off," he mused absent mindedly. "It's not that late, do you think mom went to bed early or something?"
Pikachu didn't respond, though his ears were twitching slightly as his trainer reached for the door handle.
As he did so, Ash realised instantly that something was wrong. Instead of twisting the handle and pushing the door open, the door simply swung forward slowly on it's hinges, from which it hung lopsidedly.
Both trainer and Pokémon stood staring at the door for a moment, confused at the state the door was in, before redirecting their gaze into the darkness of the house.
But is wasn't just dark. Everything was quiet.
Too quiet, Ash thought suspiciously, then leaned forward slightly and called out aloud, "Mom?"
Though his voice wasn't as loud as he would usually speak, in such deathly silence, it could have easily passed for shouting.
Even so, there was no answer.
Though his natural instinct was telling him to go and get help, Ash went against it, hesitantly stepping forward into his house, his heart starting to pick up it's pace, beating nervously in his chest.
All the while, from his trainer's shoulder, Pikachu's ears were twitching, trying to make out any sound, and his eyes were narrowed, squinting slightly to try and see in the pitch darkness. But it was pointless. Even his naturally enhanced senses couldn't pick up on anything.
Knowing this, without turning around, Ash reached for the wall behind him and traced the tips of his fingers across it to feel for the lightswitch. Since he wasn't looking - not that it would have made a difference - it took him a few moments to locate it, but as soon as he had, he flicked it on with a fluid motion.
But nothing happened. From what he could tell just by feeling it, Ash didn't think it was broken, but everything remained as dark as it had been. And knowing that the lights weren't working almost made everything seem darker, somehow.
Ash took a small, slow step forward, his foot barely leaving the floor, just in case something could trip him up, and called out in a louder voice, "Mom?"
Still, there was nothing. But just as he was about to call out once more in unison with another step, he felt something break beneath his shoe, sending a muffled 'plink' through the dark space, and catching both Ash and Pikachu off guard, making them jump slightly.
Hastily shuffling back a little, Ash stared down at where his foot had been, squinting a little to try and make it out in the black shadows, even though he knew it was pointless. "Hey, Pikachu?" He whispered, as though on some level he was worrying that speaking in his normal volume would somehow make things worse. "D'you think you could light things up a little?"
There was an instant "Pika" of confirmation, and after jumping off his trainer's shoulder, landing rather awkwardly on the ground due to being unable to see where it actually was, it was with a louder "Chuu!" that the room was momentarily lit up with a flickering sphere of light coming from the electric mouse at Ash's feet.
Though the sudden glimpse of the room was brief, it was enough to make Ash recoil in horror.
As another purposely mild charge of electricity lit the room enough to see everything in front of him, Ash felt as though his feet had been rooted to the ground, and his heart had jumped up into his throat. As he quivered slightly in disbelief, Ash slowly took in the scene before him. The living room that his mother, and Mimey had always been rather stern about keeping tidy, the very one that Ash had been standing in just a few hours previous, was now unrecognisable.
As he got brief, flickering glimpses of the room due to the continuin bolts of electricity, Ash's eyes managed to adjust themselves somewhat in the light, and soon enough, he could easily make out the scene in front of him. The coffee table, which had been placed in the center of the room, had been violently thrown across the room, having landed somewhere in the space to Ash's left, chipped and broken in two, while the sofas and armchairs had been brutally slashed about, laying in tatters all over the room. The carpet had been ripped up, and the wood floor underneath was badly scratched at, sharp edges sticking straight up in potentially lethal angles, almost like it had been done on purpose.
Everything Ash's gaze landed on had been horribly maimed, slashed, shattered, and utterly destroyed, but soon enough, he found himself staring at the far wall opposite to where he stood. While the others, though baring countless jagged slashes, and even several cracks and dents, that very one was barely even standing anymore, having been torn right through, and making what remained of the door framed competely unneccesary.
As his wide, sienna eyes fixed unwaveringly on the destruction, Ash hadn't noticed he was trembling until he heard how shaky his voice was. " .. Pikachu?" He asked quietly.
The electric mouse, who was panting a little from the constant stream of Thunderbolts, replied with a breathy, "Pika?" and looked up at his trainer, feeling emotions not disimilar to his.
Swallowing hard, all Ash managed to stutter out was, " .. wh .. what .. ?" before he felt something tugging insistently on his jeans. He looked down to see Pikachu, whom he could just about make out due to his bright colouring, holding something up to him, which Ash could only guess was a piece of paper.
Immediately taking it in his trembling fingers and holding it close to his face, Ash could only just see that it was actually a photograph. One that had been taken, as he remembered vividly, on the day he'd left for Sinnoh. In the photo was Ash, his mom, Pikachu, Tracey, and Professor Oak at the latter's lab. Though he quickly saw that in whatever had happened, the photo had been torn almost completely in two, and most disturbingly, the tear had ripped cleanly through Ash's neck.
Feeling as though the room had suddenly gotten several degrees colder, Ash hesitantly knelt down and brushed his fingers along the ground where something had broken. Several pieces of something sharp jabbed his thumb, and he soon found the shattered remains of a photo frame accompanying it.
Just as he'd figured that it was what was left of what he had accidently stepped on, a cold chill overcame him when he touched a puddle of something wet.
Ash brought his hand up to his face, but couldn't see what it was in the darkness. "Pikachu .. ?" He asked nervously, and following the unspoken request instantly, another Thunderbolt lit things up, allowing him to see red stains on his hand. And when he looked up, silently praying that what he feared was wrong, he felt something similar to a stab drive into his stomach.
The very same dark red colouring was splattered all across the floor, the wall .. and even worse, a long trail was smeared from where Ash was kneeling, leading through the wreck that was once his living room, and towards a crumbling pile of debris.
"Pi!"
The sudden cry making Ash jolt in surprise, the raven haired trainer was about to voice his shock, when he saw Pikachu rushing forward, following the trail of blood. Without a second thought, Ash followed the electric mouse as quickly as he could, while remaining cautious. Stumbling quite a lot over what was left of the floor, and even managing to cut his arms a few times on the sharp pieces of wood that seemed to appear out of nowhere, Ash eventually made his way to his Pokémon's side.
Whatever had caused Pikachu to run off was clearly causing the electric mouse a great deal of distress, as he pointed towards the pile of debris, while desperately trying to explain the situation in his Pika language.
"Pikachu, what's going on?" Ash almost hesitated to ask.
Pikachu, seeing no other way to get his point across, charged up another attack, and Ash briefly caught a glimpse of a thin, pale pink arm that could only belong to a Pokémon that Ash knew very well.
"Pikachu, help me move this!" He urged, already heaving at the loose wood and metal. And with Pikachu hurriedly assisting him, it wasn't long before they'd both uncovered a seemingly lifeless Mimey.
Everything seemed to freeze for several moments as Ash stared in horror at the image before him. Various injuried were scattered over Mimey's body, ranging from bruises, to cuts, to a deep cut down the side of his face, oozing blood that was congealing over that side of his body.
Pikachu was the one to break the sudden frozen state he and his trainer had entered. "Pi?" He called quietly, ever so slightly nudging Mimey's arm, then flinching back as the Psychic type let out a barely audible noise of unmistakable pain. "Pi?" He asked in worry.
Enough time passed for Ash and Pikachu believe that Mr. Mime was gone, but just as Ash was starting to tremble in grief, Pikachu's call was answered with a weak, "Mime .. ?"
Both trainer and Pokémon turning to look at him, they saw Mimey's eyelids fluttering slightly, before he managed to open them, his eyes unfocused and bloodshot. It made Ash's heart clench painfully. But just as he'd opened his mouth to say something, the obvious struck him hard like a rock in the face.
"Mom .. " He breathed shakily, just loud enough for Pikachu to hear.
Turning around, his ears twitching slightly, Pikachu murmured a worried, "Chuu .. "
Suddenly finding it hard to breathe, Ash managed to suck just enough breath to ask shakily, "Mimey?" When it became somewhat clear that Ash now held the Psychic type's wavering attention, he quickly asked, "Where's mom?"
Wincing as he strained himself to move, Mimey managed to lift a hand a little, and pointed at something behind Ash, before he slumped back down in exhaustion, his chest heaving as he panted heavily.
As his fear at the possibility overpowered everything else in his mind, there was no hesitation as Ash hurried off in the direction Mimey had pointed at, scrambling over the various hidden obstacles, and navigating his way through the darkness in an awkward, crouched position on all fours.
With Pikachu several steps ahead of him as he hastily shifted through the surrounding debris in a desperate search, both managing to recieve several cuts from the seemingly endless wreckage, the electric mouse suddenly came to an abrupt halt, his ears twitching as he looked from right to left.
Ash waited impatiently, until the sudden exclaimation of, "Pika!" followed by the electric mouse grabbing hold of his hand and indicating to the left, which from Ash's position, he assumed to be in the direction of the kitchen.
Allowing Pikachu to guide him as fast as the two of them could manage, it wasn't long before Ash found his hand coming into contact with something that he immediately knew wasn't part of the ruined interior of his house.
Grasping it lightly, he found that it was soft and luke warm, but it was only when Pikachu created another spark of light that he realised what it was. In an instant, Ash's sienna eyes widened in horror as he found himself staring at the bloodied, broken form of his mother.
His breath seemed to catch in his throat as he stared unwaveringly at the scene before him, and for the first time since stepping into the destroyed remains of his house, Ash was grateful for the darkness. If there was enough light to properly see what was in front of him, he feared it would take a heavy effect on his sanity. But even so, that wasn't enough for him to forget what had already burned itself into his mind in the short flash that illuminated the room.
Delia was slumped back against the now tattered kitchen counters, every visible inch of her skin scarred with deep cuts, blood staining her once white skin, which had now been brutally beaten into an unnatural shade of dark purple. Her clothes had been ripped, and from the way her arm was so sharply bent, Ash knew it was broken.
With tears gathering in his eyes, it was her face that shook Ash the most. Delia had always been very pretty, but her features were now so swollen and bloody, she was barely recognisable as the woman Ash had spoken to merely a few hours ago.
In the time following, nothing existed to Ash anymore. Nothing but the battered form hidden from sight before his very eyes.
" .. mom .. ?" Had it been any other situation, Ash would have shocked himself in hearing how weak and utterly broken his voice sounded right now.
He had barely been able to hope for a reply, a word of reassurance, even a groan of pain, anything, but the silence that followed his broken plea stabbed Ash with an emotion he couldn't recognise.
Shaking harshly from head to toe, and the tears in his eyes starting to blur his already wavering vision, Ash reached out with trembling fingers to brush some of the matted strands of hair from his mother's face, having to tug slightly to break them from the drying blood that had crusted over them. But still, she made no signs of life. Even if Pikachu had provided as much light as he could manage, there was no way Ash would have been able to tell if she was even breathing.
There had never been a moment in Ash's entire life in which he'd wanted to hold Delia close, he wanted just one indication, just something to put a rest to the suffocating fear that it wasn't over, that his mother wasn't dead, but there was a greater fear in his mind that if he ever touched her, he would inadvertantly make something worse. Aside from her arm, Ash could tell that she had to have at least several other broken bones.
Forcing back his yet to be heard sobs, Ash managed to whisper in a voice that was barely there, " .. mom?"
But once again, he recieved no reply
"Pika?" The electric mouse cried, tears overflowing in his own eyes, as he touched her seemingly unbroken arm as gently as he could manage. "Pikachu?"
Yet the ensuing seconds passed without another sound, and a feeling not unlike the one someone would get from falling overwhelmed Ash. But just as the tears began to roll down his cheeks, the faintest moan of pain snapped him back to reality.
"Pika!" Came a sharp, urgent cry from beside Ash, as Delia's eyes fluttered ever so slightly.
Ash held his breath, barely allowing himself to hope, and with both his heart thundering, and his lips quivering slightly, he dared to ask, "Mom?" once more, this time in a louder, but barely compelled voice.
The silence that was beginning to set in once more was cut short as Delia's eyes slowly opened more fully. They were as unfocused and bloodshot as Mimey's, but after a few, slow blinks, they found her son's though the darkness.
" .. Ash?" She whispered in a voice so quiet, she could have simply been breathing. If it hadn't been so eerily quiet, even Pikachu would have missed it.
Reaching out in a reflexively quick, yet still somewhat hesitant movement, Ash gently touched her hand. "Mom, what .. " He choked on a sob, then barely managed to muster enough breath to continue. " .. wh .. what happened?" By now, his voice was lower than a whisper, but Delia seemed to have caught it.
It was obvious even without seeing that Delia was using every ounce of energy that remained in her body just to form the words she wanted to say. Her eyes scrunched themselves shut for a moment as she managed to open her mouth, but the moment she reopened them, she froze, her expression one of remembering a horrifying realisation. And even though he could barely see it, it wasn't an action that went unmissed by her son.
"Mom, what is it?" He urged, subconsciously managing to restrain himself from gripping her arm righter. He could feel her shaking in fear.
" .. Ash .. " She forced out, her breathing becoming much more laboured and wheezy. " .. run .. !"
Several things happened in the next moment.
Before Ash could even open his mouth to respond, everything around him seemed to kick back into gear, as a screeching roar pierced through the dark silence, making every nerve in Ash's body scream in pure agony. His eardrums felt like they were being ripped into several pieces, but just as he was about to reach up to clamp his hands over his ears, something quickly wound itself around his waist, snatching him up in a tight hold, and pinning his arms to his sides.
As the yell of shock escaped his lips, through the tremendous roar, he heard the scared, shrill cry of "Pikapi!" before whatever was holding him threw him across the room. He collided with the far wall, and pain radiated sharply through his entire body as he fell to the ruined floor, his heart beating so hard and fast, Ash could have sworn it was trying to grind it's way through his ribs and right out of his chest.
He forced his eyes open, though he could see nothing through the darkness, that is, until the sharp snap of electricity blinded him momentarily, the sound in unison with a furious, "Pika .. chuuu!"
Unable to move even slightly without being mercilessly tortured by the pain shooting through him, Ash blinked furiously, unable to stop the uncontrollable wincing in the sudden bright light, but all he could see through his pain hazy vision was a pitch black mass, which seemed to emit a snarl before it lashed out at the source of the attack, snuffing out the light at the agonised cry of "Pika!"
It was only through a second, weaker crackle of electricity that Ash saw something small and yellow being thrown brutally across the room like he had just moments ago, only this time, the resounding thump indicating that Pikachu had struck the wall was accompanied by a sickening 'crack!'.
Suddenly regaining his ability to speak, Ash cried out in horror, "Pikachu!" as the form of his best friend collided with the floor, where he lay unmoving. In desperation, Ash tried to force himself to get up in an attempt to protect his fallen Pokémon, but as he tried, powering through the pain, he felt a harsh malevolent glare strike him, and it was with a terrifying realisation that the coldness freezing him to where he lay was the same one that had paralysed him at Professor Oak's lab.
No! He shouted mentally, as he was physically unable to do so. No, Pikachu! Dammit, please don't be dead! Please! Straining himself in every possible way to try and regain physical control of himself, despite knowing it was futile, tears flowed freely from Ash's eyes, as he silently pleaded, This can't be happening!
Ash had expected pain. He had assumed this was how he was going to meet his demise, but as the last of his energy burned away, a low, rumbling sound coming from somewhere in the darkness reached his ears, shaking him to his very core.
There was no pain, but what he was hearing now was something that only increased his fear. And it didn't take a genius to figure out what it was.
Laughter.
This .. this thing, whatever was in the room with him .. it was laughing at Ash's futile attempts to break free.
The revelation both scared, and angered him, but in any case, he couldn't bring himself to care. With every last scrap of strength left in his weakened body, Ash yelled with all he could manage, "Pikachu!"
Everything suddenly seemed to speed up. Ash's yell of desperation became mixed within another, though this was one of pain. A roar shattered his ability to hear, and the darkness around him was beginning to weigh down heavily onto him, forcing him down into an eternally black abyss.
Ash knew what this meant, and he knew he couldn't fight it, but even in his paralysed state, he tried. If he hadn't shouted out, maybe he would have had the energy to fight it, but as a powerful blast of orange light destroyed his ability to see anything, the darkness that surrounded Ash overwhelmed him entirely.
The last thing he remembered was the distant, desperate call of his name, before he was dragged down into the unending darkness.
Author's Note: Oh my .. that's not good, is it? Well, I did promise more action, so here you go. This was actually done yesterday, but it sounded way too derpy, so I rewrote it.
So .. if you like, please review. If you didn't, then by all means, go on with your life :)
