May a New Day Dawn Chapter 4
Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 4 of May a New Day Dawn. I'm happy to see that just two days after uploading chapter 3 I jumped up 200 views right away. It still blows me away just how many people have seen my work! Even if not all of them read every chapter. I just hope to keep writing and continue the story that I came up with. I would like to see a few more reviews than I have seen however… but hey… I can't exactly force you guys to review. It does help me see what you guys are thinking of the story though, so if you would be kind enough to just leave a few thoughts, I would really appreciate it. Any who… without further delay! CHAPTER FOUR!
P.S. I started putting lines in when the "perspective" changes, unless I already have a "meanwhile…"
P.S.S. I feel like I should clarify something. Normal text is either narration or human dialogue. Italics indicate thoughts, or Pokémon talking, while bold text is an author's note or something else.
Chapter 4: Family Matters
"Ok gang, status report!" The ever bossy voice of Jessie commanded. The three members of Team Rocket were huddled together beneath a tree, discussing the results of their scouting mission from last night.
"Well Meowth and I were able to locate the caped twerp last night, and he was sitting alone on some hill." James started "He seemed bothered by something too. We were about to jump him until the twerpette from Sinnoh came along and they started talking. They just sat there holing each other for a while until the twerp carried her back to the city." That last statement brought a cackle form Jessie
"Oh how sickeningly cute!" She laughed "It almost seems a crime to break up two young lovers! Too bad for them Team Rocket is just the criminal group to accomplish such a goal!"
"What about you Jess? Any luck scouting out the Pokemon Center?" James inquired
"Get this!" She started "You guys didn't see the only pair of lovebirds last night! The original twerp and the Hoenn girl are together too! They were talking and hugging in the Pokemon Center. This makes our plan that much better! We can kidnap their girlfriends, and force them to hand over their Pokemon for their return! It's all too easy!" She finished with a laugh. Meowth had yet to say anything, but he was quickly regretting helping James find Stephen on the hill.
"What am I gonna do?" Meowth thought to himself "Dese guys ain't da same Jessie and James I joined Team Rocket with all dose years ago. Nabbin' Pokemon is one ting… but people too?!"
"Meowth?" James' voice interrupted his thoughts
"Huh? What is it?" Meowth asked, caught off guard
"We need you to build us a machine to capture the twerpettes so our plan can be completed!" Jessie informed the talking feline. After Meowth hesitated for a moment, he agreed. Unbeknownst to the two humans, he had a plan.
Meanwhile…
"Where… where am I?" Stephen wondered to himself. He was in an area of complete blankness, white as far as the eye can see. Yet, he was standing on something. "Am I dreaming?" Stephen decided to test his theory and explore the area around him. After walking for what seemed like several minutes, he was losing any hope of finding out where he was. But suddenly, there was a figure in the distance, a human by the looks of it.
"Hey! You!" Stephen called, starting to jog towards the shape "Can you tell me where I am?" The figure stopped, and eventually turned towards Stephen, who felt his heart stop for a moment when he recognized the face
"Stephen?" The raven haired figure asked
"Ash?" Stephen replied "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing!" Ash responded "Were we teleported somewhere or something?"
"Beats me…" Stephen replied, scratching his head in bewilderment "Are we in some other dimension or something? Well… no matter… something must be going on for us to both be here in the same place."
"Maybe something brought us here then?" Ash proposed
"Or maybe someONE brought you two here!" A voice called out, seeming to echo over the whole landscape
"What was that?" Stephen called out to nobody in particular, drawing his sword in expectation of attack.
"I'm not sure… but it almost sounded familiar" Ash replied, searching for the source of the voice
"I should hope my voice would be familiar to you Ash. You and Stephen there helped to save my life after all." The voice responded
"Wait… could that voice be?" Stephen began
"It must be…" Ash continued. Suddenly, a flash of light appeared in front of the two trainers and a figure appeared. It was a giant quadrapedal Pokemon, mostly white in color. It had a long mane on the back of its head, and a golden belt along its waist. The Pokemon held itself with an air of importance, which is very fitting for what it has done.
"Arceus!" Ash exclaimed
"It was you we were hearing!" Stephen added, sheathing his blade
"It warms my heart to see you both doing so well for yourselves." Arceus told the two trainers, telepathically of course.
"It's great to see you too Arceus." Stephen responded, saluting the great Pokemon as a sign of respect
"How have you been?" Ash inquired the Alpha Pokemon
"I have been well. However, if I may bypass a few formalities, I have a message I must give the both of you." Arceus replied
"A message?" Ash started
"What do you mean?" Stephen finished. Suddenly, Arceus' eyes began to shine a brilliant green color.
"There is a great danger that is about to awaken in the land of unity." Arceus replied, sounding rather prophetic "The two that were once one must unite against their old self. Only the heroes of Auría(Ore-eye-a) and Psion(psy-on) can save unity from total collapse. However, they cannot accomplish this task by themselves; only joined by two who possess the eye of the sky can the heroes accomplish their journey." Arceus finished its prophecy and stood, awaiting the trainer's response.
"Land of unity… Auría and Psion… eyes of the sky… what could this all mean?" Stephen mumbled to himself "Wait… Psion? I've heard that before!" Stephen blurted, remembering the memory of his father's death
"We're here for you knight of Psion!" The voice said
"So… my father was a knight of Psion… what on earth is a Psion?" Stephen muttered
"You understand any of this Stephen?" Ash asked his companion
"Not much… but the word Psion sounds familiar." Stephen replied, getting a questioning look from Ash "I'll tell you later." With a nod, both trainers turned to face the God-like Pokemon before them.
"Is that the total of your message Arceus?" Ash asked
"It is." Arceus responded "I wish I could tell you both more, but not even I know the meaning of this message. There are higher powers than myself at work in the world it seems."
"Yeah prophecies tend to be like that." Stephen mumbled under his breath "Well we thank you for the message Arceus, and wish you safe travels in wherever you may go in the future." Stephen finished, with another salute
"It was nice seeing you again, even if we had to come to… uh… where are we exactly anyways?" Ash added
"We are in the combined conscience of you two." Arceus revealed "Or to put it simply, we are in the area where both of your dreams intersect."
"So we are dreaming!" Stephen blurted, happy that he was partially right
"Yes, but now that the message is delivered you two must awaken to resume your quest." Arceus stated
"How exactly are we supposed to just wake up?" Ash asked. He then noticed Arceus charging up some sort of attack. "And what are you doing?!"
"Isn't it obvious?" Arceus began, still charging up its Judgment attack "When someone dies in their dream, they wake up."
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Stephen started, raising his arms in a defensive posture "You're just gonna kill us!?"
"It's the only way to wake you two up." Arceus replied "Besides, it's just a dream. You won't actually feel anything."
"Well… that's true I suppose…" Stephen admitted
"STILL!" Ash blurted "I don't feel like dying today!" Sadly for our raven-haired friend, Arceus had just finished charging its attack.
"The time has come!" Arceus announced, shooting a bright beam into the sky "For the awakening!" The single beam rose and split into many more beams, all making their way towards out heroes, who could only stare as their "doom" approached. As the attack got closer and closer, the trainers couldn't help but enter defensive stances, out of reflex. Then there was a bright orange flash… followed by darkness.
"GAH!" Ash started, quickly rising from his bed. He was panting heavily, swearing he could still feel the shockwave from that attack. "Sheesh, couldn't Arceus think of a gentler way to wake someone up?" he thought to himself. Finally looking to his right, Ash noticed that Stephen was sitting up in his bed in a similar state, arms clung to himself tightly as if trying to convince himself that the attack wasn't real.
"You ok there Stephen?" Ash teased, trying to get under his friend's skin a little
"I could ask you the same thing Ash." Stephen retorted "You look just as shaken up as I am." Ash just chuckled.
"Well ya got me there. Come on, we might as well get out of bed now." Ash stated, climbing out of bed, careful not to disturb Pikachu, who was somehow still asleep despite their talking
"Right. You can go ahead and get exercising without me. I have some things to take care of." Stephen replied, rising from his own bed
"What do you mean by… things?" Ash inquired, thinking that these "things" might be connected to last night's incident.
"I'll tell you about them once I'm finished. Unless you happen to learn from someone else that is." Stephen cryptically replied. Ash simply shrugged it off, if his friend didn't want to tell him, then so be it. After the two trainers showered and got dressed, they grabbed a quick breakfast in the dining room of the Pokemon Center. It was pretty quiet with it still being 6 in the morning. After finishing their meals, Ash went off to get some training done, while Stephen stuck around the Pokemon Center. After a few minutes, he walked up to the video phones, hoping that the person he intended to call was awake by now.
"Hello?" The woman asked, wondering who could be calling her so early in the morning. "Oh, good morning Stephen!" Mrs. Ketchum greeted "What makes you call at such an early hour?"
"I… I have something to say… And I've been meaning to say this for 13 years." Stephen began, Delia's face growing more and more puzzled as he went on. "And it's that…I love you… mom." Stephen finally finished, smiling at the woman who raised him, and whom he finally acknowledged as his mother, adoptive or no.
"Stephen I… I've been waiting for so long to finally hear you say that." Delia smiled, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
"I know." Stephen replied "I just could never bring myself to use the word… mom… again after seeing what happened to my real parents." Stephen began, sounding a little gloomy, but he soon perked up "However, thanks to recent events, I can finally bring myself to call you my mother."
"Well I won't ask what happened." Delia began, not wanting to upset her second child "I'm just glad to finally have another son."
"Another son…" Stephen thought to himself, making him smile. "It feels nice… hearing someone say that… after so long. I won't keep you waiting mom, I just wanted to get that off my chest."
"Well thanks for calling sweetie… you've just made my entire day!" Delia informed the young trainer
"Happy I could help mom!" Stephen beamed "By the way… how's that Pecha Tree that I planted a few days ago doing?"
"Oh!" Delia exclaimed, having forgotten about the tree entirely "It's doing very well! I don't know how you did it, but it's growing into a young sapling now and should be fully grown in a week or so!"
"Glad to hear it!" Stephen smiled and mentally high-fived himself "But I have other business I have to attend to… you should be able to check what it is with Professor Oak in a few minutes! Bye mom!" And with that farewell, out brunette trainer hung up the phone. Taking a second to compose himself, Stephen stood up and went to the Nurse Joy at the front desk.
"I wonder what Stephen could have been talking about?" Delia asked herself as she sat at the kitchen table. "He did say I could find out from professor Oak in a few minutes… and it's been about 20 by now. Maybe I should give Samuel a call." After walking over to her video phone again, Delia dialed in the number for Pallet Town's local professor, and waited for him to answer.
"Ah good morning Delia!" The professor cheerily answered "What could you need on such a fine day?"
"Good morning Samuel!" Delia replied "I'm just wondering about Stephen… he gave me a call this morning and said that you could tell me what it was about."
"That's strange…" The professor mumbled "I haven't gotten a call from him today. I'll check a few things and get back to you in a moment." And at that he turned to his computer and began typing. After several dead ends, the professor had an idea "I wonder if he changed his trainer profile." He thought. After quickly looking up Stephen's trainer information, he smiled to himself. "Delia… you're going to want to see this."
"What is it Professor?" She asked. Her response was her screen changing from the call to Samuel's screen, showing Stephen's information. She spotted it right away… right next to where it said name.
Name: Stephen Ketchum
Stephen was outside the Pokemon Center, leaning against the wall. He felt happy… deep inside. He finally had a mother again, after so long. Well, she was always there. He just couldn't bring himself to seemingly abandon his birth mother. With a content sigh, Stephen straightened out to go back into the Pokemon center. There was still one small piece of business to take care of.
"I just hope Dawn likes these flowers." Stephen thought to himself, back in the room that he and Ash had rented last night. "I know that white tulips are her favorite but still… she may still be angry at me for being silent for three years… and then there's my little 'adventure' yesterday into the forest." Stephen chucked to himself "I wonder why she puts up with my antics sometimes." Approaching his bag, Stephen unzipped the slot he had placed the tulips in, and took them out. He then started weaving.
Dawn was standing on a bridge, watching the sunset. It was beautiful; the orange sky, and wide variety of color in the clouds, and the water reflecting it all. It was perfect…well… almost. She turned her head to the left to look at what made the moment truly perfect. Stephen was leaning against the railing, watching the sunset, his eyes a clear blue color. He had a content look on his face; free from all the worry and unease he had last night.
"It's beautiful… isn't it Stephen?" Dawn asked, now facing the sunset again
"It sure is. But I can think of something even better." Stephen replied, causing Dawn to look at him, already predicting his answer. Stephen turned towards her and smiled "This beautiful princess right here in front of me."
"That's really cheesy you know." Dawn teased, a light blush appearing on her face
"I only speak the truth my lady. All other beauties in the world pale in comparison to you!" Stephen ended by taking both of Dawn's hands into his own, making her blush darken. "Only one thing can make this scene truly perfect." Stephen nearly whispered, inching his face closer to Dawn's
"And what would that be?" Dawn asked, trying in vain to contain the excitement in her voice
"Wake up Dawn." Stephen said, but not in a voice of his own
"Eh? What kind of romantic saying is that?" She asked, confusion on her face
"Come on Dawn wake up already!" Stephen said again, now sounding awfully like—
Dawn's eyes opened to see May standing over her, shaking her awake.
"Dawn, come on! Wake up!" May repeated
"I'm up! I'm up! Dawn replied, wiping the sleep from her eyes "What on Earth was that dream about? Do I feel what I think I feel?"
"Earth to Dawn!" May interrupted her, waving one hand in front of Dawn's face "Come on snap out of it!"
"Oh! ... Uh… sorry!" Dawn stuttered, hoping that May didn't look too far into her zoning out
"Not quite awake yet?" May asked
"I guess not." Dawn replied, a tiny bit of embarrassment in her voice
"Soooo…~" May began, obviously readying something "What were ya dreamin' about?" Dawn quickly tried to hide the sudden color in her cheeks, but May spotted it "Was it about maybe…Steeeeepheeeeennnnn~?" May continued, making Dawn blush even more
"NO!" Dawn retorted, a bit too defensively
"Are you suuure~?" May asked, obviously enjoying teasing her friend "I mean you were muttering his name in your sleep." If possible, Dawn's blush got even darker.
"I WAS?!" Dawn squeaked, panic obvious in her voice
"Teehee Don't worry Dawn." May began with a wink "Your secret's safe with me!" Dawn didn't know if she should be relieved or worried, so she tried to play dumb.
"What secret?" She innocently asked
"Oh come on Dawn!" May responded "First you go and talk to Stephen last night, fall asleep in his arms, and then he carries you back here! Don't tell me that you thought nothing of that event!"
"I fell asleep?! In Stephen's…. arms?" That last word came out as barely a whisper
"Yup!" May winked again "It was so cute! Stephen carried you all the way back himself and even tucked you in!"
"He did?!" Dawn exclaimed in disbelief
"That's not all!" May continued "He even gave you a kiss on the cheek before leaving! I nearly teared up just watching it!"
"Stephen did all that for me? Even after I'm the one who brought up his parents?!" Dawn thought to herself
"Dawn?" May interrupted her thought once again
"Hmm?"
"What's your plan now? Are you and Stephen gonna start dating?" May inquired, eager to hear her friend's answer
"I-I…I uh…" Dawn stammered, unsure of what to do. Finally she settled into a black stare at the end of her bed "I don't know what to do now. How do I know for sure if he likes me or not?"
"Oh come on Dawn!" May argued "What more do you need? Actually… talk to me a little first. How do you feel about Stephen?"
"What do you mean?" Dawn asked "He's a great guy, an awesome friend and he's already done a lot for me."
"Yes but I mean what do you feel…" May began, pointing to her heart "In here?"
"I…I'm not too sure." Dawn replied, her face showing deep thought "Can you be more specific?"
"I mean this… Do you feel anything when you look at him? Do you want to be by his side a little more than anyone else? Or do you even want him to just take you in his arms and hold you?" May listed
"Well… uh… I do worry a lot about his safety." Dawn admitted "I don't know what I'd do if he got really hurt."
"Mmhmm… ok." May nodded "That's a start."
"Also…" Dawn continued "I feel like… I can trust him more. He seems like a really honest guy. And… I did dream about him tonight, I will admit that. He is rather handsome to boot." That last comment brought a giggle out of both girls.
"So are you gonna do anything about it?" May finally asked
"What could I do? I mean I doubt he feels the same way. He did spend three years with Ash you know, and he's as dense about love as a Ryhorn." Again, both girls giggled at the idea
"Well… I think I may have a few ideas!" May piped in, and soon she began her rant about winning a man's attention.
An hour later, everyone in the Center was awake and eating their breakfasts. Ash was back from his training and our whole gang was happily sitting at a table while the two girls ate. They were all talking about old times, recent events, their new experiences or what have you. Either way, the atmosphere was friendly and the world was right for our heroes.
Dawn decided to break the silence with a question, directed towards our favorite brunette Pokemon Trainer.
"So… hey… Stephen?" She began
"Hm?" He replied, shifting his gaze towards the blunette
"What is the cape you wear for? I've been meaning to ask you for a couple days now." Dawn finished
"Oh this thing?" Stephen started, turning his over his shoulder to look at his cape for a moment "It reminds me of my dream; for when I'm finished journeying though all the different regions." He finished proudly
"Dream? What would that be?" Dawn inquired. Stephen shifted his gaze to the window to his left, looking at the wind blowing though the leaves in the morning sun.
"I want to help people." He stated simply
"Help people?" Dawn edged him to continue
"Yeah." Stephen replied, returning his gaze to meet Dawn's "You remember all of the criminal organizations Ash and I have met? There's Team Rocket, Team Magma, Team Aqua, and even Team Galactic from Sinnoh! I'm sick of all of these people using Pokemon to fulfill their selfish dreams! So I finally want to find a way to fight back!" Stephen raised a determined fist at this point "I want to create an organization of my own: A people's defense force of sorts. We'd have agents all over, willing to stop these organizations dead in their tracks!" Stephen lowered his fist again and looked down at the table "I mean we were just lucky at this point to be in the regions when each of those criminals took action. Imagine what would've happened in Sinnoh if we weren't there to stop Team Galactic!" He paused, letting his friends imagine, and they didn't like the outcome. "Basically, I want to make an Order dedicated to help those who can't help themselves, for the good of our world!" Stephen finished by looking up, a twinkle in his eye at stating his dream to his friends. They all simply looked at him, smiling at his noble dream. Not many can take it upon themselves to try to rid the world of evil.
"And here I just thought it was to make yourself look a bit more dashing!" Dawn teased, winking at Stephen, causing his face to flush a little.
"We—I—uh…" Stephen stammered, unable to think of anything to say. "How the heck did she do that?!" He thought to himself "She just winks at me, and my mind just melts! Here I am going on a long rant about my dream and a simple wink makes me unable to even talk correctly! I hope this doesn't become a constant thing!" However, Dawn had takes note of the young man's blush and had thoughts of her own.
"So May was right then! He blushed!" Dawn thought excitedly "Maybe he does feel something in return! I don't want to scare him though… so maybe I should follow May's advice and give him small hints at first." Ash interrupted the thought session with a suggestion
"Well maybe we should get moving soon guys." He stated "We should go find that new Route that Kyle told us about and I wanna reach Pewter City as soon as possible."
"Yeah that sounds good!" Stephen voiced, glad to be past that awkward wink from Dawn, and even happier to be able to speak again "I'll go grab my stuff." And at that he rose, leaving to pack his bag for traveling.
"I guess I'll go too. You girls finish eating and we can leave in a half hour or so alright?" Ash said, also rising from the table
"Ok! We'll be done eating soon anyways and be all set to go!" May happily chimed
"Alright we'll meet you out front whenever you're ready!" Ash said over his shoulder, walking after Stephen to their shared room. Once the auburn-eyed boy was out of range, May turned towards Dawn with a twinkle in her eyes.
"So I take it you noticed his blush too?" She asked, knowing Dawn would understand. Dawn simply nodded with a smile
"Yup! It looks like you may be right!" Dawn nearly squealed "But I don't want him to be too freaked out so I'll take it at my own pace alright?"
"Ok well try to not have too much fun." May replied with a wink, happy to see her friend in such good spirits "So what do you say we go get ready? We don't wanna keep the boys waiting on us now do we?"
"No need to worry!" Dawn said, rising from her seat "It doesn't take us THAT long to get ready." Once they brought their plates to the counter, the two girls walked to their room, unaware that they were being watched. Two people in trench coats were in the corner, seemingly doing nothing of note. However, they were watching, and waiting. One of them was much shorter than the other, and once the girls were out of sight, the taller of the two raised his hand to his mouth, a small device in his hand.
"Jess the twerps are going to meet up in front of the Center. Get ready." The male's voice said
"Roger that." The device replied, and then was silent. The two figures rose and left the Center, unnoticed by everyone in the lunch room.
"So what were you gonna call that Order of yours Stephen?" Ash asked, checking his backpack for all of the essentials needed for travel
"Well I haven't decided on a name yet." Stephen honestly replied, kneeling in front of his own bag at the foot of his bed "I was thinking of 'The Paladins of Steel.' What do ya think?"
"Paladins of Steel, huh?" Ash mused "Sounds like as a good a name as any." He finished by strapping his backpack onto his back, and waking up Pikachu, who had been asleep the whole morning. "Hey wake up Pikachu, we've got a big day ahead of us."
"Pika?" Pikachu mumbled, unused to sleeping in so late. He sleepily rose and looked at Ash, awaiting something.
"Yeah we're all set to head out." Ash told his companion "And don't worry about your breakfast; I've got some berries for you to eat." Ash finished, holding out some Sitrus berries.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu happily squeaked, taking a berry and jumping onto Ash's shoulder, munching away.
"You all set Stephen?" Ash asked, turning to his friend
"Yeah except for one thing…" Stephen replied; his back turned to Ash "I can't seem to find my PokéDex."
"Really?!" Ash exclaimed, disbelief in his voice "How could you lose it?"
"I'm not sure." Stephen responded, trying to hide the slyness in his voice, his plan working perfectly. "Maybe it slid under one of the beds or something?" He mused, turning around at last "You check under your bed and I'll look under mine."
"Ok, well I hope you're right." Ash replied, getting onto the floor to look under his bed. Much to his surprise, he immediately saw Stephen's PokéDex under his bed, turned on too! He grabbed it and brought it close, only to stop when he saw what was on the screen. Standing up, he could only manage to turn towards Stephen, who was standing with an ear-to-ear grin.
"Oh!" Stephen exclaimed in mock surprise "So it DID slide under a bed! Thanks for finding it." He began walking towards Ash to take his PokéDex back only to have Ash stop him, showing the screen to Stephen, which showed his basic record… and his name.
"When did you change this?" Ash asked, trying to hide the shock that clung to him
"Just this morning." Stephen replied "Mom was the first to find out… besides Professor Oak I suppose." Ash flinched when he heard Stephen say "mom", not used to hearing it from his friend…no…brother.
"So what made you change your mind?" Ash asked again, finally handing the PokéDex to Stephen
"Well nothing really." Stephen responded honestly "Just after last night, I realized that I can't keep clinging on the memory of… my real parents. Furthermore, you—our mom did technically adopt me. So she's my mother now too. I could just never bring myself to say it." Stephen finished with a smile towards his "new" brother, who simply smiled back. "Bro-hug?" Stephen offered, opening his arms. Chuckling to himself, still a little stunned about this revelation, Ash responded to his brother's offer and gave him a warm hug. (A.N. Ash and Stephen are from this point onwards officially brothers. So if they address each other as such, you'll understand now.)
The two finally released from their brotherly embrace and left the room, eager to resume their journey. The two returned their key to Nurse Joy, thanking her for the room, and left to wait for the girls in front of the Pokémon Center. After a few minutes, the girls appeared all set and ready to go. The gang was ready for more fun times, but sadly it wasn't to be. Suddenly, as the gang took their first steps, they were surrounded in a cloud of thick black smoke.
"What's the meaning of this?" Stephen demanded, coughing at the lack of clean air. His answer was the feeling of thousands of volts coursing through his body as he could only yell in pain. Ash took a step to help him, but was soon in the same situation, both unable to move.
"Ash!" May yelled, only to be cut off as a giant hand came out of nowhere and grabbed her, pulling her away from the group as she screamed in sudden fear of what was happening
"May! Stephen!" Dawn also yelled, but was then cut off as another hand came and grabbed her, pulling her away into the smoke. After she vanished, the electricity finally stopped attacking our two trainers, who fell to their knees in pain.
"Who are you?" Ash yelled into the smoke, which suddenly started clearing, thanks to what was revealed as a Dustox using Gust. Beside the Dustox was a giant Golem robot. Its eyes could be looked through to reveal two people piloting the mech. From two plates in the mech's back, two giant hands could be seen, holding on to the two struggling girls.
"Listen is that a twerp I hear?" an all too familiar woman's voice began
"He speaks to me loud and clear!" another male voice replied
"On the wind!"
"Past the stars!"
"In your ear!" a monotone voice joined in
"We bring chaos at a breakneck pace!"
"Dashing all hope putting fear in its place!"
"A rose by any other name's just as sweet!"
"When everything's worse our work is complete!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Meowth…"
"Putting you do-gooders in your place!"
"We're Team Rocket!"
"In your face!"
"Wobbuffet!" A fourth voice added
"What the hell do you guys want?" Stephen demanded, slowly rising to his feet
"Just leave us alone for once!" Ash added, also rising
"I'm afraid we can't do that twerps!" Jessie replied with a smirk "You see, since we've been so nice to simply ask for your Pokémon in the past only to be met with refusal, we've decided to take different measures."
"Either you give us all of your strong and rare Pokémon by tomorrow at midnight…" James began haughtily "Or you never see your girlfriends again!"
"Or" Stephen interrupted, reaching towards a Pokéball on his belt "We can simply take them back right now!"
"That's right!" Ash added, then looked to Pikachu who was beside him "Pikachu use Thunderbolt!"
"Piiikaaaaa—" Pikachu began, as it charged its attack, only to be interrupted by Stephen
"Stop!" He shouted, throwing his hand out "You'll his Dawn and May if you shock the robot like that!"
"Pika?" Pikachu questioned, cancelling the Thunderbolt as Jessie cackled at our heroes' misfortune.
"The twerp in the cape catches on quickly." She taunted "Now, come to the edge of Viridian Forest by midnight tomorrow and we just might let these two go. But before we leave…" She trailed off, turning towards James on her left. "If you would please James. Give them a little… motivation to find us."
"With pleasure!" James responded, typing on the robot's command console. Within a second, the mech's mouth opened, revealing several teeth that had electricity flowing between them. "Time to make sure the lesson sticks!" James shouted, slamming his fist down on a big red button. As he did, the electricity intensified and suddenly shot out on two arcs, one towards each of the two male trainers. Before either of them could react, they were hit once again with the intense voltage, each crying out in pain.
"Ash!" May called out
"Stephen!" Dawn called at the same time. After a few seconds, the electricity stopped, and each trainer fell once again to one knee, smoking slightly from the recent attack. Ash and Stephen slowly raised their heads to weakly glare at the criminals who held their friends hostage, but within moments, both of them passed out from their injuries.
"Wait Jess… why don't we just take their Pokémon now while the two of them are knocked out?" James inquired, realizing the situation before him. However, right as he finished talking, several police cars and their wailing sirens could be seen driving toward the mech from the distance.
"Does that answer your question?" Jessie retorted "Now come on, we have to get out of here!"
"I'm already on it!" James replied, typing away at the keyboard once more. At once, the arms holding the two girls retracted into the robot's hull and the hatches closed behind them. The Golem's arms and legs also did the same, along with the head. Then, much like the actually thing, the Golem quickly rolled away into the distance, crushing anything that tried to stop it. Police and Pokémon alike were no match for the tough hull, and Team Rocket quickly escaped, Dawn and May still captives. However, in all the commotion, nobody had noticed a small figure hop out of the Golem as it was folding up, as it quickly dashed into an alley and out of sight.
"Drat they got away." Officer Jenny sighed, watching the Golem robot roll off into the distance, her fellow officers tossed and bowled out of its path. Cars had been crushed and buildings dented, but amazingly nobody had been seriously injured. "Guess I'll need to call HQ about this one and get a warning out." She assessed, reaching for the radio on her shoulder, when she noticed two young trainers unconscious in front of the Pokémon Center. One had a Pikachu trying to wake him up, but to no avail. "I guess they'll need help too." Jenny sighed again and began radioing for help.
Stephen woke to find himself lying on his back in a hospital bed. Quickly squinting for a moment to let his eyes adjust, he slowly rose and took in his surroundings. It was definitely a hospital room, odd machines here and there making their typical odd machine noises. There was a window to his right overlooking a courtyard, where a handful of people were sitting and relaxing, some with nurses to help in their respective recoveries. On his left was another bed, holding the raven haired man who Stephen had recently accepted as his brother accompanied by his faithful yellow Pokémon asleep at his feet. Wondering why he could be in a hospital bed, as he wasn't really sore anywhere, Stephen decided to see if Ash could enlighten him.
"Hey Ash you alright?" He called, trying to rouse the guy. His answer was having Ash simply roll over, turning his back to our caped hero, and resuming his slumber. Chuckling to himself, Stephen rolled onto his back and tried to remember what had happened to result in his hospitalization.
"I remember that we were at a Pokémon Center. Then I called Mrs. Ket… mom… and told her about my name change. Then we were in the cafeteria eating until Ash and I went to pack our things up…. And then… and then….. nothing. I can't remember!" Stephen finished with a hint of worry in his thoughts. "Ok just shut up and think." At this, Stephen rose and entered a pose much like the one Ash took to channel his Aura. Taking deep breaths to calm himself, Stephen resumed his thought process. "Ok so we were going to continue on our path to Pewter City… but something stopped us. Something… attacked us." Stephen recalled, the memory starting to reform. "Something… or… SOMEONE! Team Rocket! They took Dawn and May!" At the last thought, Stephen's eyes snapped open to reveal that his eyes were a deep shade of violet. He needed to act… now."ASH!" Stephen nearly yelled, turning his head to face his brother. His response this time was to see Ash sleepily rise from his sleep
"What's wrong?" Ash muttered, sleep still trying to cling to his voice "And where are we?"
"We're in a hospital." Stephen quickly explained, rising from his bed to gather his belongings, which had been placed at the foot of his bed "We have a problem though Ash… a big problem."
"What happened?" Ash asked, quickly rising from his bed, waking Pikachu in the process.
"Team Rocket attacked us in front of the Pokemon Center!" Stephen informed him, earning a shocked gasp from the raven-haired man. "They took Dawn and May and are demanding our Pokémon in return for their safety."
"They did what?!" Ash yelled "How could they do that?"
"I don't know… but I don't really care at the moment." Stephen answered, frustration in his voice "We need to get the girls back first."
"Well how do you propose we save them then?" Ask asked, unsure himself of how to save the girls. At this moment, a new voice emanated from underneath Ash's bed, startling both of the trainers.
"I tink I can help you get your goils back." A voice stated, as a white cat crawled out from underneath Ash's bed.
"Meowth?!" Both trainers exclaimed, shocked to see their long time enemy in their hospital room.
"What are you doing here?" Ash asked, once he had regained his composure
"I just said." Meowth replied "I want to help yous two."
"Why?" Stephen inquired, causing Meowth to look down with a forlorn expression on his fac
"Well it's a long story… but I'll give ya a summery. Jessie and James have changed since yous two vanished from da scene three years a-go." Meowth informed the two, who listened intently "Dey've actually had some success in missions after we couln't track ya down to go after dat Pikachu you've got up dere." Meowth pointed at Pikachu for a moment before continuing "And dey've gotten more… brutal too. Dey'd hurt da Pokémon we'd capture more and more stopping just short of pure torture!" Meowth shuddered "Well as a Pokémon myself I was pretty shook up by it. But now dey've been nabbin' people as well when dey can't nab the Pokémon! Da last straw was when dey took dose two goils of yours, when we already had a different mission. I'm worried about dem, 'cuz Jessie and James might seriously hurt 'em." The last sentence set Stephen's mind racing.
"They've been doing what while we were gone?! Hurting People, torturing Pokémon, kidnapping?! Is this for real?" Stephen thought, horrified at how much Team Rocket had changed in three short years.
"No offence Meowth… but…" Ash began, casting an accusing glance at Meowth before continuing "Are we supposed to just trust you now? Especially after all of the times you pretended to change and just stabbed us in the back!" Meowth was flinching at every word Ash said, knowing he was right
"Look I'm tryin' to help you out here!" Meowth argued, getting defensive "You do want to get your goilfriends back don'tcha?"
"One… they're not our girlfriends. Two: Of course we want to get them back! I just don't think we can trust you!" Ash argued, his voice getting a little louder. The argument would have continued, but Stephen decided to chime in with a plan.
"I think I have an idea." Stephen suddenly chimed in, having said nothing during the argument. He reached into his bag and took out a spare Pokéball and held it out, kneeling in front of Meowth. "I know you don't like these, but I think it's the only way I could trust you Meowth. If I caught you, then I could have a much easier time managing you, and keep you in line. Would you agree to being caught in order to stop your former teammates then?" Stephen concluded. Meowth thought for several seconds. It was true that he didn't like being inside of Pokéballs, and he saw Stephen's point that being caught would "keep him in line".
"Alright you can catch me." Meowth agreed "I know I did a lotta wrongs to you guys and I'm willin' to try and make it up to ya."
"Then we're at an agreement then!" Stephen happily noted, lightly tapping Meowth on the forehead, and sucking him into the Pokéball which didn't even shake once before clicking shut, confirming the capture. However, the ball then shrunk and the center button glowed red and refused to do anything else, much to our heroes' dismay.
"Aw man we forgot about that we can only carry six Pokémon at a time!" Ash cried out, frustration of the new problem beginning to show in his voice. Stephen simply rose and looked his brother in the eyes, raising an eyebrow.
"We forgot?" He joked "I knew this would happen Ash. And… I know how to deal with this little problem too!"
"And just how do you get around having only six Pokémon?" Ash inquired, curious about the supposed loophole
"Allow me to show you." Stephen replied, striding over to the door, a confused Ash following him. The duo walked to the main lobby, checked themselves out of the hospital since they had both recovered quite quickly from the attack. Heading outside, the two realized that it was pretty late in the afternoon, meaning they had been out for a few hours. Walking to the Pokémon Center, they both walked up to the phone booths. After sitting down and dialing in Professor Oak's number, they awaited the professor to answer the phone. After a few rings, the professor picked up the phone with his usual cheeriness.
"Why hello boys!" He greeted "What can I do for you today?"
"Hi professor!" Stephen chimed "I need a bit of help." He then raised Meowth's Pokéball "I just captured a new Pokémon and I need to take him with me. However, I don't want to send one of my usual team members back to the lab. I know this is a bit unusual, but can you override the Pokéball so that it gets sent to your lab but my new team member stays here?"
"Hm… that is an unusual request." The Professor mused "You know that Pokéballs function the way they do to stop trainers from overloading themselves with too many Pokémon correct?"
"Yes I know." Stephen replied, a bit curtly "But there's an emergency Professor and I really need this new team member."
"What's the problem?" Oak inquired, curious as to what could set the trainer off. It was then that he noticed something odd about Stephen. His eyes were violet. However, as much as it startled the professor at first, there was a bigger problem at hand, and decided to push the obvious question for a later date.
"Dawn and May were kidnapped!" Stephen stated "And this new Pokémon of mine will help greatly in saving them. However, I might need any of my normal team and I just want to have all of them in case of an emergency."
"Alright; I trust you. Just set the Pokéball down on the transfer machine beside the phone booths here and I'll take care of the rest."
"Right. Thanks Professor!" Stephen thanked, rising to go to the transfer machine. While he was turning the machine on so it cold boot up, Professor Oak turned to Ash.
"So just who kidnapped your friends Ash?" He asked, wondering who would stoop so low. Ash hesitated for a moment before answering.
"It was Team Rocket." He solemnly replied, earning a gasp from the professor.
"Is it the same three that I'm thinking about?" Samuel asked, knowing that Ash had been tormented for years by the same members of Team Rocket.
"Well… yes and no." Ash replied, wondering how to explain Stephen's new capture. "You'll see for yourself in a minute." In the meantime, the transfer machine had booted up and Stephen had placed Meowth's Pokéball onto the device. Walking back over to the phone, Stephen resumed his seat and informed the professor of his request.
"Ok Professor" Stephen began "If you can, can you somehow make it so the new Pokéball opens, but is then sent to your lab at the same time? It should make it so I can have all 7 of my Pokémon on me at the same time then. "Professor Oak considered the young man's request, it was decently thought out for someone so young. Finally nodding, the professor agreed to Stephen's request.
"Just give me a moment to enter the proper coding." Oak instructed, walking off screen to his computer. After a minute or so the transfer machine began to buzz to life, as the Pokéball glowed white. Just as it looked like it was about to vanish, it popped open and Meowth came out in a flash of white light, matching the Pokéball as it vanished to the lab in Pallet town. After looking around for a moment, Meowth realized he was in the Pokémon Center form earlier and calmly walked over to where Stephen and Ash were sitting in front of the video phone, just as Professor Oak reappeared to check if the plan worked.
"Yeah it worked just as planned Professor. Thanks a lot for helping!" Stephen informed the professor, as Meowth hopped up onto the counter in front of the phone.
"Stephen…" Oak began, his tone serious "Is that the same Meowth that I think it is?"
"Yes… he is." Stephen simply replied, glancing at Meowth "He wants to help us get Dawn and May back, and he agreed to let me capture him. He may have a dark past, but I know I can trust him." Meowth looked at Stephen with a shock expression at this point "If he can help us get the girls back then I don't care about his past. However, we have to get moving Professor. Team Rocket only gave us so long to give in to their demands before… consequences occur."
"Then go lad." Oak instructed "Save your friends. You have your Pokémon with you, and a new ally to assist your search. Good luck!" And with that closing statement, the phone screen went black as the call was ended. Ash and Stephen rose, ready to begin their rescue mission… when they encountered a problem.
"So uh… where were we supposed to go for the ransom?" Ash asked, dearly hoping that Stephen had the answer
"I…I'm not sure." Stephen solemnly admitted. "That attack Team Rocket used on us with that… Golem robot seemed to have messed with my memory." Stephen concluded mentally "So how the hell are we supposed to find the girls now?!" Fortunately for our hero, his new companion would already be set to save the day.
"We have ta go to da edge of Viridan Forest." Meowth informed the duo "I uh…I helped da two plan dere whole scheme from da start. Dey'll be waitin' for you though. Yous two might want to be prepared for a fight if ya want your goils back."
"Well then let's get a move on!" Stephen impatiently barked, quickly striding out of the Pokémon Center, earning concerned looks from Ash and the two Pokémon with him.
"What's his problem?" Meowth asked Pikachu, who was standing next to him at Ash's feet
"Pika pi Pikachu kachu chupi!" Pikachu explained to his new companion, who nodded in response
"So the caped twe—I mean Stephen has been actin' a little off since yous two hooked up with dem coordinators again huh?" Meowth rephrased, as Pikachu confirmed his answer with a nod. "Does dat explain why his eyes turned poiple den?" Pikachu shook his head at this question, and got to explaining
"Pikachu chu pi Pika!" Pikachu explained, as much as it knew anyways, earning a shocked expression from Meowth
"He can talk to Pokémon?" Meowth asked, earning yet another nod from Pikachu. Meowth was thinking for a moment, before he realized something odd about this explanation. "But hold on one second… He wasn't talkin' to no Pokémon at da time he called dat professor guy! Why would his eyes be purple den?" He asked Pikachu, who shrugged in response.
"Pika Pikachu chuchupika." Pikachu suggested, making Meowth think for a moment before he himself shrugged.
"Yeah I guess you got a point." Meowth admitted "I could just ask 'em myself once dis is all over."
"Speaking of which…" Ash began, having heard the entire conversation "We should probably get moving. Stephen seems pretty worked up and I don't want him to get hurt because he charged in without us." The two Pokémon nodded and accompanied the raven haired man as the three of them followed Stephen outside. After several minutes, they were walking towards the route when Stephen suddenly stopped.
"What's up Stephen?" Ash inquired, curious about the sudden stop
"Well we should probably think of a plan first. If what Meowth said was right, they could hurt the girls if we make one false move." Stephen said
"Good point." Ash replied "So what's your plan?" Stephen just looked down at this point
"I don't have one." He eventually stated, sadness evident in his voice. However, someone in the group DID have an idea!
"I tink I have a plan dat'll help ya out." Meowth suggested, causing all eyes on the group to congregate to him. "Jessie and James are probably expectin' you to try to resist dere plan. So, if just one of yous acts as like you came alone and gave up, den da odder can get around 'em and free the goils while dey're distracted!" Ash and Stephen both adopted faces of deep thought for a minute or two before they both looked at each other and nodded.
"Ok that sounds like a good plan to me!" Stephen added
"And I'll be the bait!" Ash suggested, only to be interrupted by Stephen
"No… I'LL be the bait!" Stephen retorted
"Why you?"
"Because even if they take my Pokémon away from me…" Stephen adjusted the sword at his hip for a moment "I'll still have a weapon."
"You forget that I have my Aura!"
"And YOU'RE forgetting that you're still in training! And… You need to concentrate to use your Aura!"
"Yeah?! Well…Well…. Oh fine!" Unable to think of an excuse, Ash threw up his hands in surrender and allowed Stephen to act as the bait for the rescue operation. The group then turned once again to face Meowth.
"Anything else about the rescue that we should know?" Stephen asked, eager to get on with the mission
"No I don't tink so." Meowth replied, scratching his chin in thought.
"Actually… I should probably tell my Pokémon about this plan. If they're going to be put at risk, they should have every right to voice their opinion about participating or not." Stephen stated, reaching for his Pokéballs. Meowth simply stared at him for a moment. He wasn't used to seeing a trainer care about the opinions of their Pokémon before. Jessie and James had hardly cared much for what Meowth did and didn't want. After Stephen released his Pokémon, who immediately sensed the unease of their trainer, he told them about the kidnapping and the rescue plan. As expected, none of Stephen's Pokémon were afraid of the risk. They've been through too much with their trainer to back out now.
"Thanks you guys." Stephen smiled, and then returned all of his Pokémon to their respective Pokéballs, except Meowth of course.
"Ok so we all know the plan?" Ash asked the group, getting nods from the rest. "Then let's go get May and Dawn back!" He called, resuming the pace towards the entrance of Viridian Forest.
"So Jess… Do you think the twerps will really take us up on our offer?" James asked his teammate as they both sat in a forest clearing. Dawn and May were both constricted by Seviper and Arbok respectively. All of their other former Pokémon were there as well. Carnivine was hanging from a tree limb, joined by Victreebell. Chimecho was floating above the group, ready to make noise at any sign of an intruder. Dustox and Yanmega were flying above the trees nearby also ready to intercept anyone brave or stupid enough to try to sneak up on the criminals. Cacnea was sitting by James, ready to block any sneak attacks that got through the defences, and Wheezing was floating around, looking for any opening in the lines.
"Of course they will. They're twerps after all." Jessie retorted, amusement in her voice "They're probably all bent out of shape right now as to how they're gonna save their precious girlfriends!" At this thought, Jessie cackled out loud for a few seconds, making her two captives glare at her. Then they turned their heads towards each other as much as they could, limited thanks to being tied up b the two serpentine Pokémon.
"Hey Dawn how do you think we're gonna get out of here?" May whispered
"I'm not sure. I can't move at all!" Dawn whispered back
"So we're just gonna have to wait for the boys to come and save us then?"
"As much as I hate to say it… it looks like it." Dawn said, as her head drooped, unfortunately, James had seen the two girls' exchange.
"Hey!" He shouted angrily "No talking! Seviper! Arbok! Separate the two!"
"Seviper nodded to Arbok, as the two slithered to opposite ends of the clearing, so that the girls could no longer talk to each other. After a few minutes of silence, Both Yanmega and Dustox started making some noise, followed by Chimecho warning the two criminals of an approaching trainer. Both members of Team Rocket rose and faced the direction it seemed the trainer was coming from. After a moment, Stephen emerged from a rustling bush, only to be met with several intense glares from both Rockets and their Pokémon. Seviper was at the far left of Stephen's field of Vision, while Arbok was at the far right. Jessie and ames were right in the middle, arrogance oozing from their stances.
"So twerp" Jessie mocked "Ready to hand over your Pokémon to get your girlfriend back?" Both Dawn and May gasped at the thought; Stephen and Ash both never gave up! This couldn't be real!
"Yes." Was all Stephen would say in reply, drawing another round of shocked looks from the two girls
"Stephen you can't be serious!" Dawn shouted
"Don't give into these crooks!" May followed, making James turn and snap at the two of them
"That's enough out of you two? Am I going to have to tell your restraints to punish you?" He threatened, causing May to shy away but Dawn remained unfazed.
"Stephen don't you even think of handing your Pokémon over! Just knock their Pokémon out and set us free!" She called, trying to knock Stephen out of his apparent state of surrender. James, however, was having none of it.
"Don't say I didn't warn you girl! Seviper! Shut her up!" James commanded with a wave of his hand. Seviper nodded and then proceeded to constrict itself tighter, causing Dawn to scream out in pain.
"ENOUGH!" Stephen shouted, unable to bear the sight of Dawn in pain. His hands were clenched into tight fists and his mouth had curled into a snarl. "JUST LET HER GO YOU BASTARDS!"
"Ohh~" Jessie taunted "The twerp's a little upset! What's the matter dear? Don't like it when we hurt your lover?" Stephen simply glared at the red haired woman, murder in his eyes.
"Those fucking bastards!" He thought mentally "How dare they just treat her like this! If they so much as dare to hurt her again I'll…I'll…"
"KILL THEM!" a new voice boomed from the confines of Stephen's mind, causing him to start a little from the shock "KILL THEM ALL!"
"Who the hell are you?" He thought, trying to figure out if he was hearing a psychic Pokémon or something.
"BURN EVERYTHING! DESTROY THEM ALL!" The voice droned on. It almost sounded like a man in his late thirties. It was a harsh voice, violence in its tone… if that was possible.
"Look, I don't know who you are but I don't have time for this right now!" Stephen yelled at the voice
"You want to get her back, don't you boy?" The voice asked, surprisingly calmly "Submit to me, and I will free your friends."
"After your whole rant about killing everything?" Stephen retorted "I don't think so."
"We're not going to wait around here all day twerp!" James shouted, interrupting Stephen's argument with the voice "Hand your Pokémon over or we kill the girls!"
"You wouldn't!" Stephen shouted in disbelief. He sincerely hoped Ash and Meowth were close to their positions.
"Oh but we would!" James replied with a snap of his fingers. At his command, Seviper brought its tail to Dawn's throat and gave it a purple glow, ready to strike at any moment.
"Now hand 'em over!" Jessie called, holding out her hand to make her point. Stephen returned to glaring at the two, unable to think of a way to save Dawn and May. Unless…
"Oi!" Stephen mentally called "You still there?"
"What would you ask of me young one?" The voice replied
"What did you have in mind for stopping these crooks? I need to get my friends back!"
"The flame! You must use the flame!"
"Flame?" Stephen asked, confused for a moment "Do you mean the flame from my training exercise?"
"THE FLAME, BOY! FOCUS ON THE FLAME!"
"Ok! Ok! You don't have to yell!" Stephen retorted, imagining the flame, and feeding all of his emotions into it. Jessie and James were just watching, wondering what the caped trainer was doing. He seemed to be just sitting there with his eyes closed.
"Uh… Jess?" James whispered to his team mate "What should we do? He's just standing there."
"Well we go through with our threat of course!" She whispered back "We'll give him one last warning though… snap him out of his little trance there."
"HEY! TWERP!" James shouted
"WHAT?!" Stephen hollered back, his eyes still closed.
"This is your last chance! Give us your Pokémon or the girl dies!"
Stephen simply stood there, arguing with this new voice in his head.
"Ok I'm Focused now. What's next?"
"You must draw one of your emotions out of the flame! Use your anger! Teach these fools the meaning of pain!" the voice commanded
"Look I'm not going to kill them!" Stephen argued "I just need to save the girls!"
"You will never save your Auría unless you act!" The voice yelled "And if you won't act then I will!"
As the voice finished its statement Stephen felt something grab at his consciousness. It overpowered his will through both sheer force and surprise and the voice was soon in full control of Stephen's body. He could feel "himself" Draw on the flame, pulling all of the destructive hatred into his own body.
"You peasants have mocked me for the last time!" Stephen shouted in a voice that wasn't quite his own. He sounded… evil for lack of a better word. His voice was full of hate, as if hate was the only emotion he felt right now.
"Stephen?" Dawn whispered to herself, wondering if something was wrong. She then noticed something odd taking place around her friend. Stephen's body slowly became enveloped in a vicious looking purple aura. It was different that the one Ash had however, as this aura looked more jagged, like a flame that tried to lash out at anything near it. Stephen's eyes were also fully purple, the color no longer limited to his irises.
"Now, I will teach you two the meaning of suffering!" Stephen called out, drawing his sword and entering a battle-ready stance. Team Rocket was simply staring at the young man in fear, unable to move at the moment.
"What the hell is this?" Jessie asked nobody in particular, snapping herself out of her daze "Pokémon! Attack this twerp! Teach him a lesson in what happens when you threaten Team Rocket!" At her command, all of the Pokémon excluding Arbok and Seviper threw themselves at Stephen, ready to send the young trainer into a realm of hurt. Stephen simply sneered and raised his blade. At once, purple particles began to form and channeled themselves into the sword, which took on a bright glow. With a swing of his sword, Stephen hurled a dark purple crescent moon shaped attack at the nearest Pokémon, which happened to be Wheezing. (A.N. The attack looks a lot like Palkia's special rend attack in the movie… just a darker purple) The attack his Wheezing full force and sent it flying to Team Rocket's feet, knocked out.
"What on Earth?" James shouted, shocked to see his Wheezing knocked out in one… "attack" While he was busy staring at his Pokémon, he failed to notice that Stephen was charging more energy into his sword and flinging more attacks at his assailants. The attacks were simply too fast for the Pokémon to dodge as they charged the caped trainer, and each of them were knocked out one by one.
Ash and Meowth were hiding in a bush, not too far from Arbok, watching all of this take place. What was happening to Stephen? What was that aura? How was he using his sword at a distance like that? So many questions, and no answers. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Ash turned to Meowth and snapped the Scratch Cat out of his trance as well.
"Meowth!" Ash hissed "We need to get ready! Stephen's still counting on us to uphold our part of the plan… even if it changed a little."
"Right." Meowth nodded, as it readied a Fury Swipes attack. At this point, Stephen had knocked out all of Team Rocket's Pokémon and stood facing the duo, who were trembling with fear.
"What do we do now Jess?!" James shouted, panic evident in his voice
"We still have the hostages you idiot!" Jessie snapped back "Hey! Purple twerp!" Stephen said nothing, just continued staring at the duo with his fully violet eyes. "Stop right where you are or we kill the twerpettes! Show them we mean business Arbok!"
"Chaa bokka!" Arbok shouted, readying itself to plunge its fangs into May, who was yelling in fear.
"Not so fast ya big lug!" A voice shouted, as Meowth leapt out of the bush and landed on Arbok's face, launching a big Fury Swipes attack. Arbok yelped in pain and shook its head back and forth trying in vain to shake Meowth off.
"Pikachu use Iron Tail!" A new voice called out, making the Rockets stiffen even further. At his trainer's command Pikachu charged out of the bush and ran towards Arbok, its tail a metallic color. Leaping up for his attack, Pikachu swung its tail at Arbok's face, and right before it made contact, Meowth hopped off, revealing a scratched up Arbok's face ready to receive a painful Iron Tail.
"Chaa!" Arbok yelped as it felt the attack hit his already sore face. Succumbing to the pain, Arbok fell sideways, knocked out from the attacks from the two Pokémon. Knocked out, Arbok's grasp on May loosened enough for her to wriggle free and run to Ash.
"Ash!" She squealed, wrapping her arms around him as soon as they were close enough "I knew you'd come to save me!"
"I couldn't just abandon you May!" Ash chuckled, returning her embrace. As he did, that warm feeling in his chest came back. It felt the same as when May hugged him last night. "What is this feeling?" Ash pondered "I've never felt this before. It feels like I'm invincible!"
"But we need to save Dawn yet!" May reminded him, reluctantly ending the embrace she was sharing with the raven-haired man. They both faced Seviper, still holding Dawn in his reptilian clutches. Pikachu was standing by for orders, and Meowth seemed lost in the moment as well, awaiting a command.
"Don't you twerps think for a second that you've won!" Jessie yelled, a vein in her head throbbing at the thought of losing to the twerps once again. "We still have the Sinnoh girl and we can kill her here and now whenever we choose!" Ash and the gang all froze. She was right. Pikachu was too far away to get to Seviper in time. A thunderbolt wouldn't work as it would hurt Dawn too. Meowth was too slow to get to her aid in time as well. They were out of options.
"Hey!" Stephen yelled at the voice, from the back recess he was pushed to when it took over "You told me you could save Dawn! So get to saving!"
"These fools must pay for crossing me!" the voice retorted "They must learn a lesson in pain!"
"No! I called on whoever the hell you are so I could save Dawn! And I plan to do just that, with or without you!" Stephen responded, making a grab for the control of his body back. The two entered a battle of wills, each trying to maintain control over the brunette's body.
"They must pay!" The voice wailed, realizing that he was losing "Pay for the suffering they caused!"
"NO! I have to save Dawn!" Stephen shouted in response "Now get out of my body!" And with one final "push" Stephen regained full control of his body, the purple aura vanishing, and his eyes returning to only having purple irises. He turned to face Dawn, and began slowly walking towards her, sheathing his sword. He either didn't notice Seviper hissing at him as he approached, or he didn't care.
"Seviper! Attack this twerp before he gets to you!" Jessie shouted, thinking Stephen was weaker without the aura he had around him a moment ago
"Seviiiipaaaa!" Seviper shouted, extending the uncoiled part of its body to bite at Stephen.
"Stephen, look out!" Dawn desperately shouted.
CRUNCH!
"Stephen!" Ash called out, seeing Seviper dig its fangs into Stephen's left shoulder. However, to everyone's amazement, Stephen almost… didn't seem to notice. In one swift motion, he grabbed his sword from its scabbard and slammed the blunt edge into Seviper's throat, making the serpent release its hold on him. Dawn also felt the hold on herself weaken as Seviper's whole body registered the pain. Wriggling around, she was able to free herself from Seviper's grip and she dashed off towards Ash and May, much to the distaste of Team Rocket.
"We're done for Jess!" James howled
"Well Seviper got a bite in on the caped twerp there, so he won't make it." She sneered
"Oh yes I forgot about that!" James replied, panic temporarily leaving his voice. However, he yelped once Seviper suddenly landed at his feet with a thud. Looking up, he saw Stephen and his Espeon glaring at the duo, Espeon's eyes indicating recent physic energy usage.
"Are you two about done saying your prayers?" Stephen called out, feeling weak for some reason. "Did that snake hit something important?" Stephen thought to himself, unable to think of any vitals in the shoulder "Unless… Seviper's venomous…" He concluded
"OK Pikachu time to wrap this up!" Ash called to his partner "Use Thunder!"
"Piiiiikaaaaachuuuuuuuu!" Pikachu shouted, a mass of electric energy surrounding the rodent. After a moment of charging, Pikachu shot the energy at Team Rocket, causing an explosion and sending the evil duo and all of their Pokémon flying off into the distance.
"We're blasting off again!" They wailed, vanishing into the horizon with a twinkle. Our group of heroes smiled as they once again enjoyed victory over the villains who opposed them.
"You did it Ash!" May squealed, embracing Ash in another hug. He returned the embrace and the two laughed, relieved that everyone was alright. Dawn smiled at the two, before realizing what Stephen had done to help get her loose, and she wanted to thank him properly. Stephen had just returned Espeon, thanking his partner for his service… but something was wrong.
"Are you alright Stephen?" Dawn asked, walking over to her savior
"I… I'm not sure Dawn." Stephen replied, wobbling a little as he tried to walk over to Ash and May. At the fifth step, he froze. "Hey Dawn?" he asked, seemingly from out of nowhere
"W-what is it?" She responded
"Is it normal to not be able to feel your everything?"
"I uh… I don't think so?"
"Then… I think I have a problem." Stephen said, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he collapsed face first into the dirt.
"Stephen!" Dawn shouted, drawing the attention of both Ash and May, who quickly ran over to see what was the matter. Meowth and Pikachu trailed after them, concern evident on their faces.
"What happened?" Ash asked, panic starting to creep into his mind.
"I don't know!" Dawn replied, tears forming in her eyes as she knelt down to the collapsed trainer "He seemed a little out of it once he returned Espeon, then he just collapsed!"
"You mean you guys don't know!?" May asked the two, who both looked at her in confusion. "Seviper's venom is extremely toxic to people!"
"What?!" Dawn half-shouted, her voice cracking as she tried to keep her panic in check
"We need to get him to a hospital right away!" May ordered "Unless he gets treatment as soon as possible he could die!"
"I'll carry him." Ash said, picking Stephen up like a soldier would for his wounded comrade. "Let's go." And he turned towards Viridian City, taking off at a light jog so as to not drop his poisoned brother. May, Dawn, Pikachu and Meowth all jogged behind him, saying nothing. They were scared for their brunette friend. He hadn't seemed to care at the moment that Seviper was about to bite him. Why didn't he simply block the bite in the first place? Also… what was that purple aura supposed to be about? But there was no time to worry about these questions with their friend's life at risk. The group hastened their pace after several minutes, just as the city's skyline came into view. Stephen was starting to have trouble breathing, and he felt like he was burning up. He wasn't going to last much longer.
"Stephen…" Dawn thought to herself "Please be alright. I don't know what I'd do without you! Please don't die!"
And that's it guys. End of chapter! What'd you all think? I would like to apologize for it taking a bit of time to write. I had some writers block in the beginning, and I've been thinking about future parts of the story and how I'm going to make them play out. But… how about all that plot huh? It thickens like Pea soup. What will the group do with Meowth now that the girls are saved? Will Team Rocket strike again? Will Stephen live through his poisoning?! Find out next chapter in MAY! A! NEW! DAY! DAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWNNNNN!
