Sadly, I don't own Pokémon.
Chapter 4: Burned With a Twist: Ash's POV
I could barely breathe. The smoke was so overpowering and every direction I looked it pulled me in deeper, choking me in the process. I look over at my friends. Brock was covering his mouth with his hands and coughing hard. Dawn was trying to hold her breath and make her way through but she fell to the ground and gasped for air. I looked over at May. She was on her knees, tears falling from her eyes as she searched in her pocket and pulled out a pokéball. She lightly tossed it into the air and out came Wartortle. It looked up at her sadly, wanting to comfort its coughing capturer.
"Wartortle… Water… Gun…" She muttered in between coughs before collapsing on the ground. Suddenly the overwhelming heat died down and was replaced with sprinkling water dripping onto our heads. Wartortle had begun to put out the fire with its Water Gun! May's a genius!
"Buizel!" I whispered as I threw the ball into the air. The brown sea otter pokémon with blue gills on its arms, two tails, and a life ring looking collar around its neck looks at me desperately wanting to help. "Use… Water Gun."
"Piplup… BubbleBeam…" I heard Dawn say behind me. After a couple more minutes of choking and coughing, the fire was put out by the three powerful water attacks, but the smoky remains were still clouded around us. Suddenly an idea hit me. I managed to get onto my feet and I threw another ball into the air. Out came my Staraptor, a large grayish-dark brown and white bird with a red tipped crest perched high on its head.
"Staraptor flap your wings to push the smoke away from us!" I commanded.
"Staraptor!" It called as it flew high and moved its wings back and forth rapidly. The wind coming from the flying pokémon's wings was very powerful and the dark mist started drifting away. A couple more powerful flaps later and that smoke was gone. Staraptor, very proud of itself, flew back down and landed gracefully on both feet. It began clapping with its wings, making me smile.
"You did great, thank you." I smiled putting it back into its home. I did the same with Buizel. Now that I could actually see around me, I was horrified at the sight of the forest.
The trees were basically gone, burnt down to ashes. Some were barely standing but thinner than a twig and blacker than coal. The grass and shrubs were gone, replaced by ashes piled onto the ground, covering the old greenery. This place was once so filled with life… and now it was a burnt wasteland. Where would the pokémon that lived here go now that their home was destroyed?
I formed fists with my hands, my knuckles turning white. How dare Team Magma do this! How could they burn down an entire forest and not feel an inch of guilt? I turned to look at my friends. Dirt and grime covered their faces, their clothes layered in ash. Pikachu was now more of a gray mouse than a yellow. Dawn was curled up in a ball soaking in everything that has just happened. I walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder casually.
"You okay?" I asked her. She nods slowly before wiping her eyes with the palms of her gloved hands. I gave her a hug and held Piplup up to hose Dawn off with a couple BubbleBeams. I went over to help Brock dust off himself and repack his now torched but still useable backpack. I looked over at May and my shoulders slumped so far I thought they were going to fall off.
She was sitting down with her hands to her eyes, sobbing horribly. Her Blaziken had a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her, hugging her.
"It's all my fault." She wept with her hands still over her eyes.
"May, no it's not. No one is to blame besides Team Magma." I reassured her. She sniffed and looked up at me. Even with red puffy eyes and a nose to match, she still looked great to me. "No one wants to see you cry. Especially little ol' Blaziken over here." I say putting an arm around Blaziken's waist. She looked down at me mad and I laughed and said. "I mean big ol' Blaziken." I winked. Blaziken looked up with her chest puffed out now satisfied, making May giggle.
"You always know how to cheer someone up. Thanks, Ash." She smiled through her tears. Something must have came to her mind as her eyes filled with water again. "Ash… they have my dad." She said covering her mouth with her hands. I blinked a couple times letting the new information register in my mind. When I finally understood my eyes widened and my mouth dropped open. "That's why they tried to take me… I was going to be the bait so they could get my father."
"We're going to save your dad, whatever it takes." I say grabbing her hand and helping her up. "Now c'mon, we need to get into town and tell Officer Jenny what happened."
We reached Petalburg City and rushed into the Pokémon Center. Nurse Joy at the front desk looks up at us in surprise and walks over.
"Oh my goodness! What happened to you kids?" She demands.
"Team Magma started a fire in Petalburg Woods. We were travelling through when they showed up. Our pokémon put out the fire, but there's not much left of the forest." Dawn explains hanging her head. Nurse Joy's eyes were bulged out in fear, but then she slowly looked down.
"Oh no… all those pokémon…" She says.
"Don't worry, Nurse Joy! I will comfort you!" A dusty Brock says grabbing both of her hands. She just blushes and looks away.
"Brock, now is not the time to be flirting." A voice says walking in. We turn around to see Officer Jenny in her police uniform and a Growlithe, a small fire-type orange dog, by her side.
"We were looking for you. Have you seen the forest?" I ask her. She nods sadly and Growlithe whines and drops his head.
"I'm afraid there's not much we can do right now. I will gather up a team of people to plant new trees and try to restore the forest, but it will take a lot of time. As of the pokémon… they're going to have to find a new home for now." Officer Jenny says. A moment of silence fills the room.
"Officer Jenny, Team Magma has my father." May says. "We need to save him!"
"We just need to stop Team Magma once and for all. Kids I need you to hold tight for right now, but when you hear something let me know." She says before running out of the center with Growlithe.
"So we just let my dad stay a hostage?" May asks looking at her fingers as she talks.
"Norman is a very strong man. I'm sure he will be okay for a little while." Nurse Joy says.
"I guess so." May says softly.
"I'm going to wash up your old clothes and a room in the Center for you to stay in. I don't think it's safe to stay at May's house with Team Magma running around." Nurse Joy says handing us a couple of robes to wear while she washed our normal clothes. We all took turns changing and then handed our old clothes to Nurse Joy.
"Thank you for your help." I tell her. She smiles and walks off.
"I hate this!" Dawn says throwing her hands up in the air. We all look at her confused.
"Dawn… calm down." Brock says. Dawn's face begins to get red and I scratch the back of my head.
"Uh… Brock… you never tell a girl to calm down…" I say. May and I take a step back before Dawn blows. She gets right up in Brock's face.
"Calm down? I will not calm down! You wanna know why?" Dawn screams.
"Why?" Brock asks staying perfectly calm. Dawn sighs and looks away from us but then turns back.
"Because out there somewhere Team Magma is planning something. How can we sit around and do nothing when we know this is going on?" She asks. I put a hand on her shoulder.
"I think it's time to research." I say. We all nod in agreement.
We all gather around the small computer in the Pokémon Center as Brock types away at the keys. An article on Team Magma's last attack pops up.
"It says here that Team Magma's old hideout was hidden somewhere in Mt. Chimney." Brock says.
"Mt. Chimney? Where's that?" Asks Dawn.
"Mt. Chimney is behind Lavaridge Town. If we go to Rustboro City we can go through the Rusturf Tunnel, stop in Mauville City, then head north to Lavaridge." May explains pointing everything out to us on the map she has of Hoenn.
"Sounds good to me!" I say with a fist in the air.
"Ash sometimes I swear you're too dramatic." Dawn says.
"Pika Pi!" Pikachu says with his cheeks sparking.
Dawn doesn't looked amused and simply says "Do you want me to get Buneary?"
Pikachu's ears drop and he says a mumbled "Pika." And we all laugh.
"So sounds like we're heading to Lavaridge Town." Brock says shutting off the computer.
"Here are your clothes." Nurse Joy says handing us all of our clothes back. "Have a safe trip!" She calls over her shoulder before getting back to work.
"Let's get a goodnight sleep and we will leave early tomorrow to begin our journey." Brock suggests.
"Brock you're so smart. You're like an Alakazam! All smart and everything!" Dawn says pinching his cheek. May looks at me confused.
"She gets that way when she's tired." I say yawning a little.
"Aw! Ashy Washy sounded like a Snorlax there!" Dawn says now pinching my cheek.
"Man would I do anything for a Jigglypuff right now." I said.
"I have a Jigglypuff!" A young trainer says from the other side of the room. He gets up from his table and walks over to us. "Come on out!" He calls. A small pink creature smiles up at us.
"Ash why did you want a Jigglypuff again?" Brock whispers to me.
"So it can sing and put Dawn to sleep." I whisper back.
"You want it to sing? Okay! Jigglypuff use Sing!" The boy commanded.
"No!" Brock says.
"I thought that's what we wanted?" I asked Brock confused.
"If we listen we will fall aslee-"
"Jigg-a-ly-puff. Jigg-a lyyyy-puff." The pokémon began to sing. And soon enough, all of us collapsed onto the Pokémon Center floor.
(Our heroes are going to start their journey in the next chapter. What do you think is going to happen? Thanks for reading!)