A/N. So things are probably looking a little shifty right now… I promise nothing bad has happened, it's just that some new (but still very good) things came up that may or may not be screwing with layout of my documents. I've hopefully fixed all the issues. But still no promises, so if something glaringly wrong pops up be sure to tell me so I can fix it.
Disclaimer: Still don't own pokémon. If I did, Ash would probably have been turned into a pokémon, again, and for a lot longer than an episode and twenty seconds.
EP 6: Explosions and Surges
A week later had found Ashe sitting quite pretty in a tiny café so far out of the way, she'd practically missed it slinking through alleys and avoiding the police like they had contracted the plague. It was a rather quaint little place to be honest, though it did take getting lost a few times before one would probably ever find it in the maze that was the back alleys and side roads of Vermillion City. The ocean breeze certainly wasn't doing any harm, and if Ashe had the choice or option to do so, she'd probably be perfectly content to stay there for quite a while.
It certainly didn't do any harm that the owners were pokémon friendly and allowed for a trainer to let their companions out of their pokéballs, provided they behaved themselves and didn't destroy anything should a battle inevitably break out. Something that was apparently far more common an occurrence than Ashe would've originally been led to believe, but was frequent considering that a lot of their customers consisted of some of the more famous and well-known trainers who didn't actually like being in the spotlight of the paparazzi for any specific amount of time, or really at all if they could help it.
Long standing trainers such as the mysterious enigma that was Red Enigus, a slightly foreign boy she could faintly remember talking to when she was a little girl, despite the grand age difference of five whole years. If she did remember correctly, which was entirely up in the wind considering the amount of time since they'd last had anything remotely resembling a conversation, said trainer had been friends, or maybe rivals, or even some obscure combination of the two with Gary's even more pretentiously cocky older brother, Blue. She still wasn't entirely sure what made the now eighteen year old such an enigma, other than maybe the prevalent muteness that had plagued the then boy for as long as she'd known him.
But she didn't think anybody, even the boy's own mother, had heard him even utter a sound since he'd been born. The other townsfolk had certainly made it seem as such, but then again, they liked to exaggerate quite a few things, and when left to their own devices, could blow certain matters far out of proportion.
She was digressing though, and it seemed her own pokémon were fully aware of it, considering both Sparkler and Sid were giving her that look she only ever got the few seconds before they started some form of chaos that could and would potentially get them involved with the local law-enforcement to some increasingly vague degree.
"Don't even think about it, food for you guys is free." Was her only warning as she glared her two troublemakers into submission, or what little of it she could before karma deigned to intervene in all their lives and have the ball of never-ending energy that was Bow bowl the two over and, after leaving the two in a rather helpless heap, inhale the last few cups of food the two had left uneaten in the little dishes the café had so kindly provided.
"Pika!"
"Char char!" the two pokémon objected to the eevee's unashamed gluttony, far too late as everything disappeared in the little creature's maw. Ashe stared, blinking dazedly for a moment, before she burst into laughter and rather unhelpfully pointed at the fire-type and electric-type's pitiable expressions. "Oh Arceus! I couldn't have planned that better if I tried!" She'd gasped out, tears in her eyes as pouts transformed into what had to be the most affronted look Ashe had ever seen on anyone's face, pokémon or otherwise. "Ah, c'mon you two. There's no need for that!" She soothed, giving the eevee an affectionate pat on the head before waving one of the waiters down to order the two another bowl.
Hopefully, they wouldn't lose this serving to the resident black hole like the last five.
"Sorry, Bow is…"
"Don't worry, we've had worse." The nameless man soothed, smiling rather reassuringly at the three tiny pokémon. Ashe wasn't actually liable to believe the man, but considering what their typical clientele actually consisted of… "You're little eevee might eat more than its fair share, but at least it's no munchlax… or worse."
"Such as?"
"Where do you think snorlax come from?"
"Oh." It was really that simple to be honest. She'd seen snorlax before, and in fact, unless she was wrong, her father actually owned one. She had no clue where the man had actually caught one though, but it had been quite the glutton from what she'd seen of it. More than capable of eating its own weight in food, and now that she really thought on the matter, it probably ate at least five times that. Or maybe that had just been what her mother had been willing to sacrifice to the endless abyss that was the sturdy normal-type's appetite.
In comparison, her eevee probably wasn't nearly so bad.
The three pokémon chittered away in thanks once their food arrived, and Ashe couldn't help the small smile that crossed her lips as she watched them eat their meals.
"Y'know Bow, you keep this up, and I'm gonna have to put you on a diet or something…" She said, watching as said normal-type sighed out in content, before darting off again to bother another customer's rock-type pokémon. She still wasn't sure what exactly was the cause for the eevee's apparent fascination with said species, but the little guy seemed dead set on conversing with every boulder or rock that crossed their paths, regardless of whether it was actually alive or not. Maybe it wished it was a rock-type.
Or maybe her eevee was just crazy, she wasn't really about to question it. Considering her human friends had far stranger habits and quirks than an apparent preference for rocks when it came to intelligent conversation.
"Ah, Red!" And suddenly Ashe wasn't so eager to watch her pokémon enjoy themselves.
"Shit!" she whispered harshly, rapidly recalling both her wayward eevee and Sid, before all but snatching her hat up from the table and bolting from her seat. She quickly apologized to the trainer who owned the pokémon Bow had been talking to, and even gave said pokémon a pat on the head to show that no hard feelings had been meant, before clumsily rushing out the doors and into the street. It was probably only luck that had her slapping just the right amount of money to pay for her own food, rather than being chased down by the owners or a waiter for not paying, but that same luck hadn't carried over to everything unfortunately, and by sheer happenstance she managed to bump into the trainer on her way out.
Of course, there was the high chance that the trainer entering the establishment wasn't actually the same boy she'd grown up with in Pallet Town, whose own father had been just as absent as her own. And there was an even smaller chance that he'd actually recognize or even remember the little four year old who'd bothered him non-stop when he'd first caught her eyes, even if it was in fact the same young man.
She still wasn't going to take those chances.
"S-Sorry!" She apologized quickly, Sparkler all but rushing to her shoulder, as she avoided making eye contact.
Ashe might've actually made it out of there too, had Red not been so damn observing. Because apparently, even if he hadn't seen her for a little over eight, maybe even nine years, he'd apparently still recognize her. The master grabbed her arm, waving some kind of apology at the owners, before bodily dragging her out of the store front and further down the alley. 'I'm screwed, I am so fucking screwed!' she chanted in her head, wiggling slightly to try and break free from his rather tight grip.
Finally they came to a stop, the noise and general buzz of the city long gone and somehow muffled through sheer distance, though considering that they were still very much in it left her wondering in surprise. Or would've, if she wasn't currently trying not to pass out from a heart attack.
"What?" She was stunned, or surprised, the surprisingly deep voice, the stern tone, all leaving her in shock and unable to conjure up a proper response.
"Hah?" Was the intelligent response that eventually left her lips as she eyed Red from under the brim of her hat. The young man huffed in response, arms crossing over his chest for a moment as a frown crossed his expression, before he all but snatched her hat from atop her head, glaring her full on in the eyes. It struck her then, amidst the utter dread filling her entire being and the shock, just how red Red's eyes actually were, like freshly spilled blood, or something equally dramatic.
"What. Are. You. Doing?"
"Uh…" He sighed again, obviously losing patience with the younger trainer before him. 'And to think I probably could've avoided all this if I'd just stayed put instead of freaking out and running.' The idea was foreign and novel really, but it was painfully true. And Ashe recognize that as she eyed the trainer before her, contemplating her own chances of escape now that she'd been seen by someone that recognized her. 'I can't…'
"…"
"I still have no clue what that expression means!" She blurted out suddenly, thoughts coming to a complete halt at the sudden, visible shift in Red's expression. He frowned, before grabbing ahold of her wrist and turning around.
"I'm calling Mrs. Ketchum…"
"What?"
"There's no way…"
"N-no…I-!" 'Can't get caught… Can't get caught! No, no, no, nononononononononoNO!'
"Ashlyn?"
'Not going…'
"Ashe!"
"I'm not going back."Final, there was something very final in her tone. There must've been, because instead of complete confidence there was a sudden sense of anxiety, of this unknown tenseness in Red's stance.
This wasn't the little girl Red had watched when he was younger and alone. When his only friends had been his own thoughts and the boy who lived with the most famous man on the planet. This wasn't that little girl who'd been forbidden from going on a pokémon journey, 'And what an idea that had been, considering that she couldn't keep herself out of trouble to save her life.'
It was the only warning anyone that would've and could've gotten dragged into the chaos received. Right before the entire alleyway went up in smoke and fire, and what Red and Ashe both would've considered brimstone.
It was also the only chance Ashe had to get away. And she took it, without any hesitation, without a single doubt or moment of pause. She did what she'd probably always done, whether fully aware of it or not, she'd taken whatever chance she'd been given at the time, clung to it with all her might and rolled with the punches as they came. Without even giving herself the chance to breath, Ashe took off down the alleyway at nothing less than a dead sprint, recalling the fire-type she hadn't even realized she'd sent out, and disappearing as the nearby streets descended into panic at the suddenly out-of-control fire spreading through several very abandoned, and clearly old buildings.
"Shit, shit, shit!" She swore, ducking into one of the aforementioned structures, somehow managing to weave around a fallen beam, before ducking through a collapsed doorway. She coughed into the smoke, wheezed slightly for the air she couldn't get from running too hard in a low oxygen environment, and didn't stop for even a second. Not even when a policeman tried to stop her.
Ashe finally stopped as she slammed, rather bodily at that, into what could only be described as a brick wall.
She yipped in shock, dazed as she was and fully prepared for her unexpected landing to hurt, only to be caught by a very solid, much larger hand.
"Woah there, kid." Said brick wall chuckled, pulling the thirteen year old to her feet rather suddenly, and causing her to teeter slightly as she blinked away the panic and confusion. She had no clue where she was now, though she knew it had to be somewhere in Vermillion City still. The buildings looked far too familiar to be anything but, but the man before her definitely didn't strike the same chords.
"W-who…?"
"Hey, it's okay. The name's Surge, Lt. Surge if you knew me at least, what? Ten years ago? Anyways, I'm the gym leader 'round these parts."
"Ah?"
"Heh, I know that look. Don't worry, Kid. Just breathe, nice and easy, okay?" Ashe nodded dumbly, eyes maybe a little too focused on the man's bright, blonde hair and camo-jacket and pants.
"Ah-huh…" She agreed, mind far too busy and cluttered and much too rattled to keep up with what he was saying. Her heart was thudding too loudly in her ears anyways, and she was starting to feel very light headed. Not to mention the strange, fire-like lights that were flickering in and out of her increasingly blurry vision.
"Like I said, breath. In…" He waited, pushing and prodding until her body complied with his demands. "Good, now out." Again with the insistent tone, and surprisingly steadying hand as her body again did as instructed. They stood there, in the sudden silence, with smoke rising in the air some streets away and sirens blaring off in the distance, Surge coaching her through the strange emotions into a sense of numbness that left her on a far better level of functioning.
"A human doctor would call it something fancy that no one who speaks a lick of plain English would understand. I call it shock." Ashe nodded her head along to the man, Surge's, explanation, breathing in and out slowly as he placed a warm cup of what might've been tea in still trembling hands. She took a careful sip, blowing slightly at the steam, before just as gently setting the cup down. "It happens, in high stress situations like that. You saw something unpleasant, you're body reacted. Maybe even overreacted. Either way, you made like someone relatively smart, and got the fuck out of there before you could get hurt."
"R-really?" She questioned nervously, facial expression screwing up, she eyed the table contemplatively.
Sparkler rested at her side, a constant warmth and source of comfort as she listened to the explanation, or rather tried to. Its ear twitched slightly at every little move and words anyone made or said, and she had a feeling that that might've been her fault.
"Yep… Though I have to admit, I'm a little curious. I've met Red myself. Doesn't talk… like at all, but still never would've pegged him as a threat to anyone…?"
"He's not!" Ashe rushed to say, face turning red at the smirk the older man gave her. "He… Red may be a little strange, yeah, but he's no threat… Or at least… He wasn't when we were kids…"
"So what is the deal between the two of you anyways?" Surge questioned, dropping into one of the armchairs across from her.
Ashe paused in thought, taking a few seconds to really take in her surroundings, before she actually tried to answer that question.
For a gym leader, Surge's living room was actually pretty dull. Everything was so neat and tidy, not at all how she expected most people to live. Even her own grandparents, as neat and tidy as they had been, had left some clutter around. Lt. Surge's home however, seemed to have had any personal items that would've given it any degree of personality sandblasted off.
"I…" She finally began, fingers slightly nervous as she eyed the room some more. It seemed very telling to her that he'd left the front door wide open like he had. Though she wasn't entirely sure what that was telling her exactly. "Red and I, we… You probably know this already… But Red was born in Pallet Town."
"Yeah, who doesn't. The boy's famous enough."
"Well, we grew up together. Kind of."
"Kind of?"
"We… Or Red, was, had always been older than me, like way older… At first I hadn't even noticed he existed. He was friends with Blue, Gary Oak's older brother and…"
"You were friends with this Gary…"
"Yeah, kind of. But that's not how we met… I just… One day he was sitting there. Not doing anything wrong, but just sitting there and I…" Ashe huffed, suddenly very frustrated with herself. She'd never had so much difficulty talking about anything in her life before. And Red wasn't even that personal. Was she really so shaken by what had happened. "He looked, not lonely just… Anyways, I saw him, and I just started talking to him and he… He listened. Though now that I think about it, he probably was only doing it to be nice. I was really little back then, and he was like five years old than me."
"I see."
"We aren't friends…"
"Sounds like you're close enough to it."
"Maybe, I haven't seen him in a long time." She said finally, curling up slightly in the armchair, eyes strangely focused on the fire burning in the fire place.
"That still doesn't explain though, why exactly you all but set an entire street on fire." Ashe's actually jumped at that, and looked at the supposed gym leader in shock. "Hey now, I'm not about to sell you out to the police or anything. I just want the truth."
"…"
"So, do you think you can give me that?" He asked, giving Ashe this strange look, as if he was trying to see into her, or maybe even through her. She found herself, unwilling or not, nodding her head and agreeing with the man.
"I didn't mean to honest… I just… I panicked, I think?" She didn't sound very sure of herself, even to her own ears.
"Looked like it from my perspective."
"Yeah, well… I just.. He was going to call my mother, and I didn't want him to call her because… because…" 'Because I'm running away, and I'm no longer sure I could stop if I wanted to. Because I like being free and going wherever I want to and doing what I want to without someone trying to stop me. And Red was trying to stop me.'
"You ran away, didn't you?"
"Yeah…" Ashe finally admitted, giving the man such a strange look it was practically jarring. It must've been, considering the slightly jumpy look he gave her. He probably thought she was going to blow up his house too, considering the damage she'd probably done to that street. She wasn't even ready to think about all the innocent people she might've hurt in the process. What she might've done to Red. She wouldn't though, she didn't think she or Sid had it in either of them to do it.
And besides, she didn't feel like running anymore today anyways.
Or at least, not for that specific reason.
"So Red threatened to send you back, that sent you into a panic, and you reacted the only way you could in that moment."
"Yeah…"
"Well, then it's probably a damn good thing you're little firecracker's so weak."
"What?"
"You seem to think that that little fire starter can do a whole lot of damage. And maybe it can, but you haven't been training it enough to do so. It's still too weak to cause a lot of damage. A few houses took a bit of a burning, but really no one was livin' in 'em anyways, and they were set up for demolition next month."
"Really?"
"Yep."
"But what about Red? And the screaming and the people?" Surge seemed to laugh at her apparent worry, and it caused Ashe to recoil in a way, Ashe hadn't expected.
"Kid, Red's fine. Even if you did manage to hurt the guy, he's impossible to keep down. And besides, last I checked no one could get the drop on him. He's escaped completely unscathed. And there weren't any civilians within a good mile at least of that area. Like I said before, everything was set up for demolition in the first place. The buildings were too dangerous to be kept up, so it was off limits to the public as a whole."
"R-really?"
"Yep." She wasn't sure what made her believe the man so readily, but she could feel her whole entire body relax at the news.
It was very likely that Surge was lying to her, in order to make her feel better, or less guilty, but something in her told her he wasn't. That he was telling her the truth, nothing withheld, no lies, just facts.
She wasn't sure as to what it was, but it hadn't led her wrong so far.
She would've been smiling too, maybe, had something else not hit her suddenly.
"You're going to send me home, aren't you?" She questioned the man, tone suddenly resentful and a horrendous pout on her face.
And the man actually laughed at her, laughed as if it was funny, the very idea so silly, so ridiculous that it was a joke. She almost started to laugh too.
"No, shit no. It ain't my place to go dragging brats back to their mothers. It's certainly not what they pay me to do."
"Wh-? Really? But aren't you a gym leader?"
"Yeah, a gym leader. Not the police. Dealing with renegade brats is their job, not mine. And besides, from what I've seen, you're nowhere near able or ready to confront your mom."
"Oh…" Considering what she'd done when Red had threatened to call the woman, Ashe couldn't really argue with that. "So what now?"
"What now? Well, what were you planning on doing?"
"Not staying in Kanto if that is what you mean."
"Not staying?"
"No, because that would be stupid."
"Oh? And where do you think you were going?"
"I was going to catch a plane to Kalos, in Celadon City… It was going to be Unova, probably, but the boat's been cancelled so…"
"Ah I see, that leaves in a couple of weeks, doesn't it?" Ashe shrugged non-commitally at that question, having lost track of time. At most, she could say that a week had passed, but that was it. "Well, then, you're probably a little ahead of schedule."
"I am?"
"Yeah, Celadon is really close by, even relatively speaking, you could probably cut through the forest north-west of town and make it there in a little under a couple of days."
"Oh…"
"So since you got time to kill apparently, how about you stick with me for a bit?"
"Huh?"
"Kid, at the level you're pokémon are at, you ain't going to survive a day out in that world. I'm actually shocked you've made it so far as you and your pokémon are right now."
"So what?"
"So what? So let me train you. Let me put it like this. We get those pokémon up to snuff, and if they are able to beat at least one of my pokémon in a battle by Wednesday, I'll even pay for that ticket to Kalos."
"And if not?"
"Then we keep training. Just because the boats cancelled, doesn't mean you're completely out of options. There are ways to get out of the region. You just have to look for 'em."
Ashe thought it over for a moment, before finally, hesitantly nodding her head. She couldn't find a downside to Surge's offer, and pros seemed to only make the deal just that bit sweeter. But still… There was something Surge wasn't telling her.
"Why?"
"Hm?"
"Why are you helping me?"
"Honestly Kid?"
"Yeah…"
"Because I was just like you once."
"By the way, why do you call your pikachu 'Sparkler'?"
"Because there's this spark in its eyes, see?"
"It? You do realize that all of your pokémon have a gender, right?"
"Yeah… I just don't know what those are."
"Arceus! You don't know that your pikachu is a boy?"
"Sparkler is?"
"Yes!"
"Oh."
"Arceus Kid."
"Quit calling me 'Kid'!"
A/N. So what did you guys think? I actually wasn't planning on anything from the game showing up in this. But then the chapter took on a life of its own, and low and behold. Red and Blue both make appearances. I don't know if they'll ever show up again, or if any of the characters from the games or mangas will.
And for those of you who like Red, don't worry. It's just as Surge said. It's gonna take a lot more than a little charmander's slightly powerful embers to put even dent in that boy. He's perfectly fine. Maybe a little shocked at Ashe's outburst, but fine.
Anyways, please leave a review and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. See ya!