DISCLAIMER
If my ownership of Pokemon was a pokemon, it would have zero health points.
Summary: After losing in the Sinnoh league, Ash and his friends head back home, but make a stop in Altomare to visit some old friends. But it's a start of a new adventure as unexpected changes befall upon our young hero. Altoshipping!
Rating T – Strong language, Suggestive but Non-Explicit Adult Themes, and Cartoon Violence
" " = talking
' ' = telepathy
thoughts
{action}
A/N
Important!
Yes I know I took an entire month to update! I'm sorry! I don't like holding up my story either, but high school is crazy busy around this time with end of term exams, AP exams (I am really freaking out about those) and a bunch of other things.
So please forgive me for my long dry periods. I'm doing the best I can! And thank you for putting up with me!
Much Love!
-Mekon
Last Time:
"What was that?" Bulbasaur asked, not missing the feeling of whatever that was at all.
"No idea," Ash responded, "But I get the feeling that we are about to have some company soon." That was all it took, and Bulbasaur shot off to warn the others, his footsteps drowned out by a thundering march of pokemon coming from the forest.
Ash tensed as he watched shadows rise out of the darkness of the forest and take shape. Just by looking at their eyes, he knew...they were here to destroy them.
Far off in Ash's bedroom
Pikachu had just woken up to the strangest and most uncomfortable feeling. He yawned as he took a glance outside the window to determine what time it was.
He scrunched his brow as he caught sight of the marred field below. It was littered with what looked like Razor Leaves. Another thing that bothered him greatly was the huge mass of pokemon heading into the forest. He followed their path with his eyes and gasped in shock as he jumped out of bed in a panic.
"PIKAPI PIKACHU!(ASH IS IN TROUBLE!)" Pikachu yelled through the house, waking every single inhabitant.
Ch9: Of A Dragon's Claw
Ash focused, his mind trying to count the amount of adversaries facing them now. There were just too many of them. Some were exceedingly large; some were fairy-like small. But one thing held them all together, their evil eyes that seemed to murderously stare at Ash. Latias frightfully backed away into the center of the group[, not enjoying their malevolent, red, smirking eyes.
All of Ash's pokemon took their stances, preparing for one long and tough battle. But who was their enemy? They didn't have time to think about that, however, as the night sky flared up with dazzling and deadly colors of oranges, whites and many other assortment of colors.
Ash and his pokemon quickly defended themselves, easily deflecting, destroying or just stopping all the attacks that had been launched against them. In the brief flash of light, they were able to make out the form of their current enemy, the smaller shadows. The larger ones had disappeared into the cover of the forest.
"It can't be!" Bulbasaur exclaimed, "It's all of our friends from the surrounding forest!" And indeed they were, but turned wild and now rampant monsters.
"Some 'friends'!" Infernape yelled as he beat back a very vicious pack of raticate and rattata that seemed to enjoy using Hyper Fang in abundance. They weren't very high leveled at all, but their attacks were strangely, exponentially more powerful, raising the amount of danger alarmingly.
"They aren't normally like this! There's something wrong with them!" Bulbasaur defended, smacking away a diving spearow who incessantly continued to launch Fury Attacks at him. A few of them hit, and Bulbasaur grimaced as the spearow's attack seemed to do more damage than it should have normally. What on Earth was going on!
This small wave off attacks contained for a few more minutes; Ash's pokemon avidly defended each other, resulting in minimal hits and small health loss overall. They sighed in relief as the small pokemon disappeared into the forest, leaving the band of defending pokemon and giving them time to rest and regroup. But...it wasn't over yet.
Suddenly, an ear-piercing uproar was raised, nearly causing them all to faint from the sheer pain of it all. The absolute volume and pitch of the noise was nothing ever experienced by any of them before.
"What was that!" Bayleef cried out, shaking her head vigorously in order to shake off the dull ringing in her head.
"Oooo I don't know but it was horrible," Latias groaned out, clutching her head with her claws in an effort to stem the pain. Then a loud noise, not as loud as the shriek before, filled the air and caused them to turn towards the sound. They gasped as they saw a strange reddish-orange beam head they way from the confines of the dark woods. They didn't have time to react and the beam connected with the ground in an enormous and highly damaging explosion.
Most of Ash's friends had avoided the attack, however, taking the most damage from the debris that had struck them from the resultant explosion. They shook themselves off, trying to see through the cloud of dust and dirt that seemed to be now blocking their vision.
"Stay strong guys!" Ash yelled over the dust, "This is where the real battle begins!" Then another deafening roar rose above the trees, signaling for the attack to commence.
Pikachu stopped as his sensitive ears easily picked up the roars coming from the center of the forest. He looked behind him to see seven humans trailing far behind him; they really needed to hurry.
"Pika! (Hurry!)" Pikachu said as he sped off, worrying deeply about his best friend and all of his other friends.
"I..wonder...what...has got..Pikachu...so...worked up," Dawn gasped, having run all the way here in her pajamas. She wasn't used to waking up so early, and not to mention her hair was an absolute mess!
"It...probably..has..something...to do with...Ash," Professor Oak said as he too was out of breath. Waking up this early and working out wasn't a regular thing for him! He was much too old for this kind of excitement at this ungodly hour.
"Man you're out of shape you two," a loud very energetic voice said a bit arrogantly, a very easily detectable smirk embedded in his sentence. "You should work out more."
"Oh shut it Gary!" Misty said as she threatened to beat him down with her rubber mallet, that she always had on her. She really just couldn't stand him sometimes.
"I hope Ash and his pokemon are all alright. They seemed a bit uneasy this afternoon!" Mrs. Ketchum said as she picked up her pace, worried sick about her boy.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure we can handle it," another voice answered, ever the optimist, closely followed by a very bouncy Marill trilling behind him.
"Yeah I hope so Tracy," Brock answered as they arrived at the base of the first tree of the forest where Pikachu had stopped. They shuddered as an icy wind abruptly emanated from its dark depths, only further reinforcing the fear and trepidation that had just hit them all.
"Sooo who wants to go first?" Dawn squeaked, not liking the cold and fearing the dark. Piplup, ever the one wishing to impress, boldly stepped forward, until a small breeze lifted up a small branch which abruptly hit him on the head, scaring the living daylights out of him and knocking him out too. The Sinnoh coordinator face palmed as she gathered her partner, shaking her head.
"Well if we are going to go through, we will need some protection," Gary said smartly, "Umbreon!" A small, fox-like pokemon with bright yellow moon rings appeared, basking in the glow of the moonlight, her element.
"Good idea," Dawn said as she set down the now conscious Piplup and released her pokeball, "Let's go Buneary!" Another sparkle of light later and Buneary happily appeared, dancing around ready to assist. Soon after without warning, Brock's Croagunk appeared, accustomed to inviting himself.
Pikachu hadn't been paying attention to the humans, so he didn't really notice that they had released their pokemon to help. He had been busy trying to pinpoint the location of his trainer through the forest.
Buneary happily hopped over to the electric mouse, lightly flirting upon arrival, interrupting his previous state of concentration. Pikachu rubbed the back of his head nervously, lightly embarrassed.
"Awww that's cute! I didn't know Buneary liked Pikachu," Mrs. Ketchum said, gushing over the two. Pikachu sweat-dropped; they really didn't need to discus this at the moment.
All the while Umbreon eyed the small brown rabbit, her eyes thinning almost into slits. She slowly walked over to the two, her fluid steps filled with grace.
0-0 Pokespeech 0-0
"Hello Pikachu," Umbreon greeted curtly, walking over to the electric mouse and the still flushing bunny pokemon. Umbreon internally scowled; she couldn't stand girls who squealed and became all flustered by just being near their crush. They seemed weak and not worthy to her. But perhaps it was just her raising that had given her this view.
"Hi Umbreon," Pikachu answered back nervously, still remembering the beating he received when said dark-type was just an Eevee. But he reasoned that he had gotten a lot more powerful and relaxed a bit.
"I see that you have gotten minimally stronger," Umbreon provoked, smirking, probably something she got from Gary. She knew that Pikachu had actually exponentially grown in power, but she would never admit that to his face anyway. Immediately, just as Ash would do, Pikachu responded with a quick response, the first thing that came to him.
"Ha you got no idea! I bet I could take you on!" Pikachu boasted, but immediately after, he shut his mouth, just realizing what he had done.
"Oh? Do you say so? Well, looks like we'll have to settle this little score here now won't we?" Umbreon responded, sliding forward silkily, until her face was just inches from his.
"Uhhhhhh can we do this later? We are kind of busy..." Pikachu answered, getting more nervous with every passing second. He was never, ever ever, this close to Umbreon, and he didn't know what to make of it.
"Fine," Umbreon said, but not before flashing her eyes blue with Psychic to tell Pikachu they would fight it out eventually, sooner or later. Pikachu gulped, getting the message, but returned his attention to his task ahead. They had dawdled long enough, and all of them ran into the forest, intent on reaching Ash.
0-0 End Pokespeech 0-0
Ash waited, preparing for whatever adversary would appear out of the dust. He knew that this fight would be different from all his other fights, because this time, he would be battling for his friends and vice versa. It was a strange, wonderful, yet scary feeling, but he did not dwell on it long.
"Ready everyone!" Ash called out, still playing to role of motivator and trainer, as well as fighter now. He squinted as he saw shapes entering and appearing in the dust. One last thing needed to be done. "Staraptor, blow away the dust quickly!" Staraptor complied as he used his powerful wings to blow away the dust...dramatically reveling their opponents, like the unveiling of a great play about to begin, only with a sand veil.
But like in plays, once the curtains rise, the show must begin...and indeed it did.
Immediately after Staraptor had done this, Ash knew now how vastly outnumbered they were. There were at least three to four pokemon for every pokemon he had. Even with their great strength and training, he didn't know if they would last very long, but they had to try. Maybe, help would come. There were so many species, tauros, spearows, persians, doduos, dodrios, large packs of raticates and rattatas, snubbulls, granbulls and so many more.
"Protect each other and do anything it takes to do it!" Ash yelled as he faced two foes, a large wild dodrio and raging kangaskhan, both equally bent on harming him and his friends.
Both teams stood there for another couple of seconds, the tension in the air mounting. Then at that critical point, all hell broke loose.
Charizard fired a powerful Fire Blast into the ranks of the wild pokemon, setting the ground ablaze, effectually starting the fight. He attacked with savage power as he fired long powerful streams of fire and dragon energy that easily knocked out many pokemon. But soon counter-attacks were mounted against them.
A renegade band of tauros charged and Body Slammed Ash's tauros with ferocity, relentlessly attacking with their deadly horns and large numbers. It was like a feud, one band of tauros against the other. Gible fired volley after volley of Draco Meteors hitting many foes, being protected as the artillery of the group. He was staying in the center, that being the most strategic place for him at the moment.
Ash and Latias disarmed their opponents with their Psychic powers, using them on the more powerful foes. They flew around quickly, concealing themselves and throwing up powerful Protects on those who would have otherwise badly gotten hurt.
Bayleef, Totodile, Bulbasaur and Quilava were fighting a large Wigglytuff and equally pink and large Lickilicky, their strength's equally matched in terms of teams. All around them, fires, explosions, flashes of light and constant howls of pain filled the air and space of the battle field.
Ash watched as Infernape and Sceptile took on a strangely powerful duo of Ditto that had masterfully transformed themselves into their adversary. A constant exchange of grass and fire danced around them, the fires heating and cracking the ground, the blades of grass cutting the ground with precise aim and deadly accuracy.
Corphish and Kingler had teamed up, their dual Crab Hammers making short work of the wild pokemon. Together they took down a very annoying litter of Persians that had been stealthily navigating the field, taking advantage of their cat-like agility and secrecy to strike and then retreat. Staraptor, Swellow, Gliscor and Noctowl flew around rapidly, picking off any pokemon that was weakening and deftly scooping friends, those in danger, out-of-the-way.
Snorlax, Muk, Torterra, and Heracross were bravely tanking for their friends, taking the blows and exchanging their own powerful ones as well. They were the large shields that Ash and his friends were relying on and did their job well. Glalie, Buizel, Donphan and Torkoal had begun to work together; their variety of attacks doing deadly damage to the wild hoard. It was beautiful how water, ice, fire and ground seemed to prance and mingle so effortlessly in their coordinated attacks.
But then as well as the battle was going for Ash's friends, it could and would not stay that way. The Kanto Pokemon trainer watched in horror as Charizard, one of his best fighters, wounded badly from the day before fell first at the hands of a granbull who had nailed the fire-type with a powerful Thunder Fang on his right wing. Charizard roared in pain as he felt the electricity course through his already beat body and fell with a thud, fainting after such a valiant effort.
"CHARIZARD!" Ash yelled, blasting his two current opponents with an emotionally-charged Psychic attack, throwing them into the trees. He quickly moved to protect his friend's body, lifting it into the center of his circle of fighters near Gible, knowing that he would be safe there...for now. From there, however, it all went downhill.
He clenched his claws watching as more of his friends began to weaken, announcing it with howls of pain and screeches of hurt. Ash closed his eyes, tears gathering, but he knew he had to be strong, not for just himself, but for his own pokemon. They still had a chance...maybe.
He flew further into the fray, emotion fueling his rage, attacking and defending with fervor. But even his body would eventually wear out with time.
Soon, Ash watched, his heart only bleeding even more each time, as more of his friends fell. Bayleef dropped to the floor as an angry fearow had picked her up and threw her into the trees, slamming her body against the trunks of the forest. Soon after, Bulbasaur and Totodile had suffered the same painful fate. The same fearow had tried this method on Quilava, but it had failed dramatically when Quilava had used Eruption, giving a straight blast of fire into the beak-pokemon's chest, fainting it, but also fainting Quilava as he was dropped out of the air.
Kingler and Corphish had been taken out by a large Lickitung which had only needed to Wrap them with its long tongue and them slam them into the floor..albeit many times with its long appendage. Sceptile and Infernape were on their last limbs; Overgrowth and Blaze activated respectively. They finally took out their doppelgangers with ease, but were caught off guard as a newly appeared Ursaring Thrashed them into a dead faint with one blow. This same Ursaring, with some assistance from the enemy flying pokemon, took out all three of Ash's bird pokemon and Gliscor with four unexpected Aerial Aces of almost equal speed to Staraptor.
Ash couldn't let this go on much longer, they were running out of time. He called all of his friends to form a circle, gathering the fallen into the center. Gible was still at it, firing shower after shower of dragon-infused meteorites. He was tiring, however, as seen by his sweat and constant heaving. The remaining circle lasted for a while, and Ash had hope as he noticed the ranks of enemies thinning out. But his hopes would be dashed.
Ash's friends shrieked with pain as that ungodly sound responded through the forest, painfully striking their eardrums and even knocking one or two of Ash's pokemon out. By now, Ash knew that this was a Pokemon's attack and awaited its arrival on the battlefield.
Suddenly, all of the attacking pokemon stopped and retreated into the forest, giving them a quick breather.
"How...is...everyone...doing,"Ash panted out, his body strained harder than ever before. He cursed the fact that he was injured just a day before. They announced their conditions...and most of them were not good at all. If this kept up for much longer, they all would faint, leaving them to the mercy of the angry wild pokemon assailants.
Ash and the remaining conscious pokemon tensed as the ground shook, alerting them to either a very large approaching enemy, or another large wave of them. Either case would be disastrous no doubt. They waited and waited, and slowly a shadow materialized in the moonlight. Out of the shadows of the forest, an angry-looking, rarely-found, Exploud appeared, followed by an enormous Snorlax. Ash, shut his ears tight with his claws as the exploud attacked pre-maturely with a Hyper Voice, catching them off-guard and fainted another group of pokemon, Buizel, Glalie, Torkoal, and Donphan, all of which had almost the same amount of health left before the attack, resulting in a four-way knock out. This left only Ash, Latias, Snorlax, Torterra, Muk, Heracross and the small dragon, Gible.
Ash's Snorlax ran ahead to meet the opposing Snorlax and prove himself. Ash's attacked ferociously with a high jump and powerful Body Slam. He landed a successful attack, but the enemy Snorlax easily rose, pushing hard against Ash's Snorlax and throwing him off of him. Snorlax attacked again, his fist glowing blue as he launched an Ice Punch aimed straight for the face. Alas, his attack would not hit. The other Snorlax had a trick up his sleeve, and his fist became empowered with a white glow and connected with Snorlax first, shooting him across the field like a meteorite from space, his Brick Break being super-effective against a normal type like Ash's Snorlax. This put Ash at a huge disadvantage, because now, his best shield and one of his most powerful pokemon was out.
Meanwhile, Heracross, Muk and Torterra had fainted the exploud with much effort and much pain, mainly from its overcharged Hyper Voice. But after all of the effort, they lost their consciousness as well, leaving only Latias, Ash and Gible to fend off the extremely dangerous wild Snorlax in front of them.
Ash and Latias were very weak now, their over-exertion taking an enormous toll on them. They could barely even levitate at the moment. But now, all of the remaining pokemon that had attacked before massed before them. They were completely surrounded, but Ash had one last idea as they began to converge on them.
"LATIAS! FOLLOW ME AND FIRE A MIST BALL WHEN I TELL YOU!" Ash said as he flew high into the air, directly above Gible and his fallen friends. He now saw the magnitude of pokemon that had come to destroy them and had to stop them. He gathered the remainder of his energy into his claws, just wishing to protect his friends. Unknown to him again, that blue circle on his chest glowed once more.
"NOW!" Ash said as he let fly the remainder of his spare energy. Latias fired her Mist Ball at the same time, their attacks mixing and empowering the other. Ash didn't know why, but his Luster Purge had turned into a strange blueish-green color that seemed to emanate with power, and when it hit the ground, it pulsed out in a ring, hitting all the wild pokemon, fainting the weaker ones and scaring the stronger ones away. Slowly the two eons sank to the floor, no strength left to keep them airborne. As they sank to the ground, however, a large mass rustled up. That Snorlax was still up and kicking. Gible was the only one left with enough energy to fight now.
The Snorlax looked at them and charged, both of his fists glowing white with power. Ash hastily threw up a Protect, trying to hold off the attack in a last ditch effort, but due to the nature of Brick Break, it easily plowed through the shield and then blast Ash and Latias into the ground, creating a deep gorge in the earth, outlining their path. The evil Snorlax towered over them, his fist raising for that final blow, intent on ending the two eon dragon's lying on the ground below.
Gible ran as fast as he could, but knew he wouldn't make it in this state. If only he was faster! He focused and clutched his fist. It was time.
Ash and Latias closed their eyes tightly, awaiting that fateful blow that would most likely give them a very unplanned visit to Arceus. They braced themselves as the air from the wild snorlax's Brick Break came ever closer and closer. Then suddenly it stopped.
Ash peaked open his eyes and gasped in shock. There in front of him, a Gabite stood, blocking the Brick Break with all his might, his sharp claws glowing light green... A Dragon Claw attack.
"Gible?" Ash asked breathlessly as he fainted. The Gabite furrowed his brow as he struggled with all of his power to force back the wild snorlax intent on killing his trainer. He grunted with strain as snorlax increased his power output trying to overpower the dragon who was blocking him from his goal.
Gabite grit his teeth as he felt himself give ground. He looked back at his trainer and the red eon dragon who had both fainted from sheer fatigue. They were counting on him.
He mustered up all of his strength, and gave a ground-breaking roar as he lifted the enormous snorlax and with all his strength threw it far away from them. The snorlax roared as he felt himself flying through the air and landed on the ground with an earth-shaking thud, but he wasn't done yet. The snorlax got up and charged again, his fists smashing into the earth below Gabite and causing the dragon to lose his footing, almost leaving him wide open for the snorlax to take out.
Calling upon his new-found speed, Gabite jumped up out of the crater and poised himself high in the air. He dove and smashed another round of Dragon Claws directly into the snorlax's head, knocking him down onto the ground. Then on the way down, Gabite fired a Dragon Pulse from his claws that exploded into the Snorlax's stomach, embedding him into the cold, dark earth with a very large snorlax-shaped crater.
However, the snorlax slowly stumbled up, and prepared to use Rest to regain his health in order to allow him to continue fighting and eventually prevail over the newly evolved dragon. If he could get only a fraction of Rest, it would be all over.
Gabite wouldn't let that happen though. He attacked with a vengeance as his claws gathered a sphere of orange energy. He attacked just in time, his Draco Meteor impacting directly into the large sleeping pokemon, burying him in an even deeper crater, lighting up the sky in a powerful vivid orange and finally fainting his opponent. It was finally over. Gabite heaved, his chest rapidly expanding. And then, the sun finally peaked over the horizon, giving light to the scene and only then did the true horror of it all truly make sense.
Gabite sharply turned his head; a rustle in the bushes alerting him to another presence. He got into battle stance, even though he was already at his limit, prepared to defend his friends and trainer to the death.
Then, Pikachu exited the underbrush, looking a bit beat up and bedraggled. A few scratches and burns were apparent on his body as well. They apparently had faced some resistance in the forest. Umbreon followed suit, not looking as bad, but there were some obvious injuries. Buneary had already fainted from a very unpleasant Mega Kick just moments before. Croagunk looked as stoic as ever, not bearing many visible marks of attack.
"What in Arceus's name happened here!" Professor Oak cried out as he came upon the devastated battlefield. The landscape was littered with burn marks, fell trees, craters, and scattered, fainted pokemon all over.
Out from behind the professor, more humans arrived. Brock, Misty and Dawn soon emerged, looking a bit shaken. Piplup was currently residing in Dawn's arms, now fully knocked out after battling. Soon after followed Ash's mother. Soon enough, Gary followed looking a bit more haggard compared to how he entered. Tracy too emerged from the underbrush a bit shaken but in relative good health. Their pokemon reviewed the scene, never seeing such devastation.
"Woah gramps! What do you think happened to this place!" Gary asked, surveying the area for the first time. All of the fainted pokemon were enough to make him sick.
Pikachu didn't bother just standing there. He ran up to the last pokemon standing, his cheeks sparking dangerously.
"Relax Pikachu. It's me, Gible," Gabite said folding his arms. Pikachu hopped back in surprise. He stared at the Gabite, taking a second to double check the truth of his statement. It was true however; Pikachu noticed the notch in his tail fin.
"Amazing what evolution can do to you..." Pikachu muttered, taking note of past-Gible's increased intelligence and calmness, "What happened to everyone?"
"We were attacked from all sides. All of them were wild pokemon. Most of them were fainted by Ash's and Latias' last joint attack," Gabite answered. He told a brief account of what had transpired and led Pikachu to his best friend.
"Ash?" Pikachu asked poking him in the middle of his face for a long time. Eventually, Ash awoke. "You okay Ash?"
"Been soooo much better," Ash groaned. Two beatings in a row was definitely not beneficial to his health. Pikachu gestured for the still horrified humans to come over. Ash closed his eyes again, really wanting to rest.
On their way, they helped move most of Ash's fallen friends. Some, they were able to wake up. They were sure beat up, but they would all live and make a full recovery luckily. Finally, they came upon Ash and Latias who happened to still be lying on the floor side-by-side.
"Woah! Check it out gramps! It's a Latios and Latias!" Gary exclaimed, possessing some knowledge of the legendary eon dragons from his travels and research.
"Err Gary that is..." Professor Oak tried to explain, but failed as Gary rushed forward to examine to two. Gary's grandfather shook his head, deciding to let it all just work itself out.
Gary walked around the two, making mental notes on their body size, shape and build. He was intrigued by the unusual coloration of the black Latios. He had never read anything on a black-colored Latios.
"Hey gramps, I'm thinking that these two might be mates or something," Gary called over shoulder, not seeing the hopeless head shaking that was directed his way. Curiously, he reached forward to grab a feather out of the black Latios' down.
'Touch me and die Gary,' Ash communicated, really not wanting to deal with Gary right now. Gary jumped about fifty feet in the air, yelping from surprise and fear. Angering a legendary pokemon was never a good idea. Ash decided to play on this a bit, calling upon unknown strength to float up and look menacingly at his past rival.
"Woah hey I mean no harm!" Gary exclaimed, tripping on the ground in the process, cowering as he found himself no escape. Ash made the most angry face he could and continued to scare the living daylights out of Gary.
"Ash I think that's enough don't you think?" Professor Oak said, deciding to have some mercy on his own grandson. Ash rolled his eyes, as he laid himself on the ground to rest again.
"Ashy-boy?" Gary asked slowly and uncertainly, eventually getting off of the ground and dusting his pants off in the process. Ash nodded. Gary was half-relieved, half-irritated. Ash had gotten the better of him!
'Who'd you think I was?' Ash answered, his eyes still closed, tiredness evident in his psychic voice. If he had had the strength he would have laughed at Gary's expense, but circumstances did not allow him that rare, very rare, pleasure. Why did all the bad things have to happen to him?
"Oh I don't know. A Pokemon?" Gary responded a bit heatedly. What else was he supposed to expect?
Out of habit, Gary lightly brooded, bugged by the fact Ash had actually outdone him. But he would get over it soon enough. Plus, how the heck did Ash turn into a pokemon in the first place! His questions would have to wait however.
"Here Ash, eat this," Brock said as he took out some Sitrus berries for Ash to eat out of his pack for temporary strength. Latias hadn't awoken yet, but Brock left some there for her, knowing that she would definitely need it. Oh Nurse Joy was going to throw a fit for sure!
"It must have been quite a battle to faint almost all of Ash's pokemon," Professor Oak commented, "Delia would you mind calling Nurse Joy again for me? I do think she will be needed here. Oh and also grab the large box of pokeball's under Ash's name. I dare say we will need them to transport all these poor pokemon," Mrs. Ketchum nodded hurrying off to the lab. The faster she got there, the faster her boy could be healed.
"We should go and help some of Ash's fainted pokemon in anyway we can," Tracy added, propelling the rest of the idle group to action. Anything would be better than nothing they reasoned. Plus, they could try their best to make Nurse Joy's job a bit easier.
Within five minutes, Mrs. Ketchum returned, lightly jogging, large box in hard. The morning light making her easily visible from far away.
"Ahh thank you Delia," Professor Oak said, taking the box from Ash's mother and setting it down on the floor. It was full of Ash's empty pokemon. One by one, the pokemon professor returned each and every pokemon that Ash had had before his return. Only his Sinnoh pokemon were left in the care of the humans, seeing as Ash could not access their poke balls at the moment.
"Nurse Joy should be here within twenty minutes. She's coming with a real healing machine this time," Delia said, half relieved, half anxious. She then turned to Ash, "How do you get yourself into so much trouble mister!" Ash lightly smiled, even in his beaten state.
'I dunno mom. Trouble just seems to love following me wherever I go,' he answered lightly, trying to distract himself from his bodily pain. Delia shook her head, holding her temples with her hand.
"At any rate we should head back. It's not safe here," Brock answered, not wanting anymore trouble to find them just yet.
"Yeah, Can we get going soon?" Dawn asked, her trepidation apparent in her rapid shifting of her eyes around her surroundings. She had good reasoning however. There could have been a very high chance of another attack wave.
"We'll need someway to carry Ash's remaining pokemon," Misty said, referring to Infernape, Staraptor, Gliscor, Buizel, and his massive Torterra.
"Alright. Electivire! Blastoise!" Gary said, summoning his two strongest pokemon, "Guy's I need your help to carry Ash's fainted pokemon." He pointed the the enormous continent pokemon, and his two pokemon looked at him in disbelief. Torterra weighed more than they did combined! "Come on you two! I know you can do it! It's only to gramp's lab anyway."
They sweat dropped, but obeyed their trainer. After much...much...much effort. They managed to lift Torterra off of the ground, strain very apparent on their faces.
"Croagunk, you help those two out. They won't make it that far," Brock said, knowing the true limits of carrying around an almost 700 pound pokemon. Thinking ahead, he summoned Chansey as well. "Chansey! you help out too." Brock's two pokemon happily assisted Gary's, slowly but surely making their way to the forest line and to the lab. Gary silently thanked Brock, not wanting to openly admit that he knew his pokemon wouldn't have made it. Brock nodded, deciding to supervise the moving of the gigantic continent pokemon which was certainly going to be a chore.
"Mamoswine! Help out!" Dawn called out. A massive mammoth-like pokemon appeared, ready for action. "I need you to carry Infernape on your back to that building you see up there!" Mamoswine was a bit disappointed, expecting a battle. "Come on Mamoswine, I'll make you poffins later!" That was all the incentive he needed and soon, Mamoswine was speeding through the forest with Infernape, a running and yelling Dawn tailing him the entire way. That left, Buizel, Gliscor, Staraptor and Latias.
"I'll go and help Buizel!" Pikachu announced, moving towards the fallen water weasel. Ash nodded. Pikachu would need someone else of almost equal height to support Buizel however.
"Umbreon go help out Pikachu," Gary ordered, seeing what Ash saw. Umbreon nodded and made her way to Pikachu and strange water-pokemon. Buizel was awake, but was struggling to stand up and walk. Initially, he waved off any help from Pikachu, ever the proud water-type.
"Don't be so stubborn Buizel," Pikachu said, standing on his hind legs to support his friend. He gave in finally. Buizel faltered, however, his other side unsupported. The moonlight pokemon slowly made her way to the opposite side of Pikachu, offering her support. Hesitantly, Buizel put his arm around her back and allowed them to help him limp through the forest. Gary followed his last pokemon to the lab afterward.
"Golduck! Help carry Staraptor to Professor Oak's lab," Misty said, not wanting to be left out. The blue duck gently picked up the bird and made his way to the white building in the distance, followed by Misty.
"Guess that leaves me with Gliscor then!" Tracy said, "Scyther a little help here please!" The mantis pokemon easily picked up the fainted Gliscor, following Tracy's ever joyful Marill and his trainer through the forest.
Now Ash was left with a still fainted Latias, Professor Oak, and his mother.
"Ash do you think you can muster up enough energy to get yourself and Latias to the lab? I don't think we could carry you there," Professor Oak mused, "And I happen to be carrying the rest of you pokemon as it is already."
'Yeah I get your point,' he answered. Ash took a deep breath, drawing as much energy out of Brock's berries as he could. He had just the amount of energy left to activate his levitation, albeit at a very low height. But it would get him there and that was what was important. His next task would be waking Latias up.
Ash shook his head to clear his throbbing head and went over to Latias to wake her up. She had battled hard and for a long time. He beamed with pride, impressed with her seemingly natural skill.
"C'mon Tia it's time to get up," Ash said, his speech not recognized by the humans. He shook her slowly, making sure to be gentle. After much time, Latias finally opened her eyes, the rays of the just rising sun greeting her.
"Ugh...Are we dead?" Latias groaned, but her earthly body proved her wrong as it throbbed and ached, telling her that she hadn't moved on yet. She laid back down, too tired to care right now. Ash lightly chuckled.
"No we aren't dead yet. But we could be if we stay out here much longer," Ash said trying to get Latias up. He still had three berries left from Brock luckily. "Here eat this." He motioned a berry to Latias, but she was just too tired to even feed herself. He sighed.
"Alright open up," Ash said moving the nutrient-filled berry to Latias' mouth. After much coaxing, Ash finally managed to get a whole berry into Latias' mouth. It was much easier afterward to feed the remaining two to her.
"Thanks Ash," Latias breathed out with a small appreciative smile. Soon she too was up in the air, floating just barely above the ground like Ash. It had taken her much more effort, but with a few bursts of Ash's Psychic she had managed to get back up, all at the expense of Ash who was happy to drain his own strength to help. He almost did fall back to the ground, but Latias quickly held him up, steadying him. All the while Delia and Professor Oak just watched.
"They really are quite the couple aren't they?" Professor Oak commented, seeing the magnitude of care they held for each other.
"They are cute aren't they?" Delia added, with a smile. She wondered when Ash would finally figure it all out. It would probably take him a very long time, seeing as Ash was so oblivious to girls.
Finally, Ash and Latias had managed get up and float weakly in place.
"Alright lets get on our way. The sooner we get there, the faster Nurse Joy can heal you two. I foresee a bit of a fit from her however," Professor Oak said, moving forward with the rest of Ash's poke balls. Mrs. Ketchum nodded and followed behind, Ash and Latias in tow, both supporting each other the best they could.
"HONESTLY FOR MEW'S SAKE! GONE FOR LESS THAN 24 HOURS AND THEN ALL OF THIS HAPPENS!" Nurse Joy exclaimed, a little peeved and a bit out if her usual demeanor. She had traveled here with a portable commercial healing machine, carried by a trainer's Dragonite, which had also generously carried the machine. It had left already, his trainer waiting back in Veridian.
Strangely, Brock had not instantly come onto her, but instead offered his services to help lighten her workload. She had accepted gladly, sharply ordering Brock what to do. Two chansey had accompanied her also, currently tending to the more seriously injured. Joy had then turned to Dawn, Misty, Gary, and Tracy for help as well. Soon a long sort of assembly line formed: get the pokemon, diagnose, heal, bandage, food, and rest.
Eventually, Professor Oak, Delia, Ash and Latias arrived on the scene; it was almost like a makeshift Pokemon Center.
"My goodness! My lab has been transformed into an emergency treatment center!" Professor Oak exclaimed. Pokemon were sleeping everywhere on the floor, eating in the lab, and healing on the second floor. Some had been moved to the immediate outside, safely on the lawn, due to their size.
"C'mon you two," Nurse Joy said, ushering in Ash and Latias in. They had to turn sideways to get through the door, but afterward they had no problems getting to the upstairs healing machine which could host up to six pokemon at a time. Currently, Charizard, Bayleef, Gabite, and Torterra were attached to it, all of them asleep.
Nurse Joy patted a small pad of blankets on the floor, motioning for Ash to lie down. He complied, sighing with relief as he could finally rest again.
Before starting, Nurse Joy told him to just relax, remembering his previous discomfort. Ash felt strange as he sensed various wires being attached to him. Briefly, he wondered what the healing from the machine felt like. Then Nurse Joy turned it on.
If there was a heaven, this is what it felt like, Ash decided. Never had he ever felt this calm, peaceful, and serene.
He closed his eyes and imagined himself as a Pokemon Master, the feeling of just standing there on the podium, and the crowd cheering him on with wave after wave of amazed shouts and yells. Yet...there just seemed to be something...or someone missing.
But Ash wasn't able to ponder why, because as quickly as that sensation came to him, it disappeared. (1)
"There you go. You should feel much better after that," Nurse Joy said, taking the wires off of him. Indeed, he felt so much better and so hungry! He wasn't perfectly healed to battle, but he was healthy enough to move around and maybe even transform. He looked at the clock and realized it had already been an hour since he had gotten in.
'Thanks Nurse Joy,' Ash cooed, and the pokemon nurse nodded.
"Your welcome!" she replied happily, enjoying the fact that Ash could communicate with her, "Alright. Excuse me. I need to unhook your mate." Ash pinked again, but really there was no point in trying to convince Nurse Joy that Latias wasn't his mate at this point. He nodded as he moved to get something to eat.
"Hey Ash!" his friends exclaimed, as he entered the dining area. "It's good to see you back on your feet...errr air." Ash laughed. It felt good to laugh after such a tremulous three days.
"Hurry up and get something to eat before it gets cold," Misty said, knowing all too well that Ash was starving. He gave her a grateful smile, and promptly began eating. Then Gary and Tracy entered.
"Jeeze, That's probably the only way you'd know it was Ash," Gary said coming upon the ravenous glutton that was Ash. "Which by the way I don't believe still." Ash rolled his eyes. Tracy didn't comment. He was too busy sketching Ash for his research.
"Might as well prove him wrong now," Ash thought, thinking he had enough energy now to transform. His physical wounds were healed up pretty well from Nurse Joy's treatment. He might as well try it now.
'Fine. Watch then Gary,' Ash answered, closing his eyes. Within seconds and a flash of light, there sat Ash in all of his fifteen year old glory.
"Believe it now?" Ash asked with a smirk as he continued eating, his body a bit more taxed, but okay nonetheless.
Gary stared for a minute and then crossed his arms, grunting in acceptance, concealing his amazement. Tracy was obviously surprised, evident by his blank staring face.
"I'll explain later when I'm not so tired," Ash sighed as he piled more food onto his plate, knowing they had questions. Any normal person would. Then Latias entered the room, looking much better and feeling it too. She smiled as she came upon the welcome sight of Ash in his human form. It seemed like ages since they had assumed their human looks.
"What are you gonna tell me next eh? That this Latias is actually your pokemon and can transform into a really pretty girl?" Gary asked rolling his eyes. Ash smiled.
"Yeah sure," Ash curtly responded, "Go ahead Tia." Latias happily complied, assuming her unique and heavenly human form. She spun around with a grin as she caught sight of the stupefied face of Gary. Comfortable, she walked over to the table and sat down next to Ash, her long brown hair cascading down the sides of her face.
"Not fair," Gary grumbled to himself.
"Whatever Gary," Ash dismissed, easily able to hear him due to his new senses. Latias happily giggled, glad that things seemed to be back to normal...for now anyways.
About an hour later, they were all happily fed, and relatively healthy. They briefly discussed the battle, trying to determine the cause of the attack, but no answer could be found. And of course Ash to explain his new appearance to Gary and Tracy via memory sharing. Other than that, the morning was just rolling away, giving way to bright sunshine.
"Isn't it weird though?" Brock commented, "Two days in a row...wild pokemon attacked." The humans and pokemon were silent, contemplating the coincidence...or maybe it wasn't a coincidence. They didn't know. They didn't have any information that could help them at all though. But finding answers was something they desperately needed to do.
"It is extremely strange and extremely dangerous," Professor Oak said, rubbing his chin in thought, "What could be the possible cause?"
"Well it has to be something important to cause all of these pokemon to act up," Misty said, "It's like when the Orange Islands were threatened. The pokemon knew."
"Exactly true. Whatever it is. It has to be a world threatening cause," the professor answered.
"But why would they attack me?" Ash asked, "I'm not causing the world extreme distress am I?"
"Don't be ridiculous Ash. Of course you aren't," Dawn said, completely sure of that.
"I haven't noticed any strange occurrences with weather or any natural disasters on the news or anywhere for that matter either, " Gary added.
"Maybe it's something only pokemon know about?" Tracy hypothesized, "It's not like we know everything about them." Everyone was quiet, because they knew that was a possibility.
"Know anything Pikachu?" Ash asked, hoping that maybe Pikachu had some sort of innate knowledge about this whole situation.
"Errrr nothing that I can distinctly pick out..." Pikachu answered sadly. Ash was quiet and contemplated on what to do.
"I'm going for a walk," Ash announced. They looked alarmed at his announcement, seeing as it might not be safe right now.
"You shouldn't go yet. There could be more hostile pokemon out there," Misty said, worried for Ash's well-being.
"hmm I don't think so. I don't sense any near. You feel anything Latias?" Ash asked. She shook her head, not feeling any hostile emotions of any kind. He nodded. "I'll be right back in about twenty minutes or so."
"Well take someone with you. Pikachu at least," Brock said, wanting to ensure Ash's safety. He nodded and motioned for Pikachu to hop on his shoulder, which he promptly did. Then he headed out the door, feeling the cool brisk air meet his face and broke out into a jog, heading towards that strange signal in his head, because he thought that it would yield some answers for them.
(1) I mean really. Those healing machines must have some sort of miracle cure that just automatically heal pokemon, because in the games and anime Ash only has to stick around for like twenty minutes and BAM! healed pokemon.
Anyways, the hardest part for me in this chapter was definitely writing out that enormous battle scene. I apologize if it isn't all that great. I'm still trying to improve my battling descriptions. Plus, writing a like, 30-way pokemon battle is tough!
Anyways, Like I said I'm reallllllllyyyyy busy around this time of the year my dear readers! Once, summer rolls around, I'll have plenty of time! So just a bit longer my friends!
Thank you for your patience, reading and please review!
-Mekon