Usually, I wouldn't be posting a new chapter quite so soon, but, in honor of, well, me, I figured why not. Technically, this is my birthday gift to myself, or will be on the 8th. I was originally, going to do a massive chapter, this one was at 13k, but I decided to leave it where it is, seeing as its still almost 8k. FYI, I'm putting both Ash's list and Wally's list up. When I have more than just Ash, in a group setting, I'll add in their Pokémon as well. From my list, which is stupidly long, very few trainers actually bother nicknaming their team. Occasionally, one or two in an entire team will have a nickname, and sometimes, none will. Its just my luck that freaking Wally of all people has nicknames for his entire team.
Alright, here's our usual list:
Ash's Pokemon
On Hand:
Deino- Barastyr
Krokorok- Anubis
Seadra- Oceanius
Gabite- Silvanus
Larvitar- Icelos
Vibrava- Viridios
Frogadier- Triton
At the Lab:
Bagon- Megara
Dratini- Nephthys
Litten- Erebus
Cleffa- Pandora
Axew-Hades
With Bill:
Fearow
Wally's Team
Gallade- Arthur
Talonflame- Lancelot
Magnemite- Percival
Azumarill- Gwaine
Roselia- Guinevere
Gabite- Mordred
Something was very wrong, and he had no idea what it was. Golden eyes flashed open, glancing around the clearing he had made his camp. The sun was starting to rise, but that wasn't what had awakened him. No, there was something very wrong.
He glanced around the camp, eyes pausing for a moment at the addition of another human in his camp, and the person's Pokémon apparently, before moving on to his own team. They all looked fine, but there was something wrong, something not quite right. Anubis was standing, crouched over something, and Barastyr stayed back, by his side. It only took a few seconds to realize what was happening.
With a small sigh, he pushed his sleeping bag off of him and moved Icelos, Triton, and Barastyr from his side. All three of them had been crowding him, again. As little as he wanted to wake up his team, he had no choice.
Getting up, he moved over to Anubis, watching as he tried to sooth their trapped teammate. Sil, it seemed, was having his first nightmare since evolving. Anu was doing everything he could to help, hissing softly to attempt to calm him, but it wasn't enough. As much as he wanted to hold his Silvanus like he did when he was still a Gible he couldn't. As a Gabite, practically his entire body was a weapon, and he wouldn't be able to suppress the panic he was feeling.
"Oh, Sil." He sighed as he knelt next to Anu. "Its time to wake up bud." It was difficult to keep his voice soft, but he managed it. He had hoped that Silvanus wouldn't have nightmares anymore, but it seemed like he couldn't get rid of them. He carefully reached out and touched the Gabite's head, softly stroking the rough scales. "You're safe, Anu and I have you."
It hurt to watch his usually protective dragon whine and restlessly move in his sleep. He leaned against Anubis as the two of them worked to pull Silvanus out of his dreams. It was a slow process, but eventually, it worked, and Silvanus opened his golden eyes.
This wasn't a new thing, not in the slightest, but it was new that Sil was big enough to lightly tackle his trainer and wrap his arms around him. Ash sighed quietly, stroking Sil's head. He carefully gestured for Anubis to go back to bed. The sandy croc glared at him, annoyed, but didn't move. There was no reason to go back to bed now. They were all awake, and there was no way Silvanus was going to go to sleep.
Anubis knew it, Sil knew it, and so did Ash. Which was why when Anu disappeared into the woods around their clearing, he wasn't worried.
Sil tightened his clawed arms around his trainer, making Ash shush him calmly. The trainer shifted slightly, getting more comfortable. While it had been a while since he had needed to do this, it didn't make it any less familiar.
Fifteen minutes later, and Silvanus was finally ready to let him go. Slowly, the two of them separated. Ash got up, letting his Pokémon have a few more minutes to pull himself together. His golden eyes scanned the campsite, waiting until his team was paying attention to him.
"All right guys get ready for the normal morning exercises. Pairs are: Bara and Elos, Nius and Anu, Sil and Tri. V, you're on dodging duty. Stay close enough for me to find you, but do not disturb our guest. Got it?"
When he was done with their typical morning orders, Ash started his own routine of cleaning up. Some things he couldn't do himself, such as filling Oceanius' sleeping hole, but most of the packing wouldn't take very long. He would also start getting his breakfast ready, as well as setting out food for his team when they were done with their warmup. As with every morning, he wondered if this would be the one that would finally push Icelos into evolving.
He hid a snort of laughter at the thought. Poor Elos. The funny part was that Barastyr, more so than any other member of his team, wanted Icelos to evolve, if only so he wouldn't be able to fight back against the torment his little dragon would use on the rock type. Icelos, once he was stuck in his cocoon, would be practically helpless against whatever Bara would do to him.
How those two never got along, he would never know. They were pretty similar in a lot of ways, both loners, both independent, both pranksters, yet they couldn't stand each other. They bickered constantly, worse than Neph and Oceanius, and would wait until his back was turned to find ways to bother each other.
Not that Anu was any better. He couldn't stand either of the other Pokémon. Ash was convinced that Barastyr and Anubis loathed each other, honestly. Not that he was particularly surprised. All three of them were starters, in their own way. Icelos had belonged to another trainer before the whole Mount Moon tragedy, Barastyr was his actual starter, but Anubis was the Pokémon that had accidently taken the role of Ash's starter without either of them noticing it.
It wasn't something they meant to happen; it was natural for them to trust each other more than anyone else. It wasn't fair to Barastyr, but neither of them knew how to change it. Bara just wasn't overprotective like Anubis. He wasn't the type who could comfort the others, unlike Anubis, who just didn't like to. He wasn't the type that any new Pokémon could go to in order to get a feel for the team. It just wasn't in his personality to be the take charge type.
Anubis and Ash had a type of trust that Barastyr and Ash just never developed. That wasn't to say that Bara wouldn't eventually take back over the position of the leader, but for now, he seemed more content to just wait for his time in the shadows.
As much as he hated to admit it, Barastyr had been withdrawing from him since Anubis evolved. He was certain that it was mostly from jealousy, that Anubis had evolved when it was still so far away for him.
He needed to fix things between the two of them, but he wasn't sure how to. He just didn't see the same things that Bara did. Maybe some one on one time would help his starter feel more confident again.
Probably more of two on one, or three on two, honestly. He always had V out, flying around in front of them in case there was a problem, and he had a feeling that his new companion always had the Gallade by his side. It might do them both some good to get some extra time together.
An hour later, he whistled sharply, a sound that his Pokémon knew was his way of recalling them to his side. By this point, all of Wally's Pokémon were awake, even if their trainer was still sleeping. Arthur, Wally's Gallade, gave him a sharp look for the noise. He wasn't particularly thrilled with the thought of having even more noise around his trainer.
Little did the psychic type know, Ash's team was always quiet in the mornings. They were used to their own trainer wanting peace and quiet. Ash dished up his breakfast, a simple trainer meal that was supposed to be some kind of beef thing, after all of the Pokémon had their own breakfasts in front of them. He had to get creative to find the dishes needed, but he managed. If any of Wally's Pokémon had any sort of dietary restrictions, none of them bothered to let him know.
He sighed to himself before looking at Gallade, wondering if the Pokémon wanted to wake up his trainer or have him do it. To his surprise, Gallade's eyes took on a mischievous twinkle as he gestured for Azumarill to get their trainer. Ash watched as the Pokémon shot a few weak bubbles at his trainer, just enough to drench him, but not enough to hurt the other boy.
To his surprise, Wally's Pokémon fell over in laughter as the green haired boy shot up, yelping in surprise as the water bubbles popped over his face. The other boy immediately stood and started chewing out his team, not seriously, Ash knew. It was clear that this happened often, and no one was particularly mad about it.
Ash couldn't imagine reaching that level of comradery with his team, having them tease him like Wally's did. To be fair, it was possible. He had several pranksters on his team, Icelos more than any of the others, and maybe one day, he would be comfortable enough to act like that with his trainer.
As soon as they had all eaten, and Wally's things were packed away, the two headed out towards Saffron, knowing that they would make it there in less than an hour. Ash, as per usual, had Bara and Viridios out, his starter preferring to be carried today while V practiced his aerobics above them. Wally had released Arthur, his Gallade, and Lancelot, his Talonflame. Thankfully, it seemed like Wally wasn't in the mood to talk as much today, at least to him, and kept himself busy by randomly poking Arthur when the Pokémon least expected it.
Before long, they reached the City limits. Ash paused mid step to take in the view. Everything here was sleek, for lack of a better word. Buildings made of glass that had been tinted to prevent people from looking inside littered the skyline. There was an almost gothic feel to this place, and very little in terms of color. Almost everything was either shining Obsidian in color, or a light devouring purple. This definitely seemed like the home of the most powerful psychic in the world.
It was intimidating, in a way, how many lesser psychics seemed to be drawn here. He could see at least a dozen people walking around that had that strange blue/ purple glow around them. No one seemed even slightly surprised that some of the people were walking around while using their abilities.
He wasn't sure if it was because half of his team were dark types, but something caused a shiver to go down his spine. Then again, this was the home of Sabrina, one of the more powerful gym leaders, though no one knew how powerful she could be. She had slammed her way through the Indigo League when she was eleven, was taken in as an Ace Trainer shortly after that, and had opened her own gym, at just fifteen. Now, at nineteen, she was the second youngest, Brock was a year younger, and one of the four most powerful.
No one was sure which one was more powerful, Koga, Blaine, Sabrina, or Giovanni, but they were all extremely dangerous. If it went by the number of badges given out per year, it would have been a tie between Blaine and Giovanni. Still, Koga was likely going to become a member of the Elite Four sooner or later, as lady Agatha was more than ready to retire, and Sabrina's powers grew every year.
It was interesting, in a way, how much power he could feel leaking from the buildings around him. Again, he wondered if it was because of his Pokémon, but he discarded the thought. He was probably overly sensitive to the energies because of his mother, who left him with Mimey and Star, her Mr. Mime and Clefable, for the majority of his childhood.
He glanced over at his companion, trying to see if he was affected as well. As a trainer who started with a psychic Pokémon himself, Wally should have been more sensitive to the energies than he was. The green haired boy was shivering, like he had been, but smiling contently. Both Wally and Arthur seemed to bask in the energy, while he and Bara put up with it because they had no choice in the matter.
Ash looked around tiredly, noticing how he was already feeling more exhausted than he had been a few minutes prior. In his arms, Bara snapped his jaw a few times, angry that his trainer had brought him here. Places that had extreme amounts of psychic or ghostly energy made him grumpy. Why couldn't they go somewhere that had dark energy for once?
Ash glanced down at Bara, wishing he could scold his starter, but he was just as uncomfortable. "Where's the Pokémon Center?" He asked Wally quietly. He didn't want to disturb the other, but he wanted to get to some of his other Pokémon as soon as he could, he missed his team, badly. He missed his little princesses, more than he was expecting too, and his steady, curious friend in Hades. If Wally was alright with it, he planned on switching his team, going back out of the city for the night, then coming back and switching them around again to the team he was taking with him to Celadon.
He didn't want to spend a lot of time here, he just wanted to get to Celadon, then he would be forced back here again to get down to Vermilion City. He would be back here eventually, he wouldn't have a choice, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to put it off for as long as he could.
Wally seemed to shake himself out of the energy, before leading him forwards, through the tall, obsidian buildings. The longer they walked, the louder the growl that Bara unconsciously released. He looked up, trying to find where V would be flying, but there was nothing. He paused for a few seconds, looking more thoroughly for his Pokémon. It wasn't rare for V to fly ahead, but he always circled back around to keep an eye on his trainer. As a dragon and ground type, he shouldn't be having any problems with the energy here. Still, Ash couldn't find him anywhere. He bent down and carefully placed Bara on the ground beside him, before whistling sharply.
He waited, eyes peeled towards the skies, for V to come into view.
"Huh." Wally muttered, jabbing him in the side with a pointy elbow to get his attention.
Ash glanced at the green haired boy, trying to figure out what he wanted this time, before blinking in confusion. There was a kid in front of them crawling on his stomach, wiggling around like a Caterpie. Another kid was flopping around like a Magikarp.
He and Wally exchanged looks, knowing that something was very wrong here. It was a bit of a surprise, if only because Sabrina was notoriously unstable when it came to protecting her city, and she didn't let anyone fool around like this. She never would have let this go on for longer than a few minutes, before tracing the source of the energy back and destroying whatever was messing with the peace.
He recalled Barastyr, glancing back up to try and find V. He always came when Ash whistled for him. Unless of course, he couldn't. "Somethings got Viridios." He told Wally, shoulders stiffening in barely restrained panic. If any of his Pokémon were able to stand up for themselves, it would be V. Whatever had him would have had to work hard to keep V in their grip for longer than a few seconds. "Can Arthur trace his energy, or do I need to go the old-fashioned way?"
Wally glanced at his Gallade, tilting his head slightly in a silent question. "We'll try, but something else is going on, and he wants to find a way to stop it more than he wants to find your Vibrava. Besides, Lance is with him, right?"
"That means something has both of our Pokémon." He pointed out, hand resting on Anubis' Pokéball. "We need to get them back. Look around, none of these kids are in danger, yet, but our Pokémon could be."
Gallade seemed to sigh, but nod in agreement. It could probably track Talonflame better than V, because Arthur was more familiar with his teammate than a strange Pokémon. The Pokémon led them forwards, following an invisible link to his teammate. While they could have simply teleported to Lancelot's location, both Wally and Arthur agreed that going through the city would provide more answers than teleportation could.
It helped that Saffron City gave all psychic types a natural boost because of the energy that naturally gathered here. He was more powerful than usual, and he was far from a weakling to begin with. Still, he could trace the energy to two separate sources. One that had his teammate, as well as the broken one, but the second was controlling the children. As an emotion-based Pokémon, Arthur could feel the devastation of parents trying to rescue their children from whatever was making them act like this.
Both the Gallade and his trainer had a hypothesis, but they were hesitant in sharing it with an outsider, no matter how much Wally wanted to trust the boy. It was impossible for Arthur to put any amount of trust in the other boy because of how viciously he had beaten down Mordred. No Pokémon deserved the beatdown and humiliation that Ash's Pokémon had delivered to Mo.
That didn't mean that the boy was without his uses. Wally attempted to disagree, but it was difficult from what he knew about the darker haired boy. Arthur wanted to split up, having his boy go after the threat to the younger children, but they couldn't simply ditch Ash. Or, they could, Arthur reminded his boy, teleportation was useful like that.
There were two threats, though, and they could always send the boy after Lancelot, which would keep him out of their way. Even if there was trouble, Lance could help protect them. There was a very small chance that if they sent Ash to the weaker threat, he would get hurt. If they mentioned the stronger threat, Ash would feel obligated to go after that instead.
Or would he? Wally was fairly certain that he would choose to go after his Vibrava before he would care about anyone else.
Arthur saw something out of the corner of his eye and quickly teleported to help a child that was flopping along the edge of a fountain like a Magikarp. As soon as the girl, probably four or so, was safe, Arthur met his trainer's eyes. They couldn't waste any more time debating this anymore.
Wally silently agreed. This situation was too dangerous to leave unresolved. "Do you see that really tall tower? Silph Co's building? Arthur says Lance is up there, and I'd bet that your Pokémon is there too. We'll need backup, though, so while you go and get them, I'll try and get a hold of Sabrina. There's a lot of bad things happening- "
Ash turned and headed towards the building. Unlike what people thought, he wasn't stupid. There was something else going on, that was obvious as hell, but he didn't care what it was. He just wanted his Pokémon back. If Wally wanted to deal with whatever else was happening, then he could easily do so. Ash wasn't going to stop him.
He hid a mental curse, veering off course towards the Pokémon center instead. Most of his powerful Pokémon were with him, obviously, but there was one that was nowhere near ready for any high-level battles, and that was Triton. The Pokémon was nowhere near the same level of his others. Triton would just slow them down, which meant that he wasn't going to put himself, or the rest of his team in danger because of the one Pokémon that would need the extra protection.
Going through his list of possibilities, he considered his choices. Nephthys, Megara, Pandora, Hades. None of them could fly, though Neph could float. None of them were airborne yet, and wouldn't be any time soon. He didn't have anything that could fly, besides V.
Or did he?
Technically, he had Fearow, or well, Bill had Fearow. It was a strong Pokémon, but it wasn't likely to obey him, and there was practically no way that Fearow would be an asset in the battle. Except for his wings. He considered it for a few moments, never faltering his steps. Eventually, he decided against it. Fearow would have to be something that he worked with before it could become the powerful ally, he knew that the Pokémon could be.
For the first time in a while, he wished he wasn't a specialist. He knew that at least a few of the others had a flying Pokémon that would be helpful in a situation like this. Damn it, where were they when he actually needed them?
He knew they were ahead, so freaking far ahead, but they couldn't already be at their sixth badge, right?
Mentally shaking off the thoughts, he made his way inside the white and red building, ignoring everyone around him, and headed straight for the PC section. He needed to exchange Triton for someone else.
Punching in the number for the Professor's Lab, he waited impatiently for the older man to pick up. As soon as the older man's face appeared on the screen, he cut in before Oak could say a single word. "I need to switch a Pokémon, as quick as possible."
V was waiting for him, he couldn't be bothered with niceties, not when Viridios was in danger. He made a mental note to apologize for being so short with the man, but that would only happen after his Vibrava was safe again.
Thankfully, the man seemed to understand his rush, and simply told him that the only Pokémon of his that was inside was Megara. She wasn't the one he preferred, but she would listen, and help, which was all he could really ask for. "That works. I'm sending my Frogadier over."
He pulled Triton's Pokéball from his belt and put it in the slot that would exchange the two. Thankfully, within a minute, he was putting Megara in Triton's spot on his belt.
He nodded to the professor once he confirmed that Triton made it safely and was about to hang up when the Professor told him something that made him pause. Vesper was in Saffron. He thanked the man, and hung up, heading towards Nurse Joy.
If he was in the center, then Ash would drag him along. He had a really bad feeling that he would need backup, even if it came in the form of the most vicious of the Pallet Town Trainers. If there was one thing that he knew about Vesper, it was that he didn't put up with weakness. While it was normally a trait that he loathed about the other boy, it would come in handy.
After a very, very short conversation, he left the Pokémon center. Apparently, Vesper had a room here for another day or two, but he wasn't currently in the center. Great. So much for that idea. He took a deep breath and tried to reassure himself that he'd be fine without anyone else by his side.
With that taken care of, he headed towards Silph Co. He had a Vibrava to rescue. Because of the number of strange things happening, he very carefully chose to let Icelos and Megara out to keep him safe for now.
The next question, he told himself, was exactly how he was getting inside Silph Co. He couldn't cheat by flying to the roof, but that didn't mean he had to let anyone else know that he was panicking. He straightened his jacket and made sure his face was perfectly blank as he headed inside.
The receptionist was kind enough to tell him that he could take the stairs, as the doors to the actual floors were locked to outsiders without a keycard. Apparently, it wasn't strange for a trainer, especially a younger one, to want to see the view from the top of Silph Co. It made her think that he was just another, weak, useless, trainer, but that didn't matter to him.
He wasn't particularly looking forward to all those stairs, as there were thirty floors, if he was right. Withdrawing both of his Pokémon, he headed up, and up, and up. His Pokémon didn't yet have the stamina to keep up with him, and there was no way he was risking them being exhausted before they got to the actual fight.
Eventually, he reached the top of the stairs. He released a few of his team, Oceanius, Silvanus, and Anubis, before opening the door. He bolted forwards after his Pokémon and headed directly for the nearest cover he could find. He took a few seconds to take in what he could see. Several people, including Vesper, of freaking course, and Pokémon were being held down by psychic power. A few were completely unconscious.
Not Vesper though. Oh no, he could feel the annoyance and disgust of pure black eyes keeping him in sight. To his surprise, Vesper's Pokémon, Charmander, or probably Charizard by now, and the Spheal he had gotten from the Professor were nowhere to be seen. That either meant that he didn't have them, which was doubtful, or he hadn't gotten a chance to send them out.
He ignored the jet black eyes watching him and moved his eyes to where Viridios was being held down. He could practically see V vibrating in annoyance from having to be rescued, but he didn't look like he was hurt. Thank Arceus.
Once he was sure that his Pokémon was safe, he looked around for whatever could be keeping his Pokémon down. It had to be powerful enough to stop V, and Wally's Talonflame was no slouch either.
His team fanned out, keeping only Megara and Icelos by his side while the others assessed the situation. Even Barastyr, surprisingly, was helping the others. In fact, Bara was the first of his team to go to V's side. He hid a smile at that. It was about time.
Still, he couldn't see what was keeping them down. That meant that whatever it was had to be invisible, hiding, or simply not here. He didn't want to think about the last one. For a Pokémon to be so powerful that it could keep down half a dozen people and two Pokémon without being near meant that he was completely out of his league. Keeping his team in sight, he knelt next to Vesper.
"Can you move at all?" He asked the other trainer, getting an eye roll as a response. "That's something, I guess. Is the psychic still here? One blink for yes, two for no."
Vesper blinked once, extremely slowly in a sort of exaggerated manner. Ash had no doubt that the other boy was making fun of him in his head. That was just how Vesper had always been. His tongue could tear someone to shreds when he was in the mood.
Out of all of them, only Vesper had the ability to piss people off without doing anything more than rolling his eyes. He was mean, cruel, but he was a talented trainer, and an even better strategist. He had a habit of finding the most powerful allies and making sure they were so entrapped in his web that they could never escape.
In fact, Ash was positive that the fact that he was here, just seeing what he was, would be enough to make Vesper loathe him a little more. The other three would be grateful if he could help them in any way, if they were in this situation. But not Vesper. Never Vesper.
"Good to know. Did you see what took you down?"
This time, Vesper blinked twice. No, he hadn't seen what had caught his body in an impossible to break form. Huh. So he hadn't seen what had got him, but he had seen whatever it was later, in order to still know that it was here.
Ash breathed out a breath, trying to figure out how to disrupt the psy-
Was it that easy?
"If this doesn't work, you have my full permission to make fun of me later." He warned, being careful to keep his voice steady. If he could disrupt the psychic's hold on the trainer, then hopefully, Vesper would be able to help him take out whatever it was. "Meg, switch with Barastyr. I need him."
While technically, this would have probably worked better with Anubis, he hadn't second guessed himself when he realized that Bara was the Pokémon for the job. Psychics, even the most powerful of the typing, were weak against dark types. A strong dark type could shrug off a psychic attack without even trying. It helped, he supposed, that Bara had always been better with his dark type energy than his dragon energy. While as a dragon type, Barastyr still had a long way to go before he could master himself, as a dark type Pokémon, with the attitude to prove it occasionally, he was more than ready for something like this.
Thankfully, Bara bound over to him without thinking about it, while Megara took over his vigil by V's side. With both Icelos, who was surprisingly good at manipulating dark energy even if he was still a Rock and Ground type, they might have a chance at disrupting the connection.
"Bara, I need you to send a pulse, a weak one, of dark energy at me. Icelos, you're on lookout for now. If this works…"
If it worked, he would need Anubis to help free the others, as he was lacking in dark types at the moment.
Bara tilted his head towards his trainer, ignoring the panic in Vesper's eyes as they wildly moved in his skull. Ash just nodded, ruffling Bara's fur with one hand, while the other was placed on Vesper's head, He wouldn't risk doing an immediate transfer of power, but something like this, where the energy would travel through Ash to whatever he was touching hopefully would be enough to disrupt whatever psychic forces that were holding the other boy captive in his own body.
Or so he hoped.
If this went wrong, he knew that Anubis, Silvanus, and Oceanius would be able to fend off the threat while he recovered. Those three, and Viridios, once he was free, would take down whatever the threat was with brutal efficiency. If their trainer was injured, well, they would hold back even less than usual.
This was either the stupidest plan he had ever come up with, or the most intelligent. He rather hoped it was the later.
He gave Bara the go ahead, before a dark, dread, cold, numb feeling raced up his fingertips. It moved from his fingers to his hand, then his arm, resting at the base of his neck. He willed the energy to move down his other arm, trying to mentally wrestle it into doing his bidding. He fought for what felt like hours to keep the energy from moving either to his skull or to his chest, before it finally obeyed his will and slowly sunk down his other arm.
It was very, very, very rare for Ash to agree to be a test dummy, but as soon as the energy touched his fingertips on his left hand, he had to stop the flow. Too much of the energy, especially to someone who wasn't used to working with it, would be enough to get them into shock. If the flow continued, it could cause death.
Still, he could feel it working as it slowly melted past whatever barrier the psychic had put in place. It took every bit of concentration he had to keep it from doing any actually going into Vesper's body, instead of going after the layer on top of his skin. Slowly, very slowly, he felt it breaking.
As soon as Vesper gained control of his head again, he shook off Ash's hand with a dark "watch out" as his only warning. He felt Icelos tense by his side, growling lowly, but Ash and Bara were still trying to control the dark energy from going on a rampage.
Not all of the energy faded, Ash could still feel it under his skin, trying to get free from the cage that was his flesh, but it wasn't enough to actually hurt him. When he finally trusted himself to open his eyes, he took in what was happening around him. V was still down, but not as tightly as before, since his wings were buzzing in place.
Oceanius, Anubis, Silvanus, and Megara were surrounding… something, but whatever it was happened to be holding back all four by itself. He forced himself up, and sent Barastyr to the others. Icelos was the only one who was on guard duty now, but he couldn't say he was particularly worried about himself. He was slightly more worried about how his team was supposed to take down a threat without hurting any of the people who were helplessly stuck on the ground.
He circled around a bit, trying to get a look at whatever was causing the mayhem, but all he saw was a piercing blue wave of energy coming his way too quickly for him to dodge. He mentally cursed as he was thrown towards the edge of the roof. Icelos was able to slow him down some, weighing almost double Ash's weight, but it wasn't enough. They were going to fall, and none of his Pokémon could help. He locked eyes with Viridios, who was struggling as hard as he could against the energy. He could see the panic in V's eyes getting worse with every inch he moved, before something changed.
The shape behind him, which had been a short, barely coming to his knees, tiny rock type, changed. The mass expanded, doubling in size and its weight, thankfully, was enough that he came to a stop. It was only when he registered the look of hesitant relief in V's eyes that he realized what had happened.
Icelos had evolved into a Pupitar in order to keep them in place. He couldn't stop himself from turning his head slightly, just enough to look over his shoulder at the now towering, since he was on his ass, figure of Icelos. He had been stocky as a Larvitar, but he was positively massive as a Pupitar. Ash had no doubt that the Pokémon behind him was easy just about four feet tall, and wide enough that Ash would have trouble wrapping his arms completely around the cocoon.
Icelos, now with smaller, but still familiar blood red eyes, looked at him, checking to make sure his trainer was alright. It was good to know that he had managed to win over the Pupitar. He had no doubt that Icelos would be happily by his side for the rest of their lives. He knew the Pokémon was fond of him, but he had no idea that Icelos would be willing to evolve for him.
Then again, with the haunted look in Icelos' eyes, he wasn't entirely sure that the Pokémon was seeing him at all. There were very few times that he consciously thought about Xander, Icelos' original trainer, and the times that he was glad that he had been paired with the stubborn, ornery rock type, but this was one of them. He had no doubt that he would be dead without Icelos evolving, and he had a feeling that right now, Icelos was seeing Xander instead of Ash.
Picking himself up, he shook off the thoughts. They didn't have time for this right now. When they were safe, he would have a conversation about the Hoenn boy, but that was something that he would worry about later. Right now, his team needed his head in the game.
Still, he smiled at Icelos for a moment, before wiping his expression off of his face. "Don't forget, psychics are weak to dark types, so hit it with everything we've got. Bara, Nius, Sil, keep it off balance, Anubis, get in close and show it exactly who it's messing with."
He had another idea, this one he didn't particularly want, but he knew there was a chance that he would have to catch the psychic, and possibly hand it over to Sabrina. After all, there weren't many psychic Pokémon in Kanto, but Sabrina was a mistress of them, and if anyone could bring a wild, overly powerful psychic to heel, it would be her. Assuming, of course, that he could even catch it. To be fair, he wasn't expecting it to be easy, nor was he-
He jumped left as something shot by over his head. The Pokémon, a fast, powerful fire type, entered the battle. His eyes snapped to Vesper, who had managed to release his starter. While impressive, he could only hope that the Charizard was as powerful as it looked. Because otherwise, they were screwed. He headed towards Viridios careful to keep out of the way of stray fireballs and dark pulses. Right now, he needed to get V free.
And, he needed the psychic down. He looked at Icelos considering, could the Pokémon act like a shield and physically attack the psychic? Was it possible? If Icelos could control the new body he had, then it was possible, but evolving wasn't easy on most Pokémon, even if they gained a burst of energy from the evolution, it still took time to adjust to the rush of hormones and new muscles, as well as the now lack of movement that Icelos was going to have to adjust to.
Really though, he just needed a distraction, which was why he needed V free. If he could get close enough to catch the Pokémon, hopefully its hold would wear off. He looked V in the eyes, but the Pokémon was focused on his teammates now that his trainer was safe. Assuming the Pokémon sent another wave of energy at him, he could either hold onto V, or Icelos, but he also wanted to be near the battle so that he could direct his team. He knew V was fine, even if he was irritated beyond belief, but the others might not be if he kept his distance.
"What do you say, Icelos, should we join the insanity?" He asked, keeping his voice light, even though he wasn't feeling anything even close to it. Icelos hissed, which he took as an agreement, and gave V one last look, before moving to help his team in whatever way he could.
It took a few seconds, once he was close enough, to understand exactly what his eyes were seeing. Silvanus, Oceanius, Barastyr, Anubis, Megara, and Vesper's Charizard were all fighting one Pokémon. It was small, fox like in the face, with pointed ears, and a pointed snout. Its shoulders and upper arms looked to be covered in some sort of darker brown armor, especially compared to the lighter tan of the rest of its body. Its long tail waved back and forth in destress as its clawed hands held its head tightly.
Somehow, almost his entire team was having trouble taking down a single Abra.
He didn't know if he should fall over laughing, or if he should be absolutely terrified of all that power in one tiny package. One thing was for sure, when it evolved, he would not want to go against it. He had no doubt that one day it would be as feared as Sabrina's own Alakazam.
That in mind, he started to piece together what was actually happening. The Pokémon couldn't control its power. Why, he had no idea, but it was clearly trying to suppress the psychic energy that flowed off of it.
Part of him recognized it, though he didn't want to, as the one who had been with the Shinx not that long ago. He wondered if grief, instead of anything else, had caused this.
His team fought, along side Vesper's Charizard, but it wouldn't help. It wouldn't be enough. The fighting, he was sure, was doing nothing but making it worse. He held his hands out, trying to keep his face gentle and calm as he approached. He was no threat, he couldn't be, not to something that clearly needed help as much as this little one did.
He was fairly certain that he could hear it screeching in his brain, getting louder and more panicked with every step he took. He stopped right about where Anubis was, not stupid enough to think that his oldest friend would let him get any closer to a threat and knelt down.
His team stopped, sending him questioning looks, but not doing anything to get in his way. They knew that their boy had a plan, and would trust him to know what he was doing, at least for now, since their attacks were doing very little. He got a grumbling growl from Anubis, and a matching one from Barastyr, which was there way of saying 'I hope you know what you're doing.'
And he did. Maybe. Sorta. Possibly.
"Hey there." He said softly, making his voice like a whisper in the wind. He knew that psychics were prone to having horrible headaches and if the Abra had one, while attempting to reign himself in, he would do his best to not make it any worse. "Its been a long day for me. I'm guessing yours hasn't been any better."
Ash wished it wasn't him doing this, wished that even Vesper could take over, but unfortunately, he was a bit… stuck. Which meant that Ash was the one who would have to deal with this, or he would end up like the rest of them, unable to move until someone could come and calm down the Pokémon.
The Abra winced, gripping its head tighter, practically digging its claws into its skull.
Ash nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, that sounds about right. I know that you don't have control right now, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to hurt anyone. That's why they're just immobile, not dead. I'm guessing you came up here to have somewhere to relax and try and regain your control, and the trainers just kept coming."
From what he could tell, the people were trapped before they could do anything, or send out any Pokémon. Abra probably caught them unaware and just wanted some peace and quiet. The thought of why the rest of the trainers were up here made him pause, but he shrugged off the question. He could ask later.
Right now, Abra needed a break, and he had an idea. It wasn't something he particularly wanted to think about, but it was the only way he could possibly get out of this mess. "I'm guessing all of these people, their thoughts, and mine, aren't helping. You are clearly a powerful Pokémon, but you also probably aren't used to this amount of noise."
Abra glowed a bit brighter, making Anubis reach for him, but he shrugged off the hand of his powerful friend, and simply got a little closer to the Pokémon. If he was right, Abra would pick up on his thoughts, possibly louder than the rest of his teams, or any of the other people's, because he was the closest. Of course, it was possible that Barastyr's dark energy that had flowed through him earlier had made it harder for the Pokémon to get a read on him.
He could feel it though, feel the Pokémon looking through his head for some sort of answer, something that could possibly help. When the Abra came across his plan, a voice, young, male, and frightened, echoed in his head.
~Yes~ the Pokémon begged, ~Please?~
"We'll try then." Ash stood and carefully walked over to the Pokémon until he was less than a foot away. He took a calm, steady breath, before reaching for something on his belt. His hand closed around an empty Pokéball, one he hadn't planned on using for a long time. Hopefully, this would work.
He reached out and gently tapped the Pokémon on the nose, letting it get sucked into the sphere, before something, in his mind, shattered loudly, like the sound of someone throwing a glass plate against a steel warehouse.
His vision blurred as the Pokéball shook once, before going black as he heard a small click.
So, I admit, I hate cliffhangers. I can't stand them usually. They do nothing but annoy me. Still, if I didn't cut it here, I'd be working on this for a while longer, and I really don't want to. I just want a quiet evening, to finish the things I need to finish, and I'll deal with everything else later.
Be warned though, things aren't quite as they seem.
See ya'll in the next chapter!
