Chapter 10: Ready, A.I.M, Fire!
A group of men and women in yellow, hazmat-looking suits looked at a large, blue screen that was situated in front of them. Directly below the screen was a large control panel where many of them were working. All of them seemed to be extremely anxious and worried. They were all soldiers for an organization called 'Advanced Idea Mechanics', or just A.I.M for short.
"Scientist Supreme!" one of them turned around, calling out to a particular person who went by the odd title. "We've detected something strange that we think could be of some interest to you!"
A man who was also dressed up in an outfit that resembled a hazmat-suit walked into the room. However, his getup was extremely high-tech, armed with what appeared to be laser-blasters around his wrists, and some other impressive-looking metal devices all over his outfit. He had his arms behind his back and walked in an extremely dignified manner.
"What is it, fool?" the man known who went by 'Scientist Supreme' asked the grunt angrily, showing that he obviously believed himself to be superior to everyone that was present. "Speak up, now!"
"W-We've detected a strange energy emanating from Route 3," a female grunt interjected, catching Scientist Supremes' attention. "It's like nothing we've ever sensed before..."
"Hm, I see..." Scientist Supreme muttered to himself before smirking under his large hazmat-like mask. "Zoom in on where the energy was detected, and give me a visual, NOW."
The grunts that were present immediately got to work, pressing buttons on the control panel.
Eventually, the screen shifted from some random statistics regarding the energy that they were sensing to a live-feed of Route 3. The image on the screen then proceeded to slowly zoom in on a specific area. The screen continued to take its sweet time while everyone present waited patiently.
After a bit of waiting, the screen zoomed in on a girl with blonde hair. She was wearing a sophisticated white hat, as well as a sophisticated white dress. She was travelling with three other people through the Route.
"Do you take me for a fool?" the man known as Scientist Supreme angrily asked his grunts. "Do you truly expect me to believe that this CHILD was emanating such powerful energy?"
"Well, it's not the child that's emanating the energy, sir..." one of the grunts responded as she pressed a few buttons on the control panel, causing the screen to zoom in once more, this time on the blonde-haired girl's Pokeball-themed bag. "...It seems to be coming from her bag."
"Hm...Interesting..." Scientist Supreme muttered as he rubbed his chin with one hand. After a bit of thinking, the man chuckled. "Well, whatever that thing is, it's obvious that it would be beneficial to A.I.M if we managed to obtain it."
The leader of the hazmat suit-wearing group turned around and walked out of the room with his hands behind his back. "Come then, troops. We have a package to secure! If we can do this, we might be able to supercharge our inventions, kick Team Rocket out of Kanto, and become the NEW crime organization that everyone fears!"
Although they didn't know the identity of the girl, they nodded and got to work.
However, you and I obviously DO know her identity.
It was Lillie, and they were after a certain something that she had sworn to protect...
Of course, the blonde-haired girl wasn't expecting this at all. In fact, she was pretty relaxed and happily walking along Route 3 with her friends...
After earning his first Gym Badge at the Pewter City Gym, Ash and his friends were headed off to Cerulean City, where the next Gym was located. However, they would have to traverse a mountain called Mt. Moon to get there.
Ash, and in extension, his partner Scorbunny, were both equally excited to get to the new area.
"Haha! First Gym down! That was so easy!" Ash happily exclaimed to himself as he held the Boulder Badge that he had earned in Pewter City into the air, letting the light emanating from the sun to bounce off of it and make it shine. "If all the other Gym Battles are like that, I'll clear the Gym Challenge in no time!"
Brock, who was standing next to the raven-haired boy, cleared his throat, causing Ash to turn his head and look at the former Gym Leader.
"Yeah, Brock?" Ash asked with a grin. "What do you need?"
"It's okay to be happy with your victories, Ash, but you have to remember that I WAS holding back against you," Brock pointed out. "If I was going all out, you might have had a bigger challenge. You might have even lost."
Ash smirked and stopped in his tracks, turning to face the former Gym Leader. "Yeah? Well, how about it, then? Let's have a battle, Brock! I wanna see you when you go all out!"
"I told you that I prefer Pokemon Breeding to Pokemon Battling, Ash," Brock stated seriously as he grabbed a Pokeball from his waist, a grin present on his face as he also stopped in his tracks. "However, I'd gladly show you my best Pokemon, if you'd like!"
"Haha, you're on!" Ash responded, looking down at Scorbunny. "You ready to go, pal?"
"Scor-Bun!" Ash's fire-type partner excitedly exclaimed as it pawed the ground threateningly like a bull, getting pumped up for a battle.
"Woah, woah, woah, calm down, you two," Peter interjected, stopping the two Trainers from having the battle that they wanted to have. "Didn't you have one back in Pewter? Let's just take a break from the Pokemon battling, alright?"
"Heh, alright, sure," Brock chuckled as he put his Pokeball away. "Maybe next time, Ash."
The wannabe Pokemon Master comedically slumped his shoulders in disappointment. "Aw...Alright, fine...I really wanted to have that battle, though..."
"Scorbunny..." Ash's partner sighed.
Lillie shook her head and sighed at the shenanigans that her three friends were involved in. "Why even bother with Pokemon battles?...All they're doing is forcing Pokemon to hurt each other...It's cruel... Yet slightly entertaining..."
She quickly shook her head.
"No! What am I thinking?! Pokemon battles are bad, and that's final...No questions asked..."
"Pew?" Nebby asked its caretaker, peeking its head out Lillie's bag.
"No way, Nebby!" Lillie exclaimed as she playfully tapped the area where Nebby's nose would have been if it had one, her mood quickly shifting from a somber one to a happy one. "I'm not letting you run around, especially in an area like this, where there are lots and lots of places to get lost!"
Peter, Ash, and Brock all turned their heads to look at Lillie, and Brock grinned at her. "I'm still surprised that you have a Pokemon that not even the Pokedex has any info on..."
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess it is pretty weird..." Lillie replied, looking up at Brock after making sure that Nebby was actually going to stay in her bag.
"Well, the Pokedex might not have any information on Nebby, but do you at least know what kind of food it likes to eat?" the former Gym Leader asked the blonde-haired girl, who blinked twice in response.
"Th-The food that Nebby likes to eat?" Lillie asked, glancing at the gaseous Pokemon in her bag, who continued to look at her with its almost-goofy looking smile. "I-I'm not sure, I've never thought about that...I suppose I just feed Nebby everyday Pokemon food..."
Brock shook his head. "Hm...That certainly won't do. We'll have to find a perfect recipe for Nebby!"
"Perfect recipe?" Ash asked, interjecting. "What are you talking about, Brock?"
The former Gym Leader smirked and immediately turned around and took of his backpack. He proceeded to rummage through the backpack, comedically throwing things behind himself without any concern for where they actually landed, creating a comedic scene where Peter, Ash, Lillie, and Scorbunny had to dodge a barrage of random items like Pokeballs, water-bottles, and many other mundane objects.
Eventually, the rock-type specialist found what he was looking for. He stood up and looked at his friends with a large grin present on his face. In his hands was a bowl of brown kibbles, with itty-bitty pieces of small pink sprinkles. "Well, why don't you try this one out? I'm sure Nebby will like it!"
Everyone blinked twice, looking at the bowl in Brock's hands. Then, in unison, they all asked: "Uh...Are those kibbles?"
"Sure are!" Brock exclaimed as he crouched down and placed the bowl onto the ground. "It's my own special recipe, specifically created for Psychic-Type Pokemon!...Nebby's a Psychic-Type, right?"
Lillie blinked twice before shrugging. "I- Well, Nebby's never had an actual battle since the only move he knows is Teleport, so I'm not actually quite sure..."
Nebby poked its head out of Lillie's bag and sniffed the air...
…
..Suddenly, the Pokemon that Lillie was taking care of immediately used its teleportation abilities to vanish and reappear in front of the bowl, allowing the gaseous Pokemon to get another whiff of the meal that Brock had prepared.
"N-Nebby!..." Lillie exclaimed, worried for her Pokemon's safety. "You can't just teleport of out of the bag like that..."
"Relax, Lillie," Peter chuckled. "We're the only ones here, so I'm pretty sure Nebby'll be fine! No one can see him, after all!"
"A-Alright..." the blonde-haired girl sighed in response. "I suppose you're right..."
The Pokemon known as Nebby took one more whiff before it slowly used one of the the wispy extensions on its body to gently pick up a single kibble. It plopped the food into its mouth and...
…
…Nebby loved it! The gaseous Pokemon immediately began devouring the kibbles at an incredible speed, surprising Lillie. She had never seen her Pokemon eat so quickly before! He clearly loved it!
"B-Be careful!..." Lillie managed to exclaim, warning her Pokemon. "You might choke if you eat that quickly!..."
Peter smirked as he crossed his arms and looked the Rock-Type specialist. He was the same age as Brock, but the former Gym Leader was taller then him by quite a bit. "Heh, I didn't know you knew how to make Pokemon food, Brock."
"Hey, if I want to be the world's best Pokemon Breeder, I'm obviously going to need to be able to make proper Pokemon food," Brock pointed out with a grin before swinging his backpack off of his back once more to take out some more canisters, which contained other 'flavors' of Pokemon food. "It's my own personal recipe! I've got a version for every single type of Pokemon, including Rock-Types, Grass-Types, and even Fire-Types..."
Scorbunny, who was standing next to Ash's feet and watching Nebby devour its bowl of kibbles, immediately moved its head unnaturally to glare at Brock, similar to something you would see in a horror movie. The mention of incredibly delicious Pokemon Food for Fire-Type Pokemon seemed to have gotten the little bunny Pokemon in the mood to eat some, and if Brock had the goods, Scorbunny was going to force the former Gym Leader to deliver them...
"Did Scorbunny really have to attack me?" Brock asked as he rubbed his forehead with an ice-pack while sitting on the ground and leaning against a nearby tree. "I would've just given it to him if he had asked..."
Ash waved his hand apologetically, grinning sheepishly at the former Gym Leader. "S-Sorry, Brock! You know how Scorbunny can be sometimes..."
Brock sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I guess so..."
Scorbunny grinned as it held a bowl of kibbles proudly in its hands and above its mouth. The kibbles in the bowl were brown in color, just like the ones Nebby was eating, and were lightly covered with red powder, signifying that it was intended for Fire-Type Pokemon to consume.
Ash's fire-type partner immediately opened its mouth wide and let the kibbles slide into its mouth. It then proceeded to shut its mouth and grin. "Scor-Bun!"
Just like Nebby, Scorbunny loved the meal that Brock had prepared! He was a really talented cook!
Scorbunny's trainer noticed that a kibble had fallen onto the floor and grinned as he picked it up, turning to the former Gym Leader. "Say, Brock, do you think a human could eat one of these?"
"I don't know, Ash..." Peter responded, examining the piece of Pokemon food in his friend's hand. "It's called Pokemon food for a reason, and I don't think it would be pretty wise to eat it...Brock?"
"Yeah, Peter's right..." Brock responded as he stood up with a bit of support from the tree, before dusting himself off. "Although humans COULD theoretically eat my Pokemon kibbles without any side-effects, the Fire-Type version is extra spicy and-"
CRUNCH!
Peter, Brock, and Scorbunny all stared at Ash with dropped jaws, with the raven-haired boy looking back at them, a half-bitten kibble in his hand.
"Uh, why are you guys staring at me like that?..." Ash asked as he tossed the remaining bit of kibble into his mouth. "Is there something in my nose?..."
"Ash...Did you really just eat that?" Peter asked bluntly. "Even after Brock said that the fire-type version of this kibble was extra spicy?..."
"Well, yeah? I can handle a little spice..."
The raven-haired boy blinked twice as his cheeks began to turn red due to the intense spiciness of what he had just consumed.
..
Ash comedically then began running around and breathing fire.
"Ahhh! It's so hot! Help, help!"
Brock and Peter immediately tried to calm Ash down, while Scorbunny rolled its eyes and walked over to Nebby and Lillie.
While her friends ran around crazily, Lillie watched Nebby eat from its kibble bowl. Sure, it was eating at rapid speeds, but the gaseous little Pokemon had a pretty tiny mouth, so it was still taking a while for it to finish its food.
Little did the group know, however, their day was about to change dramatically in just a few seconds.
"I'm in position, sir," one of the hazmat suit-wearing men stated into a walkie-talkie, quickly informing a certain somebody of his current location. "Should I proceed now, or?..."
The man was hiding out in a tree and was spying on the group from on top of it. He was holding an extremely large, futuristic gun, and was aiming at the group, awaiting his leader's response.
"No, I want you to do it tomorrow," the voice on the other end sarcastically replied before becoming incredibly angry. "Of course you should do it now, you moron! Do it so we can capture the source of that energy!"
"Y-Yes, sir..." the grunt responded before shutting one eye and steadying his weapon. "Firing in three...Two..."
Lillie and Scorbunny were helping Nebby clean up its plate, since it had left a few crumbs left in its bowl. Of course, Scorbunny was happy to eat all of the remaining bits and pieces for his gaseous friend.
As for Brock and Peter, they were patting Ash's back, since the wannabe Pokemon Master had finally gotten the spicy taste out of his mouth. It was just another fun day for the group, nothing else.
However, at this exact moment, the secret superhero, Peter Parker, suddenly felt his Spider-Sense activate, and it was ringing like crazy!
"W-Woah!" Peter mentally exclaimed in confusion, looking around the area as he had sensed some terrible danger. "What's going on here?! My Spider-Sense is going off like crazy, and-"
The secret superhero turned his head to the right and his eyes widened as he noticed the man hiding in the tree, holding his high-tech-looking weapon.
"Oh my god...Everybody, get down!" Peter shouted to his friends, who all looked at him, and then to the man, in confusion.
However, it was too late.
The man in the tree immediately pressed a button on his high-tech gun, causing the highly advanced firearm to shoot a powerful blast of purple energy at the group that literally caused the ground to split into three large chunks, which were in turn scattered randomly.
In other words, the gun's blast was somehow messing up the way the Earth was formed!
"W-Woah!" Ash exclaimed in surprise as he and Brock were sent tumbling backwards, stuck together on a piece of the ground that was sent flying into the air. However, the raven-haired boy wasn't really concerned about that, and was rather concerned for Scorbunny's safety. "Scorbunny! Are you alright?!"
"I think we have bigger things to worry about, Ash!..." Brock pointed out as the two of them were sent flying away to some random area.
"Oh come on! As if we don't have enough on our plates already!..." Peter exclaimed as the ground cracked around him, leaving the floor with an ugly look which consisted of a mixture of grass from the surface of Route 3, as well as some rocks from underneath the ground. "Who are these guys?! How are they doing this?! And most importantly...WHY are they doing this?..."
The secret superhero was sent flying into a densely populated forest that was located on the Route, where he laid, immediately going unconscious.
Lillie was the last one to be sent flying. Scorbunny was standing by her feet instead of Ash's like it usually was, and Nebby was fearfully hiding in Lillie's bag. It was quite clear that the gaseous Pokemon was not only afraid of the shifting ground, but also the incredibly large sounds that were being created because of all of the commotion.
"W-What the-What's going on?..." Lillie muttered as she, Scorbunny, and Nebby were whipped into the sky before crashing a few meters away into a nearby lake, where the trio proceeded to lie in as they drifted across the water, completely unconscious...
Our heroes were split up and sent into random areas all around the expansive 3rd Route of the Kanto Region, leaving large craters, cracks in the ground, and ravines where they once stood. What a terrible situation!
"Targets neutralized, sir," the man who fired the deadly attack stated into his walkie-talkie after seeing the destruction that he had easily caused using his weapon. "Should I return to base now?"
The voice of the Scientist Supreme could be heard at other end, and he was clearly very, VERY, happy with the situation. "Yes...Yes. Yes! YES! You've done it! You've actually completed a mission properly! Congratulations! It's good to know that we have genuinely competent grunts in the organization!..."
This comment caused the A.I.M Agent to scratch his cheek and chuckle in response. Sure, it wasn't the best reaction, but how would YOU react if your boss insulted and complimented you at the same time?
"Th-Thank you, sir," the A.I.M agent managed to say proudly.
"Anyways, congratulations aside, what was in that bag that was producing so much energy?" The Scientist Supreme asked the attacker, who immediately felt a few drops of sweat trickle down his forehead under his mask. "Whatever that thing was, I'm certain that it will be able to act as a power source for all of our upcoming projects! In fact, according to the amount of energy that it was releasing..."
The Scientist Supreme then proceeded to go on and on about how A.I.M would surely take over the world after the grunt brought whatever they were chasing back to their base.
The only problem was that he hadn't actually obtained it.
"U-Um, sir, I actually shot the blast before obtaining the source of the energy..." the grunt explained sheepishly. "And because of that, the four people who were there, including the girl who was the owner of the item that was producing the energy, were sent flying, and-"
"You WHAT?" the Scientist Supreme angrily asked, cutting off his grunt.
"W-Well, sir, I could always-" the grunt started, but was once again cut off by his angry boss.
"But nothing! You're a pathetic, useless, grunt! Just like the others!" Scientist Supreme angrily screamed through the walkie-talkie, causing the grunt to slump his shoulders. "However, despite your blunder, I suppose we could make our situation work..."
"Really?" the grunt asked, questioning his boss. "How could we? If you don't mind me asking, of course..."
"Hehe, let's just say that these children, or teenagers, whatever their ages, won't be making it out of Route 3 alive..." the menacing boss known as Scientist Supreme chuckled before immediately blowing up into maniacal laughter, making the grunt a bit uncomfortable.
"So, um, sir, should I just wait here, or?..." the grunt started, but was cut off when electricity suddenly coursed through his veins, causing him to immediately fall out of the tree and into one of the many ravines that had formed because of the blast he had attacked the group with.
"Of course, I have no room for failures like you in my organization," the man known as Scientist Supreme stated coldly, abruptly stopping his laughter. "Have a good time in the afterlife, whether you go to heaven or to hell! I don't care!"
Ash woke up and rubbed his eyes. Man, that hurt, whatever it was! It seemed that it had knocked him unconscious.
He looked around. The raven-haired boy found himself in a forest. Route 3 was actually just a really big forest, but it was considered a Route, unlike the area known as Viridian Forest, because of the simple fact that it had a pretty neat path that connected Pewter City to the area that they were headed to next: Mt. Moon.
The wannabe Pokemon-Master got up and stretched, before the realization suddenly hit him.
"W-Wait a minute!" Ash exclaimed as he frantically looked from left to right. "Lillie! Scorbunny! Peter! Brock! What happened?! Where are you guys?!"
The raven-haired boy then blinked twice and scratched the back of his head.
"Actually, scratch that. Where am I?..."
However, as Ash thought this, he heard a familiar voice.
"Ash! Is that you?!" the voice called out, causing the raven-haired boy to grin. The voice belonged to none other then Brock!
"Yeah, it's me, Brock!" Ash shouted back, putting his hands around his mouth in an attempt to increase the sound of his voice. "Where are you?!"
"Look behind you!"
The wannabe Pokemon Master turned around and found it hard to suppress some giggles.
Brock was hanging from a tree branch, and because of his large, blue hiker backpack, he was stuck there, just barely hanging on since one of the straps got caught in it. To add insult to injury, he was also completely upside down!
"Come on, Ash, don't laugh!" the former Gym Leader exclaimed, noticing that his friend was giggling. "Help me down!"
The raven-haired boy nodded with a smile, stopping the little amounts of laughter. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry, Brock. Scorbunny, use Double Kick on that tree so that-"
But, unfortunately, the wannabe Pokemon-Master remembered at that moment that he had been separated from his beloved fire-type partner.
"O-Oh, yeah, whatever attacked us caused Scorbunny, Lillie, and Peter to get split up from us..." Ash sighed. "Sorry Brock, I'm gonna have to find another way to get you down..."
"Uh, Ash, don't you have another Pokemon?" Brock asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms, acting completely casual in his current state. "What was it?...It was a Fighting-Type...Right! Mankey! Just ask it to use a Fighting-type move on the tree so that I can be knocked out of it!"
"I don't know about that, Brock..." Ash replied, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I don't use Mankey a whole lot because, well, he's a bit unpredictable..."
"Well you can't leave me hanging here, can you?" Brock asked. "You've gotta trust your partners. After all, you can't rely on Scorbunny all the time, Ash!"
"Err...Fine, I guess you're right," Ash sighed as he took out Mankey's Poke-Ball and aimed it in front of himself. "Go, Mankey!..."
After throwing the Poke-Ball that contained Mankey, the Trainer with one one Gym Badge watched as his fighting-type partner materialized in front of him. And, as usual, the little Pokemon was seething with anger.
"H-Hey, Mankey..." Ash started, nervously approaching his partner with his hands slightly raised to signify to the Pokemon to act nicely. "Our good friend Brock is stuck in that tree, so I need you to get him out by kicking the tree really hard, okay? I'd ask Scorbunny to do it, but he's not here right now, so-"
Cutting the Pokemon Trainer off, Mankey jumped into action!
Of course, it wasn't the action that Ash and Brock were hoping for. Instead of attacking the tree, the angry little Pokemon instead attacked its trainer by jumping onto his face and immediately starting a vicious attack consisting of scratches and punches!
"Agh! Mankey, get off!..." Ash tried to exclaimed, firmly grabbing his partner's body in attempt to get him off.
Of course, it was to no avail, considering the strength of the little Pocket Monster.
Brock simply sighed as he watched this go on.
"I'm going to be hanging here for a while..." the former Gym Leader thought to himself with a sigh. "I wonder what the others are up to, and I wonder how and why we even got into this mess in the first place?..."
Peter groggily woke up, holding his head with one hand as he did so. Just like Ash and Brock, the secret superhero had found that he was knocked off of the trail and into the forest-area of Route 3.
"Oh man...That sure was comfortable..." Peter sarcastically thought to himself as he got up and dusted himself off. "But what the hell was that? We were all just minding our own business when, all of a sudden, some weirdo in a yellow hazmat-suit just attacks us with...What even was that?... Some sort of weird energy device?...It messed up the land pretty badly..."
The assistant of Professor Oak shook his head and took out his Rotom-Phone, swiping through his contacts. "Well, I might as well call one of my friends and tell them where I am, and-"
However, just as the secret superhero thought this, he noticed that his phone didn't have a signal!
"What?! No signal?!…" Peter thought to himself in disbelief. "We live in a world where Rotoms can posses smartphones, yet said Rotom can't give us free signal?! Man, that's another thing I have to add to my 'Future Science-Projects' list..."
Peter put his phone away and looked from the right to the left. "Well, I might as well get into my Spider-Man costume and start taking a look around! Hopefully, I can find the jerk who started this mess, and my friends!"
The secret superhero then ran over to a tree and hid behind it, beginning to get into costume. "I just hope they're all still alive..."
Peter had super powers. His friends didn't. Of course he'd be worried about them.
And it seemed that his worries were well-placed, considering how Lillie was lying unconscious in a river, floating downstream. There was just one river on Route 3, and it was a pretty popular place for fishermen and fisherwomen of all ages to visit. Unfortunately, nobody was there at that moment, or at least nobody that was visible.
Multiple fish Pokemon like Magikarp swam around Lillie's unconscious body, her clothes and hat completely soaked.
Just like Lillie, Scorbunny was unconscious as well, and was being held tightly by Lillie, which was a little surprising considering she was, you know, knocked out.
In her bag, Nebby innocently poked its head out and looked at its caretaker's face. Tilting its head to the side, clearly confused, Nebby simply asked "Pew?"
No response.
Nebby asked again. "Pew? Pew?"
Again, no response.
The gaseous Pokemon nervously looked down at Scorbunny, who was being clutched tightly by the blonde-haired girl, despite her current state. Realizing the severity of the situation, the little, nebula Pokemon got out of Lillie's bag and hopped onto her chest. After crawling over to Scorbunny, it poked the Fire-type Pokemon using its wispy extensions in an attempt to wake it up.
"Pew...Pew..." Nebby whispered to Scorbunny.
Sure, the gaseous little Pokemon wanted to wake Lillie up, but Nebby didn't want to do it in a rude manner!
…
Yeah, Nebby wasn't the smartest Pokemon out there, but hey, at least Nebby was thoughtful!
Scorbunny batted the gaseous Pokemon wispy extensions away with its paw, even though it was asleep, since it was enjoying its little nap. Lillie's arms were just comfortable to be in, as well.
However, the gaseous Pokemon was growing a bit fed up with Scorbunny's behavior, and ended up slamming its wispy extension into Scorbunny's stomach, knocking the wind out of the Fire-type and causing him to abruptly sit up, breaking free from Lillie's clutches.
"PEW!"
"Scor-Bun Bun?!" the fire-type angrily asked as it abruptly sat up angrily, glaring daggers at Nebby. "Scor Scor Scor!"
Nebby blinked twice before giggling. Once again, the gaseous Pokemon proved that it was an innocent creature.
Scorbunny felt its eye twitch. "Scorbunny! Scorbunny! Scor-"
However, when Nebby gestured to the fact that the two of them were pretty much just sitting on top of Lillie and were floating down a river, Scorbunny's attitude completely changed.
The Fire-type's demeanor, which was once one of an aggressive, tiny-but-strong, Pokemon, immediately changed to one that was completely horrified.
"Sco-Scorbunny!..." the Pokemon exclaimed worriedly.
Once again, Nebby blinked twice, but this time, there was no giggle. Scorbunny was so powerful, so cool! Yet... he was afraid of water?!
"Pew... Pew?!" the gaseous Pokemon asked the Fire-type in disbelief. "Pew?!"
Scorbunny crossed its arms and looked away, making a 'Hmph' sound.
Nebby sighed because of Ash's partner's behavior. Of course, it DID make sense. Scorbunny was a Fire-type and, naturally, Fire-types were weak to water. But to be this afraid? Man, that was just a mixture of both hilarious and incredibly dumb...
"GYARAAAA!"
Both Nebby and Scorbunny immediately whipped their heads to the side, wondering what the loud noise that they both heard was.
And, as they both looked at the source of the sound, both of their jaws dropped.
Rushing at them with its jaw wide open, pushing past the multiple fish Pokemon that resided in the river, was none other then an extremely large GYARADOS!
Gyarados was a serpentine Pokemon with a long body covered in slightly overlapping scales. It was mostly blue with a yellow underbelly, and it had a row of yellow spots down each side. Its mouth was very large and gaping, bearing four pointed teeth and yellow lips. It had one barbel and a small white fin on each side of its face. It had small, red eyes, a three-pointed, dark blue crest on its head, and four white, spiky dorsal fins. Gyarados's tail fin was similar in structure to the crest on its head, except with a thin, white fin spread between the points.
In other words, the giant blue Pokemon was extremely terrifying, and, what's worse was that it looked like it wanted to devour the two Pokemon, along with their unconscious human friend!
"Sc-Scorbunny!..." the Fire-type exclaimed in complete and utter disbelief, wondering how and why it had to get into the situation that it was currently in. After all, from the looks of it, it seemed that Scorbunny, Nebby, and Lillie were going to bite the dust!
Unlike Scorbunny, who was terrified by water and wasn't really doing anything to try and get out of the situation, Nebby began attempting to use its wispy extensions as a row of sorts to try and move Lillie's body like a boat. Unfortunately, that obviously didn't work.
It seemed that it was the end.
Gyarados opened its mouth wide, ready to devour the trio that consisted of two Pokemon and a human when, suddenly...
Nebby concentrated its power, a little glow appearing around its body. Scorbunny took notice of this before grinning. Nebby was going to use Teleport to get them out of there! What a smart move!
…
However, there was just one problem.
Lillie had established that, after Nebby had 'Saved her' a few months ago due to some mysterious event that she had refused to elaborate on further, Nebby had lost the ability to teleport long distances and was only able to appear across extremely short distances!
So, combining that with the strain that teleporting Lillie and Scorbunny with him would cause, was Nebby really going to use its teleportation abilities? And was it going to use them properly?!
Of course, there was no time to think about it. Gyarados was about to swallow the trio!
Nebby immediately used Teleport, causing Lillie, Scorbunny, and itself to vanish away from the lake and out of the way of the Gyarados' deadly jaws, confusing the monstrous Pokemon.
"Gyara, Gyara?" the Pokemon questioned before swimming away.
The question remained, though, where exactly DID Nebby teleport the trio to?
An orange-haired girl was sitting atop a rock, holding a fishing rod in her hands as she boredly fished at the very same lake where Lillie was sent into.
The girl was wearing a yellow tank top that revealed her midriff, red suspenders, denim shorts that stopped at her thighs, and red high top sneakers with yellow lining and white laces. She also had a red backpack.
It was very clear that she was struggling to catch a bite, and was extremely bored with the fishing that she was doing.
"Man, what does it take for a girl to catch something at this boring lake?..." she angrily muttered to herself as she reeled in her fishing rod and shook her head. "No wonder nobody's here right now...Maybe it's the wrong season or something...How else am I going to prove to my sisters that I-"
Suddenly, the girl heard a loud 'CRASH' sound and turned her head to the right.
"What was that?..."
Lillie got up and dusted herself off. She was soaking, muddy and dirty, and looked like an absolute wreck.
"Wh-Where am I?..." the blonde-haired girl pondered to herself as she looked from left to right. "The last thing I remember was some strange purple energy coming straight at me, and then I was knocked out, or something like that...Why am I wet and dirty?..."
She looked to the right and raised an eyebrow. Scorbunny was there, standing worriedly. Okay, that was odd, considering how the Fire-type was Ash's partner, and the two were practically inseparable, and Ash was nowhere to be seen.
However, that wasn't the weirdest part. Nebby was there too, and he was...
"Oh my goodness!" Lillie exclaimed as she rushed over to her unconscious friend and scooped him up into her arms, falling to her knees. Looking at Scorbunny, she worriedly asked "What happened?! Why is Nebby hurt?! Did he use his teleportation powers?! And why am I wet?! Why is-"
Scorbunny pointed to the river and then pointed to Nebby, sharing Lillie's worried behavior.
"Scorbunny Scor Scor!" the Fire-type tried to explain, but to no avail, considering Lillie couldn't understand him.
"W-Were we in the river?..." Lillie asked, putting together the little bits and pieces of information that Scorbunny was giving her. "I-It would explain why I'm wet, and why Nebby would have to teleport us out of there...But why did it have to?!… Nebby knows that using its teleportation abilities over long distances can hurt him..."
Nebby's eyes were closed, and the little wispy extensions that acted as its arms were limp. Lillie knew that Nebby was alive, since it was making small 'Pew...' sounds every few seconds, but it was obvious that the gaseous Pokemon could die at any moment, and that simple fact was gnawing at Lillie. She was incredibly worried for her Pokemon's, no, her friend's health.
"Come on, come on..." Lillie muttered as she looked into her bag, which had somehow managed to still stay onto her body. "There has to be something in here that can help Nebby...I always pack items for a situation like this..."
Unfortunately, the Pokeball-themed sack was completely wet, and its contents consisted of, well, NOTHING!
"Oh come on!..." Lillie exclaimed to herself in complete and utter disbelief. "Nebby is here dying and the potions that I had packed are GONE?! Why?!"
"Scor-Bun!" Scorbunny exclaimed, catching Lillie's attention.
Floating downstream in the river were a multitude of Pokemon healing items, like potions, antidotes, and the like.
"S-So that's where they went..." Lillie sighed before looking down at Nebby, tears forming in her eyes. "It can't end like this...There has to be a way to save him...He can't die, not like this..."
Scorbunny patted his trainer's friend's arm, attempting to console her in the desperate situation that the two of them had found themselves in. "Scorbunny Scor..."
Unfortunately, there was nothing that the two of them could do. Lillie's healing items were rapidly floating away in the river, and there was no way to retrieve them. Scorbunny could have, of course, tried to retrieve some berries from within the forest, but there was no guarantee that the Fire-type could get some in time.
There was nothing they could do.
Nebby was going to die.
…
"Oh my gosh! Is that Pokemon hurt?!"
Lillie and Scorbunny both turned their heads around the see what the source of the voice was.
It was the orange-haired girl! She was rushing towards them.
"I've got some Pokemon medicine in here, just hang on!..." the girl exclaimed as she crouched onto the floor, just like what Lillie and Scorbunny were doing, and took off her backpack to start looking in it. She was a good person, and understood the severity of the situation right away. After a bit of frantic searching, she found a potion. "Ah, here we go! If you'd let me, could I?..."
"Please, go on ahead!" Lillie quickly responded, extending her arms while holding Nebby towards the girl. "I-I don't know what happened...But my friend needs immediate care!"
The girl nodded and quickly got to work.
Lillie and Scorbunny watched as the girl squirted the potion onto Nebby. The potion was purple in color, and came in a squirt bottle.
Immediately, the effects of the potion started to show, and the injuries on Nebby's bodies quickly began to heal.
"There, your Pokemon should be all healed..." the orange-haired girl stated as she put away the Pokemon-healing device. "Now we just have to wait. I'm not sure if your Pokemon will heal, because I've never seen a Pokemon like THAT before, but..."
Nebby slowly opened its eyes weakly. It was definitely still hurt, but it was at least alive, and not in constant pain.
The gaseous Pokemon looked at its trainer and smiled weakly. "P-Pew?..."
Lillie looked into her friend's eyes for a moment before grinning, tears still in her eyes. She hugged the Pokemon, which was a bit hard to do considering its gaseous body, but she did so nonetheless.
"Oh Nebby! You're alive! Thank goodness! I was so worried!" Lillie exclaimed, fighting the urge to cry. "I-I don't know what happened...But please! Don't ever do that to yourself ever again! I've told you not to use Teleport over long distances!"
Nebby giggled and snuggled into Lillie's touch.
The gaseous Pokemon was safe.
Lillie and the stranger that had helped her were sitting on some large rocks near the river, watching Scorbunny kick around a pebble like a soccer ball. Nebby was sitting in the blonde-haired girl's lap, who was n turn gently stroking its body, kind of like a cat. Lillie's clothes were also dry now, and she had managed to remove the dirt from it.
"So... What happened?" the orange-haired girl asked. "I heard a loud 'THUD!' sound, and when I came to investigate, I found you and that rabbit Pokemon over there with this...Strange Pokemon that I've never seen before. Are you from another Region? I've never seen Pokemon like these ones before..."
"W-Well, yes, I am from another Region. My name is Lillie, and I'm from Alola," the blonde-haired girl stated, introducing herself as she looked up from Nebby and towards the stranger that had helped her. "And as for how we ended up in this mess...Well, I'm not sure. I-Me and my friends were attacked by some strange purple energy, and I think I went unconscious after being split up from them. I fell into a river somehow...And then I think my friend Nebby here teleported us out, but since Nebby can't handle teleporting over long distances, he passed out...Or at least that's what I think happened. I don't know the specifics..."
The stranger nodded, listening to Lillie's story attentively. After a bit, she smiled. "Man, that sounds pretty harsh. I wonder who the jerk that attacked you was, though?"
Lillie nodded slightly and looked back down at her friend. "Yeah, I want to know too..."
The orange-haired girl remained silent for a moment before grinning. "Oh! I guess I forgot to introduce myself, huh? My name's Misty, and I'm training to be a Water-type Pokemon Master! I was just fishing in the area when I came to investigate what happened."
"Oh! Well, thank you, Misty," Lillie responded with a smile. "I really appreciate it...Nebby's my best friend, and I don't know what I'd do without him..."
Misty raised an eyebrow and looked at Scorbunny, who was still playing with the small pebble. Comedically, the tiny rock was now on fire, due to the nature of Scorbunny's feet.
"Nebby?...I've never heard of that Pokemon...And what about that one over there? Is that Pokemon yours too?" the girl who wanted to be a 'Water-type Pokemon Master' asked.
"Oh, well, Nebby here is one of a kind, and because of that, I don't really show him to people that often. I suppose it's because of that sole reason that nobody really knows much about him..." Lillie explained while smiling at Nebby, who was peacefully snoring in its caretaker's lap. The blonde-haired girl then looked up at Scorbunny and continued. "As for that one, well, that's Scorbunny. You might not recognize the species, since its actually native to Galar, not Kanto. Oh, and also, Scorbunny isn't mine. He belongs to my friend Ash. I'm not much of a trainer, and I only really take care of Nebby because I want to help him find his way back home..."
Misty nodded for a few moments, before smirking.
"Oh, I see. I'm a bit surprised that Scorbunny listens to you so well, though. A Pokemon needs to spend a lot of time with a person to develop that kind of bond," Misty explained, her smirk still present on her face. "You must spend a lot of time with Scorbunny's trainer...Is he your boyfriend?"
Lillie blinked twice, before her cheeks immediately turned a bright red. "W-What?! No way!...That's ridiculous!..."
Misty snickered in response to Lillie's response. "Haha! Well, whatever, hehe..."
Suddenly, both of the girls noticed Scorbunny's ear twitching. The Fire-type Pokemon abruptly stopped playing with the small rock and was looking at the forest with a concerned expression.
"Wh-What's wrong, Scorbunny?" Lillie asked the Fire-type. "Is everything alright? Can you sense someone? Is it Ash, Brock, or Peter?"
Scorbunny simply muttered to itself in response. "Scorbunny..."
Ash finally managed to pull Mankey away from his face, and extended the Fighting-type Pokemon away so that he could stare into its eyes. Mankey was still flailing its arms around angrily, and Brock was still up in that tree.
"Come on, Mankey! Can't you help me out?" Ash asked, looking into his Pokemon's eyes. "I'm your trainer! Why won't you listen to me? Is it because you don't like me? We could always work together to try and work on that..."
However, Mankey wasn't interested in Ash's attempts to bond, and simply continued to try and attack Ash.
"Ash! Why don't you return Mankey to its Pokeball and kick the tree yourself?!" Brock called out, suggesting an idea to the wannabe Pokemon Master. "I'll teach you how to properly bond with your Pokemon later!"
"Well, I don't appreciate that you're technically saying that I don't know how to bond with my Pokemon, but fine!" Ash shouted back. "Let me just..."
However, before Ash could respond, a new voice interjected in the conversation, catching the attention of Brock, Ash, and Mankey.
"We'll gladly take you out of that tree, kid," the voice, which belonged to an A.I.M agent who had entered the area, stated. "However, we're going to have to take all three of you in. You were all in contact with the source of that large energy, and we're going to have to take you in for questioning..."
"Wait a minute, who are YOU?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow.
However, his question was ignored, and the A.I.M agent instead pulled out a futuristic gun.
On cue, a slew of a couple hundred A.I.M agents immediately came into view, each and every one of them holding a futuristic gun.
"...Even if it means taking you in by force."
"Man, this place is so dense! Maybe I should send out Bulbasaur and Joltik to try and help me get through this stupid forest..." Peter, now in his Spider-Man costume, thought to himself as he pushed past a few trees to try and find his friends. "Nobody's here, right? So it won't really matter if I send out Bulbasaur or not..."
Suddenly, the superhero's Spider-Sense began ringing and he immediately ducked, dodging whatever was being thrown at him. "Oops! It looks like my shoe's untied!"
When Spidey got up, he was a bit surprised to see a metal saw blade stuck in the bark of a tree. "What the-"
The superhero immediately whipped around, and his eyes widened.
Standing there were three robots, who were all double his size.
The robots all had a black and yellow body body with a single, big yellow eye, which was surrounded by a black ring. They had thick arms with big yellow wrists and black hands. Their legs were short and they also had two jets on each of their backs. They looked incredibly menacing.
"Yeah, okay, killer robots? This is a weird day," Spider-Man sighed as he got ready to battle. "What's next? Are they going to reveal they're actually Transformers or some crap?"
Scorbunny watched on angrily and got into a fighting stance, ready to battle.
Something was approaching from the forest.
"W-What is it, Scorbunny?" Lillie asked once more. "Please, tell me!..."
The Fire-type Pokemon looked back at the blonde-haired girl, and was about to shout something to her when, suddenly, the thing that was bothering Scorbunny came into view.
It was none other then the Scientist Supreme, who was accompanied by two A.I.M grunts.
"W-Who are YOU guys?" Misty angrily asked as she and Lillie got up to glare at the new arrivals.
"Please, don't be so hostile," the Scientist Supreme chuckled. "We only want one thing and one thing alone. After that, we'll let you be..."
The leader of the A.I.M organization pointed at Nebby, who was snuggled up in Lillie's arms, and continued.
"That. We've detected a large power emanating from it, and we wish to harness that power to continue our projects," the evil man in yellow explained menacingly, a grin present on his face underneath his mask. "And if you have a brain, you're going to hand it to US before we get...Violent."
Q: Say, I already asked this question, but will Peter will be paired up with one of Peter's female companions?
A: I don't want to spoil anything, especially since plans might change in the future, but there will be pairings, so look forward to that!
…
Anyways, yeah. The tenth chapter has been completed! My original idea was to have the adventures in Kanto exclusively have Spider-Man related characters, and save other Marvel characters for later, but I decided it would be much more fun to both read and write if I added in other Marvel characters early on. And hey, there hasn't been a single Lillie-focused chapter so far, so here we are!
I decided on using A.I.M since, well, they fit the idea of what I had planned for this chapter. For this story, they're mostly a newer organization that are trying to be like Team Rocket. I'll briefly touch on the origins of A.I.M in this story in the next chapter.
Misty's also showed up, and now each of our heroes have found themselves in some sticky situations! How will they get out? You'll have to wait and see!
Until next time!