When we last left our heroes, Ash and Misty finished participating the Pokemon Number One Grand Prix, with their good friend Anthony finishing first with his faithful companion Hitmonchan. Now that Erika has rumored to have returned to Celadon City, Ash and Misty have agreed to depart first thing in the morning for Ash's final Pokemon badge.
But things don't always go according to plan—
"CAAAW!" A shadow swept over the small town.
"What was that?" Ash asked before running outside to scan the skies for the source of the sudden darkness. As soon as it had come, the shade rolled over and out came the sunlight.
"A Pokemon?" Rebecca asked, the last person to exit the Pokemon Center.
Ash couldn't see anything but was concerned nonetheless.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Misty confessed.
A significantly smaller object than what had darkened the small town started gliding out of the sky down to the young heroes and their friends.
"It's Pidgeot and Tracy," Misty said, squinting to see more clearly, because she knew that there was no way a Pidgeot could block out the entire sun.
Pidgeot flapped its wings, collapsing on the spot with Tracy sluggishly falling off its back and onto the ground.
"What the—" Ash had no time to finish the sentence as he ran to his two friends, checking them out.
"Ash..." Tracy muttered later, after they'd moved them both into the Pokemon Center and called a human doctor.
"I'm here," Ash told him.
"Pruh-fess-er-oke—" he muttered incoherently.
"What?"
"Profess— Oak."
"Oak? Professor Oak?" Misty guessed.
"Pokemon—" Tracy murmured. "All gone..."
"What happened to the Pokemon?" Ash demanded as Tracy nodded back off. Ash sprinted to the computer screen and called Professor Oak immediately to check on his Pokemon.
"RING RING RING. RING RING RING. PHONE CALL."
"This is Professor Samuel Oak of Pallet Town. I'm unavailable at the moment—" Ash hung up and tried again, having only gotten off the phone with him maybe a half hour before Tracy showed up an hour ago.
"NO," Ash slammed the phone as he hung up and dialed his mom. When she didn't answer, he called every neighbor he could think of the number for before not receiving a single answer. He tried Gary's mom last because he wasn't a hundred percent on her number, but he didn't really care about wrong numbers at this point.
The answer was on the fourth ring, a tall lady appearing on the screen looking as if she'd just gotten home.
"Ash, are you okay?" She asked immediately. "Do you know where Gary is?"
"I don't, sorry." Ash told her. "Did something happen in Pallet?"
"Someone attacked the lab," she informed him. "The whole town is out looking for all the missing Pokemon."
"Professor Oak's lab?"
She nodded, "Whoever attacked it let most of them go from what I heard. but I heard they got some of yours."
"My Pokemon?" Ash asked aloud, although he hadn't meant too, his heart freezing from the cold grip on it.
"Some of yours escaped and ran out. Sam thinks your Pokemon are heading towards you."
"I just found Pidgeot with Tracy riding him," Ash informed her. "They looked beat."
"They must've been attacked heading to you," Gary's mom (Professor Oak's daughter-in-law) concluded. "The man in the mask..."
"Mask?" Ash and Misty asked at the same time, scrolling through their list of enemies and not coming up with someone who would be motivated to attack a Pokemon laboratory (shy of Team Rocket, who were taken care of ages ago by Mewtwo) and steal Ash's Pokemon.
"He wore an R on his chest, but he said he wasn't with Team Rocket," she explained. "He called himself 'The Marauder.'"
"Marauder?" Ash repeated, no significance in the name striking him.
Misty thought about it, the name sounding eerily familiar, but nothing jumping out at her.
"Professor Oak sent Tracy and your Pidgeot to find you. It was one of the Pokemon that made it out before the Marauder came."
Ash could see it in his head: a mysterious masked man showing up and attacking Professor Oak's laboratory with unrelenting ferocity. His Pokemon, well versed in the nefarious deeds of Team Rocket alumni, escaped before they could. He could even imagine a few of his older Pokemon acting, as he would, as protectors to the others and getting caught trying to save the younger Pokemon.
It sickened him, made him feel powerless. But he wasn't; he couldn't afford to be.
"As soon as Pidgeot's ready," Ash told Misty, "we're heading to Pallet. I'm not leaving him here." After Ash hung up with Mrs. Oak, he dialed another number that got him in contact with a girl named Liza. "Can you send Charizard to Pallet Town?"
"He's already on the way," Liza informed him immediately. "We saw the teletape, and he stormed right off. You need to be careful."
"I need to find my friends," Ash corrected. "Before it's too late."
It took an hour, which was already far too long in Ash's mind, but finally Pidgeot was able to fly. Tracy was being transported to a human hospital as quickly as possible in Celadon City. Ash felt guilty about leaving him as well, but he refused to wait around any longer.
"You can stay with him—" Ash began with Misty.
"No way," Misty cut him off, gripping his hand tight. "We're in this together from now on."
Ash smiled slightly, the first smile she'd seen him make since Tracy showed up.
The two trainers, with Pikachu safely in Misty's bag much the way Togepi used to hide in it, mounted Pidgeot's back, who spread its enormous wings and took off at speeds that could knock Ash and Misty off its back had the Pokemon not slowed down slightly.
All things considered, the flight did not take very long at all.
He could just see the edge of Viridian Forest when an enormous flamethrower blasted through the air, causing Pidgeot to dodge and descend.
"What is that?" Misty screamed in his ear.
"Pidgeot, go!" Ash called out, reaching for a Pokeball. But the expected second attack did not come as Pidgeot cautiously glided above the trees. It wasn't until Ash had Pidgeot touch down that he realized what was going on. "Infernape!" Ash yelled as he ran to his wary Pokemon, who as overlooking an injured Heracross and exhausted Scyther.
"That must be Tracy's Scyther," Misty realized.
Ash dug in his bag for Super Potion, Nurse Joy having stocked them up before they left for Pallet, and sprayed each of the Pokemon in sync.
"Are you guys okay?"
"Scy- Scy..." Scyther groaned.
"Tracy's okay; he's getting help." Ash said, gently rubbing Scyther's head. he barely noticed that Pikachu had gotten out of Misty's bag until he released Growlithe, Electabuzz, and Riolu from their Pokeballs.
"Electabuzz, you and Riolu are going to do a mile perimeter to see if you can find the other Pokemon. Riolu," Ash knelt next to the young Pokemon, "I know you're just a baby. But I need you to use the power of aura. It's inherent in all Riolu. If you can tap into it, you can find our friends."
He knew it was risky, considering Electabuzz and Riolu didn't know the other Pokemon beyond the face-to-face meeting when Ash had originally caught them and Professor Oak asked to test them before he moved on to the next town. But Riolu should be able to sense their aura, which would be complementary to their mutual trainer.
He had Growlithe sniff them out with Pikachu alongside him. He rationalized that Electabuzz and Pikachu were the two strongest Pokemon he had on hand, so they were perfect to back up Growlithe and Riolu, who were strong in their own right, but still had a bit of growing to do.
He wished he hadn't traded Primeape away, as he too would be useful in the search as backup. But he was thankful that his Eevee was safe on his belt where he could protect it.
"Pidgeot," Ash turned to one of his oldest friends, "keep an eye on the skies. Follow Riolu and Electabuzz and if you see something, come find us. Meet back here in an hour," Ash told his Pokemon, having Growlithe burn an 'X' into the ground to remind them where exactly they were meant to meet. "Stay hidden you three. Infernape, you hold the fort."
Infernape nodded its agreement.
Ash and Misty ran off in two separate directions while the Pokemon went off in their designated groups.
Ash found his way to a cave where he saw a group of exhausted Pokemon, many of them he'd never met before.
"Are you guys okay?" Ash asked, approaching slowly.
"CHARRRRR!" A Charmeleon screamed, blowing flames in Ash's direction.
"No, I'm friendly!" Ash ducked to avoid the short-lived flamethrower, as another Pokemon went up to vouch for him. "Quilava!" Ash ran up to greet his longtime friend, realizing that Buizel and Staraptor were in the cave as well as a dozen other Pokemon that weren't his. "What happened to you guys?"
...
Misty reached a small oasis in the middle of the forest where she found someone she knew.
"Totodile!" Misty dove into the water, swimming to the center and pulling the unconscious Pokemon out to land. It took her a second to pull out her Hyper Potion, but it did the trick as Totodile leaped into the air and tackled Misty in a hug with excitement and fear.
The water Pokemon and the trainer continued walking after Misty told Totodile what she knew. Totodile seemed to lead her off into a specific direction, almost as if it had an idea of where the other Pokemon had gone.
The two reached a clearing where there was a small shed. Misty didn't recognize the Pokemon beside it as Ash's, but saw that Totodile seemed to recognize it as the water type ran toward the ailing Donphan.
"Is this one of Ash's?" Misty asked Totodile, as she healed her with potion, who nodded excitedly and danced. "I'm a friend of Ash—"
"DONN!" Donphan bellowed, recognizing the name of her trainer immediately and classifying Misty as a friend without question.
"Don't worry, you're gonna be okay," Misty told Donphan.
Misty took them with her while she made her way deeper into the forest before seeing a bolt of electricity coming from the ground up.
"Pikachu!" She exclaimed, running toward the lightning with Donphan and Totodile by her side.
...
"Rio," Riolu shouted, its eyes closed as it ran through the trees. The power of aura inherent, Riolu sensed a large number of Pokemon with aura's complimentary to Ash's, all of whom likely had some level of relationship with the trainer even if he wasn't their trainer.
"BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ!" Electabuzz protested, not able to run nearly as fast as the small young Pokemon.
"RIOLU!" Riolu pointed and recognized Primeape, who was facedown in the dirt below what looked like a Pokemon trainer in Riolu's eyes.
The unknown human, a Pokemon hunter, heard the young Pokemon's scream and turned, "You must be his too." His mutter was audible enough that the Pokemon in the cages behind him started screaming various forms of "RUN". The hunter couldn't be sure that all of them belonged to Ash Ketchum, but he didn't really care. Once he managed to replicate the powers of the Dark Ball, all of these Pokemon would obey him and be at their peak of power.
"Weavile," the hunter started, "attack!"
The two Weavile assisting the hunter sprinted towards Riolu and Electabuzz respectively. Electabuzz charged up and unleashed a thunder attack, rapidly dodged by both Weavile.
One Weavile went to use Fury Swipe, but Riolu saw it coming with Foresight and stopped the Weavile cold mid-swing. Electabuzz used thunder punch on the shocked Weavile and sent him flying while the other Weavile used Dark Pulse from a safe distance.
Electabuzz threw Riolu out of the way, taking the full brunt of the devastating attack, and being knocked unconscious immediately.
"RIO!" Riolu screamed in outrage, dodging frantically the attacks that the two Weavile, now fully recovered, aggressed. Riolu used Low Kick to counter the offensive before attempting a Bite attack on the other. Weavile knocked Riolu off of it and used Metal Claw.
A critical hit!
Riolu was smacked into a tree, its vision hazy as the Weavile approached to finish the job.
"Riii...oooo." Riolu closed its eyes, focusing on the bond it had with the other Pokemon and its master before finally reaching Ash with the power of aura.
...
Ash saw flashes of what had happened, instinctively knowing where to go and heading that way immediately.
"PIDGEOT!" Ash screamed as many times as he could until he was heard. Pidgeot descended and allowed Ash to climb aboard while the two darted. "Please be okay, Riolu. Tell me that you guys aren't hurt."
A turn for the worst occurs just as Ash and Misty are attempting to leave for Celadon City. Now, with the mysterious "Marauder" figure on the loose, Ash is on the clock to save his friends before time runs out. But just what is this masked figure planning? The only way to find out is to stay tuned until the adventure continues...
This movie interrupted my plan to enter Ash into his final gym battle this chapter. I decided I wanted a longer break and to reintroduce older Pokemon before Ash battles Erika, as well as return to Pallet Town with a legitimate reason. Fortunately, this all worked out very well.
I left a handful of (intentional) Easter eggs that referenced previous Pokemon episodes/movies (I won't tell you which) to foreshadow the identity of the Pokemon hunter. There is one or two that should serve as dead giveaways as well as a couple that simply alluded to the character I have in mind.
I would love to hear your thoughts/theories about the identity of the hunter! Review/Follow/Favorite, whatever it is you do!
Have a wonderful day!
