Chapter 2: The Missing Pokémon

"Nooooooo!" Misty cried, the first to realize what had happened. She ran over to Slash, coughing on the dust floating in the air.

"What happened?" Ash jumped up at Misty's alarmed response.

"It hit him!" Misty cried from somewhere in the dust. "The Hyper Beam hit him!"

"Wha?!" Gary's eyes popped wide open at the response, but closed again as dust plastered itself against the exposed eyeballs. "Ow!" He blinked away the dust and got up to help Misty find their friend.

"I'll get rid of this dust!" Ash yelled into the cloud of dust. "Noctowl, Whirlwind attack!" Noctowl popped out of his Pokeball and blew away the dust with a gust of wind from his wings. Now everyone could see clearly.

The Hyper Beam attacks had hit the gym wall, causing it to collapse into a pile of rubble. The ground around was scorched with the energy's heat. Slash lay, charred and unconscious, amongst the rubble. Giovanni was nowhere to be found.

"Slash!" the three friends ran to dig him out from the rubble. He was uncovered and pulled out in seconds.

"Is he… is he okay?" Misty wiped a tear from her face.

"I don't know," Gary knelt down to feel for breathing or a pulse. "I don't feet a pulse…"

"Hurry up, you kids!" Giovanni yelled at the wreckage and the people around it.

"How can you be so heartless!?" Misty exploded in a rage, tears streaming down her face, "Don't you see what you've done?! You may have just killed our friend!"

Giovanni's cheek twitched, but he remained emotionless. "I did nothing. It is his Pokémon who gave out when his trainer needed him."

"Quick, Ash!" Misty turned to the speechless comrade, "Call an ambulance! Giovanni, you're going to pay! I'll make sure of it."

But just as Ash dashed, stumbling with his tear-blurred vision, a voice arose from the rubble.

"No, I'm okay."

"Slash…?" Ash, Misty, and Gary all turned towards their friend. Giovanni stared in surprise and wonder. Misty ran over to him, and almost knocked the disoriented young man as she hugged him, "You're okay!!!" Ash ran back to the trio, staring in slack-jawed wonder.

"Where am I?" Slash looked around, uncomprehending, "Oh, I see," he responded to an unseen person ahead of him, "Alright. Giovanni! I'm ready! For my next Pokémon, I choose Inviso!" He threw a Luckyball, and the blue light that emerged became an ethereal Gengar.

"Well," Giovanni held up his Pokeball, "I'll give you a little break for now. Go, Dragonair!"

"Dragonair!? How sad!" Slash stifled a chuckle, "Alrighty then, Inviso! Let's make this quick! Go ethereal and steal that dragonair's soul!"

"What?!" Ash whipped out his pokedex automatically, only to realize that, knowing Slash, this attack would be unique to the luckyball-powered up pokémon. He watched as Inviso disappeared. Giovanni could make no command, and Dragonair looked around in surprise. They both waited to see Inviso reappear, but, instead, Dragonair suddenly shivered and straightened out, then his eyes glazed over and it fell to the ground.

"What did you do, Slash!?" Misty screamed, looking at the non-moving dragonair.

"It's okay, Misty," Slash replied as Inviso reappeared, "Dragonair will recover. But," Slash made a stopping gesture towards Giovanni, who was getting ready to return his pokémon, "it will only recover if left out in the open for a while. Don't return it just yet."

Giovanni returned his pokéball to his belt, then took out another. This one was dark blue on the top and an obsidian black color on the bottom. Shaking with rage, he threw it down. "Go, Roodemon!!!"

"Roodemon!?" Slash jumped at the name of his own pokémon, "How did you catch him?!"

"Just fight, boy!" Giovanni laughed, a maniacal look upon his face, as a kangaroo-like creature dressed like the Grim Reaper emerged from the pokéball.

"Inviso! Return!" There's only one pokémon I can think of to defeat Roodemon, Slash thought, "Go, Rooqueen!" Slash hurled the pokéball with all his might, hoping that his plan would work. It has to work! My only hope is that Rooqueen will become Rooangel!

The ball landed with a loud clang and opened. It was empty.

"What?!" Slash pulled out another pokéball and threw it down. It was also empty. Frantic, Slash began taking out one pokéball at a time and throwing them all down. None of them contained any pokémon. And they were disappearing, as well. Slash fell to his knees, confused, worried, and furious. What is happening? Have I been discovered? Slash gaped and held his head, We're… being… deleted…

Slash fell to the ground, only to find that the ground had been replace by nothingness. The last thing he heard was, "What are we doing here?"

This is the end of "A New Beginning." Please read "Abandoned Visions" for the rest of the story!