Chapter 2
The Storm
The rain pounded on the roof of the lab as Professor Oak filed Slash's Pokémon hurriedly.
"This is the worst storm I've seen in a long time!" Oak exclaimed while placing a Lucky Ball in its slot.
"Yeah," Slash agreed while petting his Bulbasaur, "I hope Ash's okay."
"I know this building will last the storm," Oak assured Slash, "it's outlasted most buildings in the worst storms and other disasters." A sudden gust of wind made a loud cracking noise from down the street. It was Ash's house, which had just been de-roofed.
"Ash!" Slash cried in terror. He grabbed a Pokeball right away. "Go, Digger! A Sandslash came out and started digging underground towards Ash's house. Slash followed, and soon reached a thick stone wall. Digger clawed at it and realized he couldn't dig anymore. He glanced at Slash, and then drilled a hole with fissure.
"Slash!" Ash ran towards the hole as Digger popped into his Lucky Ball and dove into the hole. The rest followed quickly. They burrowed back towards the lab just as Ash's house shuddered and crashed to the ground.
When they were back at the lab, brushing dirt and mud off their clothes, a worried face shown on the two adults.
"My house was one of the most stable and safe houses around here, and even it couldn't survive this storm!" Ash's mom said worriedly as she looked out the window at her home, which was now in ruins. What was left of their belongings was flying around like feathers being blown by a child.
Prof. Oak was worried now about his lab, "If your house was downed so quickly, then my lab might not withstand this storm," he gave a nervous smile, "I wonder what could be the cause of this storm. There hasn't been any this bad since anyone can remember!"
Slash pondered this for a moment and looked over at his Pokeballs, safe in the slots Oak had provided for him earlier. He walked over and studied them carefully, looking for one that would fit his needs for now.
"A ha!" he plucked one out of its socket. This one wasn't a Lucky Ball, but no one recognized it either. Seeing the curious looks on his friends' faces, Slash began to explain, "I traded for this one. The person I traded with had all kinds of different Pokeballs for different reasons. This one is the Portball. It can float about its owner and will return if taken too far from him or her. See?" He threw the ball at Misty, who gasped as it almost hit her nose, but suddenly zoomed back towards Slash and hung suspended in midair near his head. "I can also send it out without touching it, and it will sort of throw itself, like this:" Slash nodded at the ball and it rushed toward the ground, letting out a red light that formed into a Gengar.
"Wow!" Ash's eyes bulged at the Pokémon, "a Gengar!!"
"His name is Inviso" Slash replied, then turned to him, "Inviso, could you go and try to see what is making this huge storm?"
"Gen!" Inviso nodded its acknowledgment and leaped into the air and rushed towards the eye of the storm.
"Oh, yeah!" Slash caught everyone's attention as five heads turned towards his, "the Portball can also call back Pokémon who would usually be out of range, and even the Pokémon can return themselves from far away!"
Minutes later, a battered and beaten Inviso crashed in through the window.
"Inviso!!!" Slash called as he rushed over to the Gengar. The poor creature was too hurt to move, and Slash immediately rushed him to the healing center of the lab. As soon as Inviso was healed, a loud rumble was heard from outside and Slash, sensing the danger, pulled out his laptop and started typing something. As the sound got closer, Pokeballs disappeared from their slots. Finally, all the Pokeballs were safe inside Slash's Pokeball storage system in his computer, and the sound was so loud it blocked out even the sounds of Ash's yelling as the walls started to crush. Still typing away on his computer, Slash ran to his new friends, Professor Oak, and Ms. Ketchum and tossed them cords, gesturing for them to hold them tight.
As they disappeared through a wave of light, a sucking funnel of air, the indestructible lab crashed to the ground in an earsplitting crash that all of Pallet heard.