The Pokemon Chronicles
Fanfiction by Sung-Min Kwon. © 2003
Disclaimer: Pokemon and its associated characters are copyrighted by Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures Inc, and 4Kids Productions.
***********************
-Contemplation-
Ash woke up hours later, still in the middle of the field of ash. He sat up and tried to recollect things that had happened to him in the past.
But he found it impossible to do so, because his mind was still in disarray because of what had happened.
After just thinking about nothing for a few minutes, his head became clearer. Only then, could he meditate and recall previous events.
***********************
He clearly remembered the finals at the Hoenn Cup, which he placed second at the young age of 14. He was matched up against a trainer named Kari in the last battle.
She was from the city of Petalburg, and was touted as the best trainer that came from Hoenn.
She was expected to win the Cup with no problem, and even sail through the Elite Four. When Ash actually saw her, he went "gah-gah" over her, although not out loud, like Brock did from the stands.
But Ash now knew just how Brock felt like when he saw a girl. This girl was one of those rare jewels that seem like they come once in a generation.
Although Ash still felt more comfortable around Misty or May, he felt that this girl was much more attractive.
She emanated an atmosphere of forbidding and unreachability. Her slender five-foot-seven figure almost measured up to Ash's five-foot-nine figure. She wore her long blonde hair in a ponytail like Misty's, only Kari's came down much farther, down past her shoulder blades.
She had a white shirt on that fit tightly to her body, and one that came down almost to her wrist, although not quite. The shirt had a cute picture of a Torchic on it. Her navy-colored jeans also stuck to her legs, and boy, were they slender. Misty could not fit into those clothes even if she went on a diet for a month.
Kari wore blue-and-white sneakers, ones that made her look really playful. And she was; just not in battle.
In battle, she meant business, and did not hold back at all. It was said that she had come in second place in the Hoenn Cup last year, and was ready to win this match and claim the cup for herself.
When Ash first saw her at the finals match, he had a feeling just from looking at her that she was going to be no piece of cake. And these feelings of his were almost always right.
He couldn't remember how the battle went exactly, but he knew almost all of what happened. It almost made him happy to think about it.
***********************
His first two Pokemon, Heracross and Cyndaquil, had gone down fighting a Gardevoir that knew Flamethrower and Shadow Ball.
Heracross fainted after being hit with a Flamethrower and Psychic, while Cyndaquil was hit with 3 Shadow Balls. Gardevoir itself evaded many of the attacks with its Teleport attack.
However, Ash's Swampert had managed to knock it out with a Surf attack that drenched Kari as well. She looked a bit disgruntled for a while, but the determined look was back on her face soon.
She called out her Tropius, a shining Pokemon. Swampert used Earthquake, only to find out that Tropius was not affected. Tropius countered with a Solarbeam, which knocked out Swampert pretty easily.
Half of Ash's Pokemon were down; he would have to play smart now. He pulled back his red-and-white cap, and called out his Swellow, and he commanded it to use an Aerial Ace attack, but it was evaded.
After a few minutes of continuous Wing Attacks by Swellow, it finally hit the elusive Tropius with a Sky Attack that hit dead on. Ash let out a sigh of relief.
Kari sent out a Tyranitar. Ash's Swellow went down quickly after it received two Metal Claws, although Swellow did manage to hit Tyranitar pretty hard with a powerful Drill Peck.
Ash chose Lairon to battle the Tyranitar. Lairon used a Horn Drill, but missed. Tyranitar seized this opportunity to use a Mega Punch.
Lairon used a Take Down, which weakened Tyranitar seriously. But Tyranitar defeated the Lairon with a Seismic Toss, sending it flying into the stands.
As Ash returned his Lairon, he could swear he saw two people bearing a striking resemblance to Jessie and James. He even heard swearing that sounded like it came from a Meowth.
But he didn't give them much thought; he was down to his last Pokemon, and his opponent still had four Pokemon left.
He looked at Pikachu with pleading eyes, and Pikachu understood what he meant. He scampered out onto the field, and sped up with Agility. There was no way Tyranitar could chase the quick rat Pokemon around.
It kept using attacks like Rock Slide and Bite, but it kept on missing. Finally, it charged up for a Hyper Beam. But when it released the immense amount of energy, Pikachu was already behind Tyranitar and charging fast.
Before Tyranitar even realized that the Hyper Beam had been 180 degrees off its target, Pikachu jumped high, using Tyranitar's heavy tail as support.
While the bigger Pokemon was recharging from the attack, Pikachu let out a powerful Thunder attack, paralyzing and weakening Tyranitar. As it was falling down, Pikachu used Iron Tail, which knocked out the Tyranitar. Pikachu landed daintily on the field.
Kari looked slightly shocked. She called out her Dugtrio, to try to win with the type advantage. Dugtrio immediately dug into the ground.
Pikachu stayed still on the ground with its tail resting on the stadium floor, almost as if it was being used as a sensor. Abruptly, Pikachu darted away with a Quick Attack, and three identical heads sprouted out of the ground where Pikachu had been not even a second ago. Dugtrio looked bewildered that its attack had missed.
Pikachu grabbed the chance and hit the Pokemon with a quick Slam followed by a Skull Bash. Dugtrio dug back into the ground, and Pikachu followed it this time.
Soon, a yellow bolt of lightning extended upwards from the hole, and Pikachu climbed out of the whole with a "V" sign and a smile on its face.
Dugtrio had fainted, but how? According to the rule of the types, electricity was not supposed to be able to damage ground-type Pokemon at all. Somehow, Pikachu had done it.
Kari sent out her Salamence as her fifth Pokemon. It looked ready to spring from its position on command, a sign that it had been trained very well.
Pikachu used Agility to try to match the great speed of its opponent. However, Salamence sent its opponent flying backwards by using a Headbutt when Pikachu was trying to gain speed and wasn't looking at its opponent. Salamence sent out a Dragonbreath, paralyzing Pikachu momentarily. Pikachu fought off the paralysis and countered with a Spark attack, which paralyzed Salamence as well.
Both Pokemon were unable to move, but Pikachu was faster in getting over its status ailment. Pikachu used Take Down, sending Salamence flying into its trainer.
Kari dodged just in time, but Salamence kept on flying until it hit a wall. Salamence was down and out! To the complete surprise of Ash, Kari started smiling. She looked like she was thoroughly enjoying the battle. She must have thought of the Pikachu as a worthy foe, and she acknowledged the greatness of Ash now.
She threw her last Pokeball, which opened up and revealed a gigantic, 40- foot long Steelix. There was no way Pikachu could hurt this Pokemon with electric attacks, because it had used too much electricity earlier.
Pikachu used supportive attacks like Double Team and Agility, while Steelix tried to crush the little Pokemon with repeated Slam attacks with its tail.
When Steelix was frustrated after failing to hit Pikachu, it used a Crunch attack that hurt Pikachu really badly. Pikachu just lay there for a few moments, and then got back up.
It was bruised up and hurt badly, but still standing while breathing heavily. With the last of its energy, it rushed toward the Steelix at a demonic speed, hitting it with a powerful Take Down. Steelix was hit hard, while Pikachu was thrown back from the impact.
Both Pokemon were out cold for several minutes, and it looked as if the match had ended in a draw. The crowd was totally hushed, trying to see which Pokemon would get up first.
Just when the official was about to declare a rematch to be scheduled sometime else, there was a heavy creaking noise that drew the attention of every head in the stadium.
Kari's Steelix managed to rear its head up, let out a loud roar of jubilant victory, then collapse again, this time for good. Kari returned it with a red flash of her Pokeball.
***********************
After Kari was declared the winner, Ash ran to where Pikachu was in a hurry. Pikachu was hurt badly, but still conscious.
Pikachu let out a soft "chu~." Ash hugged Pikachu and said, "Thank you, Pikachu."
To the complete surprise of Ash and Pikachu, everyone in the stadium gave a standing ovation to the duo, applauding Pikachu's performance on taking on four Pokemon and defeating three of them. Even Ash's opponent clapped for him.
Although Ash did not win the Hoenn Cup, he could not be any happier than he was now. He was crying tears, but not because he lost the finals; he was exhilarated with joy. He even felt honored that he went down in an august defeat against a trainer such skilled as Kari.
After the clapping died down, Kari walked to where Ash was. She didn't say anything, but gave a look of congratulations and praise to Ash and Pikachu. She gave a playful wink at him, then disappeared through the gate.
Ash just stayed in the middle of the field, and celebrated with May and Brock for a long time, long after everyone in the audience had exited the stadium.
***********************
That night, the awarding ceremony of the Hoenn Cup was held. Although Ash was not standing on top of the "1" at the award podium, he remembered Pikachu's performance and was content with being on top of the "2."
He was awarded the silver trophy, but he treated it with more respect than the gold trophy that he had won at the Orange League.
As the ceremony concluded and the audience clapped loudly for the entire world to hear, tears started flowing down Ash's cheeks again, and he lowered his cap so no one could see his eyes.
***********************
A few months later, after his fifteenth birthday, he visited Cerulean City. His ostentatious excuse for making this trip was just to deliver some important items to the Cerulean City Pokemon Center, but his real excuse was so that he could see Misty, who was now the leader of the Cerulean City gym after her sisters went on a trip around the world.
Thoughts of Misty had loomed in his mind during the past few months, after the Hoenn Cup. When he was celebrating his performance, he was very happy and excited, and didn't give a care for anything in the world. But after the excitement died down, he reflected on past events, and realized that there was an empty void during his jubilations.
He knew that it was because Misty wasn't with him, like she was during the Indigo, Orange, and Johto Cups.
She had been growing on him ever since he met her on the way to Viridian City, and Ash knew that he had harbored feelings of love for her, even when she was with him.
Yes, they had started off their relationship by having numerous arguments that seemed petty and pointless. But it was how they began to start to like each other. There were a few situations when one of them showed affection toward the other as they journeyed together.
However, he was too shy to go up to her and tell her that he loved her, in fear of rejection, before she left the group. He was hoping that Misty felt the same way, and that she would break the ice first.
But she never did, and he didn't either. Maybe she did feel the same way, but he did not know for sure. He was always afraid to ask.
Well, no more. He just wanted to tell Misty his true feelings for her, whether she liked him or not. In letting her know that he loved her, he would be removing a great burden from his mind, a burden that had been troubling him for months like heartburn. In fact, he felt as if his heart was burning whenever he thought of her.
He felt he had to tell her; he just had to tell.
***********************
But when he reached Cerulean City, he saw that the gym was locked up. He learned later when he went to the Pokemon Center to run his errand that Misty had gone on a training journey to the Whirl Islands with her students. They would not be back for another month, so waiting for Misty at Cerulean City was out of the question.
Ash just headed back to Pallet Town after leaving a note on the door of the gym, saying that he would visit in about a month. He drew a cute little heart on the bottom of the note, hoping Misty would feel the same way.
After he returned home, he kept practicing what he would say when he met Misty. He kept saying them over and over again, waiting for the day when he could say them to his loved one. All month, he dreamed of Misty, and what would happen when they met.
It just made him so happy to think about it. They would fall in love with each other, then get married and go on a sweet honeymoon. They would go on wild adventures and travel together, just like they did in the old days. Eventually, they would settle down and have kids, who would follow in the footsteps of their parents and become Pokemon trainers.
It was like the perfect life, being with his soul mate for the rest of his life. He was determined to make the next visit a memorable one, and confess his love to Misty.
He kept waiting for a month to pass very patiently, although his mind was continuously gnawing at him to go now and check if Misty was back at her gym.
It was about three days before the day when he would have gone and visited Misty when...
The fire broke out and destroyed Pallet Town.
***********************
Sorry I'm so slow to update. This is the second part of the 3-chapter prologue section. And yes, this story will be somewhat angsty.
As always, please R&R after reading!
-Latias In Space-
Fanfiction by Sung-Min Kwon. © 2003
Disclaimer: Pokemon and its associated characters are copyrighted by Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures Inc, and 4Kids Productions.
***********************
-Contemplation-
Ash woke up hours later, still in the middle of the field of ash. He sat up and tried to recollect things that had happened to him in the past.
But he found it impossible to do so, because his mind was still in disarray because of what had happened.
After just thinking about nothing for a few minutes, his head became clearer. Only then, could he meditate and recall previous events.
***********************
He clearly remembered the finals at the Hoenn Cup, which he placed second at the young age of 14. He was matched up against a trainer named Kari in the last battle.
She was from the city of Petalburg, and was touted as the best trainer that came from Hoenn.
She was expected to win the Cup with no problem, and even sail through the Elite Four. When Ash actually saw her, he went "gah-gah" over her, although not out loud, like Brock did from the stands.
But Ash now knew just how Brock felt like when he saw a girl. This girl was one of those rare jewels that seem like they come once in a generation.
Although Ash still felt more comfortable around Misty or May, he felt that this girl was much more attractive.
She emanated an atmosphere of forbidding and unreachability. Her slender five-foot-seven figure almost measured up to Ash's five-foot-nine figure. She wore her long blonde hair in a ponytail like Misty's, only Kari's came down much farther, down past her shoulder blades.
She had a white shirt on that fit tightly to her body, and one that came down almost to her wrist, although not quite. The shirt had a cute picture of a Torchic on it. Her navy-colored jeans also stuck to her legs, and boy, were they slender. Misty could not fit into those clothes even if she went on a diet for a month.
Kari wore blue-and-white sneakers, ones that made her look really playful. And she was; just not in battle.
In battle, she meant business, and did not hold back at all. It was said that she had come in second place in the Hoenn Cup last year, and was ready to win this match and claim the cup for herself.
When Ash first saw her at the finals match, he had a feeling just from looking at her that she was going to be no piece of cake. And these feelings of his were almost always right.
He couldn't remember how the battle went exactly, but he knew almost all of what happened. It almost made him happy to think about it.
***********************
His first two Pokemon, Heracross and Cyndaquil, had gone down fighting a Gardevoir that knew Flamethrower and Shadow Ball.
Heracross fainted after being hit with a Flamethrower and Psychic, while Cyndaquil was hit with 3 Shadow Balls. Gardevoir itself evaded many of the attacks with its Teleport attack.
However, Ash's Swampert had managed to knock it out with a Surf attack that drenched Kari as well. She looked a bit disgruntled for a while, but the determined look was back on her face soon.
She called out her Tropius, a shining Pokemon. Swampert used Earthquake, only to find out that Tropius was not affected. Tropius countered with a Solarbeam, which knocked out Swampert pretty easily.
Half of Ash's Pokemon were down; he would have to play smart now. He pulled back his red-and-white cap, and called out his Swellow, and he commanded it to use an Aerial Ace attack, but it was evaded.
After a few minutes of continuous Wing Attacks by Swellow, it finally hit the elusive Tropius with a Sky Attack that hit dead on. Ash let out a sigh of relief.
Kari sent out a Tyranitar. Ash's Swellow went down quickly after it received two Metal Claws, although Swellow did manage to hit Tyranitar pretty hard with a powerful Drill Peck.
Ash chose Lairon to battle the Tyranitar. Lairon used a Horn Drill, but missed. Tyranitar seized this opportunity to use a Mega Punch.
Lairon used a Take Down, which weakened Tyranitar seriously. But Tyranitar defeated the Lairon with a Seismic Toss, sending it flying into the stands.
As Ash returned his Lairon, he could swear he saw two people bearing a striking resemblance to Jessie and James. He even heard swearing that sounded like it came from a Meowth.
But he didn't give them much thought; he was down to his last Pokemon, and his opponent still had four Pokemon left.
He looked at Pikachu with pleading eyes, and Pikachu understood what he meant. He scampered out onto the field, and sped up with Agility. There was no way Tyranitar could chase the quick rat Pokemon around.
It kept using attacks like Rock Slide and Bite, but it kept on missing. Finally, it charged up for a Hyper Beam. But when it released the immense amount of energy, Pikachu was already behind Tyranitar and charging fast.
Before Tyranitar even realized that the Hyper Beam had been 180 degrees off its target, Pikachu jumped high, using Tyranitar's heavy tail as support.
While the bigger Pokemon was recharging from the attack, Pikachu let out a powerful Thunder attack, paralyzing and weakening Tyranitar. As it was falling down, Pikachu used Iron Tail, which knocked out the Tyranitar. Pikachu landed daintily on the field.
Kari looked slightly shocked. She called out her Dugtrio, to try to win with the type advantage. Dugtrio immediately dug into the ground.
Pikachu stayed still on the ground with its tail resting on the stadium floor, almost as if it was being used as a sensor. Abruptly, Pikachu darted away with a Quick Attack, and three identical heads sprouted out of the ground where Pikachu had been not even a second ago. Dugtrio looked bewildered that its attack had missed.
Pikachu grabbed the chance and hit the Pokemon with a quick Slam followed by a Skull Bash. Dugtrio dug back into the ground, and Pikachu followed it this time.
Soon, a yellow bolt of lightning extended upwards from the hole, and Pikachu climbed out of the whole with a "V" sign and a smile on its face.
Dugtrio had fainted, but how? According to the rule of the types, electricity was not supposed to be able to damage ground-type Pokemon at all. Somehow, Pikachu had done it.
Kari sent out her Salamence as her fifth Pokemon. It looked ready to spring from its position on command, a sign that it had been trained very well.
Pikachu used Agility to try to match the great speed of its opponent. However, Salamence sent its opponent flying backwards by using a Headbutt when Pikachu was trying to gain speed and wasn't looking at its opponent. Salamence sent out a Dragonbreath, paralyzing Pikachu momentarily. Pikachu fought off the paralysis and countered with a Spark attack, which paralyzed Salamence as well.
Both Pokemon were unable to move, but Pikachu was faster in getting over its status ailment. Pikachu used Take Down, sending Salamence flying into its trainer.
Kari dodged just in time, but Salamence kept on flying until it hit a wall. Salamence was down and out! To the complete surprise of Ash, Kari started smiling. She looked like she was thoroughly enjoying the battle. She must have thought of the Pikachu as a worthy foe, and she acknowledged the greatness of Ash now.
She threw her last Pokeball, which opened up and revealed a gigantic, 40- foot long Steelix. There was no way Pikachu could hurt this Pokemon with electric attacks, because it had used too much electricity earlier.
Pikachu used supportive attacks like Double Team and Agility, while Steelix tried to crush the little Pokemon with repeated Slam attacks with its tail.
When Steelix was frustrated after failing to hit Pikachu, it used a Crunch attack that hurt Pikachu really badly. Pikachu just lay there for a few moments, and then got back up.
It was bruised up and hurt badly, but still standing while breathing heavily. With the last of its energy, it rushed toward the Steelix at a demonic speed, hitting it with a powerful Take Down. Steelix was hit hard, while Pikachu was thrown back from the impact.
Both Pokemon were out cold for several minutes, and it looked as if the match had ended in a draw. The crowd was totally hushed, trying to see which Pokemon would get up first.
Just when the official was about to declare a rematch to be scheduled sometime else, there was a heavy creaking noise that drew the attention of every head in the stadium.
Kari's Steelix managed to rear its head up, let out a loud roar of jubilant victory, then collapse again, this time for good. Kari returned it with a red flash of her Pokeball.
***********************
After Kari was declared the winner, Ash ran to where Pikachu was in a hurry. Pikachu was hurt badly, but still conscious.
Pikachu let out a soft "chu~." Ash hugged Pikachu and said, "Thank you, Pikachu."
To the complete surprise of Ash and Pikachu, everyone in the stadium gave a standing ovation to the duo, applauding Pikachu's performance on taking on four Pokemon and defeating three of them. Even Ash's opponent clapped for him.
Although Ash did not win the Hoenn Cup, he could not be any happier than he was now. He was crying tears, but not because he lost the finals; he was exhilarated with joy. He even felt honored that he went down in an august defeat against a trainer such skilled as Kari.
After the clapping died down, Kari walked to where Ash was. She didn't say anything, but gave a look of congratulations and praise to Ash and Pikachu. She gave a playful wink at him, then disappeared through the gate.
Ash just stayed in the middle of the field, and celebrated with May and Brock for a long time, long after everyone in the audience had exited the stadium.
***********************
That night, the awarding ceremony of the Hoenn Cup was held. Although Ash was not standing on top of the "1" at the award podium, he remembered Pikachu's performance and was content with being on top of the "2."
He was awarded the silver trophy, but he treated it with more respect than the gold trophy that he had won at the Orange League.
As the ceremony concluded and the audience clapped loudly for the entire world to hear, tears started flowing down Ash's cheeks again, and he lowered his cap so no one could see his eyes.
***********************
A few months later, after his fifteenth birthday, he visited Cerulean City. His ostentatious excuse for making this trip was just to deliver some important items to the Cerulean City Pokemon Center, but his real excuse was so that he could see Misty, who was now the leader of the Cerulean City gym after her sisters went on a trip around the world.
Thoughts of Misty had loomed in his mind during the past few months, after the Hoenn Cup. When he was celebrating his performance, he was very happy and excited, and didn't give a care for anything in the world. But after the excitement died down, he reflected on past events, and realized that there was an empty void during his jubilations.
He knew that it was because Misty wasn't with him, like she was during the Indigo, Orange, and Johto Cups.
She had been growing on him ever since he met her on the way to Viridian City, and Ash knew that he had harbored feelings of love for her, even when she was with him.
Yes, they had started off their relationship by having numerous arguments that seemed petty and pointless. But it was how they began to start to like each other. There were a few situations when one of them showed affection toward the other as they journeyed together.
However, he was too shy to go up to her and tell her that he loved her, in fear of rejection, before she left the group. He was hoping that Misty felt the same way, and that she would break the ice first.
But she never did, and he didn't either. Maybe she did feel the same way, but he did not know for sure. He was always afraid to ask.
Well, no more. He just wanted to tell Misty his true feelings for her, whether she liked him or not. In letting her know that he loved her, he would be removing a great burden from his mind, a burden that had been troubling him for months like heartburn. In fact, he felt as if his heart was burning whenever he thought of her.
He felt he had to tell her; he just had to tell.
***********************
But when he reached Cerulean City, he saw that the gym was locked up. He learned later when he went to the Pokemon Center to run his errand that Misty had gone on a training journey to the Whirl Islands with her students. They would not be back for another month, so waiting for Misty at Cerulean City was out of the question.
Ash just headed back to Pallet Town after leaving a note on the door of the gym, saying that he would visit in about a month. He drew a cute little heart on the bottom of the note, hoping Misty would feel the same way.
After he returned home, he kept practicing what he would say when he met Misty. He kept saying them over and over again, waiting for the day when he could say them to his loved one. All month, he dreamed of Misty, and what would happen when they met.
It just made him so happy to think about it. They would fall in love with each other, then get married and go on a sweet honeymoon. They would go on wild adventures and travel together, just like they did in the old days. Eventually, they would settle down and have kids, who would follow in the footsteps of their parents and become Pokemon trainers.
It was like the perfect life, being with his soul mate for the rest of his life. He was determined to make the next visit a memorable one, and confess his love to Misty.
He kept waiting for a month to pass very patiently, although his mind was continuously gnawing at him to go now and check if Misty was back at her gym.
It was about three days before the day when he would have gone and visited Misty when...
The fire broke out and destroyed Pallet Town.
***********************
Sorry I'm so slow to update. This is the second part of the 3-chapter prologue section. And yes, this story will be somewhat angsty.
As always, please R&R after reading!
-Latias In Space-