I hope you all are enjoying this so far. It'll get better, I promise.
Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon, nor do I have anything to do with it. Ash, Pikachu, etc. are all property of other people (no matter how hard I wish...sigh...)


He ran for miles, never seeming to tire at all. He left behind the area of destruction, and came to a beautiful, lush green forest, untouched, undamaged, unspoiled. He ran through the forest, then tripped at the top of a steap riverbank. He slid down, screaming, his eyes changing to yellow-red, and landed in the river. His eyes became as blue as the water. He stood, wobbled out of the water, and collapsed on the far side of the river bank.


When he woke up, the boy panicked. He was in a strange place, someones house, laying in a cozy bed. Pikachu was fast asleep at the end of the bed. He sat up just as the door opened. A girl entered, carrying a tray. She had golden hair, and eyes that changed...just like his own!

"Ah, good. You're awake." she said, placing the tray on the floor beside the bed. She kneeled beside him."I was worried about you."

"Who are you? Where am I? What's going on?" he asked.

"My name is Emily. You're in my house. I found you on the riverbank." She smiled, her eyes a-whirl with happy blues, greens, purples, and pinks."It's good that I found you."

"Why's that?"

"Because you would've been Rocket bait, had I not come across you."

"Huh?"

"Let me explain." Emily sighed, folding her hands in her lap."Team Rocket preys on people like us. They...made us who we are. I do not know exactly how, though."

"Just who...what...are we?" he asked, becoming scared.

"I'm not sure. We have just..." Emily shrugged."shifted. Shifted between the elements."

He jerked slightly. Emily continued.

"We can use elemental attacks. We can cause mass destruction if we have to. People fear us. Team Rocket wants us. We're outcasts."

"We can use attacks?"

"Yes." Emily nodded."Some only have one element. Others a few. Only a few of us can control all of them. I think you are just such a person."

"Why's that?"

"One of the elements I control is Psyhic. I read your mind. What occured is locked away from you for the time being. But what I saw...you lost control. You used the full strength of your powers. It almost destroyed you. Ash."

Ash swallowed.

"Wh-what else do you know?"

"Only that you, like so many others, are a desirable target for Team Rocket. I have to get you out of this forest, and to my eldest brother at Mt.Silver. You'll be safe there." Emily said, then sighed with frustration."But you're too weak for me to move, and you have no control or knowlege of your own powers. And, the longer this delays, the more danger you are in, Ash."

Emily took a cup from the tray, poured some liquid into it, and handed it to Ash.

"Drink this. It'll help speed up your healing power." she instructed. Ash drank the liquid. It tasted sweet, and filled his body with the same warm feeling as before.

"Please tell me, Emily. What do Team Rocket, um, use us...Outcasts, for anyway?"

Emily became sad.

"As new recruits. If they won't comply, they're tortured. Then Team Rocket take over their minds, which is a slow, painful process. If that doesn't work, they're killed. They...took my youngest brother last year. He resisted the longest, to the point where he was permanently blinded by the pain. He used his powers to kill himself before Team Rocket could. I had to stand by and feel him suffering through the link I forged with him. When he died...I went into a fit of rage. I don't quite remember what I did, but it was serious. Several Rockets were dead, and I had leveled one of their bases."

Emily's eyes changed to a blue-black, a mixture of sadness and rage. Ash looked down at his lap, awkwardly. Emily looked back at him.

"You're stronger. Do you feel like going, now?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Emily stood, and helped Ash up. He grabbed his backpack, and then put Pikachu inside his pokeball. Emily grabbed his hand, and before Ash could say anything, she'd teleported them away from the little house.


Ash opened his eyes. Emily and an older man, with hair as equally blond as hers, were standing over him, talking. Emily noticed he'd awakened.

"I should've warned you, Ash." she said, sounding regretful. Her eyes were a worried brown and grey."You weren't ready. I think it sent you into shock."

"I feel fine now."

"That's because you know recover." the man said, reaching down. He pulled Ash up, then turned back to Emily.

"They've taken someone from near the Silence Bridge." he said, concerned."My mind is tired, so can you get in touch with her?"

"I'll try." Emily said. She seemed to concentrate, then grabbed her head, screaming.

"What's going on?" Ash yelled over Emily's screams.

"They've found one of 'us', and taken her into custody. Emily's trying to latch onto her mind, but it may be too late to do anything for her, if this is the way she's reacting." was the man's reply.

"Is she...dead?" Ash asked, as Emily stopped screaming, and began to moan.

"N-no," Emily replied."just in physical and mental pain."

Ash was shocked.

"Hold on," Emily continued. She seemed to be thinking."I'll be right back."

She blinked out. Ash was left with the man, who held out his hand. Ash shook it.

"I'm Alex, Emily's brother."

"Hi, I'm Ash."

"Yeah, I know that."

"Oh." Ash said, thinking.*Another one...*"Where'd Emily 'port off to, anyway?"

"She must've found a survivor." Alex shrugged. Emily teleported back, with a young woman in her arms. The young woman had blue hair.

"Du...plica?" Ash asked uncertainly.