Ash Ketchum was swirling around in darkness.
Every now and then a few blurred colors would appear, but they'd just as soon vanish. Finally, the flashes of color began to coalesce into objects, but a sort of haziness still surrounded it all.
He blinked. There was something strange happening. He looked down at himself and blinked again. Those weren't his clothes. He looked at his hands next. Those weren't his either...
"Hey, Mark," a boy with red hair said, looking over at another boy, this one with brown hair. The redheaded boy was tending to his Pokémon. "You and Shura gonna feed your Pokémon? Or do you plan on standing there sulking all day?"
Ash looked over at the boy called Mark.
"I still say Bulbasaur's better," Mark said, reluctantly letting his two Pokémon out of their Pokéballs. A Bulbasaur and a Spearow popped out, both looking at their trainer happily.
"No way," Ash heard himself (was it himself?) saying. "Charmander could beat Bulbasaur any day."
"Only because Bulbasaur's at a disadvantage," Mark pointed out. "Charmander would be whopped by Stormy's Squirtle, but Bulbasaur could beat Squirtle, no problem."
Ash brought his (was it his?) arm down to his belt, letting loose his Pokémon. The first Pokémon to appear was a Charmander, but there was something different about it...It wasn't the Charmander he'd had before it had evolved into Charmeleon and then Charizard...
"Here you go, Shura," the redheaded boy said (was he Stormy? one of his Pokémon was a Squirtle...), handing him some Pokéfood.
Things made a little more sense as Ash realized he was seeing things through the eyes of someone named Shura...
"Thanks," he heard himself say. After a moment, looking at the brown-haired boy, he added, "I'm just playing with you, Mark. Bulbasaur's a good Pokémon."
Mark softened. "Yeah, Charmander's great, too." He grinned at him. All was forgotten.
Something white seemed to flash beside him, and Ash tried to turn and see what it was.
Whatever it was, it was gone before he could truly see it.
The scene started to become fuzzy, the colors mixing together, and Ash began moving farther away from the realm of unconsciousness and dreamland...
He began to feel pain...
He had...a throbbing head...
The darkness...It was still pulling at him...
No, no, he had to push the darkness back.
With a final burst of effort, he abruptly reached consciousness, immediately feeling a tingling sensation across his body. He worked moisture into his mouth, opened his eyes, sat up, and said simply: "Ow."
His vision was a little blurry at first, but when it came into focus, the sight before him surprised him.
Two men and a Pokémon were standing before him, a seemingly innocent enough picture.
The Pokémon was Flamekist, looking a little worried, or at least as worried as she got.
The humans...
"Hello, son," his father said, a brief smile flitting across his face. Ash studied the man's face in astonishment. It had been so long since he'd seen him...His father now had lines of hardship marking his face. It was no longer full of the joy Ash had often seen in it in his youth.
Ash's father appeared to want to say something to his son, but whatever it was, he kept the words unsaid. Instead, he said, gesturing to the man beside him, "I don't know if you remember him, but this is your uncle."
Ash blinked at him. His uncle?
Little Ash was bouncing around the house. His dad was coming home again (he was the Pokémon League Champion and had been defending his title for more than ten years—a Kanto record—and often had to go places to make appearances or battle challengers), and Ash couldn't wait to hear his stories!
"Mommy, when's Daddy coming home?" he asked for the thirteenth time.
"He should be home any minute," Delia Ketchum replied, also for the thirteenth time.
The doorbell rang, and Ash went bounding to his door ahead of his mother. "Daddy—" he said as he opened it, but he was soon gaping in shock.
It wasn't his daddy standing in the doorway.
"It's you," Delia said softly to the stranger as she came up behind her son. Her voice lacked its usual warmth, and it almost seemed chilling. She seemed to know this newcomer, but she didn't seem to like him.
"Is your husband home?" the man asked, smiling down at Ash.
The boy shivered. He didn't like the look in the man's eyes or his sickly smile.
"No," Ash's mother said.
Ash looked at her, tugging at her sleeve.
Sighing, she informed him, "This is your uncle."
The boy's eyes went as wide as saucers. He hadn't known he'd had an uncle!
Delia tried to smooth his wild black hair out. "Ash, why don't you go on to your room and play? When Daddy comes, I'll send him to your room, okay?"
"But Mommy—" he whined.
"No buts." There was no arguing with her tone of voice.
"Fine," he said, slowly walking towards his room. He kept his ears perked to hear what the two adults were saying as he went.
"What do you want?" Delia was straight to the point.
"Just to talk to my brother. Is he coming home today?"
"Yes," Ash's mother said reluctantly.
"Good. Can I come in and sit down on the couch to wait for him? I promise to try to stay out of your way." Ash turned and saw him smile again, but there was just something wrong about his smile, something almost inhuman.
"All right," Ash's mother sighed.
Ash reluctantly passed out of earshot.
When his father finally came into his room quite some time later, Ash knew there was something wrong. His face was haggard, and his eyes had a strange look in them.
"Daddy!" Ash exclaimed running to him for a hug.
His dad embraced him gently. "Your old man's tired. You'll get some stories another time, okay, champ?"
Little Ash peered at him. "You talk to Uncle?"
"Yeah, I talked to your uncle." He looked down at his son, then bent down to put them at eye-level. "Listen to me. I want you to stay away from him, okay? Your uncle's got some problems. Let your mom answer the door for a while. If you're outside and you see him, come back in. If Mom lets him in, then go to your room, okay, champ?"
The boy nodded. "'Kay, Daddy."
The next day, his father was very upset. When Ash asked his mother why everyone was crying (she had cried earlier like Ash's father had, but whatever it was hadn't seemed to hit her quite as hard), she sat him down and explained what had happened to him slowly and carefully. "Some of daddy's friends died today." She bit her lip, trying to think of how to tell him. "You know your friends Gary and May Oak?"
Ash nodded.
"Well, Gary's parents, Rahalia and Mark, were killed by some very bad people. Gary and May are okay because they were with Professor Oak and Agatha, tending to Pokémon, but Daddy's very upset right now, and you need to leave him alone, okay?"
"Okay," Ash said, feeling his eyes start to tear up as memories came to him. Rahalia had always been really nice to him, sneaking him candy when his parents weren't looking, and Mark often talked to him about Pokémon and his and Rahalia's travels years ago. He was sad that they were gone...
He wanted to ask his mommy questions, but he knew she was too sad to talk much. He just needed to be like a big boy and be quiet and do as he was told. He wanted to ask his daddy questions, too, and ask him to tell him some stories, but he knew he had to wait. He would be a big boy.
A week later, his uncle had come to the house again, and Ash had gone to his room like he'd been told.
When his father came into his room, it was with a big box full of airholes...