The First Awakening
Chapter Three
May opened her eyes, then immediately shut them again, squinting against the light. At first, she couldn't remember where she was, but it came back to her quick as a flash.
Team Rocket attacking.
Ash and Pikachu going missing.
Searching for them.
Splitting up.
Finding this clearing.
And, most recently, falling asleep.
Slowly, the brown haired girl opened her eyes again, rubbing the exhaustion from them. She sat up and looked around. "Bulbasaur? Beautifly? Combusken? Skitty?" She called for her Pokémon, which she had let out to guard while she slept.
"Nyaa!"
"Com busken!"
"Beauutiflyy!"
"Bulba saur saur." May sighed happily. They were all safe. Suddenly, she heard a sound that she couldn't connect to any of her Pokémon.
"Toge toge prii!"
"What's that?" She wondered aloud. Getting out of her sleeping bag, May stood up and looked closer at her surroundings. There was a pink cat-like Pokémon, a butterfly-like Pokémon, an orange chicken Pokémon, and a green Pokémon with a bulb on its head. They were standing around a fifth Pokémon. May came closer. The Pokémon they were standing over looked a bit like an egg with the top taken off. She took her Pokédex out of her fannypack and scanned it.
"Togepi," the machine droned. "The Spikeball Pokémon. The shell seems to be filled with joy. It is said that it will share good luck when treated kindly."
"Wow! It's so cute!" She said happily. She turned to Combusken. "Want to help me catch it, Combusken?" Combusken seemed uncertain. They were supposed to look for black-haired-boy and yellow-shocking-mouse. Then it looked down at the Pokémon. The egg didn't seem too difficult to defeat, and it supposed that a little exercise couldn't do any harm. It turned to May and smiled, nodding.
"Com Busken!" May returned the smile.
"Well, alright then! Combusken, use Sand Attack!" The orange Pokémon complied, getting sand into the Togepi's eyes by kicking it up with its powerful legs. The Togepi blinked, and started waving its little arms back and forth.
"Toge toge toge toge!" It cried, its arms glowing a light, yet bright, shade of blue.
"Woah!" May cried. "What's that?" She held out her Pokédex, which automatically scanned and identified the attack.
"Metronome. Randomly uses any attack."
"Any attack! Oh no! Watch out, Combusken!" Combusken looked around nervously. While some attacks it could stand up to readily, a strong water-type attack would ruin the fire-types chances of success. A rainbow colored burst of light appeared in front of the Togepi and shot towards Combusken.
"Combusken, quick! Move out of the way!" Thankfully, Combusken was able to avoid the brunt of the Aurora Beam, but still got hit by the edge of it. It fell onto the ground. Shaking, it tried to stand up, fell back down, and tried again. The second time it got up the whole way and shook its head. Apparently, this egg was not something to underestimate.
"Are you okay, Combusken?" The chicken Pokémon nodded, then got into a fighting stance. "Use Double Kick!" May cried, pointing at the target of Togepi's stubby little legs. Balancing on its left leg, Combusken quickly shot out its right leg twice. Both kicks landed, and Togepi fell over, weakened.
"Alright! Pokéball, go!" May called out as she threw her Pokéball at the fallen Togepi. It was turned into a red light and sucked into the Pokéball, which shook once, twice, three times. Then, it stopped, and the Pokéball's light blinked off.
"Yes!" May cheered. "I caught a Togepi!"
"Com busken!" Added a happy, but tired Combusken.
"You did awesome, Combusken!" May said. "Return, Combusken." Combusken disappeared into its Pokéball. "You deserve a good rest."
She turned to Skitty, Bulbasaur, and Beautifly, brushing brown tresses out of her eyes. "Well, we can use all the luck we can get, right guys?" All three Pokémon nodded. "Okay, then. Come on out, Togepi!" She shouted, throwing her newly filled Pokéball into the air. It popped open, and out came the egg Pokémon May and her Pokémon had worked so hard to catch.
May held out a Potion to Togepi. "You need to keep up your strength, now that you're part of our team, Togepi." She was slightly confused when Togepi slapped the Potion away. Eventually, with some persuasion from Skitty's cuteness, she got Togepi to drink the Potion.
"Well, let's keep looking for Ash, guys," she said to Bulbasaur, Skitty and Beautifly. "He and Pikachu can't have gone too far in one night." To May's surprise, Togepi trilled at Ash's name and jumped into her arms. "This is really getting weird..." she muttered. "Oh, well. Let's find them!" She packed up her sleeping bag and her backpack, and started off. Togepi refused to go back in its Pokéball, so May continued to carry it.
"Beautifly!" Called out the butterfly Pokémon.
"You've found someone, Beautifly?" May queried.
"Fly!" Beautifly confirmed.
"Let's go!" The group charged on through the woods, when May suddenly bumped into -
" - ow! Watch it, May!" A black-haired boy said, rubbing his aching forehead.
"Sorry, Max," May said apologetically. Then she blinked. "Max?"
"Yeah...?" May looked up at Beautifly, who sweatdropped.
"Beautifly, I said to look for Ash, not just a person!"
"Fly fly. Beautifly." It said before flying off in search of Ash again. It was about then that Max noticed May was carrying a Pokémon.
"Wow! What is that, May!" He shouted, pointing at Togepi.
"This," May said proudly, "is my new Pokémon, Togepi. It won't go in its Pokéball, but it will do great in Contests, I know it!" Max readjusted his glasses.
"Yes, it probably will, May, but you're supposed to be searching for Ash, not catching Pokémon." May sweatdropped and rubbed the back of her neck.
"Yeah, well...Togepi are supposed to bring good luck, and we could use some good luck, right?" She straightened, suddenly serious. "Anyway, we have to go look for Ash ourselves. Good luck finding him!" She raced off into the woods as Brock caught up with Max.
"What was that about, Max? I thought I heard someone over here."
"Yeah. May ran into me - literally. Hey!" Brock lowered his head to Max's eye level.
"Hey what?" Max, too eager to notice the tone of Brock's voice, explained. "I just got an idea. Why don't we just find the path and walk down it for awhile. Maybe Ash slept by the side of the road. We might catch up to him."
"Good idea, Max. Why didn't we do that in the first place?" Max shrugged.
"There's a lot of things we don't do in the first place. I guess it's just hindsight. Let's go!"
"Yeah," Brock said, looking up as he spoke. "Swellow! Forretress! Can you see the path?" A blue and red bird Pokémon and a red and gray rock-like Pokémon flew and floated down to Brock's eye level.
"Forre tress." Forretress shook itself left and right to show it hadn't seen the path.
"Swell low." Swellow nodded and took off to Brock's left.
"Find May, and tell her to come this way, okay Forretress?" Brock told his Pokémon. Forretress nodded and floated off. Brock turned and followed Max, who was already tailing Swellow.
Brock fervently hoped Ash hadn't done anything stupid. If Ash would only talk to him...then maybe he could help Ash...but Ash had spoken nary a word, except things he also told Max and May. 'What's wrong, Ash?' Brock wondered. 'And why can't I help?'
"Pikapi..." Pikachu tried to explain. "Pikachupi pi Pipipi pi Pipika chu ka pika cha..." Ash continued to ignore Pikachu, staring out the window of the Pokémon Center. Pikachu's cheeks began to crackle. "PIKA PI KA CHU!" A Thunderbolt jerked Ash out of his train of thought.
"I'm listening now, Pikachu! And how can you be so sure about yourself? I can't be so sure..." With that, Ash went back to looking out the window. Having not slept well the night before, what with the Team Rocket attack and falling asleep somewhere around four a.m., it wasn't long before Ash was sound asleep.
Pikachu looked at Ash. Asleep. It jumped onto the chair Ash was sitting in and waved its paws in front of Ash's eyes. Convinced he wouldn't wake for a few good hours, Pikachu dashed out of the Pokémon Center and headed towards the gym once more.
Misty was sitting next to the water field, watching Horsea swim around. She smiled, although it was rather obvious that it was forced. Horsea hadn't been in such a large body of water since it had lived in the ocean. Not that she wasn't happy Horsea was happy; really, she was thrilled her Pokémon were happy, it was just...Togepi had left so suddenly, and she still hadn't adjusted to not having a little baby to care for.
"Misty? Are you in there?" Misty stood up. It was Wallace, the Gym Leader. She looked over towards the door.
"Yes, I'm here." Wallace jumped through the doorway and tossed a Pokéball. Out popped a pink heart-shaped Pokémon, which spun around, beak up in the air, squirting out a blizzard, which sparkled around it very appealingly. Next, the Luvdisc used Double Team to appear to be a circle of Luvdiscs. It then shot a jet of water from its mouth. Because it was moving so fast, the Water Gun became more of a Water Circle, splashing at the center, then shooting upward and outward, combining attractively with the blizzard. For a final move, Luvdisc ended the Double Team and created a torrent of water out of nowhere, splashing it in a circle behind the Blizzard and Water Gun. Luvdisc ended the Waterfall and landed on Wallace's head, the Water Gun and Blizzard still gently floating down to the floor. Wallace himself was bowing while standing in the only dry area, surrounded by a recently made half-frozen pool of water.
Misty clapped. Since they had gotten to the gym, Wallace had been showing her his various routines for contests. Although he loved being a Gym Leader, it was no secret to Misty that Wallace wanted to be a Coordinator. Wallace straightened out of the bow and brushed a blue lock of hair out of his field of vision. "I take it you liked it?"
"Liked it! It was amazing, Wallace!" Misty exclaimed. "Right, To - " She faltered, and trailed off. For a moment there, she had forgotten Togepi was gone. Wallace frowned.
"What's wrong, Mist? Where's the little egg?" Misty's face fell.
"I told you not to call me that." She said impatiently. Only one person could ever call her by that name. "And Togepi is..." Misty faltered, her eyes filling with stubborn tears that refused to fall. Wallace came closer to Misty and lifted her chin.
"Well?"
"Togepi...had to go. It was called for by the supreme Togetic, whatever that means." Misty pushed his hand aside and bent her head again, not wanting Wallace to see her tear up. "I miss my little baby..."
Wallace knelt down and brushed the almost-tears away. "It's alright, Misty...I think I have just the thing you may need..." He went out into the hallway. "Hey! Who's Pikachu are you!" Misty heard a cry of pain, and saw a burst of light. She had a fleeting thought of deja vú before she heard Wallace yell feeblely, "You shouldn't go in there!" A yellow Pokémon ran into the main room.
"Pikachupi!" It shouted, jumping into Misty's arms.
"Hi, Pikachu," Misty said sadly, rubbing its head with less enthusiasm than she normally would. Pikachu looked up at her.
"Pika chu, Pikachupi?" It asked.
"Togepi had to go see the supreme Togetic, Pikachu." Misty explained. "I really miss taking care of it...but Wallace thinks he has a solution to my problem..." Wallace entered the room, holding something behind his back.
"So you know that little menace?" He asked. "It shocked me half to death to get in here." Misty held Pikachu in front of her face and looked it in the eye.
"Pikachu," Misty scolded. "Is that true?" When Pikachu nodded, she continued repremanding it. "Now Pikachu, just because Ash can survive a Thundershock once in a while doesn't mean everyone can. You should know better." Pikachu looked downward, ashamed of itself.
"Pi ka..." Pikachu's ears lowered onto its head sadly.
"So...Pikachu belongs to this Ash person I've heard so much about?" Wallace said slyly. Misty flushed slightly. Once again, she was regretting having told Wallace so much about her travels. She had needed responses, and feedback, and she most certainly couldn't get that from her Pokémon - and she couldn't tell her sisters. She had cringed at the thought of telling them - many times before.
"Pi...?" Pikachu asked. It frowned slightly. "Pikachupi, pi ka chu ka?" Misty giggled.
"What is this, an interrogation?" She asked teasingly. She looked up at Wallace. "Can you give me whatever you were going to give me later, Wallace? We have a lot of catching up to do..." With that, she put Pikachu on her shoulder and walked out of the main room. Wallace sighed, pulling the pink egg out from behind his back. Taking it over to the case it had been in before, he looked at his Luvdisc. Then back at the egg.
"It'll be as beautiful as you are, won't it, Luvdisc?" He said. The egg seemed to glow slightly, as if preening itself at his words. Luvdisc poked its beak fondly at the glass case its baby was tucked neatly away in. Wallace smiled. Like a mother Blaziken brooding over its Torchics. In a sense, Luvdisc was doing just that, seeing that that very egg was Luvdisc's first child. Both Luvdisc and Wallace were nervous about the egg, but Wallace was confident Misty would take good care of it. If she would even take it.
"Pikachupi, pi Kachuchu chu ka pi Pikapi?" Misty blushed at the memory.
"Because I told Wallace what I told you and Togepi and all my other Pokémon..." Pikachu's eyes widened.
"Pika... "
"Yeah, I told him 'the secret.' And I'll never live it down, either." Misty moaned halfheartedly. "He's gonna tease me about the secret for all eternity..."
After answering some more of Pikachu's questions, Misty placed her head onto the ocean blue pillow at the top of her bed. She soon went deep in thought, and for the first time, Pikachu took a moment to look around the room it was in. Water Pokémon decorated the sheets on Misty's bed, and there was a smaller bed next to hers for Togepi. On the other side of her bed was an aquarium for Goldeen and Horsea to sleep in at night. The dressers were made if some sort of dark stained oak, and they matched the bed's headstand perfectly. There was also a bookcase that had five shelves on it. Four of the shelves had various books on it. But the fifth shelf was what caught Pikachu's eye.
Pikachu jumped up onto that shelf and scrutinized the contents of this shelf closely. It was pictures, pictures that must had been too important to put in picture albums. Pikachu smiled. Most of them looked incredibly familiar...
One had a girl in a pink kimono dancing with a boy in a green kimono and an electric mouse Pokémon. Pikachu smiled, remembering the adventures it had had at Maiden's Peak. Those were the good old days.
Another picture frame held the scenes when she had first caught her Pokémon. It included two star-shaped Pokémon, a goldfish Pokémon, a seahorse Pokémon, a duck Pokémon, a tadpole Pokémon, and a blue water dragon Pokémon. Pikachu frowned. It hadn't known Misty had caught a Gyarados. Well, it guessed Misty overcame her fear of Gyarados at last.
Pikachu looked at all of the pictures Misty had placed on that shelf, seeing reminders old memories for quite some time, forgetting time existed, living in the past, reliving all the best moments, and trying to forget the worst. Eventually, it realized that Ash would be waking up soon. The electric Pokémon rushed out of the room, and straight into Wallace.
"Kachuchu pi..." Pikachu said. "Chu chu pika kachu."
"Sorry, little guy," Wallace explained. "I can't understand you like Misty can. Anyway," he continued, holding out a pink Pokémon egg, "would you give her this, please? I can't go into her room unless I want to be hit over the head for waking her up, or something like that." Pikachu smiled, glad Misty hadn't changed too much. It took the egg out of Wallace's hands and brought it into Misty's room. Misty was now asleep, and would be a very bad thing to wake her. Instead, Pikachu placed the egg on Togepi's old bed. It looked at the clock. Ash would definitely be awake by now! He might be panicking about Pikachu's disappearance right now. Pikachu almost made it to the door before it was opened by...
K...reviews!
cutehelenjames: Thanks! Here's your update!
ness345: Aww...thanks! Here ya go!
Ri2: You want the whole story? In all its miniscule details? Okay...here's how it went: Wallace is the original Gym Leader, but has being feeling that he isn't doing a very good job as the last gym before the Hoenn League, so he wanted to get more Pokémon, train with them, and become a stronger gym leader in general. Adan, his teacher, took over for him while he was training so that those that came to the gym would still have a formidable challenge. Ash got to the Center between chapters; I didn't feel like writing that bit, so I just decided to let the reader fill in the blanks. Pikachu went out while Ash was asleep (Ash woke up with the sun in his eyes; aka late), thinking to visit Adan. To his surprise, Adan was not there. Instead, a mystery person and a familiar person; Misty! Pikachu recognized Misty right away; having known her and been in her company for years helped a lot in that.
wolf-girl87: Hardy har har. Well, I shall get cracking on your stories once I'm finished writing more of mine, k?
Learned my lesson here: flame ONLY IF YOU MEAN IT, and review if it's not too much of a hassle. Thankies! Jaa, mata!
gladdecease