The First Awakening
Chapter Four
Ash opened his eyes slowly and groaned. He ached all over, and decided he would never sleep sitting up again. He stood up, stretched, and looked around.
No Pikachu.
He checked his backpack.
No Pikachu.
He went into his room and looked under his bed's covers. No Pikachu.
Under the bed: no Pikachu.
In the dresser drawers: no Pikachu.
Under the potted plant: no Pikachu.
In the potted plant: no Pikachu.
Under the pillows: no Pikachu.
In the pillows: no Pikachu.
Under the dresser: no Pikachu.
"Can I help you?" A kindly voice asked Ash.
"Wha?" Ash, who was standing on his head to look under the dresser, fell backwards and landed with a crash on his bottom. He looked up. A pink haired young woman Brock would have drooled over was standing over him, looking quite worried. "Oh, Nurse Joy," he said, "do you know where my Pikachu is?" Nurse Joy looked puzzled for a moment.
"Pikachu, Pikachu..." she mumbled. The Pokémon nurse snapped her fingers. "Oh, yes, I remember now. Your Pikachu went running outside a few hours ago, right after you fell asleep."
"Oh," Ash frowned, then stood up and followed Nurse Joy to the entrance room of the Center. "Which way did Pikachu go?"
"Pikachu went down this street, up another, and I could be wrong about this, but it looked as if Pikachu turned left and was headed for -" Nurse Joy said, pointing on the large map she had on the front table.
"- the Sootopolis Gym." Ash finished, a sinking feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. "Well, I'll go get Pikachu then. Keep an eye out for my friends, will ya, Nurse Joy?"
"No problem, Ash!" Nurse Joy said, waving from the front of the Pokémon Center as Ash rushed out the door. "I'll tell them where you went!"
Forretress raced through the woods, carelessly pushing aside trees and Pokémon alike. Feeling that there was no one anywhere nearby, Forretress called out May's name in its own language, hoping one of May's Pokémon would hear it. Forretress never liked being lost or confused, and it fervently hoped it wasn't lost now.
"Toge toge priii!" A Pokémon trilled. Forretress stopped. It knew that voice. It knew that Pokémon. But, that would mean...Forretress shook itself back and forth. There was no way Misty could be here. She was at her home. Nevertheless, it asked cautiously if Misty was out there.
A pink cat Pokémon identified itself as one of May's Pokémon, coming out of the trees in front of Forretress. Forretress apologized, explaining whom it thought might have been out there. Skitty was confused, having never heard of the water Pokémon trainer before. Before Forretress could explain more, they were interrupted by a feminine voice.
"Skitty!" May called out. "Where are you?" Skitty replied to its trainer, and May soon found them. Forretress was amazed to see a familiar Pokémon in her arms that it remembered being in another set of arms. It asked the Pokémon uncertainly if it was the Pokémon Forretress thought it was. Togepi looked equally uncertain as it scrutinized Forretress for a moment. Then Togepi appear to recognize Forretress, at which time it trilled happily. It greeted Forretress, then asked where Brock was. Forretress wasn't concerned with that at the moment, instead wondering why Togepi was with May instead of Misty. Togepi explained that it had been traveling to find the Supreme Togetic, when it had gotten lost. May had found it, and Togepi overheard her saying she was looking for Ash. Ash, Togepi knew, was going to where Misty was. It figured that May would eventually take it to Misty, at which time Misty could keep Togepi from getting lost again on its search for the Supreme Togetic. Skitty, Bulbasaur and Beautifly were confused throughout the conversation. May, however, was completely in the dark, seeing that she could barely understand her Bulbasaur, let alone a new Pokémon. Forretress turned towards Beautifly, telling it to let May know they should head back to the road. The bug type complied.
"Well, then?" May asked. "Let's go!" May put Togepi in her fannypack so they could travel faster; she and her Pokémon followed Forretress to the path. They hurried down the path, and soon caught sight of Brock, Max, and Swellow. Forretress was relieved that it was back with its trainer, but it was still worried. Togepi's plan may seem foolproof to Togepi, but Forretress doubted May would be willing to give up Togepi as easily as Togepi had hoped.
"Jessie," a blue-haired young man wondered aloud. "Where are we?" A redheaded young woman immediately bashed his head into the white, cold, and wet ground.
"Isn't it obvious, James?" She shouted loudly. The cat Pokémon standing next to them shrugged, then looked up.
"Well, seein' how deres Stantler flyin' overhead, snow on de ground, and a giant barbershop pole stickin' outta the ground right over dere, I'd say we're at de North Pole." Immediately, James' eyes lit up.
"Ooh! The North Pole? Can we go see Santa Clause? Please?" Once again, Jessie pounded his head into the ground, though the Team Rocket member continued his pleading and begging.
"Of course not! We're going to get out of here, and steal the twerp's Pikachu," she shouted, her voice filled with bravado.
"So, where do we go?" Jessie fell on her face. When she got up, her face appeared to be three times its normal size. "What a stupid question! We go the way we came from!"
"An' which way is dat?" Meowth questioned. "A compass don't work at the North Pole," Meowth looked over at their balloon - or, what was left of it, anyway, "and we can't fly back the way we came." Jessie and James looked over at the balloon. It was completely blackened, and the basket itself had disintegrated. The balloon had lost all of its shape, looking more like a Ditto than a Meowth.
"Meowth," James asked, "what did you fill the balloon with?"
"Well, we didn't have enough cash left ta get helium or oil for the lighter, so I got some new stuff." Meowth replied.
"What kind of new stuff?" Jessie queried, unusually calm sounding. Meowth should have taken notice at this; whenever Jessie seemed calm, she was most likely raging inside. However, the normal-type took no notice, and continued on. It was only one word Meowth had left to say, but it was enough.
"Hydrogen." Jessie and James began to shake, attempting to keep their anger from bursting out.
It didn't work.
"Hydrogen?" Jessie questioned, looking as if her head was twenty sizes larger than normal.
"You fool," James cried out. "Even I have enough brains to know not to use hydrogen!"
"It's incredibly unstable!"
"It's a wonder we're still alive!" As Meowth quivered under the shouts of its teammates, the Stantler overhead began circling. Soon, another group of flying Stantler came from another area of the sky. This group was connected by a group of leather straps tying them to reigns, which allowed them to pull a red sleigh through the air. The newer group circled around the others for a moment, before a jolly, old voice shouted out:
"Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, use Stomp! Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen! Use Takedown!"
Team Rocket had a moment to look up and see an elderly man wearing a red outfit trimmed in white sitting in a flying red sleigh before four Stantler landed on top of them. As the Stantler got off, Meowth jumped up and started running, with a very good reason to do so. The other four Stantler had landed the sleigh and were running full speed at the trio of troublemakers. Jessie and James leapt up and started following Meowth, but none of them could escape the Takedown. As they were blasted off into the air, Team Rocket heard a faint voice coming from the sleigh. The voice said, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
"What happened to your new Pokémon, May?" Max asked. He had wanted to take a closer look at the Pokémon, which was not like anything he had ever seen before.
"You've got a new Pokémon, May?" Brock was almost crestfallen that he hadn't been at the capture. It had been awhile since any of them had caught a new Pokémon. The most recent capture, actually, had been Ash's Snorunt; an unusual Pokémon, and a challenge to be sure. It was Ash's first Ice type, not counting Lapras' abilities, and often created cold weather for its new friends.
"Yeah," May whispered. "But I think it's sleeping, so I can't show it to you right now."
"Okay," Brock said, a bit disappointed. "I'll take a look at it later." He turned to Max. "So Max, what's the closest city?" Max took out the Pokédex. He adjusted a few dials to get a reading, and a few buttons pressed later, he had the answer.
"Let's see..." he muttered, the Pokémon enthusiast's eyes flying across the plastic screen. "The closest city is...ah! It's Sootopolis!" Brock's reaction was equally surprised.
"Are you kidding me?" The breeder shouted. "Nurse Joy said it'd take days to get back to Pacifidlog. How could we be closer to Sootopolis than Pacifidlog? "
"I don't know!" Max cried out. May put a finger to her mouth, than lifted it up, smiling joyfully.
"That's really convenient!" Brock and Max fell on their faces.
"I guess so," Max mumbled into the dirt. "I just want to know why…"
"Yeah..." Brock straightened up. "Well, let's go!" He jumped up into the air excitedly, pumping a fist. Behind him, Max and May sweatdropped. As soon as Brock landed on the ground, he turned around. "What?"
"That was -"
"- scary. You can't play the part of exuberant teen Pokémon trainer very well."
"Yeah...it just doesn't suit you." Brock crept to one side of the path and put his arms around his knees, the air around him turning blue. May looked over at Max.
"You think this is what Ash meant by Brock's mood swings?" She wondered. Max nodded.
"Most likely." He adjusted his glasses. "I'll take care of it." He boldly strode over to Brock, took a hold of his ear, and pulled. The elasticity given to Brock's ear every time Misty or Max had ever pulled his ear became apparent, as his ear was able to stretch two yards before Brock began to slowly slide along the path, able to ignore the pain in his advanced state of despair. May looked at Max, pulling with all his worth, then at Brock, drawing little pictures in the dust and barely moving. She turned to Lombre.
"Would you use water gun on him, please?" Lombre looked at its trainer and nodded, immediately drenching the Pokémon breeder with water. There was no sign of a change in Brock's state. May sighed. She would have to use the Ultimate Brock Rejuvenator. She walked over to him, bent over, and whispered something in his ear. Instantaneously, Brock jumped up, shook off the water, and started to head for Sootopolis at record speed. His Pokémon followed suit at once.
Max walked over to his sister, stood next to her, and watched as Brock outran a passing Rapidash and two Dodrio on his way. "What did you tell him?" Max asked his big sister. May smirked.
"What else? I reminded him who would be in Sootopolis - the Sootopolis Nurse Joy at the Sootopolis Pokémon Center."
"Oh...why didn't I think of that?" May shrugged.
"Because I did, I guess. We'll have to hurry if we want to catch him before Nurse Joy throws him out of the Center. I don't think we'd be able to get a room if he acts up like he always does." Max laughed, his good humor getting the better of him.
"Let's go then, May." The siblings began to race down the road, May's Pokémon right behind them.
Ash panted. He was running way too fast for his own good; he probably could have beaten Brock in a race to Nurse Joy at this speed. He turned the corner, and there it was; the Sootopolis Gym. He ran inside, and crashed into a person standing in front of the door.
"Oof - oh, I'm sorry sir, I was just...trying...to find...my..." Ash trailed off. The man in front of him was probably one of the strangest-looking people he had ever seen, and he had seen quite a few of them in all his travels.
He had two locks of blue hair that fell in front of his eyes regularly, so he had to brush them aside to see well. He was wearing an outfit similar to the outfit Winowa of the Fortree gym had worn: the outfit was blue at the top, smoothly turned into white for the sleeve and bottom of the shirt, and effortlessly changed to purple for the pants. Above all that, he was slightly charred, as if he had been recently shocked by a...
"...Pikachu..." Ash finished. The man stood up and brushed himself off.
"Yes, well, as you can see, I've already had the pleasure of meeting your Pikachu, Ash." The man took off his white hat, dusted it off, and then placed it back on his head. "I am Wallace." Then, as he wiped his overly large shirt collars, he took a long look at Ash. "Well," he began, "I can't say I didn't expect more of you, based on what Misty's told me – fudge it!" He slapped a hand over his mouth.
"How...what happened to Ardan?" Ash asked, confused.
"Well, I was Ardan's student way back when, and I wasn't doing too well as a gym leader. I decided to go out and really get to know the Pokémon I'm supposed to train. Lucky for me, Ardan was able to spare some time to come and replace me until I felt I was able to really be a true Gym Leader again." Ash blinked.
"Oh…hey, what did you say before?" Wallace was confused.
"You mean 'fudge it?'" Ash shook his head.
"Before that."
"Uh…'I can't say I didn't expect more of you, based on what Misty's told me?'" What Wallace had repeated suddenly hit him at full force. 'Pikachu was right; she is here. Hey! Misty talked about me to this guy?' Ash flushed. 'What could she have said that would make him think I'm not what she said I was?' Wallace noticed the blush and smirked, amused.
"I guess the feeling's mutual, eh, kid?" Realizing what he had said, the Gym Leader smacked his head again. "Argh! Mother - always - said - you - talked - too - much! Misty - is - going - to - kill - you!" He said between slaps. Then he remembered Ash was still there. He sweatdropped, joining Ash in his embarrassment.
"Sorry about that, Ash; I just broke two of Misty's most important laws." He chuckled. "Look at me. I'm supposed to be the newly reinstated gym leader, and I'm following strict rules set down for me by my assistant. But I digress. You want your Pikachu, yes?" Ash nodded. "It went in the back room, down the hall. But be very quiet when you go in—for your own sake."
"Okay, Wallace...nice meeting you, I guess..." Ash walked down the hall. Wallace speed-walked in the other direction, hoping tremendously that Misty wouldn't kill him for this either.
Pikachu looked at the clock. Ash would definitely be awake by now! He might be panicking about Pikachu's disappearance right now. Pikachu made it to the door before it was opened by...
"Pikapi!" Pikachu shouted, running into its trainer's open arms. Then Pikachu realized its mistake. It held one of its fingers over its mouth as a sign for Ash to be quiet. Before he could ask why, Pikachu pointed towards the bed. Ash looked up at it and saw red hair.
He froze.
He was in the same room as Misty, while she was sleeping. Looking around, he quickly formulated a plan. A crazy plan. Ash formed a crazy, insane sort of plan. "Go play with Psyduck, Pikachu." Ash whispered frantically. Pikachu nodded, slightly puzzled as to its trainer's intentions, and raced off. Ash turned around and flushed slightly. Now he was alone in a room with Misty, while she was sleeping.
Ash warily walked over to her bed and slowly sat down, careful not to disturb Misty's slumber. He gently touched her cheek, and almost shivered at the contact. Although he wasn't sure why he wanted to do this, Ash was still sure he wanted to. And so he began to talk. He spoke of his gym battles, his triumphs over Team Rocket, his adventures with Brock and Max and May. He whispered of Team Aqua and of Team Magma. He commented on May's dreams of Coordinating, Brock's Water Pokémon, and Max's amazement at a Pokémon evolving. He murmured about ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams where he had seen Pokémon she would like. He chattered on about his friends and Pokémon, and when he ran out of those, he started talking about himself; his fears, his worries, his dreams, his hopes. Everything that he couldn't talk to Brock, Max, May, or Pikachu about came out. And all the while, he stroked her cheek, or gently touched her hair.
It didn't really matter, so long as he was touching her.
Throughout his journeys, both with and without Misty, Ash had discovered that he needed her. Not in some disgusting, sexual way; thank Ho-oh, nothing like that. It was more like...a person needs water and food, right? Well, Ash needed Misty like that. He needed her to talk to late at night when Brock was snoring away. He needed her shouting at him, pushing him to be a better trainer, to not be so incompetent, to learn to handle his Pokémon better during battle. To be a better person. And he needed to be close to her as well, he had realized. Frankly, being near Misty had always been comforting. Lately, Ash had been missing that feeling. But he couldn't tell Brock anything about it. The last time he had talked of Misty, Brock had gotten a strange look on his face and had starting whispering something to May. Before he could finish, Ash had stopped him and laughed nervously, not sure why he was so nervous, or why he had been so warm at the moment.
He was just about that temperature now.
Wallace waited in the battle room, watching Pikachu playing happily with Psyduck and the other gym Pokémon, including Misty's.
May, Max, and Brock eventually made it to the Pokémon Center, and got themselves a room. Only after they had gone inside to unpack did the Nurse Joy on duty remember Ash's message. However, she was too busy with injured Pokémon at the moment to tell them. Brock, Max, and May waited in their room for a time, wondering if Ash would ever get there.
And so, hours passed.
First off, I'm sorry for deleting this chapter. I realized later that I didn't even bother to add anything or correct errors I made the first time I posted the chapter. I hope to post the next chapter really soon to make up for it.
Reviews!
Ri2: Well, once the Sootopolis Gym Battle episodes have been dubbed (which won't happen for awhile) it would be pretty common knowledge. Will you be satisfied now that I've placed an explanation within the story? And I'd love to read your story; problem is, I have no idea who you are here or on serebii. I checked the database for users, and no one with your name is in there. Mind telling me who you are?
Warlordess: Dude! DUDE! I'm fine, dude, though you don't seem all that well. Yuck. Glad you're better; 's not the same w/o you around. And yes, I realize it doesn't seem like it should be possible, (after what happened in 'For Crying Out Loud,' e.g.) but it worked for this part of the story. I much prefer it to stories where May tries to capture Togepi, but Pikachu stops her. And you might think so, but Togepi might not consider itself actually 'owned' by Misty; it's her 'baby,' and she's its 'mother.' You are? You're too kind.
wolf-girl87: Not how I learned it in Japanese class, it isn't. :P Glad you found it interesting, though I'm not very glad you got bored. What bored you?
Pon Pon Pocky: Thanks for the compliments, and here's the next chapter.
Well...what did you think? Please let me know...there's a little purplish button down there you can click on to tell me. If not, an email'll do just fine. I just want to know how I'm doing.
Jaa, mata!
gladdecease