Chapter 28
Beyond the grassy fields of the Laramie ranch was a thick jungle. And while they had just walked through the woods a little more than a week ago, this was a much welcome sight for them. Because the jungle here was teeming with Pokémon, happily chattering despite the presence of humans.
Hordes of Mankey swung from branch to branch above them, barely giving the pair of boys a glance as they continued on with their day. Venomoth and Venonat danced by, while Caterpie and Weedle wiggled their way down trees and finding their next meal. And all around them, they couldn't tell what was plant and what was Grass Pokémon until they started moving, as there seemed to be so many of them.
"Wow! This place is like a dream! Pokémon where ever you look!" Ash said with his eyes as big as saucers as a Tangela trotted by. "It must be the Safari Zone! Let's start catchin' 'em!"
"We might still be in the Pokémon reserve," Brock reminded him, but the Pallet Town boy brushed him off.
"This has to be the Safari Zone! Just take a look at all these Pokémon!" The bushes before him started to rustle around, and when Ash looked, a round head of a pink Pokémon that Ash only saw in Pokémon Centers peeked out of the bushes. "Ah! It's Chansey!" he exclaimed, pulling out a Poké Ball. "Here's my chance. I'm gonna catch it!" As he reared his arm back to throw the Poké Ball, the Chansey rose higher into the air, and Ash quickly realized it wasn't a Chansey at all, but someone wearing a Chansey cap. It was Officer Jenny, and she glared at the pair with a stern look before raising the rifle in her hand and cocking it as she pointed the barrel at him.
Brock let out a gasp as Ash stumbled, but before he could say anything, Jenny yelled. "Freeze! Drop that Poké Ball!" she ordered, not lowering the weapon in her hand as Ash sputtered. "My name is Jenny, Safari Ranger. You're under arrest for Pokémon poaching!"
They were both equally as shocked from the words that left Jenny's mouth, and Ash almost dropped the Poké Ball in his hand as he stumbled in shock. "Under arrest?!"
o 0 o
Jenny quickly shot down their protests and hauled the pair into the back of her Jeep where she then took them to her station, which was a large pink tent set up in the middle of the jungle. The station featured a metal fold-out table – which the pair were currently sitting at – and a large electronic map of the entire forest in front of it. "This is a national Pokémon preservation area," she told them firmly, pointing to the map at the spot that they currently were. "It's here for the raising and protection of Pokémon."
"I'm real sorry," Ash apologized with his hands crumpling the knees of his jeans under the table. "I-I didn't know that."
"Well, you look like you really didn't know, so I'm going to let you go with a warning this time," she decided with her arms crossing across her chest. Instantly, both Ash and Brock lightened up with relief. It was like gravity had instantly let go of its pressure.
"Ah! Thank you!"
"Well, that's so nice of you, Ranger Jenny," Brock added in a flirtatious voice. But before he could go on with his pick-up line, the map behind her began to beep loudly. When she whipped around, a red flashing dot caught their eyes.
"Another poacher!" she exclaimed, and without dismissing them, she ran to the entrance of her tent and quickly hopped into the driver's seat of her Jeep that was parked right outside.
Before she could turn the key in the ignition, Ash and Brock hurried out after her. "Let us help you out, Jenny," Ash offered with his hand out in reasoning. "We wanna make up for what happened before."
"Thanks. Get on in," she agreed.
"Right." With a nod, Ash ran around and climbed in the passenger seat while Brock hopped in through the back. The vehicle kicked on with a turn of the engine, and before the pair even had time to put on their seat belts, Jenny pushed the gas pedal to the floor, and the Jeep took off in a blink of an eye. The two screamed as they were pushed against their seat, and the vehicle's tires skidded on the forest floor as it bounced off a tree root sticking out of the ground. It crashed to the ground with enough force to make Ash's jaw click together before zooming off towards the destination of the poachers.
o 0 o
When Ranger Jenny finally pressed on the brakes, they were outside the jungle area of the Pokémon reservation and in the middle of a field with grass that extended out for at least an acre. The wasteland was surrounded by jungle and void of any human life at all. But their mouths curled into smiles upon seeing the large herd of large brown Pokémon that hadn't been aware of their presence yet. The Pokémon stood on two legs, and seemed peaceful enough as they quietly tended to themselves and the small babies they had safely in a pouch on their stomach.
Wanting to learn more about the unknown Pokémon, Ash retrieved his Pokédex and scanned the creatures ahead. "Kangaskhan, a Parent Pokémon. Once approaching extinction, they are now protected by law and inhabit the Safari Zone. Approach with extreme caution. The Kangaskhan is a rare Pokémon which raises its children in its pocket. They will attack viciously and without warning if they feel their young are threatened in any way."
"Wow!" Ash commented as he put away the Pokédex. No sooner had he put away Dexter back in his pocket, then suddenly a loud bang that sounded as if a firework had gone off in the sky echoed through the plains. Everyone's heads shot up to the sky, and as did the Kangaskhan. "Hey, what's that?"
"Over there! Poachers!" When Jenny said this, both males looked in the direction she was looking to see a pair of older men in the far distance just along the treeline. The pair had yet to notice the vehicle full of people, and instead were looking at the herd of Kangaskhan with smirks on their faces. In the hand of the man towards the front was a red flare gun with a smoking barrel, hinting it had just been used.
"We've got to stop them!" Ash declared, turning back to Jenny with a fist clenched in determination, but the turquoise-haired woman was too busy looking ahead through the windshield.
"I'm afraid if we're going to stop them, we're going to have to run away first," she said calmly.
"What?" Ash and Brock said this at the same time, and suddenly the ground began to vibrate under their seats while a rumbling that sounded similar to the Tauros stampeding that they had encountered earlier at the Laramie Ranch.
"Uh, what's that?" the black-haired boy questioned aloud, and turned to look through the windshield as well. The sight that he saw, however, made the blood withdraw from his face. The herd of Kangaskhan were spooked by the flare, and were now charging in the opposite direction that they had gone off at. Unfortunately, that direction happened to be straight towards the Jeep.
"Kangaskhan are easily scared, but once they're surprised, they never stop charging." Once again, both boys gasped at what she hinted at, and they let out a scream, both at the charging Kangaskhan and at Jenny suddenly throwing the gears into reverse. They suddenly lurched forward as the rubber tires squealed against the ground and sped backwards as fast as Jenny could floor the pedal. They both held on tightly to the vehicle as it sped back the way they came, but it seemed like no matter how fast they went, the Kangaskhan would catch up eventually.
It seemed that Jenny had inputted this into her calculations, however, and without warning, she twisted the steering wheel. The Jeep underneath them lurched to the side, almost lifting off its two side tires but it brought them out of harm's way, as the Kangaskhan stampede rushed by without even giving them a second glance.
Unfortunately, this also brought the Kangaskhan right into the poachers' trap.
A burst of sand and upturned dirt shot up from the edge of the forest, sending a net high into the air and back down onto the mob of Kangaskhan. The ends had metal devices that dug into the dirt to stop them from advancing and force them onto the ground. Grunts and groans came from the net as the herd of Normal-type Pokémon struggled to get out, and with their trap successful, the pair of poachers drove up in a Jeep of their own, smirks and sneers spreading widely across their face at their accomplishment.
"Look at all the mighty Kangaskhan I caught in my trap, Jones," the hunter said to the thug that was driving as his accomplice putt the red vehicle in park.
"That was good thinking, Clayton," his sidekick snickered, reaching to the back of the Jeep where a large box of Poké Balls could be seen poking over the metal. "Which ones should we go for?"
"They're all ours, Jones, and they'll all make us quite a pretty penny on the black market."
"We can't let them get away with this!" Ash exclaimed, clenching his fist to the point of pain.
"Look at those poor baby Kangaskhan..." Brock murmured, and then both looked at Jenny. As if reading their thoughts, she spoke up, keeping her amber gaze on the pair of poachers.
"It's no good. I overheated the engine on that last stunt," she told them. On cue, the hood of the Jeep flew open and steam rose from the insides of the vehicle, causing Ash and Brock to stumble.
The obvious leader of the pair smoothed back his salt-and-pepper hair as he stood up on his seat and clutched one of the Poké Balls from the backseat before tossing it forward at the net. "And now, for the first of many captures of the day!" The red and white sphere flew through the air, but before it could reach the net, a boomerang shot out from somewhere in the treetops and collided with it. Its aim was so precise that the Poké Ball shot back with double the speed that it was thrown and planted itself in Clayton's face before knocking him over onto his back.
Quickly recovering and pulling himself back onto his feet, he held his reddened forehead with a strong hand and grumbled under his breath before yelling out. "Good heavens; who did that?!"
In response, a shrill cry filled the air. The voice came from a child with wild turquoise hair that swung down from a vine and landed on the ground. He seemed to be wearing a pelt of some kind, and the boomerang that collided with the Poké Ball thrown by the poachers landed firmly in his grip as his bare feet his the ground. "Kanga-kangaskhaaaaannnn!" he ululated loudly, and ran forward. Cutting the sides of the net with his boomerang, he pointed outward and looked up at the Kangaskhan. "Kangas! Kangas! Kangaskhan! Gasgas!" One by one, the Kangaskhan started to walk out calmly single file.
Meanwhile, while Ash and Brock were surprised by the sudden appearance of the jungle child, they weren't quite as surprised as Clayton and Jones, who were staring with their mouths open in shock. Snapping back into reality, the leader of the pair, Clayton, drew his eyebrows together and his lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarled. "What does that little savage think he's doing?!"
"Yeah, we stole'd them fair and square!" Jones whined back. If the boy understood them, then he ignored them and climbed up into a nearby tree before pointing his boomerang out at the red Jeep.
"Kangas Kangaskhaaannn!" he cried once again. This time, each one of the newly-freed Kangaskhan all turned their heads to the pair of poachers. The angered looks on the pair of poachers' faces quickly melted into worry.
"And what are you looking at?" Clayton asked, and though he was trying to sound tough, the shakiness in his voice gave away his anxiety. His partner wasn't as skilled at hiding his own fears.
"Clayton, they're looking right at us..."
"Let's get out of here," the yellow-clad poacher agreed, and both of them sat in their seats and Jones started up the engine of the Jeep. "We'll be back for you, yet."
"Kangaskhan!" the wild boy cried once again, pointing at them once again. Before the vehicle could drive away, the giant Normal-type Pokémon stepped in front of the Jeep, blocking its path. The two men saw this, and looked at each other before turning around to put the four-wheeler in reverse, but they quickly saw that the rest of the mob had blocked off all of their routes of escape – they were completely surrounded and encircled by the Kangaskhan.
One of the Kangaskhan stepped forward and with a loud grunt, it swung its massive tail, and with the force of a barreling freight train, hit the side of the vehicle and sent it flying into the air. The pair of bandits screamed as they soared high and came back down, only to be met by another Kangaskhan who did the same thing as the first, letting out a grunt and knocking them into the air again. The thieves screamed as they were knocked around back and forth by the Parent Pokémon, holding onto anything they could to keep themselves in the vehicle.
Finally, when the Jeep soared towards the largest Pokémon of the Kangaskhan troupe, it put its feet together and held out both of its arms before spinning around and around like a top. It then jumped up and collided with the Jeep. Putting one final dent in the exterior of the Jeep was the least of their concerns, and with a loud scream from the pair, they both rocketed through the air and finally disappeared out of sight across the edge of the grasslands.
"Ka-Ka-Kangaskhan!" the savage boy called in victory. The other Kangaskhan repeated his victory screech, and the boy leapt down from the tree branch he stood upon and jumped into the pouch of the Kangaskhan leader before giving another order. "Kangas, Kangaskhan!" The Pokémon group gave a collective muttering and moved along away from Jenny's Jeep while the group of three stared with their mouths open in shock at what had just unfolded before them.
"That's amazing how he can command all of those Kangaskhan just by yelling like that..." Ash said in pure awe.
"Hm, yeah. He's very good," Brock agreed. "Just a kid, but he could become a famous Pokémon Trainer."
"I hear something..." Jenny piped up, and the group went very quiet as they tried to hear what she did. Sure enough, the sound of a mechanized chopping was cutting through the air, and everyone's eyes raised to the sky where the noise was originating from. Jenny gasped as a helicopter appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and Ash had to hold onto his hat as the wind picked up from the air vehicle. If it hadn't come from the other direction, he would have thought the poachers were already back for round two.
Grass and lighter plants bowed away from the machine as the helicopter touched down onto the deserted grasslands, and the Pokémon Trainer sputtered on the dirt its blades were kicking up. "Who's that?" His question was answered minutes later when the machine's engine slowly died down and a couple stepped out of the door. One was a tall young woman whose curly hair was tucked underneath a safari cap, while the other was a man wearing a black and white camouflage outfit that only was as tall as her midsection.
"Greetings! Please excuse the noise," the man apologized with a smile under his toothbrush mustache, and tapped his walking stick against the ground. "Are you the Safari Zone Pokémon Ranger?"
"Yes?" Officer Jenny replied with a nod.
"Let me introduce myself. I am Tommy's father – I came here because I heard that someone had seen my son, Tommy, in this area."
"Your son Tommy is here in the Safari Zone?"
"Papa, I think we have to tell them a little bit more about Tommy," his wife pointed out, and he looked back at them apologetically.
"Of course, you're right. Forgive me." The group gave a collective but hesitant nod, and Ash and Brock had cocked eyebrows as they looked at the mismatched pair. Meanwhile, up front, Jenny pointed to the back of her Jeep.
"You can explain the rest back at the station," she told him.
"A splendid idea!" he agreed. "But we're gonna take our helicopter. We paid big money for it, you know!"
Jenny seemed hesitant about it, but Ash could tell that he was the type of man to not take no for an answer and the Safari Zone ranger seemed to think the same thing, so she agreed and told him to follow her Jeep.
o 0 o
The loud noise of the man-made helicopter gave the wild Pokémon quite a scare and made them scatter in every direction. It was almost strange not seeing any wild Pokémon in the jungle that had been teeming with life since they had arrived, but the Pokémon here were spoiled to the lack of human presence.
All gathered together in Ranger Jenny's tent and sitting themselves at the table in the middle of the station, the pair began to tell their story. "It happened five years ago," Tommy's mother started as they both placed their hardhats on the table in front of them. "Tommy was only three years old when we decided to take him with us on a family trip around the world."
"That's correct. We began our trip from our home in Celadon City, and were planning on traveling all over the Kanto region. But when we were flying over the famous Safari Zone, we simply had to show Tommy."
"He was just three years old, but he simply loved Pokémon," his wife added, and pulled out a handkerchief.
"But, due to some horrible circumstances that absolutely could not have been avoided, Tommy fell out of our helicopter and into the trees below." The group gave a hearty gasp as the pair began to tear up.
"Luckily, before the trip, we had bought self-deploying parachutes so his parachute opened up when he was falling. But by the time we found and walked to where he had fallen, all that was left was his empty parachute."
"Ever since that day, we've searched high and low but we can't find him anywhere!" Ash's eyes fell upon the heartbroken mother, and his own eyes began to sting as tears threatened to escape, and he quickly rubbed at his eyes with a finger each before they could form.
"It's just like Papa said; we looked as hard as we could, but we couldn't find him anywhere," she said. "Then someone sent us a picture of a young boy who leads a huge pack of Kangaskhan here in the Safari Zone."
"I always knew that this day would come! Someone was bound to see Tommy somewhere!"
"I know it's a bother, but would you consider helping us in our search? We'll do anything!" Tommy's mother begged Jenny, who was looking at the pair with a blank look on her face and arms crossed. Reaching into her pocket, the lost boy's mother retrieved a photograph and held it out for Jenny to see. "Here is the picture." Everyone looked down, and the photograph featured an image of the feral boy that they had just seen saving the group of Kangaskhan from the poachers tucked away in a pocket of a Kangaskhan. "If Tommy is still alive, he would be just about this age."
Jenny took the picture from the woman and studied it for just a few minutes, easily recognizing the boy. "Ah, you mean Tomo. You won't have to look far – his address is listed right here in the Safari Zone directory." Going through her paper files quickly, she retrieved a collection of papers that listed the boy known as 'Tomo' with a picture featuring the same boy. Tommy's mother's mouth dropped and the color ran away from her face upon seeing her son, and his father gave a sigh of relief.
"Really?! Thank goodness!"
"We saw him out in the jungle just before you came," Ash admitted. "My friend and I would be glad to help you find him if you'd want us to."
"It would be our pleasure," Brock agreed with a nod at the head of the table.
"Thank you all so much!" Tommy's father thanked gratefully as he stood up from his seat. "Now we can finally be united with our son and live together as a family!"
o 0 o
Had Ash and Brock knew that volunteering to help Tommy's parents meant carrying them through the jungle on a litter they had retrieved from their helicopter, they probably wouldn't have offered to help.
"Ah! It's lovely riding through the jungle like this!" Tommy's father sighed with content while Ash and Brock gave a sigh of exhaustion. Both of the boys were holding two poles each, and Ash stood in the lead while Brock carried up the rear.
"How'd we end up with a job like this..." Ash murmured to himself through his pants, and then said in a quiet, mocking tone, "My friend and I would be glad to help you find him if you'd want us to."
"Ugh, why did we have to go and open up our big mouths?" Brock agreed a bit more loudly. Sweat was pouring down his tanned face, both from the amount of physical labor and the humidity of the jungle.
"I apologize for this!" Tommy's mother spoke up, though her tone of voice sounded as though she didn't mean them. "Papa doesn't get outdoors much, and he's not in the best of shape."
"I admit it!" Neither Pokémon Trainer replied to this, and continued forward down the winding path until something caught their eye. At first, it was a small whining that grabbed their attention, and then as they continued up ahead, they could see something.
"Wait! What's that?!" Ash called, and when both him and Brock saw that it was an injured Pokémon, they instantly disregarded their job at hand and hurried over to it, leaving Tommy's parents to fall to the ground with a thud.
"My lumbago! Ow!"
Hurrying up and kneeling in front of the hurt Pokémon, Ash and Brock quickly recognized it as a baby Kangaskhan, and it was covered head to toe in blood and bruises. The poor Pokémon was so hurt that it didn't even try to run away at the sight of the two, and simply gave a breathless whine of pain. "It looks like it's injured," Ash observed with a look of pity.
"Leave it to me," Brock said with a smile and patted his chest with his fist.
"Can you treat it, Brock?"
"Don't forget, Ash: I've been studying to be the world's best Pokémon Breeder," he reminded his friend, sliding his backpack off his back and fishing out a Super Potion from inside it. With his free hand, he reached out and lightly caressed the Kangaskhan's head to get it to calm its nerves. "You'll be just fine." Between the calm voice and touch, the Kangaskhan seemed to ease a little, and Ash stepped back to give Brock some space. "This will sting a little, but it'll make your wound heal faster, I promise." Clenching his hand around the spray nozzle, the medicine sprayed over the baby Pokémon, and it instantly coughed and squealed loudly as the medicine sanitized its wounds.
The sound of air rushing behind Brock cut through the silence of the jungle, and Brock's head whipped around, and when he saw a boomerang flying through the air straight at him, the former Gym Leader gasped and ducked to avoid the hit. Ash, however, was just beside him, and did not see it coming, and the spinning weapon collided with the side of his jaw. As Ash fell to the ground with a grunt of pain, Tomo came jumping down from a tree and caught the boomerang that flew back to him.
"You hurt Kangaskhan! That bad!" Tomo barked, holding his boomerang up in the air and threatening to throw it again. Brock stood up, cradling the injured Kangaskhan in his arms, but before he could deny that he was deliberately hurting the baby Pokémon, Tommy's parents came running up to join them, and they looked excitedly at the boy. The wild child, however, didn't understand why they were looking at him like that, and frowned at them before focusing his gaze on the man that was the same size as him. "Huh? Who you, old man?"
"I am Papa, this is your mama, and you are our son, Tommy!" Tommy's father introduced quickly before pointing a finger at Tomo.
"Tommy, come home with your mommy and daddy," his wife added with an innocent smile. Tomo didn't respond at first, and simply looked between the pair and Ash and Brock before looking up at Brock.
"They Pokémon, or peoples?" he asked Brock, and the Pokémon Breeder simply chuckled nervously while a blush rushed to his mother's face.
"Tommy, these people are your parents – your mother and father," Ash explained slowly, placing his hands on his knees so he could look at Tommy face to face. "They've been looking for you for a very long time."
"Mother? Father?" He stared at Ash as though he had three heads, and then slowly turned and looked back at his parents. The pair were standing completely still, but had hopeful and eager looks on their faces.
"Tommy?"
"Do you know me, son?"
"Do you remember them now, Tommy?" Ash asked when the boy continued to stare at them, his shimmering black eyes looking as though the jungle boy was digging deep in his mind, but the boy shook his head fast and turned back to Ash with his lips peeled back in a snarl.
"Tomo mama Kangaskhan! Mama Kangaskhan!" he yelled, but then suddenly, a thick branch came down on Tommy's head, and the boy could only let out a groan of pain before crumpling to the ground in a heap. Above him, his father stood with the branch firmly in his hand, and everyone but him let out a loud gasp.
"What are you doing, Papa?!" Tommy's mother exclaimed in horror, but the man withdrew the branch with a knowing smile.
"He'll be fine! We'll just take him home and start from scratch!" he assured her, but she rushed up and pulled the boy into her arms.
"Look what you've done to him!" she yelled, and with a softer tone, looked down at her son. "Tommy, can you hear me? Tommy! Tommy! Tommy?" The two Pokémon Trainers could only stare as Tommy's mother called his name repeatedly, and finally, the boy stirred, and a smile spread across her face with relief. "Tommy! Are you all right, Tommy?"
Tommy's eyes slowly opened, and he looked up at the curly-haired woman holding him, looking at her in a new light of remembrance. "Mama..." Her smile spread even wider across her face, and she looked as though she were about to tear up.
"Tommy! Oh, my little boy remembers me!"
"That clonk on the head must have helped bring your son's memory back," Ash deduced.
His father, wanting to be remembered as well, unbuttoned his shirt and opened it so his bare chest could be seen. "Tommy, my boy! Remember Papa?!" But his wife shoved the man away into the bushes behind him and quickly turned back to their son.
"Forgive us, Tommy. You must have been so lonely," she apologized, placing her hands on the boy's shoulders. "We'll never be separated again. Now let's go home."
"Your mother and father have been looking all over for you for years, Tommy," the black-haired Trainer told the younger boy after noting the confused look on his face.
"Sometimes, the real parent's the one who raises you, but this is an unusual situation," Brock commented as he curled a finger around his chin.
Tommy's eyes darted between the three humans around him, and his eyes also lingered on the Kangaskhan in Brock's arms before looking at the ground. "Tomo mama Kangaskhan. But this lady Tomo mama too..."
"You can't live with both of them, Tommy," Ash replied, but then took a step back when Tommy gave a loud outburst and held his head.
"Kangaskhan mama, too! This lady mama, too! Tommy head feel bad!" Ash and Brock were at a lost for words, and even his mother seemed to take a step backwards with her hands up defensively. But luckily, none of them needed to find any words at all, as they were interrupted by Ranger Jenny pulling up in her Jeep.
"I need your help!" she called, standing up and yelling at them from over the windshield. "Someone's poaching Kangaskhan again!" Everyone gasped, and Tommy immediately jumped into action. With an impressive jump, he leapt into the tree branches and bounced from branch to branch with a battle cry.
"Kanga-Kangaskhaaan!"
"Tommy!" his mother cried, but Ash and Brock hurried into Jenny's Jeep.
"C'mon, let's go!" Ash told her, and as they both held onto the vehicle tightly, Jenny skidded off, leaving Tommy's parents behind to look in the direction their son had jumped off to.
o 0 o
When Jenny slammed on the brakes back on the grass plains in the heart of the jungle where the Kangaskhan herd lived, they saw that Tommy had already arrived before they did. Instantly, their eyes were drawn to a giant, metal Kangaskhan that had been mounted to the top of a familiar red Jeep. Some distance away from the mechanical Kangaskhan, several real Kangaskhan were slumped over and asleep while others attempted to try and help the fallen ones. From the tubes sticking out of their arms, it looked as though they had been tranquilized.
Tommy was alone and taking on the metal Kangaskhan by himself, but his boomerang was no match for its hard exterior, and it seemed to have weapons of its own built into it. When Jenny pulled up, Tommy had dodged a flying fist that propelled out from the mech's arms, and it shot back like Tommy's boomerang before clicking back in place.
Skidding to a stop in between the mech and Tommy, Ash instantly jumped out of the vehicle and pulled out a Poké Ball before looking through the windshield to see the two poachers from earlier looking at them with deranged looks on their faces. "Those poachers! We've got to stop them!" Ash declared, and twisting his cap backwards, he threw the Poké Ball in his hand into the air. "Bulbasaur, I choose you!"
The ball opened in the air, and from the burst of energy that poured out from inside, Ash's Bulbasaur formed with a cry. "Bulba-zaur!"
"Bulbasaur, quick! Use your Vine Whip, now!"
"Bulbasaur!" the Seed Pokémon uttered, and two vines shot out from underneath the bulb on its back and out at the giant Kangaskhan. The vines continued and wrapped around it until its arms were pinned against its body. With its inability to fire any more of those rocket punches, Ash felt more confident, and retrieved a second Poké Ball from his belt before throwing it into the air.
"Wartortle, I choose you!"
A pop echoed through the wastelands as his Wartortle formed and appeared beside Bulbasaur.
"Wartortle Wartortle!"
"Wartortle, go! Give 'em your Skull Bash attack!" Ash commanded. Giving a loud cry of confidence, Wartortle took a step forward before launching itself into the air and shooting headfirst at the Kangaskhan mech. It didn't stop until the top of its head collided with the fake Kangaskhan's forehead, and it cried out from the impact as it bounced backwards.
Inspired by Ash's attempts, Tommy rushed past him and his Pokémon, and with his boomerang in his hand, he gave a loud Kangaskhan battle cry and jumped high into the air just as Wartortle had done. "Kangassss!" But this time, instead of headbutting the metal animatronic, he clung to it and repeatedly struck it in the forehead with his boomerang.
Inside, the two poachers glared upward, and though they couldn't exactly see what was going on, they knew that Tommy was atop their metal beast, and so the lackey pulled a lever from the top of the Jeep. Suddenly, the mechanical Kangaskhan's eyes started to glow yellow, and it gave a powerful shutter and opened its arms, knocking away both Tommy and Bulbasaur's Vine Whip attack.
Tommy flew through the air with a cry, but landed on his hands and feet without injury. Meanwhile, a shadow fell over him, and he looked up to see the giant Kangaskhan moving toward him. "You've been a bad boy, jungle boy!" Clayton's voice yelled over a speaker inside the Kangaskhan.
"Tommy!" Ash cried with horror, and pulled out yet another Poké Ball. "Mankey!" The ball that left his hand burst open within seconds, and soon Ash's Fighting-type Pokémon was flying through the air with its angry gaze locked on the giant Kangaskhan. "Mankey, Thrash attack!" It clung to the giant Kangaskhan's body and began to wildly attack it with punches, kicks, and scratches, but as it did with Tommy, the Kangaskhan flexed its metal body once again, and Mankey was sent flying away. Grumbling in annoyance, Ash summoned a fourth Pokémon. "Charmander, I choose you!"
The Fire-type stood before its Trainer with a cry, and stared up at the Kangaskhan barreling toward them fearlessly. "Charmander, Flamethrower!" Opening its arms, Charmander took in a deep breath before releasing a stream of fire from its mouth out at the poacher's mech. The flames hit it square in the chest, but didn't seem to be doing any damage. Nevertheless, Charmander continued to fire its attack.
Pulling himself up onto his feet, Tomo was just as resilient and with a mighty heave, threw his boomerang forward. In a stroke of luck, the boomerang hit the gas tank cover, which caused gasoline to start pouring out onto the ground. This only lasted a few seconds, however, as the flames from Charmander's Flamethrower attack licked at it, which was enough to light it ablaze. The flames spread throughout the inside of the Kangaskhan animatronic, and the whole base of it burst into flames. Even without the speakers on, Ash could hear the poachers' screams from inside.
"Great!" the Pokémon Trainer roared happily as Tommy's boomerang came flying back to its owner.
"Tomo do it!"
Their celebration was short lived, however, as the Kangaskhan's glowing eyes turned from yellow to red, and the red Jeep at its base began to drive forward. "Oh, no!" Ash cried, and Jenny revved the engine to her own vehicle.
"Get in, quick!" she called to him. The group all ran towards Jenny's Jeep and Ash, Tomo, and all his Pokémon piled into it before Jenny cut the wheel and her tires spit out grass as she floored it to get away from the blazing robot.
"Running, are we?!" Clayton's voice called over the speakers. "That's okay, I like a challenge! Because after taking care of you, rounding up all of those Kangaskhan will be easy!" The blazing vehicle seemed to be gaining on them, but then another noise pulled their attention to the skies, and they saw a helicopter flying through the air. And it wasn't just any helicopter, but the helicopter owned by Tommy's parents. But it didn't look as though they were looking to land. In fact, they weren't even slowing down at all, and suddenly, it all clicked together all at once for everyone on the ground: they were going to collide into the giant mechanized Kangaskhan. Ash and everyone screamed and ducked their heads, while Clayton and his lackey let out yells of horror as the nose of the helicopter slammed into the shoulder of the Kangaskhan. Time seemed to freeze, and one second felt like an hour before suddenly, the flames licked at the bottom of the helicopter and a huge explosion rocked the earth itself.
A fireball of fire, smoke, and shrapnel lit up the sky, and as the two machines crumbled into one mess of melted metal, a whoosh of air nearly flipped the Jeep underneath them. Then, all was silent.
Killing the engine to her car, Ranger Jenny and the rest all emptied out of the vehicle, looking at the smoking and smoldering wreckage sadly. But none were as sad as Tommy, who bounded forward before stopping before it got too hot and stared in disbelief.
"They sacrificed themselves so they could save their son's life..." Brock murmured quietly as the baby Kangaskhan clutched his shirt in fear.
"They really loved him..." Ash added quietly, and recalled his Pokémon back into their Poké Balls as Tommy's boomerang fell from his limp hands and clattered to the ground thoughtlessly. Softly at first, Tommy began to cry, but then his cries turned into loud sobs that echoed through the orange sky. The three behind him stood in silent mourning, unsure of how to approach the boy who had just lost his newfound parents.
But through his cries, a muffled lullaby could be heard being hummed, which made Tommy instantly stop, and everyone's eyebrows raised as the humming turned into words coming from the pile of metal. "Go to sleep... and goodnight... you are my-" Suddenly, the some of the scrap moved, and both of Tommy's parents rose like a phoenix from the ashes, scratched and scorched in places, and covered in soot, but otherwise looked fine. "Little Tommy," his mother finished singing with a wide smile on her face. Everyone gave a collective gasp when they saw the pair were not only okay, but strangely enough wearing animal pelts over their bodies similar to Tommy's.
"Tommy, your father and I decided that if you love the Kangaskhan so much, we'll stay here and protect the Pokémon with you!" she said to him as the pair stepped out of the wreckage.
"Let Mama and Papa join your family, Tommy!" her husband added. Tommy seemed taken aback by this, but they both nodded at him, and he began to cry again, this time with tears of joy.
"Papa... Mama...!" With a loud cry, he rushed forward and wrapped his arms around both of them, who gladly accepted the embrace.
"We'll be together from now on, Tommy!"
"Good!"
o 0 o
A fresh start to a new day was just what they needed, and with the sun now sitting high in the sky and Ranger Jenny's station to their backs, the pair headed off towards the actual Safari Zone with Jenny's direction. But, Ash's mind couldn't help but linger on the adventures that they had had the day before.
"Do you think Tommy and his parents really can be a family?" he asked his traveling companion with his mouth scrunched up in thought, but Brock had no doubt.
"Ash, they love each other. They'll be just fine."
"But it'll be hard for them, even to communicate," the Pokémon Trainer argued lightly. But something caught their eye, and when they looked up at the cliff peering down at them, the herd of Kangaskhan was standing and lined up atop it. The largest one, the leader, was sitting amongst the front, and in its pocket was Tommy and the baby Kangaskhan that Brock had helped, both children waving down at the pair.
"Kangas-Kangas-Kangaskhaaan!" they both called out. And on either side of them, both of Tommy's parents appeared from the giant Kangaskhan's pouch as well, and waved down as well, mimicking their son.
"Kangas-Kangas-Kangaskhaan!"
"Like I said, they'll be just fine!" Brock reiterated as both boys grew a wide smile on their faces.
"Kanga-Kangaskhan!" Ash called back, and both Pokémon Trainers waved up to the mob of Kangaskhan, and as thoughts of his own mother bounced around in his head, he reminded himself to give her a call as they continued on their way forward to their next adventure.
-end-
Ash:
Party:
Wartortle (Poké Ball)
Moves: Skull Bash, Dig, Water Gun, BubbleBeam
Pidgeotto (Poké Ball)
Moves: Gust, Quick Attack, Whirlwind, Wing Attack
Bulbasaur (Poké Ball)
Moves: Tackle, Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, Leech Seed
Charmander (Poké Ball)
Moves: Flamethrower, Fire Spin, Skull Bash, Ember
Krabby (Poké Ball)
Moves: ViceGrip
Mankey (Poké Ball)
Moves: Thrash, Mega Kick, Scratch
At Professor Oak's Lab:
Muk (Poké Ball)
Moves:
Badges:
Boulder Badge
Cascade Badge
Thunder Badge
Marsh Badge
Rainbow Badge
Soul Badge
Brock:
Party:
Onix (Poké Ball)
Moves: Tackle, Bind, Dig
Geodude (Poké Ball)
Moves: Seismic Toss, Tackle
Zubat (Poké Ball)
Moves: Whirlwind, Supersonic
Psyduck (Poké Ball)
Moves:
Vulpix (Poké Ball)
Moves: Fire Spin
