This is the third of four chapters today.


Pikachu saw the ball coming – just.

By the time it hit, he'd already started to build a charge to fire at it, but didn't have time to launch off even a Thundershock before the phenomenally powerful 'ball pulled him in.

It wasn't like a regular Pokéball. Those were disorienting, but nothing more than that – and Pikachu had heard you got used to that, after a while.

It was a lot more like the dark Pokéballs Mewtwo had used back on New Island – a horrible tugging sensation, seeming to be trying to pull him inside out, and then blackness.

Pikachu started struggling, trying to get back out. He knew regular Pokéballs could be broken open, could this-

And then came the pain. All-encompassing, surpassing, omnipresent pain.

It seemed to play directly on his nerves, sweeping across in horrible disorienting waves, and Pikachu screamed.


Ash froze. He couldn't help it.

This was... as bad as it could possibly be.

All over the lakeshore, the fighting stopped for a moment, as everyone – even Vicious' Pokémon – turned to look.

Ash tried to think, to work out what to do to save his best friend, as the sphere of metal crackled with dark lightning and the Marauder caught it in his open palm.

Ash couldn't hear anything. There was a kind of rushing sound in his ears, shock drowning out the outside world.

And at the same time, perversely, he could hear Sir Aaron's voice with crystal clarity.


"I can see how that would be useful, I guess," Ash said, once Sir Aaron had finished describing the Aura Purge. "But – uh, what did you use it for?"

The ancient knight winced. "Nasty stuff, this – shadow Pokémon."

"Shadow Pokémon?" Ash repeated, frowning. He remembered hearing some news story which mentioned those...

"There are two ways they were made, back in my time – both difficult," Sir Aaron went on. "First way is accidental. A Pokémon who's kind of unstable loses a well-loved trainer, and... goes kind of out-of-control. On a rampage."

Ash nodded along.

"When that happened, we had to stop them. This was a... well, basically a safer way – it let the fight take place inside the Shadow Pokémon instead of on the outside. And even if it didn't work, it gave people time." Sir Aaron shrugged. "Anything you can get."

He rolled his shoulders. "The second way is... deliberate. Capture a Pokémon, stop it escaping – doesn't matter how – and torture it until it breaks."

Sir Aaron's expression turned sombre. "I've seen the results. They're more dangerous than the first kind, because they follow orders – of the one who made them what they are."


"Pikachu..." Ash whispered. Spots swam in front of his eyes, and he took a sudden breath. "Pikachu!"


Vicious smiled as the Dark Ball's indicator lit up, signifying the process was completed.

Excellent.

Those idiots in the tiltrotor trying to stop him had been helpful, in a way. When the boy had shown up, he'd known exactly which was his most dangerous Pokémon.

And now that immensely capable Pikachu was his. Possibly his greatest weapon, even if he managed to capture Celebi...

Seeing the young trainer beginning to run forwards, Vicious opened the 'ball, releasing his new Pikachu.

It was almost the same as it had been – a fairly typical Electric Mouse in appearance, though there were those strange cheek pouches... but the eyes told the story. They were full of rage, but behind that... emptiness.

"Pikachu!" Vicious said, pointing. "Thunderbolt that boy!"

"Chuu!"

A smirk played over the Marauder's features, as the bolt of electricity slammed into Ash Ketchum just as he jumped to try and get on the tank. It hit with devastating force, blowing the boy backwards through the air and sending him crashing through the upper canopy and out of sight.

"Excellent!" Vicious laughed. "Now – Pikachu, destroy anyone who dares to try and attack me!"

Vicious savoured the results. The first electrical attack that resulted speared out across the lake, hit the V-22 Talonflame that had been firing on his tank, and blew off a rotor.

The second one took a second longer to charge, and blasted off into the sky – and, two seconds later, a Pidgeot crashed into the lake in a huge plume of spray.

Vicious laughed. "Excellent!"

Then he noticed his Dark Venomoth looking confused. Hadn't it been fighting the Celebi?

The answer quickly presented itself. There was a small knot of people on the lakeshore – with Celebi cradled against the chest of another boy, and a Stantler standing next to them looking as shocked as the rest of them.

Vicious got the attention of the Venomoth, and nodded towards the group on the lakeshore.


"Ash! Pikachu!" Brock shouted, as the dreadful events unfolded.

They'd all forgotten about how the Dark Balls worked. Of course, the friends had known they needed to keep Celebi away from the Marauder – but the idea that he might try to capture any Pokémon was something they hadn't expected.

Pidgeot crashed into the lake a few hundred yards out, electricity crackling across her feathers.

"How did-" Misty began, then stopped herself. "Of course – Dark Balls force the Pokémon to use all the power they have..."

"And Pikachu's always been trying not to hurt his friends," Brock added softly.

Sammy gaped. "That's... horrible!"

Brock patted him on the shoulder. "We'll-"

He paused, and looked back towards the lake.

No fake Celebi dodging overhead.

"Stantler – is your illusion still up?" he asked, a horrible suspicion forming.

"I – no!" Stantler's antlers started to glow, as he hurriedly rebuilt the cloaking illusion. "Sorry, Brock, I-"

A beam of red energy flashed towards the group. It played across Stantler, Brock and Sammy, before focusing in on Celebi and intensifying into an overcharged Signal Beam.

Celebi cried out, trying to form a shield, which held for a moment before breaking under the strain of the Bug attack.

"Celebi!" Sammy said, moving to shield her. The Venomoth swooped overhead, keeping her in his sights for several seconds before ending the attack.

There was another ear-punishing thunderclap as Pikachu blasted Lucario backwards.

Celebi started to glow. Eyes widening, she struggled against the psychic energy gripping her, and then it pulled her out of Sammy's arms and towards the Marauder and his machine.

"The Girafarig!" Misty realized – stupid! They'd forgotten to stop it!

Togekiss arrived back overhead, blew the Venomoth out of the sky with Sacred Fire, and then turned to watch with the rest of them.

Vicious was already pulling out his next Dark Ball.


Ash shook his head, trying to gather his senses.

Taking a breath, he opened his eyes and saw he was lying in a pile of broken branches and leaves.

A crash of thunder from some way off jogged his memory, and he started with a jolt. "Pikachu – no..."

His belt flashed.

"Ash!" Keldeo said, helping him up. "What happened? We heard you shout, but there was too much noise."

"It was the Marauder," Ash said, catching his breath. "He – he used a Dark Ball on Pikachu. I think – if they work like Sir Aaron said Shadow Pokémon were made, it means he's been tortured."

Swallowing, Ash glanced between the two Water-types. "I... he's not okay, and that..."

He rubbed tears from his eyes. "Sorry, I – he's been with me for years, and..."

Suicune stepped forwards, her muzzle touching his dangling left hand. "Ash," she said, "We will save him. That is a promise."

Ash nodded, swallowing again. "Thanks – yeah, thanks."

The young trainer clenched his fists, breathing more steadily now. "Right. Let's go save him."

Keldeo stamped a hoof, flashing over into Resolute form. "Yeah!"

Ash glanced between them. "Only... we need to work out what we're going to do. That tank of his is really tough, and we've got to get past Pikachu – and both of you are Water-types."

He took the final Pokéball at his belt, and opened it. "Quilava – we're probably going to need you to be a distraction."

"I'd guessed," Quilava said, nodding calmly. "I'm not weak to Electricity, so I'm the best choice."

Ash smiled at her, and she pretended not to notice the tears in his eyes. "Thanks, Quilava."

"As for you two – here." Ash pulled three large Wacan berries from his pack. "They should help with Electrical attacks for a few minutes."

Suicune took one in her mouth, and avoided biting into it for now. Keldeo did the same, and Ash took a quick mouthful of the third.

"They don't work as well for humans," he said around the mouthful, "but they do last a bit longer. Right..."

He looked between the three Pokémon. "Let's go."

There was another crackle-BOOM as they set off, further underscoring the situation.


"He got Celebi, too," Ash said, noticing the huge floating construct of wood as Celebi pulled it together from the nearby trees. "This isn't good..."

"What do we do?" Keldeo asked, glancing back and forth between Ash and the construct.

"Well..." Ash shrugged helplessly. "Last time, it took Sammy – he's Professor Oak's younger self, brought forwards in time... anyway, Sammy and I were able to convince Celebi to snap out of it."

"What first?" Suicune asked.

Ash frowned. "I think... Keldeo, Quilava, can you keep them busy?"

Keldeo paused, then nodded firmly. "I can try!"

"Right. Suicune – we should pick up Sammy, Celebi knows him this time too."

Suicune nodded, and knelt for Ash to get on. As she straightened, she looked at the two Pokémon who were now her teammates. "Good luck, you two."

They nodded their thanks, then ran out into the open.


"Why! Won't! You! Shut! Up!" Weavile ranted, slashing both sets of claws forwards in an X-Scissor.

Wobbuffet bounced backwards, halted for a moment nearly parallel to the ground, then came back and cracked Weavile on the chin with stunning force. "Because I'm one tough cookie!"

Weavile paused, thrown, and half-lowered the set of glowing claws he'd been about to use for a Fury Swipes. "That's not... a pun..."

"Actually, it is," Wobbuffet said, with a fixed grin. "It's called dramatic irony."

"Hello," a thick, gloopy voice added behind the Ice/Dark type.

Weavile turned, and saw a Muk.

"Maybe you'll be easier to handle, then!" he said, raising his claws again. "Icicle-"

Muk opened his mouth, and then all Weavile knew was pain.


Suicune halted in front of Ash's friends, and Ash swung down.

"Ash!" Brock said. "Are you all right?"

"What do you think?" Ash snapped, then shook his head. "No, I... sorry, Brock. No, I'm not – that's my starter over there!"

There was an explosion of electricity and water, and he glanced back. Seeing Keldeo using his Sacred Sword to block an escalating series of thunderbolts, he winced.

"What do you need us to do, Ash?" Misty asked.

"Do you have any Pokémon left?" Ash began, then rubbed his temples. "No, silly question – I can see Togekiss and Stantler, and all the rest are out there either knocked out or fighting."

"I can help," Togekiss volunteered.

"No, keep Misty and Brock safe," Ash told her. "As for – Sammy, right?"

Sammy blinked. "How do you-"

"That doesn't matter right now," Ash interrupted. "Celebi knows you. She trusts you, and so we're going to need your help to save her. Climb on!"


Professor Oak blinked.

He looked around, wondering what could have caused the sudden attack of nausea. It felt like he'd stood up too quickly – everything went fuzzy for a moment.

Shrugging it off, he returned to the email he was reading. It was Gary's latest about the two Mega Stones he'd managed to acquire so far, and the similarities and differences between their properties.

Interesting reading, though the Professor still awaited the day he could study the transformation in person.

A few paragraphs later, he had a second inexplicable feeling of... the world, shifting under his feet. A bit like a ship in a storm, when the cargo in the hold slid from one side to the other, and the comfortable patterns you hadn't even noticed in how the ship rolled and pitched were suddenly gone.


Vicious laughed, as his new base was formed out of vines and roots and branches.

The Pikachu was nice – very helpful, even now it was blasting away at a Ninetales which had been positioning to blast him – but Celebi, now, that was the true prize.

With such a powerful Pokémon under his command, he could remake Team Rocket in his own image!

Speaking of Team Rocket, those irritating enforcers seemed to have survived for now. There were two large parachutes draped over a tree near where their Talonflame tiltrotor had gone down.

Pity.

Another crash of electrical energy drew his attention. The Pikachu was firing at...

At...

Vicious didn't actually know what it was. It looked a little like a Rapidash, or perhaps a Ponyta, with a shaggy red mane... but the rest of its colours were entirely different, and it didn't look like a Fire-type.

It also had a huge glowing blade extending from its forehead, and was using it to parry the electrical attacks Pikachu was putting out. Which was – impressive.

And discomfiting. Perhaps he would need to make that Celebi's first target.

As he thought that, an orange blur drove directly at him. It got close, then bounced off the shields, and he grinned as the blur slowed and revealed itself to be the Aura adept's Quilava.

That was probably about it for Pokémon, then. If he was using the Quilava, then that meant the biggest threat of all – the Charizard – was unavailable.

Excellent.

Vicious clenched his fist in triumph as an attack finally made it through to the strange equine Pokémon. He flinched as the electricity played over him, then rallied, and jumped out of the way of the follow-up attack and began sprinting around the tank faster than Pikachu could turn.

The Marauder blinked. Was that Pokémon shooting water from its hooves?

Very strange.

But, as his gaze followed the sprinting Pokémon, he spotted something else.

Back over with the boy who had tried to save the Celebi, there was the Aura adept – and a Suicune.

Where the Darkrai had that come from?

As he wondered, there was a sudden – and very final – clunk from the body of his walking tank. It shivered, seized up, and the shield powered down.

Vicious winced. That took away his protection.

"Celebi!" he shouted. "Bring me up to my new base!"

Celebi's psychic grip reached out, took Vicious, and pulled him off the war machine just before it collapsed.


Cubone grinned behind her mask, triumphant.

It had taken a while, but she'd finally managed to hammer her way through to something vital.

Crawling back out of the hole she'd made, her first sight was Pikachu standing there with his cheeks crackling.

"Hi," she said. "Any idea where Jessie and James are?"

Pikachu gave her a dispassionate look, then blasted her with a Thunderbolt.

Cubone waited until it had finished, then gave him a puzzled glance. "Why? Sure, I've got Lightningrod, that's not going to hurt me... but why blast me at all?"

Pikachu frowned slightly, then jumped forwards at her with his palm glowing. Startled, Cubone barely formed a Shieldon-derived shield in time to block.

Then the Girafarig hit her with an intense Solarbeam.


Muscles bunching, Suicune ran towards the giant plant construct.

As she approached, though, a bolt of lightning crashed her way from the wreckage of the tank. It fouled her approach, and she had to break away.

Her second attempt met much the same fate, despite a wall of water that her tailwind whipped up alongside her. Pikachu's powerful Electric attack punched straight through the shield, and nearly hit her even though her position was obscured by the wave.

"Suicune!" Ash shouted, bent over to avoid the wind. "This isn't working! We're going to have to stop Pikachu first!"

Suicune nodded – she could see the logic. "Got it."

This time, when she made her run, she turned aside the moment the lightning bolt started. Producing a gigantic wave as she cornered at half the speed of sound, she dove in towards the wrecked tank preceded by a swirling cold wind.

As they closed in, Keldeo lunged forwards. He spun on two hooves, directing his fore left hoof at Pikachu, and blasting him with a stream of water mirrored by one coming out of his rear hoof for balance.

Pikachu took the obvious counter-attack, firing lightning at the jet, and Keldeo cut it off just before the Thunderbolt could have used it as a conduit to electrocute him.

Though it did almost no damage, the jet of water did physically knock Pikachu backwards. His slashing follow-up blow took just a bit longer to prepare than it would otherwise have done, and so Keldeo was able to block it with his Secret Sword before volleying in a Focus Blast – at the Girafarig.

Blindsided, the Psychic/Normal Pokémon was knocked out by the powerful attack, and his Solarbeam went unfired.

Despite this, however, Suicune and her passengers did not get a clear run in. Pikachu sensed their approach, whether by sound or by feeling the breeze on his back, and slashed out another Thunderbolt.

Suicune winced as it blazed into her forelegs, hampering her and making her lose speed. She jumped over the next attack, and shot an Ice Beam back at Pikachu which collided with the follow-up Zap Cannon.

The resultant explosion blew Ash and Sammy off her back.

The moment she landed, Suicune located the still-falling Sammy. Bursting into motion again, she managed to catch him before he hit the beach.

Ash landed in a crouch, having had enough time to stabilize himself in mid-air.

"What now?" Sammy asked, looking between the three remaining Pokémon.

Pikachu's cheeks sparked warningly, and Ash stepped forwards between him and Suicune.

"Pikachu!" he said, voice raw. "Stop! Please!"


Ash had eyes only for Pikachu, desperately trying to see if he was getting to his first Pokémon. "Pikachu! I – don't listen to him!"

Those horribly blank eyes were unmoved. Then they tightened, just slightly, and Ash got a Protect up just in time to avoid the Thunderbolt hitting him.

Keldeo started to move forwards, and Ash shook his head slightly. "Wait."

"But Ash, if you keep this up then-"

"I said wait, Keldeo!" Ash repeated, and the pain in his voice stopped Keldeo more than the first direct order Ash had given him.

The Colt Pokémon stopped moving, setting his feet ready to spring forwards if he had to but not doing so for now, and Ash exhaled.

"Pikachu," Ash began, trying to find something – anything – that might get through to the Electric-type. "Remember when we met, Pikachu?"

Pikachu fired another Thunderbolt, and this time Ash didn't block it.

"Ash!" Keldeo shouted as the attack hit. "Suicune, we have to-"

"Look!" Suicune said, nodding sharply, and Keldeo followed her gaze.

Ash was still standing. A bit of residual electricity crackled between his fingers, and he forced a chuckle.

"Yeah, that's... pretty much how we met," he said, sounding like he was surprising himself with how he sounded. "Man, but you couldn't stop shocking me..."

Another Thunderbolt came in. Again, Ash didn't stop it with a Protect.

"You shocked me, you shocked Professor Oak, you shocked half the town, and you certainly didn't shock any Pokémon," Ash went on, doggedly, and missed the little gasp from Sammy. "Not ones I told you to, anyway. But... I don't know quite how, but we got to know each other."

Pikachu blinked, frowning, and then launched forwards another Electric attack. This one was less powerful than the previous one, though, and his eyes were no longer blank and dead – instead, full of a deep confusion.

"There are three things I learned about you, Pikachu," Ash said. "Firstly, you're one stubborn Pokémon, and nothing will stop you for long. Secondly, you're the best friend any boy could have. And third – you hate Pokéballs."

That prompted a reaction. Pikachu flinched, and electricity crackled between his cheeks and ears. None of it came forwards in an attack, though.

Ash crouched down, rummaging in his pouch, and pulled out a lightning-marked Pokéball. "This is yours, Pikachu. I've never used it, not that I can remember, but I still kept it around for some reason..."

Pikachu stared at it, and his hackles started to rise.

Ash expanded it out, and then rolled it gently forwards – with nowhere near enough force to actually reach Pikachu. It went forwards, slowly trundling across the ground, then hit a stone and stopped about halfway between them. "Do what you want with it."

None of the spectators was daring to breathe.

Pikachu blinked, slowly, and looked again at the ball. His cheeks crackled, as he built up a charge... then it dissipated.

Confusion rose into his face, several half-formed emotions fighting for dominance. "Pi...ka?"

"It's yours," Ash repeated. "Destroy it if you want. We're friends anyway, it doesn't matter what some ball says."

Again Pikachu built up the charge for an attack, and again he let it die away. He took a hesitant step forwards, then his face scrunched up in pain and he clutched his head.


"There!" Vicious pointed.

Celebi complied, and fired a powerful blast of Psychic energy at the forest.

There was a huge explosion, and bits of tree and earth went everywhere. His corrupted Skarmory was buffeted by the blast, but continued doggedly obeying orders.

Vicious squinted through the smoke, looking for a sign of the irritating duo who had done such damage to his plans.

"Looks like you missed them again, Celebi," he said, and chuckled. "No matter. They've got to be in here somewhere. Attack again! There this time!"

"Biiiiii!" Celebi intoned, and another Psychic attack started to charge.

A crackling sound caught his attention. "Eh?"

Looking down at his collar, he saw one of the dark balls was crackling with eerie violet energy.

Expanding it out, he examined it.

"What's causing this?" he asked. "Why is it – that can't be normal, that's how it normally acts when it's catching a Pokémon!"


Pikachu cried out in pain, dark energy crackling over him.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted, running forwards. "Are you alright?"

He hit Pikachu's Pokéball with his foot in his haste, and it bounced across the muddy lakeside to skid to a halt near the knocked-out Cubone.

Reaching Pikachu, Ash picked him up – heedless of the dark energy skirling around him – and hugged him to his chest. "Please be okay, Pikachu..."

"Pika..." Pikachu reacted on instinct, and returned the embrace.

Ash was here. It would all be fine.

Ash felt tears soak into his jacket, and hugged tighter.

After a few seconds, a weak voice reached him. "Ash... thank you. For everything."


"Ah!" Vicious shouted, as the Dark Ball exploded in a flash of light and smoke.

Stumbling slightly, he looked down at the remaining five. Tyranitar, Venomoth, Houndoom, Skarmory – all still there, though three were marking their linked Pokémon as unconscious and even as he watched the fourth joined it.

Too close to one too many of Celebi's Psychic attacks.

Celebi was, self-evidently, still there... so that meant...

Vicious clenched his fist, looking back towards the site his tank had been.

How had they done that? Even when a Pokémon died, the ball just lost the connection!

Squinting, he just about made out the boy, the Suicune, and that other Pokémon.

And a tiny little yellow dot.


"I'm so glad you're okay, Pikachu," Ash said, voice raw. Tears dripped freely down his cheeks. "I thought I'd lost you."

"I'm so sorry I hurt you, Ash," Pikachu said. His voice fell over itself in the attempt to apologize. "And I'm sorry I hurt everyone-"

"It wasn't your fault, Pikachu," Ash interrupted. "It's no-one's fault except his."

Pikachu's cheeks sparked.

Suicune cleared her throat. "I am very glad indeed to have you back, Pikachu," she said, in a steady voice. "But we have unfinished business with the Iron Masked Marauder."

Keldeo nodded. "Yeah – he's going to pay for hurting my friend!"

Pikachu looked between them, still clinging to Ash's shirt, and smiled wanly. "Thanks, guys."

Ash glanced over to make sure Sammy was still there, and then swung aboard Suicune – being careful not to jostle Pikachu. "Come on – we've got to stop him!"

Sammy nodded uncertainly. "Uh... okay – look, did you just say Professor Oak? Because that's my-"

Suicune started running across the water, heading for the root-and-branch construct, and Keldeo followed alongside.

Ash looked back. "It's a long story!" he shouted. "Really long!"

Sammy nodded again, still frowning. "Because I know we're forty years in the future, and you knew my name, and-"

A pulse of distortion came out from the huge floating simulacrum, interrupting him and making all five – person and Pokémon alike – grimace with pain.

"I'll help!" Togekiss announced, matching speed with them.

"Togekiss?" Ash asked. "I thought you were keeping Misty and the others safe!"

"His Skarmory went down a minute ago – I saw it! Now you guys are the only ones who need protecting!"

Another pulse of distortion.


"Celebi!" the Marauder snapped. "Stop them – by any means necessary!"

Celebi was the Time Travel Pokémon.

Her eyes glowed as she summoned up the energy for a targeted time jump to throw them into the distant future – making them no longer any sort of a threat.


"Ash?" Sammy asked. "Am I Professor Oak?"


Time finally had enough.


AN:

This was tricky to write.

I hope I pulled it off well.