Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Characters that appear in this work of fiction other than the OCs are owned by Nintendo.
Three days had passed since the slowbro had defeated him. Three days that were spent training his pokemon and thinking about his mistakes and most importantly planning ahead.
Everything about that day pissed Bruce off. He did not even know if he could put his anger into words, and if he could, it would be a one long bleep. Every time he thought of the brat and his pokemon he felt anger consume him.
Why did the brat not listen to him? It's not like he was asking for something unreasonable. Only strong trainers should be given pokemon, especially if the trainer had a legend-killer. Now though, now the newbie and his pokemon were gone, all because of a fucking slowbro. Why did it have to be a bloody slowbro of all things? Those weak dopey looking fuckers.
He thought back to his encounter. That slowbro had completely destroyed his team, not to mention what that newbie trainer, Ash, had done to Metapod. His poor precious legend-killer.
The way he walked reflected the vengeance he had on his mind. It seemed as though his thoughts had seeped through and into the very way he held himself, but he couldn't help himself. That boy and the slowbro had severely pissed him off.
The voices whispered and promised him sweet sweet vengeance, all he needed to do was kill the boy in front of his pokemon, and they would obey him. Then again, he knew that either the boy would run away or come to him, but Bruce had a feeling that he would come. It was only a matter of time.
The boy… the boy will die, he will be killed when the time comes, maybe his pinsir can rip him apart… or or he can use his beedrill to poke holes in his stomach and watch him bleed to death. Ah, so many ideas.
Before his vengeance, however, he had something else to do. Something important, the very reason he came into this bloody forest.
A grin stretched across his face as he spotted his target standing next to a large tree, it's back turned towards Bruce, completely unaware of the incoming attack. It had taken him a few days to track this creature down, but it was worth it.
Slowly without making a sound Bruce plucked out a pokeball from its spot at his waist and emerged from his hiding spot. Slowly caressing the pokeball Bruce threw it onto the ground and in a flash of condensing blue light, Pinsir appeared. She was confused at first, but when she saw Scyther a glint of recognition passed through her eyes and she was soon clattering her horns together aggressively, challenging the other pokemon.
The scyther hearing the sound turned around and spotted them. A glint of recognition sparked in its eyes as it got into an aggressive stance, ready to fight.
"Pinsir, catch!" Bruce yelled and tossed a Cheri Berry at her. His pinsir caught it and immediately ate it, not even bothering to chew it.
"Now, use Strength" with that the battle started, and Pinsir dashed forward with her claw-like hands glowing, heading directly towards the scyther. Scyther sidestepped the attack before slashing its scythes at Pinsir, the attack was barely dodged.
"Pinsir, use Bugbite," the command was issued quickly in a counter and Scyther was unprepared for Pinsir to appear right in front of him, biting cleanly through Scyther's shoulder, causing the slightly smaller bug type to scream in pain.
Once it had recovered slightly from the pain, it tried to slash at Pinsir. It caught her off-guard and gave her a shallow gash in the abdomen, but it didn't seem like it was particularly painful.
"Seismic Toss, now!", Samurai ordered, gritting his teeth in worry, He did not want to fail another time.
Pinsir grabbed the Scyther, jumping into the air with its strong legs and, once they had attained a high altitude, she let herself fall. She slammed the scyther directly into the ground with immense force.
Despite all that, Scyther merely winced and got up with a roar, and responded to all the pain with a brutal Air Cutter. It threw Pinsir back and gave it another gash on its abdominal region, causing both the samurai and his pokemon to wince in pain. That looked like it hurt, alot, and Bruce hoped it wouldn't impede his pokemon.
The situation was starting to look bleak, just like that time. The battle with Slowbro passed through his mind, but he did not allow it to continue.
Last time, he had to sacrifice Pinsir for his victory, but now things were different. As he put his hand to his belt an image flashed across his mind, an image of his Pinsir writhing in pain as he applied powdered oran berry on her wounds… but it was all fine. As long as Metapod got what it needed everything was fine.
The beedrills had almost attacked him on his chase, and he had needed someone to bring up the rear. Pinsir was the only one who came to mind, but she was hurt, and the other pokemon he had that could battle- a beedrill - would never fight against the hive for a trainer who had recently caught it.
But since then the link, or as the league called it, the bond had properly formed - especially since Samurai had sped up the process by using his special technique - it was now one of his pokemon, his and Metapod's property, just like Pinsir.
How dare that creature try to defeat what is mine and Metapod's? I will show it pain. Pain beyond imagination, he thought as a malicious grin spread across his lips.
He detached another pokeball from his belt, throwing it in a flash of light. Beedrill appeared, awaiting his command.
"Poison Sting," he hissed and the beedrill, his beedrill, moved. In less than a second it covered the distance between itself and the brawling Bugs, stabbing Scyther with its stinger.
Scyther took the sting and replied with a Fury Cutter, which was dodged by Beedrill. While Scyther was focused on the Beedrill, Pinsir took the opportunity and landed a powerful Strength attack.
Scyther was pushed back, and Beedrill pursued. Scyther launched a Razor Wind at Beedrill, forcing it back. Then Scyther doubled over, indicating that the Poison Sting had successfully poisoned Scyther.
Samurai grimly smiled. It seemed the situation was salvageable after all. But the only problem was that Scyther was now attacking from long range, not allowing either Beedrill or Pinsir near it.
He knew that Pinsir didn't have any long range moves and he only knew two moves that Beedrill had, but he quickly found out that he did not need to worry.
The constant barrage of attacks from the scyther was seen as an attack on its pride since it couldn't even hit the damned bug once and it had prepared something already.
The field went silent all of a sudden as Scyther stopped as if sensing something, a beat passed by and Beedrill let out a screech, a horrible sound that pierced Bruce's ears, causing him to flinch. 'Isn't this the same attack that the brat's spinarak used?' he thought to himself before his eyes widened and one single thought went through his mind. Oh no. Seeing as Pinsir had escaped into her pokeball she had thought the same too, and he couldn't even blame her, he would have done the same too if he were in her situation.
When the buzzing got closer, he knew without even looking that they were surrounded by a swarm of beedrill. Horrible memories passed through his mind as the samurai shrieked as he dived down to the ground, covering his head.
Fear held his body causing him to be stuck to his position on the ground, covering as dread twisted in his gut. All thoughts in his mind and every thought process told him that this was the end; he would die at the hands of a vengeful mob of beedrill, his training wasn't as effective as he thought it was.
It took him a few moments, but he noticed that despite being an open target the beedrills had done nothing to him. This caused him to look up, and that was when he saw that the swarm wasn't focused on him. Rather, they were here after they heard a cry from their kin who had alerted them of a scyther that challenged the swarm.
By the time he had looked up the scyther was frozen to its spot as the swarm struck it, Bruce too was shocked, this was working out for him better than he thought it would. All of the beedrills attacked the bipedal bug at once, the scyther attempted to swat them away but ultimately failed, but then it happened.
At first the change was barely noticeable. The wind around the scyther was at first a pleasant breeze, but as time went on it increased in strength and gained a funnel shape that increased in visibility, but the beedrills seemingly couldn't feel it as they kept on attacking it. That quickly changed when the wind gained momentum and the beedrills were sent packing. Some crashed into trees, others fainted the moment the wind touched them, the scene looked as though it were chaos personified.
Seeing the carnage surrounding it the scyther smirked and let out a challenging roar.
The roar reverberated in the samurai's skull and he let out a roar of his own, it was time to use Metapod… it might have almost lost to that brat, but it was still the strongest pokemon he had on him. The best pokemon.
"Metapod reveal your true powers and crush our foe."
Silently, a majestic orange colored cocoon landed on the battlefield, unlike before the beast looked a bit more purple, that must mean that the creature had powered up. It looked like they stood a chance.
"Metapod, use tackle," Metapod rushed forward at a confused looking Scyther and hit it and fell to the ground weakly.
"Not so brave now are ya stupid bug?"
The Scyther looking absolutely bewildered lifted its scythes, there was a purple twinge as it brought it down onto the metapod, and Metapod simply fainted.
"Nooooooo, " Bruce yelled. Metapod won't die… it can't die… it will never die.
Then he felt something in the air change. Something was happening, energy swiveled around him, energy so thick he could feel it, even taste it almost. The multitude of feelings was something indescribable, he couldn't detail it even if he had to. All this came from the metapod in front of him.
Two images were superimposed before his eyes. Two probabilities, two states, two different creatures, one looked like the orange metapod he had and the other looked like something he had never seen before, an anomaly.
The more he looked at the change of states the more he felt his mind twist and turn as he tried to comprehend it, until eventually, the two simultaneous events broke away, leaving only one present, one definite event. His metapod had evolved into something else, he was going to dub it… Indico, a pokemon that he needed to survive.
The new bug looking pokemon had hollow eyes that had a red glow, and due to its brown and purple coloration, it looked like someone had carved a bug out of purplish dead wood. It had wings that looked like scales awkwardly clumped together, they floated in pairs of 3 behind the insect looking beast, flapping in a way that gave the illusion that it was the wings that caused the indico to fly and not something else. Two deformed horn-like feelers protruded from its head, they looked like a carved tree stump, but they moved around in this odd fashion that was both believable and unbelievable, they seemed to move around while staying in the same spot.
Bruce wasn't sure about what was going on, but he knew it was favorable to him, but that feeling of certainty lasted until the creature glowed as its eyes landed on the confused scyther standing above it, that was when it screamed. It was so horrible that even the samurai felt the need to run away because he knew that this was a legend killer. Whereas before this thought filled him with happiness, now it filled him with dread. He had finally got his money's worth he originally thought, but now he wasn't so sure.
In the few seconds that the bug catcher had spent thinking to himself, Indico had crushed the scyther to a pulp.
"Stop," he said shortly, and the pokemon surprisingly obeyed him. It stood at ready beside him, ready to kill the Scyther at even the slightest hint of hostility.
While this was happening Scyther staggered, wounded, and close to unconsciousness. Bruce sensing an opportunity, threw a net ball, which hit the Scyther on top of its head. It winced in pain as it turned into a red light. The ball barely moved before it flashed blue, the pokemon was caught.
Indico, once its target disappeared, looked at Bruce with a judging eye. In that moment he felt fear, a sense that he could die if the creature in front of him decided it. Instead of killing him or even attacking him, it merely nodded its head and went back into its pokeball.
That was scary.
At least he got two pokemon out of this. He took out two pokeballs, one an ultra ball and the other a netball. They contained the pokemon he would use to destroy the brat and that slowbro, pokemon that were strong, stronger than anything he had on his party so far. He looked around at the beedrills laying on the ground, some dead and some unconscious. That scyther was strong, why should he give it to Giovanni?
He tried to forget that thought, money was more important. It was too late; the idea had already taken root, he couldn't forget it because of that. He thought of the brat and the slowbro, anger slowly but surely beginning to cloud his judgment. He would think of Scyther's fate later, now it was time for revenge.
It looked like it was still too early however, judging by the position of the sun, maybe he should get some sleep in before its evening.
Bruce found himself hiding behind a few bushes, after a well-deserved nap, the foliage providing him cover as he waited for the Slowbro to appear. There was a slowbro lure by the riverside, put there by him. He had just broken in the scyther. Initially didn't listen to him, that was until Pinsir and Beedrill beat the lesson into it for a… how many times did they beat him again? Whatever, not like he cared. Nothing mattered as long as Indico was pleased with him.
He had healed up his entire team using berries the moment he got up, and now he was waiting for that goddamned slowbro to appear. While he was waiting, he remembered something, an event that happened while he was feeding his pokemon berries.
Scyther had tried to steal some berries from Indico, but the pokemon did not take kindly to it so it sent out what looked to be some sort of signal. It had turned Scyther sort of purplish and the pokemon ran towards the nearest bush that contained Cherri berry, all the while Indico stared after it as it ate the berries both it and Scyther were given.
That entire thing freaked him out, in fact the pokemon itself freaked him out. In retrospect, he now wished he had never bought i- The pokemon was awesome, he should have bought it sooner, what was he even thinking? He was just going craz-
His thoughts were interrupted by a pair of footsteps, it was rapid, but slow enough to be almost classified as stealthy, hell if Bruce wasn't where he was he wouldn't have even heard it.
He strained his ears to try and identify what type of pokemon it was, the footsteps were moving too fast to be of a Slowbro's, but that freak of nature was too fast so one could never be too sure. That was when he saw who was passing by, and he grinned. He didn't get the slowbro but at least he got his other target. Oh, revenge was sweet, utterly delectable. So what if he didn't get the slowbro? At least he got the source of all his troubles.
He leapt out of his hiding spot and landed with barely a thud, and in a swift movement, he released his go to bug, Pinsir. The bug pokemon came out in a battle ready stance, standing with its horns pointed toward the other trainer, the sunlight reflecting off of it making it look even more intimidating.
"Stop right there, punk", Bruce said commandingly, "did you think you would get away after what you did to me boy?"
The kid was standing there, his league cap over his face, his pikachu on his shoulder just as Bruce had imagined.
"Ah Bruce," the kid started, his voice utterly calm, "just the person I was looking for. How have you been, friend?"
"What the fuck is wrong with you punk? Hand over your pokemon or I'll order Pinsir to attack. You think you've seen my worst you punk? With one command I'll unleash Pinsir on you like a storm. She'll rip you apart from limb to limb and scatter them in such a way that no one'll even know you died here."
"Sure," the kid said, standing still even when Pinsir rushed at him with an attack ready. It was stopped when the pikachu launched itself at Pinsir, countering Strength with Quick Attack. It caused a stalemate, something that hadn't happened before, but Bruce attributed it to rookie's luck.
"Pinsir, use Bind", Pinsir launched herself at the pikachu, aiming to trap it in a death grip, but the tiny mouse was too fast.
"Thundershock", came the command from the kid. What was his name again? Ass Ketchup? No, Ash Ketchum.
The rat released a bolt of electricity, which struck Pinsir, forcing her back. Samurai cursed, knowing that Pinsir's lack of long range moves would be detrimental in this battle.
"Pinsir, Strength. Get close and squash that yellow rat." Bruce yelled, Pinsir tried to move towards Pikachu but unfortunately, the kid wasn't as dumb as he thought.
"Pikachu, Thundershock. Keep away from that pinsir." the kid told his Pikachu.
The pikachu heeded his trainer's words, attacking Pinsir with repeated Thundershocks instead of the charged Quick Attacks. Whenever Pinsir got too close, it would escape with a Quick Attack.
"Damn it" Bruce muttered to himself, he was in quite the spot. Pinsir couldn't take more attacks, and it was no closer to hitting that small shitty little rat.
Finally, Pikachu slipped up. It came too close to Pinsir and it paid for it.
Pinsir landed a powerful Strength attack which sent it flying, and with a crunching sound crashed roughly to the ground. The attack was powerful and Samurai grinned. Finally something had gone his way. Now time to take advantage of this.
"Pinsir, Guillotine", he grinned maliciously. Pinsir moved towards the downed Pikachu, her pincers a shiny white color, intending to finish the pest which had bothered her for so long.
"Pikachu, take the attack," Bruce was confused at that command, didn't the newbie know that Guillotine was a strong move? In the past, executions were conducted using this move.
"Are you okay in the head Ass?", Bruce taunted, but the boy ignored him. Asshole, no wonder his parents named him that.
His pinsir picked the pikachu up, but before it could use its pincers to cut the pokemon into half, the damned rat electrocuted Pinsir. She writhed in pain, but before she fainted she closed her horns on the rat, but the trainer barely reacted to the action, Bruce felt a chill go down his spine, what happened to this boy? The boy he had known earlier would have whined at this point.
"Return Pikachu," Ash said coldly as he took another pokeball from his waist, his eyes were still covered by the cap, this was strange, very strange. This wasn't the trainer Bruce had battled before, it was a beast of logic, someone who thought before he acted, and the feeling of dread was starting to show itself.
Why did the brat not freak? Was something wrong with him? Did he go psycho? If that was indeed the case then…he was right, of course, his pokemon weren't safe with him. In fact, he would be doing them a favour, all the more reason to fight for them.
"Scyther, time to shine", he said upon releasing it. The green bug stood in front of him, in a battle-ready position. Ash stared at the Scyther, scrutinising it, unintentionally unsettling both Bruce and Scyther.
Ash wordlessly plucked a pokeball off his belt and dropped it a small chittering could be heard as a tiny bug appeared chittering.
"Poison Sting", the first command was issued from Ash's mouth, and the spinarak moved, attacking Scyther. Scyther dodged the attack easily and swiped back out of reflex, but Spinarak ducked under the scythes due to its own reflexes.
"Wing Attack."
"String Shot."
Two orders came simultaneously, one from a slightly unnerved Bruce and the other a calm Ash.
Scyther readied itself for Wing Attack, but this was intercepted by Spinarak who launched webs at Scyther, trapping it.
With Scyther incapacitated, Spinarak was given plenty of time to use a Poison Sting. The bug ran directly at Scyther and pushed it's stinger into Scyther. Thankfully due to Scyther's tough exoskeleton, not much damage was done, but Scyther was poisoned. Granted, the effect was rather weak, but the fact remained that it was poisoned.
Scyther staggered slightly as it got up, but proceeded to use its scythes to cut through the webs in its body before charging right at the spinarak. The attack caused the small bug to fall to the ground, but it wasn't without a cost. Scyther stumbled, falling to its knees due to the poison taking effect.
Bruce was again in a difficult position. Scyther was about to faint, no doubt about that, but Spinarak looked somewhat healthy, and this was unacceptable.
All of a sudden Ass's eyes widened. Looking at Scyther, he saw that the pokemon had begun to charge an attack. It charged at Spinarak and slashed its scythes at the pokemon, the scythes digging into the small bug, each attack leaving an afterimage of a bird. This lasted until the pokemon fainted, but Scyther looked hurt badly at this point; it looked like it barely had energy to be standing.
"Spinarak, return," Ass said, looking a bit puzzled, but he quickly reoriented himself and sent out another pokemon, a hoothoot.
"Scyther, do your best," that did the trick as the pokemon quickly straightened up, it was battle-ready.
Both pokemon did not wait for any sort of command as they charged at each other little more than blurs to observers.
"Scyther, crush that bird with a slash."
"Hoothoot, use hypnosis and peck."
The moment both pokemon met midair, something fascinating happened. Hoothoot pecked the creature where Spinarak had dug a hole earlier causing pain to Scyther. It tried to swat the bird away with Slash, but its scythes were covered with strange rock-like protrusions. Luckily for Hoothoot it managed to barely avoid the scythes by getting out of their range quickly.
Once the hoothoot got out of Scyther's range, it began to sway to some unseen music. All of a sudden Scyther, who was watching this spectacle, began to get drowsy. Before it fell down, the creature jumped and ran straight at the hoothoot. Its eyes looked desperate, it seemed his encouragement earlier had worked.
Hoothoot looked shocked, which only served to make the samurai feel more gleeful. Once Scyther got in range, it slashed at the tiny bird. There were sparks surrounding the scythes of Scyther, and Bruce once again realized that this specimen was indeed special.
Despite the amazing spectacle, Scyther fainted. Hoothoot had somehow managed to stay up, despite taking the full brunt of that amazing slash.
"... How?", Bruce was stunned. How had this happened? Why did that pokemon not faint? Only one emotion took over his mind at this point, and that was anger. Rage at the hoothoot and its trainer. Because of it, he never noticed the slight swaying of the weakened Hoothoot's legs.
"Go Beedrill, show this brat his place."
"Hoothoot, can you fight?" The damned bird simply nodded as it looked towards the beedrill with its round red eyes, and the trainer simply allowed it. This never happened before, people usually withdrew their pokemon after they got hit with a strong attack. Whatever, this trainer would come to regret this.
The brat was doing something stupid, but it was fine. In the end Bruce will win, Indico will ensure that. The creature was a Pantheon destroyer, a beast of legends - no - it was a legend, a pokemon beyond comprehension. Bruce laughed maniacally as he imagined the horror on the boy's face. Once he snapped out of his delusions he focused back on the battle. The very first thing he looked at was the boy. He expected the boy to look confused at his outburst, but instead the boy smirked, and then had the gall to nod towards the battle, the beedrill - His beedrill - was being attacked, but it did nothing. Why was this happening?
That was when it struck him. Beedrills don't, or rather, can't attack without a command.
Crap! Damn that brat!
"Beedrill! Use Fury Attack on the hoothoot," hearing this Beedrill immediately put some distance between the hoothoot and itself, before rushing at the tiny bird and repeatedly stabbing the creature with it's stingers. The hoothoot was covered with tiny pinpricks by the end of the attack. When Beedrill tried to draw away once again, the hoothoot used the opportunity to use Peck repeatedly on Beedrill.
By the time Beedrill had gotten away, it looked ready to drop. The bird had done a number on the creature, but Hoothoot looked to be in a similar condition to Beedrill. The bird was ready to drop as well, it was only a matter of time now.
"Poison Sting", Beedrill rushed towards Hoothoot, aiming its stinger at it, aiming to poison it before it went down, but it was not to be.
"Confusion", Hoothoots eyes glowed a faint purple color. Beedrill glowed the same color, stopping in its tracks. Hoothoot exerted its psychic influence and smashed Beedrill roughly to the ground.
Despite its best attempts to get up, it couldn't. It tried to improvise by using Rage. It was a move that caused pokemon to be so angry that they went past their physical and mental capabilities, becoming almost unrestrained as they attacked their foe even at the cost of their own life.
Beedrill went straight for the hoothoot, sometimes crawling and sometimes flying until it finally got close enough to the pokemon to attack it. What followed was a brutal beatdown, blood flew as both pokemon fought like packs of rattata over food, and this would have continued if Ash hadn't made the decision to withdraw Hoothoot. Beedrill hadn't noticed, and it continued attacking the ground until Bruce, not wanting to see the pathetic sight any longer, withdrew it as well.
They were each down to one pokemon, and Bruce felt fear coil in his heart. Maybe he should forfeit, maybe he sh- preposterous, a good battle never hurt anybody. His thoughts were going all over the place. What was up with him today?
It was time. Time to use his very own Legendary, "Kill the boy, Indico," he said, and in a flash of blue light his special weapon came out. Now that he looked at it closely the creature bore great resemblance to one of those Seraph things, except it looked like a bug. Strange.
His thoughts were interrupted by Ass; "You fool! What did that creature ever do to you? Answer me!", if he had thought Ash was angry before, he had clearly been wrong. This was something beyond anger, this was unadulterated rage, or as those hippies that called themselves Aura Practitioners named it, Killing Intent.
Gulping and ignoring it, Bruce decided to call out an attack. That's when he felt it, a single drop of rain fell on him, and then another and another until it began pouring. He looked towards the opposing trainer, and that was precisely the moment when the cap covering Ash's face went up. The sound of thunder reverberated throughout the forest and a flash of lightning struck the ground illuminating Ash's face, and what he saw shocked him.
The boy's eyes….. They weren't brown like earlier…. They were.. They were…. Purple. Something was wrong, very wrong. The rain only made this entire thing even more ominous, and at this point, all Bruce wanted to do was escape.
"Seedot, lend me your strength," the odd phrase and the glint in Ash's eyes triggered something as a green light flashed and formed a sentient walnut, who looked almost happy to be in the rain.
"Indico, use psychic"
"Leech seed."
Seedot's eyes turned pink as Indico injected a small amount of psychic energy into the pokemon before tossing it into the ground. The seedot seemed unfazed as he got up just as quickly as it had fallen, before launching a small tiny seed into the ground.
Thunder crackled in the distance, as Seedot tried to remain at a distance from a teleporting Indico to no avail. It looked like Indico would win, as expected.
"Indico, use confusion!"
"Bide," Ash countered. Crap, Bruce thought. The move was going to cause a lot of damage.
Indico looked into Seedot's eyes, and in a matter of seconds, a signal was passed into the mind of the seed-like pokemon. The pokemon was confused, and this could prove to be highly beneficial as it could potentially attack itself.
However, the damn seed turned out to be as tenacious as its trainer as it started to glow a bright red color, before unleashing a huge blast of energy which struck Indico. The attack wasn't supposed to work like that! Wasn't there any sort of waiting period?! This wasn't supposed to happen…
Indico flew back screaming, a sound so horrible that Bruce involuntarily shuddered, feeling the pain his pokemon was in. Once the screeching had stopped he looked towards his precious pokemon. He was shivering at this point from the rain, and yet the other boy, Ash, stood there like a statue, and then he smirked.
On the field the Leech Seed the seedot had planted had grown and it had attached itself to Indico, and just like that Indico was weakened more and more for every passing second.
"Indico!" Bruce was now really worried.
However, something else was going on. There were cracks on Indico's shell, and the pokemon was shuddering again and again. Bruce didn't notice, caring more about the battle than the health of his own pokemon. He ignored the small headache forming in his head, it told him to retrieve Indico and run, but he was too invested in the battle to even care about that.
"Indico, use Confusion"
"Seedot, use Bide"
Before anything happened however, something went terribly wrong. A screech erupted from Indico who broke free of the Leech Seed, before it was surrounded by a bright white glow, which blinded everyone near it.
Soon Indico was surrounded by a huge ball of energy, which rapidly expanded to the size of a pumpkin. The energy within it could be felt from far away as the energy ball kept increasing in size with no sign of stopping.
"Indico stop this right now", Samurai said as he backed away in worry. But then, the expansion stopped, and for a moment, everything was frozen in time. Bruce let out a worried breath he didn't know he had been holding. Whatever had happened to Indico seemed to have stopped. But then, the energy ball started to destabilize.
"Seedot, use protect", Ash, foreseeing an explosion, commanded. Samurai ran as far away as he could in fright before Indico exploded.
The explosion was felt far far away, all the way till Viridian and Pewter. It completely destroyed the area they were. Seedot's Protect tried to weather the explosion, but it began to crack. Soon it shattered, throwing both it and Ash back.
The aftermath of the explosion was incredible. Every tree in a 100 metre radius had been uprooted. Where Indico stood, there was a large crater. Seedot's Protect had saved Ash and it from the worst of the explosion, but they still sported some burn marks.
Bruce on the other hand, was nearly unconscious. He had been badly burnt, and he had hit his head on the ground.
He tried to get up so he could search for Indico. But then he saw a shriveled shape inside the crater, upon seeing which he broke.
"Indico….Indico NOOO!" he screamed in despair. His money was gone, his chance at a good life-gone, everything was gone. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.
He tried to get up, move towards the pokemon. Instead, his own body failed him as he fell over. Tears fell from his eyes as he looked up at the raining sky. Everything had gone so terribly wrong, this was not right.
"Give me back Indico," his screams began softly, but the pain from the explosion had set in and Bruce felt pain flare across his body.
"You did this," a pair of footsteps walked up to him and before he knew it without seeing who it was. The voice he hated the most confirmed something he knew.
He felt the pain increasing as the blood leaked from the wound on his head, but he ignored it. He needed answers, "How did I-" blood spewed from his mouth, "do it?"
"The pokemon evolved too soon, you abused it, you did not let it evolve at its own time," Ash said before sitting down on the ground next to Bruce and for the first time in a while, Bruce cried his heart out. Every injustice done against him, everything he had done to his pokemon, every event passed through his mind, and surprisingly he felt an emotion, something akin to regret… He was a terrible person, and it was only at the end he realised it.
He never thought about how his actions affected other people. It was always about him, and the worst part was, he couldn't do anything about it.
"I… Please don't te-ll any...o...one especi…..ly not my pare-" those were the last words Bruce the samurai uttered as he followed Indico, his pokemon. He may not have completed his sentence, but the other boy knew what he was about to say.
There was silence for a little longer as one last thunder rumbled across the field as the rain let up. Despite everything that had happened, Ash couldn't help but smile sadly.
It was a beautiful afternoon…
Ash had waited until the samurai had passed on before he got up. He did not want to do this action in front of the samurai. No one should do such a thing to another trainer, but this was for something important.
In a second his hand found the belt in which the samurai kept his pokemon and he pulled out a pokeball from the samurai's lifeless body.
Moving away from the body, Ash found a rock to hit the pokeball against and he did just that. The sound of metal on rock rang out repeatedly until the pokeball finally caved in creating a small hole out of which a fizzling sound was released.
Most people did not break pokeballs because they release large amounts of energy along with the pokemon, and so such a thing could cause a lot of damage. This is exactly what happened here as the small whistling sound increased until it turned into the sound of a crackling thunder.
In a moment white energy exploded in front of Ash, almost pushing him into a tree, but he was saved just in time by a slowbro who appeared behind him, applying force in the opposite direction using its telekinetic powers.
"Thanks for the save Slowbro," Ash muttered before taking a pokeball out of his backpack and capturing the scyther for himself. The creature could be useful for his journey.
Staring at the pokeball for a while Ash tried to remember when he last caught a pokemon. It seemed like it had been such a long time ago. Shrugging, he placed the pokeball in his pocket.
Once that was done, Ash took a look around himself, everything looked destroyed yet picturesque. One day when he got a castle for himself, maybe he could make a picture of this event. His purple eye flashed a bright pink before reverting.
Eventually he moved back over to the samurai - Bruce his name was, that is if his memory was to be believed - after admiring the wasteland-like scenery around him. Once he got close to his body he stared at it, this person was someone who abused his own pokemon, an evil vile person… and yet at that moment Ash felt a bit of sympathy for the boy. After all, even villains needed someone to shed a tear on their grave. Besides, a great king - an emperor - would shed a tear for every one of his subjects.
When Ash looked over to the corpse of what was meant to be a butterfree he saw nothing. It had disappeared, but before he could think more on it a splitting headache took over his head as something else came to the forefront of his mind.
I can see you, Ash Ketchum,
"Oh no, wh-what happened?" Ash questioned looking horrified as he stared at the samurai's dead body, he could clearly feel something was wrong.
One moment he was angry, standing in front of the Viridian Pokemon Centre wanting to take the samurai's pokemon, and the next in front of his dead body. What was going on?
His mind seemed to be trying to forcefully calm him down, but this only caused a nightmarish strain to be placed on his body. He wanted to retch, but his mind was going against the action, he wasn't feeling disgusted, it said.
Unbeknownst to Ash, there was something else going on, an event that had once happened in the past was once again happening in the present. The cogs were once again in motion, spinning wildly. The only thing that remained a mystery would be the outcome.
Ash fought against the feeling of alien calmness as he fell to his knees. Tears leaked from his brown eyes as he stared at the body. That was when he realised that his constant companion, Pikachu, was not with him. Where was Pikachu?
Thankfully, for that at least his mind provided an answer... the pokemon was in its pokeball.
"Pikachu!" Thankfully his pokemon did not electrocute him. For some reason, he was drenched wet in rainwater, but he couldn't remember it raining.
Everything was going wrong. What happened to him?
The next few hours were a blur of confusion. His mind was forcing him to feel calm, but he couldn't help the feeling of confusion. There was an odd feeling he was being watched, and the image of Bruce's dead body just won't leave his damned mind!
The pain in his head increased the more he thought about it and Ash ran, to where he did not know… he ran in random directions until he fell unconscious, his mind was stretched to its limit.
The next time he woke up Ash was in a hospital bed. He squinted and could barely make out the form of someone that was next to him. After a while, his eyes opened to see a police officer. Judging by the tag on her lapel, her name was Josephine S. She stared at him with a look of sympathy.
"Hello, I understand that you must be a bit confused at the moment. If you have any questions, please ask me, and I will do my best to answer them." The lady said all this with a kind smile on her pale face.
"Where am I?", the voice that came out of his mouth surprised him, it sounded gravelly and unused.
"You are in Pewter City," she answered.
"Are my pokemon okay?" Ash asked worriedly when he did not see any pokeballs on him.
"They are being treated at the local pokemon centre, they seemed to have taken quite the beating. What were you doing so deep in the Viridian Forest if I may ask?"
"I was trying to capture a seedot and I followed after it and then after that, I was attacked by a swarm of beedrills… then I was," something in his mind snapped as a calmness entered into his voice, "attacked by these two strange people who claimed to be from Team Rocket, they tried to steal my pokemon and I battled them when a bug catcher saved me."
The rest of the time was spent with the lady questioning him about his story, trying to find holes in it, but when she didn't find any she got up, a look of concentration on her face. "I will file a report against these criminals. Rest assured, these people will be caught for killing your friend."
"Thanks a lot ma'am."
"Your welcome dear. Get some rest now. Once you get up, you can call your guardian and collect your pokemon. Do be careful on your journey," and with that, the lady left.
Ash breathed a sigh of relief. He planned to do just that, but this journey was one he couldn't forget, especially not the dead body he had seen.
A body he could have saved if only he had been aware of what he was doing. Everything was just so damn confusing… hopefully a talk with his mother would clear everything up. With that thought in mind, Ash Ketchum closed his eyes and let himself rest.
For Delia Ketchum, her house seemed empty. Silent. This was because her son, Ash, had left on a journey with his pokemon, Pikachu.
Ash and Pikachu usually got up to all sorts of shenanigans in the house and Pidgeotto, not wanting them to disturb Delia had begun to discipline them. What that entailed, she did not know, but Ash did seem a bit fearful of the avian.
Ever since they had left the house, it seemed as though it wasn't a house anymore, it seemed so very silent and desolate.
The other issue was that Ash, despite having gone for almost two weeks, failed to call her. Every day she eagerly waited for him to call, only for her to be left disappointed. Even though she had told him to call regularly, he hadn't called her even a single time since he had set off.
The next time he called or came home - whichever came first - she was really gonna let him know how she felt about all this.
She was snapped out of her musings by her pidgeotto landing onto her shoulder. She patted his crest, before feeding the bird some seeds that she had kept in her pocket.
The pokemon chirped contentedly while Delia smiled as she moved towards the couch to sit, it felt like the bird was getting heavier and heavier with each day. She sat down on the sofa, stroking the bird's feather as it squawked happily. She had never understood why both Ash and Pikachu were so scared of Pidgeotto, he was completely harmless.
Her thoughts were interrupted again, this time it was a song that interrupted it, a song from a TV series Ash liked to watch called Gast Busters. She frowned, Who could be calling at this time of the night? she thought to herself, and the possibility that it might be Ash struck her. If that was the case, then she wanted to know why he hadn't called her for this long.
She flipped open her Poketch and saw that it wasn't Ash but instead it was Professor Oak, That's strange. What would he want at this time? She accepted the call, only to see the tired and grim face of Professor Oak.
"Delia, check the news quickly", Professor Oak said hurriedly, mildly panicked. He looked very worried like something really bad had happened.
"What happened Professor?", she questioned him, searching his face for answers.
"It's about your son," the old Professor said, causing Delia to immediately run over to the television, her heart lurching. Upon turning the TV on, she quickly switched the channel from the Evening Talk Show to the Goldenrod News Channel.
"-Trainer was killed in the explosion and five others were injured. Initially, the police suspected that it was a chain pineco explosion, but after further investigation, Officer Jenny, the youngest officer under the banner of Pewter Police Department, discovered two trainers at the heart of the incident, as mentioned earlier one of the trainers were killed and the other trainer, Mr. Ash Ketchum, was interrogated by Officer Josephine about what had happened…," the more Delia heard the more she horrified she became, her baby boy had almost died. Died.
"The young trainer, initially thought to be the preparator, brought a few surprising facts to light. Team Rocket, previously thought to be apprehended, has escaped prison, in fact, they were the cause of the Viridian Forest Explosion. At first, I was confused, dear viewer just like you are right now, but unfortunately, that piece of information is true. This was confirmed by the Viridian Department where the members Jessie and James were held. They caused major pandemonium, even going as far as to steal and brainwash a Meowth from the Gym Leader Giovanni. They truly are the worst. Over to you Tom."
"Why thank you, John, we are glad to inform you that the Alolan Vulpix Giveaway is done and over with and the winners are-"
Delia sighed in relief. Her baby boy was alive. She sat down on the couch, grateful for that fact.
"Ahem, Delia I'm still here", Professor Oak reminded her, causing her to jump a bit. She had forgotten that bit due to everything that had just transpired.
"Squawk," her pidgeotto, who had been sleeping, was disturbed by the sudden movement. He decided that the human wasn't going to stay still anymore thus, in his opinion, wisely moved to the perch to continue sleeping.
"Oh sorry Professor," Delia apologized before picking the poketch from the sofa. When had she kept the thing there?
"Have you had any contact with Ash since he started his journey?" Professor Oak asked.
"No. He hasn't called even once since he set out", Delia said while shaking her head.
"Sounds like him. He hasn't called me either", Professor Oak said sounding amused and grim at the same time. Delia nodded.
"I will look into-" he began, but was cut off by Delia, "I got this professor, don't worry."
At first, he looked like he wanted to argue but then as if he had thought of something just nodded silently, "I will call you later, bye Delia," he said before he cut the poketch.
Delia sat on the couch, thinking. She had to find a way to contact Ash since he himself would always forget to call. If only Ash hadn't broken his poketch, then they wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.
All of a sudden an idea struck her, and she got up, grabbed her notepad, and tore out a page. Hopefully, this would work.
She scribbled on it with a pencil and got a small piece of thread. She scribbled something on the paper and tied it with the thread around Pidgeotto's leg, who looked at her bleary-eyed before she whispered to it. "Find Ash. He's in Pewter. Find him and give him this note", she told him, to which he nodded. His eyes glinted with some sort of emotion before he charged into the distance, shaking himself midflight to get the sleepiness off of him.
Delia watched him fly wistfully, wishing that she could've gone with her pokemon.
A/N: Special thanks to RisingDawn(/TheRipper), Some sub main, and Nr 755 for writing this piece of fiction along with me and I. and FearMeHorror for beta reading this and giving us their opinion. Hope you enjoyed the story