I don't own Pokémon. Nintendo and Game Freak do.

Chapter 10.

All they heard was their shoes hitting against the water while they were looking for a place to hide while the storm cleared. But when Raichu stopped running alongside Ash, Ash and his friends stopped and ran back for him.

"Raichu what's wrong?" All Raichu did was look into the thunder clouds with sparks sizzling out of its patches on his cheeks and then ran towards the thunder clouds and Ash and his friends ran after him. "What's gotten into him Ash?" Misty yelled so Ash could hear him. "I don't know. But I think something is in those clouds!" Brock noticed that the closer they got the bigger the sparks came out of Raichu and soon he stopped with them behind him. Where Raichu looked Ash and his friends looked in awe at the sight before them.

A giant yellow and black bird with its talons stretched outward looked at them and squawked loudly with electricity coming out of the tips of its wings.

It was Zapdos. One of the Three Legendary Birds of Kanto.

"Zapdos…" Was all Ash could say and looked at it in the eyes. Zapdos stared at Ash for long moments then fired a Thunderbolt in front of him.

Misty and Brock tried to tell Ash that they should run but their cries fell upon deaf ears and what he did next shocked them. Ash grabbed a PokéBall and released his Shiny Starter.

Darkrai stared in awe. He had heard stories about the Legendary Zapdos but had never seen one. But he knew something seemed off about this one. Why did the yellow feathers look like a darker shade than they should be? None the less battling it would be an honor.

"Ash don't be crazy! You'll get fried!" Misty yelled but Brock said other wise and cheered him on. He had a good feeling that Ash could come out victorious and maybe even capture the Legendary Bird.

Zapdos squawked loudly again and fired a Thunderbolt at Darkrai. "Counter with Dark Pulse quick!" Darkrai cupped his hands and gathered a lot of dark energy and fired a dark chain at the incoming Thunderbolt but only stopped it in its tracks. They were even in power.

Zapdos charged at Darkrai with its' beak spinning wildly like a drill and was going to peck Darkrai. Ash thought about using Dark Void but chose to save it for later when he felt liked he needed to. He wanted to see what Zapdos could do and enjoy the battle instead of ending it quickly. "Dakrai, use Substitute then use Phantom Force!" Darkrai created the Substitute and then vanished within the shadows of the dark clouds before Zapdos could hit him.

Zapdos screeched so loud and let loose of a powerful Thunder and since it was raining, it hit its mark and it looked at where the Thunder hit and shot another one and broke the Substitute. Ash bit his lower lip. Zapdos was a Legendary for a reason but he wasn't expecting for it to think of a way to find Darkrai so quickly. He'd have to play his cards right and carefully.

Then it hit him.

"Darkrai let's change the weather. Sunny Day now!"

Darkrai understanding what Ash had in plan did exactly that. Now with the weather changed Thunder wouldn't be as accurate. But that didn't mean Zapdos could aim without the rain.

Zapdos looked thoughtful and nodded knowing that this kid was smarter than the average kid. He had been the first to do something like that and couldn't help but have some respect for him. But in the end he was still a kid.

Ash saw Zapdos charging electricity and quickly countered. "Quick Darkrai, use Ice Beam!" Even though the power wouldn't be 100% it was still a super effective move against Zapdos. Any damage kind of damage mattered. Darkrai cupped his hands and fired a crystal ice like beam at Zapdos but missed due to Zapdos being aware and dodging at the right time then fired a Thunder attack with a cry.

Darkrai took the hit but shook his head shaking and when he looked he saw more than one Zapdos and was confused. "It's time. Darkrai, don't panic. Use Dark Void now!" Darkrai cupped his hands together and formed a dark ball of energy and fired several orbs at once all of which hit all of the Zapdos and the real one fell to the ground out of the sky asleep and shivered violently suffering the nightmares that Darkrai gave off.

"Let's wrap this up. Dream Eater!" Darkrais' eye flashed red and sent a ghostly figure of itself at Zapdos with a growl. The ghostly version of Darkrai rushed through Zapdos' body causing serious damage and absorbing the health from Zapdos.

Zapdos shrieked and shook violently, electricity coming out of its sleeping body and firing at all directions until finally it stopped having been knocked out cold.

Ash through a PokéBall at the Zapdos and watched it shake. It shook violently for long minutes, obviously Zapdos was trying to break free but soon it stopped and the red light in the center went away.

Raichu was the first to move. He grabbed the PokéBall and looked at it in awe then gave it to Ash. "Rai Raichu." Is all he said and held it up to Ash. Ash smiled and took the ball from his stubby little hands and patted his head. Darkrai floated down and looked at the ball as well in deep thought. It made since why Zapdos was in the thunder clouds. Zapdos are pretty much found there and are rarely seen out of them which is what makes them so rare but this one seemed different.

"Ash. There's' something different about that Zapdos." Ash looked at Darkrai confused. "What do you mean by that Darkrai?" "The color of its wings are darker. Like a dark yellow if you want to think of it that way." Ash couldn't help but think about it and after a few moments of remembering he realized he was right. It was barely noticeable but it was a bit of a different shade of yellow.

"Ash!" Misty and Brock got his attention and congratulated him on his new capture and soon Zapdos' PokéBall disappeared from Ashs' hand signaling that it got transferred to Professor Oaks' lab." He'll get Zapdos once they get to Celadon City.

Well that's that. I hope you guys enjoyed. I have more ideas but I'm going to save them for later.

Now here's a question.

Do you want to see a chapter for all of the gym battle (one gym battle taking up one chapter) or do you want me to cut some of them out and sum up how Ash won while other things happen since I plan on doing this until like the Lilly of the Valley. Personally, I want to skip some of the gym battles and maybe have Ash battle a Legendary and capture it but it's up to you guys. I'm down for whatever but I will be having Ash battle Erika in the next chapter.

Rate and Review and I hope you guys enjoyed. :D