I'm back, with a new chapter in tow! but first, to answer a comment:
Saulong8655: When I saw your comment, I just imagined a really confused Metagross in the middle of Viridian forest with a bunch of caterpies crawling all over it, haha. Don't worry, I won't give it stuff out of nowhere, Ash is a pretty lucky guy but it needs to be reasonable. It's true that people do abandon pokémon, explaining why odd pokémon are in certain area in the anime, but you need at least a reason to why it was abandoned there, outside some trainers are just jerks.
Anyway, lets move on with the story! But first, the warnings!
Pokémon belongs to Gamefreak and Dragon Ball belongs to Toriyama, my lord and savior! I own and profit nothing from these franchises
-Chapter Starts-
Ash eventually stopped and took several deep breaths, why did his mom always have to say such embarrassing things in public, in front of his friends no less! He was thirteen for Arceus sake! He didn't need her constantly reminding him to change his underwear, wash behind your ears, or reminding him to always flush the toilet. He loved his mother, he really did, but he was one hundred percent sure she only did it to mess with him, her giggling ringing in his head. He turned his head to look behind him, seeing the silhouette of his pokémon getting closer and closer to him, eventually she skidded to a stop just before she could crash into him a second time.
Ash bent down and gave the pokémon a gentle pat on the head, getting an affectionate yelp in return. "Mom's can be so embarrassing, wouldn't you agree?" the teen asked his starter, only getting a confused tilt of the head back, obviously the pokémon didn't understand what he meant. "I guess it's not the same for pokémoms, uh? They don't bother you about underwear since you guys don't wear clothes to begin with!" he joked chuckling, it must be nice to be a pokémon, living freely on the meadows and eating when you wanted to, must be the life. Except when another pokémon wanted to eat you, he'll stick with embarrassing moms than dealing with that.
Ash stood back up and took a deep of fresh air, his eyes scanning the surrounding area like spearow scans the floor for bug types to eat. Route one, such familiar territory. The teen reminisced, oh the countless times he's went camping out here in preparation for his journey, the smell of ruined camp food still fresh in his memory, at least now he can actually cook good food.
Route one was a quaint place, like Pallet town itself, a land of soft rolling hills and grassland, with the occasional tree spurting amongst the sea of grass, providing shade for pokémon on hot days when the wind didn't provide cool breezes. The route had a nickname 'Kanto's nursery', earned because of all the young and weak pokémon found in the area, ratatta, pidgey, and spearows all migrated here to give birth and raise their young until their young was old enough, than they spread out elsewhere. There wasn't much competition between pokémon here, no strong predators to attack all the younglings, the worst threat around these parts were spearow flocks that occasionally formed up in route one.
"What I'm thinking… we head to Viridian right away, get some real training in there, and from there hit up route twenty two to catch some pokémon, nothing around here interest me," Ash thought out loud, rockruff looking up at him and nodding at his plan, it seemed to her like he had a plan. The teen didn't really want to catch anything around here, he knew what pokémon lived here and none really caught his interest, most trainers ditch their ratatta and raticates after a while, why catch something he's gonna send away and never use?
With his plan set, he slowly made his away down the dirt path towards Viridian city, its mighty skyscrapers visible even from where he was. He should be able to reach it by the end of the day even if stuck to his walking speed. He closed his eyes has he let his mind wonder, confident that rockruff would protect him from any strat pokémon roaming around, thinking about what his team should be. A nidoran would be good, either gender would be fine. A mankey would be cool… he thought to himself, trying to recall the most common pokémon around route twenty two.
"Help!!! Someone!!!" a voice cried, knocking out the teen from musings and putting rockruff on high alert. Ash quickly looked around, trying to find where the cry for help came from before noticing movement at the corner of his eye. Off the dirt trail to his, was a lone tree and underneath it he could see someone running around, he couldn't make out any details on the person but he could see two objects flying around the individual and swooping down on him. Certainly not a good sign.
"Rockruff, tackle that flying type on the right!" Ash ordered to his starter, slipping his backpack off his shoulders before running towards the tall grass, heading towards the distressed individual, their cries for help still being heard.
Rockruff barked and charged into the grass with him, flanking him has the duo charged to the aid of stranger. As they neared, they noticed the two flying types were actually spearows and their victim was in fact a young girl, no older than her trainer. The girl tripped on a rock has she ran and fell to the floor, the spearows swooping in on the target.
Ash, noticing what was happening, tossed his backpack at the spearow on the left, the heavy bag slamming into the unexpecting pokémon and knocking it away from its target. Its compatriot suffered a tackle attack from rockruff, the bird pokémon getting thrown onto the ground harshly. "Tackle the other one!" the raven haired trainer ordered, kneeling beside the fallen girl, checking on her to see if she was alright.
Rockruff growled in acknowledgment and charged at the other spearow, who just got the heavy backpack off it and was still drowsy from the surprise attack. The rock type slammed into the side of the unexpecting pokémon, the flying type sent flying into the tall grass and disappearing from sight. The first spearow screeched at her and her trainer but instead of attacking, merely took flight in the opposite direction of the duo, its partner coming into view and flying beside it. Seems attacking the girl wasn't worth the effort anymore.
"Are you alright?" Ash asked the downed girl, offering her his hand to get back to her feet, the girl tentatively taking it and getting back onto her feet. The girl was a platinum blonde with hair that only reached her shoulders, blue eyes looking at him, hot tears running down her face, a few claw marks on her cheeks from the spearows.
"Y-yes, I'm f-fine… but my pokémon…" she cried, slowly walking towards the tree before getting on her knees besides an unconscious growlithe, noticeable bruising on its body and scratch marks on it. "My precious Ember…" obviously the pokémon was hurt, nothing life threatening but the fire type was in no condition to fight.
Ash grabbed his discarded backpack and walked up to them, rockruff following in tow, before kneeling beside the crying girl. "Did the spearows do this?" he asked her, opening up his bag and pulling out a potion from it, giving the bottle a few shakes before gently spraying down growlithe, the injured pokémon flinching in pain has the medicine kicked in.
"N-No… I don't know what did this to him…" she told him, raising one hand to her face and brushing away her tears. "I left him here to guard my bags while I went to refill my water bottles from a nearby stream…" she used her free hand to point out a small stream about five yards away, a few clear water bottles scattered around it. "I was filling them up but than I heard him cry out in pain, I rushed over here only finding him like this and my bag torn open. Those spearows must have heard me crying and came over, attacking me until you came along. This was just supposed to be a training trip, I'm never leaving Viridian city again," she whimpered out, looking at her ruined bags.
Ash raised an eyebrow, a mystery pokémon on the loose? "What did it take from your bags? Food?" he asked her curiously, that's what wild pokémon usually looking to get at, it was quite annoying having to deal with ratattas trying to steal your food while your camping. He knew that personally.
The girl merely shook her head at the question. "I'm missing a few pieces of food but what I'm also missing are my metal cutlery, brand new too, sparkled in the sunlight. What sorta pokémon beats up another just to steal utensils?!" she asked angrily, her fists clenching her pants tightly, obviously upset that her pokémon suffered merely for pieces of metal.
"That's a good question…" Ash responded confused, food he could understand a wild pokémon stealing, but forks and knives? Seemed oddly specific. The boy stopped spraying down the fire type, the pokémon slowly opening its eyes and lifting its head up, the damage from earlier gone. The girl cried out and hugged the canine close, her companion licking her cheek to comfort her has she cried into his warm pelt. "He should be fine. Best gather your things before heading back, best not stick around," the pokémon that did this could still be around, though Ash was now quite intrigued by the mystery pokémon, it was powerful enough to defeat a growlithe swiftly and was after cutlery. Maybe there was something worth catching on route one after all.
The teen walked over to the stream to retrieve the water bottles with rockruff, the girl staying behind to pack her things. Reaching the stream, he bent down and started to pick up the water bottles, placing and tightening the caps on them. "Hey, rockruff. Think smell out the pokémon who did this? I wanna try and catch it," he asked his starter, whatever this pokémon was it certainly was stronger than most critters around here. No matter what, it was still a menace that was attacking people and robbing them like a bandit. Maybe it wasn't a wild pokémon but a trainer, but either way, these attacks had to stop.
Rockruff gave her a nod at his request, the puppy pokémon raising her head up high and taking a deep whiff. The scent of herself, her trainer, and the duo they just helped was ignored. She was assaulted by a flurry of scents, from the many pokémon that roamed the area, making it difficult to find the scent. She scrunched up her face and took a deep breath, something wasn't right in the smells, most of the smells were very similar to each other but underneath those smell was something unique, different and alien to the others. She opened her eyes wide, she found the scent! She didn't know what it was but it was a foreign to the area, like her. She barked at her trainer and wagged her tail excitedly, with the scent she could track their bandit!
Ash grinned at her excitement, he assumed she caught the scent of whatever did this. He stood up and walked over to the girl, bottles in hand, than placing them at her side, the girl still stroking her companion. "I gotta go, I wanna try and find what did this," he told her, only getting a nod in response from the traumatized girl, obviously she didn't want to think more about what had happen to her. After making sure she would be fine, he whistled to rockruff and walked further into the tall grasses, straying further from the dirt paths. "Alright, take the lead girl!" he ordered, it was up to her and that nose of her's to find their culprit, he almost felt like those stars in cop dramas his mother loves to watch.
Rockruff nodded and stepped in front of her trainer, nose raised up high to catch the scent before it became too faint to actually track it. She barked and ran towards the northwest, that's where the scent was headed! Her trainer quickly followed behind her, keeping pace with her easily.
Ash would follow his partner for a good ten minutes without too much happening, a few battles against ratattas which the puppy pokémon quickly dispatched with well placed tackles. After none stop running, Ash would come upon another female trainer with brown hair sitting under a tree, the woman had a very upset face on and unconscious poliwag beside her. The teen ran up to her, stopping in front of her. "Excuse me, what happened here?" he asked her, but had a good idea what happened.
The girl looked up at him and sighed. "I don't really know, I went to some nearby bushes to… use the 'restroom' leaving behind Poli and my bag. Next thing I know, a water gun nearly hits me in the back of the head! I was gonna yell at my poliwag for what he did but when I got here, he was like this," she said, gently rubbing the belly of the tadpole pokémon, who's tail slapped the ground slowly, enjoying the attention it was receiving despite its state.
"Let me guess… it stole something from your bag?" Ash asked her, looking over to the bag resting on her other side, unlike with the earlier girl, this one wasn't torn open but he noticed some straps on the side had been snapped. Rockruff sniffed the bag, obviously catching their thief's sent on it, but the other trainer shooed her away from it.
"Yeah… just some keychains I hanged on my bag, they weren't really valuable but they were my good luck charms. Not sure why someone would take metal keychains, I just finished polishing them too, they had such a nice sparkle to them," She whined, covering her face with both her and shaking her head, she hated that this happened but hated more that she couldn't understand why it happened. Her keychains barely costed a few dollars, the bag itself was brand new and costed her way more than all her keychains combine.
Our thief is targeting metallic objects, not food. But, it doesn't seem to care about value at all. Ash thought to himself rubbing his chin, he now doubted that a trainer would be involved in these crimes, a human would have a good idea of value and worth, whatever was doing this obviously didn't care about value. "You didn't see anything at all?" the teen asked again, he had no idea what he was actually looking for, it could be a flying type pokémon, between its last robbery and this one wasn't a very long span of time it must have a way of getting around quickly.
The girl nodded once more but removed her hands from her face, her eyes wide and slightly bloodshot, it seemed she remembered something. She shoved her left hand into her front pocket and pulled something out, holding it up for him to see. It was a feather, black as night and slightly drenched in water. "I found some feathers when I came back, they were wet. I think my pokémon hit it with a water gun and knocked them off it, I'm sure of it!" she exclaimed, gripping the feather tightly in her hand, obviously holding it made her angry knowing what it did to her pokémon.
Ash reached out and gently plucked the feather from her hand, lifting up to his eyes so he could inspect it. It certainly wasn't a feather from a pidgey or spearow which were common around route one, not even their evolution have feathers this dark. "I think this is a murkrow feather," he told her, though finding one out here was very odd. He heard from people who came and went from Pallet town to Viridian city, usually drivers who went to pick up shipments of goods for businesses or pickup Pallet towns produce, of how problematic the murkrow population was there. Stealing food and sparkling objects whenever they could, they were brazen enough to do it during the day instead of the night, when their usually most active. "Makes sense now, but why is it here?" he asked, more to himself than her, they usually stick to cities during the day and only leave when the sun went down.
"One of those things?! Arceus, I hate those flying thieves! My mom actually lost her wedding ring to one in Viridian city a month back, she said they weren't a problem before when she was a kid but now nothing is done about them. I blame Giovanni, he hasn't done much for the problem despite everyone complaining about them!" the girl let out an exasperated sigh at the revelation, obviously she didn't have a high opinion of the dark/flying type, nor for the gym leader of her home city. "He's not even in the city, stupid gym has been closed for like a month. Seems his personal business is more important than the city. I've even heard rumors of a honchkrow stalking about in the city…" she wasn't exactly pleased to have a flying crime boss in her city.
She likes to talk a lot to herself. Ash thought to himself, just nodding at her every sentence while he pulled out another potion, half paying attention to her ramblings. Though, her comments about the gym being closed and the honchkrow did peak his interest. "Sorry to hear that, but I gotta go. Here, use this to heal up your pokémon. I'm gonna go and try to catch that murkrow," he told her, placing the bottle beside her feet before taking off in another direction before she could respond, his starter following him.
"Thank you for the help! I hope you get that bandit and throw that pokéball into the nearest lake!" She shouted at him, waving him goodbye before focusing her attention on her pokémon, picking up the potion the stranger left behind.
Now that I know what I'm dealing with, I know how to lure it out. Ash grinned excitedly while he ran, obviously the bird was targeting shiny objects, probably only stole the blonde's food due to the fact it was just hungry at the time. Luckily, he packed a metal canteen for him, put some polish on it and presto, bait for their flying bandit. The teen stopped, catching his breath while scanning the area, the girl from moments ago was nowhere in sight and it seemed he was the only human around, a large patch of tall grass nearby. Perfect for a trap.
He set down his backpack and opened it up, ruffling through it to find his canteen, rockruff placing her front paws on the bag and peaking inside it curiously. He pulled out his target, a stainless steel canteen that lacked any colors or stylish markings, plain but effective. He rubbed his jacket sleeve on it slightly before looking away immediately, a nasty glare from the sunlight temporary blinding him. Ash blinked his eyes a bit to get rid of the spots he was seeing, okay polish was not necessary. "Alright, rockruff, go hide in that grass over there," the teen ordered, using one hand to the tall grass while the other was full holding the canteen, now using his sleeve to rub his eyes.
After regaining his vision, Ash places the shiny canteen where he stood, the grass short enough to not obscure the shiny metal object from sight. He left the backpack where it was and left it open, making it appear that he left it unattended, than ducking into the tall grass and laying on his stomach, rockruff laying beside him. "Now we wait..." he whispered, watching the area in front of him with an eager grin.
That grin slowly morphed into grimace, seconds turned to minutes and before long, an entire hour had gone by without a murkrow popping up. The most action the boy got was the occasional rattatas and pidgeys trying to rummage through his bag, rockruff chasing them away with a few tackles. Maybe it's not around here anymore? Ash thought bored, picking up a few strands of grass before blowing on it, sending the poor plants into the air where they caught a stiff breeze before disappearing from sight. What a thrilling adventure, laying on his stomach for an hour watching nothing, his stomach was starting to hurt from laying on it…
Just has the teen was about to pack up and leave, something flew into his line of sight and landed beside his bag. The creature had dark features, a cluster of feathers on its head giving it an appearance of a hat, and a broom shaped tail. It was a murkrow! The dark type inspected the area carefully before walking up to the canteen, pecking at with its beak and looking at its reflection on the metal surface. It let out a squawk before wrapping its talons around the lid and attempted to fly away, but couldn't lift the object with it causing it to land and frustratingly peck at.
A grin broke across Ash's lips at the sight, it seemed their little bandit finally appeared. However, Has he looked closely at the pokémon, somethings stuck out about it. There was noticeable scarring on the pokémon, most significant being claw marks on its long beak, it looked like a pair of talons did the job but mark was too big to be done by a pidgey or spearow, or even another murkrow. The hat like plumage on its head was noticeably shredded, multiple slits could be found in it and the ends were ruff instead of straight, giving the pokémon a battleworn and scruffy look. This pokémon has been in a terrible fight recently, Ash almost felt bad for it, what could have possibly done the damage?
Ash shook his head, now was not to feel bad for the pokémon, it's best to catch the pokémon now and treat its wounds properly. The teen grabbed a pokéball from his pocket and expanded it, he knew murkrows preferred to run away and lure people away than directly fight them, he only had one good shot at it. "Rockruff, use tackle on it," he whispered into his partner's ear, getting a twitch of the ear in return, the puppy pokémon slowly creeping towards the edge of the tall grass, the grass hiding the rock types presence from the thieving pokémon.
Suddenly, rockruff burst out of the tall grass and charged murkrow, the dark/flying type surprised by the pokémon's sudden appearance. Taking advantage of murkrow's stunned state, the rock type slammed her head straight into its chest, the darkness pokémon sent flying back, its body grinding painfully on the dirt floor. The pokémon used the momentum to right itself and land on its feet, its talons digging into the ground to stop its momentum. It looked up to glare at its attacker but received a pokéball to the face, a red light shooting out of the sphere and engulfing it.
Ash watched has the darkness pokémon disappeared, the pokéball falling helplessly onto the floor, the center flickering with a red light while it shook. One shake, two shakes. Before the capture could finish, the pokéball exploded, pieces of shrapnel flying and bouncing off rockruff, leaving an agitated murkrow where it once was. The bird pokémon let out squawk before taking to the air and flying away, dodging a tackle from the starter. "Darn, should we follow it?" he asked his partner, watching the bird pokémon fly away, following it would be a wild farfetch hunt, he'll just get lost and spend the night out here.
Ash let out a sigh, it was better to cut his losses and go with his original plan to head for Viridian city. He bent down to pick up his backpack but noticed something, murkrow made a U turn and it was heading back towards them very quickly. Wings glowing… "That's a wing attack!!!" he yelled in shock, the darkness pokémon was actually coming back to fight them! He was more shock that the pokémon wanted to fight than the attack itself, this murkrow was certainly not like the normal ones!
The bird pokémon dove down and slammed its glowing wing into rockruff's side, sending the rock type into the air, taking advantage of Ash's stunned state, a reversal of roles. The teen shook his head, he needed to focus. "Right yourself and use growl!" he ordered to his starter, murkrow taking back to the air before its opponent could properly counter.
Rockruff twisted its body in midair, allowing herself to land on the ground on her feet insteading crashing back down to earth. The attack didn't do much damage, the flying type move not being effective due to her rock typing, much to the annoyance of murkrow, who never saw this species of pokémon before so had no idea what was effective against it. The rock type took a deep breath and let out out powerful growl, waves of blue energy echoing out of her mouth and washing over her opponent, leaving behind a blue glow on the dark type.
Ash looked up at murkrow, the darkness pokémon high above them but merely flew in place, the two of them staring into each other in the eyes, neither looking away or backing down. The teen smiled at the pokémon, causing it to tilt its head in confusion. "You ain't gonna run are you, murkrow? I like that attitude, makes me wanna catch you even more!" he exclaimed excitedly, shocking the darkness pokémon by his increasing desire to capture him, the shock turned to amusement and murkrow let out an amused chortle. "I'm sorry I cheap shotted you like that, I thought you were gonna run away. You're a crook, but you ain't a cowardly one. Let's battle! Growl!" Ash ordered his pokémon, his really wanted this guy on his team now!
Murkrow let out a squawk of acceptance at the challenge before dive bombing towards the ground, doing a ninety degree turn, flying close to the ground while a black aura surrounded the dark tine has he flew straight towards rockruff. The dark type flinched slightly has the high pitched growl hit him, lowering his physical attacking power further. Despite that, the darkness pressed onward and slammed its beak into its opponent, the aura surrounding it dissipating after impact.
The force of the attack pushed rockruff back, her feet skidding across the floor but she didn't lose her balance, eventually stopping after being pushed a few feet. She looked up to see murkrow flying at her again, a familiar aura surrounding the dark type.
"Dodge! Counter with tackle!" Ash ordered, that was pursuit, a dark type attack which she couldn't resist like the earlier wing attack, luckily they lowered his physical attacking power making the attack far less effective than it would be normally.
Rockruff braced herself has murkrow drew closer, her knees bent ready to move at the last second. Just has the dark type was about to connect, the rock type leaped to the side, the tips of its wings narrowly grazing her side. Rockruff landed and swiftly kicked off the ground, launching herself at murkrow's exposed flank for the tackle. Expertly, her opponent let loose a powerful wing flap lifting itself just over her attack, the puppy pokémon flying harmlessly under it and landing on the ground a few feet away. Murkrow launched itself itself once more at rockruff, its black aura flaring up.
This isn't going anywhere, their both very nimble pokémon. Ash thought, seeing rockruff sidestep murkrow's attack than launching a tackle in return but that attack was dodged by murkrow, who countered in return and getting the exact same result back. I gotta slow it down somehow… that's it! "Rockruff! Sand attack than tackle!" the teen ordered, hopefully this works.
Rockruff let loose a bark at the command, lowering its tail to the ground and quickly whipping it in the direction of her opponent, who was launching another pursuit at her, launching dirt and sand towards its eyes. The attack hit its target, murkrow letting out a screech of irritation at the filth now in its eyes, the darkness pokémon blindly continuing its attack. Rockruff easily sidestepped attacked, allowing the bird pokémon to sail past her and crash into the ground violently.
Murkrow shakily got up from its violent crash, using its right wing to rub the filth out of its eyes, it couldn't fly straight with it in its eyes. Before it could finish, the puppy pokémon violently slammed into its back launching it forward, its body grinding harshly on the floor. The darkness slowly got back up to its feet, glaring at its opponent, ignoring the injuries its sustained now and earlier. It jumped into the air and tried to take flight but its right wing gave out, the pokémon crashing back down onto the ground but got up anyway, its right wing limp and dragging on the ground has it moved forward towards rockruff.
Ash grabbed another pokéball from his pocket and quickly expanded it, tossing it at the injured pokémon right in the chest. The pokéball bounced off it and shot out its red beam, murkrow getting sucked into the sphere, disappearing from sight. The pokéball landed on the floor with a flood, the centerpiece blinking rapidly and the entire orb shaking. Please, let me catch you, more for your sake than mine. The teen pleaded mentally, he respected this little guy's determination and spirit, he wanted to help it and have it join his team.
The teen watched the ball carefully, raising a hand to cover his face in case murkrow actually escaped a second time. After a tense few seconds, the ball stopped shaking and the red light glowed brightly before stopping suddenly, he caught it. Ash released a breath he didn't know he was holding and walked up to the ball, bending down and picking it up. He excitedly lifted his arm up high, holding up the pokéball for all to see. "I caught a murkrow!!!" he shouted to the heavens, he actually caught his first pokémon! The rush and suspense was amazing! Who knew just watching a ball shake and blink could be so heart pumping!
Don't worry little guy, I'm gonna patch you up. Ash thought lowering his arm, slowly walking over to his discarded bag, rockruff excitedly running circles around him at their victory. He took a seat on the grassy floor and crossed his legs, grabbing the canteen he used as bait and putting it away in the bag, no longer needing it. He scoured his bag for another potion, did he pack two or five? He's been handing them out so quickly he lost track! Growing frustrated, he lifted the bag and dumped its entire content, spilling it all over the floor. Finally, he saw the elusive potion beside a pack of sandwiches, seems his mom rearranged somethings to fit her extra supplies. He picked it up before gently tossing the ball into the air. "Come on out," he called out, hopefully his new teammate ain't gonna be too upset.
The pokéball released murkrow, the pokémon groggily looking around slightly confused at what happened, only remembering a bright red flash. He noticed the human and canine pokémon he had battled beside him, a pokéball falling from the air and landing in the teen's free hand, everything finally clicking in. This human caught him. He looked up at the human and let out a threatening squawk at him, which lost much of its intimidation factor when he flinched in pain and fell forward. The pokémon expected to feel his face hit the dirt, but surprisingly didn't, the human stretched out his hand and caught him before he could. "M-Mur…" he squawked out in pain, looking into the humans brown eyes with his red ones.
"whoa, calm down there. You ain't in no shape to fight, you weren't exactly in fighting shape before now to start with. Let me help," Ash reassured the dark type, raising up the potion for him to see and giving it a few shakes. "This is gonna sting, like badly. Just hold still, you'll feel better" he warned the pokémon, slowly spraying the bottles content over murkrow, focusing especially on the limp wing, not sure if the potion would work on it.
Murkrow flinched in pain has the spray touched, a painful stinging sensation racking the darkness pokémon. The pokémon flapped his wings fiercely, freeing him from the human's hold and taking him into the air. He looked down and screeched at the human for harming him but noticed something, he was looking down on him… he was in the air… Murkrow looked at his right wing, the wing looking near pristine like hasn't been damaged at all. "Murkrow!" he squawked in happiness, beginning to flying around circles in the air excitedly, the pain from new and old wounds seemingly having vanished.
Ash looked up at the happy bird with a smile, it seemed like the medicine worked well, it's probably best to get him checked out at a pokémon center just to be safe. "Told you I wanted to help! Come on down!" the teen shouted to murkrow, he wanted to make friends with the dark type and not merely force it to work with him.
Murkrow stopped flying in circles and looked down at the boy, before craning his head to look towards the open sky to his right. It would be so easy to simply fly away, he came out here to live by his own desires and not submit to whims of a so called 'superior', like his brethren in Viridian city. He was better than that, prouder than that! Punished for that… Was this human no better? Would he simply be an inferior to him, like the other murkrow fearfully became? He healed him after all… the darkness pokémon slowly descended until his talons touched the ground, he'll give the human a chance, at the very least for that.
Ash smiled has his new pokémon stood in front of him, it seemed he was willing to work with him. "I'm Ash! And this is Rockruff!" he introduced, resting a hand on the aforementioned pokémon's back, who let out a bark in greeting to the new member of their group. "I gotta say, Murkrow! You were great in that battle! If you were at full strength when we fought, I don't think we could have beat you!" the teen admitted honestly, murkrow was pretty messed up when they actually fought and they got a cheap shot in on it, it was a real testament to this pokémon that he fought as well as he did in that condition.
Murkrow puffed up its chest at the praise, it was strange hearing such admiration from a human, he was more used to shouting from them out of spite or frustration. Probably because he stole something from them, in all fairness. He could get used to hearing it. The darkness pokémon nodded in agreement but was interrupted by rockruff who barked out in disagreement, saying she would have won either way. The dark type let out an annoyed squawk at her claim, flapping his wings aggressively, rockruff returning the gesture with a growl and baring her teeth at him. It seemed like the two wanted to duke it out, but they were cut off by their trainer suddenly laughing.
"You two barely know each other and already you two are rivals. But please, save it for a spar!" Ash laughed out, wiping away a forming tear from his eyes, these two were gonna be an interesting pair. He didn't mind them having a competition, they'll just grow stronger trying to outdo the other, he just needs to make sure the duo don't fight together. "What do you say, Murkrow? I want you to be my pokémon, I want us to achieve our dreams together! I want to become the strongest trainer, and for that I'll need pokémon with a fighting spirit like yours!" the teen exclaimed, looking into the pokémon eyes while thrusting the pokéball forward, a gesture of cooperation between them.
Murkrow looked at the pokéball before looking up to the eyes, a burning determination in those eyes, not so different from his own. Maybe, this human could make him stronger, determination alone wasn't enough to beat his enemy, he needed to grow stronger for that. He didn't like having someone over him… but maybe having a partner wouldn't be too bad. The darkness pokémon nodded before pecking the center of the ball with his beak, the red light firing out and returning the pokémon to its ball.
Ash's grinned wildly at the action, shrinking the pokéball and attaching it to his belt that came with miniature magnets that kept the pokéball securely on his belt. He looked down at the ground and his grin disappeared, looking over the scattered supplies he dumped from his bag. He sighed before bending down and carefully began stuffing his bag with the supplies. Well, he wanted to repack his bag anyway, it wasn't an inconvenience at all!
With everything packed up, Ash strapped the bag around his shoulder before grabbing Rockruff's ball from his belt. "You deserve a break, I'll call you when I need a hand," the trainer said, returning the puppy pokémon to her ball, getting a happy bark from her before she vanished. He placed the ball on his belt and looked towards the direction of Viridian city, its massive skyscrapers easily allowing him to get his bearings. With his destination now at the forefront of his mind, the teen began the slow trudge towards the city.
Ash let out an annoyed sigh has he roamed the streets of Viridian city, trying his best to locate the city's pokémon center, the sun was still in the sky but he was sure that it would set in an hour or two. He released Murkrow so the dark/flying type could find it for him, but the moment he realized where they were, he adamantly refused to take flight. Despite trying to reason with the pokémon, he wouldn't budge on the issue, his eyes flickering side to side like he expected to be attacked by something. Ash respected the choice and returned the pokémon, the darkness pokémon flashed him an apologetic look before vanishing, letting him know it was just the location and not him just being picky.
I wouldn't blame him though… Ash thought, stopping a nearby stranger to get direction to the center, only to get ignored by the person who kept walking on.
Viridian was a big city, the largest west of the Kanto mountain range that split the region into two. Unlike Pallet town, everyone seemed too busy and disconnected from each other, cars honking in traffic quickly grew into a annoyance for Ash, compared to how quiet his hometown and the surrounding area was. The abundance of murkrows also gave the city an oppressive atmosphere, the creatures hanging on power poles or whatever other object made a reasonable perch, just watching everyone walking around with cold, analyzing stares. It honestly felt like they were sizing up their marks, looking for the best target to steal from. Luckily for him, their eyes haven't focused on him too much, but he'd really like to find the center before dusk, before they become far more active.
Ash sighed as he continued to walk through the masses, everyone he spoke to too busy to spare even a glance at him. However, from the corner of his eyes, he saw an elderly man sitting on a bench at a nearby bus stop, wearing a worned brown suit with matching loafers. Maybe he'll have better luck with the elderly. He carefully navigated the mass of walking pedestrians until finally stopping beside the man, the man glancing at the teen curiously. "Excuse me sir, I just wanna ask, do you know where the pokémon center is?" Ash asked politely, offering the man a kind smile.
The elderly gentleman snorted at the question, like the answer should be obvious before grabbing his cane that rested beside him and pointed to the northwest. "There's a large park just a few blocks that way, you'll know when you see it. North of that, is the center. Big red roofed building, even harder to miss," the man explained, putting his cane back down after finishing, a blue bus stopping in front of the duo. "Best hurry there, Viridian ain't the safest place when the sun goes down. Them rocket hooligans been running around recently, between them and them thieving birds flying about, the city's nights are treacherous to put it mildly. Police are overworked as it is and that no good gym leader doesn't do anything. If I was ten years younger, I would've moved long before now," the man grumbled out, getting up from his seat has the bus doors opened up, the old man getting into the vehicle, the bus door closing behind him before shortly leaving.
"Rocket hooligans?" Ash asked himself confused, he never heard of them. He shook his head before quickly sprinting off in the directions the man gave him, he didn't have time to worry about that sorta thing! It was starting to get dark and he needed some chow in his and his pokémon guts!
Following the directions given, Ash eventually stopped in front of the sliding doors of the pokémon center, a massive glowing pokéball sign hungover the entrance. "My first real night outside of Pallet…" the teen mumbled to himself, he went camping before yeah, but he was never far from his hometown, always able to run home if something ever went wrong. From now on, it was just him and his pokémon.
Ash walked forward into the building, the door sliding open for him with, and stepping into the large and open foray, the smell of flowers and food filling his nostrils, a great change from the smog outside. The teen scanned the area and noticed two counters in the front, the larger one in the middle had a red and white pokéball sign hanging over it, while a smaller one on the side had a similar sign but with the colours blue and yellow. "Right… they merged pokémarts with the centers…" the trainer nearly forgot about that tidbit, it was something the pokémon league experimented with in the Kalos region supposedly, it proved convenient and cost effective, no longer needing to keep multiple buildings open. So their now implementing it everywhere else.
Ash shook his head at that, well it worked well for him and every other trainer. They can heal pokémon, train in the training fields outside, eat and sleep for free, and now get their supplies in just one building. Amazing! He walked up to the larger counter that was manned by pink haired woman and her chansey, the caretaker of the pokémon kingdom. "Hello, nurse…" the teen scrunched up his eyes to read the tag on her uniform. "Joy! I'd like to get my pokémon checked out and a room for one please! Oh! I'd like to use one of your video phones!" he reminded himself, he promised mom that he'd call her when he arrived, hopefully he'll have enough time to call Oak too while his pokémon are healing up.
Joy opened her mouth to speak but quickly covered her mouth, has if she suddenly recognized him. "I know you! Two trainers came by with their pokémon, a growlithe and poliwag respectively, earlier today. They described what you looked like, it was very generous of you to help them like that," she said with smile, it was a good thing the two of them had a detailed description of him or else she would have never have noticed.
Ash let out a laugh at that, it was good hearing the two made it safe and sound, it probably was a very traumatic experience for them. "Well, I kinda did it for selfish reason, sorta. I wanted to catch the pokémon who was doing it, which was a murkrow. I caught him, though he's not so bad afterall. Comparatively to most of them," the laugh turned more into a nervous chuckle, his new pokémon did assault two pokémon to steal some shiny things after all. He also forgot to get those item back, lost himself in the excitement of his first catch… oops!
"Well, I don't judge pokémon. I help them no matter their background!" The nurse promised, her assistant waddling back with a tray that had six circular indents in them. "Just place your pokémon here and provide your trainer ID," she explained, giving her chansey a pat on the head for its initiative.
Ash nodded at the request, grabbing the pokéballs on his belt and expanding them to their regular size, placing both on the tray. With his hands now free, he dug through his pockets until he finally pulled out the plastic card and placed it on the counter, sliding it onto Joy's side.
The nurse picked it up and inserted it into a slot on the computer beside her, eyes scanning the information being displayed on the monitor before the machine spat out the card. "Oh! Your from Pallet town? Oak is a big celebrity in the world and you live in the same town. Anywho! Here's your ID back and…" she opened a drawer and pulled out a key with the number three on it. "Your room key! Video phones are to the right of the cafeteria entrance. We'll let you know when your pokémon are fully healed. Please enjoy your stay here!" she finished, handing Ash the key to his room and his ID card while chansey picked up the tray before walking off to a sliding door behind the counter.
Ash returned the smile before walking away from the counter, heading towards the video phones she point out, the smell of cooked foods pouring out of the cafeteria has he got closer. He walked into one of the booths, the video phones were surrounded by wooden walls meant to give people privacy. He grabbed the receiver, holding it up to his ear, and dialed up the number of his mom, taking a seat on the stool and stared at the black screen while waiting for the call to go through. Hopefully she was home, he could never hold a conversation with Mr. Mime for the love of him.
After a few seconds, the screen lit up and the image of his mother appeared on screen, she had her usual attire but wore an apron and had a spatula in her free hand. "Baby! Oh it's so good to see you! Your already in Viridian city? Your father couldn't make it there in a single day! Though he was never good with direction and too stubborn to ask, hehe," she giggled out, thinking about her husband, still off on his pokémon journey, at least he was responsible enough to transfer money to his family.
Ash had a wide smile on his face at seeing her, it wasn't even a day but he already missed her, though it was only natural a child would miss their parent. "Thanks! It was quite a trip though! I caught a murkrow, he was badly hurt but still put up a stiff fight, it's gonna be a great addition to the team!" he boasted, confident that his new teammate will pull his weight and much more.
Delia nodded, a proud smile at her face at her son catching his very first pokêmon, even more so that it wasn't the common pidgeys and ratattas. "That's great, hun! Seems your journey is off to a great start!" she congratulated, however something offscreen caught at her attention and the sound of boiling water became prevalent in the background. "Shoot! The stew is pouring out of the pot! Gotta go, hunny! Remember to change your underwear!" she said before the line cut off, leaving behind a black screen.
At least she said that in a private call… Ash moaned mentally at her final statement, did she think he was still a little boy? Though, they say a son will always be their parents little boy. Well, her early departure did workout in his favor though, he had plenty time to call up Oak. He dialed up the number of his lab and waited, listening carefully in case he was called to retrieve his pokémon. The screen lit up once more, revealing the aging professor and he was looking far better than the last time he saw him, the bags under his eyes were gone and so was the redness in his eyes. Overall, he looked well rested and it made him appear younger than how old he was. "Sup, old man! How was your nap?" the teen asked casually, a wide grin at seeing the professor that was nearly his own grandpa in all but name and blood.
Oak returned the grin with a chuckle, somewhat surprised to hear from the boy so soon. But, it was certainly a pleasant one. "It was wonderful, my boy! I just woke up an hour ago and I'll be heading to your home for dinner tonight," the professor finished with a content sigh, Delia might have made him stay up all night and most of the morning making calls, but the four course meal she was going to provide was well worth it. "So how are you, Ash? Calling from Viridian it seems. You've made great time, none of the others have even arrived yet," he congratulated his achievement.
Ash was surprised he was the only one to make it, he could understand Gary due to the fact he needed to heal his pokémon back to health after their battle, but he at least expected Henry and Leaf to have arrived. If they didn't get here soon, it will be dark out and they'll probably have to camp outside. "Good to know. Anyway, I caught a pokémon! A murkrow!" the teen told the man excitedly, expecting the same congratulations from his mother from him.
Instead, Oak merely nodded in his head, as if he already knew that he caught the pokémon. "Oh, I know my boy. It's quite rare to find murkrow on route one, and it has super luck. Quite a useful ability to have," the professor told him, seemingly knowing more about Ash's new pokémon than Ash himself.
Ash was stunted, he didn't even know it had that ability, forgetting to scan his new pokémon in the excitement. Though, it would explain how quickly certain battles were when using him, a few times ending the battle in a single blow. "How'd you know that?" the teen asked confused, did he have someone spying on him? Ash turned his neck to glance behind him, seeing a boy behind him waiting to use the booth, suspicious…
Oak laughed at the sudden paranoia he inspired in the boy. "Your pokémon,s information is uploaded to me when you captured him, via your pokédex. Don't worry, your pokémon's strengths and weaknesses are safe in my hands," he reassured the boy with a smile, Ash letting out a relieved sigh at the promise of confidentiality. "It was good hearing from you, Ash. But I have to go, it's about dinner time," the professor said with a grin, rubbing his hands together before the screen went blank, leaving behind a confused teen.
Everybody talking about eating and I'm still not gonna… Ash thought grumpily, putting the receiver back and leaving the booth, allowing the other boy to use it first. He wanted to get some training in before he ran out of sunlight, random pokémon battles was good for experience but it didn't give consist growth to his pokémon physics and skills like a training regime. He pulled out his pokédex and turned it on, flipping through its functions until opening up 'my pokémon' function, which allowed him to see his pokémon moves and abilities without scanning them.
Rockruff can learn bite, howl, and rock throw early. Murkrow knows peck, astonish, pursuit, haze, and wing attack. Learnable moves are night shade and assurance. He is, well a he, and his ability is super luck. Just like Oak said. Ash read mentally, he couldn't do his preferred physical training he had in mind because it was going to be dark soon, but he had move training to do instead. Rockruff needed more moves to diversify her very simplistic moveset at the moment, a glaring weakness she currently had. Rock throw would give her a ranged attack as well as a much needed rock move, howl as a means to give her moves more power, and bite to hit anything her tackle ain't effect against. Murkrow didn't have that problem, a different training method would be better than the move oriented training for his starter.
"Ash Ketchum, please come to the front desk to retrieve your pokémon!" A voice boomed around the room from the speakers, knocking out the teen on his thoughts of training.
Good timing! Ash thought, pocketing his pokédex and quickly made his way to the counter, seeing his two pokémon on top of the counter, nurse Joy standing behind them. Once rockruff caught sight of himself, she leaped off the counter and charged towards him, knocking over a few trainers in her mad dash. She jumped into the air at him, getting caught in his waiting hands. "I'm guessing you missed me, uh girl?" Ash asked the rhetorical question, rockruff answering by licking his nose electing a chuckle out of him.
"It seems your pokémon is quite fond of you," she giggled out, murkrow taking flight off the desk before landing on Ash's shoulder, his talons digging into the fabric of his jacket slightly. "They were quite startled when they didn't see you, luckily chansey calmed them down before any damage could occur. First time shock is more common than you think," she reassured him, it took time for pokémon to fully adjust to the trainer lifestyle. The nurse quickly hurried off after that, to assist the increasing number of trainers to arrive.
Ash gently placed rockruff on the ground, giving one last pat on the head before addressing them. "Alright guys, time for us to do some training. We only got a few hours of daylight so let's use it! After that, we eat," he told them, mentally grimacing at the final sentence, he was already hungry but he'll suffer to make sure his pokémon are ready for their future battles. He'll just sneak one of his mom's sandwiches while they weren't looking…
Ash turned and headed back outside to use the training fields, hopefully it wasn't too occupied.
Ash's body bounced on the mattress of his bed when he jumped on it, a Dragon Ball Z manga in hand. Rockruff laid at the foot of the bed, curled up and quietly snoring, while murkrow rested on a bird stand to the right of the door, every room coming with a stand for flying types. The training had been tiring, but fruitful.
Much of the focus of the training was on rockruff, her lackluster moveset being the main issue. She made significant gains. She learned bite the quickest, due to the fact it was the simplest move, the main trick being gathering negative energy in her teeth to execute the attack, rather than just performing a regular old bite. Murkrow, already knowing a dark type attack, begrudgingly helped her learn how to manifest the energy after some persuasion from Ash. Howl was also picked up relatively quickly, growl was the opposite howl, using sound to decrease an opponent's attack while howl did the opposite increasing the attacking power of the user.
However, rock throw was something she still couldn't use properly yet. She could technically use the attack, gathering rocky materials from the area around her than pressing them together to make larger rocks. Sadly, she couldn't create rocks larger than pebbles and couldn't lob them with enough speed to actually hurt, even murkrow didn't flinch when hit by them and he was flying type. Even bite wasn't a total success, it was lacking in the power department, it still hurt and did damage but she needed to get used to the attack before she could use it to its full potential.
The second part of their training was dodge training, to help hone their reflexes so they could quickly react to attacks even without his commands. He and rockruff threw a flurry of rocks at murkrow in the air, the darkness pokémon trying his best to avoid the projectiles while staying reasonably close to the action. Rockruff underwent the same training, with him throwing rocks at a distance while murkrow stayed close and tried attacking her with a flurry of weakened peck attacks. This went on for three hours none stop, the sun went down an hour before but the group kept going nonetheless, nurse Joy had to come get them.
After such a long training regime, the group was absolutely exhausted and starved once they made it into the cafeteria, which was luckily empty. By the time they left for their room an hour later, the table they sat on could barely hold the weight of the empty plates they left behind in their wake. The two pokémon instantly fell asleep once they entered the room while Ash had to prepare for bed, he wasn't going to fall asleep in his sweat. Grabbing his green pajamas and his toothbrush, he headed to one of four bathrooms the center had, which the occupants had to share. Luckily, it was so late, everyone was already in bed, meaning he had free reign.
After a long shower, a change of clothes, and a quick brushing of his teeth, he headed back into his room, turning off the hallway lights before entering. He snuggled up in his bed, turned on the lamp on the bedside table, and opened the book to his manga, the first book in the series. What better way to head to bed than reading your favourite manga?
Before he could read the second page, it suddenly went pitch black in the room, only the moonlight coming in through the room's window that illuminated the room, though not by much. Ash moved his hand to the lamp, trying his best to feel out the button to turn it on and off, eventually find it and pressing the button twice. Nothing. He pressed it several more times but the light didn't come back on, he only received a clicking noise for his efforts. He let out an annoyed groan at that, shifting his legs to the side of the bed and getting up, sliding on a pair of slippers onto his feet.
Did they do budget cut on electricity too? Ash thought annoyed, quietly making his way around the bed, trying his best to not awaken his slumbering pokémon. He passed the window to his room but suddenly stopped, something catching his eyes. Or lack of something. What happen to all the lights? The teen thought confused, looking out the window to see absolute darkness, every building was dark, not even a single window in the city's massive skyscrapers had light shine in them. Even the street lights were off, only the light from cars in the distance could be said. Was this a citywide blackout?
Suddenly, his bedroom lamp came back to life, more like whimpered to life, the light weaker than before and flickering slightly. "The center must have a backup generator or something," he told himself, the lights outside were still down. Something wasn't right, the night sky was clear with not a single cloud around, so it wasn't the weather that did this and the week as been pretty dry with no rain. Best go ask Joy, she might know something.
Ash walked over to rockruff before bending over, tapping the top of her head with a finger, the puppy pokémon opening one eye to look at him. "Something ain't right, I need you to come with me," he explained, getting a lazy nod of acknowledgment from her has she slowly got up, uncurling herself and stretching her tired body with a yawn. He smiled and quickly stood back up, repeating the process with murkrow, though the darkness pokémon was more grumpy at being awaken than his starter. The dark/flying type jumped onto his shoulder, using it as a perch, before giving him a tired nod.
With his pokémon in tow, he opened up his bedroom door and looked into the dark hallway, it seemed empty. Ash took a few steps into the hallway and turned on the lights, the hallway lights weakly starting up providing little light, it was better than nothing though. The group walked towards the stairs leading downstairs and slowly descended down them, but stopping when they felt the building shake slightly before suddenly going quiet again. "What was that?" he asked his pokémon, only getting helpless shrugs of the shoulders in response. The group cautiously continued downwards until they reached the bottom, opening the door that lead to the foray of the center, coming across a startling sight.
"Come on, Pinky. Just give us the keys to the back and we'll promise that our pokémon won't rough you up," A magenta haired woman threatened the nurse and her pokémon assistant, a serpentine pokémon circling around the duo, baring its fangs threateningly at them. A meowth circled around her as well, its sharp claws extended and grinding on the floor menacingly, as if daring her to try and make a move
"No! You thieves are going to steal all the injured pokémon! I won't let you have them!" Joy cried out, wrapping an arm around her chansey and holding her close, despite her brave words she was obviously scared.
"Please be reasonable, are a bunch of strangers pokémon really worth bodily harm? Please consider quickly, my partner isn't too patient," A blue haired man arrogantly demanded, a purple sac pokémon floating around him spewing foul gases to float about, the foul stench not phasing the man.
Before the nurse could respond, a shout of 'Tackle!' and 'wing attack' caught everyone off guard. Suddenly, murkrow slammed a glowing wing into koffing, sending the pokémon flying into meowth knocking both of them onto the floor. Soon after, rockruff slammed her entire body into the head of ekans, causing the serpent pokémon head to snap back stumble back a good foot, freeing nurse joy from the surrounding pokémon. "Good work you guys! Nurse Joy, you al-" Ash asked but noticed the nurse and pokémon disappearing from sight, the sound of a heavy metal door closing echoing throughout the foray.
"Oh great! She's gonna alert the cops and they'll get here soon! Months of planning botched by some brat who doesn't know his bedtime!" the magenta haired woman shouted in frustration, her red eyes glaring angrily at Ash and his pokémon, if looks could kill, the teen would be dead already.
Her blue haired compatriot placed a hand on her shoulder. "Oh Jessie? look on the bright side of things. I've never saw that little brown pokémon before, I'm sure we can catch a high price for it. We won't leave tonight completely empty handed," he explained, letting go of the woman's shoulder and giving the teen a cruel look that promised pain for trainer.
Jessie noticeably calmed down at his words, nodding at the logic of his words. "True. That's why I like you James, always seeing a silver lining to things," she looked over at their opponent and smiled at him. "Kid, your going to learn the hard way why you shouldn't mess with Team Rocket!" she shouted at him, only receiving a glare in return from the boy.
Chapter Ends-
Ash gained a new partner in Murkrow but will he able to overcome the rocket duo? Or will his dream come to an end before it could truly begin?
Find out next time on Pokémon ZZZZZZ!
Welp, this chapter ended up way longer than I thought it was going to be. Anyway, I just wanted to warn you guys the chapters ain't gonna be coming out this quickly from now on, I've been on vacation but will be heading back home soon. So between work and writing my second story along with this one, updates will be much slower, unfortunately.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the read!