Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of the characters. Just the random plot bunnies that my mind creates.

Chapter Warnings: Language, blood

Chapter 5 - Capture

Gary is startled awake by a shrill wail. He jumps out of bed holding the gun he stashed under his pillow at eye level. He quickly scans the room to notice that it was just the alarm on the nightstand that woke him from his slumber. There is no enemy.

No dragons.

He lowers his gun and turns towards his partner who has a hand over his mouth to hold in his laughter. The raven turns to his alert pokemon.

"Someone is certainly jumpy this morning huh Pikachu?"

Pikachu squeaks in agreement. Angering Gary further.

The brunet throws a harsh glare towards the pair and slams the dismiss button on the alarm. He then turns to make sure he didn't injure his pokemon with his earlier movements. Upon seeing Squirtle staring up at him sleepily, Gary takes pity on him and recalls him back to his pokeball. You can rest a little bit longer Squirtle.

Gary turns around and crosses his arms over his chest. His partner is still lounging on his bed without a care in the world. Gary quickly grabs his pillow and pelts the raven in the face.

"Come on loser. We have to get going if you want to eat before we leave."

At the mention of free food, Ash bolts out of bed for the bathroom. Gary sighs in annoyance and turns back to the yellow rodent.

"Good luck with that."

The long narrow ears sag at his comment and it lets loose a soft squeak. Gary smirks at its defeated response.

The brunet walks over to his pile of gear and changes into a new pair of boxers before sliding into the previous day's cargo pants. He digs out his necklace from his pack and gently slides it on. Gary then attaches his belt and checks to see that all of the pouches are in the correct places. He slides his scabbard through an attachment at his left hip so he can pull it easily out with his dominant right hand. Grabbing his Ka-Bar, he secures it upside down to the left backpack strap for easy access. Sliding the M9 into his belt at the small of his back, he throws on his sleeveless jacket but leaves it unzipped. He slides the black, fingerless gloves over his hands. He turns to look back at Ash's Pikachu who has been watching him silently.

"I look good don't I?" Gary asks the little rodent. Its ears twitch at the question and it cocks its head to the side. Gary hears a snort from behind him as Ash emerges from the bathroom.

"If you say so Gary. Now hurry up. I'm hungry." Sarcasm heavy in his voice, Ash bumps his shoulder playfully.

"I'm not the one who just spent five minutes in the bathroom." Gary mumbles.

Pushing the sleeves up to his elbows he heads into the bathroom to brush his teeth and attempts to fix his hair. Upon emerging, he sees Ash dressed with his black hat perched on top of his head. They put away the rest of their supplies before grabbing their rifles and packs and leaving the room.

Once downstairs, Gary drops their keys off to Nurse Joy while Ash gets them a table in the cafeteria. He walks into Ash feeding Pikachu and two loaded trays ready to be demolished.

After eating quickly, the trio head out of the Pokemon Center and start walking south. Pikachu hops up onto Ash's shoulder to avoid being stepped on. The streets are awash with citizens heading to work but the young soldiers can easily see the tall wall in the distance that surrounds the city. It honestly won't do much protection wise if a Destruction Class pokemon decides to attack but at least it prevents weaker ones from straying into the city and causing mayhem.

Gary salutes to the older armed soldiers stationed at the gate 20 minutes later.

"Team Alpha. Majors Oak and Ketchum. Reporting in for retrieval."

The officer in charge glances down at the sheet in his hands and nods at the two. They wait patiently for the other two to arrive. Ten minutes later, the other half of the Four announce their arrival and stand at the ready.

From the corner of his eye, Gary sees Ash head over to the Beta team. That's when he hears it. The steady whirring of helicopter blades. Gary joins the small group at the gate just as the copter touches down.

The Four quickly climb aboard and strap themselves in. They pull out their comms set and unhook the mouthpiece from the side before sliding the earpiece in place.

Giving a thumbs up, the brunet signals that he is ready for take-off. He looks over to see Ash strapping Pikachu to him. The others give the all clear and they rise into the air.

"Team Alpha. Where is your drop point?" Gary turns to see the co-pilot looking at him. It's hard to hear with the wind whipping through the open portals on each side of the flying machine.

"Fuchsia City." He responds. The co-pilot nods and then turns to the redhead.

"Team Beta?"

"Cerulean City." The co-pilot checks a map on his lap before turning back towards them.

"Then Alpha will be dropped off first so we can circle back easily. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

After a few minutes of silence, Ash turns towards the other pair.

"Are you going to Cerulean to catch some water pokemon?" James turns to look at his partner. He hesitates for a moment before nodding his head.

What is with the hesitation? That was an easy question. There's literally nothing there but water pokemon. Suspicion turns in his gut. These two really are something else.

"Awesome. Good luck to you guys!" Ash responds cheerfully.

The line goes silent once more and remains that way for the remainder of the flight. A long six hours later, Ash and Gary are jumping onto a beach and covering their eyes from the whirling sand kicking up from the rotating blades.

They watch as the helicopter disappears over the city and into the distance to the north. Suddenly Ash darts to the left. Gary shields his eyes from the bright rays to try to see what caught his partner's attention. I really need to get some cool shades.

A small red crab is darting around on the sand trying to get around his partner so it can flee into the ocean. Oh boy.

"Ash! It's just a tiny Krabby. Do you really want to waste a pokeball on it?"

"You said I could have as many as I want!" Ash's excited response floats back to him as he turns his hat backwards. Releasing a sigh, Gary slowly walks over as he watches the battle unfold. If one could call this a battle.

"Knock those bubbles away!"

Pikachu darts in front of his trainer to block a few Bubbles sent their way with a strong slap of his tail. It begins to store electricity in his cheeks to unleash on the small red creature before him.

"Careful Pikachu. Krabby is weak against electricity and this one looks young too. Just give it a light Thundershock."

Pikachu nods in understanding and releases a tiny bolt of lightning at its opponent. The Krabby jolts into place and starts to wobble but remains standing. At least the thing has guts.

"One more time buddy."

Krabby drops to the ground after the second attack. Electricity jumps across its body as it lays unconscious in the sand.

Ash grabs a ball from his waist and throws it at the creature. It dissolves into bright white light before the ball drops into the sand. It begins to roll back and forth as the button in the middle lights up. Once. Twice. Thrice. Captured.

Ash jumps and lets out a cheer. He picks up the pokeball and holds it out to Gary who has caught up to him during the quick battle.

"I caught a Krabby!"

Gary snorts in amusement at the overabundance of joy radiating from his excited partner. His smirk threatening to evolve into a smile. "I can see that. You ready to go to town now Ashy-boy?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Great work buddy." Ash looks down but Pikachu is not at his feet where he last saw him. The raven quickly turns in a circle to see his starter sprinting towards a log a short distance away.

"Pikachu!"

The duo race after the agile mouse as it sits on the log beckoning them over. As they get closer, they hear a pitiful high keening noise. What the fuck is that?

Rounding the log, the soldiers see a young Lapras washed up on the beach. Blood slowly pouring from a long gash in one of its front fins.

What is a Lapras doing this far north? Normally they are only around the Orange Islands to the south of Kanto.

Ash quickly kneels down next to the small creature and places his hand on its grey spiked shell. The transport pokemon whines in fear. She tries to scoot away but is trapped by the log.

His partner coos gently and pets its long light blue neck to try to calm it down. Ash calls out to him softly to not startle the injured pokemon any further.

"Gary we need to carry her to the Pokemon Center. She has lost a lot of blood already and won't last much longer on her own." Gary notices the determination on his partner's face but he is already shaking his head.

"Lapras weigh almost 500 pounds, Ash. Even this little baby is going to be way too heavy to carry. Plus we don't want to jostle that wound. One of us is going to have to capture it."

His partner looks down at the injured pokemon at his feet. It's no longer trying to retreat but is watching them wearily from down in the sand.

"I'll do it. Pikachu was the one to find her after all." Ash leans closer to whisper to the Lapras.

"Hey Lapras. My name is Ash and this is Gary and Pikachu. We are going to get you some help ok? But you are too heavy for us to carry so I am going to put you in this pokeball. Don't worry. It's only for a few minutes so we can move you, ok?"

Ash shows the pokemon the empty ball in his hand who takes a brief look at it before looking back at the raven. He presses the button on the device causing Lapras to disappear into the ball.

Ash is already up and running across the beach even as the ball shakes in his pocket. Gary and Pikachu catch up to him quickly due to longer legs and Agility, respectively.

They soon see the Fuchsia's southern gate and are quickly spotted by the guards. The soldiers raise their guns.

"Halt! State your business in Fuchsia!"

Did they seriously not see us come in on the helicopter 5 minutes ago? We still have our uniforms on too. These guys are idiots. Gary sighs in annoyance as Ash doesn't even bother slowing down. Just raises his hands in the universal symbol of 'we mean no harm' and continues running right towards the gate.

Idiot.

"Team Alpha. Majors Oak and Ketchum. We have a seriously injured pokemon. Sorry!" Ash pants out as he rushes right by them.

Gary slows to flash his Military ID before sprinting to catch back up with Ash and Pikachu who are already running into the Pokemon Center ahead.

Gary bursts through the doors and follows Ash and the nurse into the back room. He startles at the shockingly familiar head of pink looped hair. Wait is that Nurse Joy?

Ash releases the Lapras onto an empty gurney so the nurse can look over the injury. After several minutes of careful observation and some poking and prodding, she calls over a pink pokemon with a rough egg shape with little pink feet and a short tail. A few thick hair like strands spring out from the side of its head and an egg rests in a pouch on its belly. A Chansey.

The egg pokemon wheels Lapras into the Operating Room.

"Well it looks like that Lapras got hit by a harpoon, the poor thing. The black market pirates in the Orange Islands must have been after its pod. We will do everything we can but she has lost a lot of blood."

She then quickly follows after Chansey and Lapras. Gary leads Ash back to the waiting room where they sit on the couch and wait. Pikachu hops onto Ash's lap and watches the doors expectantly.

xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx

It's been over an hour already. Is the wound really that bad? The blade must have torn through more muscle than I thought.

Ash fidgets in place as he glances towards the operating room doors again. The light above the door is still red. The operation isn't over yet.

Ash glances around the Pokemon Center. There's another Chansey manning the front desk but they are alone in the waiting room.

Feeling a sudden weight on his shoulder, he turns to see Gary's large hand resting there.

"Why don't you heal that Krabby of yours since we are here Ash? I'm going to head over to the cafeteria to get us some lunch."

Ash watches the brunet stand and walk down the hallway and around the corner. With a sigh he moves Pikachu off his lap and heads over to the front desk. The Chansey releases a happy chime in greeting.

"Can I have my Krabby looked at please? It received some electrical damage." Chansey chimes again before placing a tray with six slots on the desk. Ash removes Krabby's ball from his belt and places it into the first slot in the tray. Picking up the tray, Chansey waddles into the back room as Ash goes back to his bench.

Gary returns a few minutes later with a few sandwiches and some pokemon food. He releases Squirtle and they all eat in worried silence.

xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx

The sun has fully set by the time the light above the door dims and the exhausted Nurse Joy look-a-like emerges. Ash quickly stands with a worried expression and heads over with Gary and their pokemon trailing behind him.

"How is Lapras? Is she ok?" He asks. Hands wringing together as he fidgets in place, anxious to hear how the surgery went.

The woman checks a chart in her hand before turning back to them. "Well, she is very weak and tired. She has lost a lot of blood and has an infection. We need to keep her under observation for a day or two, but she should be fine with plenty of rest and care."

Ash releases a sigh of relief at the news. He pats the mouse perching on his shoulder who had let out a happy squeak.

"Hear that buddy? She is going to be ok. Thank you so much Nurse…?" He trails off in question.

"Joy. My name is Nurse Joy." The woman states. At the bewildered looks from the soldiers, she smiles softly.

"Ahh. You must've met one of my relatives. We all look alike, are all named Joy and are all Nurses. Family reunions are always interesting."

"Gotcha." Ash states slowly. No way that's true. They must be clones or at the very least twins. But who names both twins the same name?

Ash jolts from his thoughts by Gary's low voice.

"Well it's too late to go to the Safari Zone now so we might as well go tomorrow. Would we be able to grab a room Nurse Joy?"

As Gary follows Nurse Joy #2 to grab their room keys, Ash feels a tug on his arm. He looks down to see the Chansey from earlier holding a tray with a single pokeball.

"Krabby! Thank you for fixing him up for me Chansey." Chansey's voice rings out in acknowledgement before it retreats back to the operating room. Ash attaches Krabby onto his belt and follows Gary to the cafeteria.

Once both soldiers and pokemon are fed, they retreat back upstairs to get some rest. However, Ash lies awake worrying about the young injured pokemon downstairs.

Even if Lapras fully recovers, Nurse Joy said that its family is probably all dead at the hands of the pirates. I doubt it even knows how to get home. Maybe I should just keep her?

Ash turns onto his side and slowly falls into an uneasy sleep with dreams full of blood and sharp weapons being thrusted into his body.

xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx

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Next up: Chapter 6 – Safari Zone