AN: Hey, everybody! Thanks for the huge amount of support on the first chapter! Of course, it was just a prologue, so...
Anyways, I wanted to update this quickly. I had a few ideas that I needed to get out first, so I now have a short Omake files. If you want, you can read it, but I don't really recommend it.
Anyways, here are some selected answers to questions!
EPIC MANUVER: Um... Don't eat my head? And please read my profile. I am not a boy.
eclispe2025: Madam, please. And yes, this will have a slightly darker feel. Ash is not the happy-go-lucky kid that he originally was, but he does still have many of Ash's defining traits. And I do plan to keep at this!
iggychan89: Yeah, but it was just a prologue. Yes, it covered three years, but there weren't too many... Okay, there weren't too many events that i wanted to cover.
littleking9512: Yes, yes I can. I plan to update my favorites soon, so they'll be there. But in the meantime, there are the pokedex entries and the A New Chance series.
. .Xx: YES! YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESY ESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYE SYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES YESYESYESYES! Very, very good! A mixture of Paul and N, I suppose. But as for more awesome... We'll see.
Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon, Colorado, Canada, a doorknob, or an apple. I'm aiming for one of those things. Guess which one.
Who's That Pikachu!
or
Ash Receives his 'First' (third) Pokemon!
Ash stared dispassionately at the entrance to Pallet Town, although his emotions were in a swirl. Shaking his head, he walked down the path to the town, wishing that it was a grey, cloudy day instead of the bright late spring.
Walking up the hill that lead to Oak's lab, Ash saw a red car pull away, followed by a swarm of cheerleaders. Ash glared at the car. 'More evidence that humans are lazy in general,' he thought. Once he reached the top of the hill, he briefly looked back at Pallet to see if he could catch a glimpse of anyone that he knew, before he saw the empty space that once held his house.
Memories flooded his mind, unwanted, and Ash crumpled to the ground, holding his head.
"...Ash! Get out of the house!"
"No! Mommy!"
Samuel Oak was sitting back in his chair, slightly worried. Although he had given his grandson the squirtle that he asked for, he wondered what had happened to Ash. He still had the pokemon he was saving for the young boy, but if Ash had refused to come back to Kanto...
Oak was jolted from his thoughts when he heard a pounding on his door. He slowly got up, wondering if it was that girl, Leaf, come to finally pick up her charmander, or if it might be Ash.
Another knock was heard, slightly louder and faster. "I'll be right there!" Oak called, quickly swapping out the actual pokeball that had charmander in it for an empty one.
Opening the door, Oak looked down to see a boy dressed in a dark purple shirt and grey pants, his longish black hair brushing the tops of his eyes. The boy looked up at the professor, before smirking, and saying, "Hello, Professor Oak."
Oak's eyes grew wide, before he exclaimed, "Ash! You're here!"
Ash and Oak sat at the table with their cups of tea in front of them. "Well, it sounds like you enjoyed your time with Rowan. How was your trip back to Kanto?" Oak asked.
Ash answered, "It was fine. Nothing too unusual, although my pokemon certainly enjoyed it."
"Oh yes, your pokemon. I was surprised that Rowan was willing to let you obtain a pokemon. Of us professors, he's generally seen as the scariest and most strict, after all," Oak commented, looking down at his tea.
"It was so that I could go into more hostile environments. After all, for me to have gone to Sarad Jungle I needed a good battler," Ash replied, shrugging.
Oak stood up slowly. "Well, I suppose that you'll still want a pokemon, correct?"
"Yeah. I wouldn't turn down the offer of getting a new friend, after all," Ash said, following the old man.
Oak stopped in front of a machine with three pokeballs on it. "Well, Ash, take your pick."
Ash looked at the three pokeballs, the faint coloring underneath signifying which pokemon was which. "Since it's one of only two pokemon that's fire flying, I'll take charmander."
Ash picked up the pokeball, and opened it. The empty insides spoke a thousand words. "Well, Ash, you did show up pretty late," Oak said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
Ash frowned, before reaching over to the blue area. "Squirtle will be fine then." The empty insides spoke the same thousand words.
"The early pidgey catches the caterpie, or in this case the squirtle," Oak said wisely. Ash glanced at him, before reaching over to the pokeball in the green area.
"You know, Professor, you could have told me from the start that the only pokemon left was a bulb-" Another pokeball, another empty pokeball. "-asaur. Wait, there are no pokemon left?"
Oak shrugged. "Well, I do have one other that isn't my old team, but do you really want it?"
Ash looked at the pokemon professor blankly for a second. "No, I came all the way up the hill to say hello and get some tea. Yes, I would like a pokemon!"
Oak pressed a button, and a pokeball with a lightning bolt sticker on it rode from the middle of the machine. "I warn you, this one is quite hard to handle..."
Ash reached over and picked up the pokeball, before releasing the pokemon trapped inside. A flash of light nearly blinded Ash, before the pokemon within, one of the most elusive pokemon of all time, appeared.
"Pika-chu," the mouse pokemon said as it looked at Ash.
Ash glared at the pikachu after it shocked him yet again, Ash literally carrying it up the hill to route one. Setting down the stubborn pokemon, Ash asked, "So, can we talk?"
Pikachu turned away, saying, "Pi!"
Ash groaned, before looking around and noticing a pidgey. "Well, Pikachu, can we at least try to be friends and fight? I mean, you can definitely defeat that pidgey, so why don't we try?"
Pikachu shook his head, and Ash grimaced. "Well, then. I'll just have to catch it using my other pokemon."
Pikachu nearly fell over at this. He had thought that it might be fun to make the trainer give up and go home, as his only pokemon wouldn't listen, but to hear that he had other pokemon put that idea away. In fact, this trainer might give him back to the old man who put him in prison!
Pikachu jumped over to the battlefield, let loose a thundershock, and knocked out the pidgey. Ash looked at the electric type in shock, but shrugged and threw the pokeball.
Neither pokemon nor trainer noticed a stray bolt of electricity flying off into the bushes.
"So, Pikachu, why'd you fight for me?" Ash asked, picking up the pokeball that contained his newest friend. Pikachu, in answer, turned away with a sharp cry. Ash shrugged. "Well, I guess that it can wait until later."
Pikachu watched out of the corner of his eye as his trainer held the small red box over the red and white doom jail sphere. Hearing muttering from his's trainer, Pikachu listened closely.
"Okay... So it has the moves gust, quick attack, sand attack, and whirlwind. Close to evolving, that might be nice... Ability Keen Eye... Loyal nature... Loves to do battle..." Ash muttered, looking at the information on the pokedex.
Pikachu snorted and turned away. None of that made much sense, except for the attack part. That made sense. A sound caught his attention, and he faced to the east.
Ash nodded, and put away the pokeball. "Well, we should go to the pokemon center now. It'd be good to get Pidgey here checked out." Ash looked over at his pokemon, before he noticed that Pikachu was just looking east. "Pikachu? Is something wrong?"
Pikachu mutely pointeed at the eastern sky. Ash looked in that direction, and nearly gasped. A flock of spearow, all of which looked murderous, would do that to any sane person.
Ash grabbed Pikachu and began to run. "Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go, gotta go!"
Ash was still being pursed by the rabid spearow horde, when he made a fatal mistake. He forgot to watch where he was going.
Falling into the river, Ash lost his grip on Pikachu, but the two were swiftly carried down the stream. Ash relaxed slightly once he had grabbed Pikachu again. "Well, I think that we'll be fine now, Pikachu," Ash said to his pokemon.
The roaring of water quickly made Ash change his mind. "Really? A waterfall?"
Ash stopped complaining, and started screaming with Pikachu as the duo plunged over the falls.
Ash was spun about in the water, and quickly separated from Pikachu. He came up, gasping for breath, and saw Pikachu lying on the surface of the water, not moving.
"Pikachu!" Ash shouted, swimming over to the unconscious pokemon. Realizing that Pikachu had hit a rock on the way down, Ash looked around wildly for somebody to help him, or a sign to indicate which way led to Viridian City.
Seeing a girl fishing, Ash carried Pikachu over in that direction.
Ash got out of the water, ignoring the water dripping off of his clothes. The girl stammered, "H-hey! What're you doing here?"
Ash ignored her, focused on her bike. It would take hours to get to Viridian on foot, but it would take ten minutes at most to get there on the bicycle. Ash walked slowly over to the bike, feeling the soreness that came from hitting the water after falling through the air.
The girl gained confidence. "Hey, what're you doing?"
Ash carefully put Pikachu in the basket, ignoring the girl. "Pikachu... Hang on, you'll be okay."
"Wait, that's my bike! You can't just take it!" the girl shouted, hand reaching to her pokeballs.
Ash gave the girl a cold glare. "Can you not see the injured Pikachu?"
The girl wilted slightly. "W-well, yeah. But you still can't just steal my bike!"
Ash mounted the bike. "I believe I just did. But if you want it back, come to Viridian."
And with those parting words, Ash rode off. Going as fast as he was, he was unable to hear the girl's panicked shout. "But there's a storm coming! How do you expect me to get to Viridian before it?!"
Ash winced as he felt a raindrop hit his face. "Really? A storm, now?"
As if to say yes, a bolt of lightning tore across the sky. Ash couldn't help but turn around to see how close the strike was, and he nearly fell off the bike when he saw a small fire starting a mile away at most. 'At least it can't get any worse...' Ash consoled himself, before his eyes widened. If Rowan had ever taught him anything, it was to not tempt fate.
And sure enough, a screech pierced the sky. The spearow horde had caught up.
The rain started to pour down as Ash desperately tried to keep ahead of the murderous spearow. With the rain, the confusion of the spearow horde, and just plain bad luck, something was sure to go wrong.
Fate came in the form of a rattata sprinting across the road. Ash, seeing it, knew he had to make a choice, either to save the pokemon and probably be torn apart by the spearow flock, or to ignore the creature, killing it, but saving himself and Pikachu.
Ash swore and jerked the bike to the side, unbalancing it and sending the two passangers in it flying. Ash sprawled in the mud, before he noticed the spearow shooting at Pikachu. Without a thought, Ash jumped to cover Pikachu.
Pikachu was barely conscious, but he was able to see. So he was able to see the spearow dive-bombing him, and braced for the end. Now, he was willing to accept his fate.
Which is why when his trainer, who he had no feelings for, jumped in front of him, he was shocked. 'He's... giving up his life... for me...'
Pikachu was unwilling to accept that, and so, one of the base powers that was within most pokemon, but usually only accesed by the pokemon that were called legendary, activated.
Pikachu sparked once. And so lightningrod activated.
The bolt of lightning from the sky was more intense than anything other than a legendary pokemon could create. It nearly struck the spearow and the two that had been the target of their rage, but missed by a few feet. However, it was enough to scare the flock off.
Ash felt the heat of the strike, and, as he fell into blackness, a memory triggered.
The young boy was sitting in the large room, playing with a blastoise figure. He knew that he had to be quiet, since his mother was sleeping.
"Blastie use water gun!" Ash whispered, before throwing the golem in his other hand across the room.
Ash continued to play, before he noticed the room getting hotter. Thinking nothing of it, other than to tell his blastoise figure to use hydro pump, Ash continued to play with the pokemon in his hands.
After a while, Ash started to hear crackling. Looking up, he saw the wall opposite him, in flames.
Ash screamed, and ran, the charizard in his hand falling to the ground. Ash ran over to the stairs, before hearing his mother shout, "Ash! Get out of the house!"
"Mommy!" Ash shouted, before a quiet chuckling interrupted his crying. Looking behind him, Ash saw a face in the fire. The heat and smoke getting to the young boy, Ash fell to the ground, unconcious.
The fire swallowed him while he was in the blackness, and Ash cried in his thoughts. Hot, it's so hot. Water isn't hot, I need water. Mommy, in the hot. Hotfireitburns. Itburns! Andithurtssobadandiwantmommy andthefire'sswallowingmeandithurts!
Ash fell deeper and deeper into the blackness, and he lost sight.
The storm parted, and a rainbow appeared, a figure flying through it. Up in the sky, Ho-oh saw something that worried it.
A horse approached the boy lying very still on the ground, silent as the grave.
Death dismounted his pale ride. He had no need for his horse, technically, but she did need exercise. This would be a routine job, although it was always annoying when he had to rush to get out of a collapsing universe. And, being one of the seven most powerful beings in the series of Realities, he was the only one sent to reap the souls of a ground.
Death paused as he looked at the boy lying on the ground. Ash, his name was. He remembered this boy. Three years ago, it was, in that house. All this could have been avoided, if that meddling phoenix hadn't interfered.
Hearing a quiet thud behind him, Death spoke. "So, Ho-oh, you're here to stop me again? I have to say, I already paid off the only favor you could call in."
"I will fight if I must, for this boy," Ho-oh spoke quietly, her voice low and threatening.
Death laughed. "You know that I am a primordial force. Just below the first class. And you, a bird that doesn't even measure up to the ninth, would challenge me?"
"Yes."
"Fool. I've always wondered what it's like when a phoenix truly dies. Now, we'll find out," Death said, pulling out his scythe. Ho-oh flared up, and prepared to enter a battle she could not win, before Death felt a hand on his shoulder.
The woman smirked as Death whirled to face her. "Hello, Death."
"Lady..." Death muttered as he bowed slightly. "May I ask what you're doing here?"
The Lady of Realities smiled slightly as she looked at Death and the boy who was his target. "I've taken an interest in this world."
"Again? I have to say, I liked you better when you were apathetic. The worst you did back then was take me away from that interview."
"That was half a million years ago."
"True. But ever since you decided to interfere in that world with Red taking this boy as an apprentice you've been like you used to be."
The Lady of Realities laughed. "And most of the council is glad of that. But I do forbid you from reaping Ash."
Ho-oh blinked. "Who are you?"
Death gained a twisted sort of smile. "This would be the most powerful being in all of creation."
"Second. The Core still has huge edge on me."
"Most powerful living being-"
The Lady of Realities frowned. "I'm still dead."
"Only all of you is dead. You're still completely alive."
Ho-oh nearly started crying in confusion. "This makes no sense!"
"You'll get used to it," the other two deapanned, before the Lady of Realities grabbed Death and whistled. "Than! We're going!"
The pale horse trotted over, before a translucent portal opened and carried Death and his steed away. The Lady and Ho-oh stood, looking over the boy.
"So, I'll be going. Don't expect me to come back," the Lady said to Ho-oh.
Ho-oh nodded. "Thank you. I appreciate that you saved his life."
A glowing black portal opened, and the Lady stepped into it. "No problem. Good luck, now."
Ash saw through weak eyes a rainbow colored bird fly past him. "Ho-oh...?" Ash groaned, before falling into blissful sleep, next to his new friend, Pikachu.
The snow had abated somewhat, but the dark type was still struggling to advance past the range of mountains that covered the northern continent.
Its sense of danger had abated briefly, only to come back a minute later. Absol shook the snow that had accumulated on its fur as it saw another star wink out. 'At this rate, I may be too late.'
The absol, finding new strength, bounded through the snow, before falling into another patch where it was too deep to stand. It would be a long journey.
