Ash was finally getting tired of being alone with Pikachu while walking. Pikachu was his best friend, but they couldn't have real conversations without Meowth translating, and that felt awkward.
After updating his pokedex, they had set off again towards Petalburg City. That day he had been obsessed with checking out the pokemon. By the previous night, he had probably researched every pokemon located in Sinnoh. Today he had more trouble. He had let Meowth and Mudkip out for a while, but neither was too keen on walking for hours on end. So he had spent most of the day walking with Pikachu as he researched the region more closely with his pokedex.
The sun was setting when Ash saw the pokemon center. Petalburg was only another day away apparently. Ash also relished the chance to eat some better food. H quickened the pace and arrived quickly. He walked through the doors and got a room. Before going to bed though, he got some dinner for him and his pokemon. He then went to bed peacefully.
Ash was woken up by some banging. He sat up, and listened closer. It wasn't loud, but enough to draw suspicion. It was the middle of the night, but it sounded like a group was moving around trying to be quiet. Ash slwly stood up.
He turned to his sleeping pokemon, "Hey, you guys. Wake up." He then gently tapped each one till they were awake. He then pressed a finger to his lips and whispered, "I think something is going on outside. We have to be careful. I seem to attract trouble like a magnet. Meowth and I will go first. If we aren't back in ten minutes, Pikachu and Mudkip will come look. Got it?" His pokemon nodded.
Ash stood by the door and listened to the wood to see if anyone was near. When he was sure, he slowly opened the door and looked around. The hallways were clear and he walked out. Meowth quickly followed and they left the door open a crack so Pikachu and Mudkip would be able to get out.
Ash slowly led the way through the halls. He approached the lobby first. He could talk to Nurse Joy. Something stopped him though, and he peeked around the corner. The lobby had several people. The first thing was that two Mightyena were standing intimidating in front of Nurse Joy. Ash knew he had to do something, but he couldn't battle them with Meowth. The aman was arguing with Nurse Joy.
"Where is he?" the man growled.
"Who, you are just saying a ruin guy. How am I suppose to know who that is? So many people travel through here?" Nurse Joy exclaimed desperately.
The man growled before spitting, "Professor Alden, he studies the ruins nearby. If you won't tell us, we will just lock you up and check your computer ourselves. We will not be happy then. Now tell us where he is or we will take every pokemon here. Team Magma could use them."
Nurse Joy put her hand over her mouth before saying, "Team Magma." She lowered her head in defeat and started checking the computer. She then informed them gloomily, "Professor Alden is in room 32."
The man smiled before saying, "Thank you. Now my colleagues here will just watch you till we are done. You better not irritate them. These two are not the most moral men." The man strode away, leaving two men and the Mightyena.
No sooner had the men left than the lights turned off. Most people wouldn't notice since they were sleeping, but Nurse Joy gasped. She immediately burst out, "The electricity. There are pokemon here that need our treatment."
One of the men stepped forward threateningly and said, "Shut up. Now while our boss is away, I'll help myself to some pokemon in the back. If you do anything my partner might just get…unpleasant." He finished with a sadistic grin which made Ash's stomach flop.
Ash knew he had to do something, and turned to Meowth. Meowth nodded at him, and Ash returned his pokemon. He then minimized the poke ball and stuffed it in his shoe. He took a deep breath and strode out.
"Hey Nurse Joy, what's up with the…" Ash then stopped as he acted surprised by the two men. Ash then reached for his belt, and cursed silently as if he had forgotten his pokemon. He had to appear defenseless.
The men reacted as expected. One man charged with a fist raised. Ash stepped in and grabbed his head before flipping him over his hip. He then turned around to a Shadow Ball. He was thrown against a wall, and looked up to see two Mightyena glaring at him. Not a comfortable sight.
Nurse Joy forced herself to Ash and looked at him as the second man spoke, "Looks like we have an unexpected visitor. This might complicate things."
The second man stood up with a curse. He then growled, "I'll just take him outside for a second. He won't be saying anything for a while."
The first man spoke, "Yeah right. He flipped you like you were a kid. He would probably end up doing the same thing as soon as the Mightyena are gone." Ash added this by shooting the two a glare.
The first guy cracked his knuckles threateningly before admitting and continuing, "Well what do we do? It is too big of a risk to guard both of them here."
The other man shrugged and pointed out, "We could just shove them into one of the rooms here. Lock it till we are gone."
Ash was happy with this plan, but was chagrined when Nurse Joy claimed, "I won't go. If I leave, you two will steal the pokemon."
The guy in a bad mood slapped her before threateningly, "Quiet, or you will wish we had sent you to a room."
Ash took the moment to stand up as if he was going to strike. One Mightyena shoved him back down, but he diverted his fall so he fell on top of Nurse Joy. He whispered in her ear, "Just go with it." He then pushed away and gave her a subtle wink.
She reluctantly agreed and Ash soon found himself being tossed into a large metal room. After Nurse Joy was tossed in, the door was sealed shut, leaving the room pitch black. Ashs tood up, and asked softly, "Nurse Joy, are you all right?"
He heard her breathing for a second before she answered, "We need to get out of here."
Ash quickly said confidently, "I have just the thing. He pulled out the poke ball and released Meowth as he ordered, "Meowth, Flash." Suddenly a light filled the room. The coin on Meowth's head was glowing enough to light the room enough to see. Ash then continued, "See if you can pick the lock. If not, we have to wait for Pikachu and Mudkip."
Meowth nodded and set to work on the door. Ash looked at Nurse Joy. She said accusingly, "You had a pokemon. Why did you let yourself get captured?"
Ash knelt down and said, "Meowth is a new pokemon, and wouldn't stand a chance in a fight. Maybe if I had my other two, but for now, I had to play smart. By concealing Meowth, we'll be out soon. Now, let me look at your face."
Ash took her face in his hands and examined where she had been slapped. Her face was slightly red, but it wasn't even swelling. H quickly announced, "Looks like that oaf talks tougher than he hits. You will be fine, but it might sting for a while."
"Thank you," she whispered as she looked at him. Suddenly Ash froze. He hadn't realized what sort of position he was in. He was alone, besides Meowth, with a beautiful Nurse Joy. From his position he got a good cleavage shot. Ash felt him drawn towards Nurse Joy's watering eyes, but they were interrupted by the door opening.
Ash looked up to see Meowth smirking at him. Meowth wouldn't speak with another human there, but he gave a look that said all it needed to. Ash stood up abruptly, and ordered, "You stay here, Nurse Joy. I'll go take care of the two grunts. I'll come get you then."
She nodded and Ash walked into the hallway with Meowth next to him. Ash slowly moved towards the lobby. He paused when he heard rustling. It looked like the two men were cursing as they chased something. He peeked at the corner and almost laughed at what he saw.
The two men were dripping wet as they chased after Mudkip. The two kept tripping and slipping as they chased the elusive pokemon. Ash then saw something else. Pikachu was sneaking around.
Finally the men got pushed over the edge and they released their Mightyena. Pikachu immediately leapt forward and shocked the Mightyena to hell. The two collapsed against each other. Ash jumped out and ordered, "Meowth, use Faint Attack." Meowth leapt forward and drove into the stomach of one of the men. The man fell back, and then Mudkip used Tackle on the back of the knee of the other. Ash immediately jumped forward and punched the two men. The two slumped back, unconscious as Ash clutched his fist. He felt as if he might have broken it, but he ignored it and quickly used a rope one of the men had to tie them up.
Ash then turned to his pokemon, "Mudkip, down that hall is Nurse Joy in an empty room. Lead her back here." Mudkip ran off and Ash thought. "They called themselves Team Magma. Must be a criminal organization. We have to do something."
That is when a light caught Ash's attention. He looked out the doors to see the distant ruins. It looked like there was alight, but it disappeared. Ash decided to check there out first. He turned to see ?Mudkip returning with Nurse Joy.
Nurse Joy gasped at the two men tied up, and she burst out, "What happened?"
Ash sighed and quickly explained. He then said he was going to go check out the ruins. He left her to watch the unconscious men, as he started moving towards the ruins. He didn't want to alert anyone at the ruins, so he traveled in the dark. He had worse night vision than his pokemon, and took quite a few tumbles before reaching the ruins.
Ash was in an annoyed mood and ordered, "Meowth, go see if anyone is here."
"Gotcha twerp." Meowth then moved into the darkness. It only took a minute before he returned, "There are two guys over there. They seem to be on guard."
Ash nodded and followed Meowth. He soon heard the voices and listened as he planned. "You still haven't taken the time to capture that thing."
Another voice replied in an irritated tone, "I just got it yesterday, and we were planning for this mission today. I stole it from that Daycare center, but it keeps attacking me whenever I let it out of the bag."
The other man laughed and stated, "Just teach it a lesson."
"I might just do that."
Ash had enough and ordered Meowth softly, "Use Fury Swipes to cut that bag open. Then attack the guards." Meowth disappeared into the dark for a second before a screech was heard. Ash dimly saw some flashes of light, and saw Mudkip and Pikachu leap forward to. He heard several grunts before silence.
Ash slwly walked forward and looked at the two men. They were wearing the same hood red cloaks as the other two. His pokemon had managed to knock them out, but there were also some burns on them. Ash checked, but there wasn't any rope. Hopefully, hey wouldn't wake up.
Now Ash saw the new addition. It was a chicken-like pokemon. It had a small beak and orange and yellow feathers. It was looking straight at Ash. Ash leaned down and commented, "Aren't you a cute thing?"
He was then surprised that he got an Ember attack to the face. It was nothing on Charizard's Flamethrower, but it still shocked him. He coughed and looked at the angry looking pokemon. Suddenly he burst out laughing before commenting, "Maybe I shouldn't have called you cute." The pokemon looked surprised for a second before turning away haughtily. Now Ash got it and asked, "You wouldn't happen to be a male, would you?"
The pokemon nodded and Ash pulled out his pokedex. He couldn't remember the details of this pokemon. It beeped before saying, Torchic, the Chick pokemon. Fire types. While this form is relatively weak, these pokemon are renown for their powerful final evolution, Blaziken.
Ash coughed again in shock. This little thing would turn into a Blaziken. It was hard to imagine that it would turn into the powerful fire type that had defeated him at the Silver Conference
."Ash grinned and stated, "Aren't you something?" The pokemon stood taller and puffed out its chest at his words. Ash chuckled before adding, "And definitely not modest." That earned him a peck on the head.
Their little conversation was ended when suddenly the wall started moving. Ash jumped back to see the wall shifting over. Suddenly an opening appeared in which a group of people suddenly appeared. The first man he had seen walked out confidently. The man looked at the unconscious guards before saying to Ash, "Looks like we have a complication."
Ash froze as more men streamed out of the door. He then stated, "A big complication. I'm not a guy to let stuff like this happen without doing something." Despite his strong words, Ash felt nervous at the numbers.
The man smiled before claiming, "And you have done something. Now you can walk away with a clear heart. We don't want trouble." Ash growled and the man corrected himself, "We don't want more trouble. If you let us pass, we will leave without doing anything more. We have not harmed or injured anyone."
Ash thought. This wasn't a major choice. Either way they were getting past, so Ash took a few steps back. The man smiled and walked past, and Ash felt the looks of his pokemon, and he said powerfully, "Very few causes are better served by their men dying instead of living to fight another day. We shall wait for our chance. Until then, we shall take what we can." He saw his pokemon nod in agreement.
Team Magma climbed into a helicopter which was being illuminated by the rising sun. Ash watched as they flew off, abandoning their unconscious members. Ash then turned and started walking back towards the pokemon center. He was interrupted by an Ember to his leg. He looked down at Torchic. The pokemon was giving him a hard stare. Words didn't need to be said. Ash smiled and pulled out a poke ball. Torchic jumped and touched the poke ball and was promptly sucked in. Ash smiled at his new pokemon.
He returned Mudkip and Meowth before walking towards the Pokemon center. He would bandage his hand and set off in several hours after talking to the police. Life would go on, and he would continue his journey. He would meet Team Magma later. For now, Petalburg was what he needed to worry about.
I decided to make Team Aqua and Magma more violent. Just to see what is would be like. So I will be making this story M for parts like this. This story will be slightly different than my other. Like two different branches of evolution. Just seeing if this will work. I will restart if it becomes to hard to write.