A/N: Okay, another chapter for your eye sockets. This is probably the longest chapter I've written for this story. No senseless rambling this time, just straight into the s-
*BANG*
Damn it Wash, I told you no target practice!
Wash: Fuck you!
*sigh* Let's move on
Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own the Pokemon franchise. it belongs to Game Freak and the Nintendo Corporation. Also, I do not own the Amory Wars, which was used for certain character basis.
Vermillion City
As the sun rose in the city bathed in an orange glow, many of the bird Pokemon began their crowing, signifying the morning come. Around town, fishermen, salesmen and sailors started their day by either opening their shops or getting ready for their next voyage. At the Pokemon Center, trainers from all corners of the region were beginning to stir, or get ready to continue their journey. In one of the rooms, two girls were still sleeping as the morning light beamed through their window. On the floor in a sleeping bag was a boy about the age of fourteen. He had teal hair the came down to his shoulders, but stuck out in all directions. Next to his head was a set of wire-frame glasses, which fit his face perfectly. From the top of the sleeping bag, you could see the green polo shirt he wore. While the girls were asleep, the boy had been awake since before sunrise. He laid there thinking about his next journey.
'Where am I gonna go?' he thought to himself. 'I journeyed across eighty percent of the World Pokemon League, but for some reason I can't bring myself to continue to Unova.' He was pulled out of his thoughts by a ringing coming from his bag. He reached into it, pulling out a small electronic device. He popped the top of it and a small screen appeared. The ringing stopped a picture appeared on the screen. On the screen was a man about forty years of age. He had navy blue hair and eyes that matched his hair. He wore a maroon wind breaker that black detailing. He had smile on his face as if he had good news.
"hey, Max." the man greeted. "I didn't wake you did I?" Max shook his head.
"No, I've been up for a while." Max replied. "So, what's up Dad?"
"I just wanted to see how you're doing." Max's dad replied. "Is your sister up yet?" Max turned his attention to the bed to his left, where a young brunette woman was sleeping, ignorant of the world around her. Max turned his attention back to his dad.
"No, she's being lazy as ever." Max with a smirk. He was about to say something, but was interrupted by a pillow thrown at his face. On the other end, Max's dad was laughing at the sight.
"I heard that, Max." said an angry brunette. Max removed to pillow from his face and threw it back to his sister's bed.
"Norman, who are you talking to?" a woman's voice asked in the other end of the line. Norman turned his attention to somewhere off screen.
"I'm talking to Max, honey." Norman replied. He then turned his attention back to Max. "So what are your plans now?" Max had thought about this all morning, but was not coming to a final decision.
"Honestly, I don't know." Max replied. "I come pretty far since I started my journey. Maybe I'll come home for a while. Arceus knows I miss you and Mom." it was true. Since he completed his journey in his home region of Hoenn, Max hadn't been home in nearly three years.
"That seems like a wise decision, Max." Norman replied. "By the way, Professor Birch wanted to talk to you if you decided to come home." Max nodded.
"Ok, Dad. I'll see you and Mom soon." Max said.
"Ok, son." Norman replied. "see ya later." Norman cut the call after that. Max put away the PokeNav back in his backpack. Max laid back down and enjoyed the silence.
After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door. Max hadn't been expecting anyone and he was sure neither of the girls had anyone to see this morning. He got up from his sleeping bag and went to the door.
"Who is it?" Max asked.
"It's Brock." a voice said on the other side of the door. Max smiled and opened the door. In the doorway, was Brock. Instead of the suit he was wearing last night, he was wearing green collared shirt under a orange and gray vest, tan cargo pants and light blue tennis shoes.
"Hey Brock." Max said. "What are you doing here?"
"I had to stay the night in Saffron last night, so I decided to come visit you here." Brock replied. "Did you catch the fight last night?" Max shook his head and gave Brock a confused look.
"What fight?" Max asked.
"There was a boxing match last night." Brock replied. "The championship match to be more specific." Max's mouth curved into a smile. He had began following boxing about two years ago when all the battles the Battle Channel was showing were reruns. He was channel surfing when he came across a boxing match. It was the Kanto Championship Match between Domino and Igor the Vile. It was safe to say that he was fan after Domino landed a punch that became known as the 'Morphine Shot.'
"So who was the champ matched up with?" Max asked Brock. Max had followed Domino's fights after that one match.
"A guy named Rage." Brock said. Max was puzzled at the name. He had followed every boxing match this season, but he had never heard of Rage. It was like he came out of nowhere.
"I've never heard of him." Max said.
"I hadn't either, but he is one hell of a fighter." Brock replied. Max immediately went to his backpack and pulled out a laptop. After a few moments of warming up the computer, Max pulled up a search page. He looked up Rage and found a definition of the word. This didn't help Max, so he added the world 'boxer' to the search. Immediately, he was pulled to a profile page. There wasn't much, only a name, count of wins and losses and region of origin. Max was wide-eyed as he saw Rage's wins compared to losses. To say he was impressed was an understatement. Max whistled.
"That's one hell of a spread." Max said, only to have a pillow thrown at him again. He turned towards the bed his sister was in and found her sitting up, her back against the wall.
"Watch your language, Max." She said. The girl had sapphire blue eyes and creamy pale skin. Her hair fell down either side of her head, forming a bit of an upside-down V shape.
"Hey May." Brock said.
"Hey Brock." May replied. She had a smile on her face. She hadn't seen Brock since Ash disappeared. When she though back on it, she remembered how hard it was on everyone.
Flashback: (5 years ago)
Two weeks prior, Ash's mom had thrown a party to cheer him up from his loss at the Unova League. It was held at Prof. Oak's Ranch, and everyone was there. When he arrived, he was surprised and happy to see everyone. As the party rolled on, everyone was content and proud of Ash for making it as far as he did. Suddenly, there was a loud bang accompanied with glass shattering. Ash went to check what it was and found his mom on the floor, bleeding out from a bullet wound near her heart. He called for Prof. Oak, who was shocked to see his good friend on the floor. Ash had his hand over his mother's wound, trying to keep it from bleeding out. An ambulance had been called, but Ash and the professor feared it would not make it in time. Brock, who had followed behind the professor saw the scene and his medical training kicked in. within ten minutes, Brock had extracted the bullet, and stopped the bleeding, but Delia was still pale from blood loss. Another minute passed and the ambulance arrived and delivered Delia to the hospital.
The doctors had said that they were lucky Brock had stopped the bleeding. Had he waited longer, Delia would have surely expired. She had been put in a coma to help the healing process, as the bullet had nicked her aortic valve. She was to stay in that state for about month. Two weeks passed by, and Dawn's Mother, Johanna had suggested they spend the day in Viridian City. They had asked Ash if wanted to come along, but he just sat there silently in his room. Norman told the children to leave him be, and they left. Everyone tagged along, even Prof. Oak. By the time they had returned to Pallet Town, it was already dark. The children and their parents returned to the Ketchum residence and found if unusually quiet.
"Ash, we're home." May shouted. There was no response. She checked the time and figured he went to bed. She, along with the rest of the group decided that was for the best. The next morning, they all woke up and started getting breakfast ready. Dawn, who was concerned for her friend, decided to check on Ash. When she entered his room, she saw that he wasn't there. At first, she thought he got up early and went to Oak Ranch for the day. That is, until she heard Gary and Prof. Oak shouting downstairs.
She returned downstairs to find everyone standing around with a look of concern on their faces. Oak and Gary were panting and hunched over, like they had ran from the lab to here. Dawn put the pieces together, but still needed to know.
"What's going on?" Dawn asked. Her mom went up to her, with a sad look on her face.
"Dawn, was Ash upstairs?" Johanna asked. Dawn shook her head.
"I thought he went to the ranch." Dawn replied.
"Well, he came by the ranch," Oak spoke up. "But not this morning." Dawn had a confused look on her face.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"I went to check on the Pokemon this morning, only to find Ash's missing." Oak replied. "I'm afraid that he's gone." Dawn had put the pieces together, but she didn't want to believe it. She fell to her knees and began to cry in her mother's arms. Everyone then began to cry. They knew that this was hard on him, but they didn't expect Ash to just up and leave.
Flashback End
After that day, the kids had begun a search for Ash. The first couple of days were phone calls to old friends. According to Liza in Charific Valley, Ash had called and requested that Charizard be sent to Pallet town. When Brock and Misty called Anthony about Ash, he stated that Ash came and picked up Primape personally and left. After that, they reached a dead end and decided to keep on searching while they traveled.
"May!" Brock shouted. May had zoned out in her memories. She jumped.
"Huh, what?" She looked to see that both Brock and Max were staring at her. "What are you staring at?" she asked.
"You were thinking about it again, weren't you?" Max asked. She could have lied and said no, but both Max and Brock knew her enough to tell when she was lying. She nodded. "Don't worry, we'll find him."She smiled and nodded again.
"Their right, you know." another voice said. Everyone turned to see a young blunette woman sitting up in her bed. Her navy blue eyes shined in the sunlight. In her hands was a red and black baseball cap. "We'll find him one day. We can't give up." everyone nodded.
"Your right Dawn." Brock said. He turned to Max. "But, it's time for me and Max to leave." Max looked up to Brock
"What, Why!?" Max exclaimed. Brock held up his right hand. And started counting down.
"...3, 2, 1." When Brock stopped counting, Dawn screamed. She realized that her hair was a mess.
"Get out, get out!" Dawn yelled. Max and Brock ran out of there like they had a Houndoom on their tails. As the door slammed shut, Brock turned to Max.
"That's why." was all brock said as he headed towards the lobby.
In Saffron City.
Mewtwo had awoken when the sounds of a car accident reached his ears. He looked around the room that had been their home for the past several days. He wouldn't miss it one single bit. His thoughts were interrupted by Ash's cellphone ringing. He quickly transformed into Mac and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" Mac asked. On the other end, a male voice answered.
"Yes, is Ash Ketchum there?" the man on the other end asked.
"Who wants to know?" Mac asked. There were only a handful of people who Ash's number, but most of them knew to him as Rage.
"It's professor Krane" the man replied.
"Good morning, Krane." Mac replied. "Ash is still asleep right now. Is it important?" Krane sighed on the other end.
"Just tell him to call me via video phone as soon as possible." Krane said. Mac nodded and hung up. He turned to the sleeping creature known as Ash and attempted to wake him up. After several minutes of trying to shake him awake, Mac decided to try a 'brain invasion.'
Using his psychic powers, and entered Ash's brain. There was a bit of darkness, but then a scene formed. He was on a beach, most likely Undella Town in the Unova Region. He looked around for a few minutes and found Ash with a young woman. They were locked in a passionate kiss, which was accompanied with some petting. Mac couldn't stand the sight for very long, mostly for time constraints and cleared his throat. Ash turned to see Mac standing over him.
"Is this why you never want to wake up in morning?" Mac asked. Ash turned back the girl he was with, but she had disappeared. Immediately, Mac was thrown out of Ash's head and back into the real world. Ash jumped from his slumber to find Mac standing near the bathroom door. He was chuckling at Ash for his reaction.
"Did you have to do that?" Ash asked. "I was having a really good dream." Mac nodded.
"I could tell." he said with a smirk. Mac rarely invaded Ash's mind, but when he did, he always saw the same girl with him. He knew it was the same girl because she had long blue hair, covered by a white beanie. "So who's the girl?" Ash looked up at Mac.
"An old friend." Was all Ash said. He got up and went into the bathroom with a towel and a change of clothes.
Vermillion City
After Dawn and May finished getting ready, they found Brock and Max sitting in the Pokemon Center's cafeteria. May was wearing a variant of her Hoenn outfit, but instead of red, the shirt and bandana were ice blue. Dawn had a complete change in outfit. Instead of the white shirt under a black and pink mini dress, she wore a long-sleeved black T-shirt under a short-sleeved blue jacket, and blue jeans. Her pink boots were replaced with red and pink tennis shoes. She also replaced the beanie she wore with the cap she was holding that morning. It was a red cap with a bold black line going down the middle of the cap. In the black line was a blue half-Pokeball symbol. Both May and Dawn sat down at the table with Max and Brock. May was the first to speak.
"So what did Dad want?" May asked. Max looked up from his breakfast.
"He was just checking up on us." Max replied. "Also, I'm going home." That statement shocked everyone at the table.
"What!?" May shouted. "Why?" Max shook his head at his sister's dramatic reaction.
"It's nothing to worry about, sis." Max replied. "I've been traveling with you guys for three years straight. I decided it was time for a break." Brock nodded.
"I understand, Max." he said. "Constant traveling can be tiresome on the mind and body. I'll miss you kid." Brock gave Max a hug. After squirming out of Brock's embrace, he turned to his sister.
"So what are you gonna do, sis?" Max asked. May thought about it for a moment.
"I guess, I'll go home with you." she replied. "You're right, it has been a while since we've been home." Max nodded. He knew that the search for their friend had taken a lot of their time during their journey, but they all needed a break at some point.
"I guess I'll go home too." Dawn chimed. "I really miss my mom anyway." she had a smile on her face. It had been one of the few she had had since her friend had disappeared.
In the Alley between the Vermillion City Pokemon Center and the Deli next door
There was blinding flash in the dim light of the alley, though no one was paying attention. When the light subsided, two figures stood in its place. One of them stumbled and supported themselves on the wall to his left. The figure next to him just laughed.
"You need to work on your re-entry." the first figure said. The second shook his head.
"You should have been prepared." the other said. After a moment, the first figure was able to support his own weight. He grabbed the strap of his backpack and started to walk out into the sunlight. The first figure was a young man wearing a black hoodie, blue jeans and black Converse Hi-Tops. His face was covered by a gray and gold bandana and a pair sunglasses. The other figure was an older man, wearing gray jacket, with lilac lines going up the arms, black jeans and black trainers. His features were not hidden like his companions, revealing his jet black hair and amethyst eyes. "Now explain to me why you couldn't take this call in Saffron?"
"it's simple, Mac." the first figure said as he looked at his cellphone. "It's currently 10:45 and depending on what Krane wants to talk about, I don't want to be late for the ferry home. 'The early bird catches the worm,' right?" Mac just glared at him.
"Since when have you ever been an early bird, Ash?" Mac replied. Ash just shrugged.
"What have I told you about calling me by my given name in public?" Ash retorted. Mac cocked his head.
"My apologies, 'Rage.'" Mac replied sarcastically. Ash just shook his head and headed towards the center's entrance.
When he and Mac entered, all activities ceased. All eyes were on the duo, which made Ash shift uncomfortably. In the years of him being a Pokemon trainer, he was okay with the stares. But when he disappeared, his tolerance for the stares grew very thin. He ignored the stares and walked up to the front desk, where he was greeted by a familiar pink haired nurse.
"Welcome to the Pokemon Center." the nurse said. "How may I help you?" Ash removed his backpack and set it on the desk.
"Would you mind giving my friend here a check up?" Ash asked. He unzipped the bag, revealing a sleeping Pikachu, cuddling up to a bottle of Ketchup. "We're taking 12:00 ferry headed to Orre, and I just want to make sure he's healthy." the Nurse nodded.
"I'll have him back to you in about 45 minutes." the nurse said. "Is there anything else?" Ash nodded and pulled out his cellphone.
"A colleague wanted me to video call him, but my phone doesn't have that function." Ash said. "Could you point me towards the phone room?" the nurse pointed at the hall.
"Down the hall and to you left." the nurse said. "I'll page you when your Pikachu is ready. May I have your name?" Ash nodded.
"Rage." was all Ash said. He turned towards the hallway and headed to the phone room. When he entered the room, he found only one phone occupied. He didn't get a good look at the occupant, he didn't really care. He sat down at the closest open phone and called his current Pokemon Professor. After several minutes of waiting, a picture popped up on the screen. It was a young girl about 14, with light blue hair. She smiled as she recognized him.
"Ashley!" She exclaimed. Ash sweat dropped at the nickname she had given him. "When are you coming back to the lab? Big brother is having trouble handling your Charizard." Ash just chuckled.
"I'm taking the next ship to Orre, Jovi. Also, tell Michael to leave Charizard be." Ash replied. "Anyway, could you get the professor on the phone?" Jovi nodded and left. After about five minutes, a man with shaggy brown hair, wearing a pair of wire-frame glasses, a lime green button up shirt and lab coat appeared on screen. "So what's up, Professor?" Ash asked.
"I was calling about a few things, so I'll start with a big one." Krane said. Ash leaned forward in anticipation. "how do you update the iTunes sofware?" Ash face-faulted at that question. Though he didn't show it, Ash was extremely irritated.
"That isn't important, Krane!" Ash yelled. "That could have waited until I got back to Orre." Krane laughed. After a minute of Krane's laughter, Ash started to chuckle.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't resist." Krane said. They talked about recent events, mishaps at the lab and what not, until Krane put on his serious face. "Joking aside, I wanted to discuss the upcoming Coliseum circuit this year." Ash nodded.
"What about it?" Ash asked.
"Are you going compete this year?" Krane asked. Ash shook his head
"I can't." Ash said. "Since I'm a Coliseum Master, I can't compete this year. But, since the season doesn't start for another six months, I can do what I please until then." Krane nodded. In the Coliseum circuit, you need to obtain four coliseum cards from the several Coliseums scattered across the region. After obtaining four cards, could enter Mt. Battle and compete for the title of Coliseum Champion. Although, If you obtain all Coliseum Cards from every coliseum, even if you lose the Mt. Battle tournament, you were given the choice of becoming a Coliseum Master in the place of a current one stepping down. If one did this, they couldn't compete in the next seasons for two years.
"Right. Realgam Tower, right?" Krane asked. Ash nodded. When Ash competed in the past season, he challenged the Realgam Coliseum, the toughest coliseum on the circuit and cut through the competition like a heated blade. Because of his battling intensity, he was dubbed 'The Wrath of Realgam.' "Well, best of luck and don't slaughter your challengers." Ash laughed and nodded.
"No promises." Ash replied. "Since I'm traveling on a cruise ship, do you think you could send me a few Pokemon?" Krane nodded.
"Sure." Krane said. "Which ones?" Ash thought about it for a moment.
"Send me Charizard, Tyranitar, Garchomp and Leonidas." Ash replied. Krane nodded and left the camera's view. After about five minutes, the transfer machine booted up. The retrieval tray extended out and four Poke-balls appeared. Ash stowed them in his backpack. Krane came back into view
"Thanks Krane." Ash said "Tell Lilly I said Hi." Krane nodded.
"Can do, Ash." Krane replied. "See ya." The connection was cut and the screen went black.
A/N: Wow, still no intense action and still no meetings. Just dialogue, a odd dream (in Mac's opinion), and a not so informative phone call. I call it an okay day. Anyways, if you like the story, you can follow it, favorite it or both. If you don't like it, please keep it to yourself. Everyone has a different cup of tea, this just may not be yours. Drop me a line if you have any suggestions about the story. I'm pretty open to anything, as long as it makes sense in the plot. One final note, I'm having trouble finding a primary antagonist for the story. I know that the story just started, but this is one detail I want ironed out for the end battle. If you could send me some ideas, them maybe I can get this story running smoothly. Next chapter will be up on the eighth of March, so be patient.
Until Next round,
Phant0m