Peak Ch. 2
…
Misty sighed. "Ms. Ketchum, you wouldn't happen to know where Ash is?" The over excitable teen boy had promised to visit her.
Delia shook her head. "I've been worried sick! I remember him hauling out some heavy winter gear, though."
The redhead buried her face in her hands. "Oh, no! He's not allowed to go up there!"
"Up where?!" Misty had the mother's attention.
"Mt. Silver… the region champions and the professors haven't been allowing him up there. They keep saying that it's for a reason, but he just wouldn't listen!"
"And what exactly is that reason?" Suddenly the tone was as sharp as a blade.
And that's when Ash appeared out of nowhere and crashed down on Delia's china plates.
…
"Oooooh…" groaned Ash. Everything was contorted, but slowly swaying into focus. "Where am I?" He would recognize that orange blob anywhere. "Misty?"
He realized that the reason he was finding it hard to breathe was because his mom and the gym leader were crushing him.
"Ash! Are you okay? What happened?" His mother's worried frown twisted into a scowl. "And just where were you?!"
"I'll answer that in order. I'm okay, but, I think my pokemon are in real trouble." He threw out all of his friends, ready to give emergency medical treatment, but instead startled.
They were in perfect condition, practically glowing.
"Yeah. 'Real trouble'," Misty deadpanned.
Meanwhile, Ash's eyes were bugging out of his head. "But-but- last I saw them-… oh, yeah, how did I get here?"
Misty decided to be blunt. "You fell out of the ceiling with a flash of light."
"Kinda psychic-type-y light?"
"Yep."
"… do Espeon have the power of teleportation?"
"What in Giratina's name does that have to do with what happened to you?!" Cried Misty.
"Well, you see, I had made it to the top of Mt. Silver-"
"The place you weren't supposed to go?"
"-and there was this person and an Espeon, and they attacked, but they also were following the battle code. The person, from the outline I could see, looked about twenty-one, and he didn't even switch out once, and beat all of my pokemon with one hit! And then there was this rock slide, and they stopped it from killing me, but they missed one and it fell on me and knocked me ou- WHERE'S MY HAT?!"
Delia was already bustling around his head. "Are you sure this isn't some concussion-made delusion? And, anyway, why are you worried about your hat?! That guy might have been the reason you weren't allowed on Mt. Silver! Actually, I don't think concussions can make hallucinations…"
"I just thought that it was because everyone was too chicken to find the legendary pokemon that obviously lives there!"
Misty pinched the bridge of her nose with exasperation. "I think we should talk to Prof. Oak."
…
"So you're telling me that Ash went up Mt. Silver, unguided, with only his pokemon, and survived, even though he was attacked by a mysterious figure?"
The two women and one boy nodded.
The professor frowned at Ash. "…tell me everything in excruciating detail."
…
At the end, the renowned scientist was spacing off. "… that sounds… familiar…" he reached over and grabbed an older model of pokeball, and fidgeted with it. "A sudden blizzard, a mysterious, silent figure with impossibly powerful pokemon…"
And then the old man bolted upright. "That's it! That's why Mt. Silver was closed off! I had two pupils, and they had both gone up the mountain and returned in a similar fashion. Actually, the same fashion. And they were both babbling about blizzards and Espeon. And missing their hats."
Professor Oak was pawing through his big list of pokégear numbers, frantically looking for one. "They had also said something about their pokemon dying, but when they called them out they were fully healed. Aha! Here's the number I was looking for!"
Ash leaned forward. "Who are you calling?"
"Someone who knows where both of the trainers who faced that person are and how to find them. My grandson."
"Gary knows them?"
"No. His older brother, Green, who works in Viridian City."
…
Ash gaped at the Gary doppelgänger in the lab's doorway. "You look just like Gary!"
The man gave him a bored look. "I'm not sure if that's a compliment. I'll take it as one, though."
Was it just him, or had Ash seen a kind of pain in Green's eyes?
Green stepped inside. "So, I heard that there was another luck- unlucky person who has sighted our mystery figure."
Professor Oak nodded, and gestured at Ash. The brunette's teeth were gritted. "Perfect."
…
Green had requested to be able to interrogate Ash alone.
The man's eyes were icy. "First off, let's battle. It's hard to believe someone like you made it to the top. Because I'm the Viridian Gym leader, and the couple of times I did it I needed help. You don't exactly look like much."
"You sure act a lot like your brother, too!"
"I don't care."
Okay, so maybe Green wasn't like Gary. He seemed to have much less bravado. His first pokemon: Charizard.
Ash grinned and sent out Samurott. "Hydro pump!"
"Deflect."
The man's Charizard folded its wings over its body and pushed outward, reversing the course of the jet and hitting Samurott in the chest. "Blast burn."
Both Ash and Samurott were paralyzed as the huge fire attack shot straight at them. The silence was punctuated by the crackling of flames and the smell of smoke.
Samurott had fainted.
Ash quickly grabbed another pokeball, ready to take this jerk down-
"This battle's over. I'm amazed you were able to make it to the top, let alone battle whoever is up there."
"What?! This is just getting started! Don't return your Charizard, mine will beat yours! Hey! Weren't you listening to me?!"
"No, I wasn't. Sit down."
Ash huffed, then obeyed. "So waddaya want?" He asked, arms crossed.
"First off, why did you disobey everyone and climb Mt. Silver?"
"I thought that there might be really powerful pokemon up there!"
"There are really powerful pokemon up there."
Ash nodded eagerly. "Yep, what I would give for that Espeon!"
"No, I mean, wild ones. Didn't you encounter any?" Green's eyes were narrowed.
"No. Why?" Ash was confused.
"Strange… so, you said that you felt 'outside' emotions while up there, that felt separate. Is that true?"
"Yeah." Why was this guy so skeptic?
"Go into more detail."
"Well, when I convinced my Charizard to take me back to the battle when I sent it out, I just felt happy even though I felt angry and frusterated and… and…"
"Go on," prompted the brunette when he saw the boy's fists clench.
"And I felt really, kinda, sad, I guess? When I got knocked out and beaten,"
"And where do you think that these emotions came from?"
"What are you, a psychiatrist?"
"No. First most powerful registered trainer in the world, previously the second, yes, before…" Green drifted off, staring into space like he could see something in it.
"Before what?"
"Nothing. Answer the question."
"I don't know, okay? I've told you and Professor Oak everything I remember!"
"All right. I'm going to call the other two victims. See if your story jogs their memories. If not, then there's one more person I can bring you to…"
…
Sorry, a bit of a filler. But Green's introduced! Yes!
I think most people know who the three, or at least two, of the others are.
Making Green Gary's older brother goes against my headcanon that the characters of the manga are the anime characters parents, and that that's why they're focused on them, but, it works with the story. :P
Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year!
