Chapter 13: Rilou
At the stroke of midnight Ash was called and as Rilou emerged it was a sight to behold. Four aura spheres had emerged as he did in the center of them was Rilou. He disappeared only for a second and impacted (for what looked like the same time, he was moving so fast) all four aura spheres with a force palm. When they exploded he appeared in the floor behind the target already with another aura sphere ready to go. It was thrown on the ground behind it and Rilou disappeared again, but only to reappear a short distance away in front of the target.
Still charged with an attack, Rilou all of a sudden collapsed on the floor. At first no indication of foul play or over-night training, but suddenly he was back on his feet within seconds. His eyes and body showed no forms of hypnosis and had begun to attack everyone and everything.
Ash realizes what's going on and attempts to return him to his Pokéball, but at every attempt he either dodges it, or breaks free before it can reclaim him.
Dawn understands what's going on and flees the room.
"Pikachu, protect Misty, I will calm him down, if I can't stop him gather everyone up and bring him down at all cost", Ash commands towards Pikachu.
Pikachu simply nods in understanding.
"Infernape, let's go I need you to hold down Rilou", Ash declares while releasing the fighting monkey from his Pokéball.
"Do whatever it takes, ok?", Ash said.
Infernape nods indicating he understands.
"All right let's get this started with a mach punch and then shift in to close combat", Ash yells.
Infernape charges fists all a glow, and after leaving a few hundred punches in Rilou he shifts into close combat hitting him with everything he has and then some.
Rilou was caught off guard and taken by surprise due to his rage.
"Now trap him in a fire spin, and put him down with a fire blast", Ash declares.
Infernape backs off a little with his mouth a blaze and traps the little fighter in a tornado of fire. Then Infernape charges for another attack, but the fire spin dissolves and Rilou just stands there.
"Infernape wait, don't launch that attack, but stay on your guard until he falls", Ash says.
"Fer-nape", the monkey replies with a nod.
Rilou charges in for another attack, but is pinned on the floor by Infernape before he can do anything rash.
Ash runs over to the two Pokémon, and looks at Rilou with an angry face.
"Rilou, just what were you thinking, why did you attack everyone, why?", asks Ash at the point of crying.
Rilou shifts his head and looks in Misty's direction to see her crying.
He turns away again.
"Snap out of it!", Ash yells punching Rilou across the face.
Everyone shocks in amazement.
Rilou then knocks Ash and Infernape back, and both of them are on the floor. Rilou stands up still hurting and holding his arm.
Rilou's facing expression return to normal, and looks around the room confused.
And as he looks at Misty again, he still sees her crying and then looks at Ash as he falls to the floor and loses consciousness. Ash, Infernape, and Nurse Joy run to his side.
"Nurse Joy, where… so that's where Dawn went, smart thinking", Ash said as Dawn came running back from the deck completely out of breath.
"Ash he appears to be ok, but I need to get him down stairs to examine him", replies Nurse Joy suddenly.
"Alright, but take me with you", Ash responds.
"Ok, but you will have to wait outside during this examination, deal?", says Nurse Joy.
"Deal", replies Ash.
"Alakazam?", Joy calls.
Alakazam appears beside them with Chansey and a stretcher.
"Let's get him back down stairs, and put up a restraint barrier I don't want a repeat of what happened here", Joy says.
"Ash wait, we are coming too", Misty yelled running with Pikachu in one arm and the other grasping her swollen belly.
"Darling you shouldn't be running like that", replied Ash.
"Let's not worry about that now, all that matter is figuring out what happened to Rilou and just make sure he's ok", replied Misty.
"Ok, let's go Nurse Joy", Ash says.
And Ash, Misty, Pikachu, Nurse Joy, Alakazam, and Chansey vanish from the room.
Moments later they appear at the front desk where the Pokémon mini center was placed.
"Let's get him to the E.R. and find out why he went berserk like that", said Joy as they rushed Rilou to the emergency room.
"Ash, Misty please wait here while I examine him, I'll let you know when you can see him", said Nurse Joy seriously.
Misty decided to sit down behind them. Because due to her pregnancy the toll had been taken on her energy, considering all the activities they had been doing all week.
"Ash darling come and sit down here next to me; take your mind off the ordeal", replies Misty sweetly.
"But…But…", Ash says.
"He'll be alright now please…take a seat", Misty replies a little more sternly.
"Yes, ok…", Ash says as he sighs and takes a seat on the bench next to Misty.
Misty lies down on Ash's lap and he begins to run his hands through her hair causing her to drift to sleep.
Ash falls asleep shortly after Misty and for what seemed like minutes Ash awakens to Nurse Joy's voice.
"…h?, sh?, Ash!", Nurse Joy yells to wake the unconscious trainers from their happy place.
"Yes, what is it Nurse Joy?"
"Rilou will be just fine, he just needs a little rest, but I learned something disturbing while examining him, do you recognize any of these?", Nurse Joy asked as she showed Ash pictures of injured spots on Rilou.
…
Ash begins scrolling through the pictures unto the point of disgust
"Well no, except for that one I did that, only… what time is it?", Ash asks.
"Well about 4 in the morning", replies Joy.
"Wow, we slept for a long time, well anyway I did that only a few hours ago, these others I never even seen before, do you recognize these Pikachu?", Ash responds as he show the pictures to his lifelong friend who was still half asleep.
Pikachu shakes his head.
"I found things like these all over his body apparently he had been undergoing abuse for quite some time, so I decided to probe a little further and found some disturbing visions", replied Joy.
"What kind of visions?", replied Ash concerned.
"Well, you know how psychics have the ability to read minds right?", asked Joy.
"Right…", replied Ash.
"Well Alakazam can not only do that but he can look into memories, even ones that have been locked away, and even project them to trainers. Basically what I mean to say is that I can't tell you what I saw, but I can show you everything he has been through before he was given to you, I trust you want to see them then?", asked Joy.
"Show me…", replies Ash seriously.
"Ok, but I must warn you now of two things; one all that we see will stay between us, and two it gets pretty bad so if you don't want to see any more just let me know", explains Joy.
Ash lifts Misty's head slowly and Pikachu places a pillow underneath her head, gets up and follow's Nurse Joy into the next room.
"Ash?", Misty sleepily asks.
"Darling sorry if I woke you, but there is something about Rilou's past that Nurse Joy wants to show me, so you just stay here and get some more rest, ok?", Ash replies.
Misty snaps awake almost instantly.
"No darling I'm going with you, there may be something you see that I may know about, and you're not going to be able to come up with any excuse to get around me so don't even try", Misty replies coldly.
"Alright, Nurse Joy do you have any wheelchairs I don't want to risk her standing up during this encounter considering what you just told me", said Ash.
"Yes as a matter of fact I do, Chansey?", Nurse Joy responds.
Chansey walks around with a wheelchair for Misty.
Misty sits down in the wheelchair and Joy leads them into the room Rilou was kept in.
"Alright, Alakazam if you will please", Joy says.
"Ash, Misty just relax, take my hand and close your eyes", says Joy.
They did as they were told and when they opened them.
They were down a long screen lit hallway with memories of what he did from the day he met Ash to now.
"This is Rilou as you set him out at the party yesterday; here is where he went berserk, but what I could never figure out was why until I looked here, right at this point I checked out everything he heard at that moment and found this", says Joy.
"What is it I don't hear anything", they said.
"You maybe not, be he can, apparently Rilou can hear even the most sensitive of sounds, no matter how low on the decibel scale they are. Almost to the point where even we can't register ever hearing it", Joy explains.
"Like a dog whistle?", Ash asked
"Yes exactly, but much more fine tuned than that", replied Nurse Joy.
"Apparently from what I could gather the moment he hears that sound his body simple goes into a complete state of maximum rage until everything around him is gone or he passes out, like he did yesterday", Joy says.
"Wow…", Ash and Misty say at once.
"Wait what if he hears it now while we are here", asked Ash.
"Don't worry I had locked up the center killed the lights and placed a sign on the door, and just as a side precaution I had Alakazam place a sound, and a movement restricted barrier over him, so even if he wakes up he won't be able to move and plus Chansey is still there watching over him, and Pikachu's there too, so there no need to worry", responds Joy seriously.
"Also Alakazam is a master of detection, and has a movement barrier placed around the center so no one goes unnoticed", Joy continued.
"Well, ok now back to Rilou, what did you find in his memories that could have caused this?", asked Ash.
"Well, it was a long time before you even entered the Sinnoh league that's for sure", Joy stated.
Joy begins walking down the darkened hallway searching for something.
"Ah…here it is, come here Ash", Joy says.
"Turns out a he was being chased by a hunter and nearly captured by her, but a young man with purple hair and a Grotle saved him", Joy says.
"Saved him?", replied Ash and Misty together.
"Yes, but not because the hunter almost captured him, but because he almost killed the hunter", Joy continued.
"Wait, What?", Ash and Misty reply together.
"Did he even get a look at the hunters face?", asked Ash.
"Well sort of but it's a little hazy only because he was trying to forget it ever happened", replied Joy.
"I know that Pokémon, that outfit, that ship anywhere", Ash states.
"Hunter J", Ash continues.
"Hunter J?", Misty and Joy question together.
"Yes a hunter who steals Pokémon for money even if they already belong to a trainer, and she'll do it as long as she gets paid, otherwise she leaves", Ash says.
"We managed to end her bullshit in Sinnoh, but after the last encounter at Lake Valor she disappeared, at least according to my old friend Gary", Ash continues.
"Wait you said something about a boy, what about the boy, who was the boy", asked Misty?
"He appeared to be a young man about your age Ash, and had purple hair and a bad attitude", Joy states as she pulls up a memory showing the boy.
Purple hair and a…, Ash trailed off.
"Paul!", Ash declares.
"Paul?", Misty and Nurse Joy ask.
"Yeah Paul a ruthless trainer who thinks about nothing but power, trains his Pokémon to the brink, I took Chimchar from him only because he thought Chimchar was weak, it's what he does to all weak Pokémon he finds even if he's been traveling with 'em for a while, I can't believe he did this, what does it say about when the league picked him up?", Ash asked frantically.
"Well Paul had released him after for traveling for several months and since Rilou couldn't win any battles recently, he released him without warning. Rilou pleaded to take him back, that he wouldn't lose anymore, but…", Joy states as she trails off.
"But…?", Ash and Misty ask,
"But Paul beat him back and left him alone", Joy says.
"Next thing he remembers is that someone else found him possibly several days later, took care of him even when he fought back, he even remembers his voice", Joy continues.
"His laugh, his tone everything", Joy says.
"And there's something else, the only thing he could talk about was his family back home in pallet town, the one he never got to know, his son mainly but for some reason those memories have been locked away in his heart, I can't dig that deep without emotionally compromising him", Joy states sorrowfully.
"In Pallet town?", asks Ash and Misty at once.
"Yes", Joy replies.
"Don't worry Nurse Joy I won't ask you to", replies Ash.
"Um…",
"What…what is it Misty?", asks Ash.
"His voice, his laugh you said he remembered every bit of it, can we hear it?", Misty wonders.
"Yes hang on a sec while I bring up one of his memories", Joy responds.
"Ah hah hah hah hah hah hah ha", laughs the voice.
"You know I hope my wife and son are doing alright without me, I really do miss them", says the voice regretfully.
"And if somehow I could tell them", says the voice before the memory breaks.
"I'd…"
Misty ponders her thoughts for a minute.
"What is it Misty?", asks Ash again
"I know I've heard that laugh somewhere I just can't…", Misty protests.
Misty thoughts click.
"The champ!", Misty mumbles.
"What?", Ash and Joy respond.
"It's the champ I'm sure of it, Nurse Joy can you take us back?", Misty asks.
"Sure, just a moment, Alakazam?", replies Nurse Joy.
They return to the Pokémon center as if they never left.
"Ash let me see your pokégear", Misty states.
"Sure, here", Ash replies.
Ash unhooks his pokégear from around his neck and hands it to Misty.
"Now if I can just search… ahh", responds Misty quickly.
"Ash, I want you to call this number right now", Misty demands.
"Um… ok", responds Ash.
Soon the phone is ringing and a voice appears at the other end.
"Hello?" said the voice on the other end rather groggily.
"Hello Mr. Champ this is Ash Ketchum", says the stunned young man.
"Well Mr. Ketchum what can I do for you so early in the morning?", asks the Champ.
"Well…", Ash trails off.
Misty grabs the phone and puts it on speaker.
"Mr. Champ this is Misty Ketchum and I have an odd request for you", asks Misty.
"Ok, what is it?", asks the Champ.
"Can you laugh like you did when you talked to Ash and I last?", Misty asks regretfully.
"Huh?" Ash, the Champ, and Nurse Joy state.
"Laugh; you know giggle, smirk, bust a gut, you know laugh", states Misty.
"Um… ok I'm not sure I can just pull it out of the blue though", replies the Champ.
"Well then here's a joke, what happened to the magical tractor?", Misty asks.
…
"I don't know", replies the Champ.
"It turned into a field", Misty replies.
…no response
"Damn…", Misty says clutching a fist.
"Ok, then, what the difference between a bad golfer and a bad sky diver?"
…
"One goes", whack, "darn"…
"The other goes darn", whack.
…still no response
Ash buts a gut in the background.
"What's so funny?", the Champ asks while Ash is still laughing on the floor.
"Damn this guy is hard to please", Misty thinks.
"Ok third time's the charm", a baby seal walks into a club…
All of a sudden the champ falls on the floor laughing his ass off.
…
"Wow, I didn't even finish the joke…", Misty sat in her chair shocked.
"Well at least we got the laugh", Joy says.
"Yeah I guess you're right, now that we have it listen closely and compare it to the one in the memory, doesn't it sound familiar?", asks Misty.
"Yes I think it does, Joy remove the sound barrier over Rilou", Ash states.
"Oh…ok", Joy replies.
Alakazam removes the barrier and Misty walked up to Rilou and places the pokégear next to his ear, they all stare at Rilou for a response. Suddenly a smirk appears across his face.
"Wow it was him", Joy says.
"Well I'll be damned", Ash states.
"Thanks champ well see you in a couple of hours at the opening ceremony", Ash says.
Ash hangs up the phone.
"What, opening ceremony?", cries the champ.
"I forgot and its already this late, oh Mr. Firetrap will be most cross with me for being late, well better get to it or face even more of his wrath", states the Champ as he began heading for the shower.
"Great job Misty, I'm glad you came", states Ash.
"Me too, and hopefully we can heal Rilou's emotional wounds, with the love and care he deserves", Misty says sweetly.
"Uh-huh", replies Ash.
"Well thanks Nurse Joy, is it ok to take him back?", asks Ash.
"Of course Ash, here let me…", Nurse Joy says cheerfully before getting cut off.
"!"
Rilou sparks up in his restraint as Alakazam is struggling to maintain it.
"No way, Alakazam has never had this much trouble maintaining the restraint barrier", Nurse Joy says scared.
"Well considering all he done over the past five hours I'm surprised at him for holding out this long", Misty states.
"Alakazam release the barrier!", states Ash.
"What, he'll kill us", Joy responds.
"No he won't, I'll stop him again before he does", Ash replies.
Before Alakazam can break the barrier Rilou breaks through and lashes out at Ash,
"Ahh!", they all scream.
"Pikachu!", cries Pikachu.
Pikachu breaks into the room, throws Rilou back into the bed and stands right in between Ash, Misty, Nurse Joy and Rilou; ready to protect them should the case arise,
Misty moves her wheelchair over next to Rilou and pats him on the head.
"It's ok Rilou why don't you calm down and we can go have some breakfast, ok?", Misty sweetly says to the hyped up Pokémon.
Rilou snaps back into reality at once.
Misty picks him up, and begins to pet him until he lies resting on her lap.
"Well I think this little one is going to be fine as long as he stays calm", Misty says.
"I think you're right, let's head back", Ash replies.
"I wonder what caused him to calm down so quickly?" ash asked dubiously.
"It was love, darling" replied misty.
"Yeah I guess you right, I guess we should get back upstairs' and let everyone know he's ok," said ash.
Ash begins to push Misty in the elevator to take them back to their rooms to get cleaned up before the seeing everyone again. They were still in the same clothes they were in yesterday, but this time Rilou was calm and asleep.
"Don't worry Nurse Joy I'll bring it back before we leave", Ash calls out.
"Don't worry about it Ash, hang on to it, I've got a feeling you'll need it", Joy replies.
The elevator reaches the top floor and as Ash and Misty step off they are ambushed by two Scizor, and a psychic attack coming from a Gardevior.
Ash and Misty are out of the frying pan and into the fire, why are they attacked, will they ever make the opening ceremony, find out next time on Events Unexpected.