Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor Hellsing, they are owned by their respective owners.
Chapter 6: The Trainer and the Military Dog
After several hours of packing, taking care of supplies, and contacting Hellsing about the route he is taking, Ash is finally starting his Pokémon journey. His route through Kanto, one of the few Pokémon regions, will take him through eight cities, each of which has a gym where he will battle with his Pokémon in order to earn a badge. Once he has eight badges, he can compete in the Kanto Regional Tournament, where only the best trainers are accepted. And the first city on his list, Pewter City, headed by the gym leader, Brock.
Putting all of his equipment onto his bag, Ash looked around for Pikachu, whom he found staring out the window. The night sky was peaceful that evening, and stars filled the endless void. The moon was a bright disk up in a sea of diamonds twinkling over the horizon, bringing peace to all who gaze at it.
"Pikachu, it's time to go," said the trainer. The mouse Pokémon simply looked at him, black eyes staring into the vampire's red ones, then proceeded to hop onto his shoulder.
"Well good luck on your journey Ash, and watch out for any trouble," said Professor Oak as he led Ash to the door. Ash shook his head.
"With my condition Professor, I think trouble will come to me," replied the trainer.
Oak laughed the statement off. He took something out of his pocket and gave it to Ash.
"Take this my boy, these are contact lenses, I bought these a few weeks ago along with Gary's sleeping bag. You see, there aren't many people with red eyes, and with your eyes, you could attract a lot of attention, and you and Hellsing don't want that do you?" explained Oak.
Ash took the lenses and put them on, reaching for a mirror, he noticed that his eyes now looked brown.
"Cool, thanks, is there anything else Professor?" asked Ash.
"No, no, nothing else Ash, but just a question, why are you keeping Pikachu out of his Poke ball?" asked Oak.
"I don't think he wants to come inside Professor, and besides, it's better to at least have some company when you are travelling," replied Ash.
"Oh, well that explains it, be careful not to suck on your own partner though, you can't participate on Pokémon battles without Pokémon you know," said Oak.
"Professor, I think I have more than enough self-control that I can keep myself from biting people at random you know," answered Ash.
"Of course Ash, well, if you haven't forgotten anything, goodbye, and good luck!" waved Oak.
"Thanks Professor, bye!" waved Ash back.
They had been walking for quite a few hours when Pikachu's ears perked up. They were in the middle of a forest, and, in the darkness of the night that they travelled in, make the normally gentle woods a terrifying sight.
"What is it Pikachu?" asked Ash. Then he also heard it, a noise not unlike a hungry animal with its sights set in its next meal.
"What could it be?" muttered the vampire to himself, his entire body alert. The next moment something jumped from the woods and straight into the trainer and his Pokémon, forcing the two to dodge the attack. Ash jumped to the right of the creature, while Pikachu dived to the left. The creature now turned to face its prey, Ash, and in the light provided by the full moon, Ash can finally see what he was up against.
"A werewolf, it looks like it's just been turned, must be a wild one on his first transformation, so incapacitating him would be enough," muttered the vampire to himself.
The werewolf was now looking back and forth between Ash and Pikachu, apparently unable to decide which one to attack first. Then he launched himself, at Pikachu. The mouse Pokémon barely had time to realize he was being attacked before the werewolf had gotten a hold of him, his claws digging into the Pokémon's body.
"Pika!" cried Pikachu.
"Pikachu!" cried Ash, who now went on the attack himself, trying to rescue his partner. He jumped onto the werewolf's back and placed the creature in a headlock. Due to the vampire's enhanced strength, the werewolf was soon choking and trashing about, trying to dislodge Ash from his hold. The headlock proved successful, the werewolf dropped Pikachu onto the ground, and shortly after that he too was lying on the forest floor, unconscious.
After Ash had bound the werewolf and made sure he would not escape, he attended to his partner.
"Hey Pikachu, you okay buddy?" asked Ash.
"Chu…" was the only reply, before Pikachu too, fell asleep.
Ash was relieved that Pikachu was still alive, but he noticed something that would change Pikachu's life forever. On Pikachu's body, were five wounds, while these would normally not cause any significant change, those wounds had been inflicted by a werewolf, which means Pikachu had now been infected by lycanthropy.
Removing his contacts and taking a medical blood bag to soothe his nerves, Ash sat down beside his partner. "What am I going to do now?" he said to himself before biting down onto the blood bag.
"Perhaps I could be of some assistance," came a voice from somewhere.
This startled the resting trainer. Tossing aside his blood bag, he immediately got up and went into a fighting stance.
"Show yourself," said Ash.
And a figure emerged from the woods. He was wearing what seemed to be an old style military uniform complete with a matching cap. He was walking towards Ash with the air of someone who has seen many battles, whose experience far outmatched those of the young vampire.
When the figure stopped in front of Ash, only then did he speak once more.
"Do not bother fighting me vampire, you are far too young and far too inexperienced to fight someone of my caliber," said the figure.
"But that doesn't mean I can't try," retorted Ash, taking one step towards the figure.
The next moment he was on the ground, completely immobilized as the mysterious person pinned him to the forest floor. "I told you, much too early," he said, letting go of Ash.
Ash quickly got to his feet and once again positioned himself on high alert.
The person shook his head. "Come with me, and take your pet and the werewolf with you."
Ash followed the being through the forest. After a few minutes of walking, in which Ash noticed the figure was having no problem walking in the dark, they came to a clearing. On the center of the clearing was a house, big enough for a single person to live comfortably, the house was surrounded by a small fence, and Ash could hear animal sounds in the background. He also noticed a small creek at the back of the house.
Beckoning Ask to come inside, the figure turned on the lights of his house. The inside was barren except for a chair, a bed, a bathroom, a wooden and steel cabinet, a table, some cooking and dining utensils, and a radio on top of a stool. In short, the man lived a simple life.
The man motioned for Ash to place Pikachu on the bed, and for the werewolf to hauled to the floor, when Ash had finally done both; the figure sat on the chair, and began to speak.
"If I have your permission, I shall take care of your Pikachu and train him on controlling his newfound abilities. I can also teach this werewolf some tricks on controlling his transformations if you like," he said.
Ash was taken aback. The stranger had never met him his entire life, he has no obligations with him, and here he was, offering his services to the young trainer.
"Tell me who you are first," replied Ash.
The man simply looked at him, after a moment he said. "You will hate me for telling you my name, you will be afraid of me for telling you my name, you will not trust me for telling you my name, you will soon become bored because I've been talking too much."
"You made your point, you are an evil bad guy that has changed and is now helping me, so can you please tell me now your name?" said Ash, exasperated.
The being once again stared at him, it was obvious from his expression that he was still debating whether to tell the trainer his name. "Alright, my name is Hans Gunsche, but my comrades call me the Captain."
It was evident from Ash's surprised face that he did not expect to encounter the Captain in his travels. Also evident from his expression is a mixture of fear, awe, and confusion.
"You're the Captain? But I thought Millennium was destroyed?" asked Ash.
"Yes it was, why do you think I'm living here now? And before you ask, I bought all of these legally, I have the papers in the cabinet," said the Captain.
Ash and the Captain stared at each other for a long time, minutes passed before Ash broke the silence.
"Why are you helping me?" asked the vampire.
"For the preservation of my kind, and because I have nothing else to do," came the reply.
This first confused the young trainer, but then realized what he meant by helping Pikachu and the werewolf control their transformations.
"You're a werewolf, aren't you?"
The Captain grinned. "I would have thought Hellsing would have told you in detail of Millennium's defeat."
Ash blinked, all throughout his stay in the manor, he never bothered to learn more of what happened to Millennium, how they were defeated, and what the Captain's part in it was. The only things he knew were those that were told to him on the second day of his stay, and some things he overheard while Seras was talking to herself.
"I…never bothered to ask," he muttered.
The Captain nodded. "Now that you have learned my name and what I am, I must now learn yours, do not concern yourself with hiding anything. I know you are from Hellsing, which means one of the top priorities of your organization would be capturing members of Millennium, myself in particular a highly sought after target."
Ash felt the Captain's gaze, as If boring unto his very soul. "I'm Ash Ketchum, and as you well know, I am a vampire, converted by Seras Victoria, and trained at the Hellsing Manor. While on our way to Pewter City, we were attacked by that werewolf, I managed to subdue him but was unable to prevent Pikachu from being wounded by the lycan, as for you being a part of Millennium; I shall have to consult Miss Seras about this dilemma."
Reaching for his phone, he looked at the Captain, who was doing nothing to stop him from calling Hellsing. That's when he noticed that there was no signal.
"Oh man, I can't get a signal," remarked Ash.
"Which means you will have to decide on your own, so what would it be, are you letting Pikachu and the werewolf stay with me, and help them control their abilities, or are you going to carry the burden of doing all of that yourself, which you have no experience with?" asked the Captain.
Ash contemplated hard, he was faced with two choices, either trust a former Millennium member with his partner and a dangerous lycanthrope, or do the task himself, which he has no idea how to. Moments passed, and finally the vampire made his decision.
"Alright, you can help train both Pikachu and the werewolf, but on a few conditions. One, once their training is complete, you will hand them over to Hellsing to be monitored. Two, you yourself will surrender to Hellsing and allow us to keep track of your activities. And finally, you will not harm anyone unless there is sufficient reason to," said Ash.
The Captain nodded. Walking over to his cabinet, he pulled out a pen and paper and started writing. When he was done, he handed the paper to Ash.
"This is my usual schedule, as you can see, I have a job at the local Pokémon Academy as a World History teacher, and after that I am often found here at my house, if I am not at those two places, I am usually a the town on some errand," explained the veteran werewolf.
"I never knew you had a soft spot for kids, who would have thought a high-ranking Millennium officer, and a werewolf at that, would end up teaching at a local high school," snickered Ash.
The Captain sighed. "Laugh all you want, but being over a hundred years old means being a history teacher would be the ideal job. I am still loyal to Millennium, but fear not, because Millennium no longer exists, I am no longer a threat," retorted the Captain.
"You mean Master Alucard?" asked ash, then a thought struck him, "but what if Millennium was reborn, what if the leaders founded the organization again, what would you do?"
"I shall stay neutral; I am loyal to Millennium, not to the leaders, if ever the organization is reborn, it is no longer the same Millennium that I am a part of," said the Captain, then he grinned, "and besides, who is going to teach those kids what really happened during the Second World War?"
This caused some laughter to emerge from the tense situation. After a few minutes, the Captain broke the cheery atmosphere.
"Without you Pikachu, you cannot participate in gym battles, who are you going to use?"
Ash's head perked up, he had never thought what would happen if he left Pikachu with the Captain. Looking around, he spotted a Squirtle lounging nearby close to the creek. Grabbing a Poke ball, he threw it at the unsuspecting Pokémon. The impact of the throw knocked the Squirtle so hard that he was immediately out cold, and captured. Ash walked over to the Poke ball and took it.
"This is what I'll use," said the trainer.
The Captain nodded, and then looked out the window. It was already morning.
"You can rest here until nightfall, as I have a job at the nearby town, I won't be around at that time. Be sure to call Hellsing when you arrive at Pewter city and," he added," good luck on your journey."
Ash nodded. Taking another medical blood bag from his backpack, he sat on the bed and began drinking.
Author's note: Let me guess, the Captain is off character. Sorry about that, but I have never seen him talk on the OVA, and the wiki didn't have any quotes on him. So I just assumed he is someone who would not go off topic. If you have any suggestions on how to improve this fic, please include in your reviews. Anyway, please read and review!