A Journey
Summary: Ash's daughter has NO interest in Pokemon training. So, Ash, being the enterprising young Master that he is, puts her into the middle of the woods in the night while she's asleep with a pack, no map, a Pokedex, and a VERY angry Pichu.
The tears gushed, and they gushed fast, even more than when I cried, a girl alone in the forest, with only an irate Pichu for company. I was a prisoner in reverse- I could go anywhere but home, it seemed. Pichu jumped from my head into my arms; it looked sad too, and I didn't understand why.
"Your father is at my home," I realized then, remembering how angrily Pichu reacted long ago in Sinnoh when I said that he probably didn't even know his father that well.
"Your father hated me, it's true," Pichu shocked me at this reminder that I didn't like him. "But he was a good Pikachu, the strongest in the world; so strong that criminals pursued him for hundreds of miles." This was the wrong thing to say. Pichu quivered, and its black eyes glistened with what I assumed were tears and fears.
"Your father might not have been kind; he tried to kill me. But he tried to kill me up front, with a shock. He didn't force his beliefs on me, other than by trying to force his belief that I shouldn't be there. Your dad might have been a yellow rat," at this Pichu shocked me even more; the shock was continuous now, and the doctor fled.
"PIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Pichu screamed.
"Look, Pichu, what I'm trying to say is that your dad couldn't help being a rat. The most ratty thing to do, no offense meant to Maestro, of course," I said, remembering that Maestro was a rat, and like a brother to me, "is what my father did. And I know you probably don't know him well, but once I finally get home, you will." Why was Pichu so angry? My lips burned.
"Pichu," I cried; the tears were what magnified its electric powers, I realized. "We'll get through this. Don't shock me in the ocean. I'll die, honest." I was paralyzed again like I had been that first time; I couldn't move.
The yellow glow that was Pichu's shocking stopped, only to be replaced by white, brilliant glow. Was Pichu--- oh no! It was evolving… I couldn't move; I couldn't congratulate it. Evolving from friendship, I realized. Pichu and I weren't friends, but we weren't enemies. We were united by our common situation: our fathers had neglected or betrayed us both. I managed a quick shake of my head, straining my muscles. The light stopped; Pichu returned to my vision. I crossed my eyes as it walked closer to me.
"Pii?" It asked.
"Thanks, Pichu, but not just yet. We're both feeling really emotional now. Let's wait. Besides, I have a headache." I said, a smile breaking across my chapped lips. Sounded like we were talking sex, not evolution.
"Chu." It said solemnly, not understanding, but for once, not contesting what I realized was now my authority. Not because it was a Pokemon and I was a human, but because we were alike and I was older. Now I understood Colin. I wasn't their master, just their sister. Didn't I call Maestro like my brother? He was more like my twin. Chopin seemed like my older brother, the quiet kind. He reminded me of my friend Benny, my first friend, Brock's youngest brother, the quiet artist of humans.
"I have to close shop; it's dusk." The doctor said, coming back in. "Twig," he said (how strange it was to find myself called by my own name after all this time!) "You are a girl of thirteen, but a human being of rare compassion and understanding. You would make a good doctor. Would you like to stay here with me? You could be an intern, you wouldn't have to train." Peter had been given an offer recently as well, but this one, unlike Brawly's offer, seemed instantly seductive rather than repulsive.
"I'd have to talk to my Pokemon and my travel group." I said emotionlessly.
I released Maestro and Chopin.
"Sit down, guys," I said, gesturing to the examination table. Pichu was already on my left shoulder, and Maestro hopped onto my right.
"None of you but Pichu knows the real story, frankly. I awoke in Sinnoh, in a forest; I still don't know where it was. I had with me my supplies, and the 'electric rat' here." Pichu growled, but of course, with no malice to it. Not anymore.
"The night before, I had slept peacefully in my bed in Kanto. I had a note from my father, Ash Ketchum, that I hadn't wanted to train, but that he knew," my voice dripped acid here. "That I would love it, and told me that when I could get home, I could stop training. Crazy much?" Maestro's eyes looked huge; and Chopin whistled in surprise.
"Yeah, tell me about it. I didn't realize until the doctor here told me, that he has made it very very difficult for me to get back as well. The only reason I got from Sinnoh to Hoenn was because that my ticket belonged to somebody else. He has told all shipping companies not to sell me a ticket. To get from Hoenn to Johto, I will need to train up a Pokemon to swim across the ocean. I think that was his intent; it would have forced me to get a strong Pokemon, and therefore train a lot. From Johto to Kanto, there is a range of mountains, with one railroad going under them in a tunnel. I won't be able to get a ticket onto that train; booking tickets requires identification I wouldn't have with a disguise. To cross that mountain range, I'll need Pokemon that can withstand the cold, Pokemon that can keep me warm. I'll also need a Psychic, my bias against Confusion aside," all my Pokemon, Pichu especially, looked angry at this; my hatred for Pokemon that fought by psychically destroy others from the inside out had only grown since that battle in which Infernape tried to hurt himself, and it had clearly grown in my Pokemon too.
"I have narcolepsy, I just found out." I continued. "I will fall into dream sleep and once I'm in it, I will be there for anywhere in between a few minutes and an hour. If this happens to me, please someone catch my head when I fall, and put me in a safe place. There is no cure, and when I'm in the dreams, even I can't tell what's real and what's not, because I fall so quickly. You three need to be my eyes and ears. Tell me what's real, and tell me what's not, because that otherwise I might not ever know."
Maestro butted his head against me like an affectionate cat; he would protect me, and I only hoped that I could protect him. The tears started again.
"The doctor here has offered me a job as an intern. I'd learn how to heal people. If that happens, you can stay with me, continue on with Peter, Lavender, and Brett, or go home, if you have one."
Maestro shook his head; I won him from a raffle, so he probably was domesticated, with no wild place to call his home.
Chopin edged closer to me as well.
"Pichu, you're the son of the strongest Pikachu this world has ever seen. You should be trained. I'd give you to Peter." It shook its head, and its little claws grasped me tighter. I tried not to go the usual way of anger; something was different now.
"I made a promise once," I mused. "I promised Lavender I would catch her a Dratini in Kanto when she gave hers to Peter. How can I do that without training? She wouldn't remember…but I did promise to protect her." Also, I thought to myself, I liked Peter a lot. Not with Lavender's blind love, but with something a little bit different. I didn't really know what. Why would I leave him now?
"Thank you," I said, poking my head out of the room, meeting eyes with the doctor. "But I made promises, and I still need to get back home to my life in Kanto. Thank you again, though." I said, hoping he wouldn't be offended.
"I figured as much," he said evenly, taking rejection much better than Brawly did. "However, I do have a proposition for you; instead of sending your additional Pokemon to Professor Oak, would you like to consider sending them to me? I'm sure that I could find some use for them around the hospital, and they would be actually useful when you weren't with them. I know it would give you less control over your Pokemon, but…"
"I'll do it!" I said excitedly. Here they were, being useful! He could help them gain skills that would be useful inside the battlefield and out.
"How would I make sure that they get sent to you?" I asked. I only had three Pokemon right now, so I had no idea. I never expected I would be training out long enough to get over six Pokemon.
"Give me your Pokedex and I will program it for you," the doctor said with a smile. I handed it over, and a moment later, he handed it back.
"Most people leave their extra Pokemon with Professors rather than people who could really use them. They would get better care with a Professor, and remain in battling condition for longer, but lord knows they wouldn't learn as much." He said.
"Well, thank you. How do I get from here to the Center?" I asked.
"I daresay your Rattata could sniff it out," the doctor said evenly.
"Probably. What's your name? You never told me," I said, a bit accusingly.
"I am doctor Joseph Daikon. Good luck, Twig. And remember, you can always call me; I'm in your contact list. If the internship position isn't filled, you can always come back; I'd be happy to have you. Usually we only get washed-out twenty-somethings who weren't good enough to qualify for the League," he said sarcastically.
"That sucks. Anyways I should be getting back," I said. "C'mon guys."
Pichu was still on my shoulder, and hopped down. Maestro still stayed on my shoulder, but I put him down.
"C'mon, you lazy lump! How else are you going to get faster if I'm your chauffer all the time?" Maestro rolled his eyes and hissed, but he did what I said and hopped down. When he walked, it was extremely slow, however, and with every roll of his haunches he let out a giant wheeze.
"Very funny," I said sardonically, but I was actually laughing. Chopin, the loveable workhorse that he was, was just walking along just fine.
"Hey, you smell anything?" I asked Maestro. In between wheezes he nodded, thumped his tail on the ground, and pointed his nose towards what I saw in the distance to be the Pokemon Center.
I walked over in time, overcoming the stiffness, and finally I arrived. I headed in, and saw Lavender, Brett, Peter, and Lauren all sitting on one of the couches.
"Hey," I said.
"I'm so glad you're OK!" Lavender said. She ran up to me and gave me a hug. Brett, a second behind her, did the same.
But what I really was excited about was Peter's oh so casual, "How ya doin'?" It made me very happy to tell him,
"I'm doing fine. When did you guys get in?"
"Thirty minutes ago. We experienced some… delays." The quirk of Lauren's perfect eyebrows told me all I needed to know about what she wanted us to think went on during the 'delays.'
"I have to be going soon," Lauren continued, clearly regretful. "I need to get to Verdanturf for the next contest. Preliminaries start in a week."
Lavender looked towards Peter imploringly. "Could we go to?"
"Not yet," he said annoyed. "We have to go to Littleroot to get Brett his starter Pokemon."
"Could we make it from Rustboro to Littleroot to Verdanturf in a week?" I asked.
"We actually would pass right through Verdanturf to get to Littleroot if we take the trail," Peter said, closing his eyes as if attempting to visualize a map.
"What if we don't take the trail?" Brett asked.
"Not safe. There's some serious forest there. We would get really lost."
"Ahh." Brett remarked.
"Once we're done here in Rustboro we can go through to Verdanturf. The kid can wait a little while to get his starter, right?" Peter asked Brett.
"Sure, why not?" Brett muttered. I frowned. I would have a much harder time beating Roxanne if she used rock Pokemon and I didn't have Brett's starter. I figured that this battle would be my test run. I needed to start training anyways.
"Peter?" I asked.
"Yeah?"
"What Pokemon would be strong enough to cross the ocean from Hoenn to Johto?"
"It would take at least two weeks, even on the fastest Pokemon." Peter mused. "Why? I met you on a cruise, you can just go on another." He continued.
"I thought it would be fun to cross the ocean. It would be, wouldn't it?" I said nervously. I had to convince them to do the inter-ocean thing, or else I was on my own.
"I guess," Peter said, unconvinced.
"It's not very easy, you know," Lauren pouted. "My older brother did it once. I can go on Empoleon for distances near the coast like today, but once you get out into the open waters, it's really really choppy." For once, she sounded like she wasn't trying to seduce someone.
"How'd you do it?" I asked.
"It was really hard, especially with only six Pokemon. He had a Lapras, which was good for relatively shallow areas. He had a Lanturn go ahead of the Lapras to guide the way, and she'd rescue us if we fell off. Of course, he had to have a Wailord for the deep areas, they're pretty standard, but those are the slowest things ever. He had to use it the most, because that the Lapras couldn't hold us and our supplies for very long. He needed a Pelipper, which is a big pelican-type Pokemon. It caught us fish and could scout ahead. We would have died without it. He had to take along a Dragonair, which is another standard. They can control the weather naturally, so he had to take it along for storms. I don't remember what else he took along."
"Well, it does seem really hard. Not every trainer could do it. I know I wouldn't be able to!" Lavender giggled. "Your brother must have been a good trainer!"
"He was," Lauren said. I decided to ignore the 'was.'
"It doesn't sound too bad," Peter mused. "I could do it if I really wanted to," he added louder, almost defiant.
"You could Peter! You're really really strong!" Lavender said with a giggle.
Brett looked stricken. "Isn't that kind of, you know…risky?" I could almost see his mind furiously calculating probabilities.
"Doesn't sound too bad," Peter said loftily. "I could definitely do it."
"Peter, if you need a fishing rod, you can use my Super Rod!" Lavender exclaimed excitedly, happy to be of any help.
"OK then. So we'll stay here in Rustboro tomorrow, right?" I confirmed. "And after that we'll head to Littleroot by way of Verdanturf?"
"Yeah. Anyways, I'm getting a little bit tired. Goodnight," Peter said, and with that he walked up the stairs and away.
"I should probably go too," Brett muttered.
"I'm heading out now," Lauren said quietly. I was surprised she didn't make a big show about it. "See you at the contests, Lavender," she said.
"You too!" Lavender said, although her normally happy tones now lacked sincerity.
"Come on, let's go." I said to Lavender. She went upstairs to our room, and my Pokemon followed.
She opened the door with the twisted key; there was only one bed.
"I thought there'd be two. Sorry, is that ok?" She said, her face stricken with worry.
"Yeah, that's fine, no worries," I said dismissively.
"Yay!" She said, clapping her hands together.
She got into the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.
Pichu hopped into my sleeping bag. I guess despite our new warming up to each other, guess it still wasn't going to share a bed with me. Chopin apparently slept standing up. Maestro hopped into my arms and I cuddled him closer to my chest.
I fell asleep too.