Aura's Yami: Chapter 1: Ash's Birthday
"Your father is never coming back" He can still remember those words. He can also remember how much he denied those words. He remembered that he ran out of the door, hoping to find his father, but was brought back by his mother. But the one thing that he remembers the most are the words he overheard his uncle say to his mother:
"He would still be alive, if he wasn't going to participate in the championship for his son." However, Ash knew that his uncle was actually saying "He would still be alive, if it weren't for Ash". Over and over again, he heard these words in darkness. Then, the words stopped.
Ash woke up that morning like any other morning. He was sleeping in his sleeping bag near a very pretty forest. The day was calm and beautiful, and the air was crisp and clean. However, Ash couldn't help but think of his nightmare. He'd been getting the same nightmare for nearly a week now. Ever since Ash realized that it's been nearly five years since his father died. He hadn't told anyone of those nightmares; he just assumed they were just nightmares.
"Why do I keep getting these dreams?" Ash thought to himself. "Why do I have to keep remembering? I just want to forget, forget that it was my fault…" But Ash cut himself there. He turned around and realized that he was alone. He could not see Brock or Dawn, his friends and traveling companions. There was no Brock making breakfast ("And I'm so hungry …" Ash thought to himself), there was no Dawn complaining about her hair ("Well that's a relief"), but his best friend Pikachu was nowhere to be found either.
"Oy! Pikachu! Dawn! Brock!" Then, he saw coming out of the forest Pikachu!
"Pikapi!" (Ash!)
"There you are Pikachu! Where've you been buddy? And where's Brock and Dawn?" "PikaPika!" (I know where they are!)
He seemed to want Ash to follow him into the forest.
"Oh, so you know where Dawn and Brock are?"
"Chu!" (Yes. I just told you that)
"All right then, let me get dressed then. I don't want Dawn and Brock to see me in my underwear"
Ten minutes later, Ash was following Pikachu through the forest. Sometimes, Ash couldn't help but think that Pikachu was lost. "Uh, you DO know where to go, right Pikachu?"
"Pika!" (Oh please Ash; I'm not a hopeless wanderer like you)
"Ok then buddy, I'll keep following you." As Ash was walking, he couldn't help but remember that his father died in a forest. At least, that's what his uncle told them. No one could find Tajiri's body, because supposedly the murderer threw him off a cliff. It was even more surprising that Ash's uncle was able to escape with only a gun wound on his arm.
"Why did they have to do that to you dad? And it was all because of me." Ash thought to himself. However, as he looked up, he saw that Pikachu was nowhere to be found. "Pikachu? Oh great, I got separated from him. Pikachu? Pika-!" As Ash was walking, he stumbled across some bushes. When he got out, he could see a playground and some tables decorated for a party. "Huh? What's this?" "SURPRISE!" "Waaaaah!" Ash jumped up and saw that it was Brock and Dawn, along with all of their Pokémon. "Oh that's nice, you guys nearly gave me a heart attack!" "Well that would have sucked, considering it's your birthday" said Brock. "Happy Birthday!" cried Dawn and all of the Pokémon.
"Oh yeah, it's my birthday isn't it?"
"Ash Ketchum, how could you forget your own birthday?"
"Excuse me! I haven't had a birthday party since I was 9!" But before he could say anything else, all of his Pokémon came and dog-piled on Ash. All except Gible, who would rather nom on his head. "Aww, guys! That's so sweet! Gible, stop nomming my head." After everyone got off Ash ("Gible stop! My head isn't that tasty!"), Brock decided to start off with breakfast ("Yay!").
As everyone was eating breakfast, a group of stalkers were eyeing their every movement. As usual, what day would be complete in the lives of Team Rocket if they weren't going to attempt to capture Pikachu? They were all in their Meowth balloon, looking down on Ash and his friends through binoculars.
"Hmm… I wonder why there's so much twerp happiness down there?" said Jessie.
"They looks too happy.." said Meowth.
"Hmm… balloons, cake, presents, streamers, banners. I know! They're celebrating the 4th of July!" said James.
"In May?" asked Jessie.
"Cinco de Mayo maybe?"
"How ya manage ta' live without a brain is beyond me. It's the twerp's birthday!" yelled Meowth.
"Ohhh." Obviously, James wasn't the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.
"How rude! The twerps have a party and we're not invited!"
"Well James, that's what happens when you're a child stalkers."
"Not ta' mention thieves."
"Well then, let's give them a special guest appearance, as our present."
"Tee-hee-hee! We can't possibly screw up this time!"
"Wobbufett!" (Just wait and see!)
Meanwhile, Ash and his friends were busy getting the dished clean and putting everything away.
"Who would've thought we needed to clean so many dishes?"
"Well Brock, it's all thanks to birthday boy, who ate five servings of pancakes!" "Pancakes!"
"Pika!" (I think I heard something!)
"Hmm? What's up Pikachu? Did ya hear something?"
"Pikachu Pika Chu!" (Of course I heard something! Why must you repeat my sentences?)
Then, everyone could hear a rustling sound in the forest, as if someone was going to come out. "I sure hope it's not Team Rocket again. Can't they fail another day?" said Dawn. However, instead of Team Rocket, a woman came out of the bushes and trees. She had short blonde hair that was in the shape of a crescent, was wearing a blue robe over a yellow dress with what appeared to be decorated with purple crescent moons. She seemed to be talking to herself, apparently lost in her own world.
"Oh honestly, bushes, trees, and branches oh my! I wish I could just teleport."
"Um, hi there."
The woman looked up and finally realized she was with other people.
"Oh hello there! Excuse me for not noticing you earlier…"
As if on cue, Brock approached the young woman, grabbed her hands, and started to say
"With all due respect ma'am, excuse me for noticing your beauty earli-aa!"
However, instead of Croagunk Poison Jabbing him, it was actually Ash who pushed Brock out of the way.
"Hey!"
"Hold on. Could you be Selia from Pallet Town?"
"Huh? And who are you?"
"I'm Ash Ketchum, remember?"
"Oh Ash! I almost forgot about you! Well I didn't forget you because you can never really forget a person, but I had a hard time remembering you!"
"Boy she sure does talk a lot" thought Dawn. "So Ash, how do you two know each other?" she asked.
"I think it's more important to ask how WELL they know each other, don't you think so Dawn?" said a jealous Brock.
"Well actually Brock, Selia and I were neighbors once. Oh yeah, Selia, this is my best friend and failure at love, Brock."
"Thanks for the introduction Ash…"
"And this is my friend Dawn."
"Nice to meet you Selia! I want to know everything about Ash's childhood. And I mean EVERYTHING…"
"Oh, you have lovely friends Ash…"
"That reminds me! You haven't met my best buddy" ("Oh sure, he's his 'best buddy'" thought Dawn) "Pikachu!"
But before Pikachu could introduce itself, a giant plastic ball on a chain came and caught it!
"What the-"
The ball with Pikachu inside was carried away to a Meowth hot air balloon, which had just come out of the forest. "Yay! We caught Pikachu!" said Jesse. "Not only in the ball, but on tape too!" said James, who seemed to be recording with a video camera.
"Of course. Why did I expect anything different? And on my birthday too!"
"Prepare for trouble birthday boy"
"And make it double, we're about to kill your joy!"
"Oh screw this, Pikachu use Thunderbolt!"
"Pi! Pika-CHUU!"
But Pikachu's Thunderbolt didn't seem to do a thing to the ball!
"Huh, why didn't it work?
"You would have thought that after four years of trying to steal his Pikachu he would have learned his lesson." Said James.
"Oy, twerp! Dis ball is plastic, which means dat ya can't zap it!" said Meowth
"Oh no, what are we going to do?" asked Dawn. Everyone was to worried about how to get back Pikachu, but could not think of anything. Then, Ash said "I got an idea! Staraptor, we're gonna fly over there!"
"Wait a minute, fly?" But before Selia could stop him, Ash had already jumped on Staraptor's back and was already flying towards the balloon.
"Does he do that often?"
"Well Selia, I guess you have a lot to learn about Ash."
Meanwhile, Team Rocket also noticed that Ash was flying toward them. "Uh-oh, incoming twerp at 11:00!" cried James. "Really? I thought it was still 10:30 something" said Jessie. "Forget that! The twerp is heading this way!" said James.
"Don't worry my two clueless lackeys; I, the brilliant Meowth, will stop the twerp with my plastic ball!"
"…his what?"
As soon as he said it, Meowth suddenly grabbed the ball's chain and started to swing it back and forth in front of Ash. "Piiiiii!" Pikachu was shrieking out for his friend to hurry up already and save him. Plus, he was feeling dizzy from swinging back and forth. Ash however, found it hard to get close to the balloon with nearly missing the ball.
"Hmm, Staraptor, go up!"
"Star!" (Right)
The ball missed Ash and Staraptor again, but this time Staraptor kept going up and up until Ash finally told it to stop.
"Huh? What's the twerp up to Jessie?" asked James, who was still recording with his camera. His question was soon answered as he saw Staraptor hurdling donw towards them. "Oh no! He's coming, he's coming, he's coming, he's coming, he's coming!"
But instead of going towards Team Rocket, Ash instead jumped off Staraptor and held on the chain of the ball. "Pikapi!" (What the hell was that Ash!)
"Don't worry buddy, I got ya."
"All right, dat's it!" Meowth was furious. "Listen twerp! We've been trying to capture Pikachu for nearly four years! And I'm not going to let it go so easily!" As he was saying this, Meowth lifted his paw, and scratched Ash right in the face. "Aaah!" Ash let go of the chain and grabbed on to the ball instead, nearly falling down.
"Pikapi!"
"Ash!"
"Ooh, that was a good Slash Meowth!" said Jessie. Bu then she noticed that the boy was looking as though he was getting a massive migraine. "Maybe that was a bit too powerful Meowth…" said James, who was now taping Ash. "Hey, he doesn't look to good" said Jessie.
She was right. Ash was feeling as though his head was being pounded and beat every second. "My head…is hurting…so much… please make it stop…" Then he noticed that his vision was getting blurry, and could barely see or hear Pikachu, who was just in front of him inside of the ball.
"Pikapi! Pika pi pika Pikapi!" (Wake up Ash! Don't fall asleep!)
"Pikachu?" said Ash weakly. Then Ash felt as though he was hit with something, like a heart attack or seizure. Then, everything went black.
He couldn't see anything; he couldn't feel anything either. While he was slowly regaining his consciousness, he saw that he was floating in a black void, and could see nothing except his own body. "Where am I? Where's Pikachu? Where are you, Dawn, Brock, Selia?" he cried out their names, but heard nothing. "I'd be happy if I see Team Rocket, just so that I can kick their… huh?" Ash never finished the sentence, because he saw below him a Pokémon battle was taking place. "Huh? There's a battle right below me. Am I dead …again?" he asked himself. He then saw that a cliff materialized underneath the battlers, and the trees, and then people. It was as if Ash was watching a video that was loading itself. He could see one man in an orange suit commanding a Persian and another man in average clothes trying to command a Pikachu, but was obviously losing the battle. He then took out another Pokeball and released a Pidgeot, who started a sand twister of sorts. "Whoa, that guy is awesome! He looks like a good trainer. But why does he look familiar? And what is happening here?" he said, finally realizing the nature of his condition. After the twister disappeared, Ash saw that Pidgeot was coming towards him, and flew straight through him and into another direction. "Waah! It flew right through me! Maybe I am a ghost or something!" Then, Ash saw that the orange suit man was talking with the other man. Ash tried to 'float' forward to try to hear what they were saying, but only got to hear "Why you bastard! You really are him! You're-" But then, Ash saw that the Persian was coming and used a Faint Attack on the man that was talking. The orange suit man grabbed him and then threw him off the cliff, much to Ash's horror. "No! Wait, you can't do that!" But apparently, they hadn't heard him, and Ash saw the man fall to his doom. That's when he saw the man's face clearly. It was his father. "Dad…"
Ash woke up with a start, breathing frantically, as though he had just seen a ghost. "Ash, it's all right, calm down." He saw that Brock was holding him down by his arm, with a worried look on his face. "Brock?" He turned around and saw Dawn and Selia next to him, with an equally worried look on their faces. He then saw Pikachu in front of him, safe and sound, and certainly not in Team Rocket's ball capsule thing. "Pikachu? You're ok!" He hugged Pikachu very tight, to the point where Pikachu was gasping for air. "Ash, let go of poor Pikachu. It had quite enough for today" said Dawn. Ash then looked around and saw he was in one of those rooms for patients in a Pokémon Center. "What am I doing here? Where's Team Rocket?" "Don't worry Ash, Team rocket is far away, and probably won't be coming back" said a voice. Ash turned around and saw that it was Nurse Joy who said that. "Nurse Joy?" "Don't worry Ash, you're quite fine now. After all, your friends brought you in here quite quickly. They said you fell off a hot air balloon and wouldn't wake up." "I did? But guys, what happened?" "Ash, I think it's best if we discuss that alone." It was Selia who spoke up. "Nurse Joy, do you mind?" "Not at all." After Nurse Joy left the room, Selia turned to Ash with a serious look on her face and said, "Ash, do you know about the Dimensional Scream?"