Chapter 3, everyone! In which we finally jump into the show and I am still overwhelmed by the attention this story is getting….
And I'm apparently the only one in my Internet circle who is actually happy with the election results….Oh well.
Pokeevee57, thanks for the review! Best card to play. I know! We needed more Darkrai in our lives—I mean, look at him! Such a scary cool Pokémon, and well-designed too. Ash might not do the team of Magikarp, but I'm fairly certain he'll get at least one—and yes, that will probably be exactly what happens. ;) I think it might be more common-sense dumb as opposed to smarts dumb—I could pronounce paleontology at five, but didn't have enough sense to know that getting my hair cut didn't hurt. ^^; Thank you, glad you like it—Darkrai has been fun to write so far, although there's been some push and pull as far as getting personal stuff from him (but we're working on it). Keep at it, you can do it! :D Me too….(I had an idea, and fortunately have Google to back me up—thank you! ^^).
Jakeroo123, thanks for the review! Ah—to be fair, it's been years since I've seen that episode, so I only remember the broad strokes of it. *puts it on to-watch list* This is true. And that is true too.
Bladetri, thank you for the review! I hope to continue to please! :D
Thor94, thanks for the review! Don't worry, we'll be getting past the "daft kid in a costume" this chapter (and to be fair, five is about the time one has unrealistic goals for adulthood like becoming a favorite animal—I personally wanted to be a velociraptor…). This is true—we shall see how this goes….
Dragonkeeper10, thanks for the review! I shall strive to continue to please! Aha, yes—he's had enough of it over the years. :)
CandlitNights, thanks for the review! Well, have to keep plugging along—it's kind of like Ratatouille, where Gusteau says to Remy that food will come to those who love to cook; reviews will come to those who write. :D Most definitely. :D Yes, I'm definitely including the first movie—I already have it planned where it will come in (and figuring out the movie with Darkrai in it was what encouraged me to do the rest of the Indigo League). Ah…I think my sparseness might come from learning how to write scripts—there less is always more. I'll definitely work on beefing up my descriptions though and giving a little more from Darkai's side (I don't know what it says about me that I was surprised you saw that comment and the anatomy chart—I'm glad you liked it, though :D). Lingering some places might be the spot I need to work on—looking over some of my writing, I tend to just go rapid-fire. Haha, I hadn't given any thought as to how Ash's Pikachu costume meets its untimely demise, but that works. :D I love it too—here's hoping I can continue to please. :D
DarkstalkerWoF1499, thanks for the review! Will do! :D
Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo
And now, for something completely different:
The Pokémon League would like to remind all Regional Trainer Sponsors to accurately estimate the number of starter Pokémon required for the year. In case of underbooking, substitute starters at the appropriate level can be used. A list of suitable substitute starter Pokémon can be found on the Pokémon League website.
The town Dodrio perched nobly on a roof, raising all three heads to call a greeting to the rising sun.
That greeting quickly turned into an agitated squawk as something big and black darted by, executing a tight circle around the clock tower before zooming off, too fast for those below to track and angling for a house on the outskirts of town.
The black blot became identifiable as Darkrai when he slammed into a window, pressing his claws and face against the panes.
"Wake up, you loser!" he thundered.
Ten-year-old Ash Ketchum fell out of bed with a yelp.
Darkrai chuckled, quite pleased with himself, and levered the perpetually-unlocked window open so he could enter. "Don't you ever clean?" he asked, glancing about.
"I was getting ready for my Pokémon journey!" Ash countered, gathering up some of the refuse littering the floor. "Wait—what time is it?"
Darkrai picked up Ash's alarm clock, then examined the end of the wire, where a Rattata had obviously gotten to it. "Eight o' clock," he said, remembering the time from when he buzzed by the clock tower moments ago. "And you are going to be late if you don't get off your dead rear."
Not a problem—he had hardly gotten the sentence out before Ash was scurrying around his room. "I thought you were getting ready for this last night."
"I was, but I had to watch the League finals last night!" Ash yelled, running into his closet. Darkrai couldn't help but wonder if the kid thought he'd come out fully clothed one of these days, like the guy in the ridiculous comics he read.
Ash came out with two tee-shirts. "What do you think? White or black?"
"Kid, if you can't dress yourself at this point, I don't think I can help you."
"I think black," Ash decided. "I mean, people get dirty on these trainer journeys, right?"
"You're still going to be late if you don't hurry it up—it's not like you're leaving direct from the lab."
"Okay, hold on," Ash said, trying to tug on his shirt while navigating out the door. "I—"
Fell down the steps.
"The village idiot all grown up and heading out into the wide world," Darkrai sighed, clasping his claws together in mock-whatever people meant when clasping their hands together. "And they're giving him a Pokémon for good measure. The world as a collective whole is doomed."
Ash ran for the Professor's lab as fast as he possibly could—which was actually a pretty good clip, considering he had spent most of his time dashing around the nearby fields and hanging out with Darkrai.
It had taken him until he was eight before he was convinced that life as a Pokémon wouldn't quite pan out for him—Darkrai had been key there.
"All right, if you think you can be a Pokémon, then you have to be able to battle," Darkrai had told him, pointing at a little purple mouse. "Right there—a level two Rattata. Think you can manage?"
He couldn't—so he went with his third choice: become a Pokémon master and travel the world.
But first, he needed a Pokémon. And for that, he needed the Professor.
Ash skidded to a halt as his long-declared rival, Gary Oak, stepped out of the lab.
"Oh, look, it's Ashy-boy! Gary crowed, giving him that you're the inferior one look that Darkrai pulled off so much better. "Where's your friend? Still invisible?"
Ugh—Darkrai had explained the importance of no one else knowing he was around, but it still left Ash holding the bag when he'd suddenly flit out of sight and leave Ash talking to thin air. That hadn't exactly done much to endear him to people, and he was starting to get sick of the hairy eye everyone was giving him.
But—that was all about to change.
"So which one did you get, Gary?" Ash asked politely—this would be a great way to find out which starter would give him the edge, too.
"Like I'm telling you," Gary laughed. "Besides, I'll have you know I got a very special Pokémon from my Pops—you'll never match it in a million years, you little loser!" Gary laughed again as he shouldered his backpack and walked off, heading for Route One. "Smell ya later, Ashy!"
Miss ya never, Gary, Ash thought, blowing a Razzberry at the back of Gary's head before running to the Professor's lab.
Professor Oak himself answered the door.
"Oh, Ash, it's you," he said.
"Don't sound so happy to see me," Ash said before he could stop himself—it was the sort of snark Darkrai was good for, and it had rubbed off on him over the years. Again, not the sort of thing that would endear him to people. His mother especially didn't appreciate the snark—Ash had become well too acquainted with the time-out corner over the years because of it.
"Actually, I'm not," Professor Oak explained, rocking back and rubbing his face before running his hand through his gray hair. "Someone came into my lab last night and stole all the starters."
Ash gaped for a few moments. "Wait—all of them?"
Professor Oak nodded. "Yes—I've alerted the police, and they're investigating the theft. In the meantime, however, I've been having to give people the bad news."
"Wait—but Gary—"
"Insisted on starting today, so I gave him a Pokémon to get him started," Professor Oak said. "Unconventional, but—"
"Well, do that for me!" Ash declared, adamant. "Come on, Professor—I'll take a Magikarp even, if that's all you have!"
"I wouldn't do that," Professor Oak said, sounding appalled. "You wouldn't be able to defend yourself with a Magikarp—they only know Splash."
"Well you must have something!"
Professor Oak's expression was very much like the oi expression Darkrai would have when talking to him. "Well, I do have one that would be the appropriate starting level," he said, rubbing his face again. "I haven't had the chance to train it yet, though, so you'd actually be worse off…."
"Does it know more than Splash?"
"Yes."
"I'll take it."
"Weren't you listening?"
"Please, Professor," Ash begged.
"Fine," Professor Oak sighed. "But don't say I didn't try to warn you. Follow me."
Ash did so, ecstatic, barely noting the machines and science stuff they were passing. He was finally getting a Pokémon!
Professor Oak selected a Pokéball off of a shelf full of Pokéballs and handed it to Ash. Ash noted the lightning bolt on it before pressing the button and releasing the Pokémon.
"This is Pikachu," Professor Oak declared as the white light faded.
Ash knew that from the get-go—the little yellow Pokémon was perfect! And how fitting was it that his favorite Pokémon would be his starter?
"Hi little buddy!" Ash chimed, picking Pikachu up with the intention of hugging it.
The greeting was reciprocated by an electric shock.
"As you can see," Professor Oak said. "Pikachu has an…electric personality."
"I can tell," Ash coughed, before collapsing.
This was going to be fun, he could tell. And note to self—sarcasm was Darkrai's thing.
Did it really take that long?
Darkrai had killed the past hour by zipping about Route One, entertaining himself by occasionally scaring the bejeepers out of the local Pokémon, including a large flock of Spearow. Now he was above Pallet Town again—ah, there he was, and with the Pikachu he had overheard Professor Oak talking about. Which reminded him….
He zipped into the Pokémon lab and returned the starters he stole, settling the Pokéballs back into their precise place before looming over the translucent red tops.
"One word," he snarled. "One word about this, and you'll never have a good night's sleep again."
Satisfied that the starters were properly cowed, he headed for Route One.
It didn't take long to catch up with Ash, especially considering the fact that he and the Pikachu didn't seem to get along. Of course, now that he was nearer, he felt that that was an understatement—he could smell ozone and burnt hair.
"I see this is going well," Darkrai observed as he dropped down, startling the Pikachu half to death.
"He doesn't like me," Ash said simply.
"I can see that."
"Wait—are you a Pokémon? You've got to help me," the Pikachu said, recovering. "I can't be stuck with this yutz kid."
"Then you probably shouldn't have been chewing on wires," Darkrai said.
Ash looked between them. "Wait—how come he can't talk like you can?" Ash asked.
"I'm a Legendary," Darkrai said, addressing Ash. "We get certain perks that come with the title."
"Wait, this kid is just figuring this out?" the Pikachu asked, pointing.
"Congratulations: you now officially belong to the village idiot."
The Pikachu threw its front paws up into the air. "What, am I being punished?"
"The universe moves in mysterious ways."
"It was a couple of stupid wires! The punishment doesn't fit the crime here!"
"What's he saying?" Ash asked.
"He doesn't like you," Darkrai said, deciding to summarize.
"I can tell."
"Can I go now?" the Pikachu asked.
"No," Darkrai told it.
"So what can I do?" Ash asked, sitting down cross-legged in front of the Pikachu. "We're going to be travelling together, but I don't want to start off on the wrong foot. I can't handle being turned into a nightlight on a regular basis."
"Tell him to release me," the Pikachu demanded.
"First off, you little yellow rat," Darkrai snarled. "You don't tell me what to do. Secondly, I'll have you know that you're the only Pokémon he's got."
"What about you?"
"I am nobody's Pokémon, you little electric vermin!"
"Still not going well?" Ash asked.
"He wants you to let him go."
"But then I won't—"
"I've explained that."
"What about a trust exercise?" Ash asked, addressing the Pikachu. "Would that work?"
The Pikachu gave it some thought before smiling deviously. "Sure," it said, turning its attention back to Darkrai. "Oh good sir—"
"Don't get smart," Darkrai ordered.
"Would you please tell him that I'll travel with him if he destroys the Pokéball I was in?"
"Not a chance."
"What'd he say?" Ash asked.
"He wants you to destroy the Pokéball. And before you do," he added, noting Ash's nodding. "Doing so releases him from your care—meaning the second you do, he's gone."
"You didn't have to explain it," the Pikachu muttered, looking dejected.
Ash, meanwhile, was looking at the Pokéball. "What's wrong with a Pokéball, anyway?" Ash asked.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" the Pikachu spluttered. "I'll tell you what's wrong! Those little balls mean no more freedom, no more autonomy, no more life! It means I'm someone's possession now! I'm no longer my own 'mon!"
"He's claustrophobic," Darkrai decided to summarize.
Ash stared at the Pokéball before looking up at the Pikachu. "Well, if you don't want to be in it, I won't force the issue."
The Pikachu's ears twitched, but it still looked defiant. "I don't believe it—humans always lie."
Ash looked to Darkrai, who translated.
"Well, I can make it really easy," Ash declared. "You don't trust me—but Darkrai's a Pokémon, right? You can trust him?" The Pikachu debated a bit before nodding. "So I give your Pokéball to him—that way, I can't ever put you in one."
The Pikachu glanced between them for the longest time, giving the offer careful thought before finally saying something.
"Deal."