Chapter 17, everybody! Which is the longest chapter to date and actually involves a few ideas that some of you lovely reviewers brought up, and for that I thank you. :)
The Rattata's name here is a reference to one of my college buddies' Pokémon Red emulator run—he couldn't remember the name of the main rat in Ratatouille, so he just called it "Lil' Chef." And James is quoting Bill Cosby here while the grunt is quoting Stan Shunpike from the movie version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In other news, writing Meowth's accent is a pain in the patoose, and the anime route does not sensibly lay itself over the game route, so some fudging is involved.
Beautiful-Liar13, thanks for the review! Thank you, glad you like it so far! I hope to continue to please! :D
Moonymonster, thanks for the reviews! Ah, unfortunately no, but I'm glad you like the premise. :D
Pokémon Trainer Chaos, thanks for the longest review I think I've gotten on this story so far. Good points….I would love that link, if it's not too much to ask—I've been trying to research Pokémon urban legends and the like for this story, so any suggestions or links are welcome (except for creepypasta, only because it tends to come back at me at night D: ). I like that! And here I thought the "Bill working for Team Rocket" thing came out of left field. Ooh yes, Darkrai versus Mewtwo will be epic. Eh, Darkrai probably interrupted before Ash could get to that point, and Ash would probably feel rotten about that anyway. This is true. And maybe I shall….The nuclear fission and extreme gravity attacks sound interesting, but I'm not sure how I'd work that into this story—although I do agree with you about breaking the typing barrier. Well, I hope this one pleases! :D
Pokeevee57, thanks for the review! Yes, come back here Darkrai! Who will keep Ash from running off a cliff if you're not around? Good question….Thank you, glad you liked it! :D
Luktopius, thanks for the review! Good question….
Jakeroo123, thanks for the review! Good question….Also a good question. When I rewatched a few of the Indigo League episodes, it seemed that Ash had some idea of what his Pokémon were thinking (and was pretty good at thinking out of the box), but it seems that like most of Ash's abilities, it's spotty at best. I think the moves are a little like other aspects of the anime, in that depending upon the demands of the plot, the moves will behave differently. And that—is an excellent question….
Harmonious Wolf, thanks for the review! Good question—when I rewatched the first handful of episodes, I didn't really see anything that would make Pikachu like Misty any more than Ash, especially with Ash saving Pikachu's life, basically. With this story, being that it lacks Ash and Pikachu's major bonding moment, I'd say yes, Pikachu would have refused to battle, despite agreeing with Darkrai on Ash's stance—because if whatever Misty and/or Ash did in canon was enough for Pikachu to refuse to battle, it would have been enough here. Thank you, glad you liked it! Also glad I actually wrote it out instead of going with my initial cop-out of skipping ahead to the badge….
Calzifer, thanks for the reviews! Wow! Glad you like my sense of humor, and sorry about the roommate. ^^; Yes, well, in this version of the Pokémon world, the food chain is a thing—and seeing as how Pikachu is a mouse and therefore prey….Which version? I just looked it up, and there's a few different songs titled that (listening to the one by Mike Oldfield, and I don't think that's it, despite being strangely appropriate). No I didn't, but I looked it up after you mentioned it—unfortunately, I don't make it a habit to read rated M stories ^^; (although I did recently read Child's Play, which would also welcome Frenzy with open arms). That would be interesting….
Thor94, thanks for the review! I asked, and apparently he needed a break. Yes, this is true…maybe being Darkrai-less for a bit will convince him. And that is a very good point—I'll try to work that in at some point.
Prototron MJ Tornada, thanks for the review! And I quote Darkrai: Make me! Yes, we need to work on that….
Vismur, thanks for the review! Yes, weird science! And Pokémon for a Pokémon scientist! Yes, Eevee! Now what to do with it….Temporarily…and maybe. Yes! This is either really good or really bad….
Yami-chan and Unrealistic, thanks for the review! Yes, well…apparently Bill was very freaked out about being a Clefairy. Yes! And with Lenny! Well….Haha, glad you liked the reference. :D Me too—but he'll be back. ;)
Ardistornismyname, thanks for the review! Good question! *looks at document* Maybe next chapter….
Gust, thanks for the review! *long pause* Darkrai: "Ash, I am your father." Ash: "So I'm really half-Darkrai? Cool!" Darkrai: "That didn't pan out like I had hoped."
Ma name Jeff, thanks for the review! Either you're the same reviewer as above, or I unintentionally channeled Darth Vader when writing Darkrai (which is interesting, as I haven't really seen any of the Star Wars movies…).
Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo
Ratatouille © 2007 Pixar
And now, for something completely different:
From the creators of Wreck-It Rypherior and The Little Primarina—Rattatatouille, the story of a little Alolan Rattata who dreams of becoming a chef in Kalos. Can he achieve his dream? Perhaps with the help of his trainer, with whom he shares a special bond….
As they departed Cerulean the next morning, Ash let out his newest team member.
"Eee Eevee!" the little Eevee exclaimed.
"Hi," Ash said, kneeling in front of it. "So we're going to be travelling together for a while—do you want to walk? I can't imagine the inside of one of these not being a little cramped," he observed, holding the Pokéball up.
"Eee."
"Okay….Do you want a nickname?"
"Eee Eevee!" the Eevee said, nodding.
"Okay, great! What would be a good nickname…."
"Vee Vee Vee!"
"Vee?"
"Eee!" more nodding.
"Okay then," Ash said, scratching his head as he stood up. Beeping alerted him to the fact that the Pokédex had registered the new nickname. Well…here was hoping the Eevee actually liked the name Vee and that it really wasn't saying something that just sounded like vee to his non-Pokémon ears.
"I have to admit, I like Vee a lot more than Frenzy," Misty observed as they resumed travelling.
"You like anything more than Frenzy," Ash said, watching as Vee chatted with Pikachu.
"True…."
Their conversation seemed very animated—Ash wondered what they were talking about.
"So this is a journey, huh?" Vee asked, looking around. "I've never been on a journey before—always wanted to, though. It's going to be so cool seeing new things and meeting new 'mons! I hope I evolve—I don't know which Eeveeloution I want, though. I'll have to think about it."
Pikachu wondered if he had taken a breath during any of that. "Well, it's got its perks, sure…."
"Yeah! And I'll be able to learn all sorts of new moves and see other places—I've heard about a lot of Kanto, but there's a difference between hearing about it and seeing it, you know?"
"Er…."
"Sorry, I'm rambling—the other Pokémon at Bill's kind of ignored me after a while. You can too, if it makes you feel better—I don't mind."
Okay, that was kind of sucky, and a bit of a low blow, to be honest. "I don't mind," Pikachu said. "It's just—we've got a lot of travelling up ahead, so maybe you ought to think about pacing yourself."
"Yeah, you're right," Vee admitted. "I'm just excited, you know? I bet you were really excited when you first started too, right?"
Oh, Heliolisk no. Pikachu had hated Ash right from the start, and Oak for "giving" him to Ash—he wasn't a toy to be passed around! And then that big black blot Darkrai basically threatening him into sticking around….Boy, he was glad he was at that so-called convention.
But what about now? a little voice deep in his soul asked.
Now…now he was actually having a grand old time. Ash wasn't like other trainers, who just ran their Pokémon into the ground and didn't care about them. Ash was…dare he say it? Kind of…nice.
"Not at first," Pikachu said, when he realized that Vee was still waiting for an answer. "But…it grows on you."
Vee nodded excitedly. "That's what I thought. Man, this is going to be great!"
Pikachu was glad at least one of them was excited about all this. But without Darkrai around, at least he could relax a bit.
His ears twitched at that—he knew a lie when he heard one.
He wondered what Darkrai was really up to.
Darkrai sped towards his destination, pausing only to rest on Cinnabar Island to regain his strength. He had really been pushing it, but he felt confident he could make it to Sinnoh by the new moon.
He couldn't help but scowl, chewing the inside of his cheek as he did so. It had been a plan quickly formed, and ridiculously Buneary-brained—but that stupid encounter with those stupid pink puffballs just wouldn't leave him alone. He had to do something, if for nothing else to get some peace of mind.
He sighed, standing back up. He had to get going.
He sped over the ocean as the moon dipped towards the horizon.
Team Rocket was hitting a few snags in their Darkrai hunt.
The simple, aggravating fact of the matter was that the trail went cold outside of Cerulean. Meticulous searching of the surrounding area simply turned up no more sightings. It was like it up and vanished into thin air.
It was frustrating, to say the least.
Eventually, they were forced to admit temporary defeat and retreat to the Rocket hideout situated near Cerulean. The old abandoned power plant up in the hills that had been forgone in favor of a newer compact setup closer to town—trainers occasionally went up there to investigate rumors that Zapdos lived there.
If they did, Meowth had never noticed—the only things up here were the occasional Magnemite, the not-so-occasional Voltorb and Electrode (specially bred and planted by Team Rocket), and the Rocket grunts stationed at the plant.
"We were having to come back here anyway," James said once they were safely inside. "I want to look Darkrai up in the Rocket database—maybe see if we haven't got an inter-regional database we can work with."
"I don't think Team Rocket has a national database yet," Jessie said—
Any further conversation was cut off by a bright light in their eyes.
"Halt!" a rough voice demanded. "Who goes there?"
"We're the girl scouts selling cookies," Jessie snapped, hands up to shield her eyes, Meowth was sure—right now, he was too busy rubbing the flash from his eyes. "Who do you think? Did you miss the big red R on our shirts?"
"'I'll give you a red R and a black I if you don't get out of that phone booth,'" James quoted under his breath. Not now, James….
"Oh, it's you three," the grunt said, lowering his flashlight and managing to make you three sound like an unforgivable insult. "The boss has been asking after you."
That—made all three of them freeze. The boss asking for them was most likely not good news.
"Uh," James noised.
"Might want to get a bit more articulate before you get on the horn with him," the grunt said, waving his flashlight in a follow-me motion. "Come on, let's not wait for the grass to grow."
They followed in mincing manner, not liking the idea of getting on the horn with the boss. The boss was scary. The boss had to be scary, to be the boss of Team Rocket.
It took Meowth a few moments to realize there was a Rattata following on the heels of the grunt they were following. It smiled at him when he noticed it.
"So," it asked. "How's things going as far as catching the big scary thing?"
Oh. Oh—this must have been one of the Pokémon from Route One! "Pretty good," Meowth told it quietly, glancing up at the humans. "We got a name now to go with da face, and some Clefairy have been nice enough to help."
"Awesome," the Rattata said, looking forward again. "I'm real excited about helping Team Rocket—it just feels right, you know?"
Meowth did. Except for right now, when he felt like he was about to hack up a hairball. Oh please, not in front of the boss….
His nose twitched as he caught a whiff of something familiar.
"Hey!" he exclaimed, throwing his paws out—not that he'd do much to actually physically stop Jessie or James, but they skidded to a halt just the same. "Dat smell—dat ting! Darkrai! It's here!" Wait—then why wasn't the Rattata reacting?
Meowth looked at it to see it shaking its head.
The grunt, meanwhile, was looking at him like he was crazy. "Do what?"
Before Meowth could respond, the Rattata was putting a paw on his.
"This way," it said with a jerk of its head, and dashed off down the side hall. Meowth ran after it, followed by Jessie and James.
"Hey!" the grunt yelled, chasing after them. "Your doom is this way!"
The Rattata skidded to a halt in one of the rooms that had been redone as a sort-of infirmary-slash-Pokémon-Center, pointed at one of the beds before indicating two of the Poké-stretchers. That was where the smell was coming from.
"Oh, that," the grunt said, alerting Meowth to the fact that the humans had caught up with them; he turned to see Jessie and James putting their Pokéballs away. "We lost radio contact with Bill, and our grunts picked this guy up on the way there. You know the nugget bridge scam we had going?"
"We lost Bill?" James asked, looking at him. "PC Bill? That one?"
"Do you know another that lives near Cerulean? Yes, that Bill—and we still don't know what happened to him because what happened to this guy spooked the living daylights out of the grunts sent to check on him. Out like a light and won't wake up for nothing!"
"See, that's the thing—we were on this super-special mission chasing after this Pokémon called Darkrai—"
Meowth ignored the humans for a moment in favor of examining the Pokémon suffering from this strange ailment. A Tauros and a Golbat, both down for the count, both twitching and whining in their sleep, but not waking up at all.
"They've been like this for over a day now," the Rattata said. "Some of us are getting worried."
"Understandable," Meowth said, glancing at the Rattata. "I didn't get your name."
The Rattata smirked. "Eh…my new trainer kind of gave me a nickname—Little Chef? Said I reminded him of a show he used to watch."
"Rattatatouille," Meowth supplied. "Not a bad pick. How's everyone else shoring up? Barring this," he added, waving a paw at the unconscious trio.
"Mostly doing well, but some of the trainers are talking about giving some of us away—something about not having the temperament for their standards," the Rattata said, whiskers drooping.
"I think I have an idea of what they mean," Meowth said, scratching his face. "You mind seeing me over dere real quick? I don't tink they're done over dere," he added, indicating Jessie, James, and the Rattata's grunt.
"No problem—this way!" the Rattata said, darting for another door. Meowth ran after it, figuring that the Rattata's natural preference for twisting warrens made the plant easy for it to navigate. They were in another room a few moments later.
"Oh, I know dis," Meowth said, looking the notations on the cages over. "Hey, everyone!"
"Oh, it's you!" a Pidgey said.
"Quick, get us out of here!" a Spearow ordered.
"Yeah! They're getting rid of us!" a Rattata said.
"No, no, no, you got it all wrong!" Meowth said quickly, waving his paws. "See, you went through an orientation sort of ting when you got here, right?" When most of them were nodding: "Right. And some of you was real good at battling, right?" More nodding. "But some of you weren't, right?" More nodding. "So? You're going to be helping Team Rocket in a different way.
"See dese signs?" Meowth asked, pointing at the signs on the cages. "In a few minutes, a bunch of Rockets will come through dose doors, load you all up in trucks, and take you all over da region. And when they do, they'll be delivering you to deserving little boys and girls who didn't get the chance to get a Pokémon of their own from da professors." And whose legal guardians paid top-dollar for under-the-table transactions—mostly through the Celadon Game Corner. "And it'll be your job to protect dose little boys and girls from dat big nasty blot! And if anyting goes wrong, you just let us know—we'll have a network, see?" Of blackmail, but that wasn't the point. "So see? You're still helping Team Rocket! You're helping us by keeping all dose kiddies safe!"
Silence.
"I never thought of it that way," a Caterpie said.
"Me neither," a Rattata said.
"So when do we leave?" a Pidgey asked.
"Real soon," Meowth said, looking at one of the signs. "This here says tree-tirdy—I don't tink dat's too long from now."
"All right," a Spearow said, settling down on the bottom of its cage.
"Great! Glad dat's settled. Good luck on your new mission!"
And with that, he waved good-bye to all of them and left the room, the Rattata that escorted him following.
"That was great," it observed as it led him back to where Jessie and James ought to be. "You really reassured them all. I'll be honest, I was a little worried myself—I'm glad to know they've got their own special missions to carry out."
"Not a problem," Meowth said. And it wasn't—best misdirection was achieved by including truth in it. And on the positive side, they wouldn't be receiving any complaints about this batch—Meowth was willing to bet his own coin that these would be the best-behaved Pokémon they ever sold.
They arrived back at the humans just as the grunt gave the killing blow.
"Listen, this all sounds nice and all, but I'm not the one you got to be telling this to," the grunt said. "And speaking of, the boss is still expecting your call."
And there went the death bell.
"Nice knowing you, kid," Meowth muttered, following the rest of his team to their doom.
"How did we get this lost?" Misty complained. "It should have been a straight shot down to Saffron City!"
"I still want to go to Vermilion City first," Ash said, climbing over a fallen log. "I don't think I'm ready for the Saffron Gym yet. And besides, we have those S.S. Anne tickets."
"Now that I'm looking forward to."
"I've heard of quite a few trainers skipping Saffron completely, or saving it until last," Brock said, bringing up the rear. "Sabrina and her Psychic types are immensely powerful, even by League standards."
Ash kind of wished that there were Dark types in Kanto—Darkrai had always been immensely dismissive of Kanto's over-powered-powerhouses. Ash later found out that Dark types were immune to Psychic types and their attacks, which had explained it.
But Misty had a point, so long ago on Mount Moon—don't think too far ahead just yet. Focus on prepping for Lt. Surge.
And he and Darkrai had cooked up a plan, before Darkrai had left.
It had been three days since Darkrai had departed on his trip, and his absence was notable. Suddenly, wild Pokémon were abundant. All three trainers' Pokémon had gotten plenty of levels via what was colloquially called "grinding."
Unfortunately, with them being lost, there was no Pokémon Center to take advantage of—and Brock's supplies were beginning to run low.
They needed a break.
"Hey, look!" Misty said. "An Oddish!"
Ash and Brock looked to see the small blue bipedal plant blink up at them.
"I think I should catch it," Misty said. "I need to diversify for the next time someone challenges me with a Magikarp."
She hadn't let that die yet—Ash gave it another week. "Go for it," he declared.
Misty sent out Staryu—
And vines snatched the Oddish away and slapped down Staryu.
"Staryu!" Misty exclaimed, running up to check on her Pokémon. "What was that?"
Brock pulled Zubat's Pokéball out as Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder, cheeks sparking.
"I don't know," Brock declared. "But we'd better be ready—whatever it is, it's not friendly."