Chapter 50, everybody! Nice number, and one in which we find a weird situation and run up against a section where we quote a guy that got cancelled after I wrote it up but eh….Also apologies to anyone who was looking forward to Todd Snap—legit didn't like how he was introduced (Ash basically got vilified for reacting sensibly to a perceived threat—which in canon they were facing every episode) and don't recall him making much of an impression afterwards, so…sorry Snap fans. ^^;
In other news, been working on all of my active fics this month, so we should be seeing more updates before the year's out—I will get back to regular updates if it kills me. *glares angrily at fic*
And now for something completely different in the review responses:
I'd like to thank talesfanjmf, forward-smash, Teraunce, IDKwhatNameTbh, AverageHiveMind, Vulaan Kulaas, Aurastar Warrior, Johnny Spectre, Cyan Quartz, TheLavenderHour, Guest, and Pegasus Sword Master, thanks for the reviews! So good to be back. :D
R2-D2106, thanks for the review! Yes, very—and honestly even if there wasn't a pandemic I probably would have gone for it anyway, I hate to drive. D: The reruns have become grating, though. :\ And yes, Cassidy and Butch will be entering the fic at some point….
Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo
And now, for something completely different:
In other news, consumers are reporting that the Lavender Tower radio broadcast randomly cuts Rick Gastly's "Never Gonna Give You Up" into the regular broadcasting. Radio officials have no official explanation at this time. Their unofficial explanation is ghost Pokémon rickrolling the broadcasts.
Darkrai kept the guy under and they dragged him down the road to the next Pokémon Center in the morning.
"Wow," Nurse Joy said blankly, looking the guy over. "What happened?"
"We think he angered a wild Pokémon," Ash offered, putting his Pokéballs on the counter. "Full restores please."
They ate breakfast at the center while waiting for their 'mons to get healed up, looking the wall map over and debating on how to progress.
"It looks like we might go through a couple of small towns taking this path," Brock said, outlining the path that snaked a little closer to the water. "We should stick with that, make it easier to stay stocked on supplies."
"But if we go on the inland path, we'd encounter more wild Pokémon," Ash countered.
"Eh…considering present company, I don't think so."
Ash blinked at him, looked at Misty.
"Not me, you moron!" she snapped, bonking him on the head.
"Right," he muttered, rubbing the fresh lump. "But uh…our other travelling companion doesn't care for packed places."
Brock finished up his breakfast pastry, wiped his fingers clean as he considered the map.
"Right here," he said, pointing. "Right along here there's a path that crosses with the other route—we'll go through this little town here and then cut through the fields and around Neon City."
"Sounds like a plan," Misty said, glancing away as their names were called. "Let's go."
The rest of the route leading up to the little dot on the map was uneventful, which Ash translated as boring but acknowledged it couldn't be helped.
Cresting the first hill that offered a view of the little dot suggested that despite being called a town, it was still pretty sizeable.
"Yeah," Ash decided. "Darkrai's not going to like this."
"Darkrai is smarter than to deal with cities," Darkrai countered, floating by. "They're large, they're crowded, they're noisy, and they smell."
"Which is why we're going around Neon City," Brock confirmed. "There's a sign on the next hill, we should know where we are then."
They came up on the sign and looked at it.
"Hop…hop…hop Town?" Ash read slowly, disbelievingly. "Who names a place that!?"
Darkrai tapped his claws together, thinking. "Well," he said finally. "I figure the city didn't do it—some nutty Smeargle came along, painted it up, and even now lurks around waiting for someone to read it, and every time they do he turns to his buddy and says 'look Cosby, we caught somebody.'"
They processed that.
"You know," Misty said slowly. "The horrible thing is, that actually makes sense."
"It's better than saying you live in a town called…that," Ash agreed, trying to avoid saying the town name.
"That has to be demoralizing every time you have to list your hometown," Brock decided. Darkrai nodded sagely.
Misty looked at Darkrai. "Smeargle," she repeated.
"That's the theory I'm running with," Darkrai told her.
"All right then," she sighed, waving her arm in mock-celebration. "Let's go into the town whose name I refuse to say."
"That would actually be a better town name."
"Agreed."
Entering the town itself felt a little odd, although no one could quite put a finger on it.
Pikachu falling straight off Ash's shoulder cemented this feeling though.
"Woah, Pikachu!" Ash yelped, catching him. "Are you all right?"
Brock quickly checked him. "He's breathing, and he was fine a minute ago…we need to get him to a Pokémon Center. Come on, let's go."
They took off, Brock eventually hauling Ash up in a bridal carry when it became clear they made better time that way. Misty was having to run flat-out to keep up.
"So I'm not sure how to take this," Ash posed.
"Siblings, Rock types, it catches up with you," Brock puffed, skidding a bit at an intersection. "Maybe—ah." Start to head down a side street—
"Timmy!"
"Ghhk!" Ash choked, getting yanked half-out of Brock's grasp. "Lady, let go! My name's not Timmy!"
"Hey!" Misty barked, helping Brock tug Ash free.
"Oh Timmy, don't you recognize your own mother?" the woman asked as Brock set him down and checked him over.
Ash blinked at the lady who had evidently not gotten enough sleep in several days. "Uh, lady, my mom is back in Pallet Town. My name is Ash."
"Oh," the woman said, deflating noticeably. "I thought…."
Ash shifted his weight, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. "Um…do you know where the Pokémon Center is?..."
"Uh? Oh, down that way," she said, waving absently.
"Okay, thanks!"
"So that was weird," Brock muttered as they took off.
"Yeah," Ash agreed, following him into the Pokémon Center before running up to the counter.
"Excuse me!" he said. "There's something wrong with my Pikachu!"
The nurse didn't even look up from her magazine. "Did it suddenly lose consciousness?"
"Uh, yes?"
"It happens. Take it out of town, it'll be fine."
There were several beats of silence as they processed this.
"That's it?" Brock asked finally. "That's all you have to say?"
"It's something that's been affecting the Pokémon for a while now," the nurse said, turning a page in her magazine. "On the positive side, it's become much quieter around here."
"All Pokémon?"
"Lady I'm about to make it so not-quiet they'll hear it in Hoenn!" Misty railed.
"Sure you will," the nurse said. "Trainers haven't been staying in town—sure it's a hit to tourism, but it's quiet."
Something was kind of hokey about the way she was acting. "Uh…thanks, I guess," Ash said, starting to hedge out of the Center.
The nurse finally looked up, blinking at him. "You're not leaving your Pikachu?"
"Uh, no—I'd rather take him somewhere less…quiet."
They filed out, Ash getting accosted a second time on the way out.
"Okay, that makes the second person to think I'm someone else," Ash said as the woman left, irritated at getting manhandled. "I'm starting to get a little offended here."
"Maybe you just have a common face," Misty said, tone light.
"That feels like an insult, there."
"Go with that feeling."
"Uh, guys?" Brock noised, redirecting their attention to the wall…and the ensuing street, where several missing persons posters were plastered. As they watched, an officer put a fresh one up.
"That's a lot of kids," Ash observed.
"Yeah," Brock agreed. "Something's definitely screwy here."
"So what do we know so far?"
"There's a lot of missing kids and apparently I look like a lot of them," Ash observed. "Also, Pikachu's still out."
They were sitting on a bench a few streets down, having been in town enough to see that not only were all the adults kind of sluggish, but there were no kids or Pokémon to speak of. As Brock said, it was very screwy.
"So every Pokémon in the town is affected, and only in the town," Misty mused. "Well, I suppose whatever it is, at least we're spared from dealing with a certain someone for a while."
"Yeah, but what if whatever it is affects Darkrai?" Ash asked. "It's not like we can pop him in a Pokéball and take him to the nearest Pokémon Center."
"At the very least, it would raise some questions we're ill-equipped to answer," Brock said.
"Aw, they do care."
Misty squawked as Ash turned, to see Darkrai circling out of the shadows in the alley next them to come to a halt behind him. "Oh hey! You're all right! Uh, you are all right, right?" Ash asked, concerned.
"In the grand scheme of things, or in whatever it is I told you about and am absolutely right about once again?" Darkrai asked, tapping his claws together with his head tilted back, looking down on Ash with a studiously smug face.
Said studiously smug face slid off when Ash held up Pikachu, still lolling in a sleepy daze.
Darkrai snapped his claws in front of Pikachu's face, poked him in the nose…nothing. "Well that's different."
"It is," Brock agreed. "And it occurs to me that, seeing as how you're not affected and Darkrai are known for putting others to sleep…."
"Are you insinuating what I think you're insinuating?"
"It bears asking the question."
"My first order of business would be to knock the yutz out," Darkrai said, indicating Ash. "Seeing as how he's still upright, I think it's safe to say that this is not my fault. This time."
"This time?" Misty echoed.
"But since you put others to sleep a lot, doesn't that mean that you'd know what's causing this?" Ash asked.
"Do I look like the Shadow? And how do you know for certain that he's asleep?" Darkrai asked, grabbing Pikachu's head and tipping it so he could look at his face better.
"Why don't we use an Awakening on him?" Brock asked, fishing a spray bottle out of his pack. "If the Pokémon are really falling asleep, then maybe this would work to wake them back up."
"It's worth a shot," Ash said, holding the unconscious Pikachu up. Brock sprayed him in the face.
The effect was immediate—Pikachu was awake and flailing, chittering a mile a minute.
Darkrai took the bottle and examined the side. "What's in this stuff?" he asked. "Expresso?"
Brock took out another bottle and read the side. "One of the active ingredients is caffeine," he noted.
"Are you okay?" Ash asked Pikachu.
"Ka…ka…" Pikachu gasped, sucking in ragged breaths—
And then drifting off again.
"Oh no you don't," Darkrai said, poking Pikachu in the nose and getting a light zap for his trouble. "Spill, quick, before we give you another dose of triple-expresso."
"Chaaa…."
Ash gently jostled Pikachu, but he was out again.
"So what did he say?" Misty asked.
"Something about weird vibes," Darkrai said, looking around and scanning the tops of the nearby buildings before closing his eyes and drifting off.
"So maybe you could sense those weird vibes and help us track them down," Brock said, following him. "Seeing as how right now you're the only Pokémon we've got that isn't affected."
"Firstly, you don't 'got' me, I'm following you for my own amusement," Darkrai said, eyes still closed, one claw up. "Secondly, what do you think I'm doing right now?"
"Drifting off and being a jerk, as usual," Misty said.
"Thirdly—the fact that I'm not affected but all the other Pokémon are tells me that this is most likely a Psychic Pokémon's doing."
Brock stopped short. "A Psychic Pokémon? Affecting the whole city?"
"Strains the bonds of credulity, but from the right location and with possibly the right equipment, it's plausible."
"And it wouldn't affect you because?" Misty asked.
"Dark trumps Psychic—Psychic attacks are entirely ineffective against Dark. Like how Ghost doesn't affect Normal and vice-versa."
"I wanted a Dark type to go against Sabrina, but there's none native to Kanto," Ash put in.
Brock—who had resumed following Darkrai—looked back at Ash, expression tinged with amusement. "And even if Darkrai were to deign to help you there, it would still be a huge can of worms, not the least because in order for it to be an official gym match, you'd have to actually catch him. And I don't see that happening."
"Not in this lifetime," Darkrai said, coming to a halt at the end of the alley and tipping his head back and forth, eyes half-squinted. "Whatever it is, it's coming from that direction," he said, pointing off to their left.
The rest of them leaned out of the alley.
"I suppose the good news is, there's not many people walking around," Ash said. "You could lead us right to wherever."
"The bad news is, there's not many people walking around," Brock said. "That's not normal for a city of this size."
"Again, evidence points to a Psychic Pokémon being at fault—even if it's just affecting Pokémon, a never-ceasing psychic projection would start to wear thin on humans as well," Darkrai said. "After a while, their bodies start picking up on the signal, and they'd be affected as well."
"Nurse Joy said this all started three days ago," Misty said. "The Pokémon all falling asleep, kids disappearing—whatever it was just started not too long ago."
Darkrai hummed pensively, waiting for the person walking home with their groceries to turn a corner and disappear from sight. "That would be long enough for it to start affecting them. Come, we detective."
"'Comest thou with me, we searcheth,'" Ash quoted, following Darkrai as he drifted out into the street.
"'Clang clang clang,'" Brock quipped, right behind them. "So aside from a general direction, any way to narrow down where we're looking?"
"High up, most likely, radio towers are a bonus," Darkrai said, now glancing all around as he drifted along—he may not want to say it out loud, but Ash could tell he was just a mite nervous about floating along in the open in a city in broad daylight.
"And how did you get to be such an expert on Psychic stuff?" Misty asked, also glancing around. "Is it normal for Pokémon to know that much about the types they're strong against?"
"Hey, you live as long as I do, you learn a few things. Hmm."
"What?" Ash asked, looking up to where Darkrai was looking—a tall building, with radio towers at the corner. "Oh."
"Ah," Brock noised, looking up at the building. "That would fit the bill—does it?"
"I'm picking up bad vibrations," Darkrai said, looking the building up and down. "And of all the buildings in the area, that one would be most well-equipped to help a Psychic type affect a large area."
"Well then, we go up and pay them a visit," Misty said, squinting at the building. "And…I'm not sure after that. We have one Pokémon of questioning helpfulness, and I'm not sure if knocking it out is any guarantee that everyone will go back to normal."
"What makes you say that?" Ash asked, looking at her.
"Isn't the Psychic attack that puts Pokémon to sleep called Hypnosis?" Misty asked, following after Darkrai and Brock, already heading for the building. "And doesn't hypnotism normally have to be undone?"
"Theoretically yes, but if you disrupt the hypnotist, sometimes the effects can be undone that way," Darkrai said airily, before dodging into a shadow.
Why became clear when Officer Jenny sped by on her scooter, more rolled-up posters tucked under her arm.
"We have to stop this, whatever this is," Ash said once the scooter's engine had faded from their hearing. "It's affecting the Pokémon and the kids, and it's going to affect the whole town if we don't do something."
"Right," Brock said, nodding once before looking up at the building—they were in front of the lobby now. "Well then, let's go do something."