Key: "normal speech" ; "pokemon speech" ; thoughts

Chapter 3: The Journey Begins

Harry was woken up in the middle of the night by a crash. Tom roused slightly from the noise but soon settled back to sleep. Taking flight, Harry flew through Tom's open door in order to investigate. Tom always kept his door open at night when Harry was out of his pokeball because both he and Harry thought that, in the unlikely event that a person from Team Rocket, a thief, or something broke into the house, Harry would be the best one to send in to check on it, alert the rest of the house, and deal with the problem if he could.

Harry actually had great night vision in comparison to other Fletchling. Mostly, Harry and Tom postulated that it was because of Harry's bright green eyes. It was actually well known that most pokemon that dwell in the night have brightly colored eyes so that they could see better in the dark, and it wasn't much of a stretch to believe Harry's night vision came from this. It made him the perfect night guard for the house.

Flying out of Tom's room, Harry first checked the halls that were on this floor of the house before checking Ash's room. Ash kept his door open as well due to Tom telling him about what he and Harry decided to have Harry do for them. Flying into Ash's room, he looked around and checked if things were alright. Turning, Harry saw the pieces of Ash's Voltorb alarm clock on the ground. Sighing, he flew off to check the rest of the house just in case something else was going on, the words 'Constant vigilance' ringing faintly in the back of his head. After he checked the whole house, and finding nothing, he returned to Tom's room. Ash is going to get up late without his alarm clock he thought in exasperation. I'll worry about him waking up when he needs to when Tom gets up, it's the middle of the night anyway. Flitting back up to his nest, Harry shelved his thoughts for the morning.

Tom and Harry woke up to Tom's alarm clock, waking them up at six in the morning. Harry, of course, woke up bright and aware, and watched in amusement as Tom grumpily got up and got ready for the day. It always amused Harry to see that the neat and perfect Tom Riddle was not a morning person and usually acted like a Nidoking with a sore head before he ate breakfast. Even then, Tom didn't truly wake up until around mid-morning. Dawn was certainly not mid-morning. The two got up this early in morning because Prof. Oak asked that Tom come to the Lab and help out with a suspected abandoned Pikachu that the professor caught when it got in the electrical wiring of the building. It would take time before they could gain its trust, but Tom's ability would be invaluable to figure out what happened to it. Harry would also be a good pokemon for getting the Pikachu to open up.

When Tom was awake enough to not answer with only growls and small gestures, Harry broached the topic of when Ash will wake up because he didn't have a working alarm clock at the moment. Tom looked at Harry with a flat expression before saying "We'll wake up Delia, tell her what is going on, and let her deal with it. It is much too early in the morning to deal with this. Besides, Ash is never going to wake up at this time unless there is danger."

With that, they did as Tom said and left for the Lab. Two hours later saw them talking with the Pikachu, and things were going slowly. The other trainers leaving Pallet today had already come and picked the three traditional starter pokemon. Gary, as usual, tried to get a rise out of Tom, but he made the mistake of bothering a frustrated Tom Riddle that hadn't entirely gotten out of the sore-Nidoking phase of the morning and who was kind of worried about Ash's lateness. No one could blame the boy, no one but the ones closest to Tom knew of that particular quirk of his. The result was Tom giving Gary a death glare that could stop a rampaging Gyarados. Needless to say, Gary Oak left quite quickly after that.

The Pikachu that raised Tom's frustration was a stubborn one. He refused to believe that any trainer would treat him well and also believed that pokeballs were evil. It didn't help the new trainers that had come by weren't the best of people either. It wasn't until Harry outright told the stubborn rodent of his time with Tom that Pikachu consented into believing that maybe the trainer he would have wouldn't be so bad. That was all the progress that Tom and Harry had made with the Pikachu.

Suddenly, Ash came rushing into the Lab with only his pyjamas on, following Prof. Oak. He was breathing heavily as Oak started to explain that he might have to wait until next year. Ash was desperate though. Finally, the professor conceded that maybe Ash could handle the Pikachu that Tom had been trying to work with. When Tom heard that, he just sighed and shook his head, stepping back from the Pikachu as Ash approached them.

"It's so cute it's the best of all of the starters." Ash said, picking the yellow rodent up. Tom's eyes widened a bit and tried to stop Ash, but it was too late. The Pikachu let loose an electrical shock, making Ash cry out in pain. When Pikachu stopped, Ash was in a slightly stunned state, but he hadn't dropped the pokemon.

While Ash was being zapped Oak was explaining what Pikachu was officially titled and the usual characteristics that the species exhibited, ending with the comment, "Shocking isn't it," when Pikachu stopped. Tom and Harry were just looking on with tired expressions on their faces. "Several decades of experience, a doctorate in pokemon biology and habits, his own talk show on the radio station in Johto talking about his research, and the man just had to say that. This journey will be filled with times the both of us face palm, isn't it." Harry said with a deadpan. Tom just wordlessly nodded, exasperation evident on his face.

It took a bit of time, but Ash, Tom, Harry, and Pikachu were all starting their journey by walking the road to Viridian City. Well, Tom and Ash were walking, Harry was flying, and Pikachu was being dragged by Ash. Tom seemed to have a permanently raised eyebrow at the spectacle. Harry was trying desperately not to drop from the air from laughter. Eventually Ash just asked Tom why Pikachu didn't like or listen to him, or why the pokemon didn't like the pokeball. The answer shocked Ash.

"This Pikachu used to be a person's pokemon, but he or she weren't likely the best at taking care of a pokemon. This person also had deeply mistreated him, perhaps not intentionally. Pokeballs are a symbol of imprisonment to Pikachu, more than likely because he was probably kept from escaping by using it. I get the idea that Pikachu finally couldn't take it anymore and broke the ball." Tom said.

"That can happen, a pokemon breaking its pokeball, and why would anyone want to mistreat pokemon?" Ash questioned, honestly not understanding why. Pikachu had been looking at Tom in astonishment of his deductions before his attention snapped over to Ash in blatant shock at the kid's ignorance. Harry trilled sadly at Ash's naivety, feeling both happy and sad about the child's inability to understand.

Tom looked at Ash with genuine sadness in his eyes as he answered, "Unfortunately, just as humans have a capacity to be cruel to each other and their children, humans have a large capacity to be cruel to others of different species. A pokemon can easily break pokeballs because that is how they were designed. It was made that way so that mistreated pokemon had an easy way to escape. It is also the reason why pokemon that haven't been weakened can easily break out of pokeballs when a trainer tries to catch pokemon," pausing, Tom took a breath and squared his shoulders, he gave Ash a stern look before continuing, "This is a fact only known by officials and those who said officials trust because that makes sure that cruel humans don't try for even more inhumane methods of trapping the pokemon with them. Unfortunately, after it happens to first time, they will know, but they also know they couldn't easily hold pokemon without pokeballs."

Ash was shocked at what he had learned. He really had never thought of things in that manner. The rest of the group was quietly contemplative. Pikachu stopped dragging its feet and Ash freed him from his leash. Soon, though, the quiet would be disrupted rather violently.

Route One, as the path from Pallet Town to Vermillion City was officially called, had recently been chosen as the home to a large flock of unusually aggressive Spearow. Harry wouldn't figure out what was behind them until much later, but they would be the first of many trials and attempts to stop Ash. A scouting Spearow that was nearby had spotted them and let loose a loud cry, saying, "Intruders, intruders!"

The next thing the group knew was that a large flock of Spearow was bearing down on them. Their eyes widened and Ash asked, "Should we run?" in a shaky voice. The others just nodded and Tom grabbed Ash's arm and took off. Harry was flying behind them to run some interference and Pikachu was running as fast as it could. Soon the electric rodent overtook them, but the Spearow had rapidly gained on them despite Harry's best efforts to delay them. Pikachu was soon swarmed.

"PIKACHU!" Ash cried out in worried alarm. He shook Tom's hand off and ran toward Pikachu, fending the birds off temporarily and scooped Pikachu up. The group continued onward, with Ash looking worried for the very hurt and weak pokemon in his arms. They soon found their way to a small waterfall going into a lake and jumped in, Harry going into a swooping dive before leveling off a foot over the water.

Soon Ash, Tom, and Pikachu jumped out of the water near a red haired girl. Ash jumped on the girl's bike at Tom's nod. The girl cried out indignantly and tried to run off after Ash, but Tom grabbed her arm and hurried her into the trees, saying, "There is an overly aggressive and large flock of Spearow coming this way. We'll catch up to my friend later, but for now we need to stay in the tree cover."

Harry deftly maneuvered through the trees at a fast pace. Soon Tom and the girl were separated, but Tom kept running onwards. The sound of thunder rumbled through the air as an oncoming storm was rapidly approaching. It was starting to rain when Harry and Tom made it to the main path, seeing Ash desperately pedaling as fast as he could before a hump made him, Pikachu, and the bike go flying. They landed a yard away. Tom ran towards them with Harry following, but the pursuing Spearow that had arrived soon after were closing in on them quickly.

Ash got up and stood in front of Pikachu, arms stretched wide. The wind from the storm was howling and the rain was pounding, so what Ash was calling out to the Spearow was unknown, except the statement of, "If you want to get to Pikachu, you have to get through me first!"

Tom's eyes widened in horror as the flock closed in on Ash, but then Pikachu got to its feet and climbed up Ash, jumping off the boy's shoulder while charging an electrical attack. Pikachu unleashed it just as a bolt of lightning struck him, making the attack even more powerful. The resulting flash and electrical explosion blinded everyone. When Tom and Harry could see again, Tom stiffened up at the sight of his best human friend on the ground next to his Pikachu, his eyes wide and face visibly pale. Almost absently, he maximized a pokeball and lobbed it at one of the unconscious Spearow, with the intent on interrogating it later. The pokemon was caught easily and Tom retrieved the pokeball, never taking his eyes off of Ash's prone form.

Soon though, Ash stirred and the thunderclouds parted. Tom heaved a sigh of relief and quickly made his way over to Ash. His splashing footsteps caught Ash's attention and he looked up to see a rather distraught looking Tom. Getting up and scooping Pikachu up with him, Ash turned to the boy he grew up with. When Tom finally got to him, he reached out and grasped Ash's shoulders, looking him over, before pulling Ash close.

"Ash…Ash, don't do that to me, please don't ever do that to me again," he said shakily to Ash, face filled with lingering fear from what he had just witnessed. Ash freed one of his arms to reach up and place on Tom's shoulders, gently massaging it. Harry observed this with concern towards Tom, flying down and landing on Tom's other shoulder, running his beak gently through the boy's hair.

A distant and powerful pokemon's cry made them all look up into the sky to see a rainbow and a large, golden bird pokemon. Harry's eyes grew very large as he gasped, "The Golden Guardian of the Rainbow, Ho-oh."

Tom looked at Harry from the corner of his eye, and asked, "Ho-oh?" Nodding, Harry stayed quiet and did not pull his awed eyes away from the swiftly disappearing figure, Ash and Tom doing the same. After the Legendary disappeared in the distance, Ash and Tom continued onward to Viridian City. Pikachu, with very heavy wounds, was cradled in Ash's arms. He leaned up to Ash and licked his cheek.

So the incredible journey of Ash, Pikachu, Tom, and Harry started with a flash. It was the first chapter in a long tale of epic proportions, full of ups and downs, laughter and tears. The danger they would face was enormous, but they went on, Tom's arm around Ash's shoulders, Harry flying above, and Pikachu resting on Ash. Not knowing just how they would affect the world, and what incredible experiences they would have. Things the group wondered as they walked towards Viridian, the city visible in the distance.

A/N: New chapter, yay! Anyway, again thanks for the reviews people. Please give me some constructive criticism, I would greatly appreciate it.

Now, just so people don't point this out later on, the Spearow that Tom caught will not be a part of his team. As stated above, it was caught to be interrogated and Tom will send to Oak stating that he relinquishes ownership of it.

On another note, we finally get to see Tom showing that he cares for Ash. This won't be Ash and Tom falling into a romantic love though. Tom and Ash care for each other like brothers, even though Tom would not voluntarily admit to this, which is something that I will get into later. Just know that it's part of his problems.

Next chapter might take a little more time to make, school stuff that needs to be focused on and all that. Doesn't mean I won't try, it just is that I do need to focus on school. Thankfully, the school year is half way done. Yay!

Disclaimer: Do not own copyrighted material.