Key: "pokemon speech", "normal speech", thoughts

Chapter 4: Why Tom is not allowed to challenge the League

The sun was going down and Harry was starting to feel the injuries he had gotten from trying to interfere with the Spearow's pursuit. While he wasn't as badly off as Pikachu, he had a fair amount of injuries. He was currently perching on Tom's shoulder as both he and Ash jogged into Viridian. Pikachu was unconscious in Ash's arms, breathing evenly despite the heavy injuries and exhaustion. Tom had also regained some of his composure at seeing Ash's near death experience. Ash was, strangely enough, not too shaken with the experience, as his only concern was for Pikachu. Harry privately thought that if the boy had attended Hogwarts back in his old world he would have been a Gryffindor.

In the distance they heard the sound of an amplified woman's voice, alerting the citizens of the city and the conscious arrivals of the threat of pokemon thieves within the area. Tom immediately shot a look at Harry and unclipped his pokeball from the lanyard and maximized it. Harry sighed and grumbled but acquiesced to going into his pokeball, he knew he was in no condition to fight off a kidnapping attempt.

Being inside the pokeball wasn't so bad. It was actually quite a comfortable thing, looking like an adapted version of his cozy home from back in his old world, right down to his bedroom with the ceiling charmed to look like the sky, which actually did show the sky's condition outside of the ball. Instead of beds and chairs, there were nests and perches. The tables and the things on said tables were adapted to be used by a bird instead of a human. Another difference was that in the living room, instead of the crest of the Potter and Black houses, the symbol of the Deathly Hallows was on the wall above the fire place. He had discovered a way to watch the outside world due to the symbol in a manner similar to that of the Resurrection Stone calling the spirits of the dead, except that it showed a rectangular image of what was going outside of the front of the ball similar to a television screen. The feature, with no doubt of there being other hidden features, reeked of Death's influence.

Harry actually accepted Death as his master, and probably wouldn't mind saying it. When he had realized it a few weeks before today, he had felt a warm happiness from the link to Death that he had finally realized he had. After that moment, he threw himself into refining his skills due to feeling Death's encouragement. Every so often he had felt Death give brief moments of affection during the month of training. It was both strange yet satisfying for Harry to receive this from anyone. No one before Death had done this for him and he found that he liked it. Tom had given his own encouragement, but it was not the same as the almost playful challenges Death gave him.

Settling on the perch in front of the symbol, Harry activated the view function. He got comfortable, as much as he could when he couldn't really feel anything at the moment, and watched the bobbing view as they made their way to the Pokemon Center. He couldn't wait to be healed. The pokeball made sure he wouldn't hurt while in it, but it did not let its inhabitant feel much of anything when he was hurt.

While Harry was getting comfortable, Tom and Ash were rushing to get to the Pokemon Center. They were just passing the police way point when the officer manning the place grabbed their collars and yanked them back, yelling, "Hold it!"

The teal haired woman continued saying, "And just where do you think you're going with that pokemon, you two?" Tom growled under his breath and thought Oh, nothing, just rushing over to the Pokemon Center and making sure my best friend's first pokemon doesn't die. Ash snapped back with an answer.

"It's my pokemon, and he's hurt, and we gotta get him to the hospital right away!" he said in an urgent tone, frantic to get to their destination.

She blinked and said in a gentler voice, "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you might be stealing. Just show me your I.D. and you can go." Ash looked at her with a blank expression, which caused Tom to huff in impatience, look at him with an expression that said you are an idiot, and say flatly, "Your Pokedex counts as an I.D. Ash."

"Oh!" he said and then pulled out the mentioned device. The officer swiped it from Ash's hand and verified he was the owner of it, before she turned to Tom, who had already taken his own Pokedex. After verifying that it was in fact his, Ash asked, "Can Tom and I take our pokemon to the Pokemon Center now?"

"I'll get you there in no time at all, as compensation for holding you up," she replied, wagging her finger. The next thing the boys knew was that Tom was on a motorcycle, sitting behind the police officer, and Ash was sitting in the passenger car attached to the motorcycle. She drove them at a break neck speed, none of them noticing the red head that had been carrying a burnt bike get hit with the motorcycle's exhaust. Said red headed girl just cried out in annoyance and followed.

The police woman was speeding along and Tom was holding on to her tightly with a grimace on his face, not liking the fast ride on a machine. Ash was just holding onto Pikachu with a worried frown on his face. As night fell they could see the large Pokemon Center in front of them, Ash looking at it in surprise due to the size of the building. The police woman said, "Hold on!" as she sped the motorcycle up, making it fly up the stairs and land just before the doors of the pokemon center. The motorcycle slid through the doors, stopping right at the counter that a pink haired nurse was manning.

"We have a driveway you know," the nurse said in exasperation to the police woman.

"It's a pokemon emergency!" the officer replied sharply.

Ash then pleaded to the nurse to help Pikachu, the nurse immediately calling for a stretcher for him. Tom got off of the motorcycle and grumbled about how he couldn't wait for Harry to evolve so that he didn't have to deal with machines, hands shaking slightly. The nurse had just finished directing the Chansey that had brought the stretcher on where to go with Pikachu and reassuring Ash, when Tom showed her Harry's and the Spearow's pokeballs. She told him to follow another Chansey to where to place his pokemon before she got ready to treat Pikachu. The officer soon remembered that she had parked her bike in front of the front desk and went to do that, sheepishly smiling as she went.

Tom guided Ash towards the phones, telling him, "There is no need for you to just stand there and worry, you can do something productive while we wait for our pokemon to be healed." Upon seeing Ash's unsure face, he continued in an effort to be reassuring, "They'll be fine Ash, Pokemon Centers provide the best medical care for pokemon in the world."

When they got to the phones, they called Professor Oak, telling him about what happened and what Tom intended to do with his newly caught Spearow, before telling him about the golden bird-like pokemon they saw to the skeptical researcher. Tom said that Harry had said its name was Ho-oh. The professor speculated about a legend about the pokemon in Johto, but had to cut the call short due to his food being delivered. He told Tom that after interrogating the Spearow, he should send it through the transporter to him, and that he would keep his end open for Tom to send the Spearow over. He would take care of making it official that Tom relinquished ownership of the pokemon afterwards.

Ash decided to call his mom, who expressed surprise that Ash had gotten to Viridian so quickly. As she had stated, not even his father had made the trip so quickly. Tom had been signaled by the attending Chansey that his pokemon had been healed in the twenty minutes that had passed during the call. After securing Harry's pokeball back onto his lanyard, Tom called the Spearow out to talk to it.

"All right you ball of feathers, why did you and your flock of hooligans attack me and my best friend?" he asked scathingly while looming over the Spearow. The reply from the rather scared bird had him losing a bit more of the tenuous grasp he had on his emotions. It turned out that the flock didn't know why it was like that, just that they had been minding their own business when they suddenly had the urge to maim and kill the black haired boy that had gotten near. Tom, and by extension the eavesdropping Harry, were puzzled. Harry soon made the connection to Death's task for him regarding Ash and really did not like where this was going and what it would mean for the journey. Tom started to pace in agitation, trying to calm down.

After an hour had passed, the red haired girl that Tom pulled into the shelter of the trees from before entered the Pokemon Center and spotted Ash. She was panting heavily and carrying her burnt bicycle on her shoulder.

"I knew I'd find you here!" she exclaimed with an irate expression on her face. Ash looked a little overwhelmed and asked what happened to her bike, to which she replied, "What happened to my bike?! You happened to my bike you little loser-" she had tried to go on with her tirade when Tom came up behind her with a carefully blank face and pulled on the burnt bike to make her fall down.

His expression turned into a slight glare as he looked down on her and said coldly, "Before you continue that sentence, you ignorant little girl, my friend has nearly died, his Pikachu is being operated on as we speak, and I do not have to patience nor the control necessary for dealing with ignorant buffoons like you when I'm trying to figure out why a perfectly normal if unusually large flock of Spearow would suddenly try to target and kill him for no other reason than that they suddenly felt like they had to." He looked up at Ash as he said the last part, and saw his paling face.

Ash was looking at his best friend in faint fear of what he said, until he really looked at Tom's current body language, and thought Uh oh, Tom's losing control of his emotions, better give him a way to go and calm down. "Hey Tom, don't you need to send the professor that Spearow?" he asked in an effort to distract the older boy. Tom gave him a sharp eyed stare at the change in subject before nodding in agreement and slight gratitude for the way out before walking away to do just that. Harry sighed in relief from inside his pokeball.

Turning to the girl, "I'm sorry about Tom, he's not usually like that, but we're both stressed out and worried, and Tom doesn't handle seeing people he cares about getting as hurt as I did all too well," Ash apologized to the slightly scared girl, before continuing, "Anyway, I'll get you a new bike when I have the money to do it and my Pikachu is okay." The comment got the girl to deflate from her angry and intimidated posture and her face expressed her concern.

A few moments later, the doors to the operating room opened and the light above it turned off. Ash turned and saw the nurse come out with his Pikachu on a stretcher. He rushed over with the red head to check on his pokemon. Tom, meanwhile, was sending the Spearow to the lab back in Pallet. Suddenly and alarm went off and the female officer-from-before's voice announced the presence of an aircraft belonging to the wanted thieves had been detected and all people with pokemon were cautioned to be careful.

Minutes after the announcement ended, the skylight above the front entrance of the Center was broken by two pokeballs that fell to the floor. They opened and let out an Ekans and a Koffing, which was all that was seen before the Koffing let loose a Smokescreen. Ash called out in alarm before a woman's voice said, "Don't be frightened little boy." A man's voice continued, "Allow us to introduce ourselves:"

"To protect the world from devastation,

To unite all evils within our nation,

To denounce the evils of truth and love,

To extend our reach to the stars above.

Jessie,

James,

Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!

Surrender now, or prepare to fight.

Meowth, that's right!" came the poetic introduction.

The nurse, Ash, and the red head all looked at them in confusion. Suddenly, slow, mocking claps sounded. All of them looked towards the source of the sound, which was revealed to be Tom. He wasn't his usual self however, and it was rather unsettling for Ash to see his friend like that. Tom's face was marred with an insane looking grin and his eyes glinted unnaturally with a sadistic gleam.

"Well, well, well. That was a most… entertaining introduction. Tell me, how long did it take you to create that?" he drawled mockingly as he detached Harry's pokeball from his lanyard. "Now, I was just wondering how to unwind from the oh so stressful day I've had, and here comes two criminals and their three pokemon, just perfect victims for taking out my frustration on," he continued without letting them answer, his grin widening even further. Tom's shoulders were relaxed, but he exuded a sense of excitement that unnerved all, even if Team Rocket tried to hide it.

"Well, brat, what makes you think you can do anything to us," Jessie said in annoyance at the slight towards them. James frowned at him while the Meowth glared, but all three had a faint uneasiness visible in their eyes at the sight of Tom's behavior.

"Oh… I can," Tom said simply, his voice dropping its mocking edge and become menacing. He enlarged the pokeball in his hand and practically purred, "Come out Herald, it is time to play."

Ash and the other two with him took the time to get out as Tom gave them in distracting the criminals. The red head protested, "Wait, what about Tom?" Ash looked at her and simply said, "Tom'll be okay, be more worried about the criminals. Tom's not exactly in his right mind at the moment, and that's when he's at his most dangerous." Both the girl and the nurse looked at him oddly when they finally got to the room with all of the pokemon at the Pokemon Center.

The red head and the nurse both looked at him for an explanation and Ash sighed. "Look, Tom's only just got his licence to be a trainer, and that's mostly because his therapist finally gave the okay. He's not allowed to compete in the Indigo League because of 'mental instability'. He only got his licence because it was recommended that he get and raise pokemon to help him. All of the Gym leaders and League officials know. The police know he's not exactly alright. Now, what can we do to help the pokemon here?"

Back at the entrance, Harry looked at his human in concern, before facing the members of Team Rocket. They were astonished at the sight of the unknown pokemon, but looks of greed came onto their faces, which angered the highly possessive Tom. Jessie and James ordered their pokemon to attack, the Meowth stayed back as the two Poison types shot forward. Harry flew, using Agility to avoid the two. The Ekans smashed through the computer on the desk to get at him and the Koffing made visibility very low, slamming into more electronics. Through it all Tom stood where he was, insane grin still in place on his face even with the anger in his eyes.

"Herald, hit them where they will hurt," he ordered softly. Harry still heard him though, and decided to follow Tom's instructions for the time being. Still at a fast speed from the Agility, Harry fell into a Quick Attack while charging a Peck. He circled toward the two Poison types and aimed for the Ekans, swiftly closing the distance between them and using the residual smoke from the Koffing as cover to strike from. Within moments he had charged through the last few feet to the Ekans, striking it right at the yellow band around its neck and knocking it away toward the Koffing. Wheeling away, Harry flapped up higher, watching the now heavily damaged Ekans struggle to lift its head. Harry had gotten very strong during the month of training, and most weaker pokemon wouldn't stand a chance against him.

Deciding to knock out the Ekans before going after the Koffing, Harry sped up even more by using Agility again. He circled quickly around the room to get a better angle to hit the Ekans. Finally getting in the right position, Harry performed a hair pin turn and charged the Ekans in a very fast Tackle. Harry had aimed the attack to knock the now unconscious snake into Koffing, dazing it. Harry did that due to the fact that Koffings as a species were defensive tanks despite being literal balls of gas. It was going to be annoying to make the thing faint due to the fact that Harry only had physical attacks. Too busy thinking strategy, he barely registered the lights flickering out before coming back on.

Visibility was low from the Koffing constantly emitting a Smokescreen. Harry had a cheat though, his discovered that he could see a glowing ball that indicated where the Poison type was, as well as the other living occupants of the room. Curious, but shelving the urge to figure it out until later, Harry did not look the gift horse in the mouth. He decided to do something reckless, yet useful. Flying directly above the Koffing, he dove while combining a Tackle and Quick Attack. Slamming into the Koffing, Harry caused it to bounce off the floor. He then flew and clung to it with his talons, repeatedly hitting it with Peck. Finally, he felt the Koffing loose consciousness. He gripped it tightly and flung it away. Going to the Ekans, he hauled it a small distance away before using a weak Tackle to send it flying in the same direction as the Koffing.

Tom's insane look had faded a bit as Harry battled. He trusted his starter to fight well without his instruction. He was now focusing his attention towards the Rocket goons with a speculative look on his face, and it unnerved to duo to no end to be looked at like that from a young teenager. Tom started to head towards them, his slow and deliberate steps were reminiscent of a Persian stalking its prey. They were distracted from the boy when their Ekans and Koffing were thrown at them, fainted from the precise and powerful attacks from Harry.

Suddenly, Ash appeared rolling his Pikachu's stretcher. The Meowth that had been missing from the fight was running towards them from the same direction, ahead of Ash. Soon the Pikachu of the Pokemon Center had gathered around Ash and his Pikachu, powering up and healing the pokemon. They soon turned their attention to the Rocket goons. Charging up energy, Ash and Pikachu were perfectly placed to aim the attack. Seconds later a huge blast of electricity from Pikachu's powered up Thundershock ignited Koffing's smoke and caused an enormous explosion, damaging the Pokemon Center and ejecting Team Rocket. Harry and Tom were safely out of the way, Tom much calmer than he had been, and Harry wasn't injured from the fight and quietly relieved that Tom was calmer, the insane edge gone from his face.

In the sky, the three of Team Rocket were burnt and hanging from their hot air balloon.

Jessie groaned and said, "A cat being beaten by a rat. That bird pokemon even beat both of our pokemon too! What was it anyway?"

"I'd like to know what that brat was feeding that thing," James said.

"Dat Pikachu was really strong, and dat bird pokemon was no slouch either." the Meowth said, annoyed at being beaten by a rat and a bird. The three of them planned on capturing the two pokemon. That was until their balloon had been hit with something that made it pop and fly rapidly away. They would take a while to find Ash and Tom again.

The next morning was peaceful as Tom, Ash, Misty, Pikachu, and Harry made their way out of Viridian City towards the forest. They had gotten to know each other a little bit last night, but Misty was still wary around Tom, and Tom wasn't exactly being friendly toward the rude girl. Misty was as far away from Tom as possible, Ash between the two with Pikachu on his shoulder. Tom was much more like his old self, and Harry was flying above him. Soon Misty screamed in fright as she caught sight of a large green Caterpie.

"AHHH! A bug!" she screamed, hiding behind Ash. When Ash exclaimed that it was cool and his want to catch it, she denied ever finding it being cool, saying bugs were icky and disgusting, pokemon or not. Tom and Harry shared a look and thought Why did we agree to let Misty join us? It was going to be a very trying time going through the Bug type infested Viridian Forest with the entomophobic girl, very trying indeed.

Ash turned his cap backwards and maximized a pokeball. He stood ready for his first capture and for a new friend. After such an exciting day, this one promised to be almost as eventful.

A/N: Hello people, new chapter. Where I live, we currently have a blizzard of typing this. Since we can't do anything, I just thought to get this chapter done. I hope the battle scene was okay, I'm not really too sure of it but if I just sat here revising it this chapter would never get out.

On the fact that Jessie and James didn't really do anything: yeah, they just happened to be the convenient targets of a pissed off and slightly unstable Tom. Next time they appear they'll be able to do things more like they did in the anime. Thoey were relegated to helping showcase why Tom is considered not eligible to compete in the Indigo League.