A/N: ok last time we left off there was chaos in Lumiose, not only that but I made Ash be someone that did not completely rely on luck when it came to times of danger. Also, if you are thinking that these will be traveling companions, I want to state now (and please don't hate me) that Ash will start out traveling alone, after a while he may get another companion other than Pikachu, but Ash will sustain himself by actually buying food from money he gets when he battles. You will see the gang pop up here in there with Ash, some alone or all together, but there will be Serena at times witnessing what Ash can do.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon
Chapter 4- Comatose Memories and a New Path
At Professor's Lab:
"Serena, Calem, Trevor, Tierno, and Shauna, while I get some medications to help the boy recover, I would appreciate it if you guys would take care of him," Sycamore asked the favor to which everyone agreed.
The gang walked into the room and noticed Ash was sleeping in a bed with an electrocardiogram monitoring his vital signs. Pikachu and Froakie were there watching over Ash. The pokemon were very worried for their friend.
"Does anyone even know his name?" Tierno asked in concern. It was true, out of everyone that knew the name of the teenager, only Serena could guess the name was 'Ash' and she was not completely sure about it either. What made Serena almost completely sure that she recognized the raven-haired teenager as her friend from childhood is that he called her out with her name during the Lumiose incident at the top of Prism Tower.
"I don't know…" Calem replied staring over Ash completely blank on any idea.
In Ash's dreams:
"Mom, do you see those men in orange suits?" Ash asked to his mother next to him. They were now in a park near Pallet Town. The scenery was a nice green patch of grass with some pokemon scurrying out the way of people in orange suits heading towards Ash and his mother.
"Ash… go home now," Ash's mom replied in urgency. Ash nodded and obliged as he left only to turn to see his mother screaming and being attacked by giant pokemon, they had purple bodies and a horn: Nidoking.
"Dad you have to help mom!... Dad?" Ash replied watching as his Dad walked over to his mom. His Dad sent out a black pokemon that had silver and a red eyes. That pokemon made a black orb that put Ash's mom to sleep really quickly.
"no... NOOOOO!" Ash shouted while grabbing his head in complete pain. 'It's not happening, not AGAIN! GET ME OUT OF THIS DREAM!'
Back at the lab:
Ash started to move violently, everyone grew concerned. He almost hit Pikachu who was standing next to Ash, but Pikachu was quick enough to dodge the fist that was coming his way. It was not something that anyone expected as Ash's eyes would stay closed.
"I will kill you for what you did to her!" Ash shouted as he started to get up from his bed completely unaware of his real surroundings. The sleep paralysis was not affecting Ash and his nightmare was completely taking over Ash's actions.
Everyone stared in shock except Pikachu who was very worried for his friend. Pikachu kept shouting for Ash to calm down, but would not succeed. The other people in the room flinched and began to tense their muscles at the sign that they would have to react. Pikachu knew he had to act fast so he turned to Froakie and instructed the frog.
"Pikapi pi pikachu!"
"FRO!" Froakie understood Pikachu and threw frubbles to restrain Ash to the bed.
"Good thinking Froakie!" Shauna asserted as everyone grew worried watching as Ash was completely tied up to the bed thanks to Froakie's sticky substance.
"Why did you kill her?! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE HER NOT JOIN THEM!" Ash replied still asleep while he shook his head in disbelief. The entire statement was completely implied venomously which caused everyone in the room to feel a chill down their spine at the menacing tone.
"I think he is having a Nightmare…!" Calem shouted in panic as he saw Ash struggle to get out of the restraints.
"What do we do?" Tierno and Trevor panicked. Serena was standing there is shock… 'Is this something that haunts his past?' Serena thought while watching Ash. Something was not right about the person she knew from the past, the same cheery boy.
"You betrayed her, you betrayed me I will ki-" Ash started but then made a sudden jerk with his body as in he was hit in the chest with something. Then Ash relaxed and fell back unconscious.
The room stood silent for an entire moment.
"What… just… happened?" Trevor asked in shock and disbelief.
"Pikapi…" Pikachu said as he lowered his head.
Ash then said something that caught Serena's attention, Ash was still asleep though, but it was like a happy memory had taken over and replaced the same dangerous and menacing memory that was haunting him minutes prior.
"Poliwag?" Ash asked completely relaxed… It was as if the painful experience did not exist in the mentality of this dream, yet it was amazing how it was still not affected by sleep paralysis. "Poliwag where are you? I want to see you before I go back to the campsite."
Serena tensed up. She knew what was coming from the dream so she gulped as she got some confidence to surge through her blood vessels. She then stepped up next to Ash's bed and pulled out her a handkerchief. It was simple, it was blue and white and it had a pokeball in the center.
"Serena? What's wrong?" Shauna asked completely freaked out that Serena was going next to the person that was just shouting threats in the room.
"Shauna… I am going to have a conversation with him even though he won't notice…" Serena replied. Everyone gave confused looks as Ash kept calling out Poliwag for now apparent reason.
Calem spoke up first with a hand out in a 'what is going on anymore' position, "Serena what are-"
Calem was interrupted by Ash again. Serena had the handkerchief in hand and squeezed it a lot harder when she heard the next part, "Poliwag? Where did you go? Oh… Hey there! are you ok? I'm Ash, what's wrong?"
Serena sighed and responded with a slight giggle as the name of him was revealed to her completely in one statement. The person in front of her was in fact the very same person that had helped her at summer camp. Serena then spoke up and responded with her side of the story, "I… I hurt my leg."
Everyone else looked at Serena with disbelief. Pikachu and Froakie stared in awe. Pikachu had recalled Ash talking like this before when he slept, but that someone would seem to know what was going on was confusing. Not only that, Pikachu noticed that someone was filling in the other half of the dialogue making it more complete.
"I see, what's your name though?" Ash asked with a nice giggle. It was as if Ash had become the nicest person in the entire world being a complete gentleman to a girl.
"Serena is my name," Serena replied in a very angelic and calm voice. Everyone seemed to go wide eyed now as it seemed like Serena had met the teenager before… Which is in fact true.
"See this? This is a good luck charm, if I wrap it around your leg and say the magic words everything will be better!" Ash exclaimed while still struggling in the frubbles. It did not affect Ash's attitude though as he tried to make it work.
Serena looked at the handkerchief in her hands and back at Ash still sleep talking in bed and said with a little bit of doubt, of course it was faked, but she tried to make the memory flourish in her mind, "Ash are you sure this will work?"
"Yea, see? Now, pain pain go away RIGHT AWAY!" Ash exclaimed making everyone in the room completely puzzled.
Serena giggled with a sigh and then with a smile replied, "Ash, it still hurts…"
"Don't give up until the end, come on!" Ash replied. Everyone looked at Serena in shock, 'Those are the words that Serena always tells us in hard situations' everyone else thought.
"Thank you for helping me Ash," Serena replied with a smile and from looking down at Ash, she had a slight blush in her face. She felt like using her long hair to cover up the blush, but she decided to let the heat tint her cheeks with a little bit of pink.
"Anything for you Serena!" Ash replied causing everyone's jaws to hit the floor. Ash then stopped talking for good…
The person said Serena's name...
Serena sighed and stepped back as she regained composure. "Serena, what was that all about?" Trevor asked.
"It was when I met him," Serena said motioning to Ash. "I hurt my leg in a forest during Professor Oak's summer camp in Pallet Town and he helped me… What you just heard was the dialogue we shared when we met, he must have had the dream of what happened."
"So, those encouraging words of 'never give up until the end', came from him?" Calem asked looking at Ash in disbelief. Serena nodded her head slowly. Calem could not believe how much this boy had somehow shapes Serena's life.
Suddenly, Ash woke up with his eyes shooting open and Ash struggling to deal with the frubbles that were attached to his arms and legs. As soon as Ash saw that he was safe he looked around and noticed the five people that were talking with him and asked, "Hey guys, how long was I out?"
"PIKAPI!"
"FROA KIE KIE!"
"Pikachu, Froakie hey guys!" Ash replied as the two pokemon embraced him. "I'm sorry if I worried you guys." Ash then turned to the five others in the room, "Thank you for taking care of me, I have not ever had anyone to do that to me in a while."
"It's fine, we have not properly introduced ourselves yet, i'm Shauna!" Shauna exclaimed with a wink.
"I'm Calem!" Calem replied while putting on a nice battle pose.
"I'm Tierno!" Tierno replied while rolling in the ground and performing a little bit of a break dancing move.
"And I'm Trevor!" Trevor finally said as he pulled out his camera and showed it off.
Ash then looked at Serena, Ash noticed the handkerchief and tensed up. Ash knew that Serena knew who he was and it would be hard to hide. He managed to steal in front of her, but could he lie in front of her?
"So, what is your name?" Calem asked Ash completely making the latter lose the coloring that kept his face together.
"My name?... ummm… I… my name is..." Ash started he wanted to lie about his name, he did not want to be recognised.
"It's ok Ash," Serena responded causing Ash to tense up even more, she called out his name. "I already know your name," Serena said with a little bit of sarcasm and a small smile. "You had a dream of the day we met didn't you?"
Ash then put his head down, "Yea… I did, if I acted up while I was sleeping I apologize, I… I tried to hide the fact that you knew who I was Serena, I could not bring myself to do that after you saw who I am today."
"So, you two do know each other?" Trevor asked completely breaking the interaction between the two childhood friends.
"Yes, I helped her out in a forest, we were childhood friends until she left to Kalos shortly after we met. Then we never saw each other again. I somehow ended up here and lived here for the last couple of years, but always stayed hidden in the shadows of Lumiose City," Ash replied solemnly, it was hard for him to admit it to the others.
Fortunately for Ash, Professor Sycamore came back at that point and went into the room, "You are awake! Hey, guys, you should probably go upstairs and get some rest." Everyone nodded and left, even Pikachu and Froakie to leave Ash with Sycamore alone. "So… I hear that Ash is your name."
"Yea, what about it?" Ash asked with a neutral tone and looking down at the bed trying his best to avoid looking at Professor Sycamore.
"I talked with officer Jenny, it seems you have done some bad things in the past, can you tell me why?" Sycamore asked.
Ash sighed and sat up in bed. He found out that he should actually talk to someone about his past, he knew he needed help. For the first time Ash revealed his condition: "For the last couple of years, I have not had a home. I had lost my mother and was betrayed by my father..." Ash started to tear up. "I have nothing except this case with a picture of my mother and a keystone. Not only that, but I steal to survive. Pikachu is my only friend and he saved me from suicide so many times… my life is a mess and that is why I am forced to do these things," Ash let everything off his chest making him feel better, but at the same time stunning Sycamore.
"I… I'm sorry you had to go through that," Sycamore responded looking down feeling pity for the boy. He then looked up and spoke up, "Here is the deal… I want to turn this all around."
"Huh?" Ash replied with confusion as he looked at the professor.
"Would you like to become a trainer? One that makes friends and helps others?" Sycamore asked. "If it interests you, challenging the eight gyms and getting badges to compete in the league is an amazing way to turn your situation around. Also, you won't have to steal food if you battle well from the prize money."
"I… I can put this all behind me and start over?" Ash asked while looking back down at the bed with shame and agony.
"Ash, if I can help you change for the better, I will support you," Sycamore replied with a reassuring smile.
"Thank you… I want to give it a try," Ash said as he turned around to look at the Professor. Ash then smiled and for once in a long time, Ash felt a large amount of confidence rip right through his bones and muscles.
"So, do you want to choose a partner pokemon?" Sycamore asked knowing where this was going.
"No thanks, I already have one," Ash explained almost instantly. "Pikachu is my partner."
"But you need to have it in a pokeball to be yours," Sycamore raised an eyebrow.
"I will give it a pokeball tomorrow, but I have to explain this journey to him," Ash explained with a small smile. He would be hoping that Pikachu would become his best friend and keep going onto being his first pokemon.
"Makes sense, get some rest, I can't wait to see you in the morning," Sycamore responded as he left the room.
"Pokemon trainer? When I was little I wanted to be a pokemon master… can I achieve this?" Ash asked himself as he turned over to his side and shut his eyes. This time sleep paralysis did help him stay safe during his dreams, which thankfully were not as violent as the one he previously had.
The next day:
Ash woke up and left his room, the machines monitoring him had been removed after he woke up. He felt a little sore from the day before, but none the less got up and left the room. Just then Professor Sycamore came into the foyer.
"Ash, it is early, what are you doing up? No one will get up for another couple of hours," Sycamore replied while sipping on a cup of coffee.
"Oh, I just needed to get some fresh air," Ash replied while looking back at the Professor with a small smile.
"In that case, here," Sycamore replied giving Ash some Keuros (Kalos currency).
"Money? Why?" Ash asked in shock.
"Before you go on your journey, you should get some stuff to be prepared, food, new clothes and a backpack of course. Let's not forget about camping supplies. Not to mention that you can buy potions for your Pikachu and other Pokemon too," Sycamore replied with a smile that left Ash barely able to talk.
"T-thank you professor…"
"Don't mention it, now why don't you go and buy yourself some things, when you come back I will have some stuff ready for you," Sycamore replied.
"Ok, I will be right back then," Ash said as he went towards the door. Ash then opened the door and looked back at the Professor who gave him a reassuring motion to keep going. Ash smile and walked out of the door.
Two hours later with Serena and Shauna in Sycamore's lab in a sleeping room:
"Serena, are you ok?" Shauna asked her honey blonde. "You have been zoned out a lot since yesterday."
"Yea I am fine," Serena replied from her bunk. "I just want to see the happy and energetic Ash again."
"Well, maybe you will. He is quite go-" Shauna started with a smirk, but it was short lived as Serena interrupted..
"Shauna… Just because he is the guy does not mean I want to be teased about it right now," Serena interrupted slightly annoyed knowing that Shauna was going to call Ash probably something along the lines of 'good looking'.
"Wait… but how can you like him that way? I mean I was going to try and make you, but how could you crush on him if he did bad things in front of you?" Shauna asked completely in disbelief finding out that Serena actually had something for the boy.
"Because he is still the same loving and caring person that I know, he taught me so much to get through something for the short time we were together… After I left to Kalos, my mom kept in touch with Pallet Town and something had happened to Ash's family. When he acted up yesterday he had a bad memory and it haunts him, but I want to make sure that the real Ash can come back!" Serena declared.
"Maybe the guys are up, we should get up too," Shauna said leaving the topic as is because she did not want to annoy Serena any more than she seemed.
The girls walked out of the room and to their surprise Pikachu appeared in front of Serena.
"Pikachu, hey, where is everyone?" Serena asked while looking at the electric mouse. Pikachu had found trust in Serena and decided to climb on her shoulder. Pikachu showed them that the others were in the dome playing with other pokemon.
As the two girls walked into the dome, they noticed the other three boys that they were friends with playing with some pokemon. When the boys noticed Serena and Shauna, they stopped what they were doing and went over to them.
"Hey girls!" Calem shouted as the three guys ran over to the girls.
"Hey boys," Shauna stated.
Pikachu hopped off of Serena and looked at the group from the ground. Serena looked around and noticed Ash was not around, "Has anyone seen Ash?"
"He left a while ago to do something, he will be right back," Tierno responded. He was confused as to why Ash would leave as he asked Professor Sycamore while the latter only really mentioned that Ash was going to get some 'fresh air'.
"As a matter a fact, there he is right now!" Trevor shouted pointing to the entrance of the dome.
Everyone even the pokemon turned their heads to see the trademark raven haired teenager. He had a new outfit now including gray pants, new black and red shoes, new green and black backpack that had supplies, his same old hat, black undershirt, and a new blue jacket. To finish everything off, Ash had fingerless gloves and his left one had his keystone on it (Kind off like Korrina has hers).
"Hey Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed as Pikachu climbed up to the shoulder of the newly dressed up person.
"My Ash you look great, I even like what you did to keep your keystone!" Sycamore stated as he walked in from behind and looked at how Ash had completely changed his style.
"T-thanks I may have thought it was about time to get a good place for it," Ash responded. The group then started complimenting Ash's new attire as they left the dome and reached the front of the lab leading up to street of Lumiose.
"Haha, my boy Ash, you look awesome!" Tierno replied.
"Hehe, he looks decent," Trevor replied.
"You have good taste when it comes to clothes, Ash," Calem replied while putting a hand on his hips.
"Dang! This guy gonna get some girls!" Shauna exclaimed with a wink.
"Thanks guys hehe," Ash said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head and completely embarrassed by the amount of compliments he was getting for his new style.
"Here Ash, here is your pokedex," Sycamore said giving Ash a red pokedex that could light up and give Ash a reading of what pokemon he was looking at.
"Thanks professor," Ash responded with a thankful smile, something he had not done in quite a while.
"So Ash, you going on a journey?" Calem asked noticing the device that was given to the raven haired boy.
"Sure am! I want to put my current lifestyle behind me and change to be a like I was before!" Ash smiled while throwing a fist into the air.
Serena smiled at Ash, 'Welcome back person I admire' she thought as she put a hand over her heart and had a little bit of heat rise up to her cheeks. Serena's heart palpitated at the sight of Ash's attitude.
"One thing though, Pikachu?" Ash started as he turned to look down at the electric mouse.
"Pi?"
"Pikachu, these years you have been my best friend, do you want to be my partner?" Ash asked with a smile.
"PIKAPI PIPIKA!" Pikachu said excitedly as he tackled Ash into an embrace.
"We will have an amazing time Pikachu!" Ash replied. "Knowing that you don't want to be in a pokeball, I need to use this on you," Ash said as he hit Pikachu with a special pokeball with a lightning mark on it. Pikachu then glowed red for a bit until the red disappeared. "Alright it worked! Pikachu you are registered as my pokemon now!"
"Pi pikachu!" Pikachu jumped excitedly.
Leaving out the front of the lab as everyone was about to leave for their journey:
Near the entrance of the lab, a blue frog was waiting for someone… Ash to be exact. "Fro!" Froakie said with a pokeball and passed it to Ash.
"Froakie?" Ash asked confused as he saw how the blue frog was giving Ash the pokeball like if it wanted to be captured.
"Amazing! Froakie has never stayed with a trainer before, and it chose you Ash!" Sycamore explained.
"Froakie, you want to come with Pikachu and I?" Ash asked in awe.
"Froakie!" Froakie exclaimed as he hit the pokeball and allowed himself to be captured. Ash looked at the pokeball in his hand and smiled… He knew this would be a special journey.
"Well it looks like we are all set! We ready to go?" Calem asked as he pulled the straps of his backpack.
"Yea we are!" Shauna responded.
"I guess this is goodbye for now Calem, Trevor and Tierno," Serena replied. "I am going to go with Shauna for now."
"Bye girls," the three boys said as they went one direction while Serena and Shauna went the other.
"Good luck Ash, I know you can do it!" Sycamore shouted as he motioned for Ash to walk out of the entrance of the gym.
"Great, now which gym should I challenge first?" Ash asked.
"Santalune is a good one to challenge, you should go there!"
"Thanks again professor," Ash replied with a smile as he pulled on the backpack straps with Pikachu on his shoulder.
"No problem," Sycamore replied as Ash left the mansion and went in a certain direction towards Prism Tower.
"Pikachu are you ready?"
"Pika pikachu!"
"You're right! Kalos league here we come!" Ash shouted throwing a fist into the air, for the second time in less than five minutes for the first time in a long time and started walking towards Prism Tower.
"Ash… Santalune is that way," Sycamore said while pointing in the opposite direction towards a route.
Ash turned around with a sweat drop. "Right, I knew that," Ash said as he walked in the right direction.
A/N: Here we go, the journey is starting and we know what Froakie means right?
Remember to R & R and I will see you guys next time!
Responding to a couple reviews:
TheLegendaryGuy:
I am glad you are enjoying the story so far! Things will get a lot stronger and in fact I had to edit the entire chapter 3 again because it would have ended up being less than even 3k words because I wrote this back when I was an immature writer. Still, I am improving, but I would say that beginning chapter 13 is when it will get more intense and interesting. Also, I would not want to waste my time writing in the team rocket trio, they are annoying AF… By that, I just have random encounters with Team Flare because they are the real bad guys in this to be honest. Thanks again for reading!