Ring Ring, Hello?

The sound of the phone seemed to break the tension of the moment, if only slightly. Professor Oak sighed deeply.

"I am going to answer the phone and when I come back you are going to do as I say. Are we clear?" The Professor said, calmer now but still very stern, the lines of his aged face hard.

"But-" Ash began to protest, but the Professor interrupted him.

"No buts. Now wait here for me." He said, turning to retrieve the phone from another room full of messy papers and half-finished projects. Ash looked down at the small red and white ball clutched tightly in his hand and then up at the Pikachu sitting lightly on the edge of the desk, completely uninterested in its surroundings and beginning to lick its fur. Ash wondered sadly whether it was a boy or a girl. He knew there was a way to tell but he couldn't remember what it was right now, and he would probably never find out. Not like it mattered. When the Professor was done with his phone call he would take this Pokemon away, and nothing Ash said would change that. He had seen it in the old man's eyes, a determinedness and fixation that no spoken words could change. Why wouldn't he let Ash have the Pokemon? Was it really because he was trying to help Gary? No. The Professor wouldn't do that, even though Gary was his grandson. And Ash had thought that Oak had liked him, even though he did always complain about how Ash was too loud and fast for an old man like him.

So… why? Ash couldn't figure it out, so instead he just reached out his hand and began stroking the Pikachu's soft fur. The Pikachu made a small noise and gave him an annoyed look, but Ash was too lost in gloomy thoughts to notice. He did notice, however, when the Pikachu's fur began to feel more like hard wire than soft hair, charged with electricity so that it sent a numbing feeling up his arm. Ash saw the Pikachu's face contort so that shadows appeared under his eyes, the pouches at his cheeks loosing more than just excess electricity. He tried to pull his hand away, but it wouldn't move, frozen from the electrical currents running up and down it.

"Pi-KA-chu!" Ash's vision was overwhelmed with a blinding flash of white and then encased in black, and he found himself lying on the floor, not remembering having fallen. Slowly his eyes cleared and he saw the Pikachu look down at him, its ears twitching, then go back to cleaning itself.

He couldn't pick himself up off the floor, his body wouldn't move right. The room was spinning an orbital around him, and his ears were ringing loudly. But the ring in his ears wasn't loud enough to block out the question repeating itself over and over in his mind.

What. The. Hell. Captured Pokemon didn't act like that, didn't attack without a command. Wild Pokemon would if you provoked them, but not captured Pokemon. It was unheard of. There was no way. Ash had released it from the Pokeball himself, this was definitely not a wild Pikachu. The Pokeball itself was held tightly in his left hand, and his head was turned toward it. Ash then noticed the small, lighting-shaped sticker on its front, which he had not seen before.

As feeling returned to his limbs, Ash's head started throbbing. Too much excitements and downfalls and questions had happened to him today, and now he had just been attacked by "tamed" Pokemon. There must be something wrong with it.

At least I know why the Prof wouldn't give it to me now, Ash thought bitterly as he struggled to stand up again. He looked warily at the Pikachu, but it looked quite docile now, smoothing down its long ears as it continued to clean its fur. Finally managing to stand, he took a few steps away from the Pikachu before noticing Professor Oak returning from his phone call.

Ash looked at the floor. Though he could understand why Oak wouldn't give the Pikachu to him, Ash was still depressed about not getting a Pokemon.

"Professor… here." Ash said, holding out the Pokeball and still looking at his shoes.

Oak didn't take the Pokeball. Instead he just said, "I've changed my mind. You need to take the Pikachu." These words startled Ash out of his sad reverie. He looked up at the Professor's face, noticed how pale it had become, and how sad his eyes looked. Yet they were still determined, and the lines of his face were set.

"What? What do you mean?" Ash said. He had not expected this.

"Like I've said, I changed my mind. That Pikachu is now yours. Protect it." Oak said, still very solemn.

"But… like you said, beginners can't- it's too dangerous," Ash stuttered, then composing himself, "Professor, it attacked me!" Ash exclaimed. But the Professor had turned away. He was rummaging through a box of God-knows-what with apparent little success.

"Professor! I was petting it and it electrocuted me!" Ash said. He never thought he would find himself arguing against getting a Pokemon, but these weren't normal circumstances. Oak finally looked up at him.

"If he had really attacked you you'd be in much worse shape. He was merely telling you to stop, and though it may seem violent for you, it was a natural reaction for him." Oak said, and then continued to rummage through the box, his face unreadable.

"Listen to me! It used a battling move without a command against me. It's not even a wild Pokemon! It's a capture-"

"I know it is a captured Pokemon Ash!" Oak said, finally at his wit's end with the young boy. "But that Pikachu is not a normal Pokemon. It is very special and it needs to be protected so I'm giving it to you. Now be quiet!" Ash reluctantly obeyed, but promised to question the Professor fully once given the chance. Oak now stood up and, searching around in the pockets of his lab coat, finally found what he was looking was a small, red, rectangular object with buttons and a large screen on the front. A Pokedex.

"Ash," The Professor said, "I don't have a lot of time, so I can't explain this to you as much as I would like, but you need to listen to me very carefully. I assume you know what a Pokedex is." He said, holding it up. "This Pokedex, however, contains more information aside that of Pokemon buried deep within its coding. Important information. Do not try to reach this data, without the right key you will only destroy it. There is, however, a message already loaded in here from me for you. This message is set to be activated when the Pokedex is at a specific location." Oak said, pausing for breath and then continuing, "Do you remember the abandoned farm that you and Gary slept over at one night for a dare? Go there and listen to the message. Then do exactly as it says." The Professor finished, holding the Pokedex out for him. Ash took it gingerly. Most of what Oak had just said went completely over his head, but he got that the Pokedex was very important and that there was a message for him that he could only read when he went to the abandoned farm.

"But, what-" Ash asked, about ready to explode with questions.

"I'm sorry Ash, but I can't explain it right now. Just go out there and get to the farm. Trust me." Oak said. Normally Ash would've protested, but something about the Professor's eyes, something in his voice stopped Ash. Now's not the time, It told him, this is serious.

"Ok. Ash said, storing the Pokedex inside one of his pockets and pressing the release button of the Pokeball to reseal the Pikachu. But the Pikachu dodged the red beam that would have deconstructed his matter and transfer it into light to be stored by the Pokeball. Ash tried again, but the same thing happened.

"This Pikachu doesn't like to be put in his Pokeball, and we're running out of time so you'll just have to carry him." Oak explained.

"But last time-"

"Just hold out your hands to him, he'll let you carry him." Oak said, now clearly agitated. Ash obeyed cautiously, but sure enough the Pikachu hopped into his arms when he held them out to it. It was heavier than Ash had expected it to be.

"Now go!" Oak said, holding open the door for him. Ash looked out at the crowd below, all waiting to congratulate him. His Choosing Day was barely past morning and it had already gone horribly wrong. But he still took that step outside the threshold of Oak's lab and onto the dirt path, to the world beyond. There was no turning back now.

Oak closed the doors behind Ash. With the boy's presence no longer keeping him composed, Oak couldn't contain himself any longer. He sank to the floor and curled his arms around his knees, tears streaming down his aged face.

"I'm sorry Ash." He whispered. "I'm sorry, Gary."