Story of Max (AlfShipping)

"All right my wonderful sidekick Masato, we shall save the day!" Ash yelled, pointing aimlessly at the sky.

"Why are you calling me Masato? It's just the two of us at the moment, you don't have to call me by my codename," Max remarked, pushing the bridge of his glasses to the top of his nose.

"But Masato! While we're in uniform, we should go by our codenames, regardless of whether we're surrounded by people or not! We might blow our cover if we don't!" Ash bellowed.

"You might blow our cover, but I know when is the most appropriate time to use which name," Max stated, looking at the gigantic map of the Pokémon World in their superhero lair. Several dots were blinking in different areas of separate regions and cities. Certain colors indicated the level of danger involved, with red being the most serious. At the moment, there was only one red dot blinking; Mossdeep City in the Hoenn Region. Their sector.

"Okay, the location is Mossdeep City. The mission is that the city has been hit with torrential rainfall, so much that the Shoal Cave is completely full of water and the city is flooded. We need to find a way to dam the city or something before someone is swept away," Max explained.

"Sounds like something we can handle!" Ash threw his fist in the air. "So which Pokémon should we bring?"

Max walked over to a wall holding shelves full of Poké Balls. "Honestly, Ash, you're the so called superhero and yet you can't figure out which Pokémon we should use?"

"You're the sidekick. You handle all of the intense thinking. I just do the cool superhero stuff people expect of me. I can't do everything."

Max rolled his eyes. "What kind of Pokémon do you think we should use?"

"Pikachu! Definitely Pikachu!"

"Ash, just because Pikachu is your most powerful Pokémon doesn't mean we can use him in every situation…" Max sighed, glancing over the shelf specifically for Water-type Pokémon. He wasn't sure how he could handle this baffoon. How could Ash of all people be considered a superhero?

"But why not!" Ash whined.

"Geez, Ash…" Max shook his head. "We need to set up a dam around the city! We need Water-type Pokémon for that! And maybe some Fighting-types for the heavy lifting, if it's necessary."

"Oh," Ash said. "Well, I do know not to use Fire-types since there's a lot of water…"

"That's great!" Max replied sarcastically.

"Hey! Don't pick on me! We've never had a mission like this before!"

"I know. This torrential rainfall is highly unusual. And it's only in the Mossdeep area. Everywhere else is—" Max suddenly gasped in realization. He'd read about something like this before. But where? He scoured his brain, trying to remember where he had—

There it was.

"Ash!" He gazed his eyes to the corner of the wall of Poké Balls to where one lone Poké Ball sat in the middle and snatched it up. "We're taking Pikachu."

"Huh?" Ash was about to question Max's decision to bring Pikachu, but instantly ignored it. He was too excited to even care why. "Yeah!"

Max grabbed a handful of Water-type Pokémon and a few Fighting-types, quickly attaching them to his and Ash's belts. If there was anything the tacky red and blue spandex superhero uniforms were useful for, it was the amount of Poké Balls they could hold on their belts. "Hurry! Let's go!"

"All right! To the Pidgeot!" Ash announced as the two of them rushed out of the room and outside to their waiting Pidgeot, ready to escort them to their destination.

"Whoa! There's so much water everywhere!" Ash said unnecessarily.

"Nice observation, smart one," Max sarcastically remarked. He tightened the goggles around his head and tried to focus on where he was going. The Pidgeot were having a tough time maneuvering through the heavy rainfall and Max couldn't even see the ground. Was there any place to land or was the town already completely covered?

He then spotted the Mossdeep Space Center peeking out of the water. The rest of the buildings, including the Pokémon Center and the Mossdeep Gym, were only distinguishable by their rooftops.

"Oh no!" Ash must have noticed the same thing. "This is awful!"

"We need to do this quick!" Max said. "But…I think I know how to stop the rainfall. If we do that first, it might be easier to do everything else."

"Sidekick Masato! It's raining! How can you stop the clouds from dropping precipitation?"

"Ash, I'm surprised you even know what precipitation means…"

"Hey!" Ash yelled. "It's Superhero Satoshi! Don't call me Ash when we're in public!"

"Ash, do you really think anyone is outside in this mess?" Max asked rhetorically. "Look, I don't have time to argue with you about this right now. We need to land!"

Max manuevered the Flying-type Pokémon to land on top of the Space Center. The superhero duo hopped off of the Pidgeot and struggled through the torrential downpour to the edge of the roof.

"Where is it?" Max said to himself, trying to search through the rain for something. Visibility was extremely limited, but what he was looking for was enormous. It had to be close.

"What are we looking for?" Ash asked.

"…" Max ignored the question, concentrating hard to find what he was seeking. Then he gasped. "Ash! Release Pikachu! Now!"

"O-okay!" Ash fumbled to find Pikachu's Poké Ball on his belt. "Here! Go, Pikachu!" He released the yellow Mouse Pokémon from his confinement. "Now what?"

"Pikachu, do you see that shadow there in the distance?" Max pointed to what seemed to be nothing; Ash had to squint and he still couldn't see anything. But surely enough, there was something there. "Use Thunderbolt on it!"

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded, charging up for his signature move. "Pika~CHUUU!" the small Electric-type Pokémon pulled off a powerful Thunderbolt attack, providing a bright light through the surrounding darkness. Pikachu hit his target, clarified by the wailing noise it made.

"What is that?" Ash asked, surprised that something was actually there.

They heard a loud splash in the distance, which was the cue for Max to send out a few Pokémon. "Quagsire! Sealeo! Sharpedo! Huntail! Azumarill! Bring that Pokémon over here!" he ordered as he released each of the Pokémon he called into the water. They each followed where he directed them to go and headed out to recover what Pikachu had struck.

The rain was slowly beginning to settle.

When the group of Water Pokémon returned, they were all holding onto the same thing: a giant blue Pokémon. It floated helplessly in the water, heavily injured from the electric attack.

"Whoa!" Ash gasped in amazement. "Who's that Pokémon?"

"Kyogre," Max answered. "This is the reason behind all of the rain."

"Hwooooo…" the Sea Basin Pokémon huffed. The Thunderbolt attack was powerful, but it shouldn't have injured it to that extent…

Then they saw the red color-change of the water.

"I knew it!" Max exclaimed. "Its got a huge gash on one of its pectoral fins! Ash, give me Chansey's Poke Ball!"

"It's Superhero Sato—y'know, never mind…" Ash pulled Chansey's Poké Ball from his belt and handed it to Max.

"Thanks," Max released the pink Egg Pokémon and ordered it to use Softboiled on Kyogre. While Max was taking care of Kyogre, Ash stared at him in awe. He was supposed to be the superhero, doing all the heroic deeds and whatnot, but…at this moment, he didn't really mind. Max seemed to know what he was doing and was handling it without panicking, something Ash may have done by now. Hell, Ash had no idea what Kyogre was or how it was influencing the rain. Sure, Ash was the hero—they didn't call him Superhero Satoshi for nothing—but at that moment, he realized something.

"Okay, Kyogre," Max said calmly. "It's okay now. You were seriously injured and rampaged out of anger and fear, causing you to trigger your Drizzle ability. But it's all right, now. I had Chansey use Softboiled to help heal and close up the wound. You should be better now." He carefully stroked Kyogre's slimy skin and smiled.

"Hwoo!" Kyogre responded happily and rose out of the water. It flapped its fins, causing the rain to suddenly stop. It closed its eyes and turned around, setting off to its next destination.

"'Bye, Kyogre!" Max waved as it disappeared in the distance. "Okay, guys! Great job!" He cheered with the Pokémon.

"Sidekick Masato, that was…awesome…" Ash said incredulously.

"Thanks," he said. "But we still have a lot to do. We have to find a way to recede this water. Can you help me with that?"

"Of course!" Ash clenched his fists in excitement. "I'm ready! I'm supposed to be doing all the cool stuff, anyway!"

"Are you sure you can handle it?"

"I-I won't screw things up, I promise! I really want to help! Just tell me what to do, okay?"

Max stared at him for a moment before chuckling. "Fine then. So let's get to it then, Superhero Satoshi!" he winked.

Ash blushed. Max never called him by his codename. He smiled warmly. "Fine! Let's do this, Sidekick Masato!"

Ash realized that he couldn't be Superhero Satoshi without Sidekick Masato. He figured he could let Max be the hero every once in awhile.

I know, Pikachu was in a Poké Ball, I know…

~Midori