(Unwilling) On the Road to Vermillion City!

AKA the unsexy but surprisingly violent chapter.

The weather was changing for the worse. The sky, which had been clear and blue only a few minutes prior, had dulled to steel-grey, as the clouds grew and thickened. The winds had dropped in temperature but risen in strength, and were now sweeping across the landscape. Those who had taken precautions and gotten inside were now glad for it, and those who hadn't were sorely regretting it as they fled for shelter.

Ash had yet to notice. He was too focused on claiming his first Pokemon.

The fields around Pallet Town weren't known for their variety. One could reliably find Rattata and Pidgey in the fields, and there were a decent amount of bug-types in the trees, but that was about it. Most experienced trainers didn't even bother with the local fauna.

But it was like that nice trainer had said: Ash had to start somewhere. And if he could get it trained up, then a Raticate or a Pidgeot would make for a pretty decent choice.

But with no starter to weaken wild Pokemon to be caught, Ash had to rely on luck. So, seeing a flock of Pidgey pecking at the grass, he snuck forward on his hands and knees through the grass, trying to be as quiet as possible.

The Pidgey flock did not react to his approach. He looked around until he saw one that was a little bit away from the rest of the flock, and still completely unaware of his presence.

Ash held his breath. He pulled out one of the pokeballs, clicked the activation button and felt it grow in in his hand, and waited. The Pidgey kept hopping along, scratching at the ground and pecking for bugs.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Ash leapt up and hurled the pokeball with the technique of a soldier lobbing a hand-grenade and the grace of a rabid Mankey.

The pokeball sailed right over the Pidgey's head and landed in the grass, a clear miss.

Squawking in surprise, the whole flock took off.

"Huh?" Ash said as the Pidgey flock took wing all around him. He grabbed after them, as if that would convince them to stay. "Wait! Come back!"

Then he sighed in defeat. Okay, that had been dumb. Time to cut back on the yelling and exhibit more patience.

Retrieving the fallen pokeball, he resumed his search.

The local fields might not have anything particularly powerful or exotic, but it didn't lack for quantity, and before too long he caught sight of another Pidgey moving through the grass up ahead, this one by itself.

Okay, a second chance. Fingering the pokeball behind his back like a baseball pitcher, Ash slowly crept up, getting closer and closer. This time he would aim properly.

He circled around until he got a clear shot. The Pidgey looked a little different than the others, with more red than brown in its coloring and spikier plumage. No matter. A Pokemon was a Pokemon.

This time Ash kept his mouth shut. He reeled back and hurled.

It worked! The pokeball sailed through the air and smacked the Pidgey in the wing.

In that moment, Ash realized two very important details.

First of all, that hadn't been a Pidgey he had been stalking. Rather, it was a Spearow, the Pidgey's slightly less common but much more aggressive cousin.

Second, despite being activated and scoring a direct hit, the pokeball completely failed to do its job. It knocked the Spearow over and then plopped into the grass, completely inert.

Ash's jaw dropped. What? Why? Sure, throwing a pokeball at a Pokemon without weakening it first meant that he wasn't guaranteed a catch, but it should have at least tried to absorb it!

The Spearow angrily scrambled to its feet. It then turned to shoot Ash a hateful glare before taking flight, screeching the whole way.

Ash ran over to inspect the pokeball. What was wrong with it? Had he been given a dud?

Holding it in his hands, he turned it over. Now that he was really looking, the red half looked a lot more pale than a traditional pokeball. Actually, it was pretty pink. And the grey half had a metallic sheen one normally didn't see.

Also, there was a big dark red heart on top of the pink half.

Realization hit Ash like a thunderbolt, and he hastily pulled out the rest of the pokeballs to inspect them as well.

It was as he had feared. They weren't pokeballs; they were human balls, the kind specially designed for catching girls. And since Ash wasn't allowed to do that, nor did he particularly want to…mostly…they were worthless to him!

"Argh!" Ash threw the activated human ball to the ground in anger, but despite it being made from metal and plastic, and despite the ground being covered with soft grass, it still somehow bounced back up and hit him in the face.

Ash fell onto his butt and grabbed at his aching nose. Then he started banging his fist against the ground.

"Darn it! Darn it! Darn it!"

He couldn't win! No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't win! It was like the world was focused on ruining his dreams specifically!

And why did that trainer give him human balls anyway?! Weren't they supposed to be really expensive?

After he had calmed down some, Ash sighed and shrank the activated ball down and put them all back in his pocket. Maybe he could sell them off to buy some actual pokeballs.

Except, who would he sell them to? If a kid showed up at the local PokeMart with a bunch of human balls, then questions were going to be asked. No one would buy that some trainer had just given them to him! Why would any trainer willingly give up a handful of human balls?

Come to think of it, why had that trainer just given them to him? Had he reached into the wrong pocket? It didn't make any sense!

As Ash sat there sulking and wondering, he felt something splash against the back of his hand. Confused, he looked down at it, and then up.

The sky had gone past grey and had now darkened to black, and big fat raindrops were coming down.

Ash leapt to his feet. Oh no, now he was caught in a storm he had no idea was coming! Could this day possibly get any worse?

Covering his head with his hands, Ash fled back across the field, hoping to get home before the storm got really bad.

…

Annoyed, wet, and cold, Misty hopped onto the shore and recalled her Starmie back into her pokeball.

The river had taken her to a lake in the middle of a small forest, which effectively meant the end of the road by that route. On the one hand, she was pretty sure she had lost Gary. On the other, she was now out in the open with no bike, down a fishing pole, and no idea where she was.

Also, it was starting to rain.

Scowling, Misty cast a disgruntled look at the sky. It seemed that her instincts had been right after all. Too bad that pompous idiot had prevented her from doing anything about it in time.

Pulling her PokeDex out of her pack, she checked her location. Okay, she was about halfway between Pallet Town and Vermillion City. Now, if she was a betting girl, she would put all her chips on that Gary Oak as being from Pallet Town, given that they were the place with the official Pokemon Lab where kids could go to get their starters every year. If she headed down there, she would be able to find whoever it was that had signed off on him being given a trainer's license and raise a little hell.

On the other hand, that road he had been taking had been a straight shot to Vermillion City, and that was the next logical stop for a beginning trainer, seeing how it had a gym and Pallet Town didn't. And her name would have a lot more pull there then it would in Pallet Town, and his a lot less.

Either Gary would go home to whine to his parents about how he had been unfairly assaulted, or he would be unable to take the shame and press on to the next town. Either way, she wasn't all that concerned about encountering him in a city, but just to be safe, Vermillion City sounded like her best bet to have something done about him.

That decided, Misty put her PokeDex away, shouldered her pack, and set off. Hopefully she would make it before the rain got really bad.

…

Ash hadn't even gotten a third of the way across the field when he heard the angry screech in the sky above.

Turning around, he looked up and froze in fear.

The Spearow had returned. And it was mad. What was more, it had brought friends!

The sky was filled with the angry birds, and they were all flying after Ash, ready to rip him apart with their talons and peck the bones to pieces.

"Wait!" Ash cried, holding his hands up, as if that would ever work.

"Spearoooooow!" the leader shrieked as it opened its wings and swooped down at him. The others were quick to follow.

Ash would never make it all the way across the field. Changing direction, he bolted into the nearby forest, hoping that the cover of the trees would stave off his grisly demise long enough for someone to save him.

…

The storm was getting worse, and Misty was getting worried.

She hurried along, covering her head the best she could. Her umbrella had been attached to her bike along with her pole, which was another thing she owed Gary Oak for. And here she was, wearing nothing but her yellow tank top, a pair of shorts held up with red suspenders, and white sneakers. A perfectly fine outfit for strolling about on a warm summer's day, but completely inadequate for her current situation.

Then lightning lit up the sky through the trees. Less than a second later thunder boomed. Misty gulped. She was in trouble.

"Hey!"

Misty turned to see someone running toward her, some guy with spiky black hair wearing a red cap. He was frantically waving his arms as he yelled.

"Run! They're after-"

And then his foot caught on a root, and he was sent sprawling.

Into Misty.

"Oof!"

The two children fell back to the ground, Misty flat on her back with the boy on top of her. Dazed, they both blinked their eyes and found out that their faces were now very close, their noses practically touching.

Also, one of his hands was pressing into her right breast.

"Get off of me!" Misty cried as she shoved the creep off. "God, what is with you perverts today?!"

"I'm sorry!" the boy cried. "I didn't mean to!"

"Sure, you didn't," Misty said as she pulled herself to her feet. "You just so happened to come running at me at full speed at-"

"Oh no, they found me!"

"Huh?" Misty paused her angry tirade. "Who?"

The boy thrust a finger back the way he came. "The Spearows!"

"The what?"

Then she saw it.

Dozens of the angry little birds were flying through the trees, all screaming out their name over and over, all laser-focused on the boy.

"Oh."

"Run!" The boy grabbed her by the hand and took off. Moments later the two of them were running side-by-side.

"What did you do that made them so angry?" Misty called over the noise of the wind and the Spearows' enraged shrieks.

"I tried to catch one!"

"Well, can't you use your PokeMon to protect us?"

"I don't have one! And even if I did, there's too many!"

Misty shot him a look.

"What?!"

Misty sighed. Oh, so he was one of those. Another hapless newbie, one much less egregious than Gary but much more clueless. "Aren't you supposed to start with a Pidgey or a Weedle if you want to do it that way?" she shouted. "You know, something that isn't going to get its friends to come after you?"

"I tried that too! Besides, I-"

The rest of his words were swallowed up by another clap of thunder.

The first of the Spearows caught up to them, and Misty felt something feathery thump against her neck, followed by a hot lance of pain. She cried out and tried to shield her head the best she could, but considering that her arms were bare, that didn't improve things by much.

The boy had it worse. The Spearows might be going after her by association, but they absolutely were after his blood. Fortunately he had on a jacket, gloves, and hat, so he was a little more protected than her, but that wouldn't do much against their concentrated assault.

Then, just as things looked really dire, the boy suddenly looked right at Misty. "Go the other direction!" he yelled. "They want me! I'll try to lead them off!"

"Are you insane? They'll rip you to shreds!"

But the boy was already doing everything he could to get the attention of the entire flock. He snatched up a stick and started waving it around. "Hey! Hey! You want me? Then come and get me!"

It worked. The Spearows that were attacking Misty disengaged and went after him instead, and he ran off, with several shrieking bloodthirsty PokeMon in tow.

Misty gawked after him. Well, he certainly was as brave as he was stupid. Right now the smart thing to do would be to do as he said and run off before something else noticed her. Her arms, neck, and shoulders were torn up as it was!

But she couldn't just leave him to die! Besides, even if he didn't have any means to protect himself, Misty certainly did.

Shaking his head, Misty ran after him, her hands going again to her belt.

…

Ash's whole world was cold, wet, feathers, and pain. The Spearows were attacking him again and again, pecking and slashing at every bit of exposed flesh while actively tearing at his clothes to expose more. They blinded him with their wings. They deafened him with their cries.

Still he ran. He had to keep running. He had to draw them away from that girl. She had already been hurt because of him!

Suddenly the forest opened up and he was fleeing through open fields again, though he was so preoccupied with his ongoing death by a thousand cuts that he barely noticed. In fact, it wasn't until he reach a steep slope that he finally took note of his surroundings, and that was because his legs went out from under him and he ended up tumbling, sliding, and rolling all the way to the bottom.

Ash lay in a confused and agonized heap at the bottom. Every bit of him hurt, and now he was splattered with mud. The rain was coming down incredibly hard now, slamming into his face and chest, and he was covered with something gross and sticky that he was pretty sure was his own blood.

Blinking away the rain and blood from his eyes, he looked up. The Spearow flock were hovering at the top of the slope, framed by the storm like harbingers of doom. Which they were.

This is it, Ash realized. I'm not getting out of this. I'm going to die here.

He was going to be reported as missing. People would assume he had run away from home out of shame. And then they would find his body, as well as his pocket of human balls. Rumors would spread about what had happened and what he had tried to do. Even in death, he would turn into a joke, and people would speak of Stupid Ash Ketchum, the dumb boy who didn't show up on time to get a Pokemon starter and died trying to illegally hunt girls.

What were his friends going to think? Would they ever even admit to being his friends? What about his Mom? How could she live with herself after, knowing that her son had turned out to be such a failure?

This was supposed to be the best day of his life, the start of his adventure. Instead, it turned out to be the end of his entire short and stupid life.

Then the lead Spearow rode the currents up, reading itself to swoop. Ash tensed up in anticipation of the pain that was to follow. Hopefully it wouldn't last long.

And then someone cried out, "Hey! Over here!"

The sky lit up with lightning, and Ash saw that girl he had run into earlier, the one with the carrot-orange hair, the yellow tank-top, and the red suspenders. She was standing on top of the hill, right behind the Spearow flock. There were two pokeballs in her hand.

Ash's jaw dropped. What was she doing? Did she want to get herself killed as well.

The girl held out the two pokeballs up at the sky. "Staryu! Starmie! I choose-"

And then the whole world turned white, followed immediately by the sound of crashing drums.

Ash flinched as an avalanche of dirt and grass rained down on him. Above, he heard the Spearows screaming in fear. Then the sound of their cries got further and further away.

Wait, were they leaving? Had she driven them off?

Ash opened his eyes. The Spearows were leaving! They were flying off as fast as their wings could carry them! That girl had done it!

She had to be a trainer! She had used her Pokemon to drive them off. She had saved him!

Despite his pain, the sheer gratitude Ash felt filled him with strength and energy. He hastily scrambled out of the pile of debris that had landed on him and looked up to the hill, expecting to see her there, standing in triumph.

The top of the hill was gone, and smoke was rising from where it had been.

What?

Ash blinked. He wiped the rain and blood from his face. What had happened? Where was-

Wait.

That flash! That boom! That avalanche! That hadn't been an explosion, that had been a lightning strike! And she had been standing on top of the hill, holding two metal spheres to the sky! So…

His relief replaced with terror, Ash scrambled up the slope as fast as he could. The grassy slant was slick beneath his feet, but he would not be deterred. He had to see if she was all right.

She wasn't.

Ash found her immediately. She was lying prone on the ground, her pokeballs still in her hand, both of them unopened. They were fine, as presumably were the PokeMon inside. Pokeballs were designed to take a lot of punishment, both from physical abuse and the elements. Their interiors were insulated with a layer of rubber, rendering them resistant to electric attacks.

Unfortunately, their exteriors were still made from metal, and she had been holding onto them with her bare palms.

Her skin was an unhealthy grey pallor. Both of her arms were laced with bright red burns that looked leafless trees, running all the way into her shirt. Her eyes were glazed over and staring blankly to the sky, not even blinking when struck by rain. Every hair on her body was standing straight up, and blood was seeping out of both nostrils.

"Oh no. Hey!" He waved his hand in front of her face. There was no response. "Are you okay?"

It was a dumb question, but he didn't know what else to say. She didn't react either way.

Ash was in a panic. He had survived, but another kid had gotten herself killed instead! And when she was trying to save him no less! What was he going to do?

He tried to nudge her shoulder, only to whip his hand away. No, he shouldn't move her! That could make things worse, right?

But could they get worse? Was she even alive?

He pressed his ear to her chest. "Come on, come on!" he begged, the blood and rain on his face now being mixed with the tears streaming from his eyes. "Please be okay, please be okay…"

A heartbeat! She still had a heartbeat! It was slow, and it was sluggish, but it was there. She was still alive!

Ash's relief was short-lived though, because she clearly did not have long. The two of them were still out in the middle of a storm with no help to be found, and there was no way he could get her to help in time. If she lasted even a minute longer then it would be a miracle.

What was he going to do? What was he going to do? He couldn't let her die! But he didn't have anything that would-

Wait.

Ash thrust her hand into his pocket. And when he withdrew it, he held one of the human balls between his thumb and index finger.

Staring at the tiny sphere, he clicked the activation button with his thumb, causing it to grow to full size.

Ash swallowed. This was insane. No way could he do this. Wasn't it illegal? Or at least, against League rules?

Suddenly Misty's body jerked. For a moment Ash thought that she was waking up, but instead she just started making a strangled choking sound, a harsh gurgle from deep in her throat.

He was running out of time! If he waited any longer, then she would die!

Ash looked at the sphere in his hand, down at the girl, and then back at the sphere. Then, with the rain still pounding down from above, the wind tearing at his clothes, and lightning piercing the sky, his made a decision.