The room was nearly pitch-black, save for the two glowing crystals on His computer screen.
"Necrozma," He greeted simply, lighting another cigar having finished the first.
"N-"
"Ah-ah-ah," The Man interrupted, "Pardon that little outburst of mine, partner, but my name is not something to be said aloud lightly. Unlike with you, we never know who's listening in. Diligence is of the utmost importance when running an organization."
"Is that right?" The Space Pirate Lord asked, "If that is true, why does someone with your power need diligence? I was under the impression you were the most powerful being on your planet."
"Oh, trust me," The Man replied, no emotion visible on His stone-cold face, "I am. Just in a different way than yours."
The prismatic conqueror chuckled. If Necrozma had a face outside of his eyes, The Man would've guessed he was smirking. "I look forward to seeing this power…"
The Man chuckled as well. "As do I, partner, ...as do I…"
With that, Necrozma cut communications, and the room returned to the darkness He loved so very much, smoke wafting throughout the room.
Pallet Town, Kanto.
Ash and Serena had just entered Pallet Town, a blush from their previous...encounter still on the latter's giddy face. Though Ash had ways to go before he knew what he was doing in that regard, he could at least say he knew what he was doing somewhat.
"This is your town?" Serena asked, her eyes sparkling. "It's so pretty!"
Ash rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "Heh, really? "Pretty" isn't usually the first thing people say about this old place."
Serena frowned, "So...you don't like it?"
Ash shook his head and pulled her into his arm. "Nah, it's not that, it's just weird hearing it called "pretty" of all things...I like it."
"Do you really?"
"Hehe, sure, if you do."
"Pi-Pika!" Pikachu agreed.
As Serena rested her head on Ash's shoulder that wasn't currently being occupied by Pikachu, a familiar voice for one of the two cried out to them.
"Hey, Ashy-boy!"
Oh Arceus, no.
Ash, begrudgingly, and Serena turned to the perpetrator of the silence's end to find a boy with a lab coat and spiked brown hair and a disgustingly smug smirk running up to him and his newly-appointed girlfriend at full speed.
"Hey, Gary…," Ash greeted with his free hand slightly raised.
"Aw, don't be like that, Ashy-boy," The boy said, now having caught up to the pair, "Or else I'll think you aren't happy to see me!"
Ash decided to play along. "Alright then, Gare-Bear, what brings you back to Kanto? Last I heard, you were researching Sinnoh's lakes with that fancy new PhD of yours."
"Wait, he has a what?!" Serena finally piped in, "I feel a bit left in the dark here."
Ash mentally slapped himself for forgetting Serena.
"Serena, this is Gary. He was my first rival and is a real pain in the neck. Gary, this is Serena. She's my...girlfriend?"
He looked to her for approval, to which she happily nodded albeit with a reddened face.
"Yeah, girlfriend."
Needless to say, Gary stood there, mouth agape in disbelief.
"That...was not what I expected to hear when I woke up this morning…"
Nevertheless, the temptation to torment his old rival outweighed his surprise at this new revelation, and a grin crept up his face as he couldn't resist the sheer amount of teasing that was about to occur.
"Hehehe, I didn't figure you the type to be grabbin' girls like that, Ashy-boy! Between you, me, and the Mrs. here, I was beginnin' to think you didn't swing that way!"
It took Ash a few seconds, unlike his partners who were doing their best not to break into intense laughter, to grasp what Gary was insinuating.
"Wait, WHAT?!"
At that point, Gary, Pikachu, and even Serena were all howling with laughter on the ground, clutching their stomachs and rolling around next to a fuming Ash, who wasn't about to take this sitting down.
"Oh yeah?" Challenged Ash, "How about I tell Serena how you paid a bunch of girls to follow you around and act like cheerleaders?"
That shut them up.
"What?!" Gary screamed, now on his feet again, "How did you figure that out?!"
"You just told me," Ash smugly replied.
That seemed to have nearly broken Gary, because now he just stood unblinking with a broken look on his face. He'd been outsmarted by Ash, Ash of all people, and to make it worse, it wasn't even the first time…
"That's just creepy," Serena commented with a disgusted look on her face.
Great, and now Gary had Ash's girlfriend in on this.
"I was ten!" Gary defended. "And a heck of a better trainer than you were back then. Remember all those times you had to sleep in the wilderness because you were so bad at battling, you couldn't muster the pocket change for a room!"
"You wanna put your money where your mouth is?!"
"Bring it on, loser!"
While the two boys were currently slamming their foreheads together, Serena was giving Pikachu a concerned look while said mouse simply sighed at the two's old antics.
"Pikachu!" Ash called over, "Let's trash this punk!"
"Go, Umbreon!" Gary called out, "Let's beat 'em like in the old times!"
"Pi…," Ash's partner sighed hopelessly before complying and hopping into a fitting stance. "Pi, Pika!"
Umbreon launched itself out of its ball onto the field, taunting Pikachu with a menacing smirk to which Pikachu crackled its cheeks in his own menacing way.
"Umbreon, Shadow Ball!" Gary commanded.
Umbreon raised its head and opened its mouth wide, forming a purplish-black ball in front of it before shooting it towards its old rival.
"Iron Tail it back!" Ash commanded in response.
Pikachu raised its tail and coated it in a metallic silver sheen and promptly used it like a baseball bat to swat it back to his enemy.
"Dark Pulse!"
Umbreon again raised its head skyward and formed a swirling mass of spiraling dark matter in its mouth before shooting it in the form of a dark, crackling beam that hurtled towards the incoming Shadow Ball, slowing it to a halt.
"Heh," Ash chuckled cockily, "You're rusty, Gare-bear."
"What was that?!" Gary demanded.
"You've been outta the loop too long. The old you would've told Umbreon to dodge straight away to keep stamina and mobility up. Now, not only have you left Umbreon completely open, but you haven't even realised Pikachu is now high above your Umbreon ready to strike."
"What?! Umbreon, cancel the Dark Pulse and dodge!"
But it seemed Gary wasn't the only rusty one. The moment Umbreon stopped the Dark Pulse, the Shadow Ball rammed into Umbreon before it could jump away in time, stunning it long enough for Pikachu to exploit the Eeveelution's inability to move.
"Combine Electro-Ball with Iron Tail!"
"What?!" Gary cried redundantly. It seemed that was all he could even manage to contribute in these circumstances.
Just as told, Pikachu's tail once again grew its metallic sheen, but this time, a yellow ball of condensed electricity manifested at the tip of Pikachu's tail and crackled brightly due to the metallic tail conducting the electricity.
"Now use Quick-Attack and rocket towards Umbreon!"
"Umbreon, use Da-" Gary stopped himself before making a terrible mistake. "Nevermind, dodge it!"
Umbreon complied, now having regained its senses, and bounced away from the danger zone, only for his opposition to land on his feet instead of its tail and bounce towards Umbreon, slapping it across the face with the supercharged Iron Tail and sending a colossal streak of lightning flashing horizontally across the ground in the direction where Pikachu's tail struck moments after it had actually struck home. As for Umbreon, it was currently violently hurtling through several trees before finally coming to a stop. It was a good thing Pallet was so small, otherwise that giant lightning bolt would've ripped apart a building or two.
"Umbreon, no!" Gary cried, running after his partner.
"Oh geez," Ash said, "Think we overkilled it, buddy?"
Ash's response was an embarrassed chuckle and a rub to the back of his head from Pikachu.
"Pi, Pi…"
Ash's gaze turned worried as he envisioned the aftermath of such a devastating attack. "Let's follow him, Pikachu."
His partner simply nodded with a similar worried expression evident on his face and bolted off into the woods where Gary ran off to. Ash was about to follow suit before he turned back for Serena.
"Serena!" Ash yelled, snapping the girl out of her trance from that display, "C'mon, you should come too!"
"Oh, uh, right!" The young girl agreed.
Serena picked herself off the ground from where she was sitting and the two trainers bolted off into the woods to find Gary and his injured Pokemon.
""Gaaaaryyy!" Ash called out, "Where are ya?"
"Piiiiikaaaa!" Pikachu followed suit.
Serena remained silent, scanning the underbrush and shrubbery for any clue until she saw something white moving out of the corner of her eye. She pulled Ash's jacket gently to get his attention and pointed to what she saw.
"Gary!" Ash shouted, "Are you okay?!"
"Nevermind me," Gary shouted back, "Get over here!"
The trio complied and were met with a grisly sight once they arrived to the source of the voice. In a large opening in the forest caused by Pikachu's attack destroying a row of trees in its wake, Umbreon laid embedded in the side of a large boulder and Gary was currently on top of said boulder attempting to figure out a way to reach his partner. Serena gasped in shock while Ash on the other hand managed to keep his composure in check and ran to assist Gary.
"Pikachu, come quick!" Ash ordered.
Snapping out of his daze, Ash's partner quickly ran to assist his best friend.
"Gary!" Ash called, "How is he?!"
Gary shook his head, "Not sure, but we gotta find a way to get 'em outta this rock!"
An idea struck Ash. "Talonflame, go! Pikachu, hop on top of the rock!"
"Ash?" Gary asked concerned as Pikachu landed in front of him, "What are you planning?"
"Talonflame, grab Gary and set him down on the ground!"
"Wha-hey!" Gary shouted dejectedly as Talonflame hoisted Gary up with her talons, "Whaddya doin'?!"
Once Talonflame had set the young professor down, it promptly flew back to Ash waiting for further instruction.
"Ash, quit leavin' me in the dark here!" Gary yelled angrily, "Tell me what you're plannin'!"
Ash turned to his former rival with an embarrassed smile, "Hehe, sorry about that. I get really caught up when ideas strike me, is all."
Gary crossed his arms impatiently, "Ok then. Now that I've got your attention, may I ask you what your plan is for the umpteenth time?"
"Oh, right. My plan is to have Pikachu use Iron Tail on the rock in a way that would send Umbreon flying out of the rock quickly and painlessly so we don't have to go through the process of carving them out and Talonflame here is gonna position itself right in Umbreon's path, catch them, and fly over to the nearest city to a Pokemon Center to get medical help as soon as possible."
"Ash," Gary started incredulously, "As good a plan that sounds on paper, do you have any idea how many things can go wrong with that?!"
Ash's face practically deflated, "W...what?"
Gary marched over to Ash and pointed a finger to his chest, "If you hit the rock too hard, you could hurt Umbreon more!"
He got up in Ash's face, "Or if you don't hit it hard enough, Umbreon might not get flung out of the rock and he'll get crushed underneath the rubble!"
Gary's face was nearly pressed up against Ash's, who was doing his best not to fall over.
"Besides, Talonflame is a Fire and Flying type! How do you think it'll stand up to getting pelted with all those rock chunks, eh?! How's it gonna catch Umbreon under all that fire?!"
Ash shoved Gary back, now unwilling to deal with his criticisms. "Oh yeah? Why don't you try coming up with something better?!"
"GUYS!"
The two arguing boys were practically knocked over by the sheer ferocity of the yelling.
"WHILE YOU TWO ARE SITTING HERE ARGUING," Serena chastised, "THAT UMBREON IS RUNNING OUT OF TIME!"
The two rivals gave each other one last heated look before sighing in defeat, acknowledging their inanity.
"She's right, Ash," Gary surrendered, "I'm sorry."
Ash's response was his usual bright grin reappearing. "It's fine, Gary. You were just stressed about Umbreon. There's no shame in caring about your Pokemon."
"Ash?"
"Mm-hmm?"
Gary twiddled his thumbs, "Do you...think we could give your idea a shot?"
Ash gave a reassuring smile and a thumbs up. "Sure thing, Gare-bear."
An idea suddenly struck Ash. "Serena, could I ask for your help? Gary made a good point earlier about the rocks. I doubt Talonflame could dodge all those rock chunks and keep Umbreon safe at the same time, so can you have Braixen stop all the rock chunks once Pikachu shatters the boulder?"
Serena nodded, "Anything to help, and uh," A twinge of pink appeared on her cheeks, "Sorry for...yelling at you…"
Ash shook his head, "No, you were right. We shouldn't have been arguing while Umbreon's life was on the line."
Ash turned back to the matter at hand, "Talonflame, you ready?"
In response, Talonflame soared into a position facing the embedded Umbreon and spread its large wings.
"Talo!"
"Great," Ash complimented, "You too, Pikachu?"
Pikachu raised its tail into the air and covered it in a familiar metallic sheen.
"Pi, Pika Pi!"
Ash turned to Serena, "How's it coming?"
Serena released Braixen from her ball in response.
"It's a good thing Braixen is Psychic," Serena said, "That saves us the time of explaining, right?"
Her response was a confident nod. Braixen turned back to the matter at hand and whipped out her trusty stick in a flurry of fancy spins and twirls before assuming a position.
"Ready!"
"Brai!"
Ash's grin practically shined, "All right, guys. Get ready in three, two, one, GO!"
Pikachu hopped in the air and began to perform fast-paced rolling motions in order to increase the momentum and force of the Iron Tail's impact.
"Chuu, Pi-KA!"
Pikachu slammed his metal tail into the boulder and sent chunks of rock, and Umbreon, flying every which way. The rocks threatened to pelt everything around them like bullets until they stopped in their track due to a purplish-blue light that surrounded them. Umbreon, on the other hand, kept soaring due to its innate immunity to Psychic powers only to be caught in the waiting wingspan of Talonflame. Upon impact, Talonflame was sent flying backwards. To counterbalance this, Talonflame closed its wings around Umbreon and began to spin in the air similarly to a drill to cope with the force of the hit and to cause as little further damage to Umbreon as possible. Once Talonflame noticed they were dipping down, it grabbed Umbreon with its talons, spread its wings, and began soaring out of the forest and looking for the nearest town.
Gary, meanwhile, hadn't realised he'd been holding his breath the entire time and collapsed gasping for air. Now, it was only a matter of time before his Umbreon finally reached medical help. But suddenly he found himself whisked onto his feet by a familiar purplish-blue glow.
"Gary, c'mon!" Serena ordered from afar, "Ash and Pikachu already ran off!"
Gary stood there, dumbfounded for a few seconds before finally finding his voice.
"Y-yeah, alright."
With that, the young professor unsteadily began chasing after the two young trainers.
Talonflame, meanwhile, was soaring above the forestation, eyes darting every which way attempting to find a town when something suddenly flashed in its peripheral vision. It turned to the source of the light only to dodge a speeding Spearow that was attempting to use Quick-Attack on it. In annoyance, Talonflame readied a Flamethrower to rid itself of this pesky nuisance, only to be slapped upside the head by another Spearow's Quick-Attack. It didn't so much hurt as it did annoy Talonflame, and it nearly resulted in dropping Umbreon.
"Feeeaaaa-ROW!"
Talonflame was suddenly the victim of a particularly jolting Drill Peck from a Fearow that sent it careening back down to the ground. In defense, it once again readied the drill maneuver to cancel out any momentum that might hurt the unconscious Eeveelution and slowly curved its way back upwards, releasing a Fire Blast into a flock of angry Spearow's that had come to aid their leader. The Fire Blast detonated in the middle of the swarming birds, blasting their ranks across the skies and finally into a rain of them. Talonflame spared a glance downward and commended itself on making the decision not to leave Umbreon back in the ground after being hit by that Fearow. Arceus knows what they'd do to him if the fallen Spearow woke back up.
Talonflame's thoughts were interrupted when the remainder of the flock came at it in a storm of wild pecks and scratches. Talonflame furiously attempted to bat away all the little flying rats, but found itself having a difficult time doing so while keeping Umbreon safe. In frustration, it let loose a wild, sweeping Flamethrower through the crowd which succeeded in knocking out any that it came in contact with and temporarily caused the others to back off a tad.
"FEEEEEEAAAAAARRRRRRRR!"
Save one particularly large annoying flying rat.
Talonflame barrel-rolled away from an incoming Drill Peck from above and countered with another Flamethrower, only for the giant bird to duck under the flames and resume its assault. Angrily, Talonflame puffed out its chest and let forth a particularly large Fire Blast at its opponent which it barely dodged, earning a few skid marks and engulfing a large part of the forest below in searing flames. Completely outraged, the Fearow flashed towards its adversary at blinding speeds. Extreme Speed, noted Talonflame. Talonflame spread its wings and zoomed to the side to avoid the speeding raptor-bird, finding it particularly easier to move upward than before for some reason. The fire below had created an updraft, and it had given Talonflame a great idea. Talonflame sped upwards; as fast as it could. It barged through the blinding swarm of talons and sharp beaks, spreading its wings to take any glancing blows that might prove deadly to the unconscious Pokemon in its talons. Once Talonflame had finally broken through, it had realised two things. One, it was raining, and two, it was really ticked off. Talonflame tossed the unconscious Umbreon in her talons upward and turned down to face its pursuers, puffing its chest out as it did.
Closer…
A black mass of pure anger in bird form came rushing toward it from above, their enraged screeches covering the skies.
Almost…
Talonflame could practically feel their seething rage.
Just a little more…
A familiar giant rat came speeding out of the black mass, it's eyes red with pure rage.
Now.
Cloaked in a brilliant white Auric blaze of flame, Talonflame turned its head downward and released a colossal stream of blue fire from its mouth. The flames slammed into the Fearow and went on to completely engulf the rest of its underlings. The entirety of the black mass of birds that could be seen for miles, gone in an instant, and in its place a colossal pillar of blue flames that destroyed anything that dared come in contact with it. Umbreon, meanwhile, was now being held in place by the powerful updraft being created by the calamity below. The rain had immediately evaporated and was now coating the area in a thick layer of steamy shock wave from the pillar immediately uprooted any plant life unfortunate enough to be near it, and was soon incinerated just by being near it moments later.
When Talonflame finally closed its beak, the fatigue hit it instantaneously and without mercy. It felt immensely dazed and weak right off the bat, but it had dealt with worse and was far from out of the count. Talonflame shook its head to clear the dizziness and scanned the skies for Umbreon, who was floating midair, still unconscious, in the grasp of the updraft. Finding its mark, it sped over, grabbed the injured Pokemon, and began its initial objective anew. Talonflame dared another look down and saw a veritable warzone aftermath. Where trees and surely many places many Pokemon called home was now a crater, smoke, and a fiery no-mon's land. A pang of guilt rang through Talonflame's very being at that horrible sight, but it had a Mon dying in its talons this very second, and no time could be wasted looking for survivors when it had one right here and right now. All Talonflame could do now was pray those below sensed the danger and ran off before the attack hit. Talonflame swallowed its regrets and zoomed off in a general direction, hoping it led to society.
Ash and the gang were currently running through Route 1 as fast as their legs could carry them. Strange noises had coated the skies mere moments ago, such as warped, garbled screeches and what sounded like a bomb going off, and they didn't like it one bit.
"Ash," Serena started, "You don't think it's…"
Ash stopped in his tracks. He looked behind him to see a small river and a waterfall. This place looked tremendously familiar. Ash lightly gasped in realization.
"Pikachu, you remember this place, right?" Ash asked his partner.
"Pi?" Pikachu asked. He put his small hands to his chin in deep thought before he too realized where they currently were and his face lit up. "Pi, Pika!"
Ash nodded and turned to his other companions with a dead serious look on his face, making them deeply unnerved.
"What's with that look, Ash?" Serena asked, "You're scaring me."
"Yeah, you're creepin' me out!" Gary agreed.
Ash closed his eyes, "Guys...I think Talonflame and Umbreon are in grave danger."
Their eyes widened, and Gary too realized their situation.
"That's right!" Gary cried, "This place is infested with Spearow!"
"Aggressive ones, to boot," Ash added, "And now they have a leader."
Serena's face turned pale, "I've heard about stuff like this! Groups of aggressive Spearow's with a leader can have numbers in the thousands! I remember seeing a news report when I was a young about how the Elite Four of Kalos and a massive police force had to be called in to get rid of a migrating flock of Spearow that had numbers that blocked out the skies!"
Ash put a finger to his chin in deep thought, "I left behind my Pidgeot to prevent this from happening before I went home from the League, so maybe it's not as bad as we think."
Ash looked up at his companions with a determined look on his face. There was still danger to be sure. He could worry about his old friend later.
"Regardless, we can't take any chances. It's obvious Talonflame needs help, so let's go!"
Serena and Gary nodded simultaneously while Pikachu crackles his cheeks. With that, the team resumed their search for their comrades.
Viridian Forests' skies.
High above, Talonflame was on the verge of collapse. It was panting heavily; heavier than it would like to admit. Honestly, it had taken many a glancing blow during that skirmish and a few heavy ones to boot. The fiery bird could still feel the effects of that Fearow's Drill Peck ringing throughout its body, not to mention the fatigue of dragging around this Umbreon all the while. But all that paled in comparison to the aftermath of...whatever she pulled off back there. It didn't know such devastation was even possible, but Talonflame would think on it more later. Right now, all that mattered was-
"PIDGYOOOOOOT!"
Oh, for the love of…
Talonflame stopped in its tracks as a flock of Pidgeys and Pidgeotto appeared with a Pidgeot at the helm flew up from the forestation and directly into her path. And boy did they look ticked off. But then again, so was Talonflame. The Pidgeot made a few angered screeching noises and motioned with her beak behind Talonflame to the scene of the forest's demise. Talonflame replied with a few screeching noises of its own, making sure they knew how much of a bad mood it was in right now, and that it was not to be trifled with at the moment.
The Pidgeot countered by pointing out the fresh scars and scratches that decorated Talonflame, to which the fiery bird responded by motioning to the Umbreon in vastly worse shape in its talons and told them to get out of its way because it was trying to find a Pokemon Center to save its life. The Pidgeot just gave Talonflame an incredulous look.
"Ta-LO!" Talonflame cried. It didn't care if they believed it, Talonflame just needed a Pokemon Center and fast.
The Pidgeot gave the fiery bird another incredulous look, while her underlings simply flew behind her, obviously terrified from the Talonflame's earlier performance. Pidgeot angrily made the argument that if Talonflame really cared about the lives of Pokemon, it wouldn't have destroyed the homes of her flock and many others. Talonflame furiously cried out that it had no choice, and that if it didn't do that, Talonflame and Umbreon would have been torn apart by the flock of angry Spearows that attacked it out of nowhere.
Pidgeot's expression loosened at that. That made sense. It wasn't too hard to believe a Pokemon would be pushed into a corner by those familiar brutes. The Pidgeot asked how many there were. Talonflame responded by saying there were thousands, and that they blotted out the sky in their sheer numbers. Pidgeot squacked in surprise. If what this bird was saying was true, then the Spearows were probably going to wipe out their Pidgey adversaries after so many defeats at their hand. To Talonflame's and the Pidgey flock's surprise, Pidgeot bowed her head and promptly called Talonflame their savior and that they would have never been able to survive an encounter with those Spearow in such numbers. Talonflame, ignoring this, simply asked them where the nearest Pokemon Center was. Pidgeot deduced that the Talonflame must be pretty desperate if they were willing to ask for help from humans, but promptly offered to escort them to the nearest city, Viridian City, anyways. Talonflame nodded and said it'd appreciate that.
Down below, Ash's group had finally made it to Viridian City and were met with a battalion of firetrucks blazing past them back into Route 1.
"I was right," Ash said, dread evident in his voice, "Talonflame must have run into trouble."
Serena put a hand on Ash's shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.
"Talonflame is strong, Ash," Serena stated confidently, "I'm sure it's fine."
Gary took the opportunity to put a hand on Ash's remaining shoulder, "Yeah, they're probably already at the Pokemon Center!"
Ash's friends' optimism brightened his mood. "Yeah, I shouldn't be so worried. Thanks, guys."
As the group made their way to the Pokemon Center, they were interrupted by one of the many Officer Jenny's.
"Excuse me," She asked, "But do any of you know anything about a forest fire on Route 1? We heard explosions on the route and many reports tell of a hellscape left where there once were trees, and I just so happened to come across you three coming from that general direction."
She gave them a suspicious glare, "Do you three have anything to do with it?"
Instead of the desperate head-shaking and denial she was expecting, what she got were three guilty-looking hanging heads.
"Technically...yeah," Ash started, "We have reason to believe my Talonflame was attempting to fight off a large flock of angry Spearow while trying to fly here to get my friend here's Umbreon to a nearby Pokemon Center after a battle of ours that went south."
Jenny's eyes were as big as dinner plates.
"To be honest," Jenny started, scratching her cheek in embarrassment, "I was just teasing you kids when I asked you that…I didn't really think you three had the ability to cause that much destruction…"
In disbelief, the three trainers and Pikachu fell over with a thud.
"Our Pokemon could be waiting for us in that Center over there at this very moment," Gary started furiously, "And you're over here trying to scare us like kids?!"
Jenny visibly shrunk and laughed nervously to try and sway the young professor from yelling at her further.
"Ehehehe," Laughed Jenny nervously, "I'm uh...sorry for taking your time. Have a nice day!"
Jenny quickly decided to cut her losses and run for it in an attempt to hopefully keep her job when she realised something, turning back to the three trainers who'd already began making their way to the Center.
"Heeey…," She started, "Wait, didn't you say you guys had something to do with that fire?!"
The three young trainers stopped in their tracks, their faces darkening. The trio turned around to find the officer whom's profession should be in question sprinting at them with handcuffs at the ready. Though instead of running, the young trio simply stared at her...menacingly! Jenny stopped in her tracks, her heels digging into the ground to stop her assault.
She dared to ask, "Um...why aren't you running?"
Gary huffed, "Look, it's been a long day. We'd appreciate it if you didn't take up our time with games, miss."
"Yeah," Ash piped in, "We have an injured and two missing Pokemon possibly waiting for us in the Pokemon Center behind us, so if you could just leave us be, that would be appreciated."
Serena nodded in agreement with her two partners, "I get that you're trying to do your job, but you're really just being needlessly persistent. You're chasing people who aren't running, and it's honestly pretty childish and annoying."
Before Officer Jenny could come up with a retort, the trio turned their backs on her and entered the Pokemon Center behind them.
"Wha-"
Jenny stared downwards and slowly began to fume to herself.
"Games?! Childish?! Annoying?!"
These kids were blatantly disrespecting an officer and the law. She was gonna march right in there and give them each a piece of her mind, and nothing was gonna sto-
Jenny's thought process was promptly ended as she was knocked down by the three figures barging out of the center and running as fast as their legs could carry them.
"Wha- Hey, get back here!"
"No can do!" Ash called back, "Our Pokemon aren't here yet, and we're worried they're lost in the forest!"
Not so far above, Talonflame flew with increasing difficulty alongside its newfound acquaintances. Some of the Pidgeys were looking at it with concern while the Pidgeotto were either looking ahead or giving Talonflame an odd look. It didn't like this attention, especially in its current state. Suddenly, the rest of the flock stopped, and Talonflame had to force itself with great effort to do the same.
Pidgeot turned around and told Talonflame that this was as far as they'd go and that a city was ahead not too far from here. Talonflame chirped a thanks and bolted ahead, eager to finally get some rest and hopefully save this Umbreon's life. As Talonflame flew, a glint appeared in front of it, grasping its attention. Was that...yes, it was. She could finally see buildings up ahead. With what little might it had left, Talonflame bolted ahead at full speed to its destination. Once having finally reached the city, it scanned the city from above until it finally saw the familiar red roof of a Pokemon Center. With one last puff of air, Talonflame nosedived downwards and spread its wings just before hitting the ground. There it was.
Never was it this relieved in its life. The end of Team Flare, oddly enough, felt meager in comparison. It never had the chance to exert such force and have everything to lose there as it had plenty of backup. Here, Talonflame was alone, save the Pidgeot's flock from earlier, and forced to look after a swiftly dying Pokemon. Speaking of dying Pokemon, it burst through the doors of the Pokemon Center, startling those nearby into falling backwards. Talonflame ignored them and sped right up to the front counter, screeching a plea for help. The pink-haired doctress, the famous Nurse Joy, quickly snapped out of her trance at the sight and called two medical beds to be pulled up for the two injured Pokemon.
"Chanse, Chansey!" A pudgy, pink Pokemon with a nurse's hat cried out, quickly bursting into action and fetching out two carrier beds for them.
Talonflame eagerly flew Umbreon onto one of the beds, ecstatic to finally be free of this burden. Now only time could tell Umbreon's fate. Now, normally Talonflame's pride wouldn't allow it to be taken care of while unconscious, but it didn't really have much choice in the moment. Talonflame fluttered down onto the remaining bed, finally allowing a long-awaited rest to overtake it.
Ash, Serena, and Gary ran full speed into the forests of Route 1, their fears and worries for the lives of their Pokemon weighing down on their minds. They know the screeches and explosions from earlier only meant bad, but Jenny described it as a "hellscape", and with their Pokemon nowhere in sight, they were all in a frenzy. It wasn't helping that firetruck alarms were blaring and the area was swarmed with heat.
Smoke began wafting throughout the area, showing that they were getting closer to reaching their supposed goal. Ash suddenly stopped in his tracks, making his two followers follow suit. Orange and black decorated the foreseeable area ahead of them. The ground began to rumble as a large tree tilted and capsized to the side, revealing a large fire directly in front of them. This didn't sway Ash in the slightest. He began to dart into the forest, only for the scruff of his shirt to be pulled back by Gary.
"Lemme go!" Ash cried, "Our Pokemon are in there, I have to save them!"
Gary roughly pulled back the scruff of Ash's shirt and grabbed his shoulders to hold him still.
"There's no way we'll survive in there, Ash!" Gary shouted, "We'll suffocate in that smoke even faster than we'd burn alive!"
Ash shoved Gary off of him and argued back, "Our Pokemon are in there! I'm not gonna let them die!"
"And what about you, then?! What if you die in there, looking for Pokemon that might not even be there, huh?!
"I-"
"LISTEN, Ash! Are you really going to leave all your other Pokemon behind like that?! Like Pikachu?!"
Pikachu gave Ash a pleading look that made him feel horrible down to the core.
"Pi, Pika Pi…"
"I…"
Gary directed his arm at Serena. "What about her, then?! Are you gonna die and leave her behind—everyone behind, for a crisis that might not even be happening?!"
Ash looked at Serena, a guilt-stricken look overcoming him at her horrified face. He looked down and clenched his fists, cursing his weakness.
"Ash," Gary suddenly said, putting his hand on Ash's shoulder and directing his head so that the two were staring directly into each other's eyes, "Talonflame is strong. Umbreon is strong. Those two will be fine. If Talonflame can cause such a disaster as this, wouldn't it be able to survive one as well?"
Gary gave a genuine, reassuring smile. Not his usual cocky grin, but an actual, genuine smile.
"You have faith in your Pokemon, right?"
"Y-yeah…"
"Then they'll be fine. They'll probably be waiting for us at the Center. You know that."
Ash looked down.
"You're right," He said sullenly, "Let's...let's head back."
Before they headed back, Ash turned to Serena and enveloped her in a hug.
"I'm sorry," He said simply.
"Ash…"
Serena returned the sudden hug with an appreciative smile.
"You have nothing to apologise for. There's no shame in caring."
Gary chuckled behind them, "That's the spirit!" Now let's head home before we all get lung cancer from all this smoke."
Gary's sharp wit immediately helped brighten the mood amidst the dark forest, and the rest of the group slowly began laughing along. Finally, the group began to leave the burning forest to its demise to save themselves one.
The young triad and Pikachu finally made their way out of the burning forest and back to Viridian City. They eagerly rushed back to the Pokemon Center, their hopes of their Pokemon's survival fueling them. The group barged into the center, earning a few odd looks, especially now that they were, ironically, covered in ash from the forest. Ash looked around in a frenzy, still not seeing either missing Pokemon. He was about to rush back out when Gary dragged him back by the back of his shirt and gave him a reassuring look.
"C'mon," Said Gary, "Let's go see if they have 'em in the back already."
Ash slowly nodded and the trio walked up to the empty front desk. They noticed a small bell on the desk and rang it to hopefully get the attention of anyone who might be on duty.
"Just a minute!" A voice cried out, "I have two gravely injured Pokemon here that need to be stabilized!"
The trio gasped and nodded to each other. Their hearts pounded in worry.
"Are they a Talonflame and an Umbreon?!" Ash cried hopefully.
"They're yours?!" The voice cried back, "Please, come in, but be careful not to touch the machinery!"
The trio let out a long-awaited mixture of a sigh and a gasp. Finally, some good news.
"Told ya so," Gary teased.
Ash knew Gary meant well in saying that, so he simply gave a thankful nod. He probably saved his life. The trio and Pikachu happily darted behind the desk into the infirmary to see rows of injured or tired Pokemon, probably from the forest disaster. Lo and behold, the familiar faces of Talonflame and Umbreon.
"Oh thank Arceus," Serena sighed.
The trio rushed over to the beds that held their Pokemon and gave Nurse Joy, who was doing her best to keep the Pokemon alive. She worked busily back and forth to collect tools needed to patch up Umbreon, whom she was currently working on.
"How are they?" Asked Gary tentatively.
Joy looked at them and paused before answering hesitantly.
"The Talonflame will be alright, but...it's not looking too good for the Umbreon…"
"What?!" Gary demanded.
"I'm doing all I can for him!" Pleaded Nurse Joy.
Gary huffed, "I know, I wasn't saying otherwise. I just want to know if he'll survive…"
Joy paused and sullenly turned back to face Umbreon.
"...It doesn't look good…"
Gary shivered, his eyes darkening. "Just...just do your best…"
Joy stared him straight in the eyes and gave him a reassuring smile. "I promise."
Gary managed to give a weak smile before turning around to leave the room. He...needed some time alone.
"Gary?" Serena hesitantly asked, "You okay?"
"I'll be fine," Gary replied without stopping, "I just need some time alone…"
"Take your time," Ash said encouragingly.
"Thanks Ash…really, thanks."
With that, Gary left the infirmary room. Wasn't much there to do there, anyways. As he re-entered the lobby, Gary saw a familiar face that wasn't welcome at the moment. Officer Jenny sat at a nearby table, waiting for them. Gary gave her a glare that told her he wasn't in the mood. Her look back told him she wasn't planning on it. He gratefully nodded to her and made his way out the front door. With a loud sigh, he plopped down by the side of the front door. He could feel his consciousness fading. The fatigue was catching up to him, not that there was much he could do about it. With one last sigh, he allowed darkness and exhaustion to overtake him.
Jenny stepped outside, figuring she'd get a response out of them sooner or later if she waited when she saw the sleeping boy sitting outside. She smiled sympathetically and walked back inside the Center. She whispered something to a Chansey and shortly came back out holding a blanket. She made her over way to the unconscious professor and draped the cloth over him. She gave him a satisfied smile and walked off to get some sleep of her own.
The next morning, Ash and Serena were snoring loudly on a bench in the lobby. Their heads touched as they slept and Pikachu lied happily on Ash's chest. Outside, Gary's eyes slowly opened from his well-deserved rest. He noticed he'd been blanketed, but didn't think too hard on it as the thoughts of his Umbreon immediately assaulted his mind and clouded out anything else. He kicked off the blanket and scrambled for the door.
"HEY!" Gary yelled, startling Ash and Serena into bumping their heads together, as well as frightening Pikachu into shocking the two of them afterward, burning their clothes and frizzing their hair.
"Ouch!" Ash complained as he rubbed his head, "What's the big idea?!"
Ash's words fell on deaf ears as Gary hopped over the front desk and sprinted into the infirmary. Ash and Serena simply looked at each other oddly and shrugged before following.
"Is Umbreon okay?!" Cried Gary as he entered the room, Ash and Serena soon following.
Nurse Joy tiredly gave them a weak smile. She had intense bags under her eyes.
"Both of them...will survive."
Nurse Joy tried to stand up, only for her to let out a cry and fall forwards. Quickly thinking, Serena lept into action and caught the Nurse before her descent ended and helped her to her feet.
"Are you okay?!" Cried Serena in concern.
"I'll be fine," Replied Nurse Joy, "I'm just...tired…"
"Phew," Commented Ash, "Nice going, Serena!"
"Yeah, nice job!" Gary agreed, "Both of ya, that is!"
Serena's signature light blush showed itself at all this praise, her face turning pink.
"Hehe," She giggled, "Thanks, guys."
Nurse Joy opted to release herself from Serena's grasp, awkwardly trying to find her footing. Serena tentatively released the Nurse and stepped back, letting her gain her bearings. Joy stumbled a bit before gaining the ability to stand on her own and spoke.
"As I said before, Talonflame will make a full recovery so long as you keep it out of battles for a week or two."
"That's a relief," Ash sighed.
"...What about Umbreon?" Hesitantly asked Gary.
"Umbreon...will survive…"
"Lay it on me," Pleaded Gary, "I need to know the worst of it...please…"
Nurse Joy seemingly struggled to say what came next.
"Umbreon will survive...but it will never fight again. Its tissue will crumple like paper if it takes a hit or tries to throw one out. It's a miracle I managed to save its life at all…"
Gary slowly gripped his fists and his voice shook a little louder than he would have liked at hearing those words. His body began to tremble uncontrollably. "I-I-I...s-see…"
"Please," Pleaded Nurse Joy, "I understand if you're angry, but-"
Nurse Joy was interrupted by Gary raising his shaking hand to stop her from saying anything further.
"No, there's nothing to be angry at you for…any trainer who's worth anything knows that anything that happens to their Pokemon is their own fault. Not the Pokemon, not anyone else. The trainers only have themselves to blame."
Gary managed a smile and everyone in the room could see bright tears threatening to drop from his eyes.
"Thank you for saving my Umbreon's life, Nurse Joy...thank you…"
Nurse Joy smiled brightly at this display. This young trainer's resolve deeply touched her, as there weren't many trainers who would take such dark news so lightly.
"I'll call you up once Umbreon is ready. All it needs now is rest."
"Thanks, Nurse Joy...for everything."
Nurse Joy happily nodded and Gary went on his way back to the lobby.
Nurse Joy turned her gaze to Ash, "As for you…"
"Huh?"
"You're lucky. Outside of exhaustion and some scratches here and there, Talonflame was fine when it got here. That's one of the toughest Pokemon I've ever seen. It should be ready when you are. Just keep it out of battle for a while and it'll be right as rain."
Ash laughed happily, "Well, that's a relief. So, can I take Talonflame back now?"
With a nod of approval from the nurse, the young trainer happily ran over to his sleeping companion and returned her to her Pokeball in a familiar red beam.
"Thanks, Nurse Joy!" Ash chirped happily.
Nurse Joy bowed. "It was my pleasure."
As the two trainers made their way back into the lobby, Serena tugged lightly on the arm of Ash's shirt to get his attention.
"What is it?" Ash asked.
"I was just wondering," Serena started, "Was there...anything you wanted to do in particular, Ash?"
Ash shrugged, "No, not really in particular. I was just gonna relax in Pallet Town at home for a while. I also thought about heading over to this one place called Alola, but then I heard there wasn't a League over there, so I decided against it. You?"
"Well…," Serena started hesitantly, twiddling her thumbs nervously, "I was kinda thinking about taking on the Kanto League. I wanna become strong, like you."
AN:
Hydra's being lazy, so it looks like me, THE CREATOR is gonna handle this AN alone. Holy CRAP that was way longer than anticipated. Initially, this chapter was only gonna be three-thousand words at max...that didn't work out, did it? I hope this makes up for missing TWO DEADLINES :(. I had virtually only less than a week to work on it since I had eight hours of work for nine days straight. Luckily, I got bit by the inspiration bug which led to the plot of this chapter: Whatever the actual hell Talonflame did to those Spearow and Fearow. I'll get on to explaining what exactly that was at a later date (Chapter 10, 15 and 16). Spoiler alert: I watched Shin Gojira lol.
St Elmo's Fire
"Read this: fanfiction {dot} net/topic/11834/55376155/1/Capitalization-Thread
You wouldn't capitalize animal or mouse or dragon, so you shouldn't capitalize words like pokemon or pikachu or charizard. The only time you should capitalize it is if you're using it as the pokemon's name, ie, Ash's pikachu is called Pikachu. This is because you only capitalize when it's a proper noun, which are the names of places or things. Similar reasoning should be applied to any other words you're thinking of capitalizing, like telephone or trainer. Or professor. If you object to this, please take it to the thread instead of messaging me.
This belongs in the Anime world. Find your story under "Manage Stories" and select it from the dropdown menu that says "World: Any" in the "Category" section.
[It suited Him]
Errant capital.
You're formatting dialogue incorrectly. Dialogue is written as ["Hello," she said] or ["Hello!" she said], never ["Hello." She said] or ["Hello", she said] or ["Hello" she said]. This is because dialogue and speech tags are considered to be part of the same sentence, so they have to flow together. The only exception to this is if the next sentence doesn't contain a speech verb. In that case, the second part iis/i considered a separate sentence, so it's written as ["Hello." She grinned], never ["Hello," she grinned]. Note that something isn't a speech verb just because it's a sound you make with your mouth, so generally stuff like "laughed" or "giggled" is in the second category. ("Speak" is also not a speech verb.) Furthermore, if you're breaking up two complete sentences it's ["Hi," she said. "This is it."] not ["Hi," she said, "this is it."] or ["Hi," she said "this is it."] And if you're breaking up a sentence in the middle, it's ["Hi. This," she said, "is it."] The same punctuation and capitalization rules apply to thoughts, except you don't use quotation marks (or single quotes) with thoughts. This is because quotation marks for thoughts make it look like your characters are talking out loud, which is confusing to the reader.
Also, when you quote inside a quote, you use single quotes instead of double quotes; otherwise, the reader will be confused about where the dialogue ends. (If you quote inside a quote inside a quote, you go back to double quotes.)
[HALL OF ORIGINS]
This is jarring; it's better to use generalized scene transitions. Time and place should be clear from context or narration.
[In an empty space in a place far beyond human comprehension, the Alpha Pokemon Arceus himself stood in front of every legendary Pokemon currently known.]
This makes no sense. Arceus is not a god in anime canon, it's just a powerful pokemon.
Having Deoxys attend is particularly bizarre. Deoxys has absolutely no connection to anything divine, it's just an alien who showed up one day.
You should separate your author notes with a horizontal line; otherwise, they look like part of the story."
I'll admit, your criticisms did play a part in how I orchestrated this new chapter. I went back and fixed some things in the previous chapter for that. A lot of your criticisms hold no actual merit, however, but that is no fault of yours, as they are things that will be addressed later in the story. But...everyone capitalizes Pokemon names, dude. Take a look at subtitles for any Pokemon anime episode and you'll see. Plus, Clemont outright stated Arceus to be the one who created the world in the Hoopa movie. You don't know what you're talking about.
The OG Pokemon Master
"HELLS YEAH! THIS IS AWESOME!
1) 7.8/10 not enough water
2) Bipolar Blaziken-Man!
3) "... Friend Mairin"
4) Jenny: "Let's take fire types to subdue an elite fire-type trainer!"
4.5) With a police force like that it's almost surprising that Jessie and James never were successful. ...almost.
5) (as I'm reading) Naw, he won't release Greninja, right? *two paragraphs later* ...shit.
6) THE BATTLE OF THE AGES: Pikachu vs Bunnelby.
7) Again. You asshole! Greninja is awesome.
Haha I'm just messing with you but did you have to do that? :(
8)"MIGHT I HAVE THINE ATTENTION"
"Bitch we playin Monopoly. Wait."
"I SEE"
9) Deoxys and Necrozma is a connection that I haven't thought about... I may end up referencing that in THL...
Anyways, this is an awesome story! I really love it - keep up the great work both of you.
10) I'm not sure if Nova knows me so this review may seem totally random but whatever."
thanks. It's only gonna get better.
2. I feel disgusted with myself in the way I characterized Blaziken-Man after rewatching XYZ, so I changed him in the first chapter.
3. I still giggle at that
4. Officer Jenny is very incompetent. That much is painfully obvious. "Arcanine, use Flamethrower!" "BITCH, GIMME A FIRE STONE, AND I WILL!"
5. Sorry :(
6. Only to be matched by Magikarp VS Metapod
7. Oh he'll be back...someday…
8. "YOU BASTARD, YOU TOOK ALL MY MONEY, ARCEUS DAMN IT!" XD.
9. I don't think they have any real connection outside of this fanfic. Aint gonna stop me from turning Necrozma into Frieza and Boros though.
10. He's super interested in THL, actually.
Hydra- by the way I'm not lazy. Just felt like not doing it lol.
Anyways, PLEASE leave reviews. I swear I will respond to them all, and I love reading each and every one of them. It's my joy as a writer seeing them, and they're a great way to get me inspired to write and pump out chapters faster. I hope these long eight and a half-thousand words were to your guys's liking.