Raised In The Shadows
Chapter 4
*Last-Time*
He was using his new bag his parents got (stole) for him, it was a rather high-end bag, but not for style. It was the first version of a badge that used a pokeballs pocket dimension mechanics to carry everything. His bag had four pockets, in the front pocket he placed his spare pokeballs along with his wallet, the next pocket held 3 pairs of the same looking clothing along with an umbrella and jacket, the pocket after that held his tent, sleeping bag, and some flint and steel (until he got a fire type). The last pocket held all of his first aid supplies along with a couple of potions/super potions and a few antidotes, it also held his book of herbs, which was to help him distinguish poisonous/non-poisonous, edible/non-edible, and healing plants. Once had packed everything in he went back downstairs, his bag swung onto his back and with three pokeballs in hand. He threw the balls at his friends, who didn't fight back at being captured. Ash then picked the poke balls up and exited the front door to begin his journey
*Now*
It has been three hours since Ash left his home in Pallet Town, the one word he would use to describe his current feeling would be 'liberation'. He felt liberated, he had felt freer than he has ever felt before. Now don't get him wrong, thanks to his new family he was able to explore the world a lot sooner than most would, it's just that he had to remain in Pallet town until his eleventh birthday. Because even though he could go anywhere in the world, he felt that it would be best to start his journey in the same area he was raised and rescued in.
It was that, and the fact that the exit of pallet town had a very old and angry guard, he was placed there so he could stop young children from going onto route one. The guard seemed to like being extra harsh with Ash every time he tried to head to Viridian city, shouting profanities at him for trying to trick an 'old guard' into escaping. Though what he didn't know was that his family had decided that he needed to be taken on a long vacation/retirement. So when Ash went past the gate leading onto route one, he was slightly surprised to see that the old guard was no longer there, though it did cause a small smile to appear on his face, happy that he didn't have to deal with him.
He was currently wandering around route one, enjoying the silence that currently surrounded him. His friends were currently in their new poke balls. He had wanted to keep them in there just knowing that the security guard would've tried to take them from him, though as he wasn't there anymore (original and replacement) he decided to keep them in there pokeballs so he could enjoy a nice stroll. He planned on setting up camp in the forest surrounding route one. So after another few minutes of wandering, he decided that it was time to find and set up camp, he began to walk into the tree line. After walking through the trees for around five to ten minutes, he then found an opening and was met with a wonderful site. Past the trees was a beautiful meadow-like plain, with low leveled grass and a few flowers. At the center of the land was an old-looking Oaktree, and a few feet away from it was a clear water pond and a river flowing right through it. He gave a quick scan of the area before nodding to himself and quickly picked up three of the five pokeballs strapped onto his belt before throwing them into the air and releasing his friends from them. Once his friends were released, he quickly dodged a Thunderbolt aimed at him from his rather irate friend.
"What the heck took you so long, do you know how cramped it is in those things," S. Pikachu shouted at his friend, shivering slightly at the memory of the tightly confined dark. He was a shadow pokemon, he was used to the darkness he traveled in it, what he didn't like was that he was frozen still in the darkness unable to move anywhere. S. Zorua gave a nod, agreeing with him about the Pokeball. Nidorina though shrugged her shoulders.
"It wasn't that bad, it was quite peaceful in there," she states, not caring about the shocked looks that she got from the two smaller pokemon. S. Zorua turned to face Ash.
"I agree with mousey, it's really uncomfortable in there. Can't we just stay outside of our pokeballs' if we promise not to run off when we reach the cities or towns," he pleads, giving Ash the Puppy dog eyes. S. Pikachu joined in after glaring at S. Zorua for the 'mousey comment'. Ash just rubbed his eyes, before sighing.
"Fine but you have to promise me three things, One: I don't want to catch you two trying to create trouble in the towns or cities we enter. Second: you will either ride on my shoulder, on top of my hat or walk beside me at all times when we are in towns and cities. Finally: you WILL go into your pokeballs when I return you to them, I will only do that if it's to protect you, or to keep your body frozen in time until we reach a poke center. If you agree to all of that then you can remain outside of your pokeballs." Ash states, and gets two rapid-fire nods from the two of the smallest pokemon on his team with wide smirks plastered on their faces.
He just shook his head, before putting his bag down and taking out his camping supplies. He quickly set up his tent and placed his sleeping bag inside of it, he then had his friends go search for some firewood, while he went to search for some berries. About 30 minutes later, Ash had put all the berries into a special pouch in his bag before setting up a fire pit close enough to his tenet so it could receive some heat, and still far enough to not catch on fire. He then sets up the gathered branches and twigs his friends got and quickly puts them in the pit so that he can start the fire later.
Once he finished all of that he grabbed one of the two pokeballs with his 'starters' in them, before turning his head to face his friends.
"Alright you three, I want to give you a heads up before I release our new partners. These two have been abused by their old trainer, I don't know how bad they were abused but I do know that we will need time to gain their trust, me especially. I want the three of you to be very gentle around them. I will be releasing them one at a time, one now and one in the morning, I am doing this so that we can try to at least gain one of their trust so we can at least be on easier grounds with them." Ash explained, and after a few moments, his three friends gave a sharp nod. He nodded back before flinging the Pokeball in his hand into the air, The ball opens up and a white light appears, and launches from the airborne ball to the ground. The Pokeball then moves back towards Ash's hand, and the white then disappears to reveal his first starter. The starter was bipedal, he had short black fur on his body and silver fur on its paws, both on its arms and legs, he also had a silver 'facemask' and long oval-shaped appendages at the end of the mask.
The first thing the four of them noticed was that it was a shadow pokemon, and the second thing was that it was snarling at Ash, pulling his arms to the side preparing to launch an attack. Ash quickly put his arms up in surrender before kneeling to the ground, a good few feet away from the pokemon, putting up a non-threatening aura.
"Easy there," he said gently, shocking the shadow pokemon. Ash smiled at himself, he sometimes enjoyed startling pokemon with his ability to speak poke-speech. Still a few feet away, Ash started slowly talking again, keeping up his non-threatening aura.
"It's alright, I promise I mean you no harm okay. My name's Ash, and behind you are my friends S. Pikachu, Nidorina and S. Zorua," He states. He then gets his bag and reaches into it and pulls out a few of the berries that he's gathered. Once the S. Pokemon notices the fruit, its stomach growls causing it to hug its stomach and Ash to smile slightly.
"You must be hungry, I have plenty more berries in my bag if you want some. Would you like some," He asks the pokemon, moving his hand with the berries closer to the hungry pokemon. The Pokemon just looks at him, then the berries, then him, then the berries. He then slowly reaches for the berries, causing Ash to smile sadly at the way the small pokemon was acting, once the small pokemon' silver paw was close to his hand with the berries, he slowly moved his free hand to pick up a berry and gently puts it onto the pokemon's hand. Once the berry touches it, the pokemon quickly snatches it away, and hides behind Nidorina and quickly eats it.
Ash moved towards the pokemon slowly again, and quickly handed him another berry, he kept doing this until the pokemon stopped reaching for them.
"Are you full now," he asks, and gets a slow nod from the pokemon, causing another smile to grow onto his face.
"That's good, I'm sorry if I scared you when I released you from the Pokeball, now do you think you could tell us who you are, If you want I can also release your friend so that he/she could be with you while we talk," he asks the bipedal pokemon, who looks at him, but shocks ash with a shaky shake of the head.
"N-no, she was rather t-tired before we w-were placed into the po-pokeballs," the pokemon stutters out, though without using its mouth. Ash nods and moves his hand away from his second starters Pokeball.
"Okay, we can let him rest for now, do you mind telling us who you are," He asks.
"I-I'm Ri-Riolu, w-well an S. Riolu." Ash smiles and nods towards the shadow pokemon, giving him a gentle smile.
"It's very nice to meet you, as you can already tell I have two other S. Pokemon with me who is rather friendly, though fair warning, don't get between 'mousey' and his ketchup," He states, before moving his head to the side, just in time to dodge a thundershock launched by said 'mousey'.
"Don't call me mousey," S. Pikachu grumbles out, causing both S. Zorua and Nidorina to let out a slight chuckle. S. Zorua then turns to face the sitting pokemon.
"Well, I would like to properly welcome you to this team of crazies, where adventure and fun never seem to end," He states, happily jumping up and down. Everyone else, bar S. Riolu, seemed to glare at their jumping friend. S. Zorua then stopped jumping and stared at them.
"What it's true, Pikachu has an addiction to Ketchup stronger than a Snorlax's belly, Nidorina has a strange urge to stab her food with her horn, I always have the Urge to Jump for no reason, and let's not forget about our sweet trainer Ash," he says in a giggly voice, he quickly moves towards S. Riolu and whispers into his ear. Once he finished S. RIolu gained a blush on his cheeks, which was noticeable due to his dark fur color. Though he soon falls to the ground as Nidorina moves to perform body slam on an Unsuspecting and Jumping S. Zorua, and it was a critical hit.
"Ughhh" S. Zorua groaned out and tried to wiggle out from underneath Nidorina, but once she got out she was electrocuted by S. Pikachu and then was returned to his Pokeball for an indefinite amount of time. After all of this had happened they heard something, chuckling and it was coming from S. Riolu, who became quiet after he noticed that everyone's attention was on him. After a few moments, everyone then fell laughing. Their laughing continued for another minute or two, then the group of five were all laying down on their backs or stomachs. They all sighed, then Ash moved to sit up and stared at the sky and noticed that it was evening as the blue sky turned to amber.
"Looks like it is almost dinner time, why don't the two off you help S. Riolu in getting acquainted with you guys I'll set out your bowls of food," Ash says, before turning to look at S. Riolu.
"You don't mind sharing with S. Riolu, for now, do you, once we enter the next town i will stop by the breeder center so that i can prepare some food for him," once he said this, everyone gave him a nod before dragging the puppy of the group away. They went to the edge of the pond and began a simple game of twenty questions.
"So, what do you think of Ash," S. Pikachu asks him, and he stutters a bit with his answer.
"He s-seems ni-nice, How lo-long have you g-guys known him," S. Riolu asks, this caused the two of them to let out a slight 'hmm'.
"Well, i would have to say about 5-6 years maybe longer. We've known him for so long, we were his first and only friends when he was younger," Nidorina states, which causes S. Riolu to look at them in shock.
"Really, I-I thought that h-he would've had some friends of- well you know-" He stops his question and flinches back when the two pokemon in front of him begin to snarl slightly. The two quickly squash down their anger before giving an apologetic look towards S. Riolu.
"Sorry about that," S. Pikachu states, rubbing the back of his head. Nidorina does the same.
"That's a sore subject for all of us, more so to Ash than the rest of us," Nidorina says, causing S. Riolu to look at them in confusion. Before he can ask, S. Zorua appears out of nowhere spooking the three of them.
"That's what you get for attacking me like that and having Ash put me into that stupid Pokeball," he grumbled out, his black and neon green-tipped tail swishing back and forth angrily, before turning to face the new guy.
"And just so you know, Ash is just like all of us in away. Lost, Abandoned and abused by humans who used us or were supposed to protect us," He states, though his tone turned sad as he said the last bit as the memory of what happened that day swarmed back into his mind. He quickly shook those memories away.
"Promise us that you will not ask him about his past, that is a really sore subject for him to talk about. Okay?" he asks him and gets a slow nod from him. He nods back before smirking at all of them.
"Now then, who wants to play some tackle tag," he states, and just as he said that everyone quickly vanishes causing him to laugh.
"You can run but you can't hide from the king," he shouts out before vanishing as well.
*Time-skip: 2 hours later*
After the two hours long game of tackle tag, the group of four pokemon returned to the campsite where Ash had just finished setting up their dishes with their food. Ash turned to face his four released partners, more specifically S. Riolu.
"I see that you guys had a lot of fun tackling each other over there, I hope you're hungry. S. Riolu you don't mind eating some of their food for tonight, when we get into Viridian city tomorrow I'll prepare some food for you as I do for the rest of this team." Ash states, and gets a slow but happy nod from the Bipedal puppy pokemon. This caused ash to smile brightly, inwardly, because it meant that he was slowly growing comfortable with being around him and his other friends. He then pours another bowl of food for S. Riolu before pulling out a pre-made sandwich from his bag and his flask of water and joined his pokemon by the fire.
Ten minutes pass, the five of them enjoying the food, the pokemon more so than Ash seeing as they seem to be licking their bowls clean. Ash chuckles as the group of 4 pull out the puppy dog eyes and then pours each of them half a bowl which causes the four of them to pout and look up at him begging for more. Ash just gives out a small laugh.
"No more now, or do the four of you want to become Snorlax for the rest of your lives," he said before breaking into full-blown laughter as his four partners went ghostly pale, that and he imagined the four of them puffing up like a balloon, their fat jiggles every time they walk. He continues laughing until he gets shocked by S. Pikachu, causing him to fall onto his back and groan in slight pain. The rest of his sandwich gets fried as well, making it in-edible.
'Okay, no more jokes about Snorlax, well none that they can hear anyway,' Ash says to himself mentally, with a slight smirk before sitting back up.
The pokemon finish their extra half a bowl, S. Pikachu and S. Riolu add more sticks/branches/twigs into the fire pit. The group of five are now sitting around the campfire, enjoying the peace surrounding them. They remain silent for a few more moments before Ash decides to speak up.
"Hey guys, what do you think about me giving you nicknames?" he asks, this causes the four pokemon to look at him in confusion.
"I wouldn't mind it, but is there any reason why you're thinking of this now rather than before," Nidorina asks, while the other three just stare at Ash. two of them wondering the same thing.
"Haven't thought about it so much until now, mainly because I wanted to keep you guys hidden from the others in pallet town. Now that we are on our journey, I thought that it might be a good idea for people to remember you guys by actual names instead of species, to make you seem more unique." He states, which causes his three friends to smile and S. Riolu to gain a smile as well. Ash hum's slightly before turning to face S. Pikachu.
"Okay, S. Pikachu what do you think of the name Raiza?" He asks. S. Pikachu remains silent for a few moments, before gaining a smirk, nodding, liking the nickname. Ash smiles before reaching over, for the now named Raiza, and giving him a gentle scratch on his rough, crimson cheeks. Raiza purr's slightly. Ash then moves back and turns to face Nidorina.
"Okay, Nidorina, which of these two do you prefer, Ranee or Kaiserin?" he asks her, Nidorina goes silent as well before stating that she preferred the name Kaiserin. Ash smiled and gave Kaiserin a gentle scratch on the head before turning to face S. Zorua.
"S. Zorua, what do you think of the name Loki?" He asks after he said the name S. Zorua starts to rapidly jump up and down which means she agrees with the nickname. He went to pet Loki, but he wouldn't stop jumping up and down, so he decided to let the fox jump. He then turned to face one of his new starter's, S. Riolu.
"S. Riolu, Now you don't have to receive a nickname if you don't want one. I have three choices for you, remember you don't have to take one if you don't want to. The three i have in mind for you are Jin, Ryu or Ken." He states, S. Riolu went silent for a minute or two before smiling and said that he preferred the name Jin. Ash smiled, before handing him a prism berry figuring out that it was his favorite kind of berry. Jin took the berry, a smile on his face as he quickly devoured the fruit in his paws.
After another hour or so of small talk, Ash had decided that it was time for bed. He asked if any of them wanted to go into their pokeballs for the night, bar Raiza and Loki. Kaiserin and Jin shook their head, wanting to stay out with them. He pulled his sleeping bag out from inside the tent, deciding to sleep outside with his team for the night. He then laid the sleeping bag near the fire and added the last bit of wood they had into it before slipping into his sleeping bag.
Raiza, Loki, Kaiserin, and Jin laid themselves down around Ash's body and they all fell asleep a few seconds later.
*Time-Skip: 3 hours later*
The fire had died out, only very small embers remained. Everything was peaceful and quiet for the group, well that isn't the complete truth.
Ash had begun sweating and shaking, but not from the cold, oh no, he was currently trapped in a nightmare unable to awaken.
Raiza, Loki, and Jin slowly woke up to the sound of their trainers' rapid gasps. Raiza was the first to react, as he usually slept on Ash's chest, he knew that he was currently stuck in another nightmare. One about his past.
He quickly hopped off his friend's chest and moved towards his ears, letting out soft, gentle coo-ing noises into the boy's ears. Loki did the same, after realizing what was going on. Jin though was confused and frightened, he had felt the boy's aura change from a kind and strong to one filled with fear, pure unadulterated fear.
"W-what's going o-on," he asks, rather scared. Kaiserin was the one to reply.
"it's a night terror, he hasn't had one of these in a long time," she states. Jin had known what night terrors were, having them himself from time to time. He didn't expect his trainer to have any, from how his aura felt.
"wh-wha,"
"Remember when we told you how he was treated, how it was the same treatment we received. That was a lie, Ash has had ruff since the day he could walk until our group/pack rescued him. He has been beaten over and over. we had others with us, to care and relate to us, Ash had no-one for so long. We are all he has in this world." Kaiserin states, before moving towards Ash's head and curling around it. After ten minutes, Ash's shaking stopped hopefully meaning the end of his night terror(Jin hopes). Raiza and Loki shimmied themselves into the sleeping bag, keeping their heads on either side of Ash's.
Jin remained awake for another couple of minutes, watching as his trainer's frantic aura calm. He hadn't expected to have another trainer, but what shocked him the most was that he was just as, if not more, damaged than him and her. He didn't move for a few more minutes, his mind still swirling with the newly received info and what he had just witnessed. He then moved towards him, and laid himself right next to the boy's chest, his ear pressed against the boy's side. He soon fell asleep to the boys' calming heartbeat.
*Time-skip: 6 A.M*
Jin was slowly awoken by someone scratching behind his ear, he then whimpered slightly when he felt the scratching stop. He slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times to clear his blurry vision. Once his vision cleared he noticed that his body was upright, moving his head to look up, his eyes met his trainers, Ash's heterochromatic ones.
"Good morning jin, sleep alright last night," Ash asks the puppy looking pokemon, Jin blushed slightly before nodding. He slowly moved off of Ash's chest, not hearing the slight snickers from the other pokemon on his team.
Ash stood up, stretching each part of his body before pulling out the leftover food that he has. He then pulls out the bowls for his friends and fills the bowl with food before placing each of the bowls in front of them, watching as all of them, including Jin, literally Inhale their food. Ash just slowly eats his sandwich, humming at the mixed berry flavor. After a few more minutes of eating and cleaning the bowls, Ash turned to his team.
"Alright everyone, it's time to start training for our first gym battle in four weeks. One week will be spent here and the other three will be spent in the viridian forest, the first gym is a rock type so I plan to use Jin and Raiza."
To Be Continued ….
How is everyone doing, sorry for the long wait for this chapter and for updates on my other stories. has been a rather hectic year last year for me so I didn't get much done in terms of writing chapters. hope you all are staying safe, I will be posting another chapter on one of my stories soon.
Ja Ne