Just an FYI. Ash won't be following the same route as he did in the anime all the time and he will miss a lot of the events that would normally he would have been there for due to the schedule he's on. Some I will keep though, just not all.
Apologies for how long it took to get this out. My laptop packed in, and I had to wait for three weeks until payday to get a new one.
I've been considering writing who is in Ash's party in these little notes, just so we can keep track of where his Pokémon are. What do you think?
Chapter 3- Is it stealing if it's allowed?
After walking out of Florinda City Ash made his way back down the path, onwards towards Cherrygrove City.
"It feels like we've been on this path for weeks now" Pikachu said grumbling a few days later.
"Still not flying" Ash said, "and you're just sulking because I proved you wrong about the Bolognese."
"Your mum would agree with you though, you're her son" Pikachu groused.
"And you know full well that if I'm wrong, she's very happy to point that out" Ash replied looking smug "I'm just not wrong this time."
"Yeah, yeah" Pikachu said looking around at where they were "how far away are we now?"
"Well funnily enough we're about 22km away but there's another smaller city and a town to go through before we get there." Ash said, "all in all we should be there in three to four days if we keep up this pace."
"Anything of note about these places that we can't just fly over?" Pikachu asked.
"We're not flying" Ash reiterated "and yes actually, the city has quite a fun history of someone who used to rob people before he was eventually caught. Quite a lot of the accounts though say the real culprit was never actually caught and they framed the one who was put away. I've read some of the articles from back then and some things just don't add up. There's a museum dedicated to him actually. As for the town it's dedicated to peculiar water Pokémon which should be fun to see."
"Oh ok" Pikachu said, "what makes you think the guy was framed?"
"The final robbery was for the Mayors mansion, something the burglar had never tried before" Ash replied "and the Police got there extremely quickly considering all his other robberies they got there sometimes hours afterwards, despite him giving them advanced noticed on when he would be there. It's almost as if they had a mole inside the Police department playing interference. Seems about right to be honest."
"You know your attitude towards the police has changed quite drastically over the years" Pikachu remarked as they set up camp that night on the side of the road. The rest of his Pokémon hearing this grew silent from their own conversations as they listened in with curiosity "when I first met you any type of insult or nastiness towards any Joy or Jenny was met with hostility from you, but now you're questioning the honesty of the police. When did that change?"
Sighing Ash looked up at Pikachu and his gaze travelled to his other Pokémon who were there. "Gringy City happened" he said taking a bite out of his food.
"Ah" Charizard said nodding "yeah, I can see why that would leave an impression. It certainly did for me anyway, especially the smell. I'm surprised Blastoise ever got clean from that place."
"Erm" Sneasel said looking around "can someone explain what happened there. It was before I joined you guys, wasn't it?"
"Years before" Pikachu said "in fact out of all of us here only Charizard and I were a part of his team at that point. There was only Venusaur and Blastoise with us three back then, a few weeks later Machamp joined us as a Machoke so it was months before anyone else joined us, nearly a year and a half in your case Sneasel. Anyway, Gringy City is the name of a city that we passed through on the way to us earning our sixth badge in Kanto. It was truly a horrible place; the entire city was covered in grime and horribly polluted."
"We found out the Pokémon Centre there was in desperate need of power because something had shut off the electricity from the local power plant" Charizard said taking over "Nurse Joy couldn't leave because most of the Pokémon in her centre were in critical condition and she was doing what she could to keep them alive. She had sent out repeated urgent messages to Jenny to get in touch with the league to come and help her and the Pokemon, nobody had come to help in nearly two weeks from when she first sent the message."
"We volunteered to go and try and find out what the issue was" Ash said, "I still feel bad for not asking you guys you know but at the time all I had on my mind was saving those poor Pokemon."
"We don't blame you Ash" Pikachu said before continuing "anyway when we got to the power plant, we found out that the local Grimer and Muk who dealt with the garbage had been allowed to breed uncontrolled for quite some time and they took over the power plant, attacking the workers and locking them in their office. When we arrived three of the four workers had died from being locked in there for nearly two weeks without food and water, the last one literally died in Ash's arms as he told us what the problem was. Anyway, we dealt with the Grimer and Muk and Blastoise who was a Wartortle at the time had to dive into the grime covered vents and clear them out with his water from the inside. He managed it but was exhausted form the amount of crap that had been allowed to block up the vents and the turbines restored the electricity. When we returned to Joy, she was having an argument with the local Jenny about her lack of action in getting people there to help."
"Ash had already rung Sam and informed him" Charizard said "he was as livid as we were and phoned Blue to come and see why no one had acted. According to Blue not one message had been forwarded on to them, so they didn't know. Sam had repeatedly wanted that place torn down and rebuilt because of how bad it was but couldn't get anyone to sign off on doing so, now though with the death of the workers he had the proof needed that it needed sorting out. Anyway, Blue and Lance arrived as Jenny was about to arrest Ash for the murders of the workers and overheard the conversation."
"It turns out Jenny was the one who didn't bother to inform anyone at the league as one of the workers at the plant was an ex of hers and she collaborated with her new boyfriend, who was an admin at the league to kill him" Ash said "I only found this out a few months later when she was imprisoned. Apparently, she decided he had to die, and the others were seen as collateral damage and her new boyfriend agreed. Four people died needlessly because of their actions, not counting the number of Pokémon that had already passed away before we arrived there because of no available healthcare. It was senseless. The Nurse Joy had to be relocated while it was being torn down and rebuilt, apparently most of it's done now. You actually met her I believe Machamp, she was the replacement Joy in Dark Town."
"Another idiotic place" Machamp said shaking his head as he recalled what happened there "but yes, I remember her now. She seemed very pleased to see you, I had wondered why at the time."
"Yeah" Ash said nodding "Jennifer and I still keep in touch. She tells me how her therapy went after Gringy City and she's just been released so she's doing well. She's still there in Dark Town, it's now one of the main eight gyms as Agatha gave up the Lavender Town one as that's not a place a gym should ever be installed."
"Why?" Heracross asked.
"The whole town is a monument to all the dead Pokémon that died in the war a few hundred years ago" Charizard said yawning "I thought it was wrong a gym was installed there to start with."
"As did Agatha" Ash said nodding "she wasn't happy about it either. She only agreed as a favour to Charles while a new gym system was being installed. I heard she went all out against every trainer so much so that after destroying their teams word passed around to not bother with Lavender Town gym. Charles Goodshow soon got the hint and made Dark Town one of the main eight."
"Wasn't she only just given that position?" Machamp asked surprised.
"Yup" Ash said laughing "she was given it just before the last Indigo League tournament, so in just under six months she's already run the competition off from her hometown."
"Good" Charizard said "as I said it shouldn't have been one in the first place."
"Back to the original point though Ash" Pikachu said reminding him what they were originally talking about "you've not had the same level of respect you had before Gringy City."
"I know" he replied sighing "it's difficult to do so when your opinion has been shattered by someone in a position of authority who should know better. I know that not all of them should be tarred with the same brush, but it's difficult not to."
"I can understand that" Charizard said thinking back on his own issues with authority "but try not to let it show."
"I'll try" Ash said nodding before standing up and getting ready for bed.
A few days later Ash arrived in Catalia city and found to his astonishment all the inhabitants were wearing masks and black clothes with pictures of either Meowth or Spinarak on them.
"Erm what's going on?" Pikachu asked as they walked through the city towards the Pokémon centre."
"Oh, for Arceus' sake" Ash said sighing "bloody Spinarak again."
"Hey" a passing woman said stopping after overhearing his exclamation "and what, young man is wrong with Spinarak?"
"Everything" Ash said shaking his head, ignoring her gasp of indignance "those little shits took over a part of the forest that surrounds my home, bred like Rattata and attacked everything on sight. We had to get Koga and his apprentices to help clear them out and relocate them. They were a menace to the Pokémon that live on my land and wouldn't listen to anyone."
"Oh" she said frowning "well I wouldn't go around saying things like that around here. This town is famous for two things, the museum dedicated to the Black Arachnid and Spinarak, the Pokemon that caught him. As a result Spinarak are used by the police force here instead of the usual dog Pokémon."
"She's right" a voice said from behind him. Turning around Ash saw an officer Jenny with a Spinarak on her shoulder "and you must be Ash, right?"
"I am" he said nodding "and you are?"
"I'm Roberta" she said holding out her hand which Ash shook "I've heard nothing but good things from my extended family about you over the years. Anyway, over the next few days this city will be holding a festival dedicated to the Black Arachnid and his eventual capture. You're welcome to stay for the duration."
"Seems fun" Ash said twitching when the spider clicked its pincers making Ash shudder "well almost."
Over the next few days Ash wandered around the city talking to various people about the goings on but noticed something very peculiar was happening with the inhabitants. A few evenings later he was sat with Pikachu when he overheard a conversation, one he'd heard a few times over the past few days.
"Tonight is the night; Adam won't know what hit him." A young woman said quietly to her friend.
"Well, he did steal it first, it's only right that you steal something from him." Her friend replied.
"It'll be fun" the first woman said sniggering "I can't wait to see his face in the morning when it's gone." Standing up the two women left leaving a confused Ash who remained seated. Looking over at Pikachu he asked. "What do you think that was about?"
"Dunno" he replied to Ash, his mouth full of a cherry "seems like she's going to steal something that has already been stolen. How does that work though? If she knows he's stolen something, shouldn't she report it?"
"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Ash said, "I mean should we go and tell Jenny?"
"It would be the right thing to do, wouldn't it?" Pikachu replied looking unconcerned.
After many hours of deliberating and sleep eluding him Ash sighed from his bed and stood up, Pikachu jumping on his shoulder and left the centre, heading down to the Police station. Walking in he was met with several Jennys looking harried as an irate man in a suit was shouting at the Jenny behind the counter.
"It has been stolen!" he said "and for the last time this is not a joke! A priceless artifact has been stolen from the museum and you lot are sitting here doing nothing about it!"
"Sir," Jenny said looking irritated "as we've already said this is no doubt a prank, something that happens every year this week."
"I do not consider stealing a prank!" he said furiously as he slapped down onto the desk a piece of paper "The new Black Arachnid has claimed to be responsible for this and mark my words you haven't heard the last of this if it is not returned within 24 hours. I will personally sue you all and have you all arrested for being an accomplice to a crime that you're not even bothering to try and solve." Slamming his hand on the counter he stormed past Ash and left.
"What was that about?" Ash asked confused as he walked to the desk "is stealing allowed in this city?"
"Only for this week" Roberta said from the door of her office walking over and picking up the piece of paper. Something was very off to Ash about the whole thing, but he couldn't place it. Seeing his confused look she continued "this week is the anniversary of the Black Arachnids capture; he was a master thief who along with his Meowth burgled several homes of their valuables until he was eventually captured by my ancestor and her Spinarak. So as a celebration, for one week only we hold a tournament for the inhabitants of the city to see which one can steal the most valuable object from another, at the end of the week the 'burglars' turn up at the town hall and the police department judge who stole the most valuable thing. Every object is then returned to their original homes safe and sound and everyone goes home happy. This is nothing but a hoax" she finished waving the paper at Ash who read it.
The games you play in my great-grandfathers capture are nothing short of an insult. So, while you play your games I will continue where he left off. I have reclaimed what is rightfully mine and make no mistake you are all as culpable as each other in dishonouring his memory. Enjoy chasing shadows.
The New Black Arachnid.
"Ah" Ash said nodding "I am here because I overheard two ladies plotting to steal something and came to inform you. Now I know what's going on it makes total sense. So, what was stolen from the museum? That seems like it's taking the 'game' a bit too far, doesn't it?"
"Actually yes" the reception Jenny said sighing "normally there are rules that must be followed as the Museum, Town Hall and Police Station are off limits for obvious reasons, but someone doesn't seem to have listened to the rules. Hopefully the Mask and Cape of the original Black Arachnid are returned along with the other items tomorrow when we judge the competition."
"Well, this seems like it's enough of a threat" Ash said handing her the paper "doesn't it?"
"We'll find out tomorrow" Roberta replied nodding. Ash mirrored her, said good night and left. Before he went back to the centre though he looked at the time and saw it was nearly 1am so decided to go visit the museum before he went to bed. Walking up the path he passed a Blastoise fountain and walked up to the door, knocked on it and waited. After a few minutes of knocking the irate looking man from before opened it, still looking very pissed off.
"Yes?" he asked rudely "if you're here to visit the museum not only are you too late but I have decided it will not reopen until the property stolen has been recovered. Good night."
As he made to shut the door Ash put his hand out and stopped it "Actually I'm here to see if I can help you" he said "if this is not a hoax then whoever stole the Arachnids outfit will have had at least 24 hours to leave the city and get away with it. Can I see where the theft took place?"
"At least someone is taking it seriously" the man said as he opened the door. "The name's Tom."
"I'm Ash" Ash said thanking the man "Ash Ketchum."
"Ah yes" he said as he shut and locked the door behind Ash "I know who you are, this way please." Leading them down a hallway they eventually came to a room where the CCTV was being monitored by another man "Jordan, this is Ash, he's here to help seeing as the Police won't."
"Pleasure to meet you" he said as he shook Ash's hand "anyway this is the CCTV from the time of the theft. As you can see the culprit entered through the back door at just before midnight, by lockpicking the lock and walked straight in. They didn't detour a single time; they had a clear objective and went straight for the Arachnid exhibit." Ash watched as a figure dressed in black from head to toe looked around furtively, as they circled the exhibit before taking out some kind of spray, spraying the air and showing the lasers around the glass case. Whoever it was, was very nimble Ash thought as they weaved in and out of the red lines and eventually made it to the glass case. Taking out another contraption they cut a large square hole in the side of the glass and placed it against the case before staring for a good thirty seconds at the outfit. Eventually they picked them up and placed them in a black bag before looking around and sprinting straight through the lasers, setting off the alarms as they did so and leaving the exact same way they came in. As it switched to the outside camera, they strangely placed the lock back on the door and ran off down the path and into the nearby trees.
"Hmmm" Ash said looking confused "can you roll it back to the part they take the glass off the panel?"
"Sure" Jordan said as he did so "why?"
"I thought I saw something but I'm not sure" Ash replied as the tape continued onwards "pause it there."
Jordan paused it on the frame where the Arachnid placed the glass against the case. Squinting closely at the camera Ash looked closely and tilted his head. "What am I seeing?" he asked quietly as he closed his eyes and went over things in his head. "Nope, its not coming to me. Can you print off that image?"
"Erm, yeah" Jordan said as he did so. Placing it on the table they all gathered around and looked closely at it.
"Something is there, in my head but it's just not coming out at the moment" Ash said, "can I take this with me?" he asked Tom who nodded as he looked at the screen, an exact replica image of the one Ash had just put in his pocket. "If I figure it out, I'll let you know" Ash said yawning "it's late. Thank you for letting me in."
Half an hour later Ash lay in his bed looking at the image and going over his interactions over the past few days before closing his eyes giving up. An hour later he shot awake, startling Pikachu as he grabbed the picture. Ignoring the exclamation of outrage from his starter Ash looked at the picture before laughing as he placed it back onto the dressing table. Turning over he went back to sleep and slept soundly with a smile on his face.
The next day Ash headed to the town hall where the city had gathered awaiting the results of the competition. After a few hours of the people presenting their acquisitions the judges who consisted of Roberta, Jenny and the mayor had a conversation before finally deciding.
"The winner of this year's competition is Joanne!" Roberta said standing up and applauding as the lady from the Pokemon centre cheered and hopped up onto the stage to lift the little trophy "for the next year you will be known as the Arachnid, congratulation."
After the noise had died down and everyone turned to leave Ash shouted, "what about the theft in the museum?" The crowd as one turned to Ash looking confused "last night someone broke into the museum and stole the original Black Arachnids outfit, yet no one has come forward to say it was them."
"Ash is right" a furious Tom said striding onto the podium "where is the outfit?"
The crowd as one started muttering amongst themselves yet no one spoke up to say it was them.
"It looks like you were right" Roberta said sighing "we'll start the investigation immediately once I get back to the office. I will personally handle it."
"Hmph" he snorted as he slammed the still of the photo of the culprit onto the table "you better do."
A few hours later after the crowd had dispersed Ash walked into the police station and waited for Roberta. As she greeted him, she led him into her office, and he sat down opposite her.
"How's the search going?" Ash asked.
"Not very well" she replied leaning back "we're nearly a full day behind whoever did this and all we have to go on is the footage from the CCTV and the still of the picture the museum owner gave me" taking the picture out of her drawer and placing it on the table.
Taking out the same still Ash chuckled and placed his picture next to hers only Ash's had been drawn on. Picking it up she looked at it and she saw the thief's hand had been drawn around with a circle.
"What's with the circle?" she asked confused.
"When I first saw this image last night, I knew something was off about it." Ash said as he leaned back "and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what it was that had me searching for an answer. That was until around 4am this morning when I woke up abruptly as it hit me in my sleep exactly what I was looking at. It was their hand. Now normally this wouldn't be enough to exasperate me but for some reason this did, and it wasn't until I looked at the hand that I realised what it was I was looking at. And it's something I've been looking at for years!"
"Which is?" she asked warily.
"That's an interesting ring you have on your left hand" Ash said nodding to it. It was a rather thick ring that was embossed with a black stone on its centre with a letter C.
Looking at it confused she looked at Ash and said slowly "Yes, it's the symbol of my office, that of the Chief of Police."
"I know" Ash said nodding "And it's the very same ring you can see underneath the glove of the burglar of the museum." Jenny put down the pictures in shock as she processed what she'd just been told "so I'm guessing you're not going to be looking too hard for the culprit given you already know who it was."
"How did you find out so quickly?" she asked quietly.
"Every single Chief I've met has had the same ring on their hand" Ash said smiling "I just couldn't place what I was looking for until I suddenly could. So, my only question is why?"
"First of all who have you told?" she asked.
"No one" Ash said "while my word has weight, who in this city is going to believe it was you, when you have ten officers out there that would swear you were in this office all night? You even have myself as a witness to that as I talked to you. I knew something was off about you, as soon as I met you last night, I just didn't know what."
"What do you want?" she asked warily.
"Nothing" Ash said simply to her astonishment "just the truth as to why, that's all."
"You really want nothing?" she replied.
"Roberta, for a start, who would believe me?" Ash asked "and secondly, I don't care enough about a museum being robbed to want to get involved any more than I have been. I'd just like to know why, for my own edification. I have some theories but nothing concrete."
Standing up she looked at Ash carefully before walking to the door and opening it, speaking to her staff in the waiting room "I'll be unavailable for the next half an hour or so, if it's urgent then knock first." Closing the door and the blinds she sat back down and pulled out a bag from inside her metal drawers. Opening it she pulled out a mask and a cape and laid them on the desk so Ash could get a closer look at them. After giving them a once over she put them back into the bag and put them back into the drawer "I want to hear your theory first, then I'll tell you what I know."
"I was talking to Pikachu about this a few days ago actually when we mentioned we were coming here." Ash said "I told him of its history, and I read the crime reports from back then, just for something to read to be honest and a few things stuck in my mind that seemed very strange. I said to Pikachu I wouldn't be surprised if the 'culprit' that was caught back in the day was framed as the Black Arachnid and took the fall for someone else. And given you've stolen the outfit the guy wore it seems I was right, it had police involvement written all over it."
Jenny gave a long pause as she measured her response "My great Grandmother had an uncle who she had to live with due to the death of her parents, who was infamous for being a petty thief. For years she would listen to his stories about what he used to get up to and thought he was heroic. "Relocating wealth from the rich" he once said to her when she asked why. For years she was his silent accomplice, the lookout, the getaway, the alibi. She was so small, and so nimble she could get into places he couldn't and as she was always dressed in black, she was nicknamed 'the black shadow.' That name is still famous now as she was just as famous for how she used to get away, using her Pokémon, a Spinarak to use webs to hold the police in place while his Pokémon, a Meowth used Pay Day on the police to help her escape.
That was until one day she was given an opportunity by her mothers' friend, which was to become a police officer and follow in her mothers' footsteps. Her decision was made for her a few weeks later when she was on another job and she realised the items they stole over the years weren't just from the rich but also from some of the poorest people in her neighbourhood. For years she let things slide, as he was still her family despite what she thought in her heart about how much he should be punished for what he did. One day her uncle decided to do a big job and asked her for her help in providing another alibi, something she was reluctant to do as she had long since given up her thieving days. This job, he told her would be his final hurrah before he officially retired on the money he would receive from stealing a very famous artifact from the Mayors house. As she was now an officer, she felt she had an obligation to turn him in, but he had promised this would be the last one so she wrestled with the decision to keep quiet for a few days. Finally, her conscience caught up with her and she chased after him, cornering him in front of the then Mayors house where she used her Spinarak to cut off his escape. Now she never showed herself to her uncle that day, the Police at the time had only just started using Spinarak so he didn't think anything of it until she testified against him. He was identified as the Black Arachnid and put away, she 'adopted' the Meowth so it wouldn't be destroyed to reform it and she got a huge commendation which fast tracked her to Chief a few years later. Amazingly her uncle never told on her, and he died a few years later in jail and with it the legend of the Black Arachnid.
This story is passed down to each Jenny as a tale of caution and why doing the right thing, even eventually is always a good thing but because of our jobs, being in the family business of Officer Jennys that is we can never really celebrate the true story of what really happened. For the last few years, I've wondered if I could join in the celebrations, I used to be a gymnast in my youth and I have the same build as my great Grandmother. It always bothered me the Police couldn't take part in the fun, so I planned it, executed it and got away with it."
"Well, nearly" Ash said laughing, something Jenny mirrored. "that's an interesting story actually. So, what's going to happen with the items?"
"I'll find a way of getting them back to the museum" she said wryly "I think I'll let the curator sweat for a few days yet though, I don't appreciate being spoken to the way he did to my staff the other day."
"Well thank you for telling me" Ash said after a few minutes silence. Standing up he took the photo with the circle on it and put it into his backpack "It was very nice meeting you."
Standing up Jenny shook his hand and led him to the entrance where they said their goodbyes, Ash walking down road on the way to Cherrygrove City leaving behind a city in full celebration of the Black Arachnid.
That night as they were eating around the campfire, he took out the photo and laughed at it before putting it onto the fire, silently watching it as it burned. His Pokémon watched him in silence, none commenting on him getting rid of evidence.
Two days later Ash stopped as they looked up at the path ahead. In front of them was a small mountain pass that was in the way of their destination. "Well guys, once we're over this its only about 6km to Cherrygrove City."
"We could have been there by now if we'd have flown" Pikachu said making Ash shake his head.
"And if we did that poor Stantler would likely have died" Machamp said from beside them ending that line of conversation.
"He's right you know" Ash said setting his backpack on his back "anyway, this should only take a day or two to get through so shall we get cracking."
As they were passing through a flat bit of the mountain Ash received a reply on his aural radar which intrigued him. "Guys, there's a Chikorita sunbathing over there. I wonder why it's alone. I didn't think they lived alone; do you think it's been abandoned?"
"One way to find out" Machamp said as they walked over. As soon as they were in smelling distance the Chikorita opened its eyes and shot up making them all halt.
"Hey!" Chikorita said in a fierce little voice "don't come any closer!"
"We were just checking you're ok" Ash said surprising her.
She quickly recovered though and replied "don't lie, you're just here to try and capture me like all the others that have come through this way. Well, I won't be captured."
"I don't want to capture you" Ash said "we're literally just passing by on our way over the mountain. I have no need for another grass type."
"And just what is wrong with grass types?" she asked angrily "we're just as good as any other types."
Without any warning she quickly shot out several Razor Leaves making Machamp use Protect shielding Ash and himself from harm but as his shield lowered Ash found that Chikorita had disappeared into a small tunnel that Ash had no chance of getting through. Shaking his head he thanked Machamp and carried on walking down the path, wondering what was up with the Chikorita.
"That Chikorita was feisty today" Pikachu said that evening around the fire. The weather was beginning to draw in as they had reached near the summit of the mountain a few hours ago and while the mountain wasn't particularly high it was still high enough for the peak to touch the clouds, so it was slightly snowing at the minute, but not enough for Ash to want to take shelter, not yet anyway. Ash had chosen his spot well, underneath a cliff face that had a small cave opening that didn't go too far inside the mountain, but it was enough to keep the wind from hitting them on three sides.
"She sure was" Ash said nodding "but we're still no closer to finding out whether she was abandoned or not."
"And we likely never will" Pikachu said around his food "I hope she's ok though; this weather isn't great for grass types."
"She had her hidey hole" Sneasel said after they had been told what happened "she has shelter at least."
"No she doesn't" Ash said surprising them all "she's been following us for the last few miles. You can come and join us you know" he finished shouting towards the path. Ash's Pokémon looked confused at his statement, that was until they heard a squeak of surprise as something ran away.
"She's ran off" Ash said "No Sneasel, leave her be." He finished as his ice type made to stand up "if she wanted us to know she was there she'd have come forward. Anyway, we're only a few days away from a small village which is just on the outskirts of Cherrygrove City. We should make there by the weekend."
That night as Ash was taking shelter in his tent he was woken up by a small whimpering just outside, carefully opening his tent door he saw to his amazement the Chikorita huddled as close to the cave entrance as possible, all the while a blizzard was swirling around her. Without even thinking Ash ran out of the tent and scooped her up, took her back into the tent and wrapped her with his coat. Pikachu feeling Ash move looked up and then immediately became alert at the sight of a shivering Chikorita who because of the sudden warmth passed out. "Go back to sleep Pi" Ash whispered as his starter nodded "I'll keep an eye on her for now."
The next day Ash opened his eyes to find a small sliver of sunlight hit a tiny gap in his tent opening. Looking around he saw the Chikorita still fast asleep so it must have been Pikachu who had gone outside. Being as careful as he could he left the tent and headed over to where their campfire was still placed, covered in melting snow. Pikachu seeing Ash was awake helped him set up a new fire with the dry branches Ash had stored just behind his tent. As they all sat down to eat Ash called everyone out, despite it being a packed area they managed to just seat comfortably around the morning fire.
"What time are we leaving?" Machamp asked.
"As soon as our patient as recovered" Ash said gaining questioning looks "it seems we had a small problem last night. The Chikorita likely didn't make it back to her hole before the storm hit and I found her huddled at the cave entrance in the blizzard. She's currently asleep in the tent as she passed out as soon as the warmth hit her."
"Poor thing" Salamence said shocking them "don't look at me like that, I hate ice and snow too so I can sympathise with her."
Chuckling Ash just sat in silence as the rest chatted away about meaningless things. Chikorita awoke to the sound of laughter and chatter. Looking around she wondered where she was as she certainly hadn't fell asleep in this place. She vaguely recognised the jacket she was snuggled in but wasn't certain. Before she knew it panic started to set in, was she captured? Had she allowed herself to become dependent on a human? She didn't feel any different but then again she'd never been in a Pokéball before so how would she know the difference? Carefully she climbed out of the jacket and peeked out of the gap in the zipped door before retreating alarmed. That was the human she saw yesterday! Why was he there? Was he waiting to ambush her? Was he hoping to capture her? Had he captured her? Looking around the inside of the tent gave her no answers, the only way she'd get them was by leaving the tent. Maybe she could sneak away without him knowing, that thought quickly gave way to a memory from last night, he had known she was there and had been following him seemingly the entire way so sneaking away likely wasn't an option, but it was the best one she had. So carefully she peeked through the tent door again and noticed the human had his back to her, this was perfect! Slowly she made her way out of the tent and was getting ready to sneak around the side of the cave entrance where she would be free to escape when a voice stopped her.
Charizard had decided to eat his food at the side of the cave, just away from everyone. This wasn't unusual in itself as he liked to burn his food before eating and too often embers had gone astray, and some had hit his various family members so to stop that happening he always ate his food just out of the range of dancing fire but close enough to hear the conversation. He had always had terrific hearing and he had heard the Chikorita make an 'eep' sound a few minutes ago so he knew she was up. Ash no doubt did too as he had placed his left hand on the ground at the same time and moved it slightly. He knew Ash well enough by now to know not to act just yet, as he had everything in hand. Scraping a claw on the ground slightly he gave Ash his own signal and Ash's hand went back to eating.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you" a growl said stopping her in her tracks. Peeking around the side of the cave she stopped short as there facing her on the path she needed to use to escape was the maw of a huge orange dragon. Looking up at him she was amazed at his size, she didn't know Pokémon could reach that size.
"You're perfectly safe here" the Charizard said "but we're not letting you go until Ash has checked you over and you've had something to eat." He saw she was about to reply when he continued "It's not up for discussion." Charizard went back to eating his food unconcerned at the statement he had just made.
"We won't hurt you" Ash said twisting around and standing up, heading into his tent and quickly exiting again with a tub in his hand "but Charizard is correct, you're not leaving until you've had some food. Come on, you'll be ok." Ash walked back to his seat and placed a bowl and a few blocks inside. Immediately the sweet scent hit her nose and she found her own legs betraying her as they walked over and plonked herself beside the Pikachu who looked at her for a second before continuing their previous conversation.
"Well, we know that Sam gave you that ball for a reason Ash" he said "and Lugia and Ho-oH gave you a feather that resonated with it. Sam wouldn't keep something that important from you, would he?"
"Well, he has done for a few years now" Ash said "it's been nearly eighteen months since the incident at Shamouti and he told me to get the ball a few months before that so it's coming up to two years now, and I've still no idea what the hell this thing is about."
Chikorita paused in her eating when she heard the names Lugia and Ho-oH. Surely it couldn't be the same ones she has heard of from the wild Pokémon? Why would a human get feathers from them when they were said to be very rarely seen. She must have misheard, maybe he said different names.
"How many Legendaries are there in Johto?" Lapras asked "and have you encountered them all?"
"Yes" Ash said "and there are six for Johto. The Beasts, Lugia, Ho-oH and Celebi. At least that's what the Pokédex says anyways but we also know that most Legendaries like to roam about, for instance when we caught Kabutops a travelling scientist told us of some Hoenn Legendaries that are famous in a city in Johto, in fact we're only about 60km away from the place. And we saw the Beasts and captured Suicune in the Orange Islands, hundreds of miles from mainland Johto. Not only that but Ho-oH's roost is in Ecruteak, and she's hadn't been seen in centuries until we did in Kanto."
"So, we're still none the wiser" Charizard piped up from behind them as he walked over with his bowl and handed it to Ash who stored it away "it could be any Pokémon at this point."
"I still think we're on the right track with the Johto theme though" Ash said as he put the golden/silver ball away. "Hopefully whatever happens, happens soon and we can put this mystery behind us. But for now, how are you feeling Chikorita? That was a particularly nasty storm you were in last night."
"How did I get here?" she asked quietly "I don't remember hiding in your tent."
"You took shelter just inside the cave there" Ash said nodding to the place "but it wasn't far enough, and the blizzard hit you. You were on the brink of passing out when I heard you and brought you inside."
"Oh" she said thinking of the previous night as it came back to her "I couldn't make it back to my hole in time. So, I tried to find another but by the time I reached here I was exhausted and I can't remember anything else after that. Did you capture me?"
"No" Ash said to her relief "I don't capture Pokémon without their blessing. Or usually don't anyway, the ones I catch without asking are usually ones I send to my home to live in the wild area there."
"A wild area?" she asked curiously "why?"
"I'm creating a haven for endangered species" Ash said, "I already have hundreds living on my land, Venusaur and Ivysaur tend to the gardens, Blastoise and Gyarados tend to the lake and Charizard and Salamence make sure no one can get in through the air to cause us problems."
"But they're here" Chikorita said confused "how can they do that if they're here?"
"They're in my party on rotation" Ash said nodding to his belt where a few gaps were "and where I live there's already two other Charizard and a Dragonite protecting my hometown due to my dad and the regional professor living there."
"So, who's the leader when you're not around?" Chikorita asked looking around.
"Erm, I dunno" Ash said also looking around "we don't really have one, everyone is free to leave whenever they want to so none of my Pokémon are here against their will."
"You don't have a Beta?" she asked shocked to the assembled Pokémon.
"Ash is the Alpha" Machamp said slowly as if thinking it over "and I suppose the Beta would be Pikachu or Charizard depending on the situation."
"To be honest we've never needed one" Pikachu said also looking around "We all have our own roles in this family, and they are all of equal importance as the situations change quite fluidly here. If you're asking in terms of strength then it would probably be Charizard, with me second. If you're asking in terms of who deals with the mental aspects of leading the group it's likely Machamp as he's very calm and considered with his responses, Sylveon is like our therapist at times, Venusaur is very measured and often takes the opposite side of the argument just so we know the pros and cons of what we're planning on doing and is the nurturer of our group, Salamence takes charge when someone takes the piss out of anyone in the family, Sneasel is the one that keeps us all on our toes with his pranks and his humour keeps the group in a happy frame of mind. So, you see we all have our roles here in the group dependent on the situation."
"How much did that hurt to admit that out loud?" Charizard asked smirking.
"It was very painful you overgrown lizard" Pikachu asked snorting "I will take my place back as the strongest soon."
"Keep dreaming mouse" he replied smirking before turning to Chikorita "but he's right, we haven't needed one for a long time as we've all accepted the roles we play, and we don't really see the need to challenge those roles. We'd just be doing so for ego's sake. We all know how strong we are, we all know how to handle ourselves in any given situation and we all know we don't have to fear anyone else in the group. Even Salamence who's a Dragon knows that in the next few years the only ones able to challenge her for dominance is us, and we're all family so she won't need to try anything."
"You say the sweetest things sometimes" Salamence said chuckling but not denying the statement. "I'm still many years off that though, I still haven't beaten Sal yet."
"You'll get there" Ash said taking over the conversation "so there you are, something we've never really given any thought too and it's been established we will never likely need to either."
"Oh" Chikorita said thinking it over.
"So now we've established that we don't need to fight each other" Charizard said looking at Chikorita "what are we going to do about you?"
"What do you mean?" she asked alarmed.
"Calm down" he replied chuckling "what I mean is do you want to remain free or to come with us? We need to get going soon as we have a schedule to keep so we want to make sure you're ok."
"I don't know" she replied looking down "I've never wanted a trainer; I've never needed a trainer but last night I could have died if it wasn't for you."
"Well, you could stay at my home" Ash said "you'll never want for food or warmth again but I will need to train you for a month or so, just so you'll be able to help out should our home be attacked."
"Food and warmth?" she asked hopefully "that sounds nice. Ok then, I'll agree to be your Pokémon."
"Very well" Ash said as he recalled everyone to their balls and brought out an empty one and touched it to her. It didn't even rock before it disappeared from his hand and onto his belt, something which only slightly surprised Ash. "Anyway, shall we get going? We should be near Cherrygrove City by late afternoon."
By midday they were roughly 5km away from Cherrygrove City when Ash walked into a small village and saw a party was happening amongst the townspeople. Walking up to a young lady with a small child he asked her what was happening.
"It's our annual festival" she replied pointing at several putting up banners across the river that went through the village "every year the Quagsire come up from wherever their nesting grounds are and choose this village to find a round object from the locals before ascending the waterfall further up the river and performing a ceremony at Blue Moon Falls. That's why you'll see over the next few hours if you stick around everyone 'accidentally' drop objects for them to pick up. No one has ever seen the ceremony, it's far too sacred for the people who live here but tomorrow morning all the objects that the Quagsire take come floating back down the river. It's said the object that arrives last to be collected by the villagers will have nothing but good luck for the next year until the Quagsire do it all over again."
"Oh wow" Ash said looking very interested "the traveller in me wants to carry on with my journey as I'm already very behind schedule, but the researcher in me wants to stay."
"It's only a ceremony" She said smiling "and it's not one of us has ever seen so it may be boring for you but you're very welcome to stay and watch. Oooh here they come now, I need to go find my object, I've finished third the last two years so hopefully I can do at least one better this year."
Ash watched her rush off before turning to the river and saw thirty to forty blue Pokémon make their way around the village, ignoring the watching villagers as they seemed to be very single minded in what they were doing. As they picked up their objects, they left one by one until there was only a few left. Taking out Dexter, he scanned them.
"Quagsire, Pokédex number 195, The Water Fish Pokémon and the evolved form of Wooper. Due to its relaxed and carefree attitude, it often bumps its head on boulders and boat hulls as it swims."
Looking down Ash saw a solitary Quagsire mooching around near where he'd dropped his bag. Quickly picking it up Ash face palmed as an object fell out and rolled to its feet and before he could react the Quagsire pounced on it and exclaimed in delight before rushing off.
"Oh, for Arceus' sake" Ash said shaking his head as he watched the Quagsire swim off with the GS Ball "that's because I was rooting around before for Chikoritas Pokéball, we're going to have to go and find this Blue Moon Falls to get it back."
"Don't worry" the little boy from before said overhearing Ash "It'll return to you, same as us all tomorrow with our objects."
"Hopefully before mine" the lady said "I even tied a ribbon around mine for luck."
"I'm afraid I can't wait that long" Ash said making sure his bag was closed before shouldering it "that ball is incredibly important and I can't take the risk it will come back safely."
Walking off in the direction the Quagsire went he followed the river for half an hour before he was faced with a dilemma, the river split off into two parts, one going left and the other branching off to the right. Sighing he released Salamence and Charizard who looked around confused. "Sorry guys, but the GS Ball has been taken by a Quagsire to be part of a ceremony and I don't know which way it's gone. Can you each take a branch and look for it, it should be headed for a waterfall nearby. Don't attack it, it's not its fault but I can't leave here without it. I'll wait here for you both."
Nodding they both took off in different directions and it wasn't long before Charizard came back with news.
"There's no waterfall this way, the river carries on for miles but it's all on this level."
"Cheers pal" Ash said recalling him and setting off down the left branch. Luckily the river was only shallow so he could walk across to the other side. Within minutes he stopped as Salamence was circling above him. When she landed she informed him the Waterfall wasn't far away but the Quagsire had settled atop the fall. Climbing on her they took off and as he looked down at the land below him he spotted the waterfall, his aura coming in handy for locating the large mass of aura. As he landed, he looked around and sighed again. The Quagsire had seemingly taken refuge in the huge lake that was on top of the plateau and were hidden under the water.
Ash came to the conclusion that as he didn't want to disturb their ceremony he had no choice but to wait it out, so he decided to start training Chikorita. Setting up his tent he called her out and told her of his plan.
"The first thing we're going to work on is your stamina" he said as he retrieved small weights from his bag "for the next month I'll only be taking these off when we eat, train and sleep, before long you'll start to notice your speed has rapidly improved. Now you'll never be Pikachu or Sneasel speed wise, and given you'll be living at my home I doubt you'll ever match their strength but you will be able to defend yourself. So, to start with I'll set these on a slightly difficult setting and we'll go from there. Luckily your moveset is pretty much the same as Venusaurs so I know what we can do to improve you."
The next few hours Ash explained as best he could to the little grass type how she could better get in touch with nature, something grass types found to be a natural occurrence so he watched her focus on trying to make a few flowers around her bloom and unbloom.
That evening he set up his video recorder on his Pokégear and just enjoyed the cool evening with Pikachu.
"It's not often we get to do this" Ash said "just us two I mean. It's been a while hasn't it?"
"Rind Island" Pikachu said "where we met Gyarados. Not counting our home that is. It's crazy to think on how much time has passed since then and what we've achieved."
"You're not wrong pal" Ash said as he looked up at the moon. Hours later they were startled from their silent vigil as the water started to churn "Oh, here we go."
Pressing record on his Pokégear he sat back and as quietly as he could observe the Quagsire rise to the surface and start chanting their own name up at the night sky. After half an hour of this watched fascinated as almost as one they placed their objects into their mouths and fired them all into the sky using Water Gun. It seemed to be a contest for who could keep the move going for as long as possible and Ash was very impressed with the one who 'won'. When all the objects disappeared over the waterfall Ash packed up his things and climbed back onto Salamence and flew to where the river split into two, dropped his backpack onto the shore and waded into the water to wait for the objects to start arriving.
It was just as the sun crested over the hill that the first of them hit the bend and straightened up. Looking around Ash watched as object after object passed him before he spotted something, picking it up he saw it was a lucky egg with a red ribbon tied around it. Laughing he kept a hold of it before he spotted what he was here for, the GS Ball was gently bobbing up and down towards the back making its way to him. Picking it up he shook his head and walked back to the shoreline and placed it into his bag before walking back into the middle.
"What are you doing?" Pikachu asked confused.
"Helping someone get lucky" Ash said as he saw the last of the objects go by. A minute later he placed the lucky egg back into the water and watched as it gently bobbed its way towards the village, smiling as he watched it disappear over the horizon. Gathering his things Ash was too awake to go to sleep for an hour so he decided to get to Cherrygrove City as soon as he could where he'd sleep in the Pokémon Centre. Taking the right bend in the river he walked along the path in companiable silence with Pikachu and before too long, just on the horizon Ash saw a building. Walking into Cherrygrove City Ash paid no one any mind as he headed towards the red topped building, nodding at the Nurse Joy who was tending to a trainer and headed straight for the professors room. As his head hit the pillow he smiled as finally, nearly six weeks after setting out from Kanto and a week after setting out from New Bark Town he was at his first stop on his journey through Johto.