"How dare you two destroy my bike!" The red headed girl screamed.
"We didn't destroy it!" Ash shouted as he held up his hands in defense, "We just used it to escape the Spearow and then…" He trailed off, realizing he didn't actually know what happened to it.
"You left it broken and burned on the side of the road." The girl growled.
Ash and Serena looked at each other nervously, "We're really sorry." Serena said, "We were desperate, those Spearow were trying to kill us!"
"Oh, so people can take whatever they want when their life is an emergency." The red head responded.
"Well, I mean, I wouldn't say that." Serena said meekly.
"It wasn't just our lives." Ash said sadly, "My Pikachu was in really bad shape… He still is."
The girl seemed to recoil at this and softened her expression, "Is he going to be ok?"
"The Nurse said he should make a full recovery but he's still resting." Serena answered.
"Look, we're sorry we took your bike." Ash offered, "We were in a bad spot, but it doesn't give us the right to put other people in bad spots too."
"No, I get" The girl conceded, "Honestly if me and my pokemon were in danger I probably would've done the same thing. How about we wait for your Pikachu to heal and we can square up tomorrow on my bike. The names Misty by the way, Misty Waterflower."
"I'm Ash Ketchum and this is Serena Yvonne."
"Would you like to sit with us Misty?" Serena asked.
Misty smiled gratefully, "Sure why not. I have been walking all day."
The group then exchanged stories for close to an hour. Ash and Serena told the girl all about Pallet Town and the full story behind the Spearow, even mentioning the strange bird, which Misty bluntly said was nonsense.
Misty also talked about herself, she was a year older than the two and came from Cerulean City. "I left home about a month ago. I traveled to Pewter City and stayed there for a bit, honestly it was a pretty boring place, then I traveled through Viridian Forest as fast as I could to get here."
"I always heard Viridian Forest was a gorgeous place. Why did you rush through it?" Serena asked.
Misty shivered, "No reason"
Ash and Serena looked at each other in confusion and shrugged, deciding to let it go. Serena noticed Misty seemed to dodge some important details like her family and why she was starting an adventure a year late, but she decided that the red head probably wouldn't appreciate prying.
"Anyway, now I'm out on a goal to become the world's greatest water pokemon trainer!" Misty exclaimed.
"Why water pokemon?" Ash asked.
"Because they're the greatest type, of course." Misty said simply, again causing Ash to shrug. Just then the nurse came up the stairs, "Ash Ketchum, the doctor is ready to see you now."
"Is Pikachu ok?" Ash asked, almost jumping out of his seat.
The nurse smiled, "He's resting comfortably but it's really the doctor who you should speak with."
The three were then led back to the main floor and back into the medical area. Pikachu was seen lying in a room with a breathing mask around his face.
"Pikachu!" Ash shouted.
"Please son, keep your voice down, this is a hospital." Walking down the hallway was a woman in her late 40s in a white lab coat. "I'm Dr. Harris, the lead pokemon doctor at this center." the woman said as she held out her hand for Ash to shake.
Ash shook her hand before, quietly, jumping back into his questions, "Doctor, what happened to my Pikachu?"
"Your Pikachu will be fine. Those Spearow got some really good shots on him, but I've seen worse. What was really the issue was Pikachu seemed to expend way more electricity than his body should've allowed, he almost burned up his organs, frankly I don't understand how such a young and undeveloped Pikachu could've done that."
"Pikachu jumped up to save Ash when the Spearow attacked." Serena noted.
The doctor rested her hand on her chin and thought deeply, "Hmm, it seems in order to protect you your Pikachu released an attack far past it's limits. Honestly, I've never heard of such a phenomenon, but I guess it could theoretically be possible."
"But he's going to be, ok?" Ash asked again.
The doctor chuckled, "Yes, with a few days rest Pikachu will be back to normal. Looking at you I'd assume you could use the same." She said in reference to the boot on his ankle, "In the meantime it's nearly midnight, I recommend you kids go to your rooms to get some sleep."
"We will, but can I stay with Pikachu for a bit?" Ash asked.
"Very well, just stay very quiet. Pikachu and the others need to sleep."
"I'll stay too Ash." Serena offered.
"And me" said Misty, the two trainers looked at her with a bit of surprise and the girl quickly added, "Oh come on. I might still be annoyed about my bike, but this cute little Pikachu needs all the love it can get."
With that the three spent time resting next to Pikachu. As Misty and Serena rested on the floor Ash sat on a chair intently watching Pikachu.
"I know it doesn't help, but these things happen." Misty said.
Ash looked at her in surprise, so the girl continued, "Don't get me wrong, as trainers it's our responsibility to keep our pokemon as safe and healthy as possibe. And it was an idiotic decision to go throwing rocks at wiggling bushes. But Pokemon, just like humans, inevitably get hurt. It's something you need to face if you want to be a great trainer."
"I guess I just never pictured this as a part of the job." Ash said sadly.
"Nobody does. They think being a pokemon trainer is going around battling everyone they come across and catching rare pokemon, all while their pokemon just endlessly get stronger. But if things were that easy everyone would be great."
Ash began to ponder this but was cut short with the power shutting off.
Outside the pokemon center the Team Rocket members gathered in earnest near the front door.
"Boss, the power has been cut." A grunt reported towards the red-haired women.
"Begin the operation immediately!" She shouted, "It won't be long before the police realize that fire we set at the outskirts of town was a diversion and the pokemon center isn't reporting power."
"Yes Ma'am!" The grunts shouted before they stormed the building. 6 grunts peeled off for the sleeping quarters while 2 others headed for the back. The women and man in white alongside the talking Meowth and two grunts remained in the lobby.
After a while, the blue haired man listened intently in his walkie talkie, "Report back as soon as you have it opened. NO MORE DELAYS!" He said sternly before turning towards the red-haired women, "Jessie Team B found the safe. They're beginning to open it now."
"I don't get you twos had everyone go rob da twerps sleeping. Da safe is obviously far more valuable." The Meowth said
"Oh Meowth, that's simply because you don't have the eye for strategy that James and I possess." The woman named Jessie said with a laugh..
"Yea, you and Jimmy are real geniuses." The cat responded sarcastically.
"The safe is a two-man job, there's no reason for anymore or they'd just be taking up space. Besides, it only takes 1 rich kid up there to let us hit it big." The blue haired man named James added.
"If that's the case maybe these two bozos should be searching rooms instead of standing here." The cat pokemon complained.
"We already went over the plan. The 5 of us are here to stop anyone from trying to flee. If the police, or heaven forbid, the gym leader catches wind too early we're done for." James responded.
"That's right so for now we sit back and watch our plan in action!" Jessie declared with an evil laugh.
A few moments earlier
Back in the medical room, barely visible lights dimly lit up the room.
"Thank goodness there's a backup generator to keep the medical area somewhat going." Misty said before harshly whispering, "Get down now!"
Ash quickly dove on the floor as two figures ran by.
"I recognize those uniforms." Misty growled, "It's Team Rocket."
"Team Rocket?" Serena almost choked, "Why are they here?"
"The pokemon center must have been the place where they decided to launch that last robbery Officer Davis was talking about." Ash speculated.
"That would make sense." Misty said as she thought out loud, "All pokemon centers have a large safe in the back where they have money to pay for emergency supplies. Also, with all the new trainers staying here this time of year they probably figured they'd be easy pickings."
"We can't let Team Rocket get away with this!" Ash exclaimed, again getting shushed by Misty.
"Ash, we're just new pokemon trainers. How are we supposed to help?" Serena responded.
"I... I don't know. But I can't just sit here and do nothing." He responded.
Misty placed her hand on her chin and thought deeply. Finally she said, "Well let's at least stop those two from getting to the safe. If it's like every other pokemon center I know exactly where it is."
"How are we going to stop them?" Serena exclaimed.
Misty simply smiled.
As the two rocket grunts reached safe they gave evil smiles, "Hah this is going to be easier than I thought." one laughed as he bent over to begin forcing it open.
The other held a flashlight up to illuminate the safe and responded, "According to the map we got there's a back door around here too. I say we just bail with the loot."
"Our dear leaders sure wouldn't like that."
"Oh who cares? If what they said about what's behind this safe is true then it is worth more than Team Rocket would pay the two of us in two years combined. If we play this right you and I could be relaxing at a casino in Coumarine City by this weekend, I'll take my chances that those idiots don't try to track us down across the continent."
His partner laughed greedily, "Alright I'm in! Just give me one more minute to open this safe and you and I are out of he-"
Suddenly an object flew through the darkness and slammed into him. His partner jumped in confusion, frantically waving the flashlight around but he saw nothing. Then at the very end of the hallway a single red light appeared,
"Great work Staryu now uses another rapid spin"! Misty shouted.
The star-shaped pokemon spun aggressively and launched itself at the grunt knocking him into the floor. Quickly Ash and Misty moved over and restrained the two grunts with rope they found in a closet.
"Wow, Misty I'm amazed. That went just like you said." Serena said with surprise.
"Heh, these Team Rocket guys are chumps." Misty said with a laugh.
"Team B report in, what is your status?" A noise from one of the grunts pockets. Ash took a look and pulled out a walkie talkie, "Report in now!" The voice said.
Ash looked around nervously before taking a deep breath, "Sorry, uh, opening the safe now. Um, one minute."
There was a long pause on the other end. Just when Ash was convinced they'd been found out the voice on the other line responded, "Report back as soon as you have it opened. NO MORE DELAYS!"
The group sighed.
"What should we do?" asked Serena.
"We could look for a back door and run for help." Ash offered.
"You won't be running anywhere on that ankle." Misty replied, "And besides, by the time we get help these crooks will be long gone."
"We should go hide in another room. This is way above us!" Said Serena.
Misty defiantly shook her head, "No way. It's not just money these losers want, it's anything valuable. That means they'll probably be stealing trainers' pokemon. No, I'll bet anything that whoever was at the other end of that walkie talkie is hanging out in the lobby. If I can take him out the grunts should be easy to handle."
"We'll help! Announced Ash.
"No chance, you can barely walk. And do you even have another pokemon?" Misty asked.
"Serena has her Eevee! You can't do this alone Misty let us help you." Ash shot back.
Misty sighed, "Alright fine but you'll be doing exactly what I say."
Serena silently clenched her fists. She wanted no part in this but clearly the two weren't listening and she didn't want to argue any further.
"Serena, what moves does you Eevee know?" Misty asked.
"Moves?" Serena asked in confusion, "I guess I don't know."
Misty grumbled to herself before saying, "Fine check your pokedex it can scan the moves of any of your pokemon."
Serena apprehensively pulled out her pokedex and used it to scan Eevee's pokeball. When the dex showed the moves Misty sighed, "Well, I guess it's better than nothing."
Back in the main lobby Jessie, James, and Meowth were lounging around, "James where is your team." Jessie grumbled.
"They'll be here." James responded.
"Well we've got 5 minutes. Team A should be wrapping up soon then we leave. I'm not going to jail after all we've done here."
"Relax." The blue haired man said, "Everything is going to be fi-" James suddenly shrieked as he ducked down to avoid a water gun going right for his head.
"Who was that!" Jessie shouted.
"Hey creeps, you leave this pokemon center alone!" Misty shouted as she entered the room with Ash and Serena.
"It's just a couple of twerps!" Meowth taunted.
"Did that pokemon just talk?" Serena asked.
"We don't have time to think about it!" Misty barked as her Staryu came forward.
"Looks like the twerps want to have a little pokemon battle." Jessie sneered.
"I guess we can oblige them." James said as he got off the floor, "You two, help us!" He called out to the two grunts with them.
"Go Eevee!" Serena shouted.
"Go Arbok!" replied Jessie.
"Come on out Wheezing!" James added.
The two grunts tossed out Raticates.
"No fair you have us outnumbered!" Ash shouted.
"Heh we don't fight fair, kid." Jessie shot back.
"This will even the odds, let's go Starmie!" Misty shouted.
"Wow a Staryu and a Starmie?" Ash said in awe.
Misty ignored him, "Now Serena just like we discussed, ok?"
Serena nodded, "Eevee use sand attack!"
The fox pokemon dash forward kicked its back paws on the ground, somehow causing dust to shoot up from the floor blinding the opponents.
"We don't need vision!" James shouted, "Weezing use sludge."
The large two headed pokemon began vomiting a purple slime all over the field. One attack was on target and came flying down towards Eevee when Misty shouted, "Staryu, wipe it away with a water gun.
Quickly the water pokemon blasted away the sludge and Misty continued, "Now Starmie you use Psybeam!"
The evolved star pokemon launched a mystic energy that knocked back Weezing.
"Arbok get in there!" Jessie spat.
"Raticate use tackle!" the two grunts ordered in unison.
"Rapid spin!" Misty ordered as both of her pokemon charged forward and easily knocked back the Raticate.
"Eevee use swift!" Added Serena.
The brown fox fired a volley of golden stars right at the charging snake.
"Pathetic" Jessie mocked, "Arbok use poison jab!"
Arbok's tail glowed a sickly purple and batted away the swift stars before coming down on Eevee.
"Starmie, intercept with bubble beam!" Misty ordered. Her pokemon spun forward and released a blast of bubbles that halted Arbok.
"Weezing you get in there with double hit!" James ordered.
The floating pokemon dashed forward and slammed into Starmie knocking it back into the ground. At the same time the two Raticate dashed around Staryu and landed hyper fangs. Arbok also delivered a bite on Eevee that almost knocked the pokemon out.
"No good, there's just too many." Misty growled.
"Weezing finish this with sludge!" "Arbok use acid!" The team rocket leaders called in unison.
"Starmie light screen!" Misty shouted desperately. Her pokemon put up a barrier that blocked the attacks but slowly the poison began burning it away.
"Damn!" Misty shouted.
"Eevee!" Serena hollered.
Then suddenly another cry came out, "PI-KA-CHUUU!" Electricity arched across the room cutting through the attacks and blasting the two poison types. The group looked back in shock to see a bandaged Pikachu weakly getting into a battle stance.
"Pikachu!" Ash shouted in joy as the mouse smiled at him.
"Now our chance to counter attack!" Misty shouted.
"I don't think so." Sneered a voice from above. On the stairwell stood the Team Rocket agents that had been robbing trainers in their rooms. Quickly the grunts began tossing forward pokeballs. More Raticates, Grimers, even a Golbat, appeared before the group.
Jessie laughed hysterically, "Now all of you, finish these annoying twerps off!"
Right as the various pokemon began to attack a powerful wind overtook the entire gym causing the trainers to all cover their eyes.
"Actually I think you've had enough fun.'' A voice came from the entrance. The group looked over to see a man in his early 40 with spiky light orange hair and a similarly colored beard approach.
"He's here!" Sneered James.
"Mr. Blue!" Ash and Serena yelled in relief.
Blue Oak casually waved towards them, "Yo you two, welcome to my city."
"He's just a gym leader." Jessie spat, "Everyone get him!"
The pokemon charged but Blue merely smirked, "Brave Bird" He ordered. His Pidgeot was enveloped in a gorgeous blue energy and with amazing speed flew through the waves of pokemon easily knocking everyone out.
Jessie looked over at James in shock as he whimpered, "Plan B?"
"Everybody run!" Meowth shouted.
The Rocket members then fled in every direction, shattering glass everywhere as they leapt through windows.
"Good luck with that." Blue chuckled.
Outside the building dozens of police officers and their pokemon stood waiting.
"Arrest them all!" Officer Davis called out. The police quickly began subduing them as the Rocket members desperately tried to resist.
10 minutes later Ash, Serena, and Misty were sitting in seats in the lobby as they sipped on hot chocolate.
"Pikachu, that was amazing!" Ash exclaimed towards his partner.
"Pi" the pokemon responded with a smile.
"You all did amazing." Came the voice of Blue as he walked over with Officer Davis.
"Mr. Blue, thank you so much for saving us." Serena said as she bowed her head.
"Please, enough with the "Mr." Already I'm not like my pops, you kids are adults now." Blue said. "Besides, I should be thanking you. If you hadn't held Team Rocket up there's a good chance we wouldn't have gotten here in time."
"So, all the Team Rocket members got arrested?" Ash asked.
Officer Davis frowned, "Unfortunately the leaders and that talking Meowth seemed to have escaped. Fear not though, some of their grunts have already given up their hideout here and we've blocked every road out of town. They have nowhere to go."
Suddenly her phone began ringing and the officer excused herself.
Blue looked over at Misty, "Excuse me young ma'am, have we met before?"
"One time." Misty responded with a laugh, "I'm Misty Waterflower."
Blue's eyes seemed to light up at the name, "I see. And how is your father?"
"Enjoying retirement." Misty responded.
Blue smiled and nodded before turning back to Ash and Serena, "So do your parents know you were fighting criminals here?"
"We were kind of hoping to keep that a secret." Ash answered honestly.
Blue sighed, "A lot of people would've lost everything without you three. Their savings, personal items, even some of their pokemon. I guess for your help I can keep your secret."
"Thanks Mr.- I mean Blue." Ash said with a smile, "So can I get a pokemon battle soon?"
Blue burst into laughter, "I'll tell you the same thing I told Gary."
"Gary is here?" Serena asked.
"He was. Left for Pewter City after we got lunch. I told him I wouldn't give him a gym battle until he collected 7 badges. Ash, I've watched you dream of being a pokemon trainer since you were little running around with Gary. How about we wait so you can get the great battle I've always wanted."
Ash smiled and nodded, "Sounds fair, I guess we'll be going to Pewter City too."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Misty growled.
"Misty, we promise we'll get the money for a new bike as fast as we can." Serena began before Misty gave small smile,
"I know you will. I like you two. You can hold your own. How about in the meantime the three of us stick together?"
Ash and Serena looked at each other in surprise. They certainly hadn't expected to pick up another traveling companion after 1 day. After a nod from Serena, Ash gave a big smile, "Sounds fair to me!"
While all of this had been happening in Viridian City back in Pallet Town Prof. Oak had been up to his own emergency. He'd been calling dozens of numbers on repeat as they all took him to a turned off voicemail.
"Why does he have to be so hard to get a hold of?" Oak grumbled. With luck, in that moment someone answered. While usually Oak's computer would show their face this man had his camera off, "So he needs to hide where he is." Prof. Oak thought.
"Oak listen, now's a really bad time." A stern voice came on the other end.
"I'm sorry but this can't wait, it's about Ash." Oak responded.
The man seemed a little annoyed, "Listen, I know I missed his graduation. I'll make sure to make it up to him and Delia as soon as I get a chance."
"That's not it." Oak interjected. He then told the man everything Ash had told him about the large bird that Serena couldn't see and the feather they found.
"He has a glowing feather. I have no doubt it's Ho-oh's."
The man paused for a long moment before saying, "You don't know that. They just went through a stressful ordeal. It's possible they were hallucinating or exaggerating."
Oak wouldn't listen, "I saw the feather with my own eyes there was no mistaking it. And it went right to Ash. Red, I'm sorry but… Your son is Ho-oh's chosen one."
Well, that's a wrap on the first 4 chapters. I'm hoping to have another chapter completed in the next few days. In the meantime, it's past midnight that I'm posting this so I'm heading to bed. If you enjoyed the start of my story and want to follow along please do that. The best way I'll stay motivated to write fast is by getting follows and reading reviews so please share any thoughts you have. I'll try to respond to ones I see.