Chapter 4: Running From The Flock
After returning to the lab and healing their Pokemon, Professor Oak handed the two trainers a Pokedex, and after briefly explaining that it was a device created to collect a Pokemons data, he gave the two a warm goodbye and sent them out on their journey. Now, to say Ash and Serenas departure from Pallet Town was anything but embarrassing was an understatement. For starters, Grace and Delia had decided to bring every single one of the neighbors with them to make sure the kids got a proper farewell, which meant Ash and Serena ended up having to go person by person and saying goodbye to basically all of Pallet Town. Not to mention the fact that they all tried to touch Pichu at some point which ended up with all of them getting electrocuted. And then to add insult to injury, Delia had reminded Ash on multiple occasions to take care of his "dirty laundry" which made the poor kid blush with embarrassment as the entire town was witnessing this.
"Oh Ash. I can't believe my little man is all grown up!" Delia cried.
"Hey mom it's nothing to worry about I promise I'll be okay. And yes, before you say anything, I'll make sure to call whenever there's a chance. I love you mom." Ash said trying to calm his mom down to no avail.
"I love you too honey." The poor women just kept sobbing.
Seeing his mom like this made Ash sad, but he knew she was happy and rooting for him. This is something he heavily appreciated more than anything in the world. After giving his mom a hug, Ash made his way towards Grace who was calling him over to her and Serena who seemed to be in a very flustered state.
"Ash, I have something very important to ask of you." The woman said with a very serious tone.
Gulping Ash replied. "Yes ma'am, how can I help?"
"Promise me that no matter what happens, you'll take good care of my Serena." At those words Serena blushed even harder, making Grace giggle.
"I promise to protect her with my life." Ash nodded.
Grace smiled appreciatively and gave Ash and Serena one final hug. And finally, after many goodbyes and tears from Delia and Grace. The two were finally ready to enter Route One again. Only this time as trainers.
It had now been four hours since Ash and Serena had left Pallet. Along the way they encountered many Pidgeys and Rattatas but they didn't really cause much trouble. To Serenas delight they also got to see many beautiful sights that they had originally missed while speeding through on Rhyhorn. And after finally finding a nice bit of shade the duo decided to take a break in order to relax and let their Pokemon rest, which Serena took full advantage of as she laid back against the tree brushing Eevee's fur to the little Pokemons delight.
Ash on the other hand was trying to have a conversation with Pichu who had climbed up the tree in order to try and ignore his trainer attempts at becoming friends.
"Come on Pichu, how bad could it be to just play catch?" Ash pleaded, but the little mouse just turned his head.
At this point Ash was starting to think he'd have more luck taming a wild Aerodactly than actually getting Pichu to accept him.
Suddenly a loud screech took the boy out of his thoughts, which was later followed by a small little bird Pokemon flying up to Serena and Eevee.
"Hey little guy. What's up, are you hungry?" The girl asked which the Pokemon chirped in approval followed by the grumbling of his stomach making Serena giggle.
As the girl looked through her bag for food to give him Ash came up and scanned him with the Pokedex. Which read "Spearow, the Normal/Flying type bird Pokemon. Spearow has a terrible attitude and will sometimes attack other Pokemon and humans. When in trouble it releases a horrible screech to alert the rest of the flock it's in danger."
"Well, he doesn't look that bad to me." Ash said as he watched the small bird eat the bread crumb Serena was feeding him.
"Maybe we found a nice one?" Serena said puzzled.
"Yeah...maybe. Anyways I think I'm going to give Poliwag a little training, is that ok?" the raven-haired boy asked.
"Yeah, that's cool with me, just don't overdo it we still have to make it to Viridian City." Serena replied.
At those words Ash's face instantly lit up. "Alright, thanks Serena don't worry it'll only be about thirty minutes. Now, Poliwag come out." He said while throwing a Pokeball out.
At the sight of Poliwag, Pichu instantly began to spark up his cheeks which was followed by Poliwag angrily staring him down.
"Hey you guys cut it out. You two are on the same team now, you're supposed to be friends!" Ash pleaded but Pichu just turned his head as Poliwag shrugged his shoulders.
Ash sighed as he began to talk to Poliwag. "Listen Poliwag, Pichu has a hard time trusting people, right now he doesn't even fully trust me yet and I'm his trainer, so please don't take any of that personal, he'll come around just give him some time. After all you and your friends were the ones that picked on him all the time."
Poliwag shook his head in understanding and looked at Pichu. I mean him and his friends never disliked him, they just wanted to roughen him up so he could be strong enough to protect himself, just like they were, but now he guessed maybe they should've explained that to him first.
"So, are you up for a little training?" Ash continued to which he happily nodded
Soon after Ash and Poliwag headed down about twenty-feet from the tree and began training, which consisted of Ash grabbing a bunch of rocks from the ground and throwing them up in the air so Poliwag could hit them with Water Gun to work on his accuracy.
Serena, who had been watching Ash the whole time with a smile on her face, was just about to ask Eevee and Spearow if they wanted to join when suddenly a flock of six Spearow flew down on front of them. But due to them being so focused on the training Ash and Poliwag hadn't noticed the birds landing in front of Serena.
"Hey guys, is everything ok..." Serena asked worriedly.
The Spearows however just ignored her and started talking to the one she had been feeding.
Now Serena couldn't understand Pokemon but from the body language and way they were speaking she could tell what was going on. From what she had picked up the Spearow she had been feeding had been kicked out of the flock and these six here were sent to teach him a lesson. Which only meant one thing. A battle. And just as the Spearow were about to begin a flying jet of water which Serena could only assume came from Ashs Poliwag, hit one of them in the face catching him off guard and making him bump into the rest.
Serena then took all the confusion to quickly talk to the Spearow. "Hey little guy, I know this is sudden and out of nowhere, but do you want to join my team? This way you won't have to survive alone out here or have to deal with getting hunted down by your old flock."
The Spearows eyes began to water as he rapidly nodded his head yes, as Serena reached for a Pokeball and capturing him. But as she looked back up, she saw the angry faces of six Spearows all staring down at Ash.
"Alright Poliwag, just like we've been practicing use Water Gun." Ash shouted as more streams of water hit the bird Pokemon.
Serena not wanting to leave Ash fighting alone, began to call on Eevee. "Eevee use tackle and push as many of the Spearows as you can towards Poliwags attack!"
As Eevee collided with one Spearow after the other, Poliwags attack would land moments after causing the Spearow to have no time to fight back. And just as the two trainers thought they had this fight easily won, one of the now frightened Spearows let out a loud Screech calling over their entire flock.
Suddenly remembering the Pokedex entry, Serena quickly picked up Eevee and threw Ash his bag yelling at him to run as she put her bag on while Pichu who had witnessed the whole commotion ran down the tree and jumped on Ashs head who had now retrieved Poliwag and had started to run.
"What do we do now!" Serena asked panicking.
As Ash looked back and saw a swarm of over a hundred Spearows quickly approaching. In the matter of minutes, they had caught up to the trainers and had begun pecking at them and their Pokemon, cause Ash and Serena to hold Eevee and Pichu tight into their chest so they could avoid the blunt of the attack. Seeing Serena and the Pokemon getting hurt, Ash quickly began trying to come up with solutions.
"Quickly, run towards the forest maybe we can lose them or take some cover under the trees!" Ash yelled.
As the group sprinted for their lives. They made their way to the forest, jumping over logs and rocks. Thankfully the trees had made it so that the Spearow were pecking less since they had less room to fly through, but even now they still managed to slip through the cracks. As Ash scouted around the area searching for a means to escape, he laid his eyes upon a river.
"Serena, Pichu isn't looking so good and neither is Eevee. If we want to help them, we need to do something and fast!" Ash shouted over all the birds chirping.
"I know Ash, but what!" She replied
"Do you trust me!" He yelled.
"Of course I do!" Serena screamed back.
"Then follow me!" And with those words Ash grabbed Serenas hand, ran over towards the river, and jumped. Holding on to each other and their pokemon the Ash and Serena prayed this would work as they got pushed down the river by the strong currents.
Misty, a young girl with orange hair and green eyes who wore jean shorts with red suspenders, a yellow shirt, and red shoes, was currently fishing on the side of the river when she suddenly felt a tight tug on her fishing rod.
"Oh yeahhh baby this is a big one I can feel it!" She exclaimed with joy"
After tugging for minutes, she finally pulled her catch out.
"This has got to be something big, let's see, I caught...some kids. Uh...are you guys, ok?" Misty then noticed the injured Pokemon Serena and Ash were holding.
"We've been better honestly" Ash replied before suddenly feeling Misty's hand slap him across the face.
"How dare you let your Pokemon get this bad" The orange-haired girl shouted.
Serena felt the anger boiling inside her as she got up and started shouting at Misty. "Why would you do that. It's not his fault our Pokemon are like this, and Ash is a great person and trainer, he cares deeply about Pokemon."
"Oh yeah? If he's so good, then how come he let them get this hurt!" Misty replied.
Serena was just about to explode on her when Ash finally spoke up.
"Look we really don't have time to explain things. All we care about right now is getting Pichu and Eevee to the nearest Pokemon Center which is in Viridian city." He sighed.
"Well, you're in luck. Viridian City is only a few miles that way." Misty said pointing in the direction of the place.
"Thank you." Ash said as he grabbed Serenas hand again making the girl slightly blush and began making his way in the direction Misty pointed.
He was about to start sprinting again, but Serena stopped him.
"Hey Ash look a bike. We could use this to get there faster." Serena said.
"Perfect!" Ash replied as he ran towards the bike and put Pichu and Eevee in the front basket. And luckily for the two, it had two seats so both Ash and Serena could ride it."
"Hey, you can't just take that. That bikes mine, it cost me thousands of dollars!"
Suddenly hearing the sound of the flock approaching, Ash didn't hesitate and began to peddle away at full speed.
"Sorry, we'll pay you back some day we promise!" He yelled, and soon the orange haired girl was out of sight.
As the sun set, storm clouds began forming covering the moon and making it so dark Ash and Serena could barely see in front of them. And as Ash turned a corner a little too fast, he didn't get enough time to see the drop ahead, causing the group to fly off the back and fall on the ground, while leaving the bike with a popped tire.
"Damn it! Just our luck, quick let's get Pichu and Eevee and get out of here." Ash yelled as it began to rain.
But as Serena picked up Eevee and tried to run her legs gave out and the girl fell to her knees holding on to her Pokemon.
Ash who was picking up Pichu saw this and rushed to her side.
"Serena what's wrong we need to move." Ash asked.
"Ash I can't keep going, just go without me. Get Eevee and Pichu save please! Serena began to cry.
"Serena are you crazy! I can't leave you here. I'd never leave you." Ash replied.
"Please Ash, there's no other way!" She began to sob
Suddenly, the flock of Spearow finally caught up to them as the rain clouds darkened and a full out thunderstorm began.
"Serena. There's always a way." Ash said as he patted Serena and Eevee on the head. "I'm going to try return Pichu, you should do the same with Eevee."
The girl nodded but Eevee refused, no matter how much she had told the little Pokemon that it would be safer if she went inside the ball, Eevee just wouldn't listen, and with tears in her eyes Serena couldn't help but hug Eevee tight.
Ash looked at Pichu and spoke. "Listen boy, I'm going to put your Pokeball her on the ground. I'd feel a lot better knowing you were safe inside it, but I can't force you to do anything, so the choice is yours. But please, whatever you do try and stay safe, I can't lose you Pichu. You're a great friend. Plus, who's gonna take care of Serena and Eevee if I can't get us out of this mess?"
Everyone looked at Ash worriedly.
"Pichu, I'm sorry I failed you. Serena, I'm sorry I failed you and Eevee too. I was supposed to protect you guys, and I couldn't even do that for a day. I'm pathetic."
Ash began to shakily get up.
"Serena, after this I want you to run as fast as you can and don't look back." Ash said panting.
"Ash no, are you crazy!" She yelled.
"Please all I care about is that you, Eevee, and Pichu are safe. "Ash pleaded.
Pichu's eyes widened at the boys words, as he watched Ash open his arms shielding Serena, Eevee and himself from the oncoming attack, he couldn't help but cry.
"Ash what do you think you're doing, move!" Serena screamed.
Ash just looked back at her and smiled. "It's ok Serena. Just remember, It's not over till it's over."
He then turned around and looked at the Spearow with pure determination in his eyes.
"Spearow, do you know who I am? I am Ash Ketchum from the town of Pallet. I'm destined to be the world's number one Pokemon master. I can't be defeated by the likes of you. I'm going to capture and defeat you all. You hear me?" The boy announced to the flock who flew over them charging their attack.
"Come and get me!" Ash screamed.
"Ash no!" Said Serena crying as she held on tightly to Eevee.
As the flock of over five hundred Spearow launched themselves towards Ash, Pichu managed to jump onto his trainers shoulder, launching himself towards them. And as he began to glow, a lightning bolt from the sky hit him, causing him to get supercharged as he screamed and unleashed his strongest possible Thunder Bolt attack, causing a massive explosion that knocked everyone out.
As the sun began to rise and the nasty storm clouds began to part, Ash began to get up. As he looked around, he could see hundreds of Spearow knocked out on the floor, along with that orange-haired girls bike, which had been completely destroyed. He then started to feel something heavy on his legs and as he looked down, he couldn't help but smile.
"Pichu, you evolved! Wow, look at you, you look so cool!" Ash grinned to which Pika sure replied to with a quick "Pika!" as he rubbed himself against Ash and finally passed out. He was, going to be ok, but he needed medical attention immediately.
"Hang in there buddy, just let me get the others. Serena and Eevee, are you guys ok?" Ash asked
"We're okay." The girl replied shakily as she and Eevee had just begun to get up.
As soon as Serena and Ash made eye contact Serena threw herself at Ash and began hitting him as she cried.
"Woah whats wrong Serena, what happened."
"You...you...were so reckless. I was so scared I was going to lose you. Don't you ever do something crazy like that again Ash." Serena cried against his chest.
"I'm sorry. I just need to make sure you and the others were safe." Ash responded with shock.
"Did you ever wonder that maybe we wanted YOU to be safe too." Serena said angrily with the tears still running down her face.
For once Ash had nothing to say.
"You don't always have to be the hero and getting yourself almost killed all the time, why does it always have to be you-" Serena continued before Ash brought her in for a tight hug, which slowly started to calm the girl down.
"I'm sorry." Ash said quietly.
As Serena parted away, she asked. "Promise me, promise me Ash, that you won't do something like this again."
"Serena...I can't. If you ever get in any trouble, no matter what it is, I'd do anything to protect you." Ash replied with no hesitation.
"Then at least promise me you'll be less reckless." Serena pleaded, as she dried her tears.
"I promise" he said giving her one last hug making the two of them start to blush a bright color of red.
As the two of them parted to pick up and carry their respective starter Pokemon they heard a weird noise coming from the sky, waking up Pikachu and Eevee. And as the group looked up at the sky, they saw the most beautiful Pokemon they had ever laid eyes on. It was a big glowing bird with feathers in all colors, looking as if it were part of the rainbow, and something about it just radiated mythical power. But as it flew over two kids, two of its feathers fell and landed in their hands.
"It's beautiful" Serena whispered
Ash ran to get his Pokedex but when the scan completed all he got back was, "This Pokemons data has never been recorded."
"Wow, we really just saw an unregistered Pokemon. That's so cool!" He giggled
"Hey we better keep these feathers safe, coming from something as amazing as that they've got to be rare." Serena said.
Ash nodded in agreement as he began to pick up all his stuff.
"Are you and Eevee ready to go?" Ash asked.
Serena nodded as Eevee who was in her hands gave a small bark.
"And what about you Pikachu?" As said as he placed Pikachu on his head.
"Pika!" The yellow mouse said weakly.
"Don't worry Pikachu, we're a few minutes from the Pokemon Center, just hang on a little longer. "Ash replied.
And with that the group began to head to Viridian City grateful to still be alive and awed at all of the events that happened to them on their first day of being Pokemon Trainers.
Well there we go! PICHU EVOLVED INTO PIKACHU!
now that the gang has made it to Viridian what crazy stunts will happen next?
Also both are trainers now have two mons as Ash has Pikachu and Poliwag and Serena has Eevee and Spearow!
If you like my story or have any critics by all means leave a review or a PM as I'm a new writer and am open to any advice.
THANK AND SEE YOU NEXT TIME!