Alternate Possibilities

Writen by Arti Cuno

Part One

Five year old Ash Ketchem sighed as he played in the sand with his toy pokémon. He started dreaming of how he'd love to be old enough to have a REAL pokémon and train it. He thought of how it'd be wonderful to be a trainer and travel all around winning battles and bragging about his powerful pokémon. Of course, his pokémon would be the best around and unbeatable, or so he dreamed.

"Stupid little, Ash! Always day dreaming, thinking about your pokémon you'll NEVER have!"

Ash turned around to see Gary Oak mocking him. Gary was older then Ash, by four years. Ash was jealous that Gary was going to able to get his trainer's licence soon. Gary was also the "mean kid" of Pallet, not to mention one of the only other kids. Altogether, there was only ten or twelve kids in the town, none of then Ash's age, all older or younger.

"Go away, Gary!" Ash pouted, going back to playing with his toys. "I'm gonna be a trainer too, someday! And I'll beat you good!"

Gary laughed and wacked Ash on the back, knocking him facefirst into the sand. "Good one, Ketchem! I'll look forward to seeing you lose!"

Gary continued to laugh as he walked off, after getting his hit in on Ash for the day.

"I'll show you Gary." Ash muttered, wiping sand off his face. "You won't know what hit you!"

"So, which pokémon are you going to choose?" Professor Oak asked his grandson, as he layed out six different poké balls. "We've got a bulbasaur, charmander, squirtle, nidoran male, nidoran female, and an eevee. I'll warn you the eevee is a little unruley. She was just caught and doesn't like the idea of being trained by someone."

Gary looked over the six poké balls layed out before him. "Which one is the best?" he asked, picking up the charmander poké ball and looking it over.

Oak took the poké ball from Gary and placed it back on the table. "I suggest you take the bulbasaur, or a nidoran, they're bot two types so you'll have a better chance when it comes to some battles. If the eevee wasn't so hard to hand I'd say take her."

Gary looked at the nidoran poké balls then to the eevee one. "I'll take eevee." he decided, taking the poké ball. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

Oak gave his grandson an odd look. "Are you sure?"

"I'll be fine gramps." Gary assured him as Oak handed Gary his poké balls, pokédex and a sac with a few other things. "If eevee isn't behaving, I can use another pokémon1 It can't be that hard to catch one!"

Gary packed his things in his backpack and put eevee's poké ball on his belt with a couple of the others that were empty. He quickly slung his packback over his shoulder and jogged off only stopping to have back at his grandfather. "When I come back I'll be the best trainer around, Gramps! Wait and see!"

Gary crept quickly up behind a unsuspecting Spearow, then ducked behind a rock. He pulled Eevee's pokéball of his belt and threw it out to where the spearow was. "Come on, Eevee!"

The spearow turned around quickly and faced Eevee as she came from her poké ball. Eevee yawned and layed down on the ground, looking as if she was going to take a nap. Gary feel backwards, feet in the air and groaned. "Eevee! Attack it! Use tackle!!"

Eevee opened one eye and looked at Gary. "Weee?" she asked, as Spearow was about to peck into her back.

"Look out!" Gary called to his pokémon as it was attacked. "Eevee!!"

Eevee jumped to her feet and faced the spearow. She started to growl then jumped on it pinning it the the ground. "WeeeEEEeee..." she growled and bit at the bird.

"Poké ball, go!" Gary said as he threw out an empty ball at spearow. The ball shook, once, twice, then it stopped. Gary ran up to the poké ball and grabbed it. "I caught a pokémon! My first catch!!"

After a quick dance around the bushes with Eevee walking around sniffing the air, he tried to call her back. "Eevee, back in the ball." Gary ordered, holding out Eevee's ball. "Come on!"

Eevee sat down and scratched at the back of her ear. She stopped then wagged her tail happily. "Wee! WeeEEee!"

Eevee hopped up tryin to get Gary to pic her up. She continued wagging her tail then licked his boots. Gary sighed and picked up the pokémon. "What's wrong?" he asked, being licked to death. "Hey, quit it!"

Eevee flopped her ears back and gave the most pittiful look she could. "Weeee..."

"Oh, fine. I won't put you in the poké ball. Thats what you want? I know some pokémon are stubborn about that. Gramps was right when he said you would be difficult, eh?"

Eevee nodded and hopped down to the ground, staying close to her trainer. She yawned and leaned against Gary acting as if she was actually his trainer. Gary nudged her with a foot and continued walking along, looked for another pokémon to catch. At first glace it looked like they'd all taken off after the battle with Spearow. "See anything, Eevee?"

Eevee shook her head but was looking around alertly with her ears twitching, trying to find a sound. "Weeee?" Eevee whimpered, as she trod off to a bush and sniffed around.

"What is it?" Gary asked, following Eevee.

All of a sudden two people in black suits with dark blue R's on the front jumpped from the bushes. "We knew we'd find a trainer or two if we waited long enough." the girl of the pair said.

"But sitting that long in a torn bush.. that was tough..." the guy said.

"What the hell...?" Gary muttered.

"To Infest the word with devistation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To renounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our wrath to the stars above."

"Cassie!"

"Micheal!"

"The Rocket Gang, Blast off at the speed of light"

"Surrender now or Prepare to fight"

"The Rocket Gang?" Gary asked, Holding Eevee back so she didn't try to attack. "Who-? Wait, you're those pokémon theives! I won't let you take Eevee!!!"

"We don't want you're eevee, we want you. Join our cause! It'll be worth it, boy!" Cassie smiled, crossing her arms.

"Why would I want to join you!?!?!?" Gary hollored, grabbed Eevee, and began to run off.

After running for a few minute Gary stopped and dropped to the ground, letting Eevee go as he layed down panting, thinking he'd finally lost the Rockets. "E-Eevee..." Gary huffed. "Can y-you hear em...?"

Eevee nodded and pointed a paw in the direction the noise was coming from, it was right where Gary hard run through. He sighed and quickly stumbled to his feet trying to scramble off before they saw him.

"Hey! Get back here kid!" Micheal called after Gary. "You don't have a choice of join, we're making you join!!!"

"I'm not join with the like of- WAAAAHHH!"

Gary stumbled over a rock then went tumbling downhill with Eevee running beside him, trying to keep up, but she was falling behind. Gary finally came to a crashing stop, wacking into a tree and knocking himself out. The last thing he head was the sound of the Rocket's voices and then nothing.

"Wha'? Where am I?" Gary moaned, waking up with a bright light in his eyes. He looked left then right but no one was around. "Eevee?!" he called out, panicing. "Eevee, where are you, girl!?"

Gary stopped calling and looked around, he headed a chain dragging on the cement floor with a low "weee..." from Eevee. He looked to a corner of the room where it was dark and almost imposible to see, and there Eevee was, trying to get to her trainer but as being held back by a chain bigger then she was.

"What happened?" Gary asked his pokémon, not expecting an answer. "Last I remember is a run in with a tree..."

"And we brought you here to Viridian!" a voice said from the other side of the room as a light started to shine in. "We told you we were making you part of the Rocket Gang."

Gary shielded his eyes from the light and noticed the figure of Cassie and Micheal, the Rocket's that were chasing him. "You again!" he hollored. "LET ME AND EEVEE GO!!!"

"Looks like the kid wants to go free..." Micheal laughed. "What you think Cassie?"

"I think he needs some- what's that?"

Cassie and Micheal turned around to see Cassidy and Butch coming along dragging another kid along with them. The threw her in the same room as Gary then took the blue bird pokémon following her and chained it up on the opposit side of the room of Eevee.

"You bitch!" Cassidy screamed, pulling off her glove and sulking over the bite mark in her hand.

The kid in the room with Gary started to growl like and animal and tried to attack Cassidy again. Butch Steped in the way grabbing the kid by her hair and flinging her back in the room.

"Shut the door, quick!" Cassie screamed, in fear of being bit herself after seeing what happened to Cassidy. "We'll have to wait for that kid to calm down before we convert her into a member of the team."

Butch and Cassidy nodded. "It was hell to pay getting her here, but Giovanni and the kid's father both said she'd make a good member soon as we tame her down some." Butch explained.

"Who's her father?" Cassie asked.

Butch shrugged. "Some lab guy, works for the Prussian part of the team. Think his name was Sanimi Nakido? something like that."

The Rockets walked off talking amung themselves leaving Gary and Eevee with their new "room mates". Gary backed off, going into the corner with Eevee, scared for his life. If the insane person in the room with him attacked a Rocket like that, who's to say she wouldn't attack him too?

"Uh, hi?" Gary said meekly. "I'm, uh, Gary... you are...?"

Gary imediately regretted having asked since "she" seemed not to be interested with anything other then her bird she'd been flung in with. Gary reached for his pocket to get his pokédex but realized it was missing. After a quick glace about the room he realize it wasn't with him and neither was his poké balls. "My spearow.." Gary muttered. "The first pokémon I caught, gone..."

"It's not gone.." the girl said, not seeming too happy with being where she was. "They took it to use as their own probably. They want my articuno but I won't let them have her."

Gary sighed slightly now that they girl seemed like she wasn't going to lash out and kill him, he petted Eevee as the puppy curled up on his lap and feel asleep. "So, I'm assuming you have a name, care to tell me what it is?" Gary said after a few minutes of silence other then the articuno's cooing.

"None of your bussiness." she snapped, but paused then took on a not so mean tone. "If you must know though, it's Déestinée, everyone calls me Arti though..."

Her articuno cooed loudly and started to peck at the chain around its body. It wasn't a fully grown bird, it's colors were lighter then if it was mature. The bird spread its wings out and opened it's beak, and blew out a beam of ice, freezing the chain then smashing it with another few pecks. "Cuuuuuunooooo!!!" the bird said happily and waddled about the room.

"Hey! Can you do that for my eevee?!" Gary spoke up, as he stroked Eevee's fur. "She hate's being held in poké balls so I'm sure she hates being tied up."

Arti nodded and looked at her pokémon. "Articuno, Ice Beam the chains on that eevee."

"Articuuuunooo!" the bird screeched, using it's ice attack on the chain, then pecking in hard, chattering the chain on Eevee like it'd done it its own chains.

Eevee woke up and looked around crying out scared to death. She had no idea what was going on. "Wee!!! WEEE wee WEEE!!!!" Eevee cried out over and over, clinging to Gary.

Arti picked up Eevee and cuddled her, the pokémon seemed to instantly calm down and settle into Arti's arms looking as if she was going to go back to sleep. Gary's mouth hung open as he stood in disbelief that all Arti had to do was cuddle Eevee and she stopped having a fit.

"You're good." he said under his breath. "How long have you been training pokémon? You don't look like you're even old enough to have a licence."

"I don't have one.." Arti replied. "I don't need one, can't get one anyways, I'm only eight!"

Gary nodded with a grin on his face, but quickly stopped grinning and blushed slightly. He hadn't realized it at first but he was "checking her out". Gary sighed, he didn't know what he liked about her, but there was something. Blonde hair, large chocolate brown eyes, or the fact that she was really good with pokémon. His eevee seemed to love her right from the first time she touched it.

Gary stepped up to Arti to take Eevee back but found himself distracted and staring into her eyes. Arti blinked twice and tilted her head to one side. "Something wrong?" she asked. "You look like you're sick..."

Gary took Eevee quickly and looked away, "Uh, no, I'm fine..." he blushed.

"Good!" Arti said, walking upto the door that the Rocket's had closed and locked up tightly. "I dunno about you, but I wanna get out. You wanna help me get out of here?"

Gary nodded. "Of course! I don't want to be a Rocket like they seem set on making me be."

"Then we'll have to think of a way to get out... I'm fresh out of ideas, I got chucked in here cause of the last place I broke out of..."

Arti plopped down and sat hugging her knees. Gary sat down beside her and layed Eevee down beside him. "Couldn't you're articuno freeze the door and break it?" Gary asked, nudging closer to Arti, pretending to settle down on the floor and get comfortable.

Arti shook her head. "It might work, but they'd catch us before we got too far. And my hiding place I had before isn't a hidding place anymore, they found it somehow... I dunno where else we could go."

Gary looked about the room as he tried to help think of a way to get out but found his eyes wandering to Arti again. He slapped himself leaving Arti to give him and odd look while Eevee gave him the same look and a concerned "wee?".

"Uh, my mind was wandering..." Gary confessed, but didn't say what it had wondered upon.

Arti yawned and nodded. "Well, keep it from wondering, if we don't get away soon, they'll be back for us. The Rocket Gang plan on taking over everything, but they need more people to help them, since they can't find any more people WILLING to help, they're kidnapping all the newer trainers and making them see things their way, saying how they promise they'll become world renoun trainers and have whatever pokémon they want, and all that stuff. I don't want any of that... I don't actually go out and train pokémon like most people. I like raising them from where they're babies and watching them grow up... The Rockets made my father join them and they found out about me, I can understand what pokémon are saying, and have a 'special bond', as it's been said, with them. The Rockets want to use me to steal powerful pokémon and train them so they'll obey only them..."

Arti blushed as she realized she'd absently leaned up agaisnt Gary with her head on his shoulder. "Uh, sorry!" she said quickly pulling away. "I guess lack of sleep.. eh heh heh..."

Gary pulled her back and made her lay her head back on him. "It's okay," he smiled. "Take a nap if you're tired. I'll wake you up if I hear them comin-"

Gary stopped and noticed Articuno seemed to be unhappy with him toughing Arti. The bird stared Gary in the eyes, not moving then finally layed down, cooing to itself.

"Don't mind her," Arti yawned, closing her eyes. "She doesn't like people in general. Team rocket killed her mother when they were trying to catch her. Articuno's been a crab ever since, I can't say I blame her but she should be hateful to everyone like she is."

Gary tried to ignore the articuno but glanced up now and again, expecting it to lash out and try to peck his head off or something. He cuddled Arti up close and rested his head against hers. "Wha'?" he said lifting his head up and listening. "Eevee, is that you?"

"Wee..." Eevee replied half asleep and drug herself onto Gary's lap. She walked in a circle then fell over dead to the world so was so sound asleep.

Arti muttered something in her sleep and snuggled upto Gary. He turned to look at her, a bit shocked she feel asleep so fast. "I was probably hearing things..." Gary decided then went back to thinking of a way to try and get out. "Maybe we could... hmmm..." Gary looked around the room, trying to find something that might help. The only light in the room was a small lamp hanging from the ceiling making it hard to see, to make things worse, it seemed like it was starting to die out. "What is going on arounf here?"

Suddenly the halls outside of the room filled with the sound of people running by and screaming. Gary hear someone call out. "Get the boss! We're under attack!" but that's all that could be made out.

"Arti!" Gary said, shaking her slightly, making Eevee up at the same time. "Something's going on! Wake up!"

Arti grogily woke up and stretched. She looked about then the light in the room suddenly died out. "Hey!" she yelled, only semi-alert now. "What happened to the light?"

"I don't know!" Gary snapped. "I can't see anymore then you! I can't tell you what's happening out there!"

Gary muttered something as he stood up and picked Eevee up since she was whimpering, scared to death at what was happening. Articuno seemed to be in a panic and beatting on the door. All Gary could hear was pecking and scratching coming from the direction the door was in. Suddenly the pecking stopped and there was a knock at the door. "Anyone in there?" some from out side asked.

Gary jumped to his feet. "Yeah! Get us outta here!" he called back.

There was a pause then the person replied finally. "Stand back, I'm gonna have to break in the door, I can't get it to open, it's locked with a number code."

Arti grabbed her Articuno and ran to one side of the room while Gary grabbed Eevee and went to the other. Suddenly the door burst in letting light shine in and a dragonair poked it's head in looking around "Gonair? Draaaagonair?" it asked looked about, finally noticing Arti, then Gary. "Draa!!"

Gary quickly came out of the cell, running by the dragonair, only thinking of getting away while he could. Arti came out coughing and patted the dragonair's head. You over did the hyper beam a bit..." she say, waving dust away from her face that was floating around in the air.

"Get down!"

Arti turned around just in time to see someone tackle her to the ground as a nidoking tried to drive it's horn into her side. Arti screeched causing Gary to stop dead in his tracks and turn to see what was going on. As he did his eye's widened in horror. The nidoking attacked the person that had helped them out of the cell they were in, and drove it's horn right through him as he tried to protect Arti.

"LANCE!!!" she screamed, crying. "NO!!!!"