“The Collector returns part 2” by WildTotodile

Summary: in honor of my five year mark here on on May 14, I thought I would put up the original version of the two-parter, well it’s not really the original one as I lost the original version years ago, but it’s close enough. There are considerable changes between this version & the revised version. I first wrote this story way back on September 15, 2002

What if the Collector, the villain of the 2nd movie, hadn’t seen the error of his ways but instead wanted revenge on Ash for ruining his plans? This is an AME, which means it is an Alternate Movie Ending. I don’t own Pokémon , any of the characters. I never did & never will own Pokémon, wish I did, but who doesn’t? The only thing I own is Lawrence’s last name, which I made up. The Pokédex entry is from my Blue version. Princess & Needles, my female Kingdra & Quilfish , will put out any flames I get with their Waterfall attacks & flamers will feel Needles’ Pin Missile attack on their butts. Compliments & reviews are highly welcomed. Brock isn’t in this story but there is somewhat of a cameo by a Legendary Pokémon near the story’s end. Which Legendary is it? I’m not saying anything but the only clue I’ll give is that it isn’t any of the RBY Legendaries, which means that it is not Aerodactyl , Omastar , Kabutops , Mew, eevee, Mewtwo , Articuno , Moltres , Zapdos, or Dragonite . So if you want to find out which Legendary it is, you will just have to read the story.

This 2-part story is my version of a Pokémon the Movie 2000 Sequel I don’t know the legal last name of the bad guy in it, so I’ve given him the name Lawrence Juardian Le Villiyon II (a modification of the words ‘the villain’, which he is). Don’t use it without my consent or I’ll have Tiamat, my Gyarados use his Twister, Hydro Pump, Dragonbreath , Dragon Rage) & Hyper Beam attacks on you. You don’t want that to happen, now do you? I didn’t think so. This part contains Pokéshipping, which is the pairing of Ash & Misty as a couple, blood, violence, and one piece of rude language, death threats & the evolution & possible death of a major character. As a result of these things, this part is rated PG-13 & may be not fitting for younger readers under twelve years old.

Author’s notes: Pokédex entry & The Time has Come lyrics are in bold I don’t own either. Just pretend that the song is playing in the background while memories are going through Ash’s head, just like the flashback scenes during the tear-jerking Pikachu’s Goodbye episode. The other notes are “ ” are Humans talking while AAAA designate flashbacks. I don’t own the lines that are said in the flashbacks, I took those from the Pokémon I Choose You” & Electric Shock Showdown episodes. “Mommy” & “Daddy” is what Togepi calls Misty & Ash. He also has trouble saying words that start with ‘r’s, so he replaces the ‘r’ sound with a ‘w’ sound. ‘ ‘ mean thoughts & () designate Pokémon speech, translated, of course. There are 2 situations in which I have not translated it because it would be a piece of very rude language, one where Meowth translates it for the humans & finally one condition where you will just have to use your imagination. Lawrence cannot understand any pokemon except for Meowth since he’s the only pokémon who can talk like a human in this story. Or is he? This story takes place after Pokémon Heroes and after Ash gets Phanpy but before the Larvitar story arc. I highly advise that you either rent Pokémon the Movie 2000 and/or read P2K II: Lawrence’s Revenge: Lawrence’s Revenge Part 1 & P2K II: Lawrence’s Revenge Teaser, Character guide & Prelude before reading this part. PLEASE READ & REVIEW! Got it? Good. On with the story!

Recap: When we last left our heroes, the Lugia-obsessed Lawrence Juardian Le Villiyon II had them trapped on his ship. Pikachu has just used Substitute, a rare move where the pokémon using it makes a copy of itself for awhile, but it drains their energy f. He has successfully freed Misty, James, Meowth, Jessie & Togepi with his clone being trapped in a cage by Lawrence, who thinks that he has the real Pikachu. Lawrence is waiting for Giovanni, the Team Rocket leader, to come & take the phony Pikachu away in exchange for kidnapping Ash from the Cerulean City Gym.

Pikachu held back tears of jealousy as he surveyed the reunion between Misty and Togepi as she freed him from his incarceration.

(Mommy!) He squealed happily as she picked him up with both arms. “Togepi.” she said as she hugged him tight, afraid that Lawrence would hurt him if she let go

“What a touching reunion. It makes me sick” A voice came from next to Lawrence, who had his knife right against Ash’s throat. The voice belonged to a dark-haired man whose voice made Pikachu’s warm blood run ice cold. Misty stood up in front of Pikachu as the man looked toward them, eyes like a searchlight, looking for him. Pikachu peered his eyes around Misty’s legs & saw that the voice belonged to the same man that he had seen break into the gym. The man was dressed in a red suit and a tie & held an empty cage in one hand & he had an atmosphere of evilness around him. He seemed to smell fear, like a Growlithe as he scanned the room with his eyes & settled on Meowth, James & Jessie. By the man’s side sat a well-groomed Persian. The classy cat Pokémon hissed at Meowth, who had gotten out of his cage, who gulped as well as Jessie & James. They all trembled at the man, who looked at them angrily. This gave Pikachu the inkling that this man was their boss.

”Where are you three morons hiding it?” he asked them angrily showing them the empty cage while Pikachu was using Agility to get Ash away from Lawrence.

Ash guessed that this man had to be Jessie & James’ boss, Giovanni, the man Lawrence had called earlier that day. Ash saw Pikachu getting closer to him, a speedy yellow-red blur, his hopes rising & he prayed Giovanni wouldn’t see him. At the last minute he jumped to scratch the knife away from Ash’s throat but Giovanni grabbed him by his neck in midair & dangled him right under the cage. Ash watched helplessly as Pikachu tried to wriggle his way out of Giovanni’s vice-like grip. When that failed, he began to charge his energy up but Lawrence put the knife against Ash’s cheek & he saw his own horrified expression in the deadly utensil’s reflection look back at him.

”I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Giovanni told Pikachu, who glared at Giovanni as if to say, Why shouldn’t I? I could so easily turn you into toast right now.

”If you do so much as a Thundershock on me, Lawrence will start slicing your friend up as a snack for the Tentacruels.” He ended & Pikachu’s eyes went wide with horror. This terrified Pikachu, who looked from Ash to Lawrence to Giovanni & back to Ash. Ash could tell he desperately wanted to fry Giovanni. But, on the other hand, he didn’t want anyone to hurt him and stared at Ash with those two small black eyes of his.

Ash nodded & the sparks coming out of the two electrical sacks on Pikachu’s cheeks sputtered to a stop. Lawrence removed the knife from Ash’s throat.

”Not so tough now?” Giovanni laughed at him as he tied Pikachu’s paws together with a rope, put a gag over his mouth, & slammed him into the cage. Pikachu whimpered or as much as he could with the gag over his mouth as he hit the bottom on his injured tail, bloodying the bars of the cage, but Giovanni paid no attention to this as he put his free hand into the cage and slapped him hard all over his face, which finished his cries.

“Shut up. You’re a wimp and I loathe wimps. I thought you’d be impossible to catch according to some people, who spoke of your incredible powers to me. So much money wasted on traps and ways to get you” Giovanni glared briefly at Meowth , Jessie and James, who all quailed. ”But all I see when I look at you is a pathetic, softhearted wimp. I know the perfect way to get it out of you and it will also harden you up at the same time. When we get back to my headquarters, I’ll make you endure a long, harsh beating session and four days without food will remind you about the order of things.” Giovanni finished as he removed his hand & Ash saw dots of blood roll down Pikachu’s face from the places where he was hit. His face had already begun to blow up like an angry Jigglypuff .

“Quit it!” Ash heard himself say,” Don’t hurt my Pikachu! Can’t you see he’s injured?”

“I don’t care if its leg is broken, boy. I have waited nearly four years to get my hands on your Pikachu.it’s mine now and I’ll do whatever I want to it” Giovanni said as he latched the cage shut.

Pikachu looked up at, tears forming in his eyes & Ash knew he felt like he had let him down. His small black eyes were begging him to somehow get him out of there and Ash could hear them saying: Don’t let this man take me. I don’t want to starve, or be whipped. I’m scared of him, Pikapi

”I wish I could, buddy. I’m sorry” Ash whispered to him, his own eyes blurry with tears. Ash wished that he could get him out of that small prison and hold him, feeling his soft, yellow fur brush up against his face and tell him everything was going to be all right.

Giovanni was smiling evilly down at Pikachu and Ash as if delighted that his plan to split them up had succeeded and then turned to face James, Jessie & Meowth , who could only stare at their boss, like he had suddenly sprouted another head & huge, Charizard -sized wings on his back. Sure, they would go to any length to snag Pikachu from Ash but never threaten to kill him.

”As for you three idiots”, he said to them while Pikachu tried to shock the cage , but ended up wearing himself out instead.” I’m putting you in charge of keeping the rat from escaping in the helicopter. Even you can’t mess that up. Be glad that you’re not getting fired.” Giovanni then saw Misty, who was shaking with fear, for the first time. “Kill her.” he told his Persian . The cat sprang at her, it’s sharp fang like teeth bared!

Misty couldn’t move, she was scared stiff as she saw the Persian, its mouth wide open displaying razor-sharp teeth capable of digging deep into her skin, run towards her.

‘I’m going to die. I’m going to die’ Misty thought as the cat ran at her.

(I don’t wanna to die, Mommy. I wanna live) Togepi whispered fearfully as he huddled up in Misty’s arms & she felt a little pain of guilt. She never said that she was sorry at Ash for yelling at him back at the gym. But then she saw Golduck , who was standing in front of her, like a shield, a bit wobbly. She noticed that there was a long red scar, trickling blood running down on his back where the knife had hit him . Was the pain too much for him? Misty saw him close his eyes, put his webbed fingers together like he was praying and become very still. A purple light spread from his fingers across his whole body & Misty saw the blood & the scar disappear from his back until there was just a faint scar left. Then the light disappeared and he opened his eyes & unclasped his webbed fingers.

Golduck glared at the running Persian. (TAKE THIS!) He screamed as he opened his mouth and a blue ball of light appeared in his mouth, his Confuse Ray attack. The beam blasted out from his mouth & hit the cat whose eyes became red as it became confused. Persian thrashed about the room slashing at things that were not even there that the Confuse Ray was forcing him to see.

He used a slash attack to send the cage containing Pikachu out of his master’s hand. His cage flew through the air, but a bluish tinge covered the cage as Golduck used his psychic power to move the cage away from the confused cat and hover above Misty. Once Misty put Togepi safely on the ground, the cage landed in her arms and the tinge disappeared, She unlocked the cage, untied Pikachu’s paws, took the gag off his mouth and let him out. He looked up at her and licked her happily on her face.

(Pick on someone else , you walking excuse for a flea market!) Golduck said as he Mega Punched the Persian, who was about to pounce on Togepi with its sharp teeth. The cat went flying across the room. He picked Togepi up and put him in Misty’s arms.

“Thanks, Golduck” she said and he blushed.

While this was happening, Giovanni took Ash from Lawrence & was moving toward his helicopter, waiting outside of the ship.

Ash saw Misty free Pikachu from the cage, but he felt about as helpful as a Metapod.

”Why don’t you and I pay a little visit to Pallet Town, Ashton? I can’t wait to see Delia’s face again. She loves visits from her baby” Giovanni said in a low voice only Ash could hear, “and if she tries to contact the authorities.” he drew a finger across Ash’s throat as he said this.

‘How did he know my full name and who in the world was Delia?’ Ash thought and with a jolt, he realized that Giovanni was talking about his mom, whose first name was Delia!

He gave a small gasp as he was dragged off to Giovanni’s helicopter, which was waiting outside. By now, Pikachu had noticed what was happening and jumped out of Misty’s arms onto the floor.

(Move it, furball or else) he growled at the Persian, who was blocking his path to Ash, his body crackling with electricity. The cat, which was no longer confused by now, used Double Team & now there were six more cats surrounding Pikachu in a circle leaving him trapped with no exit. All seven cats' eyes glowed purple for a second & then the cats ambushed Pikachu out of the blue, slashing at & biting his fur, staining it red with blood.

The sea of cats had swallowed Pikachu up but Ash caught glimpses of him trying to get out of the mountain of creamy fur but each time one of the cats would just pull him back in. Anyone could see it was unfair, seven against one, and hearing his desperate cries for help, Ash wished he could do something, anything to help him. Unfortunately, both of Ash’s hands were tied behind his back so he couldn’t reach any of his Pokéballs on his belt. Ash had to watch this for what seemed like, to him an eternity, but really was only twenty minutes.

Giovanni snapped his fingers once & the pack of Persians broke up into a small circle with a path to Ash open. In the middle of the circle, he saw an awfully injured form surrounded by the seven motionless cats, which had blood on their fur & their claws, of which had the smallest amount of blood; the real one. The figure was swimming in a large puddle of bright red blood, a mixture of it’s & the Persians’ blood. It hardly seemed to be breathing. Ash thought it was dead until he saw it breathe & as the form turned its back to him to cough out some blood, Ash saw the two brown stripes on the form’s back he had come to know.

“Pikachu, oh!” Ash was stunned as his little pokémon turned his beaten up body around “What did those cats do to you?”.

It was a dreadful sight, one that he wouldn't forget. The Persians had messed Pikachu up so badly he was hardly identifiable. His usually clean, yellow fur was covered in slashes & bite marks, with only a few spots not covered in scarlet blood . Blood trickled off his fur & dripped onto the blood-splattered floor so much it looked like someone had dumped two gallons of red paint over him without waiting for one coat to dry. As he made a great effort to get up, Ash saw that countless slash marks, cuts, & scratches danced across his small body & places where he had been bitten were dreadfully swollen & in some cases, bleeding. Pikachu succeeded in getting up and Ash saw chunks of the fur on his body was bitten,. Pikachu looked like he had been forced to fight fifty different pokémon, all at once without being able to use any electrical attacks. In other words, he looked like a nearly unrecognizable mess who seemed about to collapse at the slightest touch.

“Come on, Pikachu. You can do it, buddy, I believe in you, just make your way over here. Just put one paw in front of the other and make your way over here.” Ash said, loud enough for Pikachu to hear as he tried to make his way to him but the Persians started screeching, drowning out these encouraging words to him. The noise was so awful that it made fingers scratching across a blackboard seem like nothing & Ash wanted to put his hands over his ears to block it out, like everyone else in the room was doing, with the exception Of Giovanni, but his hands were still tied behind his back. Then as abruptly as it had begun, the screeching came to a halt

Pikachu got about a foot when the pain became too much for him & he fell onto the floor. The cats just stood there as if they were waiting for an unspoken command from Giovanni. Then as Ash felt a small breeze blow by his shoes, he knew what they were waiting for, why their eyes had flashed dark blue before they had attacked Pikachu. An enormous white ball of matter appeared in the air next to Ash & zoomed right at Pikachu like he was a magnet & it a bunch of nails.

“Look out!” Ash shouted to warn Pikachu of the massive Future Sight attack, which was closing in to him at an alarming rate. Pikachu looked up just as the Future Sight attack was about to hit him.

“KAAAACHUUUUUUU !” Pikachu shrieked out as the attack connected with his body.

“PIIKAAACHUUU !” Ash screamed as the impact hurled his pokémon across the room & he fell to the floor in a pile. Giovanni snapped his fingers again 7 six cats vanished. The real Persian pounced on Pikachu. But he was too weak to fight it so in no time it pinned him to the floor with one mighty paw over his tiny body so he couldn’t flee & dug its claws into his fur. It asked Pikachu something in a low voice that Ash couldn’t hear

(What makes you even think I’d go with your trainer? He just wants me to be a slave, a servant and doesn’t care about me. Ash treats me and any Pokémon he meets like equals not like slaves. He treats us if any of us gets sick or injured. He never forces me to battle or do anything if I don’t want to. I will never abandon Pikapi for that creep you call a trainer) Pikachu replied back & Ash saw Pikachu wink at him. Ash watched as the Persian angrily slashed a paw across Pikachu’s left ear hard as if it were no more than a fly, causing blood to drip out.

“Pichaaaa !” Pikachu cried out in pain.

‘I have to help him,’ he thought. ‘Think Ash, think.’ Ash told his brain, at least the part that wasn’t panicking about the predicament he was in or what he had just observed. Of course! The answer was so simple Ash couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it sooner.

’One well done Persian coming up’ Ash thought as he summoned up what audacity he had left.

”Pikachu, Thundershock!”

”Persian, Recover and then Conversion!” Giovanni and Ash both called out at the same time

“You’re in for a real treat,” Giovanni whispered in Ash’s ear as he tightened the ropes around his arms & Ash felt them burn into his skin. “Conversion is a very rare move. It’s usually restricted to Porygons and the pokémon that know Metronome. It lets the pokémon change types, but the pokémon using Conversion doesn’t know what type it will change into, until now”

Persian closed his eyes for a second & as he did, all the cuts & scratches on his fur disappeared. Then he opened his eyes. The cat’s his eyes glowed gray & his fur became gray as an Onix. Pikachu shocked the cat as hard as he could, but nothing happened. He tried again & again but the Persian just stood there, unscathed by the Thundershocks . Pikachu ceased shocking the cat and then its eyes and fur color went back to normal.

(That’s your best shot, runt? ) The cat scoffed as he dug his claws deeper into Pikachu’s body & a pool of blood spilled out onto the already blood soaked floor from his bloodied fur. Pikachu began to feel lightheaded from the vast loss of blood & the room began to spin. The blood on his fur felt sticky . His whole body ached with pain & he heard Ash cry his name out. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Giovanni hand Ash back to Lawrence, who shoved him onto the floor a few feet away. Pikachu watched Ash land in the middle of the slices of fabric that used to be his hat.

He looked like he had been beaten up. Ash’s face had a bloated slap mark on one side where Lawrence struck him & a small line of dried blood from the knife was under his throat, and next to it was another line of blood which had just stopped bleeding. Pikachu could see the ropes cutting into his skin, cutting off Ash’s circulation. His brown eyes & face were red & puffy from crying & his hair was a mess.

(I don’t see what is so special about you or your loser trainer. I’ll let that pathetic human watch me kill you first) Persian said as he lifted a claw nearer and nearer to Pikachu’s heart. That comment hit Pikachu so hard that he snapped & ignoring the pain from the huge loss of blood, Pikachu did the one thing he promised himself he would never do.

(THAT DOES IT! NEVER EVER CALL PIKAPI PATHETIC!) He yelled as he Mega Kicked Persian off of him. Then a bright white light engulfed him and he began transforming.

Meowth saw the bright light cover Pikachu as he evolved. His small body grew bigger as did his ears & tail. When the light disappeared, his fur was a bright red orange color because of all the blood from the wounds & the tips of his ears were a muddy brown, with the left one oozing blood. Meowth looked around & saw that he wasn’t the only one feeling as if he had just been Thundershocked. Everyone but Lawrence was staring at him like they never had seen a Raichu before in their lives. Ash’s jaw dropped and from inside his pocket, Meowth heard the muffled sound of his Pokédex:

Raichu, the mouse pokémon. The evolved form of Pikachu. Its long tail serves as protection from its own high voltage power.

Meowth looked over at Ash, who was looking at Raichu with a look of amazement in his eyes. The scratch cat pokémon was instantly reminded of Pikachu’s speech at the Vermilion City Pokémon Center long ago, when Ash gave him the choice of evolving so he could beat Lt Surge’s Raichu or staying as he was, which was the decision he made.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

(I will never ever evolve. I want to battle the Raichu again, just as I am now. I will fight in the name of all Pikachu. I will also defend my honor and your honor too, Pikapi )

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

‘Dat’s odd, I always believed da t da only way for him to evolve was to use a Tunderstone ’, Meowth thought.

“Meowth, what’s Raichu telling the Boss?” James asked Meowth, who was watching Raichu say something to Giovanni, his fur bristling as he talked. Meowth translated what Raichu was saying for the humans as he talked.

“Raichu ai Chu Rai Raichu Chu chu Rai! Ai chu Rai Raichu Chuai Aichu Rai Raichu Chu Rai. ” Raichu was now facing Lawrence. “ChuRai Raichu Chu Rai Raichu cha rai Aichu Rai Rai. Chu Rai Raichu-Rai Chu Raichu -chu rai RaichuChu ai rai cha”

“What Raichu is sayin’ is dis: I’ve had up to here wid you hoitin’ my best human frien an’ pal in da whole world. I don’t care dat you kidnapped him or dat you want him outta da way so you can capture Lugia . Ya crossed da line wid me when you threatened to hoit him”. Tears were running down the scratch cat pokemon’s face while he said this, but he took no notice of them as he finished translating “Ya don’t know how many times Ash saved me from Team Rocket an’ now it’s my turn to repay da favor.”

After Raichu finished talking, he tried to run over to Ash, but his paws were moving but he wasn’t! He turned around & saw his new longer tail pinned to the ground by one huge paw of the Persian, whose yellow eyes gleamed at him like an Ampharos’ tail in the darkness.

(Trying to escape? You may have evolved, but you’re still no match for me so do you have any last words?) The Persian sneered as Raichu charged up all of the electricity in his body that was left as he had used of nearly all of it up trying to shock the cage open and shocked the Persian through his tail.

(good-night) he laughed as his tail was released & the cat fell to the floor. With the last of his strength, Raichu summoned a series of stars, which cut the ropes strapping Ash like a knife through hot butter. He tried to run over to him, but he could not move any of his muscles and then he blacked out.

As soon as the ropes constricting his arms were cut by the Swift attack, Ash saw his Pokémon faint.

”RAAIIIICHUUUU!” he shouted as he ran over to him. He tore off his vest, knelt down picked the limp mouse up, & carefully wrapped Raichu in it, stopping his side from bleeding, getting blood on the fabric and his badges as well in the process. He would have to clean his vest and badges another time because all that mattered to Ash at the moment was Raichu’s safety. Next Ash knelt down and felt his body. Raichu’s body felt icy like the waters that wild Dewgongs live in and his fur was covered in sticky blood. He wasn’t moving at all

”Come on buddy, wake up.”

Nothing.

”Want to help me win another badge?” No response. Ash bent down and put one ear to his pokemon’s chest and listened for his heartbeat, which was very faint. He couldn’t be…

Suddenly a strong wire net was flung over Ash! He looked up and saw Giovanni’s face.

”You –you killed him.” Ash said hotly, his face sodden with tears.

”It’s not dead, just extremely weak. Stupid boy, it takes a lot of energy for a Pokémon to evolve without a stone. The mouse had even less energy because it had Substituted for the first time so I added some stun-spore dust onto Persian’s paws. Even if my new Raichu had all it’s energy, that net is unshockable and if it thinks of escaping or disobeying my orders I’ll kill you.”

Giovanni then went over to Misty and started to threaten her if she told anyone about any of the events that she had just observed. Ash made sure nobody wasn’t looking as he unclipped Bayleaf’s pokéball from his belt.

“Don’t you worry, buddy, I’ll have us out in two shakes of a Flaafy’s tail” Ash told the unmoving form in floor as he enlarged it, and threw it onto the floor. he watched as the pokéball opened & a red burst of energy came out & materialized into his Bayleaf, a small green dinosaur-like pokemon’s of the Grass element. Bayleaf wore a necklace of small leaves around her neck & had a big leaf frond on the top of her head. She sniffed around for a few seconds, and then finding the source of her trainer’s scent, ran over to where he was in the net.

(Ash! My Ash! My Ash!) She said as started to lick his face as a sign of affection.

”I know you’re happy to see me, but this isn’t the time Bayleaf” Ash told her and she stopped.

(You look stressed, Ash. Sweet Scent helps soothe you down) she said & blew a small puff of her Sweet Scent powder toward Ash. The sparkling dust fell over him and he felt his worries disappear. (What happened there?) She looked at the scars on his throat and the slap mark on his cheek. One look from her trainer told Bayleaf that he would rather not talk about it and she left it alone. He’d tell her when he was ready. (do you need me for something ) she asked him as he shook the glittering dust off, regaining his senses.

”I need you to use your Razor Leaf attack to get this net off Raichu- “Ash looked down but all he saw was his blood-soaked vest. Raichu was gone! A hiss came from behind him & Ash turned around. The Persian had one claw on Raichu’s left electrical sack & punctured it. Blood started to flow out, down Raichu’s face & the sticky fur & began seeping through the bloodstained wire net on its way to the floor, now dotted with puddles of red blood. The cat started growling & hissing threateningly at Bayleaf. Ash had her translate what the Persian was saying for him.

(Try anything at all and I kill the Raichu. My master has spent so much time & money trying to get it. I have no clue why Master thinks it very rare. He has gone so far to get it and no pathetic Bayleaf is going to stop him. I don’t care if I have to kill you too, for I am very hungry.)She looked at him in dread and then turned to Ash. (Sorry I couldn’t help you guys get out of there.) she said quietly.

“You tried, that’s all that counts” Ash said to her sadly as he returned Bayleaf to her pokéball, minimized the ball & clipped it back onto his belt. After he did this, Persian lifted its blood-covered claw from Raichu’s cheek.

”No wonder those idiots kept losing to you, they never threatened to kill you.” Ash heard Giovanni mutter to him as he walked past Ash holding the other end of the net, Persian at his side. Meowth, James & Jessie followed him & as they passed Ash as they tied the net to the bottom of the helicopter , he heard Meowth whisper , “We tried ta fool Lawrence, but it didn’t work ‘cause he saw right through us.”

That’s when Ash knew they were the ones who taught Raichu Substitute. The helicopter started moving away from the airship & soon all Ash could see of it was a tiny dot. Upon closer look at Raichu’s tail, Ash saw that it was covered in orange dust specks coming from two claw marks at the tip. Raichu's eyes fluttered opened.

(What happ-) Raichu started to say but then the paralysis took effect. Raichu’s body started twitching, like he couldn’t control his body any more & Ash knew at once that it was due to the Stun Spore.

” Lets get you cleaned up, buddy” Ash said as he got a small cloth out of his jeans pocket, held him still while pressed the cloth against his wounded electric sack until the blood stopped running down his fur

‘How did Giovanni know where I lived?’ Ash wondered. Was he Ash’s father? Ash’s mom never talked about his dad, but she told him once that his father would have been proud to see him start his Pokémon quest. ‘Is Giovanni, the boss of Team Rocket, my sworn enemies since Pikachu and I had stopped them from raiding the Viridian City Pokémon Center, my father?’ Ash thought.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Lawrence was trying to take Togepi from Misty, who was hiding in her arms after the helicopter had left & she had recalled Golduck.

”Give me the Togepi, girl and I won’t kill you… yet” he ordered.

“N-no” Misty said.

(I’m scared, Mommy) Togepi whispered to her as Lawrence backed her up against a wall, trapped. Misty noticed his hands waving back & forth; glowing blue. Metronome, which meant any attack! He stopped waving his fingers.

Lawrence smirked. “I told you before, nothing can destroy this ship! You thought that Metronome could save you? Ha Ha-“

KABOOM! The ship suddenly blew up. The explosion sent Misty & Togepi flying! As they fell through the air, something caught them on its back. It was Ash’s old Charizard!

(Charizard!) Togepi cried happily. (You saved Mommy and me!)

(I was flying through when I caught you two.) He said as they got settled. (What happened here?) He asked Misty as he pointed to the blazing remains of the airship & she quickly told him everything that had happened, trying not to cry.

“…A-And now T-Team R-Rocket has Raichu a-and Ash. I-I have n-n-no way of f-f-finding them” she ended, choking on the words.

(Come to think of it, I did pass a helicopter that stunk of Team Rocket not that long ago, if that helps) Charizard said. Misty’s heart did a joyful flip.

‘If we get out of this mess in one piece, I’ll tell Ash that I truly love him and give him a huge kiss’, Misty thought, but she didn’t tell this to the vociferous dragon as he would probably say something like he knew that from way back when he first joined Ash’s team as a Charmander.

“Can you track it down?” she asked the big orange fire dragon who looked at her like she had just asked him to beat a Tangela with one wing tied behind his back

(Are Jessie, James & Meowth so stupid that they make Magicarps look smart? Of course I can. I’m like a winged Arcanine Better put Togepi in a pokéball since I’m going to fly so fast that it’s going to make a Pidgeot look slow.) He said as he landed on a small cliff. Misty unclipped an empty pokéball from her belt, enlarged it & showed it to Togepi, who looked scared & shook his head at it.

(I don’t like those things, Mommy) he protested.

“Please do it for me, sweetie”.

(No) he pouted.

(It’s nice and warm, just like the backpack and this way you are out of harm's way in case people try to take you) Charizard said.

(Like the man who took Daddy and Waichu?) Togepi asked Charizard, who nodded. This won over Togepi so Misty pointed the ball at him & a red beam sucked him safely inside. She minimized the ball and reclipped it to her belt.

‘Did I make the right choice?’ Misty thought as she stared down at Togepi’s pokeball. She knew that she couldn’t carry him around in her arms forever but he sometimes wandered off & got lost. She could remember that time in Viridian City that he got lost & she & Ash spent all that time looking for him. She still could remember that dreadful feeling that someone had kidnapped him but then they found him. To that day she didn’t know what had happened to him. Then there was the advantage of having him in a pokeball. She would always know where he would be. But what if her pokeballs were stolen? Then she would never see him again. Charizard seemed to know what Misty was thinking.

(He’ll be okay in there, Misty.) He told her.

”I owe you one,” she said.

(He’s got to get used to them at some point and at least he won’t get hurt. I’m surprised he isn’t tired from doing Metronome. He’s got the makings of a great fighter when he gets older and learns more attacks. He can’t depend on just Metronome; he’s got to have other attacks too.)

Misty was not sure to take this as a compliment or an insult. Togepi had never really battled. Well there was that one time in Johto when she & Ash had that battle to see who got to keep Totodile but other than that he never really showed any interest in learning any attacks. Well Metronome did save them in the Orange Islands once or twice but that was it.

”Thanks, I think.” She said.

(Now let’s find Ash) Charizard declared as he spread his wings and took off from the cliff. He flew, hot on the scent. The clouds looked like blurs, they went through them so fast.

“What’s it like inside a pokeball?” Misty asked Charizard as they dipped in & out of the clouds

(It’s very cramped and dark. Somehow I don’t know how, you’re converted into a red ball of red energy. You can get a sense of what’s going on outside the ball so that if you are sent into battle, you know what’s happening. A lot of pokémon see it as a place where they can be safe from danger.) He explained.

Misty looked down at Togepi’s pokeball. “ You mean Togepi can kinda hear what we’re talking about?”

(Some pokémon just block the outside noises out while some like to know what’s going on. I can see why Raichu hates them. But when I was with Ash I’d take a nice warm, cramped pokeball over being caught in a rainstorm in an instant although now I’ve gotten so strong that I could probably fly through one). He said. There were a few minutes of silence. Misty thought that it was ironic; the way that Charizard dismissed a rainstorm so lightly when one nearly killed him when he was a Charmander after his old trainer had abandoned him. They both knew that to any fire type water was fatal & if the flame on his tail ever was extinguished, Charizard would also die.

“What’s that? “ Misty asked as she pointed to a swarm of something getting closer to them. As it got closer, her eyes bugged out when she saw what it was.

”B-B-B-B-BEEDRILL!” she shrieked at the top of her lungs as the huge horde of yellow and black bugs flew closer.

(Hold on tight) Charizard said as she clung tightly to Charizard’s neck as he unleashed an enormous Flamethrower at the swarm, which reduced the bees to cinders & they fell to the ground like stones.

(Bug Flambé, mmmm) Charizard licked his jowls as they started to descend to the ground where the Beedrills’ burnt bodies lay in a pile.

”Charizard! This isn’t the time to be eating!” Misty shouted at him. He grumbled as he swooped down, grabbed one of the roasted bugs with his claws & flew back up as they were about to hit the ground.

”Yuck! How can you eat that?” Misty asked Charizard as he sunk his teeth into the head of the dead bug he was holding as if it was a candy bar

(What? I haven’t had anything to eat since I left the Charific Valley) was his reply. (Are you sure you don’t want any? It’s very high in protein and vitamins) he joked in between bites.

Misty’s face turned the shade of a Bulbasaur’s bulb for a few seconds “I think I’ll pass.”

(No hurling on the wings, just cleaned them. It takes forever to get vomit off them and chicks dig guys with clean wings. You want to know what other Charizards in the Valley call me?) Charizard asked her.

“I’d rather not.” Misty confessed.

(I’m known as the ‘love doctor’ and there’s a patient in severe need of an appointment. Watch the doctor’s best shot.) Charizard told her as he flew over to a nearby passing figure, which turned out to be a female Pidgeot.

(Hello, beautiful. Why don’t you and I find a cloudbank to show each other our special moves?) Charizard said to the bird.

(Go flirt with a Blastoise , charcoal breath) she retorted back to him as she started to fly away.

(But you are so much hotter than they are. Did you know that you are much lovelier than Moltres herself? I have seen her up close) Charizard added & Misty knew that this minor detail would get the Pidgeot’s attention, which it did. The bird’s black eyes went wide & if she had a mouth instead of a beak, Misty was sure that it would be wide open. She slowed down her flying so that Charizard could catch up to her

(You-You've actually s-seen M-M-Moltres herself with y-your own eyes? One of the most beautiful Bird G-goddesses her-herself?) She sputtered, completely disregarding that fact that there was a human riding on Charizard’s back.

(Who hasn’t?) Charizard shrugged as if a Moltres sighting was a common sight, like a Weedle (But she is an ordinary Pidgey compared to your loveliness and beauty.) He replied. (Would you like to make a new Legendary Pokémon with such a handsome specimen?)

(Huh?) The Pidgeot was bamboozled.

(Moi. Me. It can be half Charizard and half Pidgeot)

(I don’t crossbreed, especially with jerks! Stupid Charizard jerk ! Like I would ever consider breeding with some one whose brain's the size of a Thunderstone or in your case, smaller!)) she said in a huff as she made a rude gesture at him with her talon & flew out of sight.

Misty couldn’t hold in her laughter anymore. ”That’s your best shot, ’love doctor’?” she said after she got over her laughing fit about the talon that the Pidgeot had just given Charizard.

(So, I’m a bit out of practice, although I did have her wrapped around my claw when I told her that she was more attractive than Moltres. Chicks dig it when they are told that they are prettier than a Legendary. Did I have Beedrill guts in my teeth when I talked to her? ‘Because that’s the most likely reason she gave me the talon)

Misty rolled her eyes & shook her head. “You’re sad. Besides don’t you already have a girlfriend back at the Charific Valley? You know, Charla ?” She pointed out to Charizard, whose face turned a hot pink, which clashed horribly with his orange hide. “Besides, Pidgeots aren’t even fire types; it would have never worked out.”

(Killjoy .) Misty heard the fire dragon grumble under his breath. He then spat out what was left of the lifeless Beedrill, sniffed the air & pointed to a small speck in the distance with his claw. (bingo. There they are!)

”How can you tell?” Misty wondered.

(Two ways. One, there’s a huge red “R’ painted on one side. Two. I can smell Ash & Raichu’s scents from here. We’re about 100 meters from them, want me to floor it?)

Misty nodded. Charizard went at such a high speed she thought her face was going to fall off.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

“Okay pal, I’m going to take the cloth off you.” Ash said as he removed the slice of bloody fabric from Raichu’s injured electrical sack on his left cheek. The fresh air stung it but Raichu ignored it as he nuzzled Ash and then curled up into his lap, a lot harder than it was now than back when he was a Pikachu because his new form was a lot bigger than his old body.

(Ash?)

”Hmm?”

(I don’t want that man to separate us)

”its okay, Raichu. I won’t let him take you without a fight.” He said as he scratched Raichu behind his right ear and Raichu sighed like a contented Meowth. Ash had taken his bloody vest off him & put it back on himself. “We’ll get out of this mess, I promise you.”

(Really?)

”Have I ever let you down?”

(Uh-uh)

Ash looked away for a second and Raichu knew whom he was thinking of.

(Misty?) Raichu asked him.

”Yup” he sighed. ” I wish I could see her one last time. I’d do anything to hear her talk even about that stupid bike-“

“That you STILL owe me, Ash Ketchum and for your information, it was not a stupid bike!” a voice replied. Raichu sniffed the air with his nose and saw Misty riding Charizard nearing them. He nudged Ash with his paws and pointed to her with his paralyzed tail.

(Rai-) he called out her name but the stun spore stopped him.

”M-Misty, is that you?” Ash asked tears streaming down his face. She gave him a don’t-be-a-moronic-dolt-like-Jessie-James-and-Meowth-are look.

”No, I’m Gary.” Ash shuddered at that. Gary Oak was his rival & seemed to be one step ahead of Ash.

(She’s joking) Raichu told him, which calmed him down.

“If you were not in this mess, Ash Ketchum, I’d be giving you something to cry about.” She said, as Charizard got closer. Right now, she had gotten close enough to try to untie the net but first she got a small item-ball out of her pack & motioned for Raichu to stick out his longer tail. Misty opened the item-ball above it & white dust fell out of it onto it. He flinched for a minute at the touch of the cold powder and then he could feel his muscles. Charizard, Ash and Misty watched as the Paralyze Heal powder caused the Stun spore to evaporate. Next she climbed up to where the net was tied at the bottom of the helicopter.

”Don’t you worry, I’ll have you two-“Misty started to restore confidence in them as she tried to untie the wire net at the bottom of the helicopter when the door opened & she saw two brown shoes. She gulped as her eyes went past the shoes, all the way up to Giovanni’s sneering face.

‘Don’t panic. Just stay calm’, she thought while her brain was flashing an alarm sign in big red letters: PANIC! PANIC! PANIC! YOU’RE DEAD MEAT! Persian put one heavy paw over her hands so she couldn’t move. Charizard cut the net open with a Cut attack & then dived under and caught Ash & Raichu on his back. Misty saw Giovanni pull out a gun out of his vest & point it at Ash’s heart.

”Don’t move. You know boy, you’d make an excellent member of Team Rocket.” Giovanni sneered at Ash,

“I’d rather eat Charizard !” Ash retorted.

(Hey!) The fire dragon added.

”Don’t be stupid like Delia. She could have been rich beyond her puny little imagination. She even promised she’d marry me but she left me when I told her I was the heir to Team Rocket.”

“Well, I’d call my mom smart if she dumped you!” Ash said but Giovanni continued as if he didn’t hear that.

“You can have a plethora of money and extremely rare pokemon. I can help you become the Johto League champ or rule the world if you join Team Rocket now.”

”go to hell.” Ash replied.

”I have a deal for you, boy. I let your girlfriend here” Giovanni glanced down at Misty, her face beet red, “go free and you give me that powerful rat of yours” He now looked at Raichu, who was shaking with fear behind Ash, with an evil look in his eye,” I’ll take very good care of it.”

“Don’t you fall for that Taurus dung , Ash!” Misty shouted. ”we both know he’ll treat Raichu like sh-” but before she could go on Persian dug its claws deeper into her hands, breaking into the skin & thin lines of bright red blood streamed out running down hr hands & she tried not to wince at the pain.

”You’ll have to pry him from my cold, dead fingers.” Ash looked him in the eye as he said this. Giovanni fired the gun at him! As if she was watching it in slow motion, Misty saw Raichu jump up in front of Ash and the bullet struck him, a few inches from his heart

”RAAIIIICHUUUU, NOOOOOOOO!” Ash screamed out at the top of his lungs. Meowth bit the Persian’s tail. It screamed out in pain & removed its paws from Misty’s hands. She fell onto Charizard’s back & then the fire dragon let loose an enormous Fire Blast at the helicopter, which exploded, sending Jessie, James, Meowth, Persian & Giovanni over the horizon.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Charizard flew Raichu, who was in Ash's arms, blood gushing from the wound, Misty & Ash to the nearest Pokémon Center as fast as he could, dropped them off & flew back to the Charific Valley. Ash was so worried about Raichu that he didn’t notice Nurse Joy treating his & Misty’s wounds, giving Raichu to her or sitting down in the waiting room. All he could think was if he was going to be okay. He had to make it. He just had to.

‘How could I go on without him?’ Ash thought.

”Ash, you didn’t touch your dinner. Usually you eat like your Snorlax. You just picked at your meal” Misty noticed when they were back in the waiting room after dinner. “Didn’t Lawrence give you anything to eat?”

Ash shook his head. The only thing he had gotten to eat was a stale piece of bread since Lawrence didn’t believe in killing him, only “starving you until you are too weak to so much as crawl to the Shamuti Shrine on your belly”, which is what he said when he gave him the piece of bread.

”W-wasn’t hungry.” Ash lied, his empty stomach telling the truth as Nurse Joy came up to them.

(I ate the whole thing, Mommy) Togepi said proudly. Misty had let him out of his Pokéball as soon as she & Ash had arrived at the Center. It was clear that Togepi was not traumatized by the experience at all, but he had rather enjoyed it.

"I know you did, sweetheart." Misty said. “You’re a growing pokémon .”

”Which one of you two is Ashton Ketchum? I have some news about their Raichu for them.” she asked them & Misty saw Ash cringe at the name.

‘Must be his full name’ Misty thought. ‘No wonder he winced. Now I know why he insists being called Ash. I mean, who in their right mind would name a boy Ashton’.

“That’s me. But its just Ash, not Ashton “ Ash said as he jumped out of his seat when he heard that.. Is it good news, Nurse Joy? Is the bullet out? Is he gonna be okay?” he asked, his face hopeful

“It’s not looking good” she said as she slowly shook her head & Ash’s hopes were crushed. He bit his lip as he sat back down, looking at the floor as if he wanted to hear anything but this bad news.

”Although the bullet is out, he’s gravely ill. It seems that it was extremely hard for him to evolve without a Thunderstone and he’s also lost tons of blood. It’s hard to say if he will through the night or not, it does not look that promising” she said.

“Can’t you do anything else, Nurse Joy?” Misty said in a sad tone “Raichu was his first pokémon.” she nodded toward Ash.

“It would take a miracle.” Nurse Joy sadly said & then walked away. Ash began to cry his heart out.

Misty looked over at Ash, who was crying badly, she had never seen him cry like this. sure he cried when he released Butterfree, the first Pokémon he had caught. But never like this, like he was about to lose a very close friend, which he was. If Raichu didn’t make it…

(Mommy?) Togepi was asking her something, interrupting her train of thought.

” What’s the matter, baby?”

(Why’s Daddy upset?)

‘how am I going to explain this to him?’ Misty thought to herself. She then took a deep breath and began to tell Togepi in the simplest words she could, why Ash was upset. “Giovanni,” she saw the confused look on his face,” the bad dark haired man -”

(is he the dummyheads’ boss) he inquired her and she chuckled

“Yes, Togepi. He’s the dummy head’s boss. Why do you want to know ?”

he bit his lip. (I saw him before, Mommy ) he said after a minute of silence.

“When, Togepi?”

(When we were in that big city near Daddy’s hometown, the one where Daddy got his last badge)

“Viridian City?” Misty asked, realizing that she was about to find out where he had been when he had been missing in that city. She still could remember that dreadful feeling she had had that someone had kidnapped him.

He nodded. (The dummyheads found me and took me to him. He asked them what I did and they didn’t know what to say and he got mad at them. Then a phone rang and they forgot all about me so I went to find you. Why did you want to know where I saw him, Mommy? And what happened after the dummyhead's boss threatened to-to kill you?) ) he asked.

“No reason. Anyways, He was going to kill me-“ Togepi gasped at this “if Ash didn’t hand over Raichu.”

(What did Daddy do?)

“He refused and-,” Misty stopped mid-sentence, seeing Raichu jump in front of Ash, taking the bullet for him in her mind.

(And what, Mommy?) Togepi asked her. (What happened next?)

”Giovanni fired a gunshot right at him. Raichu jumped up in front of Ash and the bullet hit him,” Misty told him, not adding that it hit Raichu a few inches from his heart.

(Is he going to be okay?) Togepi asked her, a concerned look on his face.

”I wish I knew.” Misty admitted. She then looked over at Ash who had been writing something on a piece of paper he had found & saw teardrops scattered across it.

“Who are you writing to, Ash?” she asked him.

“Mom” he answered and Misty craned her neck and read what he wrote:

Dear Mom,

I will be coming home permanently, discontinuing my pokémon journey. Misty, Pikachu I just had a run-in with the leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni. He murdered Pikachu right in front of my eyes. I don’t want to talk about it. I can’t think of going on without him so I will be releasing all of my pokémon as soon as possible. I’m sorry that I let you & dad down.

-Ash

Misty watched as he put it in an envelope, sealed and addressed it. Ash then looked down at the envelope for what seemed like forever as if trying to decide to send it or not. He then got up and tossed it into the garbage. One look at his face & Misty knew why Ash threw it away. It had had been difficult for him to explain why he was ending his journey in a letter this mom. If she read it then, she would have to come clean with her past to him and Misty guessed that she was trying to forget about it. She would be the same way if Togepi were in Raichu’s position.

”When I first got to Viridian City, I called Mom to let her know how I was doing,” he said to Misty as he sat back down, a distant look in his eyes, like he wished he were somewhere else ”S-she said that dad would have been proud of me. She never talked about him when I was growing up. All I ever wanted was to become the world’s greatest pokémon master” he glanced up at the lighted needle sign above the Emergency Room’s double doors, ”but I guess this is the end.” He started bawling again. ”I-If I-I wasn’t t-the Ch-Chosen One, n-none of this would have h-happened R-R-R-Raichu w-wouldn’t be d-d-dying” Ash choked on the words and then resumed crying. To make him feel better, Misty patted Ash on the back

”It will be okay, Ash ” she reassured him. “But, you did save the entire planet again and at least Psyduck finally evolved ” she optimistically pointed out as she picked Togepi up & put him on Ash’s lap. By now Ash had stopped crying and was rubbing Togepi’s shell half-heartedly as if he was trying to think of something.

“Yeah, but you were the one who figured out I was the one the legend talked about. Uh, speaking of that, I-I uh well uh, what I’m trying to say is that uh um.” He stopped for a minute, searching for the words to say then found them, ”I never got to thank you for that, Misty, so uh, thanks. I also want to thank you for sticking with me through this whole mess.” Misty felt her face blush.

”You’re welcome”. She said back and then Ash resumed looking up at the lighted sign above the ER’s double doors. He was like that all night. He didn’t so much as look away when Misty let out Politoed and told him to cheer Ash up by using his long tongue to stand on his head. When that didn’t work, she told him to do flips while croaking the alphabet.

(Politoed is funny, Mommy) Togepi rolled on the floor with laughter. Misty looked over at Ash, who just sighed and then went back to looking at his blood-soaked vest and bloodied badges. She returned Politoed to his pokéball sadly and picked Togepi, who had stopped laughing, up with her arms.

“Excuse me, miss?” Nurse Joy came over to Misty, “You came in with the boy with the Raichu, right”

Misty nodded.

“Do you know how he lost all that blood and energy?” she asked.

That was the worst part at least to Misty. She had to explain the whole thing to Nurse Joy, leaving out the parts when Lawrence and Giovanni threatened to kill her. Togepi even chipped in parts when it was too horrible for Misty to say, knowing that she had watched it

Before Misty went to bed late that night in the bedroom the Center graciously provided for Ash, Togepi and her, she quietly said “Lugia, hello it’s me, Misty. You probably have witnessed the events that brought Ash and I here. I have one thing to ask of you. Please don’t let Raichu die. Ash would be brokenhearted. Raichu saved his life.” Misty looked over at the next bed where Ash was asleep. “You saw how close they were back at Shamuti. He saved the world by helping you, please help him now.”

(Mommy?) Togepi asked her.

She smiled at him.“ You are supposed to be regaining your strength, cutie-pie. Metronome takes up a lot of energy." Misty said as she got under the covers.

(That’s a weally nice prayer you did, Mommy. If I were Lugia, I’d answer it)

“I know you would, sweetie.”

As Misty looked up at the full moon through the windows, she thought she saw Lugia’s outline against it, but she set aside this thought as a figment of her imagination & fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow. It had been an exceptionally exhausting day.

When he was certain that Misty & Togepi were both fast asleep, Ash snuck out of bed, got a small blue box out of his jeans pocket & quietly walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. As soon as he was out of the room, he walked quietly into Raichu’s room. Ash tried not to look at the IV attached to Raichu’s paw, nor at the bag of fluid that was pumping oxygen to his body through the IV on a stand on the other side of the bed. looking at a small table where the bloodied bullet shell was made him sick. He forced himself not to look at it. It was difficult not to look at the machine next to his bed connected to him by wires attached to his body. It monitored his heartbeat as feeble waves on a computer screen next to the bed.

“Thanks f-for taking the b-bullet for me” Ash choked on the words as he approached Raichu’s bed. “Are you awake?” Ash murmured as he stroked Raichu's soft fur, sections of it red where the Persians had bitten him.

A faint “chu” told Ash he was. Raichu opened one eye slowly when he heard Ash's voice, looked up at him and managed a small smile.

“How did you evolve without a Thunderstone?” Ash asked him the one question that had been on his mind ever since the incident on the airship.

(I didn’t want to see you hurt and you did it for me the day we first met. Remember the Spearows?)

Ash nodded.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

“Pikachu, get in the ball” Ash told him as he placed the enlarged, empty pokéball next to his battered body on the ground he shook his head at it.

“I know you don’t like it, but this way I’ll be able to save you.” Ash said and then stood up, faced the flock of Spearows flying in front of him & said, ”Spearows, do you know who I am? I’m Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and I’m going to be the world’s greatest Pokémon master. Pikachu, get in the ball!“ Ash commanded him without turning away from the flock of angry birds flying in front of him, flapping their wings in the rain. “I can’t be frightened by the likes of you. I’m going to defeat and catch you all. Come and get me!”

He waited for the birds’ impact but it never came. As if in slow motion Pikachu jumped off the ground, jumped off his shoulder into the air and Thunderbolted the birds, letting out a loud “PIKKKAAAAAACHUUU!”

The next morning, when Ash woke up & saw Pikachu lying next to him on the ground covered in scratches from the Spearows’ Peck attacks, he smiled. “Well, we beat them.

(We sure did.)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

“I sure do” Ash replied and Raichu continued. (In my mind, Giovanni took me away from you and forced me to battle for him. I refused so he beat me until my back bled) Raichu paused to catch his breath. (I still declined so he threw me into a small, rubber cage, after chaining my paws together. I cried your name out over and over hoping you would come. You did but Rockets grabbed you and tied you up and took you away. Persian said now that his master had me, he was going to kill you. He called you a..)

”What did it call me?”

(A-A pathetic weakling of a trainer. That was when I snapped. You’re the best human friend I could have. Don’t tell anyone, but I wouldn’t want anyone else except you to train me.)

”I won't.” Ash said, feeling tears roll down his face.

"I-I want you to the first one to know” He said as he reached into his pocket, pulled out the blue box & opened it to show him what was inside. It was a magnificent- looking ring with a small Water Stone piece cut into Misty’s initials: MIW. These three letters stood for Misty Imusak Waterflower, which was Misty’s full name. The ring’s band was an aquamarine color that matched her eyes.

“After all, you were the one who brought us together. Well technically it was the Spearows that were chasing us but still.” Ash said as he closed the box and put it away in his pocket . he closed his eyes & in his head images of the past two days’ events started to come up instantly, one after the other: Waking up on Lawrence’s airship his captive & hearing him talk about his plan. Reuniting with Pikachu. Misty’s Psyduck evolving for her when Lawrence was threatening to kill her. Giovanni entering the whole situation. Watching Pikachu get extremely beaten up by the Persians & hearing his desperate cries for help. Pikachu getting hit by that giant Future Sight attack. Pikachu evolving just for him. Giovanni threatening to kill him & worst of all, watching Raichu take the bullet intended for him. This last scene kept repeating itself in Ash’s mind

He had to open his eyes to stop it & looking back down at the bed where Raichu lay. He had stopped breathing & his eyes were closed. Ash looked up at the monitor next to the bed that had shown his heartbeat as weak waves now was a single flat line going across the screen. He touched Raichu’s body with his hand, which felt like an Ice Beam attack. Then the reality hit Ash like a herd of stampeding Ponytas. Raichu, his first ever pokémon was dead, taken from him in a bold act of sacrifice.

I close my eyes

And I can see

The day we met

Just one moment and I knew

You’re my best friend. Do anything for you.

We’ve gone so far

And done so much

That I feel like we’ve always been together

Right by my side. Through thick and thin

You’re the part of my life I’ll always remember.

The time has come

It‘s for the best, I know it.

Who could have guessed that you and I

Somehow, someday,

We’d have to say goodbye.

You helped me find the strength inside

And the courage to make my dreams come true.

How will I find another friend like you?

Two of a kind

That’s what we are

And it seemed like we were always winning

But as our team is torn apart,

I wish we could go back to the beginning.

The time has come

It’s for the best I know it.

Who could have guessed that you and I

Somehow, someday

We’d have to say goodbye.

The time has come

It’s for the best I know it.

Who could have guessed that you and I

Somehow, today

We’d have to say goodbye

“No!” Ash sobbed & his tears fell onto Raichu’s lifeless fur. ”Raichu, please don’t-Huh?” Ash stopped as a bright white light covered Raichu's still body. He watched as his body started growing smaller, the scars from the Persian disappearing. Yellow fur washed across his shrinking body replacing the red-orange fur. His ears grew smaller as did his tail. His body stopped shrinking and the light disappeared, leaving a Pikachu in the Raichu’s spot.

Ash looked up at the screen next to the bed that monitored his pokemon’s heartbeat. It had stopped going in a flat line and started going in enormous waves. He felt a small lick on his chin and looked down at him and smiled

“ Everything’s going to be okay, Pikachu” Ash said to restore confidence in him. He stayed in that room stroking Pikachu’s fur the remainder of the night. Before Ash fell asleep, he heard a familiar pokémon talk to him

“Chosen One, I have saved your Pikachu’s life for you saved mine twice now. He is a very special Pikachu an I now see why you two are destined to be together. May we meet again in the future, Chosen One.”

”Lugia…”

Afterwards Misty told Ash that when Nurse Joy came into the room the next morning to check on Raichu she couldn’t believe it. Raichu, who had been on death’s doorstop had changed back to a Pikachu. Aside from a slash mark on his left ear & bite marks on his fur, there was no sign that he had even been close to death & that nothing that Misty had told her the night before had ever taken place. She was baffled at what had happened but Ash knew better.

Also all of Ash’s Pokémon were out. Noctowl had guarded the door while Cyndaquil kept Ash & Pikachu warm with her body. Totodile had fallen asleep under the window behind him as he had been guarding it all night, ready to bite anyone who tried to sneak up on his trainer. Ash’s Bayleaf had fallen asleep, her head resting on his knee & his newest Pokémon, Phanpy, , had also fallen asleep, but at his feet. Misty said that Nurse Joy’s Chansey found out when she went to investigate a noise in his room that night, which turned out to be the pokémon getting out of their pokeballs and coming into the room where Ash and Pikachu were.

Later the next day while Nurse Joy was giving Pikachu a check-up to make sure he was okay since he had gone through a great ordeal in the last two days, Ash slipped the blue box with the ring into Misty’s bag while she was getting Golduck checked over. He sat back down just as she came back into the waiting room, Togepi in her arms.

“So, um, is Golduck okay?” he asked her,

“He’s perfectly healthy according to Nurse Joy. She told me that Psyduck really must have cared for me when Lawrence was twisting my arm and threatening to kill me to evolve into such a handsome Golduck. Togepi also had a check up too, didn’t you?” Misty happily asked Togepi.

(Daddy, Nurse Joy told Mommy that she should be weally proud of me for making the ship blow up) Togepi beamed at Ash, who could only smile feebly, his stomach feeling like there was a huge flock of Butterfrees in it. Misty sat down next to him.

“Is something bothering you, Ash? You don’t seem like yourself today.” Misty asked him.

‘Well, aside from the fact that there’s a ring & a note that explains my feelings for you inside your bag, nothing,’ Ash thought but out loud he said, “There is nothing wrong with me, Misty. Honest.”

She looked at him as though trying to see if he was lying so he grinned as if to prove it. after a minute of silence he got up and ran past her, muttering something about going to the restroom & as he did, he felt his face redden.

Misty stared at Ash’s retreating form as he ran to the restroom, but he went through the Emergency Room’s double doors instead. She sighed and shook her head.

‘Boys’, she thought as she put Togepi on the floor. Next she picked up her bag, lifted it onto her lap & searched around for her journal, a small book that she was able to write in when she pretended to be asleep so Ash wouldn’t see its contents, most of which included Misty’s deepest thoughts about him. This would be a perfect time to write about what had happened in the past two days but instead of her diary Misty pulled out a small box.

(What’s in there, Mommy?) Togepi asked her as she looked at the box.

”I don’t know.” She answered and he watched Misty as she opened it & her eyes went wide & her jaw dropped. In the center was a small ring with a petite piece of a Water Stone carefully cut into three individual letters, M.I.K., These three letters stood for Misty Imusak Waterflower, which was Misty’s full name. The ring’s band was an exquisite aquamarine blue color with lines of ocean blue mixed in. Misty just stared at the ring in awe. A note written in exceptionally tidy blue ink, as if the person writing it had taken time to decide on the words, next to it read:

We met each other by accident

I know our meeting was to be meant.

Throughout the years we’ve developed into close friends

Will you become my girlfriend?

I know you think I don’t have a clue

But I honestly do love you.

-A.I.K

Misty lifted Togepi up onto her lap so he could see it (Wow. It’s beautiful, Mommy. What do those letters stand for ?) He pointed at the A.I.K at the bottom of the note with a small finger & she nodded.

”.It stands for Ashton Ihsotas Ketchum” Misty corrected him. Togepi was very confused by this lengthy name.

(who ‘s that) Togepi asked her

“That’s Ash’s full name, sweetie” Misty explained dreamily as she put the ring on her ring finger on her right hand. She then turned around and saw Ash standing behind her; his entire face redder than a Fire Stone, Raichu, no, Pikachu was on his usual post on Ash’s shoulder. At first she blinked a few times to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. No, she wasn’t seeing things; there was Pikachu, looking like nothing had happened to him at all, like he hadn’t been steps from death the night before, never evolved without a thunderstone. Misty put Togepi on the floor & placed the box with the note gently in her backpack. Then she stood up as Pikachu jumped off Ash’s shoulder onto the chair, went right up to him & kissed him right on the lips, something she had wanted to do since she met him about four years ago, well really since the whole Lugia incident.

“Uh I, er. Well-” Ash started to say but Misty surprised him by planting her lips onto his & kissing him. This was not what he expected whatsoever! It was amazing though. They kissed passionately for an eternity, at least it seemed that way to Misty.

Ash didn’t remember leaving the Pokémon Center; he was in a daze after that kiss, his first real kiss by a girl. A girl who was now his girlfriend, his first girlfriend. Once they had walked for about five minutes, Misty asked him how he had managed to pay for the ring, which she kept looking at.

”All the money from the battles-” Ash started to reply

“Wait a minute, you still owe me a battle” she interrupted.

“I do not!” Ash protested.

”You do too!” Misty countered.

“Do not!”

”Do too, you & I never finished the battle at the Cerulean City Gym & I would have creamed you real bad if Team Rocket never stormed in and disrupted our battle”.

”Everyone knows I could cream you with my Muk alone, Misty. But he’d take one look at your face and fall in love.” Ash regretted this as soon as he realized what had just come out of his mouth.

‘Why didn’t I keep my big mouth shut?’ he thought. Sometimes he didn’t think before he spoke, which landed him in a lot of hot water & this was without a doubt one of those times. He began to slink away but he only got about a foot away before Misty became a violent volcano. Oh boy, was Ash ever going to get it. Misty’s head expanded ten times larger than normal & her mouth seemed to have developed fangs, all within a minute. She could have scared Totodile all the way back to his pokéball with that Scary Face of hers.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT , ASH KETCHEM?” Misty yelled at the top of her lungs as she ran after him, her faithful mallet in one hand.

(Bad choice of words, Ash. She’s going to hunt you down like a Growlithe after a Meowth for that statement.) Pikachu said as he hung to Ash’s bad head with his sharp claws for dear life as Ash steered clear of the blows of Misty’s trusty mallet.

“I know, Pikachu. I have got to learn to watch what I say or you can shock me every time I say something stupid, like that for example.” Ash said to Pikachu as he ran as fast as he could as if his life counted on it.

‘At least she’s not bugging me about that stupid bike anymore,’ he thought.

Narrator: Now that the predicament with Lawrence is over, what new exciting adventures & friends will our two heroes come upon next? Will Ash ever learn to think before he speaks? I don’t know the answers to those questions since I am neither a psychic or know Future Sight!

The end

Author’s note part 1: How’s THAT for an ending? I figured that since they don’t admit it in the show, I could have it happen in my story! As for if Giovanni is Ash’s dad, I don’t know. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t but it’s better than Professor Oak being his dad, no offense to any Eldershippers reading this story. that would make him Gary’s uncle. Oak’s a great mentor to Ash, I know that but I just can’t see him as Ash’s dad, although I do think that he & Delia do like each other & have a not-so-hidden romance going on. You have to use your imagination to find out what happened to Lawrence at the end. Did anyone like the part about the talon? I didn’t put Brock in this story is although he’s good comic relief, he takes away from the REAL romance & in my opinion couldn’t get a girlfriend if he were the last guy on earth, so I had Charizard exhibit a Brock-like behavior towards the Pidgeot. I also thought that Golduck deserved some time in the spotlight.. Did anyone like Charizard’s explanation of what it’s like inside a pokeball? The song that is used is the one that the senior class used for their prom song in 2004. It’s from the 2B A Master CD if anyone wants to know how to find it. If you’re wondering about the whole evolving-without-a-stone thing, well I figured it was kind of like the friendship evolution (i.e Golbat into Crobat, Chansey into Blissey, etc) & it was also from an idea an old school friend gave me. Caleb H, if you are reading this, thanks for the evolution idea. I really hope that you liked it.

author’s note part 2: Quite different from the revised version, huh? I want to thank everyone who has reviewed my stories over the past five years. It means so much to me . To quote a line from 1994’s The Mask: “you love me, you really love me! “

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