This is the first part of a two-part story. It is pretty self-explanatory, and I hope it is enjoyed. It represents an all-new take on Pokémon, one that may or may not interest you. Inspired from an honest evaluation of human interaction and tendency to chaos, I wrote what I though would be an interesting outcome should their world resemble ours a bit more, while using the world and its characters as a palette to paint upon. Too intellectual for you? Well, good. It's no Socrates-level philosophical work. Enjoy!
*Note: This one is pretty long, that's why I only got the first part put online for the contest. I will post part two if there is sufficient demand.
*Note: This one is pretty long, that's why I only got the first part put online for the contest. I will post part two if there is sufficient demand.
Over Viridian city, Pidgeys tweeted as the sun gently rose over the horizon. Their melodious song drifted down to the stones below and the branches of the trees on the hills surrounding the city waved gently in the early-spring breeze.
Nevertheless, as the day lightened, the mood darkened. Down below, a staccato burst of light pops punctuated the light bird sound. Shortly afterwards, a high-pitched shriek rang out, slowly dying out and echoing about between the hills.
Overhead, the Pidgeys began vacating the airspace as the cries of more pokémon began filing the air.
Down below, crouched among the debris from the gym-that-once-was, Klyner clutched his assault rifle with one hand, as he ran a filthy rag over the outside, trying to rub out some of the crust that had formed over the last few days. On his arm, the tattered remains of his armband, which identified him as a member of the newly-formed Kantoan militia, hung loosely.
His fingers and lips tightened at the sound of the calls. He quickly reviewed the small metal boxes laid out before him. Each was loaded to the brim with small 5mm electrified bullets, and each was polished to a fault to avoid jams. He lifted one and jammed it into his rifle, in anticipation of the coming attack.
At the great cry of “Blastoise!”, his head jerked up, as did those of the two men and one woman who crouched near him. All of their faces showed very little emotion as the spun as one to lean their rifles against the makeshift parapet constructed from the rubble of a house nearby.
In the distance, a great roar came up as the hydro cannons of three trained siege-Blastoises began battering at the forward barricades again. Above, great cries came up, and Pidgeots carrying lightly equipped riders arced down from the clouds. Out of the riders' hands came flying small pellets, which erupted into bursts of flame and smoke on impact with the ground. Klyner quickly raised his weapon and trained his sights on the nearest flyer. His finger tightened on the trigger twice, and the limp form of the rider came crashing to the street as the Pidgeot attempted to right itself in spite of its crippled left wing.
The troops near him began doing the same. All around them, bodies clattered to the pavement, but one of the small bombs hit near Klyner, throwing the man to his left to the ground, clutching his scarred face. At the same time, as the Pidgeots pulled out of their seemingly suicidal dives, pokéballs began to rain down around the makeshift stronghold. All around Klyner, in flashes of light, Pinsirs appeared, and began using their vicious jaws to throw away the defenders.
Klyner unloaded the last of his ammunition, quickly dropping the empty clip into his pocket for refilling if he survives, and slapped another in. As he drew back the bolt, he felt his back run into something hard.
His eyes met those of the Pinsir at the exact same time.
Fortunately, Klyner was a touch quicker on the uptake, and the stock of his rifle rose to meet the Pinsir's head with bone-crushing force.
Unfortunately, bone-crushing force isn't enough against the sturdy skin of such an animal. It did, however, stagger back, giving Klyner time to raise the barrel of his weapon and deal the disabling blow in a burst of ammunition.
As he stepped back to reassess the situation, he saw the first enemy riders sweep into town. On the backs of Arcanines, the armoured troops swept through the spread out defenders almost without a fight. There was, however, a bit of a fight.
Men rushed out of houses, wielding their rifles with their special bayonets mounted on the end. Each was composed of two electrodes, between which very high voltages of electricity arced. Placed in the path of charging Arcanines, the result was, more often than not, many flailing, flying riders and a good few pokémon tumbling to the ground, unconscious for long periods of time.
Behind Klyner, a panicked voice shouted “ Captain Ketchum! Captain Ketchum! Where's the Captain?”
As Klyner turned to answer, the fist of a Hitmonchan knocked him into oblivion.
**
A week earlier, Professor Elm and Professor Oak had been standing in a meeting room, in a conference centre off Victory road, smiling benignly as they tried to settle their differences.
“You understand, surely,” said Oak, “that we cannot simply turn over our research to you. Of course, the furthering of knowledge about pokémon is both our goals, but I need to get the scientific grants for something. Especially now that my one-time star field researcher, Ash Ketchum, is retiring from the business.”
“Of course,” answered Elm, without a twitch in his seemingly frozen smile, “but nonetheless, we can't stay at odds forever. It's my impression that you just want the title of 'Centre of Pokémon Research' to stay in Pallet Town, and not evolve to a new centre. We can't have that, everyone knows that evolution is the place to be.”
If Oak caught the slight self-flattery inherent in that last sentence, he showed no sign as he answered : “No, of course I mean nothing of the sort. Nevertheless, the new fossils will stay in Pewter City, where they belong, until I am fully satisfied with the outcome.”
Elm finally lost his calm, leaning forward, placing his palms on the small table that separated them, and lowering his voice as he said : “I have connections, Oak. Don't make me use them. I'm not the only person in Johto who has had enough of this... this... this Tauros-dung from your office. We deserve a role in the new scientific discoveries, just as much as you do!”
Oak's smile still did not slip, as he himself leaned forward and said : “Perhaps you would care to discuss that with the hundreds of Kantoans who would loudly argue that what is found in Kanto, belongs to Kanto. Now you go back to your own research on your little Unown, and publish another re-write of what you've been saying all along. It seems to have satisfied thus far.”
Oak's smile widened a bit, without warming a degree above its original absolute zero, as he spun and headed for the door.
**
A few days later, the first troops had swept across the border. The men of Johto had been roused to the summons to defend their inherent rights, and had been equipped with the latest technology from Professor Elm, the JNLW-5, or the Johtoan Non-Lethal Weapon model 5. Each fired small 5mm slugs at low velocity and charged with enough electricity to stun even a Nidoking for a few hours. Within minutes, they had secured Victory road and were awaiting the signal from Pallet town to advance.
At that very moment, even though the sun had not yet shown more than a quarter of its lively face, the 25-year-old Ash Ketchum was awakening to a day of peace and quiet with his pokémon. He had finally decided to take a rest from the near-ridiculous amount of traveling he had gone through a year ago, and he was decidedly enjoying it. Certainly, the adventures were a bit lacking in his life, but at least he got to relax. I mean, seriously. What was that? One huge boss battle a year, for about thirteen years? About time he got some rest.
He headed downstairs, careful not to rouse his mother. Goodness knows, if he did, she'd probably buy him another useless berry with his carefully squirreled away savings he had so unwisely put under her care at the beginning of his adventures. And so, treading carefully, he stepped into the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of cereal.
Something thumped onto the counter, and without looking up, he answered : “'Morning, Pikachu.”. A delighted squeak answered, and as his lips twitched up in a slight smile, Ash raised his fingers to his lips in a request for silence, which merely prompted another, more indignant, squeak. As he left the fridge, he left the ketchup bottle on the counter to distract his long-time companion while he ate.
It was when he began to wash the dishes that things went wrong.
Of course, the usual reflections on how he should probably move out of his mother's house sooner or later came up, but it was the fact that the dawn's early light suddenly reached a noontime level of intensity that roused him from his still rather drowsy state.
He turned and, forgetting for a moment that he was dressed in nothing more than an undershirt and his boxer shorts, and opened the door to step onto his patio.
As Pikachu ran up against his legs, he looked up to see the Electrode on a parachute floating down and discharging electricity, bathing Pallet town in an eerie, yet extremely bright, blue light.
“Pika?”
“I'm not sure either, but we'd better get ready for today...”
He ran inside to fetch his baseball cap and, after a moment's reflection, pants, then returned downstairs, where he could already hear shouts from the direction of the water.
“Move up, staggered formation.”
“Coming up on the left!”
“What the heck?”
That last was from Ash's next door neighbor, who stepped outside, rubbing his eyes. Immediately following that comment, however, there was two sharp pops, accompanied by flashes from a nearby bush, and the man fell twitching to the ground. Ash's eyes widened, but years of encounters with Team Rocket had honed his reflexes.
“Quick, Pikachu, use thunderbolt!”
As the night lit up ever more to the squeals of Pikachu, and yellow lighting ignited a series of trees on its way to the source of the disturbance, Ash heard exactly what he did not expect to hear :
“Holy...! Get that thing, now!”
Instead of the slightly condescending, aristocratic accents of the Team Rocket cronies he ordinarily encountered, the voice of his opponent was pure Johtoan backwoods. Before he could give than any more thought, however, a series more pops went off, and Pikachu fell backwards, tumbling head over heels. As Ash rushed to help, yelling “Are you all right, old buddy?, Come on pal!”, the voice from the bushes shouted again, “On the ground! Get on the ground now!”
People began emerging from their homes, and being violently restrained to the walls. The seeming leader of the group went to the centre of town, and shouted “Where is the lab of Professor Oak?”
One of the cowed citizens pointed to the lab, and a group of soldiers rushed to the door, just as Ash reached Pikachu. “Are you alright? Come on, come on!” Though he still felt a pulse, it was faint, and he knew Pikachu was out cold. At that moment, a pair of rough hands wrestled his arms behind his back and began driving him towards his home, just as a loud sound came from Oak's lab.
“VOOOOLLLLLLTOOOOORRRRBBBBBBB!”
An explosion blew from behind Ash, and staggered the man holding his arms just enough for Ash to wrench himself free and drive his knee into the man's gut. He ran to retreive Pikachu, and heard, through someone's door, the opening notes of Oak's “Pokémon Talk”. Oak's voice came on over the radio left on in someone's lounge, with a far more commanding note than the usually benevoilent one that accompanied this show.
“Citizens of Kanto! As you may or may not already know, the inhabitants of Johto are unhappy at their inability to find their own fossils to study, and have decided, as rightly they should, that our own are better. The problem resides in the fact that they want to take them by force. It is for this reason that I address you tonight from Saffron city. No, not from my native Pallet town, which is probably already in the hands of the invaders. It is for this reason that I ask you to rise, and defend your rights. The tools to do this should already be being distributed in your home towns right now. All pokémon, hear this : We are behind you! I wish you only the best, as I ever have, and trust you to do the right thing and help your trainers defend their homes. Thank you all. Goodnight.”
Ash could not believe this folly. How could this happen? But that was unimportant. As rain began to fall, he grabbed his bicycle, and made for the pokécentre in Viridian city, where he could hopefully get Pikachu back into shape. As he drove into the forest, slapping through mud puddles and soaking himself, he had a brief recollection of his past, and smiled at the strange parallel. Unfortunately, the danger was as real then as it was now, and he pedaled with renewed fervour.
Also unfortunately, he fell into the same trap as before as well. As his bike flew off of the ledge, and he lost his grip again, he feared that this time, he'd really gone and done it. He had not, however.
His cycling skills had improved considerably since his days as an impressionable 10-year-old, and he landed what had become simply an interesting jump to him without a fault. His problems were far from over, though. As the rain began to clear, he could hear noise from ahead already.
Shouts, growls, and staccato pops reached his ears, but he did not slow, he had a pokémon to save.
He plowed into town at top speed, ignoring the projectiles whizzing past his head, and leapt off of the bike with astonishing agility, scooping up his friend in one hand as the doors to the Centre opened, and setting his bicycle down with the other. “Can you help him?” he asked, panting, as he reached the counter. Nurse Joy, though she seemed a little discomfited, agreed instantly and brought Pikachu behind her desk, but Ash had already faded out.
He walked to the glass doors and looked out, and what he saw amazed him. Hydro Cannons and Hyper Beams were already levelling houses, and as Spearows battled Pidgeots in the skies above, small pokémon battles appeared to have cropped up everywhere in the streets, although trainer intervention was much more of an accepted fact than what he remembered.
In fact, the men in Dark blue uniforms that were leapfrogging through the streets seemed more than content to knock out each and every pokémon and trainer who came their way with their strange implements of battle. Even as he stood behind the glass, Ash witnessed a man with a red armband rush around the Corner of the centre, followed by a Charmeleon, and begin firing upon the men in the street. About half of them fell to his bullets before he himself was dropped, but it was, in fact, the Charmeleon which did the most damage. It ran into the fray, ramming soldiers into walls and throwing them down roads, even as it sprayed flames in a random pattern around it, painting walls and igniting plants with its Flamethrower. It was swiftly put down, however, and the limp form was pushed out of the road.
Nurse Joy ran up behind Ash, and handed him his Pikachu, saying : “It's really rather simple to deal with those injuries, just inject one of these stimulants,” and she handed him three needles, “and it should wake your Pikachu up in no time. Now,” and her expression darkened with these words, “go get them.”
Though he felt somewhat at odds with the new aggression he sensed in the normally so peaceful Joy, he agreed with the thought. What else could he do? These people had shot Pikachu. In fact, Pikachu was wriggling in his arms, trying to get at the door.
Ash put on his fighting face, and spun his hat around. Just like the good old days. Pikachu recognized the motion, and finally leapt out if his arms with a loud “Pikapika!”
As the doors slid open again, He stepped out, and noted the instrument in the hands of the man who had been hit just outside the door. It had a familiar ring to it. Then he remembered an old project of the Professors' around the lands. They had wanted to develop an instrument to facilitate the disabling of dangerous pokémon when they were a threat, and to help when trying to tag new species. Also, it reminded him a lot of the old gun he used to play Duck Hunt with on his NES with before heading out on his first adventure.
He hefted it, and grabbed the sack of metal containers slung around the man's shoulders, noting that they looked like the ammunition. With a curt nod to Pikachu, he said “Let's do this, old buddy,” and hurried down the road. The sight that greeted him was one of pure mayhem. Pokémon fought pokémon in vicious streetfights, pokéballs flashed, and bursts of fire jetted from the rifles of men and, in some cases, women crouched among piles of garbage and stone thrown from walls.
A Nidoking with a blue necker rushed out from an alley, taking the walls of the neighboring houses with it on its arms. It thrashed about, throwing a parked car into the air with a loud growl. The car fell back down, upside-down, cutting off a fight between a Scyther in mid-swing and a cowering Sandslash. Ash spun around, and yelled : “Pikachu, use Thund-” but was cut off as the lightning arced through the air before he could even finish. One could tell they had been working together for so long.
The lightning simply glanced off of the enraged Nidoking, however, and the beast turned ponderously to face the impudent duo currently occupying a stretch of the street it had so rightly claimed as its own.
Ash could do nothing more but raise the rifle and squeeze his fingers tight, and for approximately three-quarters of a second, 5mm-wide projectiles blasted out of the barrel and spun through the air, accelerated by the small black powder charge packed behind them, turned about by the grooves in the barrel for increased stability, and causing the air to crackle as their internal generators began building up a charge. As the bullets hit, they did not penetrate, their mainly conductive-putty-based structure splattering and blowing apart on impact, but bright blue sparks and lightning bolts appeared at every impact point for a fraction of a second each time, indicating the immense transfer of electrical energy to the violent pokémon's body.
By the time Ash re-opened his eyes, realizing the noise from his rifle had subsided, the Nidoking had hit the ground, out cold.
Ash regained his wits, and rushed forward, Pikachu leaping onto his shoulder in the age-old sign of camaraderie. As he turned a corner, he came up behind a group of trainers, all of their pokéballs empty, firing into a street. One of them turned, and his eyes widened.
“You're that Trainer, the famous one, Ash Ketchum, right?”
“I guess so, yeah,” Ash answered, rubbing the back of his neck out of slight embarassment.
“Sweet! I'm Klyner, I'm from Viridian. Here, I mean. Hey, when we're done playing war, you think you could teach me a few tricks? That's my Geodude, out there.”
Klyner pointed to a Geodude, floating over a few unconscious, blue-armoured men, and punching out yet another as he turned a corner.
Ash smiled, and answered : “Yeah, sure, but after, okay?”
Klyner's innocent smile grew. “Cool! Thanks!”
As more soldiers turned the corner, however, they were forced to redirect their attention. As the others began firing, Ash raised his own rifle and said to Pikachu “Pikachu, get to the rooftops and watch out for others around us, okay?”
Pikachu gave him a curt nod, and bounded up a drain pipe. Ash squeezed his trigger, and nothing happened. As a droplet of sweat ran down his forehead, and he gave his weapon a puzzled glance, Klyner's hand reached over and flipped a lever. The box under the rifle popped out, and Klyner slapped in another from Ash's appropriated pouch.
“Now just pull back the bolt on the side to 'chamber' the first bullet.”
Ash gave him a quick thank-you nod, and tried to hide his blush as he began firing. Unfortunately, he had never been very good at Duck Hunt, so many of his bullets went wide, blowing tiny splinters of rock out of the wall behind the 'enemy'. Nevertheless, the Geodude, being a stone-type, was able to take plenty of hits, and he effectively neutralized about half of the group of enemies before they could respond, and they ran just as quickly.
“Sun's going down,” remarked Ash, as he looked to the horizon in the direction of Johto.
“Well, we've got ourselves a regular navy captain here, eh? Read the stars, too?” piped in one of the others in their little group. She was a medium height woman, with a diagonal belt of pokéballs strung across one shoulder to the opposite hip. Her brown hair was tied up in one neat ponytail, and her piercing blue eyes mocked Ash in every possible way. They were still lightened by the flash of recognition that suddenly cropped up, but only for a moment.
“Well, Captain Ketchum,” she continued, obliquely acknowledging her knowledge of his identity, “why don't you join us. We've got a Poké Fan Clubhouse in a basement near here, and the fighting seems to be quieting down. We can rest there for the night.”
And so they retired to the basement, and began brewing up some hot coffee. Ash grabbed a mug, and wandered over to the couch shaped like a line of Clefairies where Klyner was sitting, and throwing treats to his Geodude. Pikachu was already satiating his hunger in a corner. It just so happened that he had disabled a squad of soldiers sneaking up on the group of newfound friends, and so was rewarded with a platter of candies.
Klyner looked up as Ash showed up, his smile broadening.
“Hey! That was fun today, huh?”
“Well, it was interesting,” Ash answered somewhat conservatively, grinning as he fell onto the almost sinfully comfortable sofa. A thought occurred to him, and he turned again to ask “So, how old are you, anyway?”
“Eleven,” Klyner answered with a smile, “I was going to get out of Viridian soon, but my mom was holding me back out of 'love'.” That last comment was accompanied by a grimace, which solicited a welcome chuckle from Ash.
“So, who're the other two?” Ash asked, and Klyner hurried to answer.
“Well, the other guy is Joanes, he's 14, and he's my next-door neighbor.”
The young man called Joanes turned and waved with a smile, his short brown bangs waving in front of his eyes as he did so.
“The girl, well, she's -”
Klyner was cut off mid-sentence as the girl in question hopped onto a Togepi seat across from them and interjected.
“She's Rayna, if it's any of your business, Captain. 18 years old, has a full set of badges, and runs this branch of the Fan Club.”
“And she's not usually this grouchy, either. I think her Eevee didn't cuddle her hard enough this morning.” Klyner stuck out his tongue with the last comment, which prompted a reddening of her cheeks and a startled “I told you, I stopped sleeping with my Eevee two years ago!”
Joanes laughed as he sat on the Voltorb carpet, and even Ash was caught up in the moment. Little did he know things were to go downhill from there.
**
The next day, the Johtoans attacked again, with renewed vigor. The fighting lasted for about half the day, during which the new “Captain” began to make a name for himself as a brave and impetuous lad, for someone so much visibly older than the other trainers. This pattern of fight, sleep, fight, sleep was quite new and exhausting to the inhabitants of the so-often peaceful land, but continued for three more days. On the third, as the sun rose, Klyner was crouching among the ruins of the Gym. By the time the sun had fully uncovered itself, the Kantoans had finally abandoned their fortifications, and Klyner woke up in the arms of Rayna.
A thoroughly not-too-uncomfortable feeling, he noted, though only in a purely platonic fashion.
She, however, seemed to think differently, since once she felt him shift and smile, he hit the ground, hard.
“Good, you can walk. Get up, the Captain and his Pikachu are delaying the Johtoans in Pewter city, but most people are running to Mt. Moon, where the militia from Cerulean will meet us.”
“Oh, okay. Where's Joanes?”
“Just up ahead. The Arcanines tried to cut us off in the woods, and he's clearing the way with his Rhydon.”
“Oh, alright.”
He stood, brushing himself off, and accepted the weapon and ammunition thrust into his arms.
“By the way,” Rayna said, as she headed out ahead of him, “Sorry about the Hitmonchan.”
“No problem,” he shouted as he hurried to catch up.
**
Ash hid in yet another bush, waiting for the enemy to arrive. He knew for a fact that they would lead up with another swarm of Beedrills, so Pikachu was in the tree branch above him, cheeks sparkling with pent-up energy.
Finally, the buzzing reached his ears, and he said “Ready up, Pikcahu.”
The answer that came back had a distinct ring of 'What, you think I'm stupid?' to it.
The swarm showed itself with stunning speed. The Johtoans had found a pheromone which made Beedrills extremely aggressive, and another that diverted their attention entirely. The former, they had liberally sprinkled over the forest from Pidgeottos, and the latter, they had coated their clothing in. That meant the native Beedrills were out for a fight, and not with the right team.
As the swarm approached Ash's position, he stood up, waving his arms.
“Hey, over here! Yeah, over here, you stupid insects!”
The swarm turned as one, spurred either by his presence or his insults, though his pokédollars would rest on the first option, and approached. His raised left hand tapped Pikachu's foot, and the sky lit up. Electric bolts flew in every direction, and most of the Beedrills fell to the ground, instantly stunned. The rest retreated. Enraged, they were. Stupid, they were not.
The Johtoans, however, were another matter. Pikachu's squeal revelaed the approach of a unti of infantry, and Ash dropped back into his hiding spot, leaning his rifle up in the v-shape he had constructed from branches. Through the practice he had gotten over the last few days, Ash reflected, he could probably triple all his high scores at Duck Hunt now. His lips twitched as he began to fire, allocating three shots to every enemy who showed his face.
Of course, this whole business was as distasteful to him as to any other person, maybe even more, but he did see the necessity to defend their intellectual sovereignty. Normally, over the course of his adventures, he found a peaceful solution and talked things out over a quick duel. These opponents, however, had introduced a far different way of solving problems, and it had far less of a satisfying result.
That was why he and Pikachu needed to continue throwing twitching people to the floor of this small forested patch behind Pewter City.
As this next group stopped coming, though, he knew they had found out his latest hiding spot, and he had to go.
“Alright, Pikachu, we'd better catch up with everyone at Mt. Moon. They should have set up some of the defenses by now.”
Pikachu leapt down onto his shoulder, and he began jogging back through the woods.
**
“Get that stupid rock in position! Are the Gravelers up the hill yet? Starmie, good job carving out the firing ports, you down there, get some Geodudes to haul sharpshooters upstairs.”
Misty, gym leader of Cerulean city, stood on an outcropping of Mt. Moon, and demonstrated her hard-headedness and the temper she was often notorious for very well in her new role as leader of the Cerulean defensive line.
She had changed relatively little in terms of personality than Ash remembered, but her looks had certainly matured, just as Ash had. Her shorts had lengthened to full blue jeans, and her flaming red hair was now worn long and across the back of her yellow tank top. Ash smiled as he stood at the foot of the rock wall separating the two halves of Route 4.
And yet, as he removed his cap to wipe his brow and reflect on 'the good ol' days', Misty shouted down at him :
“You! Yeah, you, with the corny outdated baseball cap! Why aren't you working? Don't you have something to do?”
He smiled, and shouted back :
“Yeah, I missed you too, Misty!”
Her eyes widened, and she laughed as she slid down the rock face.
“Ash! Pikachu! Well well, long time no see! Seriously, weren't you going to visit me more often?”
“Ah, a guy tries, but...” He raised his hands in a sign of exasperation.
“Your mum, eh? Did she ever stop buying you those stupid berries?”
“No...” He shook his head and they both laughed.
“Nonetheless, don't you have something to do?”
“Yeah, I'll get right to it. We can talk again later?”
“Yep, see ya!”
Ash waved back as he replaced his cap, and headed to the group of familiar people in the corner, one of whom was egging on a Geodude which was hauling troops up to the ledges being dug by various water pokémon.
“Hey! Klyner, Joanes, Rayna!”
Rayna was the first to turn, and she answered with a typically sarcastic “Ahoy, Captain!”
The corners of Ash's mouth turned up, and he shook his head.
“Hello, my sarcastic young friend.”
“How kind,” she answered with a grin, as she turned back. Joanes turned to him, giving Ash time to notice a new burn across his face, and asked :
“So how long do we have?”
Ash shook his head, and answered with a somewhat noncommital “Who knows?”
Joanes chuckled and nodded, and Klyner lost a touch of his confidence.
“Shouldn't we? I mean, know?”
Ash turned and answered “Oh, come on, you know how it works. Of course we should. But we won't. Not until they get here. At that moment, and call me psychic if you want, but I can already guarantee that there will be no time left before they arrive.”
That even solicited a laugh from Rayna, which raised a short flush of pride from Ash, to his surprise. Obviously the conflict had drawn them together far more than any other activities they may have engaged in before the 'war'.
And it was going to draw them even closer, at this rate. Above, Pidgeottos soared, and small bomblets began falling around them. All around, people started running into the caves, or their assigned stone enclaves. Misty waved to Ash and his friends, and they quickly climbed up the one section of somewhat smooth stone, a path made recently to prevent travellers being accidentally attacked by wild pokémon in the caves. When they reached the top, a couple of Hitmonlees kicked rocks over the path to prevent later troops climbing up.
On reaching the top, Ash heard a loud clickety-clack as Misty loaded a rifle. She also had two more, pre-loaded, sitting on a stone in front of her. To one side, her Staryu aimed one of its points at the path and Starmie waited on the other side.
Minutes later, a Rhyhorn broke through the forest, with four people on its back. Three out of four were quickly thrown off of its back by fire from the pre-placed snipers, and the last one prepared to ride the Rhyhorn away. Staryu interrupted his plans, however, by firing its water gun in the beast's path, and distracting it long enough for more blue flashes to crop up across its skin, and it fell to the ground, spasming.
Enemy troops flowed from the forest, and more fire began erupting from the cliffside. Fire also erupted from the forest, as Cyndaquils rushed forwards, torching plants and spewing flame at rocks. Ash shouldered his rifle, and the squeezing of the trigger proceeded to lay a line of ammunition across the path of the Cyndaquils, sending them tumbling end over end. As the forest burned, the sun's path took it behind some clouds near the horizon, and everything darkened, the only source of light in the dim grey land becoming the forest's blazing crown.
Misty, Ash noticed out of the corner of his eye was using a far more effective technique to put forward bullets at a stunning rate. Every time her rifle clicked, as the hammer flew forward to collide only with air rather than a gunpowder-filled cartridge, she tossed it over her shoulder to a waiting helper from her Gym who would load it and position it, then grabbed one of the pre-loaded ones leaning on the rock in front of her at just such an angle that her hand could simply lower and squeeze, to begin firing as the rifle lifted. Typical Misty, of course. All fury, and little accuracy. Though Ash knew that wasn't a completely apt description, it fit well enough.
The Johtoans rushing forwards gave up soon enough, unable to challenge the volume of fire coming forwards, and one blew a whistle. Seconds later, a herd of Tauros charged towards the cave, and more Beedrills flew up towards the ridge.
As Ash, Misty, Klyner, Joanes and Rayna struggled to hold off the Beedrills, Ash noted with a detached part of his mind the happenings across the rest of the battlefield. Along the ridge, troops with red armbands wielded their rifles more like baseball bats, since after they unloaded all of their ammo, they didn't want to risk reloading with the Beedrills humming about. Those who missed their step or their swing were rolling down the other side of the ridge, thrown away by vengeful insects.
Down the cliff, the view was rather reassuring. The Gravelers posted along the cliff side had begun rolling down, and were carving paths through the mix of stampeding Tauros and soldiers. The sharpshooters were still firing down, and the charge was slowly dying off. For now.
The tide turned when the Beedrills left. Ash noticed at the last minute that they had only been meant to distract the defenders. Voltorbs attached to the bottoms of Tauros rolled forward now, detached, and began exploding all along the foot of Mt. Moon, causing momentous collapses and throwing sharpshooters out of their perches to be caught by the Starmie and Staryu still flying and spraying enemies.
Allied Pidgeottos flew overhead to begin harassing the enemy, but soldiers were already charging into the caves. Ash turned, his eyes wide, as dust and smoke from Mt. Moon's disfigured side reached them, and his gaze met Misty's hardened glare.
“What do we do?” Ash asked, trying to sound as confident as ever, as much for his sake as for that of Klyner, who, despite his cold outside look, Ash knew to be dying inside.
Misty shook her head, and answered, “The inside is a dreadful maze, and every corner is fortified, but they'll get through. So now, come on, Ash, any bright ideas from you, or do I need to do all the work?”
Before Ash could answer with a snippy comment of his own, he heard a shout of “See ya, Captain!” from behind him.
Everyone turned quickly to see that Rayna was halfway down the cliff, an Electrode in hand.
“What are you doing?” Ash shouted as loud as he could, though his throat was incredibly irritated by the floating dust.
When he didn't get an answer, he sighed, and resigned himself to shooting to covr her from the remaining Johtoans in the charred treeline. Her plan grew quite apparent quite quickly, however.
The Electrode leapt out of her hand, and flew over the entrance to the caves of Mt. Moon, and finished what the Voltorbs had started. The cavern's entrance collapsed in a thunderous crash, as the Electrode self-destructed on impact. She then turned and began firing as she ran for the cliff to try climbing back up.
What happened next seemed to go in slow motion.
One soldier stood up from behind the darkened, charred stump of a tree, raising his rifle, and his finger tightened twice. Had Ash been superhuman, he would have seen the two rounds flying through the air, on an unstoppable glide towards Rayna's centre of mass. What he did see, though, was the twin flashes as she was projected sideways, and her body crumpling on impact with the stony road.
Just as Ash was firing to drop the man who had just shot his newfound friend, and heading for the edge, to rush to her aid, he was cut off by Klyner, who, uttering an inaudible scream, ran over the edge straight towards her.
Klyner was almost to Rayna's limp form when he was hit from the side by a panicked Tauros, unseen until then as it had been hiding under a pile of loose stones.
Klyner flew sideways, landing only a few metres short of the treeline. Seeing their chance, a couple of soldiers ran out, grabbed his collar, and began dragging him back as a prisoner. One of them fell, twitching, as Ash hit him directly in the neck, but the other got Klyner to the trees.
“No!” shouted both Ash and Joanes, but they returned their attention to Rayna.
The Tauros had already bolted, but a new unknown form was nearby. This one was human, however, and was bending over her. Before Misty and Joanes had let loose with their weapons, however, Ash stepped in.
“Wait, he's wearing an armband!”
The other two hesitantly lowered their weapons as they realized the truth of the last statement, and watched as the new man heaved Rayna onto his shoulder and ran for a heap of newly-made rubble. While his right arm kept Rayna lined up on his shoulder, his left hefted his lengthy rifle, marking him as one of the sharpshooters from the cliffside, and fired it in the direction of the trees.
Ash began to move for the edge of the cliff to help the others, but Misty grabbed him by the arm, her expression severe.
“Now don't you go getting yourself stuck down there too. Did you forget that we blocked the pathways to get up?”
Ash frowned, but stepped back again, and Joanes said loudly :
“Well, we can't just leave her down there!”
his point was underscored as a new set of enemies charged, but then was undermined as they were shown to be carrying ladders. They were coming for the ridge, to reconnect Route 4's halves.
As they began to fire again, they realized a quite inconvenient truth : they were practically out of ammo. Faced with Misty's pointed glance, her aide simply shrugged apologetically. The concern was really showing in their faces now, but Ash turned and shouted “PIKACHU!”
Pikachu came running from where he had been firing lightning into the cave, before it had collapsed, and came to attention at Ash's feet.
“Quick, Pikachu, hit 'em!”
Pikachu nodded and squeaked, then ran to the edge and began firing thunderbolts down at the ladders, which the enemy had so politely made of metal just for them. Entire rows of enemies flew away, but a group of Cubones near the side of the formation began throwing their bones up at the cliffside, one of them hitting Pikachu right in the head.
At that same time, behind them, the sounds of combat intensified from the cavern exit from Mt. Moon, meaning the enemy were far too close to the exit.
A Sudowoodoo quickly leapt from the rocks, accompanied by a Bayleaf, to begin flattening the Cubones, just as the man came out, pistol in one hand and bayonet in the other. Every soldier he touched with his bayonet flew back in a puff of smoke, and the pistol in his left hand continued barking and throwing soldiers around.
“Oh my...” Said Misty, as the results of the man's unexpected berzerker charge hammered home, and the other side of the formation cut and ran for the woods.
Ash removed his hat and wiped his forehead, a smile spreading across his face as the man yelled :
“That's right, run for your lives, you rotten Rattata-spawn!”
The man then reclaimed his rifle from his back, and began landing shots in the smalls of the retreating enemies' backs. He then turned, and ran back to his hiding spot.
Ash was bent over Pikachu, spraying potion onto its head and speaking softly to it. Misty was comforting her extremely frightened young aide, and Joanes was gathering string to throw down to the two isolated at the bottom.
When the rope was ready, the aide was running to order the evacuation of Cerulean to the newly constructed defenses around Saffron, and Pikachu was awake again. Over the edge of the cliff climbed the man, with Rayna on his shoulder.
His image as the tough-guy hero was finally shattered, though, when he fell over, panting heavily at the effort of climbing the rope. Rayna, however, was mostly awake, and said :
“Are we there yet? When can I move my legs again?”
“You... you... puff... you can move... in like... puff... like, a few minutes... just give the medicine a bit... puff.”
Joanes crouched next to Rayna, as Ash put his foot on the man's chest.
“Arg! Don't do... puff... that, can't you see I'm trying to catch my breath here?”
“Who are you?”
“Norin, I'm from Violet City.”
“Wait, isn't that in Johto??” Ash looked around. He'd been away from adventuring for too long, and he had already forgotten most of the smaller places in Johto. So sue me, he thought, it was, like, the second place I went!
Misty, however, nodded gravely, and her expression hardened yet again, as she reached down to grab the man's collar and heft him up.
“Woah there, easy, don't kill me!” He raised his arms over his eyes, and Misty prepared to tear a strip off him in her classic fashion, but Ash intervened.
“Look, he was on the cliffside, he can tell us his story later, but they've almost finished in the caves, so we'd better make sure we aren't between the two halves of the enemy army when we talk.”
Though she seemed VERY reluctant to agree, Misty deposited the man on his own to feet, and looked him over. He was of about average height, with a portly, but not fat, build, and carefully cropped dark hair. A mustache was carefully twirled under his nose, and tan lines showed that he had once worn quite large glasses, but they were nowhere to be seen. And besides, e had performed quite... brilliantly down there. Before she could even turn away in her well-trained impression of disdain, though, the man took a huge punch across the face from Joanes.
“Darn you all, Johtoans! Where's Klyner?”
“What the...?!?” Norin reached for his bayonet, but Rayna, of all people, intervened.
“Come on, boys, let's get along. He did fine, and he's obviously not on their team.”
“Yeah,” Misty added, to Joanes' consternation.
Norin got back to his feet, turned up his nose, and shook Rayna's hand.
“Thank you. I knew I saved you for some reason.” The twinkle in his eyes took away the sting in the words, and he also took the time to smile and nod at Misty.
Ash didn't miss the blush that came to each woman's cheeks as they were acknowledged, and felt an unfamiliar pang. He had no time to reflect, however, as Norin hopped down the reverse slope, and began meandering down the road. Misty followed suit, but Rayna and Joanes gazed off towards the forest where their longtime friend had disappeared. Ash headed out with them, and, with the sun setting behind them, they began plotting, in hushed voices, how to end the war.
End of Part 1
Nevertheless, as the day lightened, the mood darkened. Down below, a staccato burst of light pops punctuated the light bird sound. Shortly afterwards, a high-pitched shriek rang out, slowly dying out and echoing about between the hills.
Overhead, the Pidgeys began vacating the airspace as the cries of more pokémon began filing the air.
Down below, crouched among the debris from the gym-that-once-was, Klyner clutched his assault rifle with one hand, as he ran a filthy rag over the outside, trying to rub out some of the crust that had formed over the last few days. On his arm, the tattered remains of his armband, which identified him as a member of the newly-formed Kantoan militia, hung loosely.
His fingers and lips tightened at the sound of the calls. He quickly reviewed the small metal boxes laid out before him. Each was loaded to the brim with small 5mm electrified bullets, and each was polished to a fault to avoid jams. He lifted one and jammed it into his rifle, in anticipation of the coming attack.
At the great cry of “Blastoise!”, his head jerked up, as did those of the two men and one woman who crouched near him. All of their faces showed very little emotion as the spun as one to lean their rifles against the makeshift parapet constructed from the rubble of a house nearby.
In the distance, a great roar came up as the hydro cannons of three trained siege-Blastoises began battering at the forward barricades again. Above, great cries came up, and Pidgeots carrying lightly equipped riders arced down from the clouds. Out of the riders' hands came flying small pellets, which erupted into bursts of flame and smoke on impact with the ground. Klyner quickly raised his weapon and trained his sights on the nearest flyer. His finger tightened on the trigger twice, and the limp form of the rider came crashing to the street as the Pidgeot attempted to right itself in spite of its crippled left wing.
The troops near him began doing the same. All around them, bodies clattered to the pavement, but one of the small bombs hit near Klyner, throwing the man to his left to the ground, clutching his scarred face. At the same time, as the Pidgeots pulled out of their seemingly suicidal dives, pokéballs began to rain down around the makeshift stronghold. All around Klyner, in flashes of light, Pinsirs appeared, and began using their vicious jaws to throw away the defenders.
Klyner unloaded the last of his ammunition, quickly dropping the empty clip into his pocket for refilling if he survives, and slapped another in. As he drew back the bolt, he felt his back run into something hard.
His eyes met those of the Pinsir at the exact same time.
Fortunately, Klyner was a touch quicker on the uptake, and the stock of his rifle rose to meet the Pinsir's head with bone-crushing force.
Unfortunately, bone-crushing force isn't enough against the sturdy skin of such an animal. It did, however, stagger back, giving Klyner time to raise the barrel of his weapon and deal the disabling blow in a burst of ammunition.
As he stepped back to reassess the situation, he saw the first enemy riders sweep into town. On the backs of Arcanines, the armoured troops swept through the spread out defenders almost without a fight. There was, however, a bit of a fight.
Men rushed out of houses, wielding their rifles with their special bayonets mounted on the end. Each was composed of two electrodes, between which very high voltages of electricity arced. Placed in the path of charging Arcanines, the result was, more often than not, many flailing, flying riders and a good few pokémon tumbling to the ground, unconscious for long periods of time.
Behind Klyner, a panicked voice shouted “ Captain Ketchum! Captain Ketchum! Where's the Captain?”
As Klyner turned to answer, the fist of a Hitmonchan knocked him into oblivion.
**
A week earlier, Professor Elm and Professor Oak had been standing in a meeting room, in a conference centre off Victory road, smiling benignly as they tried to settle their differences.
“You understand, surely,” said Oak, “that we cannot simply turn over our research to you. Of course, the furthering of knowledge about pokémon is both our goals, but I need to get the scientific grants for something. Especially now that my one-time star field researcher, Ash Ketchum, is retiring from the business.”
“Of course,” answered Elm, without a twitch in his seemingly frozen smile, “but nonetheless, we can't stay at odds forever. It's my impression that you just want the title of 'Centre of Pokémon Research' to stay in Pallet Town, and not evolve to a new centre. We can't have that, everyone knows that evolution is the place to be.”
If Oak caught the slight self-flattery inherent in that last sentence, he showed no sign as he answered : “No, of course I mean nothing of the sort. Nevertheless, the new fossils will stay in Pewter City, where they belong, until I am fully satisfied with the outcome.”
Elm finally lost his calm, leaning forward, placing his palms on the small table that separated them, and lowering his voice as he said : “I have connections, Oak. Don't make me use them. I'm not the only person in Johto who has had enough of this... this... this Tauros-dung from your office. We deserve a role in the new scientific discoveries, just as much as you do!”
Oak's smile still did not slip, as he himself leaned forward and said : “Perhaps you would care to discuss that with the hundreds of Kantoans who would loudly argue that what is found in Kanto, belongs to Kanto. Now you go back to your own research on your little Unown, and publish another re-write of what you've been saying all along. It seems to have satisfied thus far.”
Oak's smile widened a bit, without warming a degree above its original absolute zero, as he spun and headed for the door.
**
A few days later, the first troops had swept across the border. The men of Johto had been roused to the summons to defend their inherent rights, and had been equipped with the latest technology from Professor Elm, the JNLW-5, or the Johtoan Non-Lethal Weapon model 5. Each fired small 5mm slugs at low velocity and charged with enough electricity to stun even a Nidoking for a few hours. Within minutes, they had secured Victory road and were awaiting the signal from Pallet town to advance.
At that very moment, even though the sun had not yet shown more than a quarter of its lively face, the 25-year-old Ash Ketchum was awakening to a day of peace and quiet with his pokémon. He had finally decided to take a rest from the near-ridiculous amount of traveling he had gone through a year ago, and he was decidedly enjoying it. Certainly, the adventures were a bit lacking in his life, but at least he got to relax. I mean, seriously. What was that? One huge boss battle a year, for about thirteen years? About time he got some rest.
He headed downstairs, careful not to rouse his mother. Goodness knows, if he did, she'd probably buy him another useless berry with his carefully squirreled away savings he had so unwisely put under her care at the beginning of his adventures. And so, treading carefully, he stepped into the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of cereal.
Something thumped onto the counter, and without looking up, he answered : “'Morning, Pikachu.”. A delighted squeak answered, and as his lips twitched up in a slight smile, Ash raised his fingers to his lips in a request for silence, which merely prompted another, more indignant, squeak. As he left the fridge, he left the ketchup bottle on the counter to distract his long-time companion while he ate.
It was when he began to wash the dishes that things went wrong.
Of course, the usual reflections on how he should probably move out of his mother's house sooner or later came up, but it was the fact that the dawn's early light suddenly reached a noontime level of intensity that roused him from his still rather drowsy state.
He turned and, forgetting for a moment that he was dressed in nothing more than an undershirt and his boxer shorts, and opened the door to step onto his patio.
As Pikachu ran up against his legs, he looked up to see the Electrode on a parachute floating down and discharging electricity, bathing Pallet town in an eerie, yet extremely bright, blue light.
“Pika?”
“I'm not sure either, but we'd better get ready for today...”
He ran inside to fetch his baseball cap and, after a moment's reflection, pants, then returned downstairs, where he could already hear shouts from the direction of the water.
“Move up, staggered formation.”
“Coming up on the left!”
“What the heck?”
That last was from Ash's next door neighbor, who stepped outside, rubbing his eyes. Immediately following that comment, however, there was two sharp pops, accompanied by flashes from a nearby bush, and the man fell twitching to the ground. Ash's eyes widened, but years of encounters with Team Rocket had honed his reflexes.
“Quick, Pikachu, use thunderbolt!”
As the night lit up ever more to the squeals of Pikachu, and yellow lighting ignited a series of trees on its way to the source of the disturbance, Ash heard exactly what he did not expect to hear :
“Holy...! Get that thing, now!”
Instead of the slightly condescending, aristocratic accents of the Team Rocket cronies he ordinarily encountered, the voice of his opponent was pure Johtoan backwoods. Before he could give than any more thought, however, a series more pops went off, and Pikachu fell backwards, tumbling head over heels. As Ash rushed to help, yelling “Are you all right, old buddy?, Come on pal!”, the voice from the bushes shouted again, “On the ground! Get on the ground now!”
People began emerging from their homes, and being violently restrained to the walls. The seeming leader of the group went to the centre of town, and shouted “Where is the lab of Professor Oak?”
One of the cowed citizens pointed to the lab, and a group of soldiers rushed to the door, just as Ash reached Pikachu. “Are you alright? Come on, come on!” Though he still felt a pulse, it was faint, and he knew Pikachu was out cold. At that moment, a pair of rough hands wrestled his arms behind his back and began driving him towards his home, just as a loud sound came from Oak's lab.
“VOOOOLLLLLLTOOOOORRRRBBBBBBB!”
An explosion blew from behind Ash, and staggered the man holding his arms just enough for Ash to wrench himself free and drive his knee into the man's gut. He ran to retreive Pikachu, and heard, through someone's door, the opening notes of Oak's “Pokémon Talk”. Oak's voice came on over the radio left on in someone's lounge, with a far more commanding note than the usually benevoilent one that accompanied this show.
“Citizens of Kanto! As you may or may not already know, the inhabitants of Johto are unhappy at their inability to find their own fossils to study, and have decided, as rightly they should, that our own are better. The problem resides in the fact that they want to take them by force. It is for this reason that I address you tonight from Saffron city. No, not from my native Pallet town, which is probably already in the hands of the invaders. It is for this reason that I ask you to rise, and defend your rights. The tools to do this should already be being distributed in your home towns right now. All pokémon, hear this : We are behind you! I wish you only the best, as I ever have, and trust you to do the right thing and help your trainers defend their homes. Thank you all. Goodnight.”
Ash could not believe this folly. How could this happen? But that was unimportant. As rain began to fall, he grabbed his bicycle, and made for the pokécentre in Viridian city, where he could hopefully get Pikachu back into shape. As he drove into the forest, slapping through mud puddles and soaking himself, he had a brief recollection of his past, and smiled at the strange parallel. Unfortunately, the danger was as real then as it was now, and he pedaled with renewed fervour.
Also unfortunately, he fell into the same trap as before as well. As his bike flew off of the ledge, and he lost his grip again, he feared that this time, he'd really gone and done it. He had not, however.
His cycling skills had improved considerably since his days as an impressionable 10-year-old, and he landed what had become simply an interesting jump to him without a fault. His problems were far from over, though. As the rain began to clear, he could hear noise from ahead already.
Shouts, growls, and staccato pops reached his ears, but he did not slow, he had a pokémon to save.
He plowed into town at top speed, ignoring the projectiles whizzing past his head, and leapt off of the bike with astonishing agility, scooping up his friend in one hand as the doors to the Centre opened, and setting his bicycle down with the other. “Can you help him?” he asked, panting, as he reached the counter. Nurse Joy, though she seemed a little discomfited, agreed instantly and brought Pikachu behind her desk, but Ash had already faded out.
He walked to the glass doors and looked out, and what he saw amazed him. Hydro Cannons and Hyper Beams were already levelling houses, and as Spearows battled Pidgeots in the skies above, small pokémon battles appeared to have cropped up everywhere in the streets, although trainer intervention was much more of an accepted fact than what he remembered.
In fact, the men in Dark blue uniforms that were leapfrogging through the streets seemed more than content to knock out each and every pokémon and trainer who came their way with their strange implements of battle. Even as he stood behind the glass, Ash witnessed a man with a red armband rush around the Corner of the centre, followed by a Charmeleon, and begin firing upon the men in the street. About half of them fell to his bullets before he himself was dropped, but it was, in fact, the Charmeleon which did the most damage. It ran into the fray, ramming soldiers into walls and throwing them down roads, even as it sprayed flames in a random pattern around it, painting walls and igniting plants with its Flamethrower. It was swiftly put down, however, and the limp form was pushed out of the road.
Nurse Joy ran up behind Ash, and handed him his Pikachu, saying : “It's really rather simple to deal with those injuries, just inject one of these stimulants,” and she handed him three needles, “and it should wake your Pikachu up in no time. Now,” and her expression darkened with these words, “go get them.”
Though he felt somewhat at odds with the new aggression he sensed in the normally so peaceful Joy, he agreed with the thought. What else could he do? These people had shot Pikachu. In fact, Pikachu was wriggling in his arms, trying to get at the door.
Ash put on his fighting face, and spun his hat around. Just like the good old days. Pikachu recognized the motion, and finally leapt out if his arms with a loud “Pikapika!”
As the doors slid open again, He stepped out, and noted the instrument in the hands of the man who had been hit just outside the door. It had a familiar ring to it. Then he remembered an old project of the Professors' around the lands. They had wanted to develop an instrument to facilitate the disabling of dangerous pokémon when they were a threat, and to help when trying to tag new species. Also, it reminded him a lot of the old gun he used to play Duck Hunt with on his NES with before heading out on his first adventure.
He hefted it, and grabbed the sack of metal containers slung around the man's shoulders, noting that they looked like the ammunition. With a curt nod to Pikachu, he said “Let's do this, old buddy,” and hurried down the road. The sight that greeted him was one of pure mayhem. Pokémon fought pokémon in vicious streetfights, pokéballs flashed, and bursts of fire jetted from the rifles of men and, in some cases, women crouched among piles of garbage and stone thrown from walls.
A Nidoking with a blue necker rushed out from an alley, taking the walls of the neighboring houses with it on its arms. It thrashed about, throwing a parked car into the air with a loud growl. The car fell back down, upside-down, cutting off a fight between a Scyther in mid-swing and a cowering Sandslash. Ash spun around, and yelled : “Pikachu, use Thund-” but was cut off as the lightning arced through the air before he could even finish. One could tell they had been working together for so long.
The lightning simply glanced off of the enraged Nidoking, however, and the beast turned ponderously to face the impudent duo currently occupying a stretch of the street it had so rightly claimed as its own.
Ash could do nothing more but raise the rifle and squeeze his fingers tight, and for approximately three-quarters of a second, 5mm-wide projectiles blasted out of the barrel and spun through the air, accelerated by the small black powder charge packed behind them, turned about by the grooves in the barrel for increased stability, and causing the air to crackle as their internal generators began building up a charge. As the bullets hit, they did not penetrate, their mainly conductive-putty-based structure splattering and blowing apart on impact, but bright blue sparks and lightning bolts appeared at every impact point for a fraction of a second each time, indicating the immense transfer of electrical energy to the violent pokémon's body.
By the time Ash re-opened his eyes, realizing the noise from his rifle had subsided, the Nidoking had hit the ground, out cold.
Ash regained his wits, and rushed forward, Pikachu leaping onto his shoulder in the age-old sign of camaraderie. As he turned a corner, he came up behind a group of trainers, all of their pokéballs empty, firing into a street. One of them turned, and his eyes widened.
“You're that Trainer, the famous one, Ash Ketchum, right?”
“I guess so, yeah,” Ash answered, rubbing the back of his neck out of slight embarassment.
“Sweet! I'm Klyner, I'm from Viridian. Here, I mean. Hey, when we're done playing war, you think you could teach me a few tricks? That's my Geodude, out there.”
Klyner pointed to a Geodude, floating over a few unconscious, blue-armoured men, and punching out yet another as he turned a corner.
Ash smiled, and answered : “Yeah, sure, but after, okay?”
Klyner's innocent smile grew. “Cool! Thanks!”
As more soldiers turned the corner, however, they were forced to redirect their attention. As the others began firing, Ash raised his own rifle and said to Pikachu “Pikachu, get to the rooftops and watch out for others around us, okay?”
Pikachu gave him a curt nod, and bounded up a drain pipe. Ash squeezed his trigger, and nothing happened. As a droplet of sweat ran down his forehead, and he gave his weapon a puzzled glance, Klyner's hand reached over and flipped a lever. The box under the rifle popped out, and Klyner slapped in another from Ash's appropriated pouch.
“Now just pull back the bolt on the side to 'chamber' the first bullet.”
Ash gave him a quick thank-you nod, and tried to hide his blush as he began firing. Unfortunately, he had never been very good at Duck Hunt, so many of his bullets went wide, blowing tiny splinters of rock out of the wall behind the 'enemy'. Nevertheless, the Geodude, being a stone-type, was able to take plenty of hits, and he effectively neutralized about half of the group of enemies before they could respond, and they ran just as quickly.
“Sun's going down,” remarked Ash, as he looked to the horizon in the direction of Johto.
“Well, we've got ourselves a regular navy captain here, eh? Read the stars, too?” piped in one of the others in their little group. She was a medium height woman, with a diagonal belt of pokéballs strung across one shoulder to the opposite hip. Her brown hair was tied up in one neat ponytail, and her piercing blue eyes mocked Ash in every possible way. They were still lightened by the flash of recognition that suddenly cropped up, but only for a moment.
“Well, Captain Ketchum,” she continued, obliquely acknowledging her knowledge of his identity, “why don't you join us. We've got a Poké Fan Clubhouse in a basement near here, and the fighting seems to be quieting down. We can rest there for the night.”
And so they retired to the basement, and began brewing up some hot coffee. Ash grabbed a mug, and wandered over to the couch shaped like a line of Clefairies where Klyner was sitting, and throwing treats to his Geodude. Pikachu was already satiating his hunger in a corner. It just so happened that he had disabled a squad of soldiers sneaking up on the group of newfound friends, and so was rewarded with a platter of candies.
Klyner looked up as Ash showed up, his smile broadening.
“Hey! That was fun today, huh?”
“Well, it was interesting,” Ash answered somewhat conservatively, grinning as he fell onto the almost sinfully comfortable sofa. A thought occurred to him, and he turned again to ask “So, how old are you, anyway?”
“Eleven,” Klyner answered with a smile, “I was going to get out of Viridian soon, but my mom was holding me back out of 'love'.” That last comment was accompanied by a grimace, which solicited a welcome chuckle from Ash.
“So, who're the other two?” Ash asked, and Klyner hurried to answer.
“Well, the other guy is Joanes, he's 14, and he's my next-door neighbor.”
The young man called Joanes turned and waved with a smile, his short brown bangs waving in front of his eyes as he did so.
“The girl, well, she's -”
Klyner was cut off mid-sentence as the girl in question hopped onto a Togepi seat across from them and interjected.
“She's Rayna, if it's any of your business, Captain. 18 years old, has a full set of badges, and runs this branch of the Fan Club.”
“And she's not usually this grouchy, either. I think her Eevee didn't cuddle her hard enough this morning.” Klyner stuck out his tongue with the last comment, which prompted a reddening of her cheeks and a startled “I told you, I stopped sleeping with my Eevee two years ago!”
Joanes laughed as he sat on the Voltorb carpet, and even Ash was caught up in the moment. Little did he know things were to go downhill from there.
**
The next day, the Johtoans attacked again, with renewed vigor. The fighting lasted for about half the day, during which the new “Captain” began to make a name for himself as a brave and impetuous lad, for someone so much visibly older than the other trainers. This pattern of fight, sleep, fight, sleep was quite new and exhausting to the inhabitants of the so-often peaceful land, but continued for three more days. On the third, as the sun rose, Klyner was crouching among the ruins of the Gym. By the time the sun had fully uncovered itself, the Kantoans had finally abandoned their fortifications, and Klyner woke up in the arms of Rayna.
A thoroughly not-too-uncomfortable feeling, he noted, though only in a purely platonic fashion.
She, however, seemed to think differently, since once she felt him shift and smile, he hit the ground, hard.
“Good, you can walk. Get up, the Captain and his Pikachu are delaying the Johtoans in Pewter city, but most people are running to Mt. Moon, where the militia from Cerulean will meet us.”
“Oh, okay. Where's Joanes?”
“Just up ahead. The Arcanines tried to cut us off in the woods, and he's clearing the way with his Rhydon.”
“Oh, alright.”
He stood, brushing himself off, and accepted the weapon and ammunition thrust into his arms.
“By the way,” Rayna said, as she headed out ahead of him, “Sorry about the Hitmonchan.”
“No problem,” he shouted as he hurried to catch up.
**
Ash hid in yet another bush, waiting for the enemy to arrive. He knew for a fact that they would lead up with another swarm of Beedrills, so Pikachu was in the tree branch above him, cheeks sparkling with pent-up energy.
Finally, the buzzing reached his ears, and he said “Ready up, Pikcahu.”
The answer that came back had a distinct ring of 'What, you think I'm stupid?' to it.
The swarm showed itself with stunning speed. The Johtoans had found a pheromone which made Beedrills extremely aggressive, and another that diverted their attention entirely. The former, they had liberally sprinkled over the forest from Pidgeottos, and the latter, they had coated their clothing in. That meant the native Beedrills were out for a fight, and not with the right team.
As the swarm approached Ash's position, he stood up, waving his arms.
“Hey, over here! Yeah, over here, you stupid insects!”
The swarm turned as one, spurred either by his presence or his insults, though his pokédollars would rest on the first option, and approached. His raised left hand tapped Pikachu's foot, and the sky lit up. Electric bolts flew in every direction, and most of the Beedrills fell to the ground, instantly stunned. The rest retreated. Enraged, they were. Stupid, they were not.
The Johtoans, however, were another matter. Pikachu's squeal revelaed the approach of a unti of infantry, and Ash dropped back into his hiding spot, leaning his rifle up in the v-shape he had constructed from branches. Through the practice he had gotten over the last few days, Ash reflected, he could probably triple all his high scores at Duck Hunt now. His lips twitched as he began to fire, allocating three shots to every enemy who showed his face.
Of course, this whole business was as distasteful to him as to any other person, maybe even more, but he did see the necessity to defend their intellectual sovereignty. Normally, over the course of his adventures, he found a peaceful solution and talked things out over a quick duel. These opponents, however, had introduced a far different way of solving problems, and it had far less of a satisfying result.
That was why he and Pikachu needed to continue throwing twitching people to the floor of this small forested patch behind Pewter City.
As this next group stopped coming, though, he knew they had found out his latest hiding spot, and he had to go.
“Alright, Pikachu, we'd better catch up with everyone at Mt. Moon. They should have set up some of the defenses by now.”
Pikachu leapt down onto his shoulder, and he began jogging back through the woods.
**
“Get that stupid rock in position! Are the Gravelers up the hill yet? Starmie, good job carving out the firing ports, you down there, get some Geodudes to haul sharpshooters upstairs.”
Misty, gym leader of Cerulean city, stood on an outcropping of Mt. Moon, and demonstrated her hard-headedness and the temper she was often notorious for very well in her new role as leader of the Cerulean defensive line.
She had changed relatively little in terms of personality than Ash remembered, but her looks had certainly matured, just as Ash had. Her shorts had lengthened to full blue jeans, and her flaming red hair was now worn long and across the back of her yellow tank top. Ash smiled as he stood at the foot of the rock wall separating the two halves of Route 4.
And yet, as he removed his cap to wipe his brow and reflect on 'the good ol' days', Misty shouted down at him :
“You! Yeah, you, with the corny outdated baseball cap! Why aren't you working? Don't you have something to do?”
He smiled, and shouted back :
“Yeah, I missed you too, Misty!”
Her eyes widened, and she laughed as she slid down the rock face.
“Ash! Pikachu! Well well, long time no see! Seriously, weren't you going to visit me more often?”
“Ah, a guy tries, but...” He raised his hands in a sign of exasperation.
“Your mum, eh? Did she ever stop buying you those stupid berries?”
“No...” He shook his head and they both laughed.
“Nonetheless, don't you have something to do?”
“Yeah, I'll get right to it. We can talk again later?”
“Yep, see ya!”
Ash waved back as he replaced his cap, and headed to the group of familiar people in the corner, one of whom was egging on a Geodude which was hauling troops up to the ledges being dug by various water pokémon.
“Hey! Klyner, Joanes, Rayna!”
Rayna was the first to turn, and she answered with a typically sarcastic “Ahoy, Captain!”
The corners of Ash's mouth turned up, and he shook his head.
“Hello, my sarcastic young friend.”
“How kind,” she answered with a grin, as she turned back. Joanes turned to him, giving Ash time to notice a new burn across his face, and asked :
“So how long do we have?”
Ash shook his head, and answered with a somewhat noncommital “Who knows?”
Joanes chuckled and nodded, and Klyner lost a touch of his confidence.
“Shouldn't we? I mean, know?”
Ash turned and answered “Oh, come on, you know how it works. Of course we should. But we won't. Not until they get here. At that moment, and call me psychic if you want, but I can already guarantee that there will be no time left before they arrive.”
That even solicited a laugh from Rayna, which raised a short flush of pride from Ash, to his surprise. Obviously the conflict had drawn them together far more than any other activities they may have engaged in before the 'war'.
And it was going to draw them even closer, at this rate. Above, Pidgeottos soared, and small bomblets began falling around them. All around, people started running into the caves, or their assigned stone enclaves. Misty waved to Ash and his friends, and they quickly climbed up the one section of somewhat smooth stone, a path made recently to prevent travellers being accidentally attacked by wild pokémon in the caves. When they reached the top, a couple of Hitmonlees kicked rocks over the path to prevent later troops climbing up.
On reaching the top, Ash heard a loud clickety-clack as Misty loaded a rifle. She also had two more, pre-loaded, sitting on a stone in front of her. To one side, her Staryu aimed one of its points at the path and Starmie waited on the other side.
Minutes later, a Rhyhorn broke through the forest, with four people on its back. Three out of four were quickly thrown off of its back by fire from the pre-placed snipers, and the last one prepared to ride the Rhyhorn away. Staryu interrupted his plans, however, by firing its water gun in the beast's path, and distracting it long enough for more blue flashes to crop up across its skin, and it fell to the ground, spasming.
Enemy troops flowed from the forest, and more fire began erupting from the cliffside. Fire also erupted from the forest, as Cyndaquils rushed forwards, torching plants and spewing flame at rocks. Ash shouldered his rifle, and the squeezing of the trigger proceeded to lay a line of ammunition across the path of the Cyndaquils, sending them tumbling end over end. As the forest burned, the sun's path took it behind some clouds near the horizon, and everything darkened, the only source of light in the dim grey land becoming the forest's blazing crown.
Misty, Ash noticed out of the corner of his eye was using a far more effective technique to put forward bullets at a stunning rate. Every time her rifle clicked, as the hammer flew forward to collide only with air rather than a gunpowder-filled cartridge, she tossed it over her shoulder to a waiting helper from her Gym who would load it and position it, then grabbed one of the pre-loaded ones leaning on the rock in front of her at just such an angle that her hand could simply lower and squeeze, to begin firing as the rifle lifted. Typical Misty, of course. All fury, and little accuracy. Though Ash knew that wasn't a completely apt description, it fit well enough.
The Johtoans rushing forwards gave up soon enough, unable to challenge the volume of fire coming forwards, and one blew a whistle. Seconds later, a herd of Tauros charged towards the cave, and more Beedrills flew up towards the ridge.
As Ash, Misty, Klyner, Joanes and Rayna struggled to hold off the Beedrills, Ash noted with a detached part of his mind the happenings across the rest of the battlefield. Along the ridge, troops with red armbands wielded their rifles more like baseball bats, since after they unloaded all of their ammo, they didn't want to risk reloading with the Beedrills humming about. Those who missed their step or their swing were rolling down the other side of the ridge, thrown away by vengeful insects.
Down the cliff, the view was rather reassuring. The Gravelers posted along the cliff side had begun rolling down, and were carving paths through the mix of stampeding Tauros and soldiers. The sharpshooters were still firing down, and the charge was slowly dying off. For now.
The tide turned when the Beedrills left. Ash noticed at the last minute that they had only been meant to distract the defenders. Voltorbs attached to the bottoms of Tauros rolled forward now, detached, and began exploding all along the foot of Mt. Moon, causing momentous collapses and throwing sharpshooters out of their perches to be caught by the Starmie and Staryu still flying and spraying enemies.
Allied Pidgeottos flew overhead to begin harassing the enemy, but soldiers were already charging into the caves. Ash turned, his eyes wide, as dust and smoke from Mt. Moon's disfigured side reached them, and his gaze met Misty's hardened glare.
“What do we do?” Ash asked, trying to sound as confident as ever, as much for his sake as for that of Klyner, who, despite his cold outside look, Ash knew to be dying inside.
Misty shook her head, and answered, “The inside is a dreadful maze, and every corner is fortified, but they'll get through. So now, come on, Ash, any bright ideas from you, or do I need to do all the work?”
Before Ash could answer with a snippy comment of his own, he heard a shout of “See ya, Captain!” from behind him.
Everyone turned quickly to see that Rayna was halfway down the cliff, an Electrode in hand.
“What are you doing?” Ash shouted as loud as he could, though his throat was incredibly irritated by the floating dust.
When he didn't get an answer, he sighed, and resigned himself to shooting to covr her from the remaining Johtoans in the charred treeline. Her plan grew quite apparent quite quickly, however.
The Electrode leapt out of her hand, and flew over the entrance to the caves of Mt. Moon, and finished what the Voltorbs had started. The cavern's entrance collapsed in a thunderous crash, as the Electrode self-destructed on impact. She then turned and began firing as she ran for the cliff to try climbing back up.
What happened next seemed to go in slow motion.
One soldier stood up from behind the darkened, charred stump of a tree, raising his rifle, and his finger tightened twice. Had Ash been superhuman, he would have seen the two rounds flying through the air, on an unstoppable glide towards Rayna's centre of mass. What he did see, though, was the twin flashes as she was projected sideways, and her body crumpling on impact with the stony road.
Just as Ash was firing to drop the man who had just shot his newfound friend, and heading for the edge, to rush to her aid, he was cut off by Klyner, who, uttering an inaudible scream, ran over the edge straight towards her.
Klyner was almost to Rayna's limp form when he was hit from the side by a panicked Tauros, unseen until then as it had been hiding under a pile of loose stones.
Klyner flew sideways, landing only a few metres short of the treeline. Seeing their chance, a couple of soldiers ran out, grabbed his collar, and began dragging him back as a prisoner. One of them fell, twitching, as Ash hit him directly in the neck, but the other got Klyner to the trees.
“No!” shouted both Ash and Joanes, but they returned their attention to Rayna.
The Tauros had already bolted, but a new unknown form was nearby. This one was human, however, and was bending over her. Before Misty and Joanes had let loose with their weapons, however, Ash stepped in.
“Wait, he's wearing an armband!”
The other two hesitantly lowered their weapons as they realized the truth of the last statement, and watched as the new man heaved Rayna onto his shoulder and ran for a heap of newly-made rubble. While his right arm kept Rayna lined up on his shoulder, his left hefted his lengthy rifle, marking him as one of the sharpshooters from the cliffside, and fired it in the direction of the trees.
Ash began to move for the edge of the cliff to help the others, but Misty grabbed him by the arm, her expression severe.
“Now don't you go getting yourself stuck down there too. Did you forget that we blocked the pathways to get up?”
Ash frowned, but stepped back again, and Joanes said loudly :
“Well, we can't just leave her down there!”
his point was underscored as a new set of enemies charged, but then was undermined as they were shown to be carrying ladders. They were coming for the ridge, to reconnect Route 4's halves.
As they began to fire again, they realized a quite inconvenient truth : they were practically out of ammo. Faced with Misty's pointed glance, her aide simply shrugged apologetically. The concern was really showing in their faces now, but Ash turned and shouted “PIKACHU!”
Pikachu came running from where he had been firing lightning into the cave, before it had collapsed, and came to attention at Ash's feet.
“Quick, Pikachu, hit 'em!”
Pikachu nodded and squeaked, then ran to the edge and began firing thunderbolts down at the ladders, which the enemy had so politely made of metal just for them. Entire rows of enemies flew away, but a group of Cubones near the side of the formation began throwing their bones up at the cliffside, one of them hitting Pikachu right in the head.
At that same time, behind them, the sounds of combat intensified from the cavern exit from Mt. Moon, meaning the enemy were far too close to the exit.
A Sudowoodoo quickly leapt from the rocks, accompanied by a Bayleaf, to begin flattening the Cubones, just as the man came out, pistol in one hand and bayonet in the other. Every soldier he touched with his bayonet flew back in a puff of smoke, and the pistol in his left hand continued barking and throwing soldiers around.
“Oh my...” Said Misty, as the results of the man's unexpected berzerker charge hammered home, and the other side of the formation cut and ran for the woods.
Ash removed his hat and wiped his forehead, a smile spreading across his face as the man yelled :
“That's right, run for your lives, you rotten Rattata-spawn!”
The man then reclaimed his rifle from his back, and began landing shots in the smalls of the retreating enemies' backs. He then turned, and ran back to his hiding spot.
Ash was bent over Pikachu, spraying potion onto its head and speaking softly to it. Misty was comforting her extremely frightened young aide, and Joanes was gathering string to throw down to the two isolated at the bottom.
When the rope was ready, the aide was running to order the evacuation of Cerulean to the newly constructed defenses around Saffron, and Pikachu was awake again. Over the edge of the cliff climbed the man, with Rayna on his shoulder.
His image as the tough-guy hero was finally shattered, though, when he fell over, panting heavily at the effort of climbing the rope. Rayna, however, was mostly awake, and said :
“Are we there yet? When can I move my legs again?”
“You... you... puff... you can move... in like... puff... like, a few minutes... just give the medicine a bit... puff.”
Joanes crouched next to Rayna, as Ash put his foot on the man's chest.
“Arg! Don't do... puff... that, can't you see I'm trying to catch my breath here?”
“Who are you?”
“Norin, I'm from Violet City.”
“Wait, isn't that in Johto??” Ash looked around. He'd been away from adventuring for too long, and he had already forgotten most of the smaller places in Johto. So sue me, he thought, it was, like, the second place I went!
Misty, however, nodded gravely, and her expression hardened yet again, as she reached down to grab the man's collar and heft him up.
“Woah there, easy, don't kill me!” He raised his arms over his eyes, and Misty prepared to tear a strip off him in her classic fashion, but Ash intervened.
“Look, he was on the cliffside, he can tell us his story later, but they've almost finished in the caves, so we'd better make sure we aren't between the two halves of the enemy army when we talk.”
Though she seemed VERY reluctant to agree, Misty deposited the man on his own to feet, and looked him over. He was of about average height, with a portly, but not fat, build, and carefully cropped dark hair. A mustache was carefully twirled under his nose, and tan lines showed that he had once worn quite large glasses, but they were nowhere to be seen. And besides, e had performed quite... brilliantly down there. Before she could even turn away in her well-trained impression of disdain, though, the man took a huge punch across the face from Joanes.
“Darn you all, Johtoans! Where's Klyner?”
“What the...?!?” Norin reached for his bayonet, but Rayna, of all people, intervened.
“Come on, boys, let's get along. He did fine, and he's obviously not on their team.”
“Yeah,” Misty added, to Joanes' consternation.
Norin got back to his feet, turned up his nose, and shook Rayna's hand.
“Thank you. I knew I saved you for some reason.” The twinkle in his eyes took away the sting in the words, and he also took the time to smile and nod at Misty.
Ash didn't miss the blush that came to each woman's cheeks as they were acknowledged, and felt an unfamiliar pang. He had no time to reflect, however, as Norin hopped down the reverse slope, and began meandering down the road. Misty followed suit, but Rayna and Joanes gazed off towards the forest where their longtime friend had disappeared. Ash headed out with them, and, with the sun setting behind them, they began plotting, in hushed voices, how to end the war.
End of Part 1