Missingno.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters or world of Pokemon. I'm just writing about them.

Prolougue:

"Mysterious attacks have been hitting all across the Kanto and Johto regions…."

"Witnesses claim the explosions appeared out of thick fog…."

"As these incidents have occurred, the pokemon of the area have acted strangely…."

"Currently the attacks have hit Cinnabar Island, Safron, Fussia, Celadon, Veridian, Cianwood, and Blackthorn City.

"Officials are puzzled to whether this is the cause of terrorist, pokemon, or possibly both…

(Just a little fyi, this takes place right after the Johto leagues and the splitting up of Ash Misty and Brock. He is leaving Pallet Town and heading to the port to Sea Form Island. Enjoy!)

Chapter 1

Ash Ketchum and his most trusted pokemon pikachu walked slowly away from the place where he grew up. As excited as he was to start another journey, he constantly couldn't believe it was just him and pikachu. Brock was no longer there to lug over girls, and talk hours about what he was cooking later that evening. Misty wasn't there to point out his faults, hose down his ego…glance at him with those eyes. His eyes thickened with tears as he took each step. Pikachu lightly brushed aside its own inner feeling in attempting to comfort Ash. Wow, I never really thought we would just split up. I don't really know what it's like to be on a journey without them, especially her. Why didn't I say anything? Why didn't I give a decent good bye? We really had something, but we could have had more, even if it were just more time together. Large drops of Ash's tears finally dropped across his crimson cheek and onto the dirt covered ground. His footprints were joined by a trail of Ash's longing for his friends.

Pikachu noticed the remorse welling up in his master's eyes. The electric mouse caressed its golden fur against Ash's face, wiping away his tears. "Pika Pi."

Ash came to his senses; quickly wiping away his reddened face. While smiling lightly he looked up at his yellow companion, "Well Pikachu, it's just you and me again eh?"

"Pika!" The mouse hopped from Ash's shoulder to his head, knocking his hat over his eyes. Pikachu was Ash's best friend. This is what he wanted, what he needed. He was set, and he always had the forever promise of seeing Misty and Brock again. Ash's determination to be the best pokemon trainer heightened. He wasn't just now doing it for Pallet Town, but for his best friends.

Ash's ferry for Sea Form Island wasn't arriving for another week or so. He came to a fork in the road, and then looked down at his map. He saw that to the left he could take a short path down to the docks to Sea Form Island, and to the right he could take trip to Victory Road. He knew he had no intentions of going to the Indigo Plateau, however he did over hear Gary tell his grandfather that he caught some very strong pokemon there. It was then he decided to start heading towards the mountains around Victory Road. It wouldn't take too long, and he could add to his pokedex. "Well, pikachu do you think you're up to catching some pokemon?" Pikachu gave a nod in agreement.

As the pokemon trainer headed up the dusty road, he stopped at the pokemon center to inform Professor Oak that he was possibly going to be sending him new pokemon. As he walked in he saw

Nurse Joy. She and her relatives usually stand behind the counter of every pokemon center, assisting trainers with their pokemon. However now she seemed overwhelmed. Kids were everywhere bringing their pokemon in, complaining about something. He couldn't really hear, because Chansey were everywhere trying to calm them down as they carried pokemon into the other rooms of the center.

Ash sat down over at the videophones, he popped in quarters into the phone and dialed up Professor Oak. The green screen phased into a visual image of the professor. "Hey Professor, I'm over near New Port, and I think I'm going to head over to Victory Road to catch some Pokemon….Professor?"

Professor Oak was preoccupied, he was typing up apparently something very important on his computer. He didn't even realize his videophone was on. Sweat was pouring from his tanned brow; he brushed it aside quickly, as he reached for his cup of water.

"Professor, can you here me, it's me, Ash!" Ash waved his arms up and down so much that pikachu fell off from his shoulder.

The professor glanced up at Ash for a split second, and then deterred his attention back to his computer. "Oh, Ash is that you? Sorry, but I'm actually quite busy right now. The government of Kanto is having me research these incidences. They think it might be a pokemon. I'm looking into it." The professor continued typing as his eyes narrowed.

"Are you talking about the explosion? What about them? I know you said Cinnabar was hit before I left. But is the government really concerned? Could it be Team Rocket?" Ash darted his eyes at the screen. He jumped a bit when the professor finally drew his attention to him.

"Ash, the Cinnabar incident was much more extreme then expected. It wasn't just an explosion; it took apart half a city. They think it came from an abandoned laboratory, and a lab explosion of that size seems unreasonable, but at least gave an explanation on its origin. However, in the past few days there have been many other incidences similar to that. Not quite as large as the first but still, enough to draw attention." The professor leaned back in his seat with a dazed look on his face of worry.

"Were these just on Cinnabar Island?" Ash's attention was solely drawn to the screen.

"Oh dear heavens no," the Professor Oak turned his computer screen around. A vivid map of the Kanto and Johto region appeared. Little red dots flashed at cities across the screen. "You see Ash, within hours of each other, these attacks have been occurring. I'm almost certain it's some kind of pokemon, but there are no sightings of such a creature, and no evidences showing footprints."

Ash stood from his chair, "Well, what do the officials expect you to do? If you don't even know when the next attack will be or what it looks like, how can you study it?

"Well, apparently each of the cities involving these incidences says that there is a tremendously thick fog around the area at the time." The old man's eyes were closed tightly in thought.

"Do you think that could be something to do with the pokemon?" Ash and pikachu looked at each other with immense curiosity. There eyes were filled with ponder.

"Well, I don't really know. I'm looking into it, but for the time being can you please avoid any areas with a thick fog. Nothing has reached the Hohen region so I'm not too worried about you once your there. Please, contact your mother once you have reached your destination. She is constantly calling me wondering if letting you go was the greatest idea." The professor's eyes looked tired.

Ash nodded, "Well, I'll be keeping in touch with you more often. I'll be seeing you, and please tell my mom I'll be fine."

"Will do Ash," the professor already didn't take the time to get back to his computer. He once again was typing away. The screen went blank.

Ash's eyes closed as he fell deeply in his own subconscious. A new pokemon… A powerful one... I don't really know what to even say. Should I go back to Pallet Town? What if it hits Curulean City, or Pewter? I hope my friends will stay safe. They're smart enough to get out of danger. But what of this danger? Could this really be a pokemon?

Pikachu looked at him questioningly as he gazed up at his master. It wasn't soon that Ash was snapped out of his trance when a pink blob was standing next to him. He jumped.

"Chansey!" It was a Chansey holding a cup of coffee. "Chansey chance?" The steam rose from the cup as the Chansey offered it to him. The little pokemon eyes were glossy from the warm moisture of the coffee flowing into her face.

Ash smiled slightly, confusingly staring up and down at the egg bearing pokemon. "Thanks….Chansey, but I'm fine." He stood up grabbing his back pack and allowed pikachu to crawl up his arm onto his shoulder. "But, uh, thank you, I really appreciate it. I've never been offered coffee from a Chansey before." He chuckled uneasily.

The pink pokemon shrugged it nubs and began walking away as it drank the coffee itself. At that moment the Nurse Joy came up to him. "Sorry if that seemed strange to you, she just likes making coffee. Do you need help with anything?"

Ash shook his head, "Oh, no I'm fine. Pikachu and I were just going to do a little hiking." He peered around the center to see the kids calming down. "What was the commotion about?"

Joy leaned back against the wall, as her eyes were glossy with confusion. "I don't' really know. They say their pokemon aren't battling right? They're using attacks that they can't possibly learn. Like that child's Zubat; I was shock to see it use water gun. This is all so confusing. But, your pikachu is ok, right?"

Pikachu looked up at it's name, "Pi?"

Ash looked into his companions eyes, "I think so. Your ok, right Pikachu?"

The yellow pokemon gave a slight nod in agreement.

Ash and pikachu soon left the center. As they did, an old man came up to them. He was crouched down with half specks rested on the edge of his nose. He asked them, "Excuse me, would you like to know how to capture pokemon?"

Ash stared at the man. Who is this guy? "Uh, sorry I'm already a trainer I don't really need your help with catching." He laughed and awkwardly tried walking away, but the old man was persistent.

"Please, just a simple demonstration. Please, I'm really good at it!" His wrinkled face amazingly distorted itself to give a smile.

"Sorry, I'm fine!" Ash heightened his pace as he left the old man. "Bye!"

"Please, just make an old man happy!" He pulled out a pokeball. "I'll simply show you the basics on that Rattata over there in the bushes.

Ash looked at Pikachu and then slowly turned back to the old man, "Alright, I'll watch…"

The antique man walked up to the small purple rodent and simply through the ball.

Who does this guy thinks he's kidding. He didn't even try to weaken it! He doesn't even understand the basics of catching. Ash observed with the slightest bit of concern.

"There, you see, right in the ball. But, of course with others you may need to weaken them a bit. He began to chuckle to himself. The mere laughter looked like it would kill the guy.

"Ok, thanks for the tip! I'll keep in mind. Come on Pikachu." Ash then left quickly down the dusty road.

They began heading up the clay filled trail up to Victory Road. As he continued, it began getting damper and damper. The soles on his shoes were beginning to stick to the ground, the road slowly turned from dusty dirt to mud. His shoes were obtaining a terra cotta tinge to them as he trudged through it. The trees were getting thick, the air around him was getting colder, and the bleak air was getting heavier and heavier. Ash failed to notice the change. His eyes were getting a filled with moisture and began to tear up. He squinted as the brisk air blew through his thick black hair. When he finally came to his sense of where he was he looked around. "Well pikachu, you wouldn't consider this foggy would you? It's just the mountainous air right? We haven't even seen any pokemon yet, let's keep searching."

Pikachu looked around getting closer to Ash's neck; he needed the touch of his master for comfort. Suddenly, "Hey look Pikachu a Ponyta! You up for a fight?" Through the thick trees there was, what appeared to be a horse like creature with flames protruding from its main and tail. "Pikachu, thunderbolt now!"

Pikachu charged up and began attacking, however something wasn't right because flames began coming out of the electric mouse's body. "Pa-Pikachu?"

"What just happened?" Ash turned to his pokemon with immense confusion. "Was that a flamethrower? What's going on?" He turned his attention back to the Ponyta, and it slowly began to fade into a thick grey fog. It was everywhere, surrounding them. Suddenly a blue jellyfish flew passed him. Ash looked up, "A Tentacruel?" As he looked around, Pikachu and he were in a daze. Ash was beginning to feel the ground shake from underneath him. Not too long after did a Grimer morph out of the ground and began to sludge up his leg. Ash's foot felt like he just placed it into a bucket of iced water, as his entire leg tensed up. "What?" Pikachu shot an icebeam to the purple sludge, it froze instantly, and broke into millions of pieces. "Ice bea-" The fog thickened, the air was heavy. Ash could barely breath, his lunges began to freeze from inside of him, he grabbed his chest and began to pant. Swaying back and forth he tried to clutch onto a tree, the dizziness over took his ability to grasp reality. He felt like he was in a dream. "Pa-Pickachu….where are you?" He tried listening for his friend but only could hear this humming noise that came from all around him.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm….." The deep voice was loud and came from the tree's, from the sky, the ground, the fog. Ash tried yelling out to Pickachu but his own voice was swallowed. "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm." He held his ears shut, and tried looking all around him but slowly his lungs were screaming in pain, his legs felt like they were on shaky ground while he saw faint signs of those random pokemon. "Pika…." He gasped for air, the atmosphere was much too thick, and suddenly the mysterious voice increased in volume, "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!" A large crashing noise occurred; the side of the mountain was collapsing in an avalanche. Debris fell from the sky as large rock pelted the ground. The magnitude alone caused trees to fall over. Ash couldn't see anything, but only hear the humming, "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…."

He bent over and pulled out an empty pokeball. Even in his dazed state Ash only could think of saving Pikachu. I can't see him anywhere, where did he go. I need to find him. This thing is killing me. I can't breath. Pikachu forgive me, this is the only way I know you'll be safe. Please be here. "Pikchu, return into your ball, please! Pika…get in your ball I beg you!" Ash's sides were aching all over, his eyes were refusing to stay open, but he screamed as loud as he could. He was on the ground; the debris had finished landing. SLAM! A branch from the tree behind him fell right on his right arm, and knocked the pokeball right out. The second it hit the ground, it opened and a red tint fused into the fog as it pulled it all into the ball.

It was quiet. The fog was gone, and Ash could only see trees fallen everywhere. "What just happened?" His pain was gone; the horror was gone, the voice… gone. "Pikachu, where are you!" He called out; his voice now rejuvenated to it broad self.

The electric pokemon poked it head out from under fallen debris. "Pika pi!" Ash quickly hastened over to the pile of rubble and he pushed aside rock and branches to get to his pokemon.

"Pikachu, I'm glad you're all right!" He held his pokemon close. He couldn't believe he was holding his friend again. His eyes then went to a stern look, "Do you think that was the pokemon Professor Oak was telling us about. I…I think I…." he looked over to the pokeball on the ground, "caught it!" He ran over, pikachu hopped onto his shoulder as he picked up the pokeball. I wonder if it's really inside. Did I, could I really have caught it…is that possible?

He held the glossy ball up to the sun, when suddenly it opened. Not only was the fog coming back out, but it hovered directly around Ash. He tried screaming, but his breath was as if it was stolen. "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm….." It was consuming him; it was a part of him. It entered his body forcefully. It felt like thousands of gallons of water was shoved down his throat through lungs. He could feel the strong force through his veins, into his brain. His pupils were thinning to nothing, as pikachu was shot off of him and onto the ground beside him. The pokemon watched in horror as his master was being consumed by this fog. "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!" The fog thickened around him, and Ash was glowing, his body was emitting a flash of light. He slowly hovered into the air, until the light was amazingly intense. All pikachu could see and hear was a light with the voice blasting in its little ears. The bright flash finally stopped. Pikachu could not longer see his trainer.

Ash was gone.