Blast From The Past

CHAPTER 1

Ash Ketchum disappears. It was one of the biggest shocks in the pokemon world, with three years later everyone still mourning over the child. All over the regions, friends and family were hoping, wishing for him to come back. And that's where this story begins...

It was a quiet day in Petalburg, Hoenn. Folks were shopping, walking, chattering, behaving like normal beings. Except one. A certain brunette female, age 23, was sitting in her room. She wore an orange sleeveless blouse with black biker shorts, orange sneakers and white and black gloves with green wristbands. Atop her head remained her trademark bandana, now green with her hair in the usual upside-down V. She sighed, flipping another page in her photo album. Inside were her most special pictures; her journey through Hoenn. She saw herself looking excited in a store, a close-up of Brock cooking, Max grinning and adjusting his glasses, another of him smiling and his arms in the air, plenty depicting her journey's start. But, within most...was her best friend. She saw herself standing with a boy a little older than her, his arm around her shoulder and smiling. She could still notice the light blush on her face, smiling at the camera. "...Where are you...?" she muttered, giving a sniff.

"May! Dinner!" she heard her mother's voice. She sighed, closing the album and putting it on her bed. She walked out and down the stairs, entering the kitchen and seeing her mother. "That was fast."

"Hungry," she replied, sitting in a chair. "Where's Dad and Max?" she asked.

"Your father's training in the gym and Max is watching. You know how he is," she said, giving a smile. May nodded, smiling. Suddenly, a ringing noise was heard. She watched her mother walk out the doorway, then give the polite 'hello'. She was surprised to see her back in the doorway the next second. "It's for you," she said, handing her the phone.

"Hello?"

"May, I've got something you'll want to hear."

"Gary?"

Meanwhile, in Pewter City, a man was cooking over the stove. "Brock, is it almost done?" a childish voice whined.

"Almost, just give it a minute," he replied, stirring the spoon.

"Hurry up!" another voice said. Suddenly, the phone rang. "I got it!" the little boy dashed out of the room.

"Wait, let Mom or Dad get it," he called out.

"They went shopping, remember?" a young girl asked. Brock sighed, then noticed the boy come back with the phone.

"It's for you, Brock!" he exclaimed, handing him the phone.

"Hello?"

"Brock, you'll want to hear this."

"What's up, Gary?"

Meanwhile, in Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh, an age 22 blunette was happily humming a tune as she lied on her bed reading a coordinator's weekly magazine. She heard a ringing noise, slightly adjusting to get up, but heard her mother speaking to herself. She relaxed again, figuring she got it. "Dawn! Phone's for you!" she called. Dawn wondered as she hurried down the stairs, taking the phone from her mother's hand.

"Hello, Dawn speaking."

"Dawn, you might want to sit while I tell you this."

"Gary? What is it?"

In Cerulean City, a young redhead was swimming with water-type pokemon in a large pool. The place, Cerulean Gym. "Misty! Phone!" a feminine voice called out. She looked toward the doorway, swimming toward the ladder and climbing out. She grabbed a towel from the bench and put it around her neck, drying her hands.

"Who is it?" she asked as she approached her blonde sister, Daisy.

"Like, how should I know?" Misty sighed as she watched her walk away, holding the phone up to her ear.

"Cerulean Gym, Misty here."

"Misty, I've got some news."

"Gary? Did something happen?"

A few days later, Pallet Town's Oak Laboratory became more lively as the group of friends gathered as well as Delia. "Thank you all for coming," Gary said, standing before them who were sitting on couches and chairs.

"Tell us, Gary, what is it?" Dawn asked.

"Of course. I know we're all still a little affected by...that..." he trailed off, noticing their expressions turn to sadness. "...But I have news about that."

"News about it? What news?" Brock asked quickly.

"It's a slight help, but it's better than nothing. Recently, me and my grandpa had a little round-up with all regional professors. While together, we discussed that matter, but nobody had an idea why. Then, one of the professors gave us a very helpful piece of information that just may very well be the best thing you've ever heard," he explained.

"What is it? Tell us already!" Max exclaimed, jumping up.

"Max!" May scolded, pulling his ear and yanking him down in his seat.

"Max has the right idea to be excited. Our colleague, Professor Juniper, gave us amazing news. In her native region, Unova, she had given trainer license to many many trainers. But in particular, a year ago, she was visited by a trainer who goes by Leader," he stated, smiling.

"What about this 'Leader'?" Misty airquoted.

"You'll want to brace yourself for this. My grandpa and I got a view on the pokedex transmission signal Professor Juniper managed to get from him, and-"

"Stop talking science! Normal!" Max said, frustrated. May pulled his ear again.

"Well, we looked at the signal and thought it looked familiar. We checked through the Kanto trainer database and found a match," Gary said.

"So...this Red guy was originally a Kanto trainer?" May asked.

"Yes, but not just any other trainer. His pokedex signal, it matched...with Ash's."

Meanwhile, across the sea in the far region of Unova, small flocks of pidove flew over the land. Below, swanna swam in lakes and deerling peacefully ate grass in the trees. In the natural area, a teenage girl sat. She had blonde hair down to her shoulders, and wore pink short-shorts with a pink sleeveless jacket over a white t-shirt, just over her hips. She was crouched, holding some pokemon food in her palm as she watched two patrat crawl suspiciously toward her. "It's okay, I won't hurt you," she whispered, remaining still. The patrat eyed her carefully as they stopped in front of her, one taking a single pellet of food. It curiously chewed it, then its eyes beamed as it spoke to its friend in pokelanguage. They both smiled, then continued eating. "There, see? It's delicious," she said happily, petting one with her free hand.

"Pinky!" the patrats' heads snapped up, then they darted away and into the trees. She sighed, then looked angrily behind her. She saw a boy standing a few feet from her, frowning. He had short, black hair and wore dark red cargo pants with a red vest and white undershirt. "Come on, Pinky, you know you lost track of time again."

"Shut up, Jack. And don't call me that," she growled, glaring at him.

"Alright, alright. Sheesh, Lexi, you sure can get mad when you want," he said, holding his hands behind his head. She watched him as she got up and walked toward him. "Come on, he's waiting."

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Six," he responded.

"What?! And you only came now?!" she gasped, grabbing his hand and dragging him away. After a few minutes, she stopped and he fell down.

"Ow!" he groaned, rubbing his neck and glaring at the girl.

"Oops, I forgot," she said playfully, sticking her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes, standing again. He looked behind him and saw four tents in a circle. Red, pink, blue, and yellow in colours.

"Hey, where's Trevor?" Lexi asked, looking around.

"Don't worry, he's training in the lake not too far from here," Jack replied, walking toward the red tent.

"So, how's Leader doing?" she asked, glancing at the yellow tent as she walked toward the pink one.

"I don't know, he's been in there the past hour. I've always wondered what was in his tent, but I never dared to go in," Jack replied, shuddering a bit.

"Huh. Maybe he's thinking of our next assignment..." she suggested, zipping open the tent fold.

"Maybe, but I've never seen him this focused. Maybe it's finally getting to be time..." Jack stated, crawling in his tent.

"Could be. Well, I'm gonna be reading for a while, call me if you need me," she said, crawling inside and pulling out a magazine.

"'Kay, I'll be writing again," she heard Jack say, she rolled her eyes. Ever since she knew him, he would always try to spend some free time working on a novel he would write on his own. Though to this day, he still refused to let anyone see it.

"Where is everyone?" another masculine voice asked. She crawled out and saw another teenage boy, about the size of Jack but he wore deep blue jeans and a blue t-shirt. She couldn't help but notice he was slightly more built than Jack. "Oh, hey Lexi."

"Hey. Me and Jack are just relaxing, while Leader's doing whatever," she told him.

"Ah. Well, I'm done my training for the day so I think I'll just take a nap," he said, giving a yawn as he crouched in front of the blue tent.

"I'll wake you if leader wants us," she said, grinning.

"Don't you dare," he said, crawling in and closing the fold. She lied back and opened her magazine, giving a sigh.

"Everyone, I need you out here now," she winced at the deep voice, surprising her. She sighed again as she crawled out, standing up and seeing Jack and Trevor crawling out of their tent.

"But I just got back..." Trevor mumbled, standing up.

"I just got the biggest idea, but I lost it when he called us," Jack said, biting his lip. The three lined up in front of the yellow tent, getting to one knee. They looked to the ground, but they noticed a young man crawl out and stand before them.

"Get up, you three," the three stood up again, looking at the one in front of them. He was taller than the three, with shaggy black hair and brown piercing eyes. He wore a black vest over a white t-shirt, with deep grey cargo pants and red and blue sneakers. "I told you before, that's not necessary."

"Yeah, but we also told you it's the kind of thing one would do to their leader," Jack stated, giving a smile.

"Whatever," Jack rolled his eyes. "As you know, I have spent most of the day in my tent, but that was because I was planning."

"Planning? Are we finally getting some action?" Trevor asked, crossing his arms.

"Yes, you are. I've explained to each of you before of my beliefs, so I should not have to remind you," he said.

"Yep. You think pokemon are humans' friends and companions, and should be treated with love and care," Lexi said proudly.

"And?" he inquired. Trevor took a small step forward.

"But you believe pokeballs are the devices of the devil. Pokemon should not be captured, for they are mere devices of confinement torture," he stated.

"Correct. I'm surprised you remembered the metaphor. Now, your assignments are as simple as can be," the man said.

"Awesome! I've been itching for action!" Jack said, grinning.

"And the time has come, Jack. You each will be taking different areas in the region, spreading our ambitions throughout the region," he explained.

"But, Team Plasma has already done that, sir. Why don't we try something different?" Jack asked.

"We will, Jack, in time. But for now, we must restate the familiar speeches this region has heard not too long ago. But this time, we will have reinforced logic so that no one will be able to defy our beliefs without support behind them," he explained, smirking.

"I see. So, how will we be split, sir?" Trevor asked.

"Simple. Lexi will take south, so Castelia and down, Trevor will take east and Jack the west," he stated.

"But what about you, sir? What will you be doing?" Lexi asked.

"I will be visiting Iccirus City, so there will be a chance I will meet with Jack at some point. I will be heading to Dragonspiral Tower," he told them.

"Dragonspiral Tower?" Lexi asked, tapping her chin.

"Lexi, don't you know the Unova legend or what happened with Plasma? Dragonspiral Tower is where Team Plasma's leader, N, summoned-" Jack started, but was cut off.

"Alright, alright! I remember! Jeez!" she sighed, rubbing her forehead. Jack rolled his eyes.

"All right, you three. You know your missions, now I expect good results. After a speech in every major area, you will all head to the Pokemon League for the finish to our operations," he stated, turning toward the tent.

"Wait, Leader?" he turned. "...What if someone stops us? What if a gym leader, or worse tries to stop us?" Lexi asked.

"...You've trained your pokemon well, I'm sure you won't let me down," and with that, he retreated into the tent.

"So...I guess I'll see you at the League," Trevor said, turning around and walking.

"Wait! Are you seriously going already?" Jack asked hysterically.

"Yeah, Trevor! Relax a bit, Unova isn't going to disappear from beneath our feet!" Lexi said, giggling. Trevor stared at the two, then sighed as he stepped back to his tent.

"All right, but you two better not disturb me as I sleep," he said, crawling in the tent.

"Whatever. I'm gonna try to remember that breakthrough for my novel," Jack said, disappearing in his tent. Lexi sighed, crawling in hers and pulling out the same magazine from earlier. In the yellow tent, the man sighed as he lied down.

"Pi?" he looked up and saw a small yellow face looking down at him.

"Hey, Pikachu." he said, watching it crawl on his chest. "Our operations are starting tomorrow, and soon the pokemon will be free. No more pokeballs, no more confiment, just open space for the Pokemon," he said, rubbing the mouse's chin.

"Pikachu pikapi, pika chupi." the mouse spoke in its language.

"Yes, Pikachu. All pokemon will realize what they've been subjected to for centuries. Pokemon are not slaves, they're our friends, so they belong by our side and not on our belt in a ball." he said, closing his eyes. "We got a big day, Pikachu. Let's rest up." he felt Pikachu crawl off him and get comfy beside him. "...Pokemon liberation...I thought it was a joke, but it was real..." he muttered, feeling drowziness taking him over. "...Team Plasma...how could you not accomplish the simple task? The four of us will do what you couldn't, then Unova...the world...will see what pokemon have been subjected to. The torture, the pain..."

END