TsukiRiver: I would like it to be known that while I might not write most of this story, I certainly have plenty of motivation to do so, I started this chapter right after I finished writing the nice little cliffhanger at the end of the last one. I think I am the one who wants to read this story the most... It is weird to me to be so involved with the writing process of something I look forward to.

Tylerbamafan: Eagle eyed readers will note a change in canon circumstances during the last chapter. You can expect a lot of that, and in greater qualities as the story goes. Small changes and big changes alike are coming, some good, some bad.

Also, we'd like to welcome Dinner, a fellow Dreaming of Sunshine fan as well as Pokemon fan into the fold, making this team up a trio :-)

Dinner: i'll keep my introduction short. I'm excited to be able to lend a helping hand.

Disclaimer: None of us own Pokemon, Naruto, or Dreaming of Sunshine.

Chapter Two: The first Blasting Off

Ash groaned as he forced himself to his hands and knees and eventually sat on the damp pathway. "Oh, man…" he murmured as he nursed a headache " Note to self, get Pikachu to regulate his attack power from now on."

He glanced at the charred bike with a forlorn expression "She is soooo going to kill me."

He staggered to his feet and scooped the barely conscious Pikachu into his arms "Let's get to Viridian City." he told the little mouse "We need to find my sister."

Pikachu smiled tiredly "Pika…."

A loud screech in the distance made Ash whip around, what he saw was hard to describe, it was a bird of sort. A magnificent pokémon that parted the clouds with the flapping of its wings, it was like even the clouds dared not such beauty. The pokémon looked like a golden bird, in its wake a rainbow with colors Ash had never seen before.

Ash lifted his Pokedex, knowing he'd never even heard of such a Pokemon.

"No data" was the response "there are many pokemon that have yet to be discovered"

Ash frowned, disappointed, and he looked to his partner "Maybe Soot will know what it is." He clicked the 'save image' option and slipped the Pokedex back into his pocket. He stood there, watching the golden pokemon flying until all he could see was the rainbow it left behind.

"What?!"

Ash winced at his mother's shrill voice and dug a finger in his ear. "We got separated" he repeated.

"She wound up in the woods outside of Viridian where she was found by a Pokemon Ranger. He brought her here and Ieft. I got here about half an hour ago after a run in with Officer Jenny. Thanks for telling me about the Identification function in the Pokedex, Professor."

Oak nodded "You're welcome Ash "

Ash felt his cheeks heating up at his mother's glare, before proceeding to launch into a more precise retelling of what happened since they left Pallet Town.

Sarah was lying on something soft. She was warm. Her head felt heavy, as if the pillow under her head could barely hold her.

Why was she lying in a bed?

The smell of disinfectants permeated the air, that meant she was probably in some kind of hospital. She didn't feel sick though… Why was she in the hospital?

Her eyes opened a crack, before she groaned as her head pounded. The room was not brightly lit, which she considered to be a blessing as it was hard enough for her eyes to adjust as it was. She winced as something landed hard on her torso before she was being licked by what she supposed was Nyx.

"All right, all right," she laughed hoarsely as she opened her eyes all the way to look at her partner, "I'm up."

Slowly the memories of before trickled to the front of her mind, Ah yes… that was why she was in the hospital.

"Vee!" Nyx said happily, swishing her tail back and forth

She rubbed Nyx's head as she considered how easily she'd been knocked unconscious by a glancing blow from that thing... That is not going to work. She thought I'm going to have to get back into some serious training habits if I'm going to survive more encounters with Pokemon of that size and power.

There were probably safety measures she should have taken before facing off a Gyarados.. The door to her room opened and the rotund form of a Chansey waddled into the room, distracting her mind, it didn't seem to be capable of thinking about more than one thing right now.

"Chan," it waved in greeting before turning back out the door and gesturing with stubby arms and proceeded to do the closest thing a Chansey could probably get to shouting down the hall, "Chansey!, chan!"

'Probably calling someone.' She thought idly, she didn't quite feel like entertaining company now though.. Just her and Nyx would be nice… But with her luck-

Sure enough, a rather pretty redhead came breezing into the room holding her clipboard under one arm. "You're awake," she said with a bright smile "how are you feeling?"

"Like I got trampled by a herd of Tauros" Sarah answered

"That is to be expected, if what your brother told us is true."

"Ash!" She lurched forward, regretting the movement immediately as the inside of her head seemed to throb harder and more painfully "is he okay?" she asked, her hand resting on the side of her head, as if that would ease the throbbing.

"He's fine." The nurse soothed as chansey fussed about. "He was more worried about you, and rightly so... considering what happened."

"Yeah," Sarah said, bitter "How did I get here?"

"You were lucky."

Sarah smiled wrily. She didn't feel lucky.

"Well when you washed up, your Eevee made quite the ruckus, it caught the notice of a Ranger on patrol."

"Who was it?" She asked, interested in knowing who got her out of there.

Here, the woman looked flustered "He didn't leave a name, he was blond though, blond and tall."

'So I was rescued by a tall blond Pokemon ranger who disappeared without a trace after dropping me off at a Pokemon Center, not even leaving a name. That sounds oddly like something from a bad romance novelette.' Sarah gave a toothy grin. "Just my luck I guess."

Sarah sat herself upright, her feet dangling over the side of the hospital bed. "Did he find my back too?"

"You really shouldn't be doing much..." the nurse said doubtfully

Sarah leveled a hard, well practiced gaze at the woman "I know my limits," she said evenly "I won't do much."

The nurse sighed "Very well, your back is the locker" she pointed towards a small cabinet hanging on the wall. "Don't force yourself into action too soon. You have painkillers easing the pain right now, but they won't last forever."

Sarah's gaze softened and she smiled, "Thank you. I'm sorry.. I… Do you know where my brother is?"

As it turned out she didn't need to ask, all she had to do was follow the arguing. She blankly stared at the duo as they shouted at each other.

As Ash began to gesture wildly 'That's enough of the comedy act'.

"I'm sore, tired, hungry, and I literally got knocked around by a Gyarados," she cut in, smoothly weaving through the gathered crowd "Now stop acting like petulant children, I would rather not have to referee this."

Ash immediately went silent and spun around to face her, "Soot!" He exclaimed before rushing over to her and pulling her into a tight embrace. "I'm so glad you're okay." He mumbled, "I tried to get you but the water was moving so fast and you were gone before I even got the chance."

"It's fine Ash," she soothed patting him on the shoulder, "I should've been able to handle a glancing blow from that thing. "

"Not really," Sarah glanced up to see the woman with a shock of orange hair approaching . "Gyarados are powerful, often called the atrocious Pokemon because of sheer destructive power. Rather unfair, but given their temper..." she trailed off with a shrug "Misty Waterflower." She said, holding out a hand for a shake

Sarah shifted Nyx in her arms and accepted the handshake, "Sarah Ketchum. You have already met my brother. Speaking of which..." she looked at Ash, "What in the world were you two arguing about?"

Ash scratched the back of his head sheepishly "Ah... Pikachu destroyed her bike by accident."

The head throbbing returned in full glory "When did that happen?"

Ash took a guilty glance over at Misty, "After you were hit... I tried to catch you, but the current was too strong and I needed to breath; she was fishing and I grabbed onto her lure and she pulled me out. The Spearow were catching up and so she let me borrow her bike to escape them... And so that I could get here faster. It started to rain really hard, the Spearow caught up and Pikachu crispy fried the bike when he used a lightning attack or actually a bolt of lightning… I'm not sure, there was a lot of light and it all happened really fast. But we're all unharmed?"

Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose, and the throbbing slowed down some. "It was the first day of our journey" she whined, "it really shouldn't be possible to get in this much trouble this quickly."

Sarah sighed, and pulled Ash by the shoulder, and gave Misty a small smile "We can discuss compensation for the bike over lunch. I'll get my things."

With Misty tagging along after the Nurse on duty assured them they would be contacted when Pikachu was healed, they set out into Viridian.

It was an interesting city. Buildings were placed strategically to allow nature its place and yet have enough space for humans to live comfortably. Pokemon darted between buildings and barely gave them a second glance. Nyx was very curious, carefully wandering and sniffing at whatever she found interesting.

Sarah wasn't too worried about her, she was fairly sure this was unusually bold on Nyx's part and that could only be a good thing in the long run.

"So where are you guys from?" Misty asked, eyes sparking in interest.

Sarah shrugged her shoulders, and realized the nurse was right, painkillers wore off… She jerked a thumb in Pallet Town's general direction, "Pallet Town, actually." She answered spotting a sandwich joint down the road a ways and gesturing for them to follow her. "Every other trainer from there probably had an easier time of it than we did."

"No doubt," Ash agreed with a grimace, "the only Spearow flock in the area and we manage to make em mad."

"That reminds me, I should probably call mom and the Professor."

"Oh," Ash said as they found an empty table, "I've done that don't worry."

Sarah raised an eyebrow, "How did that go?"

Ash winced

"Ah," Sarah chuckled slightly, "I see."

Ash looks down at the table, "Yeah... Mom wasn't happy..."

"I imagine not," Sarah said, looking at the menus on the table.

A companionable silence descended as they browsed the menus. Sarah was idly scratching Nyx's ears as she glanced over her own. Eventually deciding to just go for simple and order a sub.

She glanced over at Ash, whose attention flickered between the menu in front of him and the television at the end of the bar. She glanced over and saw Agatha on the television. They were too far away to read the subtitles that were in place, but the expression on Agatha's face was satisfied.

Sarah knew that look, Agatha always smirked like that when she had beaten another Elite four hopeful.

Misty noticed what she was watching "Are you a fan of hers?" The question seemed innocent enough, but the drawl in her voice… there was something.

Sarah grinned "Agatha is amazing! Her ghost types are so versatile! Can be both heavy hitters, distractions and support roles and can switch between the roles so easily."

"And there she goes" Ash groaned, but his grin betrayed his act "She's always had an affinity for ghost types," he explained pointing toward Sarah. "Yet she refuses to specialize. But we'll see what happens in the real world" Ash gave his sister a rueful look.

"Why?" the orange haired trainer's head tilted curiously

"Truth told," Sarah admitted "I don't like the idea of specializing. It never really appealed to me. It just sounds… restraining."

Misty eyed Sarah, "Then what do you intend to do?" She asked carefully. "I'm a water type user. It's in my nature."

Ash grinned "I'm going to be a pokemon master!" he was practically bursting with excitement.

Misty raised an eyebrow. "You're ambitious," she said lightly "I'll give you that."

She glanced over at Sarah. "And you? What do you see yourself doing?"

Sarah opened her mouth, only to find that she didn't have an answer ready. She frowned, lowering her gaze to the table consideringly. What did she see herself doing?

Ash glanced over at his sister, seeing her slowly pet Nyx with her eyes on the table and a thoughtful expression on her face.

The waitress came back with a notepad. "May I take your orders?" her voice as pleasant as a wigglytuff's..

They all ordered, Ash going for a rack of barbeque and Misty a cold pasta and Sarah got herself a pastrami sandwich.

Sarah poured some pokemon food into a bowl for Nyx, setting the little fox down so she could eat as well.

The meal passed in silence, with everyone distracted by food. Eventually Ash put down his fork and reached into his vest pocket he pulled out his Pokedex. "Hey Soot?" he asked while scrolling through his options

Sarah set down her sandwich, and raised an eyebrow "Yes Ash?"

He scrolled through his pokedex for a few minutes and finally found what he was looking for. He turned the screen around to face her. "Do you know what pokemon this is?"

Sarah nearly choked on her lunch.

The Pokemon was a huge bird, with gleaming plumage with the crests and tail feathers all colors of the rainbow. "Ash," she wheezed before calming her breathing "That's Ho-oh"

Misty's eyes bugged out. "Wait, what? Let me see that." her hand on the pokédex ready to take a look.

"Hey maybe ask to see it first?" Ash retorted, yanking the device back only to have Nyx leap up from under the table and yank it out of his hands before trotting over to Sarah. The younger of the two siblings very carefully clicked a few buttons, and checked her own dex and pokégear before nodding in satisfaction.

Sarah gave the pokedex back to Ash and started reciting what was on her screen. "Ho-oh, The legendary pokémon. Ho-Oh's feathers glow in seven colors depending on the angle at which they are struck by light. These feathers are said to bring happiness to the bearers. This Pokémon is said to live at the foot of a rainbow." She turned to Ash a playful smile on her lips. "You didn't happen to find one of its feathers, did you?"

Ash shook his head "Nah, it was too far for that. It was on the far end of the storm." the novice trainer frowned in thought "Come to think of it, it is odd how quickly that storm sprung up."

"Well that's all nice and dandy." Misty interrupted. "But let's focus on the now and here." She ruffled through her backpack and placed a map of the region on the table. "Right now, we're in Viridian. The first place you want to go is to Pewter, where you'll find Brock." She glanced up "He's Pewter's gym leader. I won't lend you my water types." Misty grinned slyly here "That'd be cheating."

"What about the gym here?" Ash asked, pointing out the brochures near the entrance to the restaurant.

The redhead shrugged "It's under renovations from a recent incident with an earth type pokemon. Apparently a Rhyperior got carried away with Earth Power and damaged the foundations pretty bad."

"Also, Pewter city has a really good bike shop. And remember what you promised me?"

Ash took a sip from his drink, his eyes staring a hole in the cup. " Yeah, I remember." he mumbled.

"Pewter city… That means we'd have to go through Viridian Forest right?" Sarah asked, her finger following the path from where they were to Pewter.

Misty shuddered, hugging herself slightly "Yes… But so long as we follow the main path, we should be safe from.. bugs." Sarah noted the way she'd reacted to the name and filed that away, making a mental note to ask the Cerulean native about it later.

Sarah eyed Ash warily. There was something she hadn't told him yet. she wanted to split ways with him around there. Start getting her own pokemon on her own merit. They hadn't really talked about it yet, but Viridian Forest would be as good a place to split as any. She knew he had his own journey to go through, and she wondered what hers would be.

"You know." Sarah started. "I've heard rumors about a Venusaur having rooted in Viridian Forest a few years ago."

Ash looked up, interested in what Sarah had brought up. "What do you mean Soot?"

"I mean, by now, there might be wild Bulba- and Ivysaur roaming around. They reproduce quite fast when they have an actual rooted Venusaur."

"Whats a rooted Venusaur?"

Sarah sighed. "Didn't you study anything Ash?"

"Of course I did…"

"Well, a rooted Venusaur is a female venusaur that has marked her territory, she uses her sweet scent to attract wild male venusaur and then within months bulbasaur start hatching en masse. Then having used up all her sweet scent she goes into a resting state, burrows herself in and solely lives on solar energy she gets from her petals and flower. Only to repeat the process next spring when she's regained her strength"

Misty gave Sarah a strange look. "But I thought wild Venusaur, just like the other Kanto starters, were pretty much extinct in the wild?"

Sarah merely gave a mischievous grin "Same as how Eevee are almost impossible to find?" she asked ruffling Nyx's fur. "All pokemon, to some extent, are good at staying hidden when they need to. Venusaur know how to hide their paths and clearings from outsiders. They are grass types after all. It'd be trivial for them to hide in a forest."

"Oh I knew that!" Ash happily added. He scrunched his nose, furrowed his eyebrows and looked quite sour. "It's called the Grass-something-something-theory right?"

Sarah felt her eyebrow twitch. They had discussed this at prof. Oaks lab not three months ago. "You mean the Grass Surreptitious Survival Theory?"

"Yes!"

"That's not the one Ash, but good on you for trying." she petted him on his head. She turned to Misty. "It's important to give him compliments for trying."

"Hey! I'm sitting here too you know."

"What is this theory?" Misty cut across, ignoring Ash's indignation.

Sarah cracked her knuckles, pokémon theory, yeah she could dish that out like a pro. "The theory was actually quite a popular one, you might know it as the Forest Flower Fuckery. Pardon the language." Misty nodded though, so she had heard of it. "They used to think that Grass pokemon actually came out of nature, that they were born from trees or seeds in the earth. But Gym Leader Erika published a new Theory. She found that..."

Nyx started coughing up her food. Jumped on the ground and produced a pokéball sized hairball.

"Oh, you poor thing." Sarah said stroking the pokémons back.

Nyx heaved a few more times. Meanwhile Misty pushed her plate, half full, to the middle of the table.

"Yeah," Misty muttered "this is one reason I train water types."

Ash snorted "Trust me, after working at Prof. Oak's lab you tend to get desensitized to stuff like this." to prove his point, he took another bite of his food, seemingly untroubled by the display.

"Eevee's are known for this. We're lucky she hasn't evolved yet. Nothing worse than a Flareon coughing up a hairball." Sarah grabbed her napkin off the table and wiped the ground clean.

-.-.-.- ^^ -.-.-.-

Later that night, when all of them had gone to bed Sarah lay next to Nyx. There was something about being close to your pokémon physically, that made you feel close to them emotionally.

It strengthened the bonds. She didn't even mind the broken air conditioning vent, it was just nice to lay in a nice bed with her starter pokémon.

Sarah had a room to herself, and she had to admit; that was nice. Privacy wasn't something she would have often while on the road. Add a nice bed, this would probably be the most comfortable night she'd have in a long time.

Sarah sat up abruptly, eyes narrow as the atmosphere in the place seemed to shift. It was way too quiet. Pokémon centres were never quiet. Even in the dead of night there was always the constant hum of machinery or the occasional pokemon cry. But now there was silence.

She shook Nyx awake. "Come on, something is wrong." she whispered when the Eevee blinked herself awake. The little fox nodded and crouched low when she hit the ground. Her tail twitching uneasily as she too sensed the shift in atmosphere and took in the quiet.

She was in her PJ's, but that didn't stop her from going outside of her room. Immediately she noticed that the air felt thicker, it didn't smell off though… She passed Ash and then passed Misty's room and walked into the lobby.

She fell back on her shinobi training. She kept close to the shadows, keeping herself angled away from the door and windows.

She didn't hear anything amiss. And that was the biggest hint that something absolutely was. Most lights were off and she almost tripped over the slumped form of Nurse Joy. Alarm bells went off in her head, and she quickly checked on the woman's' vitals. Her pulse was there, and she was breathing evenly. It looked like she had just fallen asleep on the spot.

Sarah narrowed her eyes, scanning the room with wary scrutiny. She pulled out her pokegear and flicked the built in flashlight on scanning the walls and counters. Bingo. She lightly ran her hand over the wall, rubbing the light powder between her fingers. It gleamed with a teal colour when her light shone on it and she carefully held it away from her mouth and nose. "Sleep Powder." she murmured quietly

Nurse Joy wouldn't wake up anytime soon if that was the case. But why would a pokémon use Sleep Powder? There was no damage to the walls or anything, so it didn't look like a pokémon had gone on a rampage…

She rounded the corner and saw a meowth with a bunch of Pokéballs in its front paws. It's amulet coin reflected the little bit of light that was in the room. It dropped the pokéballs in a basket and walked back to the storage pods, where pokéballs were kept until their trainer picked them up.

Was this Meowth stealing pokémon?

Something stirred in the back of her mind. There was a memory, however faint… She knew this meowth?

It didn't click until she saw a man walking into the room. She was still hidden around the corner, but could see and hear everything. "Jesse, I think we've got them all. Let's go."

The woman who followed was tall. Easily clearing six feet and had a bright shock of vibrant red hair. When the light hit it the right way it almost looked pink. "Good, meowth come on! We can't linger."

Sarah growled lowly "They don't have much choice." then she raised her voice "Nyx Quick Attack!"

The evolution pokemon nodded and a corona of bright energy erupted around her. Nyx launched herself into the meowth and slammed hard into the cat's side at blinding speeds.

Sarah rolled behind the counter and slinked along the edge, gaining ground on the unsuspecting duo. If i can take them by surprise…

"PickachUUUUU!" out of nowhere, Ash's little Pikachu was there. slamming himself into the one called James with electricity crackling off his form as he caught himself on the counter.

What followed was short but brutal. Humans stood no chance against a pichu, let alone a pikachu of Ash's pikachu's caliber. There were shocks of lightning and the only one to get out unharmed was Meowth. Who in the short time between Pikachu arriving and firing his electric attacks had made an escape.

Jesse and James lay on the ground, their pokéballs slowly rolling to the side, their bodies twitching and curling in a way Sarah hadn't seen in a long time.

Sarah had to admit, the animation show, she had always watched as a kid, didn't quite match up with brutal reality.

She stood, fairly sure that there weren't any other surprises there and gently tried to shake Nurse Joy awake "Nurse Joy. wake up. We have something of a situation here."

Pikachu snorted at that. and decided to try giving the nurse a light smack on the back of the head with his tail. "Pika!"

Nurse Joy continued to sleep away. Pikachu's eyes narrowed and electricity crackled against his cheeks. Sarah hastily scooped the mouse up and deposited him on the ground next to Nyx.

"Pikachu, Nyx, you two stay here… I'm calling the police." the two pokemon nodded in unison. Pikachu's cheeks sparking dangerous promises of pain if either of the team rockets managed to get up once more.

Sarah hurried her way back to her room, opened her bag and called the emergency number.

By the time Officer Jenny and her police officers got at the centre, Sarah had already tried to wake Ash and Misty up, to no avail. The sleeping powder had been potent. And done it's job very well.

She frowned. Well, it was still night… A few more hours of sleep wouldn't hurt them. Actually, a few more hours of sleep sounded pretty good. "Come one Nyx, nothing we can do now."

"Actually." A voice called out. "I'll need a statement from you."

It was one of the police officers. A small rotund man with freckles on his nose and under his eyes. Beside him, a musclebound Machoke towered over everyone present, quickly striding over to the felons and hefting them over his shoulder.

Sarah turned, to face the officer; the man gave her a look as if to say 'I don't want to do this either right now.'. She picked up Nyx, who instantly wrapped her bushy tail around her arm, and nodded. Pikachu sunk onto all fours as his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Sure, wasn't going to get much sleep anyways."

She told how she found out about what was happening, and who she had seen. The policeman didn't ask any questions while she told her version of events. He simply nodded until she was finished. "So, why were you, pikachu and Eevee not affected by the sleep powder?"

Sarah frowned in thought. "I'm not sure about why Pikachu wasn't affected. As for me and Nyx, the AC was out. At the time it was merely an inconvenience."

He nodded, writing down what she said. "You also mentioned a Meowth?"

Sarah looked back to where Meowth was lying on the ground. Except, there was no sign of him. "Yeah, there was. He was right… there?"

-.-.-.- ^^ -.-.-.-

Come morning Sarah was sitting in one of the booths, together with Ash and Misty. There was one difference between them. Sarah was yawning, while both Ash and Misty seemed full of energy. Sarah hadn't managed to get any sleep in last night. And even two cups of coffee could make a difference.

"I can't believe all that happened last night!" Misty said nursing a cup of soy milk. "You'd think a Pokémon Centre was safe, especially in these parts. I mean, we're not in Saffron for crying out loud."

"I don't think Team Rocket cares about where they steal pokemon." Sarah yawned, smiling as Nyx rubbed her head against her cheek. "Pikachu was a big help." She added

Ash stood up, his hands remaining on the table. He looked twelve shades of fierce. "So long as Pikachu and I are closeby, Team Rocket will never get their hands on someone elses' Pokémon."

The grand gesture was nice and all, but ruined by the milk mustache Ash was sporting. "Sit down sleeping beauty. You weren't even awake to stop them." Sarah said petting Ash's hand.

"So, if you are set on going through Viridian Forest, you may want to get some heavier duty equipment." Misty mentioned, scanning the contents of the packs sat next to the table. "Some Repels, a few Antidote a Paralyz Heal. Bug Pokemon are plentiful in that forest, you don't want to be caught by a Beedrill Hive without the proper precautions."

Ash shrugged. "No worries. I got Pikachu."

Misty's eye twitched. "Yeah, because that worked out so well the last time."

"Hey! Pikachu saved us twice now. Show the mouse some respect!"

-.-.-.- ^^ -.-.-.-

tylerbamafan34:We are so so sorry you guys had to wait this long for a chapter, see we kinda got a bit distracted by the 'Great Marvel Crossover Project going on, of which we are both a part of. I can't promise waits won't happen again. And I can't speak for Tsuki. But I will try to ensure you guys don't have to wait as long for the next instalment of Sarah and Ash's adventures through the Kanto region Anything you two want to add?

TsukiRiver: I am super sorry too. I have been trying to do many things beyond this and after a certain point I just got stuck trying to write. I wish I could promise that we will update super quickly and consistently, but I can't. I am attempting many projects along with trying to get a job and so it makes it hard to write. I can promise however that I will try harder to work on this, especially since so many of you are relying on me to get your updates to you! I will also be going back and fixing the error I made in the previous chapters regarding the sex of Pikachu. Thank you, everyone who has waited for this and favorited or followed the story. It really means alot to me. I wish I could name all of you but there are so many now that I really can't! Thank you, and see you in the next update!