Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Pokémon nor do I own the OC characters in this story. Well, except for a few, but that's it.

Fandom: Pokémon

Title: J's Apprentice: Rebirth! ~ REBIRTH I: Apprentice!

Character (s): Ash (14) and Hunter J (21-22)

Genre (s): Drama

Rated: M

Word Count: 3,954

Pairing (s): Ash/Hunter J (eventually) and one-sided pairings.

Summary: (The remake version of the original) He couldn't stop her because he was so weak and now he is her apprentice. Four years of torture was hell. And from anew, Ash is now reborn as Black Raven. Can his former friends save him and bring him back to the light before it's too late? Find out!

REBIRTH I: Apprentice!

Darkness…

In a small and cramped room, mostly likely, an indoor ship prisoner cell or holding room, darkness was there. But it wasn't alone. How can it? Darkness is never alone.

Lying flat and unconscious on the cold concrete floor was a familiar, raven-haired young boy who goes by the name Ash Ketchum. The unconscious trainer was still in his Unova region-traveling outfit, which consists of a blue and white hoodie with a big yellow zipper, gray pants, red and gray sneakers, and red and gray fingerless gloves. All and all, every part of him was there, except for two things: his hat and his best friend in the world, Pikachu. They were missing. What happened to them? Who knows? Only time will tell.

"A…h…"

Softly, a groan escaped from the unconscious boy's mouth, hinting that he slowly slipping back into consciousness.

Slowly, Ash opens his chocolate-brown eyes. At first, his vision was hazy and blurry, but soon it started to clear up.

W-…Where a-am I? The first thought that came to the exhausted trainer. He didn't have a single clue where he was. Or more importantly, why he was lying on the floor? His memory was still a bit hazy from what happened earlier. And why do…I…feel so tired? That's a very good question. But once again, we don't know.

Tiredly and slowly, the fatigued trainer pushed himself up to a sitting position. It was a struggle though. Fatigue and numbness was playing a big role on his frail body. His muscles were aching all over the place.

However, the determined trainer didn't let the body aches and fatigue stopped him. Once he was up right, the young boy glanced around his surroundings. It was pretty hard to tell where he was because it was so dark in the area.

Luckily, there was a small light bulb hanging on the ceiling to give the room and Ash some light.

Unfortunately, the light bulb was having a difficult time. For one thing, it was flickering back and forth; looking like it was going to burn out any second now. Hopefully, that wasn't the case. But just in case the light bulb does burn out, Ash took this opportunity to scan around his surroundings before something happens.

Straight across from Ash was a steel, bolted door, which was completely shut from the outside. Ash was pretty curious on what was lying behind that door.

Suddenly, a major headache came to Ash. "ACK!"

Quickly, the young trainer clutched his head with one of his hands, ignoring the rattling sound in the background for a second. His head was pounding like it was no tomorrow. It felt like someone was drilling his brain with a drill, nonstop. Talk about a major migraine.

After a few moments of suffering, the migraine slowly subsided for the time being. Ash sighed in relief that his annoying headache was gone for now. As he slowly removed his hand away from his forehead, he took notice that his wrist was shackled with a heavy, long metal chain attached to it. He blinked. What… the? Why was his right wrist shackled up? He didn't have a single clue.

No sooner, the young trainer takes notice of something strange around both of his arms. They appeared to be some kind of restraining binds, or more like electrodes if you look at it. The pair was completely black with a red jewel-like core, in the center. And by the looks of this, this can only spell trouble for our young hero.

Sensing that something was definitely not right here, Ash quickly moves into action. First, he tried to free his right wrist from the shackle by pulling and yanking on the steel chain from the wall, behind him. No luck. Soon, Ash would try to bang the shackle against the wall, forcefully and repeatedly.

Once again, no luck, but he wasn't going to give up.

After many, many attempts of trying to free himself, exhaustion took hold onto him. Why? It's because it's plain simple. The more he put energy into each of his attempts, the more he tires himself out. Therefore, Ash decided to save some of his energy and move onto his other problem, which were those electrodes around his arms. But, much like his shackle, Ash couldn't remove them. They were stuck to him like glue. Why…won't they come…off?

As Ash continues to struggle to yank the black electrodes off of him, a fade thought slowly came to him. The young trainer knows he wasn't wearing these strange devices before. More or less, being shacked and chained to a wall inside a dark cell like this. Someone was definitely behind this. But the question is…why? Why would someone go through all the trouble to kidnap him and chain him inside this cell? Who knows? But this wasn't the time to think about that. Something else came to him, something important.

Before everything was a big blur to him, the last thing Ash remembers was the fact that he was traveling with his two new best friends, Cilan and Iris to Icirrus City for his seventh gym battle. More importantly, while they were on their way to the Icirrus City, the group suddenly bump into a big obstacle, an obstacle that came back to haunt Ash and his friends from his past. The obstacle that I'm speaking of was none other than…

GUYS!

Suddenly, Ash's senses came back to him when he recalled his memories about the unexpected event that involved him and his friends. The young boy was scanning around his surroundings for his friends, in hopes they were here with him. They weren't. There was no sign of them anywhere. This wasn't a good sign at all, not one bit.

As things weren't bad enough, they would soon get worse.

*CLICK*

Quickly, Ash motioned his attention straight towards the only exit. Once he did, he started to hear strange noises like someone punching in numbers to his holding cell from the other side of the door. Not only that, the young trainer can also hear several mumbling voices, in which one of them sounded pretty familiar to him. Why was that? Whatever the reason it might be, Ash had a really bad gut feeling about this.

*SWOOSH*

A loud swooshing sound echoed the air when the holding cell's automatic door slid open. No sooner, a round of loud stomping footsteps, which belonged to a group of men and one woman who was leading her worthless men, echoed the air when they stepped inside the area.

The moment the infamous group presented themselves in front of the exhausted trainer, Ash shot straight up, completely ignoring the body aches and the fatigue. Anger and hatred erupted within his soul.

"J!" Ash screamed the infamous hunter's name with burning hatred before collapsing to a knee. The young trainer totally forgot about the body aches and the fatigue that he was dealing with, but he didn't let them bother him too much as his chocolate-brown eyes were burning through J's soul.

As clear as day, Ash's memories quickly came back to him, the moment he saw one of his archenemies standing right in front of him, alive. He couldn't believe it. Was he dreaming? No. Ash can tell he wasn't. Seeing the huntress right in front of him was all the proof he needed to tell him that it was not a dream. It was more like a nightmare than a lousy dream. There was no way in the world he can ever forget that scowling face of hers. Her face alone tells the story.

If Ash remembers correctly, she was definitely the one attacked him and his friends unexpectedly when they were taking a break to have lunch. It made all the sense in the world. Who else could have done it? Team Rocket? Maybe, but that wasn't the case. The case was…J was the culprit. But the question is…why? It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that J hated Ash's guts, but what was the purpose of kidnapping him? Her motive didn't make any sense at all. Whatever the reason was, it had something to do with Ash that's for sure.

As the young trainer continues to glare daggers at his archenemy, Ash couldn't help, but wonder how in the world the female bounty hunter was still alive. If he recalled, his old childhood friend and rival, Gary told him that J perished during the time of the Lake Guardians incident. But it seems that wasn't the case. Talk about lady luck on her side.

While still glaring at J, Ash couldn't help, but take notice that his worst enemy looks somewhat different, in a way. Besides her usual outfit, which consists of a purple overcoat, red fingerless gloves, and red high heels, her short, silver hair seems to be a little longer from before. Not only that, it seems like the left side of her face was completely burnt and scarred. Did this happened during the time she tried to escape her airship? Who knows? Only J knows.

Ignoring the shout that was given to her from earlier, the cold-hearted woman briefly gives the young trainer a cold stare before smirking, a little bit. Ash didn't know what was she smirking about, but whatever it was, it was getting on his nerves.

"Well, well, well, brat. It seems you finally up and it's very surprising you're up this early. Normal idiots like them…" J quickly gestured her head to her pathetic henchmen who were right behind her before refocusing her attention right back to Ash. "…would have taken at least up to five days to wake up from a tranquilizer dart. But not you, it seems. It only took you two days. Pretty impressive for a brat,"

"J!" Ash yelled the woman's name once again, completely ignoring everything she just told him, just now. The young trainer tried to stand up, but to no avail.

"For someone who was knocked out from a tranquilizer dart and still have so much energy left to move around, I find it a bit amusing. I should applaud you for your stubbornness." Was J making fun of Ash? It seems like it.

"SHUT UP!" Ash hissed venomously, glaring darkly at the evil hunter before him. "What are you up to now, J?"

"That's none of your concern, brat." The silver-haired woman spat with venom in her tone.

"That's right." One of J's henchmen barked in agreement.

J quickly turned her attention to her imbecile of a lackey. The blabbermouth immediately zipped his lips when his commander gave him a cold glare. That shut him up.

As soon as none of her men were going to butt into the conversation, the female hunter returned her attention right back to Ash who was glaring at her. She can tell by the look on his face that he wanted some answers from her. It was his lucky day or was it?

"You must be wondering why-…"

"Why did you attack me and my friends? And speaking of my friends… where are they? More importantly, where is my Pikachu? I swear if you hurt them in any way, you're going to be sorry, J!" Ash threatened.

Despite being threaten and all, J didn't look like she was a bit intimidated by Ash's mere threat. The young woman didn't take her captive seriously enough. Why was that? Is it because Ash shows emotions and concerns for his friends? Or was it the fact that he show bits of mercy to those he come across? Maybe, either way, J just simply swatted away Ash's empty threat.

"You're weak." The evil hunter stated, causing the young boy to growl at her. Those were fighting words.

In anger, Ash rose up to his feet and charged forward at his taunting opponent. He was done talking. It was time for action.

As Ash was charging forward recklessly without thinking over his idiotic decision, several of J's men stepped forward to intervene. But just as the men were about to take another step forward, they were immediately stopped when their commander placed a hand out, telling them "Do not take another step forward or else I will kill you". Not wanting to anger their commander any further, the lackeys backed off. It was a good decision on their part, but they didn't know why J was so calm since her expression hasn't changed at all. Did she have a plan? Let's find out if she did.

*CLING*

Suddenly, Ash was stopped dead in his tracks when something was tugging on his right wrist and preventing him from moving any further than his limit, which was barely the center of the room. Quickly, the young trainer glances back and notices that the chain, which was attached to his cuff, was extended out to its limit. So that's why J didn't look too worried when Ash started to charge at her. It's because she knew Ash forgot that he was chained to the wall. No wonder she looked pretty relaxed.

As Ash was pulling and yanking effortlessly on his chained wrist, he started to wonder if this was even working at all. To answer his question, it was a big fat no, which tells him that he needs to come up with a different plan. If plan A didn't work, then plan B will be his next solution and so forth.

Thinking that he might still have his Unova party on him, the naïve trainer took the chance and went for his belt with his free hand. Once he did, he felt nothing on his waist. His Poké balls were gone. Where can they be?

At first, the young trainer thought J took away all of his Poké balls off of him when he was out cold. That could be a possibility. If it washer, then Ash will never ever forgive J. However, that wasn't the case at the moment. If Ash remembers correctly, during the time of J's sneak attack, he recalled that all of his Pokémon were out of their Poké balls and fighting against J's henchmen before everything went black. So that means they were safe with Cilan and Iris. That was a good thing. But at the same time, it was a bad thing as well. Ash's Pokémon was his only alternative solution that he has left. What else can he do?

But just then, the young trainer snapped his attention right back to J when he took notice that she was holding something within her right hand. What was it? To Ash's eyes, it looked like a remote control with a big red button in the center, below it were two small red dials, and in between them was a small screen that was completely blank at the moment. It was definitely a remote, but the question is… to what exactly?

Before Ash could come up with an answer to that, the evil woman turned the right dial to the right until a click sound was made. Once the dial made a sound, the blank screen suddenly switched on and a number 0 was shown. Before long, J gently rolled the left dial to the right until the screen displayed 20%, 20% to what exactly? Unfortunately, there was no time to answer that.

As soon as the settings were in, the cold-hearted hunter pointed her controller at her prey, still smirking. Be glad I'm going on easy, brat.

*CLICK*

With that thought out of the way, J would soon push the red button on her remote. Once she did, the room was echoed by loud beeping noises. Where were they coming from? To answer that, the beeping noises were coming from Ash's electrodes. The restraints' core-like centers were dangerously flashing, back and forth. However, they weren't the only ones that were flashing when J activated them.

Unaware to Ash, there was a black collar around his neck. It was very much similar to the electrodes around his arms. It too was beeping and flashing, just like them. And before long, the young trainer would get the shock of his life.

*ZAP*

Suddenly, static of black electricity burst out from Ash's black collar and electrodes, causing a great deal of excruciating pain to the young trainer. Ash's screams of agony echoed the air as the black electricity continues to leak out from his binds. The pain was too much, even for him, despite all the effort of trying to endure it.

As the shock treatment continues to take its toll on the young trainer, J and her henchmen couldn't help, but have a big smirk on their faces, especially J. They enjoy seeing the boy in pain. This scene was pretty much to their liking. That's what Ash gets for all the time he butted into their business. But at the same time, J needed to watch it. The young woman needed her little troublemaker alive or else all of her efforts of kidnapping him would have been meaningless.

After a few minutes of watching Ash screaming in agony, the evil hunter shut off the boy's restraints. She had a strong feeling that Ash had enough for now. Once J shut off them off, Ash dropped to the floor, onto his side, like a log. Small sparks of black electricity were leaking out from his restraints after they were turn off.

Despite of happened to him, a few moments ago, Ash was still conscious, but barely. His breathing was getting heavier and heavier by the second. His vision was staring to lose focus and become blurry. It was pretty much hard for him to keep both of his chocolate-brown eyes open for long. In his current condition, the young trainer couldn't move a muscle at all. His body was in so much pain. It was aching all over the place. This was J's chance to move in.

As the young woman pocketed away her controller, she motioned two of her henchmen to walk over to Ash. They quickly obeyed. The two lackeys went over and helped Ash to his knees, without a much of struggle. Ash didn't have any energy left to put up a fight, much less a struggle.

Once the exhausted boy was completely restrained by her two morons, J walked over before kneeling down to Ash's level. The archenemies stared at one another for the longest time and before long, the evil woman grasped the young boy's face with her right hand tightly.

"Do you know why I suddenly came after you and attacked you and your friends without warning? Do you even know why I spared your pathetic friends and your Pokémon's lives? Do you even know why I spent all the trouble to kidnap you and bring you here, brat? Do you?" J asked him in so many ways as her grip around his face tightens.

When J didn't receive an answer from Ash, she decided to give the brat the answer to all those questions she just asked him. The young woman leaned her face in closer and before long, she spoke.

"It's because I want you."

"Y-You… want me…?" Ash wheezed in confusion.

"That's right, brat." J said to him in her sternly voice. "Your skills and abilities as a Pokémon trainer can be very useful to my cause. It also applies to your hidden potential as well. But I know you're the type of person who is unwilling to give in or submit without a fight. That's why I'm going to take my time on you very slowly and break you until you submit to me."

Very soon, the sadistic hunter leaned her face even close with a wicked smirk forming on her face. "Let's see how long your strong will can last before it breaks into pieces, brat."

A/N: Boy, chilling words from a sadistic hunter if you asked me. Poor Ash. Can Ash endure what J has planned for him? Can his strong will overcome the odds? Or will it break sooner than you expected? Find out next time. All right, with that out of the way, I'm going to give you guys a little heads up about this story. As you might know already, this story plot will be far or mostly likely different from the previous one. The reason why is because of two things. One: I wanted to take things slowly on Ash's relationship with the other characters, especially with J. And two: I wanted to try something different. I hope you can understand that. All right then. With no more questions, I hope you guys like this first chapter. Please R & R! Thank you! Until next time, peace out! ^_^

P.S. - Thank Final Heir forspending his Spring break to look over this chapter for me! ^_^

P.S.S. - Sorry if my updates have been so slow lately. Recently, I bought a new game for the PSP called Gods Eater Burst. It's an addicting game once you play it for the very first time. Sorry for the inconvenience. I will try to post more updates as soon as I came. Just be patient, all right?

Johan07