"It's a creature unlike any other," said Professor Oak. "In legends, it is called the Sky Cat. It invades the mind, destroys its opponents from the inside, or so the stories say. It's more dangerous than any other Pokemon in the world. And that is why you, Ash Ketchum, must slay it."
The Legend Of the Sky Cat
"She held the world upon a string, but she didn't ever hold me. She said she won the world, at a carnival, but she couldn't ever win me, because she couldn't ever catch me" -Panic At the Disco "She Had The World"
WARNING: this story contains Pokeshipping, Contestshipping, and Ikarishipping. GO IKARI!!!
*AN: I'm taking a big risk by publishing this before I've finished it, but I really can't wait to publish it. I made Ash a lot smarter than he is, cuz I can't stand him being such an idiot. The preview down there is what I HOPE I will put in the story. Some of it for sure, some of it not. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!*
Preview!!!!
"Yacaeli is a demon, a mishap that never should have happened," Arceus growled menacingly.
Paul panted heavily from where he lay against the tree, his legs a bloody, mangled mess. Dawn's tears could not be stopped. (Will he live???)
"I'm sick of being the plaything of a Pokemon with PMS," Drew snapped, clutching his wounded arm. "She's toying with us, Ash, and you know it."
Ash leaned closer. "Misty," he breathed, "please, wake up."
A pair of eyes blinked out of the darkness, bright as the moon against the night. "Yes," whispered Yacaeli. "These humans listen well, don't they?" She looked to the sky and gave an almighty roar. "Look at me now, Arceus!" she howled. "Just look at me now!"
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I have to admit, my first day back home did not go the way I'd hoped.
First of all, there was no party. None. After being a champion in countless leagues and contests and having just won another, I expected some sort of celebration.
Second, my mom wasn't home. That was a pretty big surprise. What was bigger, however, was when I walked into that empty house and saw the mess. Mom usually kept the house spotless, and it appeared as if it had just been ransacked.
Third, there were three missed calls on the phone. Two were from Professor Oak, the third from Rowan.
Dawn, Brock, and I stood in the doorway, staring around in confusion and listening to the insistent beep of the phone as it waited to be answered.
"This is definitely not right," I stated.
Dawn whistled. "I'll say. Isn't your mom a cleaning freak?"
"Yeah," I replied. "I wonder if something happened to her." Panic shot through me. What if she'd been kidnapped by Team Rocket, or Galactic, or whatever team we were on now. There's too many of them out to get me.
Brock stepped over what used to be a stack of plates, now broken on the floor, and made his way over to the phone. "Got three messages here," he alerted me.
I let my backpack slide off my shoulders and fall to the ground with a thud. Pikachu leapt off my shoulder and began sniffing around, curious. "Play them," I commanded.
Brock shrugged and hit play.
Immediately Professor Oak's face appeared on the screen. "Ash? Are you home yet?" He looked overwhelmed, and something went flying over his head. He ducked and continued talking with a chaotic scene behind him. "Tracey, get that Larvitar! Anyways, Ash, come as soon as you get this."
The second message began playing. It was Oak again, but with more screaming and pandemonium. "Ash, where are you? If you're ignoring me, I'll tell your mother! Hurry up and get over here before things get out of control!"
I stared at the screen until the third message began playing. Rowan's ancient face appeared in a much calmer environment, with an unreadable expression. "Ash," he said serenely, "I have a book waiting for you at Professor Oak's lab. Please return my call when you get it."
With an arched eyebrow, Brock turned and stared at me. "So… we're going to Oak's?"
I shrugged. "Looks like it."
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I was really looking forward to riding in a car, after walking for nearly the whole year, but Mom's car was gone. We trudged up the hill to Professor Oak's windmill lab, grumbling the whole way. All thoughts of my mother being in danger had been temporarily forgotten.
"Pika!" Pikachu cried, sprinting up ahead. He sniffed one of the flowers that sprouted out of the grass happily, as if it were a sign he were finally home. Suddenly, he perked up, on alert, his ears flicking around his head like radar.
"What is it, Pikachu?" I asked.
A soft breeze whistled around us, the only sound for a brief instant. Pikachu shook his head and gave me a smile. "Pika!"
"That was weird," Dawn murmured.
"Yeah," Brock agreed. "It was like he was thinking."
I punched Brock in the arm as he snickered about his joke. "Keep that up and Pikachu will shock your brains out."
Lately Brock had taken on the role of being the comedian of the group, and it was driving me crazy. You'd think that after knowing a guy for six years, he'd be a little more… tolerable. Nope! Not Brock! He still had to fall in love with every girl he saw, and now he had taken on the habit of making bad jokes. I kept waiting for him to comment on Dawn's outfit, just to see how she'd react.
Brock continued to chuckle to himself. I rolled my eyes at Dawn and we continued to plow up the hill. When I was little, I used to trudge up this hill about ten times a day when it snowed. Gary and I would sled down it at high speeds, with grins frozen on our faces.
I was glad, really glad, that Gary had stopped being such an arrogant snob and decided to show me a little respect. He had gone into the researching field, like his grandfather, and apparently he was on his way to becoming a legendary professor. I kinda hoped he'd be visiting his grandpa.
Finally, we reached the top. The windmill spun in the light breeze, which was probably a lot stronger up there. We couldn't see through the tinted windows of the lab, but we could hear. It sounded like all hell was breaking loose in there.
Timidly, I went up and knocked on the door. "Professor?" I called.
The door burst open, and a Yanma came flying out. Tracey went sprinting after it, brandishing a pokeball. "Yanma, return!" he cried.
The Pokemon avoided the beam and continued its ascent into freedom. Tracey stamped his foot in frustration. "Fine!" he yelled. "I never liked you anyways, you stupid bug!"
"Did it get away?" called a mildly disappointed voice.
Tracey whirled around. "Shut up, Paul!"
"Paul's here?" Dawn cried.
For the first time, Tracey seemed to notice us. "Oh, you guys are here! Great, great, c'mon in, before something else gets out."
With one last glance at the speck that was the escaped Yanma, Tracey led us into the lab. He quickly shut the door behind us so nothing else could make a break for it.
Inside the lab, it looked like a bomb had gone off. Papers were scattered all over the floor, along with pencils and other such materials. From what I could see of the stairs, the living area above it was a wreck as well. Pokemon were running wild around the lab, screaming as loud as they could and knocking over anything in their path. At one of the tables sat Paul, arrogant as ever, his feet up and a book in his hands. He sipped tea daintily, and seemed untouched by the chaos around him.
"Well?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the book. "Did you lose it, paper boy?"
"Only because you wouldn't help me!" Tracey screamed. "God, you're a jerk!"
"I am nothing of the sort," Paul replied intellectually. "I simply acknowledged your failure."
Tracey was steaming. Out of one of the other rooms, carrying a sobbing Chansey, came May. Her bandana had gone from red to orange, and she looked lividly at Paul. "Maybe if you weren't such a lazy mouth-breather, we wouldn't have Pokemon flying out the windows like they are!"
Paul was on his feet in an instant, glaring at May. His eyes burned with a deep hatred. "How dare you, you insolent little--."
"Paul!" Dawn cried, appalled.
He froze at the sound of her voice, but did not respond to her. However, he sat back down in his chair. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I didn't realize there was a lady present."
This made May bristle all the more. She turned a bright red and opened her mouth to insult the purple-haired jerk again, but at that instant Mom waltzed into the room.
"Ash!" she cried, and she rushed over to embrace me. "My poor baby, I've missed you so much! How are you? Have you been keeping clean? Changing your—."
"Mom!" I cried indignantly. My friends snickered lightly, but I ignored them. Mom was alright. That was all that mattered. I decided to change the subject. "What happened? Why's everybody here?"
"Well, Ash, that is a funny little tale all in its own," Professor Oak stated, chasing a Chikorita around the room. He swooped it up in his arms, pulled a pokeball out of his pocket, and the Pokemon returned to it in a beam of red light.
Brock looked around. "Where's the little pipsqueak?" he asked.
"Right here," said a voice, and Max yanked Brock down by the ear, much to his annoyance. "Call me that again and I'll yank it off."
Something chimed, like a cell phone. May pulled one out of her pocket and looked at screen. "Drew is on his way here," she alerted us.
"What happened?" I asked again.
"Oh!" Oak exclaimed. "I nearly forgot! Professor Rowan left you this… if only I could remember where I put it."
"Anyone going to tell me what happened?" I repeated for the third time.
"I think I saw it over here, Sam," Mom called, hurrying off to search for the book.
Paul held up the book he was reading. "Looking for this?" he asked nonchalantly.
May snatched it from his fingers. "Why didn't you mention that you had it earlier!?" she cried, outraged.
"Or everyone could just, you know, ignore me. It's not like it's a big deal or anything," I continued.
Dawn had joined the fight between May and Paul. "Cut it out, both of you! I don't like seeing my friends fight!"
"Mrs. Ketchum, we have the book!" Tracey called.
"I would like everyone to know that I am an art thief, and have stolen millions of dollars worth of paintings that I store in my spare pokeballs," I announced loudly. No one was listening.
"Oh, so you're defending this arrogant jerk?" May demanded, glaring at Dawn.
Dawn blushed. "What? No! I—I just don't want you guys fighting is all," she finished in a small voice.
"Pika, pikachu pi pika," Pikachu stated matter-of-factly, his little yellow arms folded across his chest.
"Is no one interested in me?" I asked, not expecting an answer.
"Max, let go of Brock's ear," Mom commanded sternly. The young boy obeyed without another thought.
Tracey pointed a finger at Paul. "You," he said. "Make yourself useful and go capture that Scyther." He pointed through the window to the green razor Pokemon that was slashing around outside, destroying the bushes on the side of the house.
Paul's face remained stony. "Make me," he said.
"Max, go get the Mareep that's eating the sheets upstairs," Oak told the little boy.
"Look out for that Tauros!" someone exclaimed, and everyone leapt to the side to avoid the rampaging bull.
"I really hate you," May growled in Paul's face.
Paul smirked in response. "And we've only known each other for… three hours now?"
"Where did that book go!?" Mom cried, exasperated.
"It's over here, Delia," Oak replied. He waved it in the air as he tried to gather up his papers.
A Duskull hovered near the light in the ceiling, fascinated. Tracey threw a pokeball to catch it, but the creature dodged it. Otherwise it gave Tracey no more notice.
Max came rushing down the stairs. "The Ponytas aren't in their stables anymore," he announced.
"What?" Oak questioned. He swore softly and dropped all his papers in frustration.
Suddenly, the front door burst open, and Drew came in, wrestling with the Scyther from earlier. "Hurry, catch it!" he said.
Tracey leapt into action and managed to secure the creature in its pokeball. "Finally!" he sighed. "We got one of them."
A beautiful redhead came in after Drew. "You've got about six Ponytas setting your hill on fire," she said. I flinched as I recognized the voice. It was Misty, with her hair back in a messy ponytail and the natural beauty of a make-up-free face. She looked like she'd just been pulled out of a battle at the gym. What was she doing here?
"Well don't just stand there go get the beasts!" cried Oak, throwing a flurry of papers in frustration.
The next half hour was spent herding the loose Pokemon into their stables or pokeballs. Everyone was snippy and in a bad mood, except for Drew. The guy was so smug and confident that nothing brought him down. Dawn was flushed a soft pink from her fight with May about Paul, who were huffing angrily and stony silent, respectively.
I didn't receive an explanation for our get-together until all the Pokemon had been secured in their homes and all the chaos had vanished. The lab was left with three broken windows, a smashed table, half-eaten sheets, papers scattered, and eleven disgruntled humans. We were seated around a crooked table that the rampaging Tauros had missed, silent.
The quiet was broken when Misty said, "Drew, you play weird music in your car."
"Well, sorry if you don't like Pearl Jam," he replied with a smirk. "I wasn't about to listen to Kesha and Lady Gaga. Even you with your mallet couldn't coax me into that."
"If you'd played that, I would have beaten you to a pulp," she replied casually. Yep. Same ol' Misty. "I wanted to hear some Muse or AFI."
Drew snapped his fingers. "Why didn't you say so? I had AFI in the glove box!" He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Along with Flyleaf, Collective Soul, the Clash, Green Day—."
"You had Green Day in the car and you didn't say anything!?" Misty was flabbergasted. "That is a cardinal sin. How could you not offer to play Green Day?"
"Dude, I like your taste," Brock complimented. He held out his fist and the two knuckle-punched.
"I hate all of those," May snapped. "Death Cab for Cutie and All Time Low."
Dawn looked dreamy. "Owl City, Never Shout Never, and Avril Lavigne."
It was a debate about music. Of course I had to voice my opinion. "Sublime, Metallica, the Offspring, White Stripes, and Kings of Leon."
"This talk of music is thrilling, really," Paul the Party Pooper interrupted, "but we came here for a reason, didn't we?"
My mom fixed me with a hard stare. "You listen to the Offspring?" she asked, shocked.
I grimaced and didn't reply. Obviously she didn't find the Offspring appropriate.
Prof. Oak cleared his throat. "Right. Well—." He slammed his hands on the table. "Where did I put that book!?" he howled.
Tracey leaned down and scooped it off the floor. "Here," he said.
"Oh, yes, thank you," Oak said, somewhat embarrassed. He accepted it with a light blush in his cheeks from his outburst and cleared his throat. "Right. Well, here we have a mythology book from the Anumic Islands."
"Where's that?" asked Dawn, ever curious.
"Somewhere off the coast of Johto, it doesn't really matter." Oak waved away her question. "Anyways, some pretty weird things have been happening over there, which…," he paused, searching through his papers, "I turned into a poem." He whipped out a piece of paper and began to read. "Ahem. 'The Pokemon have, gone wild as a frightened child, so we are helpless'."
We were silent. "Wow," Misty finally said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "That was really stupid."
Professor Oak glared at her, but otherwise ignored her comment. "Basically, the Pokemon are going absolutely feral, revolting against their Trainers, even killing some people."
"Why?" I asked, instantly hooked.
Tracey took over from Oak. "We think it has something to do with that book right there," he said, pointing.
"That?" said May skeptically. "But that's just a book of legends."
"Extremely crazy legends," Paul put in dryly. "Did you even read some of them?"
"I did, actually," Oak replied. He flipped open the ancient book and began skimming the pages. "There's one in particular that we were after…"
Drew kicked back in his chair and put his feet up. "Johto is hundreds of miles away. How does this affect us?" he asked.
"Drew, did you happen to miss the wild Pokemon destroying our lab?" Tracey asked. "The insanity isn't only in the Anumics anymore. It's spreading to all of the regions, as far as Sinnoh. And that means Kanto is included."
Brock looked confused. "So all those Pokemon went crazy because of some age old legend about some islands in Johto?"
"That's the theory," Oak murmured.
Mom looked sad. "That's why Mimey disappeared. He tore through the house like a hurricane and then he vanished."
My eyes widened. Mimey was gone? Now we knew why the house was a disaster when we got there.
"Ah, here it is," Oak declared, setting the book down. "'The Sky Cat'."
*AN: What do you think? Good? I hope so! I'm sorry if there's spelling errors, but it's late and I don't want to check it. I'll do it tomorrow. Thanks for reading!*