Chapter 11: Darkrai
Pikachu, Tajiri, Selia, Misty, Brock, and Dawn were running as fast as they could to the town. Ash was still unconscious in Selia's arms, who was trying her best to heal Ash's injuries.
"Selia, how long is it until we get there?" Asked Misty.
"Don't worry, we're almost there."
"Which reminds me..." said Tajiri. He stopped in his tracks, and grabbed Ash's bag. He took out Ash's hat, a pair of blue sunglasses, and a light blue scarf. He put them on in less than a second, and turned to everyone.
"Well, how do I look?"
"Tacky" said Dawn. Tajiri sweat dropped, and answered back angrily.
"Well excuse me, but SOME of us are banned from stepping foot within 150 miles of the town!"
"Tajiri be quiet! Now hurry up everyone, the sooner we get to the town, the sooner we can get Ash healed" said Selia.
Everyone agreed, and so they continued running.
"All right, does everyone understand the plan now?" asked Giovanni. He and his Persian were standing in a large assembly room in front of dozens of Team Rocket Grunts or so. He had gone over his current plan on capturing Ash. Everyone nodded, and soon the assembly room had become empty once more. "Don't worry Persian, this plan shall be fool- proof" he said as he scratched Persian's head. "Speaking of fools, why
don't we check in on my 'nephew'?" They exited the room and headed towards the hospital ward.
Once they got there, they saw that 'Ash' had his ear next to the wall, as though he was listening to something important.
"Uh Ash, what are you doing?" asked Giovanni. 'Ash' looked up, not realizing that Giovanni had entered.
"Oh, hello there uncle. I'm sorry; I thought I had heard a cry outside."
"A cry? What kind of cry?"
"Well, it sounded like Ho-oh's."
"Oh, so you heard it as well?"
"Apparently yes. Oh, by the way, are you done making up a plan?"
"Huh, oh yes. For now, I have sent some agents to scout the area in case they spotted him."
"Oh, that sounds alright" said 'Ash' disappointed.
"Is there something on your mind, Ash?"
"Well, I was hoping I would go and help you find him."
Giovanni sighed, "I'm sorry, but it might be a bit too much for you to handle. Why don't you read some of these books instead?"
"But I already read all those books twice! I have nothing to do and have no one to talk to! Please, let me do some-" But before he could finish, 'Ash' fell to his knees, clutching his sides as though he was in pain. "Ash, what's wrong?"
"...It hurts..."
"Persian, get a medic. Ash, tell me where it hurts." Persian left the room to find someone, while Giovanni crouched down to see what was wrong with 'Ash'. There wasn't anything wrong with him on the outside, so Giovanni assumed that something was wrong on the inside. But before he could find out anymore, 'Ash' fainted. The medic came in, albeit
late, and went to see what happened.
"Alright then doctor, what happened to him? Is there anything wrong internally?"
"Well it's too soon to tell, I'll have to run some tests on him. Hopefully it's nothing too serious."
"For your sake it better be."
It took them a few minutes, but the gang finally reached the town. It was somewhat small, with no buildings taller than at least five stories. Despite its size, the town looked like it had a tight security, with an iron gate guarded by two big burly guards that would let people enter and leave. Tajiri immediately started to doubt whether his 'disguise' would work.
"Hey guys, mind if I hide behind you guys?"
Misty sighed angrily, "Oh Tajiri grow up! What's the worst that could happen?"
Just then, the guards came up to all of them, leering down on them with the scariest eyes any of them had ever seen. Tajiri was shaking all over, but after seeing Ash in his injured state, he calmed himself down. He went up to the guard first, and asked, "Excuse me good sir, do you happen to know if there's a Pokémon center nearby?"
The guard looked at Tajiri suspiciously. "Yeah, there's one a few blocks down, why?"
"Well, my son and his friends need a place to rest and heal their Pokémon."
"But why are you all in a large group?"
"For security reasons. Now may you please let us pass?"
"Hmm, I don't know. The boy looks a bit too weird to be your son."
The guard pointed to Brock, who looked confused as to why he was being pointed at.
"Damn it, I forgot Ash was a Pokémon!" thought Tajiri.
"Uh, well, you see, he's...my step-son! He has mostly his mother's looks, so that's why he looks weird" said Tajiri nervously.
"Hey, I can hear you" said Brock.
"So may you please let us in?"
The guard was thinking deeply. "I don't know, we don't take too kindly to liars here." Knowing this conversation was getting nowhere, Dawn had an idea. She grabbed Ash from Selia's arms, and walked up to the guard and put up her best cute face. Pikachu joined her to add to the scheme. "Please sit, my Pokémon is very hurt! If we don't take it to a Pokémon Center, he could..."
Then, Dawn broke into tears as the guard was hit with a sense of guilt. Eyes watering, he stepped aside to let everyone pass. "I'm sorry, please go quickly! I can't stand here and let this Pokémon suffer!" Everyone grinned and thanked him. Soon, Tajiri and the guard were the only ones left. As he left, the guard put a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey man, I'm sorry for holding you up like that."
"Oh, it's no problem...man dude."
"You know, for a second there I thought you were some idiot that our town banned some time ago."
"Oh really, well what did he do?"
"Well, he would steal a customer's sake whenever they weren't looking, and it got so bad he stole the town's year supply of sake ingredients, saying that he could make it taste better."
"Wow, that's some loony! I bet that's why there are so many policemen, huh?"
"Yep, so be careful!"
"Look, there's the Pokémon Center!" Dawn pointed out to a white building with a red roof. On top of the roof was a large orange P.
Everyone smiled, relieved that they had arrived. They entered quickly, and a smiling Nurse Joy welcomed them. Instead of breaking into a love- filled fantasy, Brock quickly pulled Nurse Joy over to them. "Nurse Joy, please help us! We need you to heal our friend quickly!" Dawn showed her Ash, and Nurse Joy quickly took him into her arms.
"Oh my! The poor thing needs urgent care! Chansey, the stretcher!" A Chansey came in wheeling in a stretcher.
"Chansey Chansey!" (I'm here to help!)
"Chansey, can you take this..."
"Riolu" said Dawn.
"Right, take Riolu to the main emergency room, stat!"
Nurse Joy put down Ash in the stretcher, and both she and Chansey took him away. Pikachu got off Dawn's shoulder and followed them.
"Hey, Pikachu!"
"You three go ahead" said Selia. They all looked at her in confusion.
"Don't worry, I'll stay here and wait for Tajiri. You guys stay with Ash." Grinning, they thanked her and went off.
Meanwhile, Tajiri was walking through the town, hoping no one will recognize him, when he stopped in his tracks. "Huh, that's weird. It was as if there was some sort of dark energy near me. Nah, I must be paranoid. Besides, I need to go see how Ash is."
Tajiri took off, unaware that there really was a dark shadowy figure behind him.
Pikachu, Misty, Brock, and Dawn were sitting outside of the room Ash was in. Normally, they would be looking through the room's window, but there were curtains blocking the view. Nurse Joy still had not come out yet with any news. Everyone was dead silent, too busy worrying over their injured friend.
"Wow, I guess Ash got more hurt than we thought" said Dawn, trying to break the silence. It didn't work, everyone was still quiet. Luckily for Dawn, Tajiri and Selia soon came.
"Tajiri!"
"So, how is he?" asked Tajiri
"Well, Nurse Joy still hasn't come out yet" said Brock.
"Ah, I see." Tajiri went over to the window, when suddenly, Nurse Joy came out. Tajiri went over to her at once.
"Nurse Joy! How is he?" To everyone's relief, Nurse Joy smiled. "Don't worry, Riolu will be just fine! All it needs is some rest and it'll be out before the end of today."
Tajiri sighed, "What a relief. Uh Miss, do you mind if you open the curtains please?"
Nurse Joy nodded. "Sure, for now only one visitor can come and see Riolu." Nurse Joy stepped inside the room and opened the curtains.
Inside the room, everyone could see Ash in his Riolu body, sleeping peacefully in the stretcher/bed they were so used to seeing in Pokémon Centers.
"He looks better now" said Tajiri.
"If you don't mind me asking, but are you Riolu's trainer?" Nurse Joy asked Tajiri.
"Oh, well, yeah I guess."
"You're very lucky, that looks like a very fine Pokémon. Just remember to take good care of it!"
"What am I, ten?" thought Tajiri. "Of course, don't worry about it!"
And with that, Nurse Joy made her way back to the reception desk.
"Hey Pikachu, why don't you go in first?" suggested Tajiri
"Pi?" (Me?)
Tajiri nodded, "Of course, you're his closest friend. I think you should go in and see how he's doing." Tajiri opened the door, and Pikachu happily went inside. Tajiri closed the door and went back to looking at Ash, even though there was nothing to watch. "...She's
right you know."
Everyone looked up to him. "Ash really is a great kid. I just can't believe it took me five years to realize it."
No one knew what to say. "I can tell just by looking at you three that Ash has been a good friend to you, risking everything and anything to help you." Selia frowned, not liking where this was going.
"You know, it's a shame. I bet that no matter how much Ash will do to help people; he'll always have to suffer. Maybe it's because his friends are never there to help him..."
Misty looked as though he had said a foul word to her. "What did you say?"
Brock looked as if he was insulted in front of his family. "Tajiri, what do you mean we don't help Ash?"
Dawn looked like both Misty and Brock now. "We always help Ash when he needs it!"
"Tajiri, how can you even think that?"
"I'm sorry Selia, but I sure did not see them help Ash when he was carried off by Ho-oh!"
"Well excuse us, but at least we didn't drop him into he forest!" Misty was about as red as her hair right now.
"All right both of you stop right now!" Dawn had gotten in between Tajiri and Misty, trying to make sure neither of them started a fight.
"Ash is recovering right now and could wake up at any given moment. And I doubt the first thing he wants to see is his father and friends fighting with each other!" Both Tajiri and Misty stopped.
"I'm sorry; I should not have criticized you all like that. But you have to understand why I did it."
"Because you're an a-"
"No, because you guys have to realize that this won't be one of your day-to-day adventuress. This might be a matter of life and death, and I can't have a bunch of kids running around."
"We can take of ourselves, right guys?" said Misty.
"I'm sure you can, but how do you know you might not get kidnapped again? And when you do, do you really think Ash will be able to save you?"
That had struck a cord with them. Now that they thought about it, Ash had always helped them out more than they could help him.
"So you think Ash is better off without us?" asked Brock.
"I think it's safer for you all and Ash if you three leave. I'm sure you'll be safe in Sinnoh."
Brock was deep in thought. It would be best for them to leave somewhere safe and not cause any problems for Tajiri. But then, how would Ash feel if they left? After all, he was rarely without his friends, and he'll hate them for leaving.
"Well I see your point, but what about Ash?"
"I'm sure he'd want you safe. He might feel bad, but he'll feel worse if any of you got hurt."
Then, Misty stepped up. "...Alright, we'll leave." Everyone looked shocked as she said this. They all thought that she would be the one least likely to agree.
"Misty, you're actually agreeing with Tajiri?" asked a shocked Dawn. Misty nodded, "He's right you know. Why should we go if we'll only be getting in the way? Besides, if we get in trouble Ash can't help us."
"I'm glad you see it my way Misty" said Tajiri. "Phew, and here I thought I would have the most trouble with her" he thought.
Dawn and Brock, however, were not entirely convinced but knew it would do no good arguing over it.
"Fine, we'll find a ship that'll take us to Sinnoh" sighed Brock.
"Maybe we can go to Twinleaf town with my mom" said Dawn, trying to make the moment better.
Tajiri nodded, "I wish you all the best of luck. Hopefully we'll all see each other again real soon."
"I'm going to miss you all" said Selia sadly.
"So will I Selia!" cried Brock.
"It was nice meeting Ash's long-lost father. Say goodbye to Pikachu for me" said Dawn. As if on cue, Pikachu opened the door and stepped out. He had heard yelling before and wanted to know what was going on.
"Pika pikachu?" (What's wrong guys?)
Misty looked at him sadly and said, "Pikachu, me, Dawn, and Brock have to leave now."
Pikachu couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Pika? Pika pikachu Pikapi!" (What? You can't leave Pikapi!)
"I'm sorry Pikachu, but we have to go. It's for our and Ash's own good. I hope you understand."
"Pi..." (But...)
"Pikachu" Tajiri crouched down to Pikachu's level. "Wouldn't you prefer Ash's friends gone and safe than with us in danger? What if something happens to them, huh? Ash would never be able to live with himself, would you?" No matter how much he tried to argue, deep down Pikachu knew Tajiri was right. Either that or he was a really good liar.
"Cha...pikachukapi pika" (Ok...goodbye guys)
Misty bended down and hugged Pikachu. "Promise me that you'll take good care Ash and not let him do anything stupid, ok?"
"Chu…" (Ok…)
Misty got up and gave Ash's bag to Selia, feeling a bit paranoid with the feeling that she'll never see it again.
"Make sure you tell Ash that we said goodbye" said Misty. Selia nodded, "I will, don't worry."
And with that, Misty, Brock, and Dawn left.
As they walked out the door, they couldn't help but notice the large quantity of people outside.
"Wow, this town can sure be crowded" said Dawn.
"That's because despite the cliffs, many boats come this way" explained Brock. "I'm sure we'll find a boat to Sinnoh here, right Misty?"
"Huh, oh sure" said a somewhat distracted Misty.
"You're going to love Sinnoh Misty! It's so huge, and has a mountain, and it's-" But before she could finish, Brock cut her off.
"Dawn, shush! Can't you see that Misty is going through a tough time right now?"
"Yeah, I'd be depressed too if I had to leave behind my boyfriend" said Dawn, trying to mess with Misty. However, Misty didn't even glare at her menacingly, which shocked Dawn.
"Wow, she must be depressed. I wonder why it's bothering her so much."
Brock sighed, "Isn't it obvious? It's called love."
Tajiri sighed, "What am I going to tell him?" Tajiri knew fully well that Ash would never make his friends leave like that. After all, he was so much like a child and would be upset whenever a friend would leave.
"I know! I could tell him that the Brock guy had to take care of his gym, while the Misty girl had to go compete in a contest thingy and the Dawn girl went to take care of her siblings! Or was it Brock who had siblings? Now that I think about it, Misty doesn't strike me as a coordinator, whatever the heck that is. Argh, what should I do?" He was furious at himself for not coming up with a reasonable excuse. If Selia was there, she could have helped him, but she was busy preparing food and other things for their journey. Pikachu was still in Ash's room, waiting for him to wake up. Tajiri was sitting on the floor outside of the room, not wanting to be there at the moment.
"Come on Tajiri, think, THINK! Hmm, I guess all those nagging people were right; drinking does kill your brain cells. Oh well, I guess I should be worried more about Ash instead of...whatever I was thinking right now." Tajiri got up and went inside the room, deciding to check up on Ash. Pikachu was lying near Ash's stretcher/bed, sleeping a little.
"Oh good, he's still asleep. Hopefully he'll stay like this for a few more-" Ironically, it was at this time that Ash started to wake up.
"...hours."
Ash started to move a little, and opened his eyes slowly. Unfortunately, the first thing he saw was his father messy and hairy face over him, which was enough to scare him out of his wits.
"AAAAHHHH!" His scream was loud enough to wake up Pikachu from its sleep, but not loud enough for anyone to hear it from the outside. Tajiri put his hands over Ash's mouth, to make sure no one could hear him. Even Pikachu had to shock Ash to stop him from screaming.
"Pikapi, pika CHU!" (Pikapi, shut UP!)
"Ash, be quiet! Do you want Nurse Joy to come in here?"
Ash quieted down, but then asked Tajiri, "Nurse Joy? What do you mean 'come in here'? Where is 'here'?"
Tajiri sighed, "Ash, do you remember what happened after your battle with Ho-oh?"
Ash shook his head, "No, I remember that Ho-oh was going to use Brave Bird on me, and then, nothing. I don't remember being in pain or anything."
"Good thing you passed out, 'cause that was some beating you got."
"Gee, thanks for reminding me. So you guys took me to a Pokémon center?"
"Pika pika" (Pretty much)
"We've been worried sick about you Ash."
"Aww, Pikachu were you taking care of me this whole time?"
"Pika, chu pika pikachu." (Yeah, don't mention it.)
Ash then looked around the room, as though he was trying to find something. "Hey, where are my friends?"
Tajiri and Pikachu immediately stiffened, still not sure what to tell him. "Umm, well…you see…it's very simple…"
"Are they outside? Can I go see them? Please please please!"
Tajiri sighed, "Ash, I'm sorry but your friends are no longer here."
"What do ya mean they're not here? What happened to them?"
"Well, I thought it would be best if they…left."
"…They're not gone are they?"
"Ash, don't you think they'd be safer if they stay somewhere else? This is a dangerous journey we're making, so it's best if they stay here."
"But…they'll be in more danger here! I want them to come with us! They can take care of themselves!"
"I'm sorry Ash, I know how you feel but they're not going and that's FINAL!" Tajiri stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Pikachu and Ash were left all alone.
Then, Ash got off the bed and quickly closed the curtains, even if he was too small to pull them.
"(Uh Pikapi, what are you doing?)"
"We're leaving Pikachu."
"(Leaving?)"
"Yeah, I can't let my friends leave! They're in this as much as we are, and they'll be in danger out there. I'm going to find them."
"(Uh, did you forget that you are a POKÉMON! You'll be captured by the time you step a foot out of this building!)"
"Oh shut it. I bet if 'Red' was here, he'd help me escape."
"Can you stop calling me that?"
As though he was summoned, 'Red' appeared from the far end of the room.
"'Red'! How long have you been there?"
"Long enough. Anyways, I think I shall help you find your friends. They're in more danger out there than with you."
"You'll help me? Yay! And here I thought you were a just a stubborn ghost."
"Hey…
Pikachu sighed, not understanding what was going on. "(All right, he can help. But if he posses my body again, I'll blast you into oblivion!)"
'Red' looked around, trying to see what he can come up with. "We can't just leave through the front door; your father might see you."
"Hmm…it sure is tricky." Then, Ash noticed a window that was hanging a few feet above him. "Hey, what a conveniently placed window. Seriously, where do these things come from?"
"(I know, right?)"
"Hey 'Red', give me a boost please?"
"Stop calling me that!"
'Red' grabbed Ash and lifted him up, allowing him to look out the window. Ash could see an alley outside.
"Hey guys, there's an alley out here. If I can just open the window…" Ash pushed on the glass, until finally it opened.
"Okay 'Red', lift me and Pikachu up and out of this window."
"Jeez, I really am your servant aren't I?"
"Oh shut up and lift us!"
"(Now now, let's just get this over with!)"
'Red' lifted Ash and Pikachu higher, until they were finally able to crawl out the window and land outside.
"Yeah, we did it!"
"I did it."
"Oh 'Red', there's no I in team."
"Giovanni sir!" The doctor from before had run up to Giovanni who was waiting outside of the hospital room 'Ash' was in.
"Is it about the clone?"
"Yes sir."
"Well, what's wrong with him?"
"T-that's the problem sir, there is nothing wrong with him."
"What?"
"I checked everything, brain activity, blood flow, everything! He's about as healthy as you and me."
"I don't understand, it looked too real to be faked."
"Well he's awake now, so lets be glad nothing happened to him."
"However, there was something strange about him."
"What was it?"
"As I was checking him, it was as if some burn marks and injuries that Pokémon get from battling appeared on him. When I checked it again, they disappeared. I have no idea what could have caused it."
"I wish I wasn't so hard on him, I bet he probably hates me by now. I don't blame him though. Five years after I was gone, he went on to become a great Pokémon Master, while I spent my time in a cliff cave, drinking Sake and watching the sea turn and turn and turn. Then, I finally see him again, and I don't even recognize him, bur he recognizes me! And now, I've driven his friends away, plus I have to take him to a dangerous island where even the tiniest thing can destroy the world."
"…Uh sir for the last time, go away!"
Tajiri was standing over the Nurse Joy's counter, not realizing that he had just told his life story to her. "Oops, sorry…"
"That's okay" she said cheerfully, "now please leave me alone."
Tajiri sighed, "Fine, I have better things to do."
He went outside, hoping to see if Selia was around. For some reason, he felt as if someone was watching him. "There's something wrong with this town, I can feel it" he thought.
"Tajiri!"
Selia ran up to Tajiri carrying what seemed (to Tajiri) hundreds of bags on her arms.
"Jeez Selia, how can you carry all those things?"
"Well, it helps to have psychic powers, but be a gentleman and help me!" She unloaded nearly all the bags in Tajiri's unprepared arms, causing him to drop them all on the floor.
"Oh, you're no help!" She grabbed bag by bag, made sure no one was watching them, and then teleported them somewhere. "That'll be much easier."
"You could have done that in the first place you know."
"Oh shut up! By the way, has Ash woken up yet?"
Tajiri froze, "Well, yeah…"
"What's wrong Tajiri?"
"I told him about his friends, and he wasn't very happy with it."
"Don't worry, let's just go and explain it to him better. After all, he did inherit your intelligence."
"Why thank you…I think."
They went back inside and walked to Ash's room.
"Huh, that's weird."
"What?"
"I don't remember closing the curtains in Ash's room."
They entered quickly, and just as he thought, Ash and Pikachu were not there.
"They're gone!" cried Selia.
Tajiri noticed the open window, and face-palmed himself. "How could I forget about the window?"
"I can't believe we weren't chosen to look for the twerp" sighed James miserably.
"I can't believe we were demoted!" yelled an angry Jessie.
"Hey, it's better den gettin' fired" countered Meowth.
"Not if we have to stay here and answer the phones!" Jessie, James, and Meowth were all sitting around a desk with over a hundred different ringing phones. After their most recent failure, Giovanni decided that the three were obviously not the best agents to do anything. So he took away their jobs as traveling agents and gave them desk work, a job that they were not supposed to screw up easily.
However, seeing as they were Jessie, James, and Meowth…
"Hello, hello, hello?"
"James, you're holding it wrong."
"Oops, hello there?" James flipped the phone the right way and could finally hear the other person yelling at him.
"Who the heck is working the phones? I must deliver a message to the boss!"
"Oh sure, what's it about?"
"I need you to tell the boss that we have caught sight of the target's friends exiting a nearby town's Pokémon Center.""I'll tell him right away sir!"
"I'm a woman!"
"Eeek, I'm sorry!" James quickly hanged up, feeling very embarrassed.
"All right then, I'm going to see the boss now!" James announced, standing up.
"Have fun" replied Jessie.
"Thanks…I guess."
James made his way towards Giovanni's office, where he waited until he was allowed to go in. Inside the office, Giovanni seemed to be deep in thought over something, but snapped out of it once he saw James.
"Ugh, what is it now?"
"Oh, um, well, s-someone said t-that t-they…" stuttered James, who was intimidated by the other man.
Giovanni sighed, "Well, thank you for wasting my time. You may go now."
"No wait! One of the agents said that they just saw the twerp's friends in town!"
That immediately caught Giovanni's attention. "What? Where?"
James cowered, "He, I mean, she said that they came out of the Pokémon Center!"
Giovanni's familiar smirk came back, "Well, this is the best news I've heard all day! Thank you for advising me."
"Um, you're welcome."
"Now all I need to do is go down and capture them."
"B-but sir, if you go then who'll run headquarters?"
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you will."
"B-but but…"
"No buts now make sure you lock up headquarters when I'm gone and be vigilant over the clone."
"Oh please, he's only a kid."
"I know, but there is something about him that unnerves me…"
"Waa, I'm so hungry…"
"(Pikapi, will you please be quiet?)"
"Your Pikachu is right Ash. You're going to blow our cover!"
"Cover, what cover? Me and Pikachu are walking in a cardboard box!"
It was true. As Ash was arguing with 'Red', he and Pikachu were walking in a cardboard box in an alley so that they would not be seen. Lucky for them, there wasn't anyone around in this part of town.
"(What I still don't understand is why we're under a cardboard box if no one is around!)"
"Oh shut up! Anyways, 'Red' have you seen them anywhere?"
"No, and will you stop calling me that?"
"(Pikapi, do you hear that?)"
"Hear what?"
"(Shush, listen!)" Ash quieted down, and 'Red' went to see what Pikachu was hearing. Ash heard the sound of footsteps along the road, but then quieted immediately.
"Did you hear that?" said one voice. It sounded like a teenage female voice.
"Hear what?" said another voice. This one sounded like an older male's voice.
"I could have sworn I heard some voices" said the first voice.
"Maybe you were thinking about your boyfriend!" said a new voice. This one was also a female, but sounded younger.
"He's not by boyfriend!" said the first voice again.
"Hey, that kind of sounds like…" Ash then recognized who the voice belonged to. He pushed the box off of himself and ran into the street, jumping into the arms of-
"MISTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
Misty, who did not see Ash coming her way, fell back in surprise as Ash landed on top of her. Brock and Dawn, who were right next to Misty, also fell back in surprise. Pikachu joined them (without the box) and 'Red' just stood there.
"Ash! What are you doing here?" asked Misty, pushing Ash off of her.
"Misty, Brock, Dawn! I don't want you guys to go! Please stay with me!"
"Huh?"
"If you guys leave me alone, then I don't know what I'd do. Please stay." Ash's happiness was then replaced with sadness. Misty then felt a pang of sadness in her heart as well, one she hadn't felt since the day she had to leave Ash and go back to the gym.
"Is this how he feels?" she thought.
Everyone else also felt a pang of sadness mixed with guilt, but not as strong as Misty's.
"…Alright then Ash, we'll stay with you" said Misty.
Ash's face brightened and started cheering, and it was hard to believe he had been so depressed before. However, Brock remembered something important. "Wait, what about your father, Ash? He might try to stop us."
"I don't care, I'll make sure you guys come with us. If not, I'll see if I can convince Selia, after all I am cute and irresistible."
"Of course you are."
'Red', who was watching, the conversation, suddenly felt as if there was something eerily behind him. He turned around, but saw nothing except his shadow. He shrugged it off, until he realized something. Ghosts don't have shadows. Before he could do anything, a dark wave of energy was let loose, knocking down Ash and his friends.
"Ow, what was that?" asked Dawn.
"I think it was a Pokémon, but I'm not sure I saw anything around here" said Brock.
"U-uh g-guys. Why is that shadow rising?" Misty pointed to the alley, where it certainly looked like a shadow was rising from the ground. To make things stranger, a blue like light suddenly lit up inside the shadow, making it look like an eye. Ash remembered where he had seen that before.
"We have to leave, now!" Ash pulled up his friends so that they would get on their feet, but the shadow then sent out another wave of dark energy. When it looked like it would hit Ash, some sort of beam seemed to knock the wave away and make it crash against the wall. He turned around, and to his relief, Cresselia was just above them and firing what looked to be Aurora beams at the shadow.
"Alright then, give it up! We all know who you are Darkrai" she yelled.
"…Oh, you're no fun Cresselia…" The shadow suddenly changed as a white plume like thing came from the top of what was turning into a head. Around its head were red spikes, which formed around like a color. Its body kept its shadowy like appearance, but now two arms had appeared from its sides.
"What is that thing?" asked a horrified Misty.
"It's Darkrai" answered Ash.
"It's a legendary Pokémon that gives you nightmares" explained Brock.
"So what's it doing here?" she asked again.
"Darkrai, you came for Ash didn't you?"
Darkrai chuckled, "How wrong you are Cresselia. To tell the truth, I came to do the brat a favor and take him from going to the Island myself."
"You know about Ash?" asked Dawn.
"Everyone knows about him my dear girl. At least, all the legendaries do."
"But why do you want me to go with you?"
"To make your life easier boy, that's why. Your friend Cresselia would have slowed you down."
"That's a lie Darkrai! You just want Ash for your own dark ambitions!"
"Well, you could call them dark. Anyways, hand over the boy and no one gets hurt."
"Over my dead body Darkrai!"
Darkrai sighed, "I was almost hoping you wouldn't say that." Darkrai launched another Dark Pulse attack on Selia. "Selia, look out!"
Then, Selia put up a green shield of energy that completely stopped Darkrai's attack.
"Oh good, she used Protect" thought Ash. "But she can't stop Darkrai by just defending!"
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" he ordered.
Pikachu responded, and launched its attack directly at Darkrai, who was not expecting it.
"Argh, you troublesome brat…" Darkrai fell to the floor, apparently taking a lot of damage.
"Quickly everyone, this way!" said Cresselia.
Everyone used this time to run away. As they were running, Ash couldn't help but notice that something seemed very wrong. "Hey guys, don't you think it's kinda weird?"
Still running, Brock asked him why.
"Well, it's almost as if no one is here."
Cresselia stopped immediately, and turned into a human again. "Everyone stay close!"
They all huddled into a group, with Ash squished between everyone. "I can't breathe! Misty's big butt is in my face!" Misty snapped, and grabbed Ash by his little neck.
"All right that's it! If Darkrai won't kill you first, then I will!"
"Waah! Selia, Brock, Dawn, save me!"
"Will you two stop releasing your love onto each other and shut up!" shouted Dawn.
"Wow, Dawn actually made a good point" said Misty.
"It's kinda weird. Now can you let go of me Misty!" Misty let go of her grip on Ash, and he immediately fell to the floor.
"So Selia" said Brock, "what do you think is going on?"
"Ash was right; there really is no one here. I can't sense anyone."
"Do you think Darkrai is behind all this?"
"Maybe, but Darkrai can't take away all the people in the town. He's up to something."
"Hey guys," Ash walked up to Selia, "don't you think the ground here is soft?"
Dawn and Misty looked at Ash strangely. "Pika Pikapi?" (What do you mean Pikapi?)
"Well, when Misty had the courtesy of dropping me on the floor, I didn't feel anything."
"That's it!" cried Selia.
"What, what's it?"
"Darkrai must have put us under a nightmare, that no good son of a-"
"Hey wait a minute, Selia can't you wake us up?" interrupted Ash.
"Oh yeah, I forgot."
Selia began to glow, and suddenly the town disappeared and was replaced with darkness. Misty, who was not used to these sorts of nightmares, started to scream at the top of her lungs.
"Misty, stop screaming!" Ash yelled. She stopped, but then her entire body was starting to fade away. "Huh, what's going?" She wasn't the only one that was fading away. Ash, Brock, Dawn, Pikachu, even Selia looked as if they were being erased.
"Selia, what's happening? Why are we fading?"
"Don't worry Ash, we're about to wake up." Then, a beam of yellow energy was starting to form in her hands. She released the beam over her head, and then-
Everyone woke with a start. "Blast it, how did you get through my nightmares?"
Darkrai was floating over them, holding another dark pulse in his hands. "No matter, you humans will not stop me!"
"Yeah, well I can!" Ash launched himself against Darkrai and used Quick Attack, knocking Darkrai's focus off of his Dark Pulse.
"Stubborn brat, you don't realize what you have just done. Once you battle me, I'll never stop until I win!" Then, Darkrai launched another Dark Pulse straight at Ash, who dodged it at the very last second.
"Stay still you brat!"
"Nah, don't feel like it." Ash used Quick Attack, but just when Darkrai was about to dodge it…
"Take this!" Darkrai gets hit straight in the chest with Ash's fist. But instead of it being a normal punch, Ash's fist was glowing green and looked as if it was spiraling.
"Hey Brock, what move is that?" whispered Misty.
"I think that's Drain Punch! Ash must have learnt it right now" he replied.
"No duh."
"Wow, Ash might actually stand a chance now!" said Dawn happily.
"Pika chu Pikachu" (Some support you are)
"Instead of standing around here doing nothing, shouldn't we be helping Ash?" asked Brock.
"Nah lets just stand here dramatically. Of course we should help him!" Misty yelled. She took out a Pokéball, but was stopped by Selia.
"Hold on, there's something not right."
Darkrai also stopped. Ash was about to attack with Drain Punch, but was stopped by Darkrai. "Hey, I thought we were fighting!"
"Sorry, but I think I shall stop the fight right here" Darkrai said, surprising everyone.
"What! You're just gonna leave? What happened to all that 'I'll never stop until I win' speech?"
"You'd leave too if Giovanni was coming here." Before he could say anything else, Darkrai slipped onto the floor, and became part of the shadows.
"Wait a minute, come back here! How do you know about Giovanni?" Ash kept stomping and yelling at the floor, expecting Darkrai to come back at any time.
"Hey Selia, is Darkrai right?" asked Brock.
"I'm afraid he is, we have to leave now." She went and picked up Ash, much to his anger.
"Hey, let me down! I'm not through with him!" Sighing, she joined the others as they ran back to the Pokémon Center. 'Red', who's presence went unnoticed this whole time by Ash, just walked casually behind them.
"I guess I better follow them…"
"Agents, have you taken everyone away from the town?"
"Yes sir! Only the Pokémon center is left with civilians, and with the targets."
"Good, I don't want a mess to clean up. Remember, if you see any of the target's acquaintances, don't do anything that might hurt them. There's nothing more dangerous than a 14-year old pubescent boy with uncontrolled aura powers."
"Understood sir!"
"All right then, I'll be there in five minutes." Giovanni turned off the phone, done with giving orders to his agents. He was riding in one of the black vans that looked similar to the one that kidnapped Misty. Normally, Giovanni would be riding something more luxurious, but due to the circumstance he had no time to waste in such things. With his Persian by his side, he just thought to himself. "Soon, all of this won't matter. Once things go my way, nothing will matter anymore."