Chapter Text
Ash Ketchum was not having a good day.
So far, he got to the lab too late to get a starter, ending up with a pikachu instead. This would have been fine, if the pikachu had wanted to work with him.
The pikachu had not wanted to work with him.
Cue trying to catch a Pokémon by himself, bonking the wrong one with a rock, and after one thing lead to another, he was currently pedaling away from a flock of angry birds on a stolen bike, with an unconscious electric mouse in the basket.
So yeah. Not a good day.
Eventually, he knew he couldn’t keep going. Outpacing something that could fly is a hard ask, and doing it for an extended period of time is an even harder one. So he stopped.
He knew he couldn’t escape the spearow at this point, but he also knew he had to keep Pikachu safe. Even if said pikachu didn’t want to listen to Ash, he still cared about it enough to try and save it from what was coming.
Gingerly, he placed Pikachu away from the spearow. He got up, and prepared to face the flock. As they approached, he yelled it loud for them all to hear;
“HEY! You want to get to Pikachu, you’ll have to go through me!”
The spearow didn’t stop their approach. “I’m Ash Ketchum, from pallet town! I’m going to be the greatest Pokémon master in the world! JUST TRY AND STOP ME!”
Pikachu was not having a good day.
Really, the problems had been a long time in the making; fittingly enough, starting since he got put in that accursed hate sphere.
That on it’s own was bad enough, but then he had to be given to some idiot kid and dragged around on a leash. (At least to his credit, he did undo it once that strange device told him he wouldn’t like it.)
And then there were the spearow. Oh the spearow.
Pikachu wasn’t sure if the kid just lacked common self preservation, or hadn’t encountered the menaces before, but either way, the LAST way he wanted to spend his day was running from a flock of them. And yet, here he was.
So yeah. Not a good day.
And it was all the kids fault. Next time he saw him, he was giving him the shock of his life; that’s what Pikachu was thinking, while being unable to move.
Then his eyes opened, and took in a… frankly horrific scene.
The spearow were going ballistic. They kept tearing into him, and he… he wasn’t moving.
The kid wasn’t moving. And he was well away from the spearow, the bike off to the side. And that could only mean one thing.
The realization hit Pikachu like an earthquaking rhydon. After everything he had done to push the kid away, he had STILL given everything to keep Pikachu safe.
Pikachu hadn’t even realize he’d managed to stand up before he collapsed yet again… but from a different pain this time.
This, however, did not stop him from seeing what fell from the sky. And really, there wasn’t any better way to describe it.
It was a feather.
A very, very colorful feather.
The world seemed to turn into slow motion, as the feather drifted gently through the chaos the spearow were causing, somehow undisturbed on it’s way to the boy.
And then the two entities made contact.
The light was almost blinding.
Misty Waterflower WAS having a good day. Keyword: WAS.
She had gone to route 1 to go fishing and hopefully expand her team (A half truth. Mainly an excuse to get away from her sisters). All in all, it was very relaxing.
Then HE showed up.
And, in quick succession, got her terrified for his pikachu, stole her bike, and gotten her run over by a flock of angry spearow as they chased after him.
So much for relaxing.
As she headed in the direction he went off to, she was seething the whole way. When she got to him, she was gonna-
She was shook out of her thoughts quite violently by the giant beam of light that erupted from the ground.
Definitely not an every day occurrence. And since it appeared right in front of her, she couldn’t help but think that kid had something to do with it.
At this point, she seriously started considering if it was still worth it to chase after him.
Her anger and sheer curiosity said yes.
Ho-oh.
Legend of the storms end, bearer of the rainbow wing, and father to the beasts of ecruteak.
And currently, terrified at the sight of a flock of spearow tearing the chosen one to shreds.
He had been tasked to keep an eye on young Ash without interfering too directly, but right now, he was starting to think those orders might not be worth following.
Those thoughts increased in intensity tenfold when Ho-oh realized the chosen had stopped moving entirely. It was at this point, watching as the flock still kept at their assault far past the needed amount, that Ho-oh came to a decision.
And thus, the feather dropped; and the pillar of light shone like it only had once before.
Atop Mount Tensei, far away from where the action was happening, a shadow stood.
Ho-oh had been sent out to keep an eye on a new chosen; supposedly, a very important one too, if the Xatu were to be believed. So the shadow waited, as he had been told news would be brought to him of who exactly this chosen was once Ho-oh got a grasp of it himself.
Then the pillar of light appeared.
The kind that he had only seen once before, and certainly never expected to see again. Not for a very long while, at least.
“Well. This certainly feels familiar.”
Marshadow was definitely looking forward to what Ho-oh had to say.
When Pikachu was finally able to see again, what he saw was… odd?
A small, dark gray-ish Pokémon with purple bits on it’s hands, neck, and head was suddenly standing on top of the kids body.
Even as he watched, the spearow suddenly became just as confused as him (which makes sense given the light pillar happened on top of them). One of them managed to regain their composure, and took out more of their seemingly endless supply of anger on the Pokémon suddenly in the same position as the kid they were attacking.
The spearow passes right through.
With a battle cry that came from seemingly nowhere, the new Pokémon started dishing out attacks left right and center, thinning the flock, while the spearow didn’t seem to be able to even touch it.
Eventually, survival instinct finally overpowered raw anger, and the flock finally left, which just left the gray Pokémon standing there.
As Pikachu approached, the Pokémon turned.
“Oh, hi Pikachu!… why are you looking at me like that?”
Pikachu just stood in shock. If he was to believe what he was hearing…
“… Ash? What happened?”
As if finally registering something was wrong, Ash Ketchum held up his hands to his face.
Pikachu, as an electric type and thus having experience on the subject, didn’t usually use the term “short circuited” lightly.
But really, there’s no other way to describe exactly what happened to Ash’s brain in that moment.