Chapter Text
It was an excellent day. The wind was blowing, the grass was green, and the Pokemon were enjoying life. There was nothing quite like it, and nothing that could break the silence-
“Pikachu, Thunderbolt!”
Well, except for one person, that is. Ash Ketchum, Kalos League Runner-Up, and his partner Pikachu, were training. Despite the loss, Ash was still full of vigor and determination. He was aiming for the top, and nothing would stop him.
Pikachu’s Thunderbolt cracked the rock the two were targeting right open. All that remained of the boulder was a smoldering heap beneath it. Ash grinned, and his partner returned the favor.
However, Pikachu wasn’t the only one training. Boldore sat off to the side, silently mulling over the fact that Pikachu could blow up boulders of his exact shape and size. Though he could not express much, he was silently terrified.
Ash glanced at the two. With this bit of training, the two of them could get even stronger. And heck, maybe he could bring some more of his team members with on the next training session.
Just as Ash prepared to have Boldore use Flash Cannon and prepare for a battle with Pikachu, a sudden bright light appeared behind him. Ash squinted at it. The light came from a massive hole, one so abnormal it appeared as though it had made a crack in the fabric of reality itself.
Pikachu called out to Ash, hesitant about what they were looking at, until a loud scream suddenly echoed from the portal. A large black arm, with what appeared to be a mouth on the end, thrashed out of the portal madly, swiping at whatever it came across. The portal bulged as the full extent of the creature began emerging.
“Pikachu, Thunderbolt! Boldore, Flash Cannon!”
The two Pokemon did as their trainer commanded, and the Pokemon from the other side of the portal screamed madly. Ash prepared an empty Poke Ball, but he was suddenly grabbed by one of the large arms. Pikachu called out to his trainer, but soon, the large thrashing Pokemon fell into the portal, Ash in hand, as it closed on them entirely. Pikachu rushed after him, but the portal had dissipated before he could reach it in time. The portal soon faded with a single twinkle of light, leaving Pikachu and Boldore alone.
Pikachu stared slack jawed at the portal. Before he could take action, Talonflame chose this exact moment to enter the scene.
“Hey guys, what’d I miss?”
Pikachu sighed. This was going to be a long day, wasn’t it?
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Lillie knew she shouldn’t have agreed to go on the school trip to Vast Poni Canyon. Her friends kept wandering off, and now here she was, alone, without a Pokemon, in a canyon full of them. She had given up trying to find them a while ago. She needed to find a way out of here by herself.
Even if she was, admittedly, still lost and alone. Just a slight problem.
As Lillie stumbled around, she found herself tripping on something. That was odd. Was that a large rock she missed? No, it felt too round… and covered up by something.
She looked back, and found the answer: A hat. It looked like a cap, and by the looks of it, it was very beaten up. She hesitantly picked it up out of curiosity, only to notice a brief flash of red underneath it. Looking closer, she found out what it was: a Poke Ball. It was just lying there in the middle of a canyon. It was coated in a lair of grime, and looked heavily beat up. She decided that she may as well check if there was a Pokemon inside. She may have been frightened of them, but she couldn’t just stand by and let a Pokemon lie around, forgotten.
That, and it might be a better judge of directions than she was.
Lillie hesitantly pressed the Poke Ball’s opening mechanism, and suddenly, a bright flash appeared, and from that bright flash came a small Pokemon. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was a small cloud-like Pokemon, with two nebulous protrusions on the top of its body. It had a few small golden arches on its body, and in the center of its body lay its rather simplistic face.
It looked… lost. Just what was this Pokemon?
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The small Pokemon hesitantly glanced around the area. He didn’t really know where he was. Where was he? He had no clue. He was lost. But he had a name, right? Oh yeah, he did! What was it? It was… um… oh yeah! it had an S in it! Well, he was pretty sure, anyway.
He happily bobbed up and down in the air, but soon drew his attention to the fact he didn’t really remember much. He didn’t really remember his name, and he knew he had friends and a home… somewhere. He wasn’t really sure where. He remembered a lot of places, but he couldn’t really put a pin on it…
He glanced over at the terrified girl in white. She was wearing a dress, caked in a layer of dust, with a large hat on her head. It wasn’t exactly ringing any recognizability bells for him, right now… well, unless her hat was a really big marshmallow, or something.
“U-um…” She gulped. “H-hi there! My name is Lillie!”
The Pokemon could tell the girl was shivering. Was she scared of him? He wasn’t sure what she would be scared of! Heck, even he didn’t know what would make him scary!
…Mainly because he had forgotten what exactly he himself was. Did he look terrifying? He hoped not.
The Pokemon concocted a plan. If he were to look happy enough, then maybe the girl would realize he was friendly and not actually trying to eat her. Yeah, that could work!
The Pokemon happily bobbed over to the girl, but she scrambled back, wide-eyed. He sighed. He was really hoping that would’ve worked, honestly. He knew he was pretty small just from the height disparity, but was he really terrifying and small? That didn’t seem like a good combo.
Well, so long as she didn’t think he was trying to eat her, he’d be fine.
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Lillie, frankly, was terrified. Not really of the Pokemon itself, but… well… she didn’t really like to think about it. It seemed friendly, but…
Lilie heard a rumbling noise, and the Pokemon simply glanced down at itself. It confusedly poked itself a few times, looked up at her, and then panicked. From what she could tell, it looked hungry.
Lillie dipped into her bag. While she had no clue what kind of Pokemon it was, if there was anything she knew most Pokemon liked, it was food. She had packed a few berries, just in case she needed to distract a Pokemon, but they would work for feeding this one.
She chucked the berry towards the Pokemon. It managed to catch it in its little head floofs, and stumbled back, landing on its back. Even though she was terrified, she couldn’t help but giggle.
“So… what’s your name? You don’t look like any Pokemon I know.”
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The Pokemon looked at the girl as it began to nibble on its berry. He hadn’t actually thought about the fact that he was a Pokemon until now, for some reason, but he supposed it made sense. The height disparity still felt odd though… Maybe he shrunk?
Oh, right, she asked for his name! Hm… what was his name again? He couldn’t really remember much, it was all sort of… fuzzy. He was still pretty sure there was an S, but he couldn’t just use that as his name.
The Pokemon just shrugged. Or, well, as best he could with his two little floofy bits. The girl simply glanced at him with a hesitant look.
“Well, if you don’t know, then I don’t know.” She looked at the ground, where there was a rather beaten up Poke Ball. It looked… familiar, but he couldn’t quite get a pin on why.
“You were in that Poke Ball. Do you have a trainer?”
The Pokemon perked up at that. A trainer? Trainer… trainer… that sounded familiar. Was he a trainer? No, he was a Pokemon… but he felt like he was a trainer…
The little Pokemon frowned, and the girl sighed. It seemed to her like the Pokemon didn’t want to talk about it. Its trainer was probably not a good one if they left it here like this.
The girl picked up the Poke Ball, and frowned. She couldn’t leave the little thing here. It looked practically defenseless, like she was. And thus… she couldn’t just keep it. Maybe she could leave it with the Professor? He would know more about it than she did.
Glancing at the Pokemon, it had found the hat its Poke Ball was under, and, after prodding it curiously, plopped it on top of his head. Unfortunately, its head didn’t seem big enough for the thing, so one of its little head floofs flopped down from the weight. Lillie would have been concerned, normally, but the Pokemon seemed happy, so she wasn’t going to prod.
She sighed. She needed to find the Professor and the others before something happened.
“Here, do you know a way out of this place? We might be able to get you to the Professor, or someone who could help you.”
Professor? That sounded familiar to him. Did he know a Professor? Was he a Professor? Probably not. He didn’t really know much about himself. He couldn’t be a Professor!
The Pokemon happily pewed, and leaped over to the girl. She leapt back in fear, causing the Pokemon to stop mid bound. He was confused. She looked friendly. He looked friendly… Well, he thought so, anyway.
“I… I’m scared of Pokemon. It’s nothing personal, it’s just…” She shied away from the Pokemon. “I don’t like to talk about it.”
The Pokemon nodded. Its expression turned grave. The girl found it odd. It was almost like it sympathized, and that it was determined to help. Did the Pokemon have experience? It looked young… to have experienced so much…
The Pokemon soon regained its happy expression, blissfully hopping around his new friend, before running off into the depths of the canyon. Lillie gasped, scrambling for his Poke Ball, but by the time she reached it, the Pokemon had disappeared, seemingly having wandered off to wherever it was going.
She sighed. She had to go after it… before anything happened to either of them.
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The Pokemon bounded ahead over the rocky landscape. He had to find a way out of here, for both him and his friend… who, come to think of it, had been awfully quiet… perhaps he should check on her.
He turned around, but found that his friend had mysteriously disappeared. That was odd. He assumed that she would’ve followed him. Did she not? He supposed he should go back for her.
…Actually, where was he? There were a lot of… rocks… and… um…. More rocks. Did he get lost? He hoped not. No memory and completely lost? That didn’t seem like a good combination.
As he glanced around, something caught his eye… a slight glimmer in the rocks. The Pokemon floated over to the rocks, and began to nudge them out of the way as best as he could. What he found underneath made his mouth water. It was a massive horde of Rare Candies. They were rare for a reason, especially so in the case of this variety. This was a rare kind of Rare Candy, wasn’t it? Special holo packaging… a Rare Rare Candy!
He wondered how he even knew that for a moment, but he shrugged it off. It was whatever. There was free candy! Who was he to say no?
The Pokemon immediately leaped into the pile, guzzling on the Candies like a ravenous beast. Didn’t these have some kind of side effect?
…Eh, probably nothing!
The Pokemon grew so distracted that he completely missed the sudden arrival of a mysterious pitch black Pokemon. The Pokemon landed a good few yards away from the entrance, glancing around, before catching sight of the open entrance to the stash. The Pokemon, a Murkrow, flew as fast as it could to the source, and found the worst sight imaginable: A lost child, who was already two thirds of the way through his stash!
“Oi! Kid!”
The Pokemon turned around, curiously acknowledging the Murkrow mid-candy. It looked confused, before it suddenly seemed to realize what was wrong. It grabbed one of the candies from the pile with its head floof, handing it to the Murkrow. The Murkrow wing-palmed.
“Kid! I don’t think you understand, but these are my Rare Candies!”
The Pokemon glanced at the stash, before glancing back at Murkrow. After a moment of staring, the Pokemon jumped back in shock. Murkrow sighed. This kid was hopeless.
“Listen, kid. I’m a Murkrow. And you know what Murkrow do when their stash gets stolen?”
The Pokemon shook its head. The Murkrow glared at him.
“Well, kid… we tend to reclaim what’s ours… and given what you’ve stolen… I’m afraid I'll have to cut you open!”
The Pokemon’s expression turned frightened as it suddenly was struck by a Peck to the face. The Pokemon was sent reeling back, though didn’t seem to take much damage. The Murkrow scoffed. Guess the kid had more fight in it than he thought.
“Fine then, I guess I’ll have to try a little harder.”
The Murkrow flew back, before diving at the little Pokemon with a powerful Brave Bird. The Pokemon panicked, flailing madly, before a sudden flash engulfed the Murkrow’s vision. The Murkrow blinked, and suddenly, the Pokemon was gone. Where could it have gone?
The Murkrow suddenly felt a heavy weight land on his back. Turning around, he found the little Pokemon, hat and all, grinning madly on his back. The Murkrow was shocked, but no sooner did his surprise begin than the little Pokemon began flailing madly about something. Turning around, the Murkrow found that it was currently heading for a wall.
The Pokemon fell off of his back, and though the Murkrow attempted to pull up, it was unable to perform evasive maneuvers in time, landing face first in the wall. The Murkrow slowly slid off of the wall as the Pokemon watched from afar, readjusting the cap on its head. Eventually, the Murkrow landed on the floor of the canyon with a resounding thud.
The Pokemon hopped over to examine it, lightly prodding the Murkrow as it lay knocked out on the floor. It shrugged. He seemed fine enough, and there was candy to be eaten.
The Pokemon began to head back over to the candy stash, but suddenly, the girl from before bounded over the landscape, looking even more battered than before. He smiled. He was happy to see her again. The girl nervously glanced between him and the knocked out Murkrow, before sighing. Guess the little Pokemon didn’t need protecting after all.
“Don’t run off like that! It’s dangerous!” The girl huffed, catching her breath. The Pokemon looked on curiously. Did she run here?
Before the Pokemon could respond, the sound of a voice calling for the girl could be heard through the canyon. The girl glanced at the two Pokemon. Though the Murkrow was still knocked out, the nebulous Pokemon looked curious. The girl, of course, recognized the voice anywhere. It was the Professor. If anyone could help identify this Pokemon, it was him.
The Pokemon hopped over to her, offering her a piece of candy. She politely declined it, seeing as though it wasn’t healthy to eat candy a Pokemon found on the ground. The Pokemon hopped off, and she sighed. She had heard about Pokemon randomly finding things on the ground, but a piece of candy in a canyon was…
Wait, where it would it even have gotten something like that… where even was-
Lillie whirled around, and found the Pokemon scarfing down even more of the same type of candy from a large pile behind a stack of rocks. Despite the Pokemon’s happiness, she sighed in despair. This was going to be hard to explain to the Professor.
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“We could fly around for a while and figure it out!”
“Talonflame, where would we even start?”
Nightfall had hit, and Pikachu, Talonflame, and Boldore still hadn’t left the field. Attempting to locate someone who could for all intents and purposes be unlocatable wasn’t exactly an easy task, and unfortunately for their trainer, none of them were good at planning.
“Hmmm….” Talonflame put a wing to his chin. “Perhaps we could try…”
“...Yes?”
“Flying around even more!”
Pikachu collapsed. This was going nowhere.
Boldore, who had been watching since the start of this debate, looked disappointed. Pikachu was impressed. It took a lot to shake Boldore.
Even so, Boldore had been tapping its foot for some time now. Pikachu had no clue why , but he was. Though it seemed highly unlike Boldore’s usual stoic self… Could he be nervous?
“Boldore, don’t worry about it, we’ll find Ash eventually. We just need to-”
Boldore suddenly stopped tapping as it heaved its rocky body. It began tapping its foot in a specific pattern, this time in a manner more specific than Pikachu had ever heard it before. Pikachu couldn’t make out what he meant with it, but Talonflame did.
“Ash can… be…. located… by…”
Pikachu looked at Talonflame with bewilderment. “Talonflame, You’re getting all of that out of that!?”
Talonflame scoffed. “Not my fault you didn’t take lessons in morse code.”
“Since when did you-”
“I get into situations. Anyways, let me focus.” Talonflame paused, listening to the tapping for a while longer, before glancing up. “Boldore says Ash can be located by asking a Psychic type Pokemon.”
Pikachu perked up, eyeing the two, before realization hit him like a bullet train.
“That’s it! We can locate Ash using one of his Psychic type Pokemon! It would know him, and thus could do some weird psycho gizmo thingamabob and find out where Ash is! Boldore, you are a genius !”
Talonflame sulked. “Just how exactly are we meant to find Ash with a Psychic Pokemon when Ash doesn’t have a Psychic type Pokemon?”
Boldore tapped his foot again, but before he could even finish, Talonflame cut him off.
“We are not talking to Mimey about this, Boldore. The situation isn’t that bad.”
“Our trainer has been kidnapped, Talonflame.”
“As I said, the situation isn’t that bad, Pikachu.”
Pikachu sighed. He had the feeling it was going to be a while before they saw their trainer again if they kept it up at this rate.