Pokemon: The Journey

(AN: If you hadn't noticed, I had foreshadowed the previous chapter. Write in the comments where you think I wrote it.)

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Time seemed to slow down to a crawl.

He felt more powerful.

Healed.

He thought more clearly.

Faster.

He could see the raindrops falling slowly.

Hear the rhythmic flaps of wings.

Since the destructive power gathered behind him.

Step.

He was running faster.

Feel the power coursing through him.

Feel Pikachu in his arms.

He was unconscious.

No Thunder Wave to try to paralyze the Gyarados.

The energy beam cannot be slowed.

Step.

He was at the top of the ledge.

He had to run faster.

He turned towards the direction away from the Spearow flock.

Feeling the energy, he willed.

Willed it to focus on his legs.

He prayed it would work.

Hoped.

It worked.

He could feel the energy gathering in his legs.

The beam was released.

The ground cracked.

The beam carved the earth where he once was.

It nearly missed him.

He barely escaped.

They barely escaped.

The Spearow flock was still chasing.

Taking deep breaths, he continued to run.

The ground was slippery.

He was barely keeping balance.

He started feeling exhausted.

The energy from before was depleting.

He was getting slower.

He heard the screeches.

The Spearow flock was near.

They were catching up to him.

He felt pain on his back.

They had caught up to him.

The screeches and the pecks were making it hard for him to keep his balance.

He never noticed the bank.

The speed of his run kept him in the air and moved him forward for some distance.

He landed on his legs.

The slippery ground and the stone on the path made him lose his footing.

He crashed into the ground and slid some distance.

Pikachu fell from his arms.

The exhaustion kicked in.

The energy had vanished.

Taking deep breaths, he lay there in the mud with the rain falling around him.

The screeches had come back.

The Spearow Flock was near.

"Pi..."

Looking at Pikachu, he saw concern and fear in his weakened state.

Pulling himself up to his knees with effort, and keeping a caring and low voice, he said, "Pikachu, get inside your Pokéball, you will be safe from the Spearow, and leave everything else to me, okay?"

Yes, if Pikachu were inside his ball, he could run away more easily...

Run.

Run?

Hasn't he been running from the start?

Running away from the problems instead of facing them head-on?

Like a coward?

How can a coward become a Pokémon Master?

I refuse to run anymore.

Feeling angry, he pulled himself up to his feet and looked at the Spearow flock and spread out his arms and declared for the whole world to listen,

"Spearow! My name is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town! I refuse to be beaten by you, cause I have a dream, a dream to become a Pokémon Master! I refuse to run and hide from you! I vow to defeat you all!"

The Spearow started to fly towards him.

He mentally prepared himself and braced.

He felt a weight on his shoulder.

He saw Pikachu leaping towards the Spearow.

Lightning struck.

Then there was light, and darkness.

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Pikachu had seen the human.

'Ash'

Ash was his name.

They had been through a lot today.

The incident with the Rattata and Raticate.

Running from the Spearow.

Jumping and swimming in the river.

Falling down a waterfall.

Getting eaten by a big blue thing.

He had fallen unconscious after that, but...

He felt how he had been grabbed protectively.

Being jerked violently.

When he had started to regain consciousness, he felt himself being held in Ash's arms.

Nearly escaping being killed by the big blue thing.

Being chased by Spearow again.

Falling and slipping in the mud.

Being offered his Pokéball to return to, for him to hide and protect himself.

Seeing Ash stand up to the Spearow.

He knew he was stronger than Ash, so why?

Why was he the one being protected instead of the other way around?

Feeling angry and determined to be the one who protects the other one now, he raised himself.

Ran and jumped on Ash's shoulder while gathering all of his energy for the biggest attack he had done in his life to date.

He jumped from his shoulder.

He refused to die without trying.

He nearly reached the Spearow.

Then, lightning struck him.

Supercharging the attack.

Pikachu used Thunder Shock.

The world erupted in light.

Unconsciousness claimed him right after.

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When the two of them had come to, they noticed the sun was still shining in the late afternoon.

Through the clouds over them.

There were no signs of the Spearow in the sky.

They looked around.

The Spearow were lying knocked out on the road.

Sighing out of relief, they collapsed on the road again in lingering exhaustion.

Lying there, they stared at the beautiful sky with the rainbow.

After some time, they saw a beautiful, regal Flying Type Pokémon with power emanating from it, flying in the sky, reflecting the rainbow in its feathers.

"Who's that Pokémon?"

The Pokédex said, "There is no data on such a Pokémon. There are yet Pokémon to be discovered."

They saw a feather reflecting the rainbow fall near them.

"Man, today was rough, huh?"

"Pi"

Pikachu nodded.

"Well, at least we were never intentionally screwed over by someone."

Both of them started to chuckle.

...

Hearing a sound, both of them froze and turned to one side to check something.

After seeing it, both of them had their right eye twitch violently, with blood vessels visible on one side of their face.

"Pikachu."

"Pi."

All that they had gone through today...

"That might be a legendary Pokémon."

"Pika."

The Raticate, Rattata, Spearow, Gyarados, and that girl...

"It is still possibly a Flying Type, that is weak to Electric types, likeyou."

"Pi"

All of that suffering...

"We will one day beat that Pokémon when we are strong enough to defeat it."

"Pika"

For all of it, the damn flying type was...

"HO-HO-HO-HO-HO"

Laughing aloud and flying into the horizon.

While Pikachu also wondered about one thing,

What was this 'early character development' he was hearing from the birdbrain?