1,857Remember how I did that short Pokémon story a while back and said it related to a bigger story? This is it.
Granted, this is one of those immensely popular (to write) rewrites of the first season, basically, mixed with the games and with no romantic relations at all (come on, guys, they're ten when they start). So I'm basically boldly going where others have gone before, but we need more stories with Ash and Darkrai in them, so I'm going to do it!
*ahem* Anywho….When reading through Pokémon fanfiction, I noticed that of the few stories with Ash and Darkrai in them, they always take place 1) after the movie, or 2) after the episode in which one appears. Makes sense, but I wanted to try something a little different, started a little thing…and it went from there.
My plan is to integrate Pokémon urban legends into this story and other Pokémon references, so if any of you have suggestions, let me know. And please, feel free to constructively rip me a new one—how else will I learn? (I'm going to regret that sentence—I can feel it).
General idea is to update every Wednesday, unless life gets in the way (which it frequently does).
So! Without further ado:
Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo
The Incredibles © Pixar
And now, for something completely different:
With Halloween approaching, the Pokémon League would like to remind you to please take care while trick-or-treating. Reflective trick-or-treat bags and glow-in-the-dark stickers are encouraged. Please also stay in well-lit areas, as Ghost Pokémon tend to be attracted to Halloween festivities. And remember: if your Jack-o-lantern seems suspicious, please call a Pokémon removal service—it's probably a Pumpkaboo.
Halloween was Ash's sort of holiday.
If for nothing else, because he could wear his Pikachu costume without getting odd looks.
Honestly, adults were weird—it was perfectly logical to the five-year-old's mind that if he wore his Pikachu costume long enough, he would grow up to be one. Now if only his mother would let him wear it all the time instead of insisting on washing it….
Right now, however, he focused on dashing about Pallet Town in his best imitation of Quick Attack, Gastly candy bag clenched tightly in his hand. There would be a party at Professor Oak's place later, and he had to get as much candy as possible—otherwise, Gary would tease him again and brag about how great he was.
Well, he'd show him! If his plans to become a Pikachu didn't pan out, he could always become a Pokémon master.
He waved at the Officer Jenny supervising a cluster of children—they were out en masse tonight, due to the rumor that nights such as this attracted ghost and other such unpleasant Pokémon. Ash kind of wished that they wouldn't scare them off—he wouldn't mind meeting one of these so-called undesirables and see what the big fuss was about. Ugh, big group up ahead—quick! Dodge it! Between the buildings and zip around so he wasn't slowed down—
Oof!
Ash was knocked down, but recovered quickly, ready to apologize to whoever he had just run into—
"Oh, wow!" Ash exclaimed. "That's the best costume ever! What Pokémon are you supposed to be?"
The big black thing he ran into glared at him with a light blue eye. "What Pokémon am I?" it asked in disbelief. "What kind of impudent question is that?"
"I…don't know?" Ash guessed; impudent was currently out of his vocabulary range.
The black thing pulled itself up to its full height, pretty sizeable to a five-year-old, especially when the wispy white hair was taken into account. "I am Darkrai," it thundered. "Master of nightmares, purveyor of fear! Tremble before me, pitiful human!"
"That's so cool," Ash declared.
"Did you miss the part about trembling before me?"
"I am Ash Ketchum!" Ash said, getting into it now. "Brace yourself for my mighty Thunderbolt!"
Silence.
"Was I supposed to be impressed?" Darkrai asked.
"I'm working on it," Ash muttered. "Hey, you should go to Professor Oak's party later—he's having a costume contest, and you'd totally win."
"I don't think so," Darkrai said, floating off.
"But the whole town will be there! You have to come!"
That made Darkrai pause. "The whole town?"
"Yeah!"
Ash could tell the dark being was pondering this. "Well, with a temptation like that—"
"Great! Come on!" Ash said, catching Darkrai's hand and dragging him (well, it sounded like a him) along.
"And what do you think you're doing?"
"The party's not for another hour—there's candy to be gotten before the adults come to their senses!"
Ash heard Darkrai sigh. "Bide your time," he heard him mutter. "There'll be a good payoff shortly."
Ash wondered at that.
"Come on! The party's started!"
People had been very impressed with the costume on Ash's new friend. Of course, said friend seemed to want to keep drifting off, but Ash kept him on track. And the fact that no one could figure out his floating trick made him doubly awesome, so there.
Now they were speeding up the hill—because Ash had to get there before—
"Hey, Ashy-boy!"
Gary.
Okay, Ash had to admit, Gary's Charizard costume was pretty cool. It had fangs and everything—although the flame on the tail was made of felt.
"Feh, I hope you don't think you're going to win the costume contest with that ratty old Pikachu costume!"
"Well, you're not going to win either!" Ash declared, sticking his tongue out. "Because my new friend Darkrai's going to wipe the floor with you! Right?" Ash turned—
Darkrai wasn't there.
"Some friend," Gary snickered. "Hey, everyone! Ash has an imaginary friend!"
"I do not—he's real! He's real and people have seen him and—"
"Whatever," Gary said, walking off. "I have better things to do than to listen to babies."
"Aw, man, Darkrai, where are you?" Ash asked, scanning the darkness once more.
Feh.
Like he was going to be paraded around like some show-Furfrou. Not a chance.
But he had to admit, he owed the kid one thing: he had showed him when and where the most people would be tonight in Pallet Town.
Oh, this would be so sweet—terrify them now, and then later, when they went to bed, use that to make their nightmares even more potent. Oooh, this would be great.
But—he had learned enough from the contests in Sinnoh to know that one had to wait for the most opportune moment.
And that was the one where everyone's attention would be focused on one area—the time that the kid had unwittingly given him.
When the winner of that silly costume contest was announced.
Ash was having a good time, all things considered.
Sure, Gary had dunked him when he went to bob for apples. Sure, the punch tasted a little sour. Sure, his new friend had ditched him. At least he was having fun.
Of course, now Gary and his friends had taken to tugging on his Pikachu tail, so he was currently hunkered behind the snack table, sneaking snacks and taking inventory of his candy. His mom would help sort through it all later (and steal all his Tootsie Rolls—not that he minded), but it was good to have stock of what he had.
"All right everyone! It's time to announce the winner of the costume contest!" Professor Oak declared, prompting Ash to peek over the snack table. There was Professor Oak, on a raised platform with a mike in his hands, consulting a piece of paper. "And the winner is—"
"ME!"
Something big and black materialized over Professor Oak's head, sending everyone into a screaming frenzy.
Ash, however, blinked in surprise.
It was his new friend Darkrai!
Wait, he was zipping all over the place, jumping from shadow to shadow without touching the ground, sending balls of energy flying—how was he doing that?
"That's right! Flee before me, fools!" he thundered. "Run home and cower in terror!"
Wait a minute…was Darkrai a Pokémon?
Darkrai touched down once the building was cleared of humans, quite pleased with himself. Every last foolish little human had been scared out of their wits—the nightmares would be absolutely delicious tonight.
He sensed something behind him, turned—
Oi—that idiot kid from earlier.
"That was totally wicked!" the kid cheered, bouncing up and down. "How you zipped this way and that and flew all over the place—that's not a costume, is it? You're really a Pokémon! How cool is that?"
Okay, there was something seriously wrong with this kid. He warmed up a Dark Void to knock him out.
"Can you teach me that? Please?"
Darkrai felt his eye twitch. Huh? "Excuse me?"
"I've decided I want to be a Darkrai when I grow up."
"What?" he asked flatly, Dark Void fizzling out—absolute disbelief had that effect.
"Or a Pikachu or a Pokémon master—whichever one works."
"I can already tell you that two of those options are entirely unfeasible."
"What does that mean?"
"That you're an imbecile."
"What does that mean?"
"I can't help you," Darkrai sighed, floating for the open window.
"Hey—hey wait!" the kid yelled, dashing for the window and hollering after him. "Hey! I'll see you tomorrow, all right? I live in the house down the street with the red roof! Okay?"
Oi. Like he needed the aggravation. What was wrong with the kid anyway, that he didn't run screaming in terror?
It's not like Kanto and Sinnoh are that close, he reminded himself. That was what made the place ideal. No one here had ever heard of the Pitch Black Legendary.
They will after tonight, he thought, perching on top of one of the roofs and walking down the peak, balancing on his long thin legs. Even at that, there wasn't a lot of interaction among Regions—it would take years before anyone outside of Kanto knew a Sinnohan legendary was in the Region.
He glanced down at the roof he was on—red. On a house down the street.
"Ugh," he noised, slapping a paw to his head and rubbing his face. While Pallet Town had seemed to be a great target at first—no strong trainers, at the back end of a route, with no real pull aside from some lab that didn't see much traffic—the kid was a snag he hadn't anticipated. He was loathe to kill the boy—that would attract her, and he had come here to get away from her.
But obviously, the diplomatic—and even the downright frightening—approach didn't work with the kid. He'd have to find someplace else.
He sighed. What else was there, really? Sinnoh was out—so was Johto, due to its ties with the Region; they would know what a Darkrai was. Hoenn was out—too warm for his tastes. Unova? No, it smelled. Kalos? Meh…too many Fairy types flitting about—how embarrassing, to have to be worried about some little slip of a Pokémon that hid under a flower and blew away in a light breeze. Orre? No…something about that Region gave him bad vibes.
He supposed he could slink off to one of the so-called Wild Regions, where human influence hadn't reached—there were still hundreds of hectares of land that these uppity humans hadn't even clapped eyes on. But he had grown used to being around humans—and their nightmares were so much more vivid and varied than Pokémon nightmares; those usually tended towards being eaten by something bigger. And if he left the human domain...then some small part of him told him he'd have lost. And he didn't want that.
He sat on the edge of the house, clapped his hands to his head, and sighed. What was he going to do?
Movement attracted his attention—that stupid kid, waving excitedly at him and then running into the house. Boy, did he just give him the wrong impression.
Darkrai launched himself into the air.
He needed to think.