Chapter 1: Divergent Evolution

Red was silent for a while after Ash finished his tale. “Well, I don’t think you’re lying, and your journey seems very interesting. I’ve also heard of and met many of the trainers you refer to. It does have some resemblance to my own journey. However, you seem to have very little of a Team Rocket problem in your world.”

“No, just two annoyances named Jessie and James who follow me around. They shot me with this gun and that’s how I ended up here.” Ash said.

“A gun?” Red asked. He raised his eyebrows and brought up a picture on his blue pokédex. “Did it look something like this?”

“It was a different color, but yes.” Ash said. “Why?”

“Phase shift weapon.” Red said. “It doesn’t usually kill, it just throws people across great distances, stunning them. It’s interesting how you ended up here, must have been a really powerful blast.”

“Actually, I think Pikachu let off Thunder before it hit me.”

“That would explain it.” Red said. “Electricity would greatly enhance the capacity of the gun, thereby managing to hurl you across space. I can see that your pikachu is quite strong.’

“Thanks.” Ash said, blushing slightly. Pikachu purred a bit in its sleep. “Say, when did team Rocket take over here?”

“Well, not seriously until last year, but six years before that, they managed to bug the pokemon storage system. Suddenly, all the PC stored pokemon were gone. You can imagine how they gained firepower that way.”

Ash nodded.

“Did they get your pokemon?”

Red smiled a bit. “No, they didn’t. I can carry more than a normal trainer with me, and my extras weren’t stored with Oak, although everyone thought they were. I gave mine to Birch in Houen. There is no Team Rocket presence there.”
“That was lucky.” Ash said.

Red nodded. “The Center closes soon. We’d better get out before the Rockets make their nightly sweep. I don’t want them to see my face. People are only supposed to carry one pokemon.”

“That’s!”

“Barbaric, I know. Their own members only carry three, to prevent uprisings. Team rocket has a tightly woven net and they know it.”

Suddenly Red stiffened.

“What is it?” Ash asked.

“Hear that?” Red asked. Ash listened closely, and heard the soft click, click, of boots on the sidewalk outside. “We have to hide.”

“But where?” Ash asked.

“Follow me.” Red said. Ash did. They went through one of the back doors of the center and found themselves in an alley. They hid behind a giant orange dumpster as the pair of rockets passed.

“Now what?” Ash whispered.

“This isn’t good.” Red said. “We’ll have to teleport.” He fumbled on his belt for a poke ball and released a pokemon.

Ash stared, sorely tempted to pull out his pokédex and identify it, but he wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. A second pair of boots walked by, then a third

“Safe now?” Ash whispered.

Red shook his head. “On the count of three. One, two, three…”

There was a sudden bright flash of light and every rocket in the vicinity turned to see absolutely nothing.

Ash gasped for breath as they leaned against a tree in a forest, panting.

“You okay?” Red asked a bit more gently.

Ash nodded. “Um…’

“Save your breath.” Red advised. “We might have to run.”

“Why?”

“Because agents patrol the woods too.”

“You there, halt!” A voice cried. Ash gasped as he saw a team of four rockets standing there, all with guns and poke balls.

“Make us.” Red said, stepping in front of Ash. “Gardevoir, protect him for me, will you?”

The psy-type nodded and got ready.

The four rockets each threw out three pokemon. Three Ekans, two Koffing, a Muk, a Meowth, a Sandslash, and four Rattata popped out, ready to battle.

Red smiled and released his own pokemon. Gyrados. Aerodactyl. Venusaur. Eevee. Pikachu.

“Melee strategy #22!” Red called.

The Rockets began calling out orders of their own. Poison Stings and Sludge flew everywhere. The Rattatas split up and began attacking on their own.

Aerodactyl easily avoided the Rattata after him by soaring into the air. A Hyper beam blew the Rattata into a Koffing, causing it to explode and take out a nearby Rocket. The, Aerodactyl flew back to position and began using Supersonic to confuse the enemy pokemon.

Gyrados simply spat out a Bubblebeam, sending the Sandslash away, but was distracted when Meowth sank its fangs into the vulnerable part of a Gyrados, the tip of its tail.

Venusaur, protecting Eevee, quickly sent a hail of razor leaves at the Ekans, but not much damage was done. She switched tactics and used Sleep Powder instead, this worked on two of them, but then the second Koffing, confused by Aerodactyl’s supersonic, exploded right above her, causing her to rear in pain, temporarily defenseless. This was all the edge the Muk needed as it oozed over her and began draining off her energy.

Eevee slammed into the remaining Ekans with a Take Down attack. He attempted to get the Muk off Venusaur, but was unsuccessful.

Pikachu let off a grand Thunder that fried the remaining pokemon, before she scampered over to help with the Muk. Three Thunderbolts later, it was discovered that Muk had been glued to Venusaur.

Meanwhile, Red was taking out the team rocket members. A swift kick to the groin disposed of the first, and the second was coming up behind him with a club when Ash screamed.

Red blurred in an impossibly fast movement and the force of his punch sent the rocket flying. The last Rocket targeted his gun on Gardevoir.

“Surrender, scum, before I shoot your pokemon.”

Red laughed, as a Psychic attack from Gardevoir blew the Rocket into the air at gale force speeds. He slammed back into the ground with a crunch.

Gardevoir also solved the Muk problem, by dissolving it with two Psybeams. Venusaur sighed in relief and toppled over.

Red quickly applied Full Restore to all his pokemon.

Ash stared in awe as he stepped down. “Wow, you beat them!”

“Not for long.’ Red said grimly. “There’s always more than one squad in an area. But first…”

He handed Ash a handful of poke balls.

“What are these for?”

“The pokemon.” Red said. “Go ahead and catch them. I’m right in saying you have nothing left but Pikachu, right?”

“Yes, but isn’t that stealing?”
“This is war, Ash. This isn’t the happy universe you know.” Red said. “Besides, we can’t just leave them here.”
“All right…”

Ash kept Muk and Sandslash, but the others were transferred to Birch.

“Seeing as you’re kind of stuck here, I’ll lend you a couple of my pokemon.” Red finally assented.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Now let’s see…”

(T1-83, Random Integer function, did this so I wouldn’t copy. Random Integer (1, 386) Numbers = 286, 128, 267. 210))

The first was a healthy-looking Lapras.

The second was a strange fish. “Whiscash.” Red explained. “Dual water/ground type.”

The third was a bored-looking Hypno.

And the last was a dancing Wartortle.

Ash was mostly interested in the Wartortle though. It hugged him, and Ash suddenly realized that, buried beneath the layers of strangeness, this was his old Squirtle he had left behind in the other world.

End Chapter 1

Started 5/23/03, completed 6/10/03