Phantomness is not in a happy mood, if you read her livejournal entry you will see why. Sneaky bastard, how dare he put me on his favorites list after flaming my fics? Bakayarou, you don’t deserve my writing so I’ll take it away from you…
Started 7/12/04
Disclaimer: I wish I owned pokemon. I really do. Anyways, I do own this non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic…
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
Extreme AU, character bashing, lots of nice stuff, shonen-ai championshipping…
Anime Timeline: Right after Path to the Pokemon League in Indigo, episode with A.J…
Chapter 1
A.J. smiled in satisfaction as Team rocket blasted off, while Ash, Misty, and Brock clapped.
“There we go! 100 wins!”
“Nice.” A voice observed. “Very nice.”
The group looked up to see a trainer dressed in a black jacket and jeans in a tree, with mirrored sunglasses on. “It’s a pity none of it was real.”
“What?” A.J. demanded. “You want to battle me too?”
“It will be a waste of my time.”
A.J. started to see red. That arrogant punk! “I’ll take you on any time! Sandshrew, go!”
Sandshrew attacked, running forwards, only to hit a barrier.
“Nice work, Espeon…”
“Who _are_ you?” A.J. demanded, before he blanched in shock as his Sandshrew collapsed bonelessly.
“I am Ash ‘Red’ Satoshi,” The boy smiled. “As you should know very well, Blaze. Or have you forgotten me so soon?”
“Blaze?” Misty asked.
Ash looked terrified. “No! You!”
“You thought I was dead too, didn’t you?”
“No! This is a lie! A dream!”
“Using a name that wasn’t your own, you wanted the glory, did you not?”
“STOP IT!”
“Shatter!”
Ash fell over, before he seemed to shrink in on himself, revealing a short boy with scraggly blue hair and green eyes and a lightning scar on his arm.
“I wonder how much you bribed her to cast that illusion on you, _little brother_?”
Ash cried out in pain, but it was no use.
“I’m the real ‘Ash’, that’s my younger brother Blaze.” Red smirked.
“It’s not fair!”
“You wanted me to die, didn’t you? You were so happy when I announced I was going after the legendary birds of Johto.”
With another smile, Red indicated his poke balls. “Well, unfortunately for you, I succeeded.”
Honou and Serebii peered out from behind glass walls.
It wasn’t a futile boast, unlike some of his.
“Excuse me, but what’s going on?” Brock asked.
“It’s simple, really. My little brother (he’s adopted, by the way) took my name because he wasn’t allowed to go on a pokemon journey, and Professor Oak was too absentminded to check age differences. He’s only ten but I’m fourteen.”
Too much caffeine had probably fried Oak’s brain, that or his tofu diet. But it had been four years and he kept his pokemon elsewhere, so forgetting was reasonable…
In any case, it didn’t matter.
He would make Blaze pay.
“That’s unfair!”
“We both know you lost your right to journey because you _killed_ two baby rattata with your bare hands.”
“Liar!”
“Won’t do you any good, dear.” Red said dryly. “Why don’t you just stop lying, Blaze Rhodes?”
“I’m _not_ lying! You are!”
Red’s eyes flashed in anger, and Misty noticed that even behind the sunglasses she could see glints of red.
Was that why his name?
“Blaze, if you push me much further…” He didn’t quite get to finish before Pikachu leaped forwards for an attack.
Red backhanded the pokemon away from him before Espeon nailed it with a Psybeam.
< Useless. > Espeon said. < We should not waste our time Master Red. >
< That’s true… > Red agreed, as the other three jumped. Well, how could they have known he was psychic?
< His façade will fall in time. >
< And unmasked, die in shame. Let’s go. >
The two of them swiftly teleported away.
“I think we want an explanation, ‘Ash’.” Brock said.
Blaze gulped.
“You lied to me after breaking my bike?” Misty yelled. “How dare you!”
“I can’t believe I gave someone like you my badge!”
“Me neither… you never did win either way.”
“I-I couldn’t help it! I had no other choice!”
“Really?”
“Maybe you didn’t deserve to journey in the first place.”
“I can’t believe I shook hands with a pokemon killer.” A.J. finished in disgust.
Pikachu turned to Blaze. You killed a pokemon?
“I-It was an accident!”
You killed…
Blaze screamed as Ten Thousand Volt Thunder hit him.
Pikachu continued shocking him until he blacked out. Freeing Pidgeotto and Butterfree, they were also informed.
They all left him.
It just goes to say that lying does not pay.
Red smirked to himself as he watched, before flipping his scrying mirror closed.
“So it worked.”
Of course it would. Umbreon said.
“Ash Ketchum. What a tacky last name. How dare he take _my_ first name though? At least I have a nickname.”
But it helped you find him, didn’t it?
“That’s true.”
< I am just glad he got what he deserved. > Espeon purred, swishing her tails. Umbreon smiled at her, happily.
“I as well.”
And it didn’t matter; he could stay Red. Ash wasn’t special except as ‘Ashura’.
End Chapter
Completed 7/12/04