Hi! Another plotbunny generated fic! *Shadow growls and pulls out a mallet, prepared to bash the little bunnies to death for being inconsistent*

Disclaimer: Shadow does not own pokemon. It belongs to Nintendo, Shogakukan comics, Game FREAK, 4Kids, etc… this is non-profit fanwork, no copyright infringement is intended, and since I wrote it its mine.

Summary: What if Yellow hadn’t been able to defeat Lance? Three years later, Ash &Co. from the T.V. show accidentally stumbles through a plothole and into the dark world of pokemon that the Elite Four have created…

Ages: Ash is 13, Red (Ashura), Blue (Gary), and Green (Blue) are 19-20, Lance, Lorelei, and Bruno are respectively in their mid-twenties, it’s safer not to ask how old Agatha is, and Misty is 15. Oh, and Brock is 18, the rebellion members are varied.

Note: This is also an alternate spin-off from Dragon’s Love. Okay? The only change is that Ash and Lance are only five years apart, not seven. Oh, and Pika is a girl.

Note: <> indicates telepathy, ** indicates thoughts, and italics indicates pokemon speech. Ohohohoho!

The Beginning

*************Prologue***************************************************

“Now vanish in a river of lava!” Lance shouted as his Dragonite blasted Yellow into the mouth of the volcano.

Yellow shrieked as she fell into the volcano. Pika tried to save her, but Dragonair barred its way by freezing it inside a cage of ice. What? You didn’t forget there were two of them still there, and not attacking yet, did you?

At least Yellow was spared from a long, lingering death.

Lance brushed herself off and turned to her Dragonite. “Good job, Dragonite. Now that that distraction is out of our way, let’s go see how the others are doing.” Dragonite nodded, and Lance healed all of her dragon pokemon, before putting them back in their poke balls and teleporting into the room where Bruno was currently fighting Red’s Eevee.

“Eevee, Pin Missle!” Red shouted, the pins blasting through the Machamp and the Hitmonchan. Bruno stared in shock as both of his fighting types collapsed. Then, he started to laugh.

“I can’t believe it! You actually beat me! Good job, Red.” Bruno said as he recalled his fallen pokemon and walked off.

Red blinked, but recalled his pokemon and got on his bike, ready to go and look for the other color trainers. Lance appeared right in front of him, holding the still-frozen Pikachu.

“Pika!” Red said, as he took her back from Lance. “Thank you! I think I have some Ice Heal in my backpack…”

Lance smiled, a bit amused. * You haven’t changed a bit, Ash. * Red quickly applied the Ice Heal.

Pika immediately tried to shock Lance. Red grabbed her by the tail.

“Whoa, Pika! Don’t hurt her!”

Her? Pika inquired. * What? I thought Lance was a male… *

Lance raised an eyebrow. “So… you remember? But I thought-.”

“The Kiss of Forgetting doesn’t always work completely.” Red said, winking impishly. “Especially if you have your own powers to counter some of it.”

“So how much do you remember?” Lance queried.

“Well, the overall picture, some significant events, mostly bits and pieces. But I remember enough.” Red said.

“Interesting, Ash. You used your hidden power to deflect my attempts to protect you after I left with the rest of the Elite Four.”

“Yep, and can you take this illusion down now? It’s annoying when people always call me a kid.” Ash said.

“Illusion down.” Lance said, shrugging her shoulders. Pika watched in awe as golden light surrounded Red for a minute, before he reappeared. A sixteen-year old dressed in a black bodysuit with a gold vest and cape.

“So, what’s up?”

Lance smirked, walked over to Red, and kissed him. Pika blinked. Pale blue light swirled around both for a few seconds, before Lance pulled away.

“Was that enough information for you?”

“Wait… my brain is still trying to digest all of this.” Ash said. The missing bits of his memory were still sorting themselves out, plus he had three year’s worth of Lance’s memories also to work through.

After about twenty minutes…

“I see.”

“Well, are you going to rejoin us then?” Lance asked.

“I have no reason not to. Besides, I owe you.” Ash said. He turned to Pika “Pika, come on. I’ll explain it to you and the others later.”

Pika hopped on Ash’s shoulder and nodded. Lance summoned his Dragonair, and they climbed on, flying off.

Three hours of explaining later…

Pika was still in shock.

Red, no, Ash, and Lance were discussing battle strategy with the rest of the Elite Four. Somehow, Pika still couldn’t believe his explanation. It sounded too strange. The rest of Ash’s pokemon had run off to join his hidden pokemon, and were now playing happily in the room next door.

However, as she saw Ash walk out, looking radiant and happy, she knew what her choice would be. The same choice Lance’s dragons and the rest of the pokemon had made. She would stay with Ash no matter what. After all, the Elite’s plans were for the good of pokemon, after all….

**************End Prologue***********************************************

“Are we lost again?” Misty asked.

“No, we’re not.” Ash repeated.

Brock peered at the map. “Um, I don’t see where we are here…”

“I knew it!” Misty said as she pulled out her mallet and slammed it into Ash’s head. “It’s all your fault! You said this was a short cut!”

Ash cowered. Brock sighed and took cover. All three (four counting pikachu) were so busy that they didn’t notice a plothole around them opened and sucked them all into its shadowy depths…

“OW!” Misty said as she landed on her butt. “That hurt- where are we?”

Ash rubbed his head and looked around. They were lying in a stretch of wasteland, but several miles away, they could see a glimpse of a lush green forest. Brock fell out of a nearby dead tree.

“I don’t’ know. This isn’t on the map.”

“I know! I’ll send out our pokemon to help!” Ash said. “Pidgeotto, go!” Pidgeotto nodded and began flying around, searching for signs of civilization. After a few minutes, it flew back down and landed on the ground. Pikachu translated.

Pidgeotto says that she saw a few humans about a mile away.

“Cool, let’s go!” Ash said, as he was always eager for adventure. The other two members of the group sighed and followed Pikachu’s pointing. Soon, they reached an empty clearing.

“Hello? Is anyone here?” Ash asked.

Suddenly, from behind a rock, people appeared. They were dressed in sand/khaki/gray-brown/burlap-colored clothing and wielding clubs, sticks, and rocks. They were accompanied by no more than two or three pokemon. But their faces were very recognizable.

“Sabrina? Erika? Koga? Lt. Surge?” Ash asked. Then, he stared at the other two. They looked almost exactly like Misty and Brock! Except ‘misty’ had dark red hair in a ponytail pulled back, and ‘brock’ was shorter and his hair was a pale brown color.

Misty and Brock were feeling very odd. “Um… hello?”

Sabrina stepped forwards. “Who are you two and why are you here, Red? Shouldn’t you be in the Master’s Castle?” The last word was spat out like a curse, tinged with bitterness.

“I’m not Red!” Ash protested.

“I’ll see.” Sabrina said as she began to probe his mind, as well as Misty’s and Brock’s.

“Well?” Surge asked in a gravelly voice.

“They’re not lying. They seem to be from another place.” Sabrina said. Suddenly, the silence was broken by the harsh cry of a Skarmory overhead.

“Ah, crap. Electabuzz, Thunder!” Electabuzz nodded and downed the steel bird.

“It’s not safe out here.” Erika said. “How about we take you to our base, and then we can explain the situation?”

The three travelers nodded and followed their guides, wondering just what the heck they had gotten themselves into.

End part 1!
Started 11/15/02, completed 10/8/03