Maybe I write darkfic because I don’t have a cheerful life?

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks

DISCLAIMER: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic belongs to me. Don’t take my work!

Ash is only age 9 in this fic, so…

Chapter 5

Back where Ash was… well, he was currently in the Pewter City gym. Aggron had smashed Brock’s Onix…

Ash cheered as he hugged his Aggron.

Brock handed over the Boulder Badge, wondering if this was really a beginning trainer.

“You were great, Aggron!”

I’m always great. The pokemon said snidely. So maybe someone needed flattering. Oh well.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Ash stuck his head out the window, wondering why there were people screaming their heads off outside.

The cause for alarm soon became evident. Wild Beedrill were flooding the city! How in Mew’s name had that happened?

Well, Pewter was outside the Viridian Forest, but still…

“We’d better help.” Ash nodded. “Brock? Brock…” Ash sweatdropped as he noticed Brock was busy ‘comforting’ two young women who had dashed into his gym seeking shelter from the bugs outside. Oh well.

“Charizard, I choose you! Flamethrower!”

That took out a large chunk of beedrills. Unfortunately, the rest spotted Ash and decided he was their cause of pursuit. With a yell, Ash leapt onto Charizard’s back and took off, the swarm of buzzing Beedrill flying after them.

Once they were out of city limits, and a good distance away from the Beedrill cloud, Ash ordered a Hyper Beam. Orangey-yellow energy gathered in Charizard’s mouth, before dispersing the wild bugs and sending them falling to the ground, fainted. A few were left, but decided it might not be wise to pursue a flying and fire-type pokemon.

Ash noticed one Beedrill that was still stubbornly hanging onto life, shrugged, and tossed a poke ball.

Beedrill caught!

He was heading back to the Pokemon Center in Pewter to heal his Charizard, but when he got into the Center, he noticed the Nurse Joy seemed to be checking him out.

Eew!!!

Ash handed over his pokemon to be healed and quickly escaped upstairs, wondering just what was going on.

He found out that afternoon when a news broadcast was made, thanking him for his heroic efforts that saved the town of Pewter.

Well, if they put it that way… and the $3000 that the city was giving him for his efforts helped mellow him out.

Oh. The cute little medal was good too. Charizard liked it.

So with some more cash in his pockets, Ash went off to the Pokemon (and people) Mart, where he bought some more pokeballs and recovery items. Then, he decided to buy a sleeping bag as well, since he had conveniently forgotten that he wouldn’t be able to sleep in bed every night as he had done in Houen, since he only had a 6-month Pokemon Center subscription. Oops. Professor Birch’s field research had almost always been one-day trips, or at least pokemon watching in places where there were hotels you could stay in and get a decent night’s sleep in a real bed after a long, exhausting day of chasing, tagging, and tranquilizing wild pokemon.

He recalled the Charizard, who needed some rest, and let out Absol and Mightyena to keep him company while he went shopping. Having two growling dark pokemon as little guard dogs helped keep unwanted affections away too, as well as intruders. Once in the store, Ash began pulling down sleeping bags and examining them.

Yellow ducks? What! He wasn’t a girl!
A sleeping bag that was done in light blue with Charmander print… Maybe… if he were desperate.

Green-and-gray plaid? That was most definitely not his taste. It brought to mind old ladies and snuffly cats.

Aha! A normal black one with two layers of insulation – Ash didn’t like being cold _or_ wet, and it was compressible enough. Excellent!

Ash put the sleeping bag in his shopping cart and looked around for what else he might need. After some wandering, he spotted a selection of freeze-dried food that looked promising enough.

The prices weren’t too unreasonable, so Ash got fifty Ready-Meal packs, ignoring the cup ramen because Birch had told him that those were unsafe. Canned food was usually heavy, but he did get some canned fruit in syrup and canned vegetables. Instant oatmeal was edible; he could get that…. Oh! He couldn’t forget the multivitamin pills. Ash grabbed two bottles of those and some cod liver oil.

It seemed that he had been wholly unprepared. Camping out was vastly different from researching with nearby shelter. All he had in his backpack were a few changes of clothes and bottles of water. That was nowhere near enough.

He probably needed a tent too. Ash once again thanked the lucky stars he had cash from the Beedrill escapade, and then started looking at the tents. However, he wasn’t quite sure what to get until a kind purple-haired saleswoman helped him out, spotting him as a beginning trainer.

Ash also got a Primus stove, enough fuel cartridges to power it for a month, so he wouldn’t have to gather firewood and light fires – he had no skill in that area, a raincoat and boots, a Swiss army knife, two flashlights plus batteries, and some other supplies, including more water – what if he got lost in a desert area? Dehydration was a painful death. After his shopping was done, he was $800 poorer.

Ash deposited most of the rest of his money in his bank account and went to pick up his Beedrill from the Center. Then, he began walking to Cerulean.

If Ash had a bank account, why didn’t he use the money in there? Well, because technically it wasn’t ‘his’ bank account until he turned sixteen. Besides, it was also his college fund…

It takes a _lot_ of money to go to college.

Anyways, Ash was walking along when a Wild Rattata appeared, so he decided to try and test out his new pokemon.

“Beedrill, I choose you!”

Rattata used Tackle!
Beedrill used Twinneedle! Ouch, that had to hurt… Ash nodded, then made a hand motion, which Beedrill took to mean Fury Attack.

In any case, it did successfully KO the Rattata.

“Excellent work.” Ash said, although he had been trying to make Beedrill use Horn attack, but no matter. “Return.”

Seeing a competent enough trainer who hadn’t injured him yet, Beedrill nodded in assent and decided being a trained pokemon wouldn’t be that bad. Besides, this trainer had a Charizard… so he must have some skill.

A flash of red light recalled the bug, as Ash walked towards Mount Moon again.

End Chapter

Completed 10/15/04

Phantomness actually did market research on Ash’s camping supplies, to see the price range… and yes, college is expensive! So are some camping supplies, the first aid kit alone cost about $200…

I know College is expensive since I’m going there