Chapter #5 AIR! Ash's lung demanded. He had been thrown into the vat of grey liquid. Ash knew he was in trouble. The alien substance was too warm and he felt so tired all of a sudden. 'No!' Ash thought. 'I won't give in. I won't let them win. I'll die before I breath in this stuff.' "Look Boss! The kids holding his breathe." said the scientist. "Fool! he'll have to breath sometime. It's amazing though, he's still fighting after all those drugs."The boy was indeed a fighter observed Giovonni. Even though he was out numbered, a captive and hurt; he was still fighting them. Not that it would do any good but, it made Giovonni wish that he had found the abilities of this kid sooner. It was too late now. The boy was kicking and puching the walls of the vat to no avail though. "He won't be able to hold out for long. When he dies, mutates or something tell me; I'll be in my office." With that, Giovonni turned and left the boy in the scientist's hands. 'I'll die before I help team rocket.' Ash was struggling agains an invisible barrier that had just suddenly appeared. The wall was between Ash and the surface of the vat. He could feel his heart beating slower and slower... 'Stop that!' said a voice. 'What?' asked Ash in his mind to noone. He had thought he had heard a voice. 'Your hurting yourself. Stop that! Breathe you knumbskull!' said another voice. 'What's going on?' Ash thought again. There was no way that there could be voices inside the vat with him! 'It is alright. Your amoung friends now. It is safe for you to breathe. Trust us.' said another voice. It was a smooth voice that had a melodious tone to it. Since the voice sounded sincere Ash decided to trust it. He took in a breath. To his utmost surprise, Ash breathed the alein air like regular air. With his eyes still shut Ash began to breath at a normal rate. 'Ok what's going on here? Who are you?' Ash asked. To his surprise, was answered by yet another voice. 'Your with us now. Noone will ever hurt you again.' 'Wait a minute!' demanded Ash. 'Explain this to me. I've been kidnapped by team rocket, tossed into a vat filled with a grey liquid and now I'm hearing voices. As far as I'm concerned this day couldn't have been worse. What's going on here?!' 'The matters on which you were put through to get here are irrelavant. All that matters is that your finally here with us.' said a gruffer voice. 'The test is about to begin.' stated another voice 'WHO ARE YOU THEN AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN TEST?!!!' asked Ash. His patience had finally snapped. 'Silence. The test begins.' said another voice. 'Ash. We need you to open your eyes. You must see this.' said the melodious voice from before that asked him to breathe. 'I want some answers first!' demanded Ash. 'Open your eyes and you shall have your answers.' said another voice Ash had not heard before. It was stronger and less kind as the last voice but, it also sounded sincere. Ash didn't know what to expect when he opened his eyes and what he saw totaly blew his mind away. 'Where am I' Ash asked. He was no longer in a grey slime but, in a blackness that surrounded him and seemed to support him. He could see different lights in the distance like stars but weren't stars. 'Welcome to The Pond of Pokemon young master.' said another voice. This time the voice seemed to come from everywhere. 'The test now begins' said another voice. Suddenly! a bolt of lightning came out of nowhere and struck Ash. 'Ahhh!' Ash screamed. Then there was silence. Ash looked down at his body. It didn't look any different. He wasn't smoking or even in pain. Then a scene came from the blackness. It was Ash when he was saving Charmander. Then it shifted to when Ash saved Squirtle from team rockets bombs. Then all the heroic deeds that Ash had done in his entire life flash on the screen. Saving Pikachu from team rocket, helping people out left and right and then the greatest adventure of them all; when he met Lugia. Then the scenes faded to the most terrible times in his life. Being teased by Gary, fighting with Misty and getting tricked by team rocket when he was a rookie. Ash had been watching for quite some time before he passed out from being overwhelmed by what was happening around him. 'There is no doubt of his kindness. He passes the first test.' said a large voice. 'He learns from his mistakes and lives with them.' said another voice.'He passes the second test.' 'He is always trying to do what he see's best.' said the melodious voice.'He passes the final test.' 'He is the one.' said all the voices together. "Giovonni sir! The kid is at a stable condition." came a voice over a telephone. "What?!" Demanded Giovonni. "It's the kid! He-he he's stable." said the voice again. The voice was unbeleiving and astonished. "Unbeleivable!"said Giovonni. The kid was going to survive the process. That means that the power was his. Too bad the kid was going to have to die though. Inside the vat was a young boy in a protective position; his knees were to his chest and his arms were wrapped around his legs. 'What happened' Ash asked. He opened his eyes to look around and found that he was in the deepest blackness that he had ever experienced in his entire life. 'It is about time you woke up.' said a mysterious voice. 'It is time for the gift.' said another. 'What gift?' Ash asked. He suddenly remembered where he was. 'Let me go. I don't want the gift. I just want to go home.' 'It is because that you don't want the gift that you must have it. You will not abuse it because you fear the gifts power.' said the large ominous voice. 'Who,No!What are you?' Ash demanded, quivering in the darkness. 'We are the essence of all the beings of pokemon in this world young one. You are to be the one who will bring us closer together. You shall be the Ultimate Pokemon Master. Come, it is time to prepare you for the time ahead.' said the large voice. 'Why me? Why not someone more worthy than me? I can think of so many more people more deserving than me.' Ash asked. Ash still didn't understand that yet and he couldn't figure it out on his own. 'You are the one destinded to be the ultimate trainer. Your intentions are true and your heart is strong. There can be no other more worthy than you.' said the melodious voice. 'Prepare yourself young one, this is going to hurt.' said a large and ominous voice. 'What are you going to do to me?' Ash asked. Before he could get his answer his entire body was engulfed by a bright,burning light. "Giovonni Sir! It's an emergency! THE COPS ARE OUTSIDE!" boomed a voice over the telephone. "Impossible! There's no way they could have found us." Giovonni roared. Just then a large explosion shook the building. Giovonni growled a deep growl and calmly spoke into the P.A. system. "Now hear this. This building is on auto-destruct sequence in five minutes it will blow sky high. If you value your lives, meet at point B. This is the Boss speaking. Evacuate to point B now!" Giovonni took a key that was on a chain around his neck and opened an unmoving book on his desk. The book was actually the self-detonating device he had installed. He put the key in and turned it. "WARNING!" was a phrase that was repeated over and over again and was accompanied by red lights. Giovonni then pressed a button underneath his chair and the floor began to drop. It was his own personal escape system. At the utmost basement he found a secret tunnel his Golem had dug for him as well as an escape vehicle. Giovonni jumped in the car and was accompanied by his favorite Persian. Beside him on the seat was a portable phone. He drove out of the tunnel into the the daylight and opened a very large hole in the middle of the road. The mysterious pokemon now saw it's chance. It lept into the hole and like a homing becan, it headed straight into the labs direction. "Come on! We have to find Ash!" yelled Misty. She was running through the rocket facility with about three Officer Jennys and Brock hot on her heels. "There's only three minutes untill this place blows." growled Brock. The fact that they might not find Ash in time was beginning to scare him. It was too big a building! Give the order to drain the tank." ordered Giovonni. He was talking to the head scientist at the lab. He had just quick dialed his personal cell phone number. "But sir! That will kill the subject!"growled the scientist. "Do it! I will not let the years of research fall into the cops hands. That means the subject too." roared Giovonni. There was silence at the other end of the line for a moment. "Sir! Your not going to believe this!" came a voice over the phone. "What is it now?" snapped Giovonni. This didn't sound like good news. "I turned the drainers open but-but-it IT DIDN'T DRAIN THE POND!' answered a very scard scientist. "The drains are wide open but not a drop moved. Not only that but a-a-a OHMYGOD! Somethings happening sir! The subject! He's.....changing!" "WHAT?!"roared Giovonni. For the first time in his life Giovonni, leader of the criminal syndicate Team Rocket, was scard. "Brock look!" shouted Misty. They had just turned the corner to see the mysterious pokemon that took Ash's pokeball. It was still clutching it in it's tiny little paws. It had a slender body and beady blue eyes. It had a long tail and a light purple body. It was foating as if it could defy gravity. It was easily one of the most beautiful pokemon that any of the group had ever seen before. "Mew!" was all it said. It then began to float down the hall. "Wait!" shouted Misty. She then began to chase after the unknown pokemon. "Misty! Stop!" yelled Brock after her. Then he and the Officer Jennys began to chase after the pokemon and Misty. Brock found Misty around the next corner looking down at something through a glass window. "The pokemon went right through the glass Brock! It-it was triny to help us! Look!" said Misty to her rushing companion. "What are you talking about.....?!!" The last part of his sentence had trailed off."Misty!!!!!!!!!"he suddenly yelled. "I knew we would find him!"It was Ash! He was inside of a strange vat of grey see-through liquid. He was alive but, he didn't look too good. "Watch out!" yelled an Officer Jenny. "Growlithe. Flamethrower!" "Growlithe!" There was a rush of fire and the glass was gone. Misty collected herself and stepped onto the catwalk. They heard a voice from below. "But sir! That will kill the subject!"growled the scientist. He was on a phone talking to someone. Whatever the other person said made the scientist uneasy and then the scientist proceded to push some buttons on a machine. He then suddenly stopped and went pale. "Mew!" said a voice from above. They all looked up to see the mysterious pokemon again. It was circling the top of the vat. Pokeball still in hand. "Mew!" it said again. It came to a stop in front of Ash's face and put it's head on the glass as if it wanted to hug Ash. "Mew, me-ew, mew, meeew!" it said softly. "Sir! Your not going to believe this!" said the scientist. He was still looking at mew. "What's going on?" asked Misty to noone but herself. "Forget the pokemon! Let's get Ash out of here before this place explodes!" snapped Brock. "I turned the drainers open but-but-it IT DIDN'T DRAIN THE POND! The drains are wide open but not a drop moved. Not only that but a-a-a OHMYGOD!"said the scientist into the phone. "Oh! Right!" The small group ran out to the vat only to be blinded by a bright light. When the light vanished there was an unconscious Ash at the bottom of an empty vat, an unconscious rocket scientist and a very surprised group of rescuers at the top of the catwalk. "What just happened?" asked all three Officer Jenny's. "Two minutes until destruction." interupted a monotone voice over the P.A. "Quick! Grab Ash! We've got to get him out of there.... Misty look!" shouted Brock suddenly. She turned and looked down at her friend and it took her a second to realize what was wrong. She had an very unconscious BLONDE friend at the bottom of the vat. Two of the Jennys lept down into the vat and grabbed Ash and began to lift him out. "AAAAA!" Misty shouted in absolute horror. "What happened to his hair?!" Misty asked as she turned to help the Officer Jenny's. "We can worry about that later. We need to get out of here NOW!" said Brock. "Which way do we go?" asked one of the Officer Jennys. Then everyone realized that they couldn't remember the way out again. "We are in soooo much trouble." said Misty. Just then, the mysterious pokemon came from behind then and began to push the Officer Jenny's carrying Ash. "It wants us to follow it! Lead the way mew!" Brock said suddenly. "Mew!" was it's reply. Mew then turned and began to streak down a side coridoor. "Thirty seconds to self-detonation." said a monotonious voice over the P.A. It then began to count the seconds to it's destruction. " twenty nine-twenty eight-" "We need to find a way out of here now Mew!" yelled Misty to the pokemon leading the crew. "Mew, me-ew, mewww!" It stopped and waited for them to catch up. "Meeww!' it said happily as Mew saw the EXIT in sight. It was down the hall. They were going to make it. "Uhhn." moaned a voice suddenly. All heads turned to the limp form that two of the Officer Jennys were carrying. Ash was becoming conscious again! "Look we found the EXIT." said a very loud but familar voice (Ash's POV). It was Brock! They came for him! He was finally leaving this alful place. Although his head was banging and he felt like someone had plugged him into a light socket for about an hour or two, he felt safe. The voices had kept their promise. What ever they did HURT A LOT! "Ten seconds to destruction-nine-eight-seve" Destruction?!! Ash did not like the sound of that. He was roughly banged by a door on the right side of his body. Then he remember the feel of the sunlight on his face before he was flying through the air. "RUMMMMBLE!KABOOMMMM!" The explosions had erupted from behind them. Ash was sent flying through the air by the explosion. He mentally braced himself for impact only to find himself suspended in mid air! "What's going on?" Ash heard a familar female voice say. Misty? Ash opened his eyes to see through bright yellow hair a strange yet beautiful pokemon in front of his face holding one of his pokeballs. This made no sense to Ash at the time but, Mew was holding him up with her psychic power. "Mew!" was what all the people present at this strange occurance heard come out of Mew. What Ash had heard was something totaly different. What Ash had heard the pokemon called Mew was "Master." "Wha?" Ash asked dumbly. At the sound of Ash's voice all the pokemon in the vacinity repeated what Mew had said. "Master."Of course it came out differently to all the other people present. Some heard their pokemon say Growlithe or Vulpix but what Ash heard was what they were really saying. "Mew, mew mew me-w me mew me-ew mew mew mew me-ew m-ew." said the little pokemon. She held up the pokeball. Ash didn't know how he knew it was a girl but he did. What Ash had heard from the female Mew before him was. "I would be honoured if you would accept me as one of your pokemon, Master." "Ash!' gasped another voice. It was human not pokemon. Ash couldn't move his head an inch to see who was adressing him. It was female so he assumed it was Misty. "What is your answer?" asked the pokemon. Ash smiled and tried to speak but no words would come out. Instead he nodded his head. "Then take your pokeball and capture me." Ash couldn't lift his arms; he was so very weak from the experiment that he couldn't move on his own. "Ohhhh!" said everyone who was watching the scene take place. Mew had floated over to Ash's hand and placed the ball in his hands. "I will help you." said Mew. Everyone else still didn't know what was going on. They couldn't understand Mew because they weren't Ash. Ash could understand every word that Mew said with his new found abilities. Ash's arms moved on his own and he threw the pokeball at Mew like he would any other pokemon. A stream of red light and the power holding up Ash was gone. "Uhhn!" Ash collapsed on the street while the pokeball hit the pavement at the same time. Ash was unconscious while the pokeball's middle button glowed a red and then stopped. In the entire recorded history of all nations of pokemon; this was a first. Ash Ketchum was the first person ever to catch a Mew but, was unconscious so he could not celebrate his victory. Then something even more amazing happened. Ash's hair turned back into his regular hair colour; black. "Ash!" screamed Misty. Before the young girl could get to Ash's side the pokeball with mew in it suddenly began to glow. The ball jumped up from it's placement on the sidewalk and attached itself to Ash's backpack and then his entire backpack began to glow as well. "What?"asked Brock. Brock was the one holding Ash's backpack at the time. Then the backpack stopped glowing and to everyones surprise, all of Ash's pokeballs had a new pattern on the outside. "Now that was weird." commented Misty. Ash was unconscious but,even in his sleep his determination had control over his dreams. "Pikachu." Ash mumbled in his sleep while the emergencey personnel took him away. Meanwhile... "Pikachu! Pika-chu! Pika!" At the pokecentre a certain electric mouse pokemon had woken up and was trying to find it's trainer. "Please lay down Pikachu! Pikachu listen to me." That was Nurse Joy trying to calm pikachu down. "I know your worried about Ash but, you have to lie still. You need your rest!" "Pikachu! Pika pikachu." was all the pokemon could say. Translated: "Ash! I'm sorry."Unable to contain the frantic pokemon, nurse joy was forced to take drastic measures. "Sing!" Then a pink, round pokemon entered the room and began to sing a relaxing lulaby to Pikachu. "Pika-pika chu." Pikachu under the spell of the song fell fast asleep. "That's better." said nurse Joy as she left the room. "Pika pika chu!" said pikachu in his sleep. Translated:"I've lost him." Later at the town hospital. "We want to interview the kid who captured mew." "Hey! I'll pay one hundred bucks to get his picture." "I'll make it two hundred!" "Three!" "Four!" "Enough!" screamed Officer Jenny. "The kid is resting and under police protection. That means no reporters or photographs. Now move along! This is a hospital, not a news room." "Hey!"said all the reporters as one. Officer Jenny had her police for push the reporters onto the sidewalk. "And don't come any closer!" ordered Officer Jenny. Her patience was short because of all the news crews around here lately. Word had spread fast that Mew had been caught by a young boy who was kidnapped at team rocket at the time. It would make a career for the person who interveiwed him but, Ash was in no condition to be talking to reporters. That reminded Jenny; Ash's mother was due to arrive any minute. Just then a boy came running by Jenny; he had a camera around his neck. "Let me through. I have a friend in there." he said as one of Officer Jenny's police force stopped him. "And just who might this friend be?" asked the officer. "His name is Ash Ketchum and all I know that he's been hurt. You have to let me through." insisted the boy. "Hold it! I'll take it from here officer." said Officer Jenny. There was a good chance that this boy was one of Ash's friends. Ash's name had not been released to the media yet so the boy couldn't know that it was Ash who caught Mew. She then escorted the young man to the front desk. "Thanks." said the boy cheerfully. "Officer Jenny?" he asked. "What's with the media outside. You would think it was a mayor dying in here with all the news people." "You don't know?" asked Officer Jenny. "Know what?" demanded the boy. "You'll find out soon enough." was her reply. It confused the boy for a moment, but he shrugged it off anyway. "Officer Jenny!" said a voice to their right. They both turned to see Nurse Joy holding a pokemon. "I have what you wanted." Room 404... "Uhnn.. My head.." Ash had finally woken up and wasn't feeling to good about it. "Ash! Your alright!" squealed Misty. She hadn't moved from her perch from Ash's bedside in three hours. There was a blanket over her and Ash's backpack was beside her. Misty promply threw her arms around Ash and gave him a great big bear hug. "MISTY!AIR!" Ash croaked. "Oh! Sorry..." Misty said sheepishly. "How ya feeling champ?" asked Brock, who proceded to muss his hair. "Terrible!" mumbled Ash. "Look who I got!" came a voice from the door. Now it was Ash's turn to squeal. "Pikachu!"Ash said happily. Then stopped. "What happened!" he demanded to Brock and Misty. Pikachu was in terrible condition. "It was an accident Ash. Pikachu was so worried when you were kidnapped that it ran out into the street and..."Misty had trailed off at the end of her explaination. "Oh Pikachu." said Ash softly. Nurse Joy put down the sleeping pokemon on Ash's lap. "I'm sorry." "Ash are you ok?" asked a familar voice. "Snap! What are you doind here?" asked Ash. In the doorway was a friend he had made on his pokemon adventures. His camera ever ready to take pictures hung around his neck and his features were the same as ever. "I was in the neighborhood and got a call from the proffesseur that you got hurt. I came as soon as I could." "Thanks for the support." Ash said gratefully. Just before anyone else could say anything a red haired doctor came in. "Hi! I'm Doc Jeffery. I'm Ash's doctor here. I need to talk to my patient alone for a moment please." Everyone left the room. "What's up doc?" (where have we heard that one from before?) "I have good news and bad news. It seems to me Ash that the only thing you suffered from this whole ordeal is a few blows to the head and some withdrawl from the drugs team rocket gave you. The bad news is that we can't figure out what they did to you in the lab. Can you tell me anything about your experience?"Ash had to think for a moment. "I can't remember much about being in the lab but, I do remember being rescued. That's all I can tell you right now." said Ash. "So your telling me you don't remember much of the ordeal?" insisted the Doctor. This was good news to the doctor. Giovonni would be very pleased to hear that. "Yeah. I know it sounds stupid but, I don't even remember being captured by team rocket in the first place." Ash didn't know how he knew but, he knew this wasn't someone to trust. He could remember everything in vivid detail, including the part about hearing voices in the vat. "I'll say this for you; your one lucky kid boy." With that being said, the doctor turned and left the room. Before he left though he ordered Ash to get some rest. "Can we go in?" asked Snap. "Let Ash sleep for awhile. He's had a difficult day."said Jeffery. "You can stay here at the hospital in the lobby overnight. I'm sure Ash's mom will be relieved to see some familar faces when she arrives." said Officer Jenny. "It's best if we get some rest too. Come on Misty." said Brock. Misty allowed herself to be led away from her spot outside of Ash's room. Later..... "Pika?" said a very sleepy pokemon. Then the pokemon took a look at where it was and who's chest it was sleeping on. "Pikachu!" it cried happily as it threw it's tiny arms around the boys chest. "Hmm? Pikachu?" The hug had woken the boy up. "Pi!"Ash's face brightened up and then drifted back into sleep. Then Pikachu noticed that Ash was different. A memory came back to him from when he was a young kit. Flashback Translated. "Mommy what do you mean by Ultimate Trainer?" asked the kit. "There are creatures that are called people in this world. As things stand now, people and pokemon are only close in relationships that involve the trainer or person being dominate over the pokemon. One day a person will change all that.The Ultimate Trainer will bring pokemon and people closer together by inspiring millions to do what he does." said the nursing mother. "How?" asked the curious kit. "He will be bonded with us in essence. He will be close to any pokemon that he comes in contact with and if your one of his pokemon, you would be one of the most powerful pokemon in the world." "Why?" asked the kit again. "Because the Ultimate Trainer will teach you how to be strong. You may not see this in your life time so you needent worry about it. What you need to worry about is what kind of trainer you'll have when you get older." "I don't want a trainer! I want to do what I want to do; not what some person tells me to do. I won't listen to any trainer!" "One day things will be different, you'll see." said the mother confortingly. End Flashback. 'Are you that trainer?' wondered Pikachu before it fell into a deep sleep. Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon or anything related to pokemon. Pokemon and its associated characters are copyrighted by Nintendo/Game Freak. This is a pokemon fanfic created by my mind only.