Out of the Woodwork
"Hello." Humans
"Pika-chu." Pokémon addressing Human
"Hello." Pokémon addressing Pokémon
"Look at that! Now that's a badge!" Ash said happily, looking at the Boulder Badge stapled inside his vest.
"You know they make a bunch of those, right?" Gary asked, carrying his Squirtle in his arms like luggage.
"This is my badge, Gary! There are many like it, but this one is mine!" Ash snapped back.
"It's a very nice badge, Ash." Lillie said with a smile.
"Sure is. Nice job, Ketchum." Isaac replied, giving Ash a playful slap on the back.
"One down, seven more to go!" Ash triumphantly said.
"Pika Pikachu!!" Pikachu yelled from the comfort of Ash's backpack.
"At least my starter has the good sense of being outside my backpack." Gary muttered, as he carried his Squirtle around.
"Squirtle Squirt." Gary's Squirtle chipped in.
"Whose side are you on?" Gary asked, looking down at his starter.
Squirtle just shrugged as he settled in to relax. Meanwhile, Pikachu snuggled into Ash's backpack with a smug smile on his face. As they walked, however, they saw a familiar face from the Gym. Dusk, with a fancy set of blue headphones, took things out of his locker. Yet as he turned around, his shiny Eevee poked out of his own backpack.
"Eevee!" Mystery yelled, rubbing against its trainer and pointing to the group.
Dusk turned around and took his headphones off, letting them settle down onto his shoulder. "Hey there. You four look more chipper today." The young lad said.
"Hey Dusk. Ash here finally got his badge." Gary said with a smile.
"Congrats. I still have to get that one." Dusk replied, taking his hands out of his pockets.
"Got your new strategy planned for the battle?" Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow.
Dusk smirked at that. "Yeah. I do. Want to see them?" He asked, readying two Pokéballs.
The others looked at each other before shrugging and nodding. Dusk smiled and pulled the two Pokéballs off his belt and pressed the button to expand them. Then he threw them up into the air.
"Shadow! Honey! Come on out!!" Dusk yelled proudly.
Soon two Pokémon lay before them. One, likely called Honey, was a Beedrill. Ash gulped and took a step back from the Bug and Poison type, remembering his own experience with it. Yet the other was a Ratatta, though different. Instead of purple fur, it was jet black, with other darker colors about its body and a far bushier pelt.
"Shadow. Honey." Dusk said, pointing to Shadow the Ratatta and Honey the Beedrill respectively.
Isaac whistled, obviously impressed. "An Alolan Ratatta, huh? You don't see those outside of Alola much. And that is one impressive looking Beedrill? Do you mind if I get a closer look at them?" He asked with a smile on his face.
Dusk shrugged as he pet Honey's head. "Go ahead. She doesn't sting." He replied as he put his headphones back on, leaving them turned off.
Pulling out a magnifying glass, Isaac got closer and began inspecting Shadow. Smiling, he nodded approvingly. "Shadow's coat is simply marvelous. Not a single hair out of place. How did you get it so clean?" He asked Dusk, an eager smile on his face.
"Um… regular brushing and bathing?" Dusk replied, visibly unsure what to answer with.
Isaac looked closer and took a sniff before humming thoughtfully. "I'd say that you probably used… 'Alolan Sunshine' scented shampoo. Very nice choice." He noted with a grin.
"And we're gonna be here all day with him like this." Gary whispered.
"He rarely gets to do this." Lillie replied.
"Rarely? Try every day." Gary shot back.
"Hush Gary! I'm inspecting a new specimen!" Isaac snapped before looking closely at Shadow's teeth. "Hm, teeth white and shiny. I take it you make sure he brushes at least twice a day?"
"Yeah…" Dusk said slightly uncomfortable with the attention he and his Pokémon are getting. "Is he usually like this?"
Isaac nodded with a smile. "Good dental care is important for Ratatta and Raticate. And, from the scent of it, it smells like you used Oran Barry flavored Pokémon toothpaste to make sure he put up with it. Clever." He noted, taking out a notebook and jotting down notes.
"Hurry up, Isaac. We got class." Ash said impatiently, tapping his foot.
"Okay, okay. Just let me look over Honey for a bit, then we can go." Isaac replied, putting away his notebook and pulling his magnifying glass back out. "Hm… arm stingers are nice and sharp with a sheen to them. Abdomen stinger seems healthy. Nice, glossy wings. She looks very well taken care of."
Ash let out a deep sigh as he watched this. "You two keep an eye on him. I"m off to class." He said before running off.
"Don't run in the halls, Ash!" Lillie yelled at him.
With lightning speed and shocking agility, Ash ran through the halls like a Ponyta. Zigzagging between students and even jumping over some. He was about to make it into the section of hall with his morning class, until another kid rounded the corner in front of him. Ash only got a few seconds before the two collided. The crash was loud enough to echo through the halls, causing all eyes to turn to what happened.
"Ugh… Pikachu? You there, buddy?" Ash groaned as he rubbed his head.
"Pika pi…!" Pikachu groaned, having gotten squished beneath Ash's weight for a moment when he hit the ground.
"Hey? Are you all right? Sorry about that." Ash groaned as he slowly sat up.
"You should be sorry, kid! Why don't you watch where you're going!?" The voice of another kid snapped at him.
Ash soon looked upon the boy he had run into. The boy appeared to be about his own height, though considerably buffer. His wild orange hair stuck out everywhere, with a large X of it being directly in front of his face. A light green backpack was strung out next to him as the boy dusted off his white shirt and black vest. Standing up, Ash saw him with bold red pants and sturdy black boots. As the boy looked down on him with a fierce gaze from his orange eyes.
"Sorry about that. I was just trying to get to class." Ash answered as he stood up.
"Well, watch it next time!" The boy snapped at him.
"All right, all right. Sheesh." Ash scoffed before trying to walk away. "Don't got be like that, Mr…"
"Name's Cross." The boy growled.
As he tried to walk away towards class, something soon lunged at him. Ash took a step back hastily to avoid it and soon got a good look at it. Standing in front of him, growling through a maw full of fangs, was a bipedal canine with blood red eyes. Its fur on its sides matched its eye color, while the rest was a stark white with black accents. A large spike of hair pointed forward, covering its muzzle in shadow, causing its eyes to slightly glow. It soon snapped at him again and swiped at him with its long claws. Ash soon pulled out his Pokédex to try and see what it was.
"Warning. This Pokémon is not in the Kanto Pokédex. Next time, please try the international Pokédex for further considerations." The Pokédex said to him bluntly.
"Stupid hunk of junk." Ash grumbled.
"Don't you know anything? Press one of the blue buttons to activate the international Pokédex." Cross tauntingly told him.
"You know, I've heard Mankey quieter than you." Ash snapped before pressing one of the blue buttons on his Pokédex.
"Midnight Form Lycanroc, the Wolf Pokémon. Uncreative title aside, this form gets a thrill out of battle and is always excited at fighting strong opponents. Like all canine type Pokémon, they tend to take after their owners." The Pokédex explained in its robotic voice.
"Thank' Poindexter." Ash replied, before putting his Pokédex away.
"Looks like you got a defective model." Cross replied.
"I got this from Professor Oak." Ash growled.
"You get that fatass Pikachu from him too?" Cross asked with a smirk.
"I'm not fat! I'm fluffy!" Pikachu snapped, poking his head out of Ash's backpack.
"Whatever you say, ya' fat rat." Lycanroc sneered.
Pikachu jumped out of the backpack and soon squared up with the Wolf Pokémon. The two began to stare each other down as Cross spoke again.
"Looks like your fat rat's trying to square up to my Lycanroc. Seriously, what do you feed that thing? Entire cakes for every meal?" Cross sneered.
"He's not fat, he's stout! And what's your excuse for your Pokémon's lanky hide!?" Ash snapped back.
"Lanky!? He's supposed to look like that, you moron! At least he doesn't look like a walking diabetic attack!" Cross growled in rage.
"Can you two yell a little louder? I don't think I heard you yet!" Gary's voice cried out from behind the two. As the two boys looked to see Gary, Isaac and Lillie rushing up.
"What took you guys?" Ash asked.
"If you're friends with the punk in the hat, keep out of this! This is between us! In fact, Lycanroc and I were about to have a battle with him and that Chonkachu of his." Cross replied before sneering at Ash.
"Ladies, ladies. You're both beautiful." Gary said, walking between the two. "I'm sure this can all be smoothed out by you two kindly walking away now."
"Yeah, let's all be civil here." Isaac replied placatingly.
"Guys. I got this." Ash said.
"No. You clearly don't." Gary replied sternly.
"You still have just a Squirtle? Please. This is what a real Pokémon looks like!" Cross replied before pulling out a Pokéball and opening it up to send out the Pokémon inside.
From the blinding flash came out a large orange and black striped cat, with a large face tipped with a toothy grin. Its body had multiple red crosses that laced its black back. Under its chin was a yellow and orange orb, in the vague shape of a bell. The cat Pokémon then stretched itself out, before looking at Pikachu.
"'Sup?" The orange cat said.
"'Sup." Pikachu coldly replied.
"Is that a Torracat!?" Isaac asked, starry eyed in amazement.
"Isaac. Not the time." Lillie muttered.
"I can't help it! Do you realize how hard it is to find Starters in the wild!? Especially their evolutions!" Isaac replied before pulling out his magnifying glass.
As Lillie tried to rein in Isaac, Snowy hopped out of her trainer's arms and walked up to Cross's Pokémon. Torracat and Lycanroc soon turned to look at the young Vulpix.
"Hi. I'm Snowy. What're your names?" Snowy asked chipperly.
"Don't got a nickname, icicle." Torracat replied before licking his paw.
"I'm sorry. Maybe your trainer can give you one?" Snowy innocently asked.
"We don't need nicknames, shrimp! We just need to fight!" Lycanroc growled before snapping his jaws at Snowy.
"EEEPPP!!!" Snowy squealed before running off in a panic.
Pikachu growled as his cheeks began to spark with electricity. "You can insult me all you want. You don't threaten the kid." He said sternly.
"Bring it on, Blubber Butt!" Lycanroc growled, showing off his claws.
"You mess with one of us. You mess with all of us, sunshine." Pikachu said before cracking his neck.
Soon the rest of Ash and his friends' Pokémon popped out of their Pokéballs. What was once a 2 vs 1 was now a 2 vs 8. This made Lycanroc's wicked smile grow even wider as Torracat raised its eyebrow a bit.
"That's what I'm talking about! Now we've got a party!" Lycanroc growled out, flexing his claws with a cracking sound like cracking knuckles.
"All right, you guys! Cut it out!" Ash yelled at the Pokémon.
"Hmph. Fine. We'll settle this in battle class." Cross replied dismissively.
"I'm gonna make you sorry for scaring Snowy like that!" Ash yelled.
As the two boys began to argue again, Snowy ran away as fast as her little legs could carry her. She did not know where she was going until she ran into something and instantly flopped onto the floor. She then looked up to see a human, though one she did not recognize. She saw a human boy that was about the same size as the ones she was used to, though looked vastly different. He had striking red eyes, blonde hair that went down to his shoulders, and a large cylinder hat. He wore black, dapper clothes and black shoes.
"Vulpix?" Snowy said in confusion.
"Oh, you alright, little one?" The boy in the suit asked kindly, leaning down to her level and offering a gentle smile.
"Well, well. Look what the Meowth dragged in." A calm, intelligent voice said from behind the boy's legs.
"Who said that?" Snowy asked, looking all over for the source of the voice.
"I did." The voice said again, before a pair of green vines looped around from behind the boy's legs.
The vines gently lifted Snowy up before slowly placing her on her feet. The vines then began to tenderly dust Snowy off. Once Snowy was dusted off, the vines straightened out her fur and tails.
"There! Much better!" A haughty, snooty voice replied before the figure of a green and yellow Pokémon stepped out from behind the boy's legs.
Standing in front of Snowy was a green serpentine Pokémon with a blade of grass sticking out of the end of its tail. It had short legs and arms, alongside a set of plumed yellow leaves sticking out of its shoulders. Its long, upturned nose and half-closed eyes gave it a haughty expression as it looked at Snowy.
"Who are you? Where is my momma?" Snowy asked frantically.
"I'm Seed the Snivy. And that is my human Jericho. He's… odd. Nice, but odd." The now identified Seed replied with a snide tone.
"Can you help me find my momma?" Snowy asked.
"You got a nice coat, girl. You must be well taken care of. Where's your trainer?" Jericho asked kindly, gently holding out his hand, waiting for some indication he could pet her.
Snowy leaned into the offered hand to let herself be petted. Jericho smiled softly as he comforted the small fox Pokémon. As he did, the peace was shattered by the loud yell of Lillie.
"I found her! She's over here!" Lillie cried out, before rushing over to Snowy, Jericho, and Seed. The rest of her friends followed close behind her.
"Vulpix Vul!" Snowy cried out, rushing over to Lillie.
Swiftly Lillie scooped Snowy up into her arms and hugged her closely. After snuggling Snowy for a bit, Lillie turned to look at Jericho.
"Thank you for keeping Snowy safe." Lillie said to Jericho thankfully.
"Not a problem. She bumped into me, just wanted to make sure she was all right. Name's Jericho." He said with a friendly smile.
"I'm Lillie. Nice to meet you." She replied.
"I'm Isaac. These marvelous specimens you see before you are my team. This is my partner Blaze and our friends Ruffian, Yokozuna, and Zaraki." Isaac replied with a smile, motioning to each member of his team one by one.
"Name's Gary Oak and this is my partner Squirtle. And that is our resident troublemaker, Ash Ketchum." Gary said with a cheeky smile, motioning his head down at Squirtle before then motioning it at Ash.
"Hey!" Ash snapped.
"Good to meet ya'," he said chipperly.
"I'm sorry if we caused you any trouble." Lillie said in an apology.
"No need to apologize, I was just walking around, looking for little ones to help." Jericho replied.
"You do that often?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, more of a volunteer thing," Jericho explained, taking off his hat and running his fingers through his hair, letting it rest at his side.
"I've heard of that. You're a Pokémon Rescuer. Different from Pokémon Rangers, but no less devoted to helping sick and endangered Pokémon." Isaac noted, a smile on his face.
"My head already hurts." Ash groaned.
"It's pretty simple, Ash. Pokémon Rangers use capture devices to temporarily befriend Pokémon, either to help them out on their missions or calm them down when they're rampaging. Pokémon Rescuers use special Pokéballs to catch sick, endangered, or rampaging Pokémon to take them to facilities to be taken care of until they're ready to either be taken in by trainers or released out into the wild." Isaac explained.
Ash perked up at hearing this. "That's so cool, Jericho!" He yelled excitedly.
"Yeah, that's how I got Seed, here," Jericho said with a smile, looking down at his Snivy.
"Not sure how he got that name." Seed muttered.
"I'm sure he has his reasons, Seed." Isaac told the Snivy with a smile.
"You can understand him? Huh, we just end up doing charades," Jericho said, putting his hat back on and rubbing his cheek with his finger.
"Yeah, I was gifted with a talent for Aura. It's an energy that exists in all living things that can allow humans to understand Pokémon's hearts. I can basically use it to understand them when they talk and read their emotions. I can even use it to connect with and calm them." Isaac explained before adding nervously. "Sorry. I'm not used to anyone really taking an interest in why I can do that."
"That's interesting. If only I could do that, would make my job a lot easier." Jericho said with a grin.
"I did want to become a Pokémon Rescuer myself until I found my true passion. Research, especially into Pokémon health." Isaac replied with a proud smile.
Before Jericho could rely, Lillie reached up and pinched Isaac's ear. Then she gave it a firm tug to start pulling him away.
"Ow, ow! Lillie! I wanted to get a good look at his Snivy!" Isaac cried out in pain as Lillie pulled him away.
"We are going to be late for class if you keep nerding out." Lillie sternly said, before turning back to Jericho. "Thanks again for keeping Snowy safe."
"See you, Jericho! Let me get a good look at Seed next time!" Isaac called out before Lillie tugged hard on his ear again. "Ow! Lillie!"
"Snivy Snivy Snivy / 'Stop talking to me like I'm not here'!!" Seed yelled annoyedly.
"Sorry, Seed! Ow!" Isaac replied before yelping in pain as Lillie kept dragging him by his ear.
"Less talking, more walking!" Lillie sternly said as she began to walk away with Isaac.
"We really got to get you a hobby." Gary muttered.
As the group walked off, Jericho watched them for a little bit. Then a small smile stretched over his lips as he muttered to himself.
"What an odd bunch. I wonder if they can help us later…"