Runaway

Two young boys stood on the hill overlooking their hometown of Pallet, watching the peaceful view contentedly.

“Hey, Gary? What’re you gonna do when you grow up?” Ash asked, looking at his friend.

The older of the two straightened up, hands on his hips. “That’s easy! I’m gonna be a Pokémon Master, and travel around all over the world.” Gary said pointedly, grinning.

Ash grinned as well. “Cool!!” he piped cheerfully, “Maybe we can both be Pokémon Masters, and we can travel around together!”

“I dunno.” Gary said, crossing his arms. “We could travel around together, but we can’t both be the best. Don’t you know that?”

“Why not?” Ash asked, smile fading.

“Because being the best means you’re better than everyone else, not just most people!” Gary shook his head. “You’ll just have to settle for being second-best, Ashy-boy.”

Ash frowned, glaring at Gary. “That’s stupid! We should be allowed to share – no one’s the best for anything, anyway!”

“Well, I’m gonna be the best Pokémon Master, so I guess you’re wrong.” Gary said, frowning as well now. “Jeez, Ash, I said you could be second-best.”

“I don’t wanna be second-best! I wanna be the best Pokémon Master ever…” Ash’s voice faltered for a moment, hurt that his friend wouldn’t share the title with him. Finally anger flared up in him and he yelled, “I hate you, Gary!”

Gary’s eyes went wide at the words as Ash turned around and stormed off. After a moment’s recovery, he gritted his teeth and yelled back, “Oh yeah?! Well… I hate you more!!”

“Fine! Then don’t come to my house tomorrow, cuz I’m moving away and you’ll never see me again!” Ash snapped over his shoulder before running away with his hands over his ears while he yelled, “La-la! La-la!”

Ash slowly opened his eyes from the dream, gathering his wits about him. The sound of the train in the distance reminded him that he was back in the real world, not the cotton candy-clouds of laughter one from his childhood.

He sat up, back aching from sleeping on the floor for so long; it couldn’t be helped, though – sure, he could stay at any Pokémon Center for free, but he still had to get out of Goldenrod City without alerting the police to his whereabouts. They’d just ship him back home, and he couldn’t have that right now.

“Hey, Pikachu? Where’d I put that map?” Ash asked, holding up a lighter to illuminate his dark surroundings.

The Electric Mouse Pokémon darted over to one of the desks left behind when the building’s former occupants had gone out of business. Picking up the folded up piece of paper, Pikachu walked over to the edge of the desk and held it out. “Piiiiiika pi?”

Ash grinned faintly. “Yeah, that’s the one!” he said, getting up and walking over. He took the note and began to unfold it, also trying to keep the lighter lit without burning the paper.

Pikachu zipped away, then hopped on Ash’s back a moment later with a light bulb, which began glowing due to the pokémon's electric storage. Ash let the lighter go out, ruffling Pikachu’s fuzzy head before returning to the map.

“Okay, so I need to go past the train station to make it to the Goldenrod-Ecruteak checkpoint?” he muttered to himself. “There are cops inside the building… but if I cut through the trees on either side of it, I won’t have to worry about them… Still, there’s no telling when a pokémon might pounce on us in the forest.” After a moment’s thought, he frowned and said, “It’s a risk we’ll have to take.”

“Meooow?” Now Meowth joined the three, jumping on Ash’s other shoulder with a pouch full of jingling coins in his mouth.

“There you are! I shoulda known.” Ash sighed and pocketed the purse. “I thought I told you – no more stealing anyone’s money until we’re out of here! We’ve got to get to Olivine and find a way to sneak on the S.S. Anne and ride off to Sinnoh.” he told his two pokémon, tracing a finger along the route from Goldenrod, to Ecruteak, to Olivine. “Sinnoh’s so far north, no one will have even heard of me, and unless Brock actually takes a vacation from the Gym…”

Ash’s voice tightened momentarily. Tears burned his eyes, and both Pikachu and Meowth gave him a shared worried look. “Pika pika, Pikachu?” the pokémon on his left shoulder suggested.

Quickly, the trainer shook his head. “I’m fine. I can do this. I’ve just got to get out of Johto and Kanto as quickly as – ”

At that moment, a loud howl sounded, and light flooded into the abandoned building from outside. Ash heard the whirring of helicopter blades, and ran to one of the boarded-up windows to peak out. The place was surrounded by cops. “Fuck!” he hissed.

“Ash Harrison of Team Rocket, we know you’re in there!” Officer Jenny’s voice called from among the cops. “Come out with your hands up and return the pokémon you stole!”

Ash took several steps back, hands reaching up and grabbing his hat nervously as he looked around. “Fuck…” he repeated, trembling; he couldn’t go to jail!

“Meow!” Meowth jumped off his shoulder and ran up the stairs into the rickety old building, followed shortly by Pikachu, who gestured for him to follow as well.

“…There’s an escape?!” Ash asked; a second later the front and back doors crashed open and he had no choice but to run after his pokémon.

Meowth led the other two up through the building, until they hit the top floor without exposing themselves on the roof. Ash felt color drain from his face – the police hadn’t been able to keep up with him, but he could hear them getting closer.

“Meow!! Meow-meow!” Meowth yowled, running over to the empty elevator shaft – they were on the only floor in which the doors were actually open. Ash could see the cords dangling uselessly.

Ash’s eyes went wide when he saw what the Scratch Cat Pokémon was getting at. There was no way. “…You’re shitting me.”

Meowth leapt forward, catching a cord and sliding down easily. Pikachu gestured for Ash to go first.

The trainer shook his hands and licked his lips in anticipation, then ran forward and jumped, catching the ropes and sliding down through the darkness. Pikachu was right above him all the way down, even bumping into his head when they reached the basement level. The elevator, which had crashed a long time ago, had forced the doors open just enough for the skinny teenager and his pokémon to slide through.

Again, Pikachu held out the light bulb as he ran forward, following his nose to fresh air. Ash caught it too after a moment, and realized that must have been where Meowth had disappeared off to.

There was a small tunnel at the far, back corner of the basement, and it was big enough for Ash to follow his pokémon through until it finally split two ways. Pikachu had stopped at the fork, looking up at Meowth’s dangling tail from the way leading up to the surface. Ash could still hear reporters and police officers.

Meowth dropped down and led them down the other trail, which smelled awful. Ash knew it had to lead to the sewers before even getting to the end.

“I hate it when I’m right…” he muttered as he climbed out of a whole in the sewer wall. “This is just like a couple of years back in Kanto, when all of those Grimer were all over Celadon because of cracks in the sewer leading up to the surface…”

Pikachu hissed at him, putting a finger to his lips as Meowth slowly stalked forward on all fours, tail swishing. He looked around from side to side, then waved for them to pass.

For several hours, Ash travelled like this with his two pokémon, glad the stink of the sewer would keep the police’s Growlithe and Arcanine from catching his scent. ^Although, with the Arcanine, it might not matter.^ he reasoned with himself, all too aware of how fast the Legendary Pokémon were able to run, even when injured or newly-evolved.

“Pikachu!!” Pikachu shocked Ash back to earth before he trampled a sleeping Grimer. He gave his pokémon an apologetic grin before stepping over the Grimer carefully, Pikachu and Meowth both hopping on his back to get over as well.

Ahead, the smell of the ocean wafted through the smell of death and despair like a beacon of hope, and as they got closer to the exit, so did the beam of the Olivine Lighthouse off in the distance.

“Yes!” Ash ran to the entrance, climbing high above the mouth of the sewer opening just to escape the stench of it. He and his two pokémon stared at the lighthouse in the distance for awhile, glad to have the fresh night air and ocean breeze ruffling the smell off of their bodies.

After a moment, Ash grinned and said, “Now we get to figure out how to get on the ship.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Pikachu bounded into the Olivine Harbor’s Ticket Checker, stopping in the middle of the room and looking around timidly. He circled around, taking a step here and hopping over there, calling out for its lost trainer.

“Oh, hey there, little guy. What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Officer Jenny asked, walking over to the frightened creature.

Pikachu looked at her, tears in his eyes. “Piiiiika, chuuuuu!!”

Looking concerned, Officer Jenny asked, “Did you lose your trainer, little guy?”

Nodding profusely, Pikachu started talking loudly and quickly, waving his arms and making a spectacle of himself, luring several other cops guarding the main entrance away from their posts. Once he was surrounded, Pikachu hiccupped, sparks flying from his cheeks, and let loose a blinding beam of light that flooded the room.

Ten minutes later, Ash was sitting in the engine room, Meowth on his lap and Pikachu on his shoulder, both fast asleep despite the deafening roar of the boat’s motor. He smiled at his two pokémon, feeling lucky to have two pokémon that were so resourceful and smart; as with many trainers, he failed to realize that it was because of his care that they were so well-trained.

^These two did such a good job… I should get them some real food, not that stale Pokémon Food that’s been in my bag since last Wednesday.^ he decided, frowning at the two. Then an idea hit him, and he placed the two pokémon next to each other so he could sneak away to the dining hall.

People were talking and laughing as music played on the upper decks – it was a smorgasbord of rich families walking around. Ash hoped that Meowth didn’t leave the engine decks, or they’d be caught for sure.

Calmly, he walked over to the buffet, looking everything over. There’s was so much selection, he was afraid his brain would explode trying to recognize what everything was.

^Stay away from the expensive stuff.^ he reminded himself, putting a few fish, oranges and rice balls on a plate. As an afterthought, he added an apple or two as well – they were both pokémon’s favorite, after all.

He turned to leave, accidentally brushing shoulders with someone. “Sorry!” he quipped politely with barely a glance as he now hurried to get away.

“Hey… Wait!” the person called, but Ash was already out the door.

As soon as he was back in the engine room, Ash found the two pokémon just now starting to get up and look around for him. Meowth’s eyes widened when he was the plate and launched himself at Ash, who quickly snatched one of the apples off of the plate so that Meowth didn’t steal both. Sitting down with his pokémon, Ash put the plate on the floor and handed Pikachu his apple before taking one of the rice balls. He closed his eyes, glad to have his first substantial meal in days.

“I was thinkin’… Maybe once all of this dies down, I can send Bro a letter, you know?” Ash told his pokémon, who both nodded while snatching food from the plate. “Thing is, it may not be for a few months. I don’t wanna worry him, but… ya know?”

“Hello? Is anybody down here?” a voice called in the distance.

Ash, Pikachu and Meowth froze, all looking at one another with wide eyes.

The voice got closer: “Hey! I know there’s someone down here!!”

Putting a finger to his lips, Ash gestured for both pokémon to get on his shoulders. Straightening up, he looked to the rafters for an escape route, but before he could plot one out, a hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

“Fuck! Gary?!”
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And that's all I've got for now, kiddies! Just something I thought up when I decided to try to get into Pokemon yaoi... It's a lot more fun than I'd thought it would be, so I've decided to start my own.

Wee!!

Hope you like it - I went through, like... 3 different ideas before finally finding one I liked. And YES... I changed Ash's last name. Woo. I didn't like it for this fanfic. > 3>;;