Well folks, here's the completed draft of episode one. There's a tiny
bit of humor in this one, but expect more later. I haven't forgotten
that humor is a big part of the Pokemon experience. ^_^

As always, C&C appreciated. Hope you enjoy this, and hopefully I'll
have the next chapter ready in a day or two.

Disclaimers and such:

Pokemon, all names, characters, situations, etc. are property
Nintendo, Creatures, Game Freak.

Continuity:
This fanfic breaks directly into the anime continuity, right after
the first appearance of Butch and Cassidy. It takes off in a totally
different direction from where the anime is likely going (at the time
of this writing, that is as far as the English dub has been aired).
Therefore, consider this as an alternate Pokemon timeline. 

Comments are welcome. I like compliments; I also like having it
pointed out to me where I could have done something a bit better.
Being flamed, however, I don't care for much, and offenders will be
politely told to suck my ass. Same goes for anyone insisting I use
the Japanese names for all characters and Pokemon; I have no
particular reason or desire to do so. I *like* the English names,
thank you very much.


Okay? Okay.


The Eternal Lost Lurker presents:

POKeMON: Journeys


Episode 1: Pikachu's Shocking Desire

"Pika! Pi pikapika pikachu!"

Pikachu paused to heave a sigh and catch its breath, then chased
after its wayward trainer. There were times when Pikachu thought
maybe being inside a Pokeball wouldn't be so bad.

The Pokemon's trainer, Ash, and friends Misty, Brock, and Togepi were
farther ahead, running as fast as they could. The reason for their
haste was gaining rapidly, raising a blinding cloud of dust on the
trail behind them.

The road they had been traveling led through a stretch of low, rocky
hills. It was a pleasant enough day, and everyone was in a good mood.
In a moment of total carefree relaxation, they decided to stop for
lunch.

About halfway through the rice balls, trouble struck. A double dose
of trouble, at that.

Jessie and James had not given up by a longshot. In their
determination to regain favor in Team Rocket by capturing Pikachu,
they had found a pile of dozing Gravellers on the crest of a
particularly tall hill, and had somehow startled the entire bunch,
sending them rolling down, a living Pokemon rockslide.

The group had heard the approaching rumble, and had broken camp as
quickly as they could, running for the road. The rolling rock Pokemon
had gained speed, and it was all they could do to keep ahead of the
pack. Pikachu had tripped on a Geodude, but its predicament had not
been noticed in the confusion.

So now, Pikachu was struggling to make up the distance and catch up
to Ash. Its legs were tired, and the Graveller avalanche was entirely
too close for comfort. Its mind raced, trying to come up with a way
to get out of this predicament. It couldn't blast the falling
Pokemon; it knew from long experience that its electric attacks
wouldn't affect rock Pokemon. It wondered briefly if it had any other
attacks that would help.

And then, it had its solution. "Pika," it mused to itself. Pausing
just long enough to hunch down on all fours, Pikachu dashed forward
at blinding speed, using its Agility technique to propel itself down
the road. It veered off just as it was about to slam into Ash from
behind, and skidded along in the dust for a good five feet. 

"Pikachu!" Ash cried, scooping up the electric rodent in his arms
without breaking stride. "Are you okay, Pikachu?"

"Pi pika, pika, pika pi!" Pikachu snapped. It was actually rather
irritated with its trainer at the moment, but relieved to be carried
nevertheless.

"That's good," Ash said, completely misinterpreting his Pokemon's
reply. "Hang on, now."

"Pikachuu," the mouse sighed tiredly.

After a moment, Misty spotted a slope rising away from the road.
"This way, you guys! Up here!" She veered off and made way for the
slope. Brock and Ash followed suit.

The three humans sank to the ground, exhausted, trying to catch their
breath. On the road below, the avalanche continued unabated.

"I wonder how far that road goes," Ash mused.

"Let's just hope it doesn't lead right into a city," Brock commented.

The three glanced at one another. They promptly took off running
again.


******


"There they are!" Ash cried.

"Looks like they slowed down a bit," Brock noted.

"They're still going awfully fast," Misty said.

The Gravellers were rolling up a slope, and having difficulty doing
so. However, they weren't giving up, and the slope on the other side
was a lot steeper.

"If they get to the top, they're gonna be even faster going down the
other side," Brock pointed out.

"What can we do?" Misty wondered. "Hmm...maybe if I use some of my
water Pokemon..."

"It could work," Brock nodded. "If they can pump out enough water,
and fast enough..."

"I've got a better idea," Ash said, grinning.

"Pika?" Pikachu didn't like the looks of that grin.

"Ash," Misty noted, "now's not the time to fool around..."

"Relax," Ash said. "I've got it covered." He unclipped a Pokeball
from his waist and expanded it. "I choose you, Bulbasaur!" He threw
the Pokeball, releasing the reptilian Pokemon with the enormous plant
bulb on its back. 

"Saur!" Bulbasaur bellowed.

"Bulbasaur, Solar Beam, now!" Ash commanded.

"BulbaSAUR!" The Pokemon roared. It hunched down, concentrating, as
energy harnessed from the sun began to build up in its bulb.

"Brock," Misty whispered, "do you think that's going to work?"

Brock shrugged. "We'll find out soon enough."

Bulbasaur's bulb glowed brilliantly as it charged up its most
powerful attack.
"BulbabulbabulbabulbabulbabulbabulbabulbabulbaSAAAAAAUUUUURRRRR!!" A
blinding beam of focused sunlight erupted from the Pokemon, slamming
into the center of the Gravellers. Bellows of pain and confusion
filled the air as the boulder Pokemon were scattered by the force of
the attack. The top of the hill they had been ascending was sheared
completely off, creating a flat, craggy mesa.

Misty, Brock, and Pikachu stared.

"Well, I guess it worked," Brock said.

"Piiikaaa," Pikachu offered.

"Good work, Bulbasaur!" Ash said, holding the empty Pokeball.

"Bulba, bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur said, before returning to the Pokeball
in a flash of red light.

"Well guys, let's get going!" Ash said, his voice full of cheer.

The others shrugged, and resumed their journey.


******


The rocky terrain had given way to gentle, grassy slopes by dusk.
Exhausted, the travellers had made camp for the night. Twilight had
long since passed, and the stars shone brightly, given more presence
by a waxing moon. As three humans slept peacefully in their sleeping
bags, two Pokemon sat by the remains of the campfire, talking.

"Pika pika, pi pikachu," Pikachu said tiredly. It sat perched on its
rump, its tail lying flat on the ground behind it. Its ears were
drooping. "Chu pika pikapikachu pi pika pi."

Across from the mouse, a curious-looking egg Pokemon with stubby
appendages and a crown-shaped head sat, wobbling from side to side
occasionally. It blinked its wide, expressive eyes. "Toge?"

"Pikachu," Pikachu sighed, shaking its head. "Pi pika, pika pikapi."

Togepi was confused, and didn't know what to think. Its friend was
sad, and it wasn't entirely sure why. All it knew was that it had
something to do with the human that was, by the egg Pokemon's
reckoning, Pikachu's mother--or something like that--didn't
understand the electric mouse. But that didn't make any sense, did
it? It knew that its own mother had no trouble understanding what it
wanted. Or...did she? 

Its young mind wasn't sure how to cope with this train of thought, so
it switched gears. Pikachu was sad, and it didn't like for its
friends to be sad. So, it reasoned, it had to try to cheer Pikachu
up.

Togepi plopped over onto its back, and began rolling from side to
side, using its stubby arms to stop itself from rolling too far.
"Prrrrriiii!" it bubbled. "Toge, toge toge!"

Pikachu blinked, then smiled despite itself at the baby Pokemon's
antics.


******


At that particular moment, if either of the two Pokemon had been
paying much attention to their surroundings, they would have heard
muttering from a nearby clump of bushes.

"Those two screw-ups...who needs 'em? It's time I took matters inta
my own paws." Said paws rubbed together in anticipation. "I'll show
'em all who's the top cat around here."


******


Pikachu watched with amusement as Togepi continued to play, rolling
back and forth and babbling to itself.

Suddenly, it felt a sharp, shooting pain in its tail. Its
surroundings shifted, and it felt leaves and twigs scratching it. It
struggled to right itself...and came face-to-face with a pair of
large, slitted eyes. And an unmistakable gold charm.

"PIKA!" Pikachu cried out, unleashing its Thundershock and frying the
deranged cat. It tried to scamper away...and fell to its rump. It
glanced around frantically, and discovered that Meowth, whose
soot-covered fur stood on end from the electric attack, still had a
death-grip on its tail. Pikachu's eyes widened.

Meowth grinned, well, cattily. "Nope, no way. You're not gettin' away
this time, Pikachu. No more schemin', no more lame plans, no more
Jessie and James. It's you, me, and my claws, and I'm takin' you back
ta the Boss."

Pikachu thought frantically, fighting off the distraction of pain.
Meowth had dug his claws right into the rodent's tail. It could try
another Thundershock, but it wasn't sure it could escape even if it
knocked Meowth out. Not without doing permanent damage to its tail,
at any rate.

Despite its panic, Pikachu's mind latched onto something that should
have been, at the moment, inconsequential. It was, nevertheless,
something the electric Pokemon had always wondered, and at the
moment, it needed to stall for time... "Pi pika, pika pikapi
pikachu?"

Meowth blinked. "What's that got ta do with anything?"

"Pika pika, pipi pikachu pi."

"Well, since you asked," Meowth said, closing his eyes. "Let's just
say, it's a secret of the Team Rocket Pokemon Research Division."

"Pika pika, pi pika, pika pika pi?"

"Oh, sure, any Pokemon could do it," Meowth replied. "Not without
payin' a price for it, of course."

"Pika?"

"What's it to ya? It's not like you're gonna need ta worry about it."

"Pika."

Meowth blinked, rubbing his chin with his free paw. "Then again,
maybe you're right." He paused, eyes narrowing. "But why should I
tell you, and what's in it for me?"

Pikachu thought for a moment. A slow smile spread across its face.
"Pika, pika pikachu pi pikapika pi."

Meowth's eyes widened. "No way," he said. "You're kiddin' me."

"Pikachu."

"You really know--?" Meowth's brow furrowed in contemplation. "You
better not be jerkin' me around," he warned.

"Pika, pikachu pikapika." Pikachu gave its best solemn look.

"Hmmm..." Meowth scratched his chin. Finally, he withdrew his claws.
"Okay. I'll letcha go, and tell you where ta find what you're lookin'
for." His eyes narrowed. "But if I find out you're lyin' about..." He
trailed off.

Pikachu rubbed its wounded tail, and nodded. "Pika pi."

Several minutes later, Pikachu gingerly made its way out of the
bushes, and back towards camp. It had things to do, and its work was
cut out for it.

As Pikachu headed back to its friends, Meowth slipped out of the
bushes, a greedy, giddy grin on his face. "The Boss ain't gonna be
happy I let Pikachu get away," he mused to himself, "but I bet he'll
be a lot happier if I bring in a *really* rare Pokemon..."


******

Ash stirred, awakened by the urgent bouncing of a Pokemon on his
head. "Pikapika, pika pi!" Pikachu urged.

"Uhhh..." Ash blinked, yawning. "Pikachu? What's wrong?" He sat up,
and Pikachu dropped to the ground beside him, standing on its hind
legs. Ash immediately noticed the dried blood and deep punctures on
his Pokemon's tail. "Oh, Pikachu, you're hurt!" 

"Pika, pika pikapi," Pikachu said, shrugging as best it could. It
didn't seem particularly concerned about the injury.

Ash, however, was not going to let it go that easily. "How'd you get
hurt?" he asked.

"Pika pika, pikachu pika pi," Pikachu chattered at length. Ash
couldn't make sense of what the rodent was saying until Pikachu
reached into the pocket of Ash's jeans, pulled out a coin, and stuck
it to its forehead. Pikachu then raised its upper arms in an
imitation of a certain feline Pokemon, and made a sound which came
out like "Piowka". 

Ash narrowed his eyes. "Meowth?"

Pikachu nodded, dropping the coin and resuming its normal demeanor.
"Pika pi pika, pikachu pika pika chu pi pika pi," it began. It
continued for some time, making various gestures which Ash tried
desperately to make sense of.

When Pikachu finally quieted down, it looked up at Ash expectantly.
"So," Ash said finally. "Meowth tried to capture you, and hurt your
tail."

"Pika."

"And you got away."

"Pika pi."

Ash nodded, yawning. "Okay, we'll get you to a Pokemon Center first
thing in the morning. Let me see if I can find some bandages or
something for your tail..."

"Piikaa! Pi, pika pika pikachu!"

Ash blinked. His Pokemon seemed agitated. "What? What's wrong?"

"Chuu," Pikachu sighed. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Come on, Pikachu, what is it?" Ash persisted.

After pausing to think for a moment, Pikachu trotted over to Ash's
backpack and rummaged through it. Eventually, it came up with a
bottle of vitamins. "Pika!" it cried, holding up the pills.

Ash blinked. "Vitamins? You want vitamins?"

Pikachu set down the vitamins, and did its Meowth impression again.
"Piowka pika pi, pikachu pi pika pi."

Ash tried to digest this. "You want to give Meowth vitamins?"

Pikachu shook its head, and tried again, miming swallowing the
vitamins while still impersonating Meowth. "Pika pika piowka pikapi."

"Meowth's taking vitamins?" Ash guessed.

A sweatdrop rolled down Pikachu's forehead. It pondered for a moment,
then nodded. It began imitating a common Meowth, then mimed taking
vitamins, and then imitated the particularly unusual Meowth of
infamy.

Ash blinked for a long time, then hazarded, "Vitamins made Meowth
different?"

"Pika!" Pikachu said, making a V-sign with its paw.

"So..." Ash thought carefully for a moment. "You want...you want the
vitamins Meowth took?"

"Pika pika!" Ash was finally catching on.

"But...what kind of vitamins are they?"

"Pika pika pi, pika PI pika PII," Pikachu ranted, pantomiming. It
took several minutes for Ash to catch on. When he did, his eyes
widened.

"Whoa." He was quiet for a moment. "So...where do we get these
vitamins?"

Pikachu fished a clean T-shirt and a magic marker out of Ash's
backpack, and drew something on it. "Pika pika pi pikachu."

Ash frowned. "Now wait a minute...you're not thinking..."

Pikachu climbed Ash's shoulders, and haphazardly dropped the shirt
over its trainer's head. It then hopped down and peered up at Ash
intently.

"But...we can't! We just...it's not right!" Ash insisted.

"Pika, pika pi. Pi pika pi." Pikachu seemed adamant.

"No, Pikachu! Don't you see? It's...it's just something we can't do!"
Ash cried.

"Pika," Pikachu rebuked. Its cheeks began to spark.

Ash held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Okay okay, okay! Maybe
we can. But it's still a bad idea."

"Piiii-kaaa!" Pikachu cheered, hopping up onto Ash's shoulders and
giving him a hug. Ash smiled, despite himself. He glanced around at
the others, who had slept through the entire exchange. 

"We're not going to drag the others into this, though. It's just you
and me."

"Pika, pika pi," Pikachu nodded.


******

The sun shone brightly as the campers stirred. Misty stretched, and
reached out to scoop up Togepi, as she did every morning. Brock
yawned mightily, and trudged over to his pack to get out the mess
kit. "Mornin'," he called out.

"Good morning Brock," Misty said. "Good morning Ash--" She stopped,
and blinked. "Where's Ash?" she wondered.

Brock looked around. "I dunno," he said. "Maybe he woke up early,
scouted ahead or something."

"Yeah, I guess so..." Misty said. She sounded uncertain.

As Brock began preparing breakfast, Misty spotted a piece of paper
folded up near the campfire, pinned under a rock. "Hey, look at
this," she said, picking it up.

"What is it, a note?" Brock asked, moving to peer over Misty's
shoulder.

Misty unfolded the paper, and began to read. "It's from Ash," she
said. 

	Dear Misty and Brock,
	Pikachu and I have something we
	need to do, and we have to do it
	by ourselves. We'll catch up to
	you guys when we're finished. 
	Don't worry about us, we'll be
	fine. Keep on going, hopefully
	we'll be able to catch up with 
	you by the time you get back to
	Cerulean City. Take care.
									-Ash

"Ash...left us," Misty said, blinking.

"I wonder what that's all about?" Brock mused, rubbing his chin.

Misty scowled. "If he's too good to need our help, then I don't
care," she declared. "I just hope he remembers he still owes me for
my bike." She clenched her fist, crushing the note.

Brock wisely decided to keep his mouth shut.

******

What is Pikachu so excited about? Why is Ash so reluctant to go along
with it? And why did they choose to exclude Misty and Brock from
their plans? Find out in the next episode of POKeMON: Journeys!

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What kind of Pokemon are you?
How do you do the things you do?
Share with me your secrets deep inside...
What kind of Pokemon are you?
Are you loyal through and through?
And do you have a heart that's true?
What kind of Pokemon are you?

-The Eternal Lost Lurker
(the 666th Pokemon)

"Pokemon, getto daze!"
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