Pokemon Master

Xanadu story universe

Ok a Xanadu story I've had on the back burner for a while. I just couldn't seem to finish it. If you've never seen Pokemon then you'll likely be lost. And incase somone asks faceplaming is when you put your hand palm down on part of your face, though it should be pretty easy to figureout, but can't be too sure.

Xanadu: Pokemon Master

by James Cole.

I stare blankly up at the ceiling. I'm deep in thought, I'm thinking about who I am. Doesn't seem to be something you need to think about really, but it is for me. My Name is Ash Ketchum, but it really isn't, but it is. Not much makes sense any more. Anthony Jones, that's me, I'm Anthony Jones and Ash Ketchum, I'm both and I'm neither. I'd still be sure who I was if it wasn't for the Kublacon.

I was confused when I found my self in the middle of the packed room. Last thing I could remember was getting on the ferrie to go back to Pallet Town, then suddenly I am in a crowded room filled with people, weird people. Pikachu is really nervous, I have to leave before she shocks anyone. I see Misty, she's standing right next to me.

"Misty what's going on?" I ask her.

"I dunno Ash, where did all these people come from?" Misty responds. "And where's Tracy?"

"Lets get out of here." I say and take Misty's hand.

I take Misty and we end up in a parking lot. I've never seem so many cars, not once. As we wander around I see a failure face. Brock, but he's with professor Ivy isn't he?

"Hey Brock!" I call out and he turns around.

Then I see something impossible. I'm standing next to him! The other me even has Pikachu on his shoulder. It makes no sense. Brock and I are both standing their but I'm with Misty.

"Don't look now Fred." Brock says to the other me. "But it's another Ash."

"Wow cool!" the other me, Fred, says. "I bet we can have a pokemon battle!"

"What's going on?" Misty shouts. "How are their 2 of you Ash?"

"Come on lets have a match!" "Fred" says.

"Are you sure we should be having a match here and now?" I ask.

"Fred come on, this isn't the time." Brock says to him.

"Brock stop calling me Fred!" the other me says.

"Their you are!" I hear another voice, and I see a second Misty!

"Oh man! June it's you!" Brock says to the 2nd Misty. "Better keep close don't want to confuse you with that other Misty."

"Brock have you gone..." the 2nd Misty starts before she sees us.

"Tarous I choose you!" the other me says as he throws a pokeball.

I react on instinct and throw Charizard's pokeball. The match is quick and unfortunately causes a lot of damage. Tarous bashes into several parked cars, and no matter how I try Charizard still accidently burns others. Then the police come. I am surprised not to see any Jenny's, the other Ash gets arrested for instigating a pokemon match, why I dunno. When the other Ash is taken away the other Misty goes too. My double beings to spew something about "gotta catch em all". I feel a bit embarrassed, after all I get like that too. Brock then comes over to us.

"Sorry about my friend he's lost in the character." Brock says. "I'm Tim."

"Brock what's going on here?" Misty asks.

"Oh no, not you too!" Brock says faceplaming. "Please "Ash" tell me you know who you are!"

"I'm Ash Ketchum of course." I say.

"You better come with me, you really need help!" Brock says.

That was when I was first told about the "Real World" that I was now in. No Pokemon trainers, no pokemon, no Pokemon League. Though the first two now existed the Pokemon League and with it my dreams of being a Pokemon Master where gone. At first I didn't believe it, it seemed too crazy, too bizarre.

Two days after the battle with myself I still wasn't allowed to leave the convention center. Slowly I was starting to wonder if maybe Brock's crazy story was true. I was watching TV in my room, well mine and Misty's, when I saw something horrible. People hurting pokemon! Some of the escaped pokemon had been caught and where being tortured by an angry mob, and no one was doing anything to stop them. They where saying pokemon where evil demons and they where just sending them back to hell, how could anyone think that way!? I had to stop them. I rushed out of my room and let out Charizard. Then Pikachu and I rode Charizard to the parking lot where the mob had cornered a group of pokemon. I saw them throwing rocks at a poor hurt Pikachu chanting "Die Demon, Die." Over and over.

"STOP IT!" I shouted. "Leave it alone!"

My arrival got their attention. I had Charizard use it's flame thrower to scare them off. This got them to leave the Pikachu alone but they didn't leave.

"How could you people do that to an innocent pokemon!" I shouted. "What did it ever do to you?"

"Pokmon are tools of Satan!" An old priest said. "And where you not possessed by Satan yourself you'd see it! We must destroy all pokmon!"

"For starters they are POKEMON no Pokmon!" I shouted. "And second off they are not tools for Satan, their good and decent creatures and your hurting them for no reason!"

"The boy is a demon too! We must destroy him!" Someone shouted.

Then I heard the shot. I heard a loud bang then Charizard roaring. I turned to see a plume of red burst from Charizard's chest. Then another, and another.

"CHARIZARD!!!!" I screamed. "NOOOOOO!!!!"

The crowd was silent as Charizard fell down and began to trash on the ground. I rushed over only to be knocked back by it's lashing tail as it thrashed and rolled on the ground over and over. Then suddenly it stopped, and a pool of blood formed under it's unmoving body.

"CHARIZARD!!!!" I screamed, crying as I rushed to my pokemon.

I'll never forget that day, as I tried over and over to rouse Charizard. All my hopes sank as it's tail flame sputtered and died. I knew what that meant, when a Charizard's tail flame when out it was dead, my Charizard was dead.

"Charizard... Charizard... get up... please get up.." I don't remember saying it, I just know that's what I told I kept saying. After Charizard died the mob vanished, maybe they realized what they had done or maybe it was the police. I don't know, and at that point I didn't care. One of my pokemon had been shot and killed, that was all I knew, one of my pokemon died. I wish I could say Charizard was the last pokemon to die, but it wasn't. Pokemon spread across Florida and people seemed to go out of their way to kill them. Mobs formed when pokemon where sighted and hunted them down and killed them. It wasn't till a year later that some pokemon where put on the endangered species list, but of the 10 types that had spread already 7 had been wiped out before the laws came into effect, and people still illegally hunt Pikachus, Nidorans, and Charmanders.

It took weeks before I got out of the funk I fell into after Charizard's death. But once I got out of that depression a new one griped me. My life was gone, my dreams of being a Pokemon master where shattered, everything I knew was gone. Anthony's parents also got hit hard, Anthony was gone, and I was in his place. They still find it hard to look at me, and some of their relatives openly hate me. Anthony had a funeral, it was creepy, like everyone was staring at me, blaming me for a death that really never happened.

Bulbasaur, Squritle, and Pikachu are still with me, and Misty turned out to be my next door neighbor, but I'm still lonely. Tarous was taken from me, something about it being dangerous. I found out later that my Tarous and the other Ash's Tarous had been killed by some religious group. Life for Misty and me is very hard, we both had to go to school after a whole year of tutoring. Going to school was rough, for the first few months I got beaten up daily, lucky me Anthony when to a Catholic School, so not only where the beatings not reported some of the teachers encouraged it. Only the principal understood, he knew pokemon weren't evil, and that I hadn't done anything wrong. It took him quite a bit of time to convince the congregation that Misty and I where not evil, some still are not convinced. Now hear I lay on my bed thinking.

"Ash? Ash are you up here?" Anthony's mom says as she enters my room.

"Leave me alone." I mutter.

"Ash... it's time for dinner." she says. "Come on down."

"I'm not hungry." I mutter. "Leave me alone."

"Ash you need to eat.." she says, genuinely concerned.

"I'm not hungry." I mutter, but my stomach growls.

"Yes you are now come on time to eat." she says as she touches my shoulder.

"Do you hate me?" I ask.

"What do you mean?" She asks me.

"Do you hate me?" I say. "Do you think I killed Anthony?"

"Please Ash.." she starts.

"No tell me!" I say sitting up. "Do you hate me?"

"Ash I.." she mumbles.

"Just tell me if you hate me." I say.

"I.... used to.." she says sighing.

"Why don't you now?" I ask her.

"Because I realized your not at fault for what happened to Anthony." She says, starting to cry. "And your just as much a victim of this as he was."

Then she hugs me tightly, something she's never done before.

"Ash, I can't hate you, your just a little boy who's lost his whole world." she says between sobs. "How can I blame you for something you can't control? And, and I know Anthony wouldn't hate you. And maybe somewhere inside you he's still their."

"What if he's not?" I ask.

"It doesn't matter, your a good boy Ash, you deserve a life and a mother." she says. "I know I'm not your real mother but..."

"My "real" mother." I choke. "Is a fictitious character, your more real than she is. I'm sorry about Anthony, I'm sorry I'm not your real son."

"Parents love adopted children as their own, why should you be different?" she asks me.

I go with Anthony's mother, hoping that perhaps together we can get though these tough times. ________________________________________________________________

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