Pokemon: Before The Beginning

Ϟ - Chapter IV - Ϟ

Ash yawned, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. A few of his cabinmates were already awake and conversing with each other. It was about 7:40, and most of the cabins were just waking. One of the counsellors would come in about 20 minutes to fully awaken everyone and get them for breakfast. The kids who were awake were surrounding a bunk and talking, and Ash silently climbed out his bed. He crept out of the cabin and walked to the tree where Swirl and Spark were sleeping. He willed himself to become smaller, and transformed into a Pikachu. Then he pushed aside the bushes covering the entrance and crawled in.

Spark and Swirl were sleeping peacefully. He prodded them both with his paw. They both woke with a start, surprised to find him in the tree. "Calm down guys, it's just me." Ash said. They calmed down at his voice, realizing it was only him. "Hey Ash!" Spark said. "Hi!" Swirl said. "We should probably get back to the cabin. The counsellor will be coming soon." Ash said, leading them out. "I'll turn you both invisible." Ash said. He held out his hands and they glowed blue. Spark and Swirl both felt a strange tingling feeling, before it faded away. "Are we invisible?" Swirl asked, turning to Spark. "I can still see you."

"You're only invisible to humans, but Pokemon can see you." Ash supplied. "Oh. Ok!" "Come on!" Spark said, running towards the cabin. "Race you!"

"No fair!"

⊱⌁◓⌁⊰

All the kids were milling around the clearing in front of the cabins, conversing with each other.

"Hey!" The girl from the day before walked up to Ash. "Huh?" he asked. "It's me, Serena. I wanted to thank you again for yesterday." she said. "Oh, it was no problem, really." he replied, scratching the back of his head. She smiled.

Goh was looking around the crowd of kids and he spotted Ash talking to Serena. He walked over to them, Chloe in tow. "Hi!" he said. Ash and Serena turned to them. "You're in my cabin." Chloe said, looking at Serena. "Oh, I remember you. I'm Serena." she said. "My name's Chloe." Chloe introduced herself. "I'm Goh!" Goh added. "Nice to meet you!" Serena replied.

"May I please have your attention!"

Professor Oak's voice rang out through the clearing. He stood at the front of the crowd next to the other professors holding a microphone. "We are going to be having a competition. Each day we will have contest and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places will get points. At the end of camp we'll add them up and the person with the most points will win a prize! 10 points will also be awarded to everyone in a cabin if that cabin is neat and organized when a counselor inspects it in the morning." Professor Oak announced.

Murmurs were heard throughout the crowd. "What's the prize?" one voice asked. "That'll have to remain a surprise!" Professor Oak replied. "Now, today's contest will be Pokemon photography! You will get into groups of four, and Professor Sycamore will hand out a camera to each group. The number on the camera with be your group number, and the group with the most pictures of different pokemon will get 100 points each. Now, get into your groups!"

"Hey, let's be a group!" Serena said, smiling. "Good idea." Chloe agreed. "Alright!" Goh said. Ash sighed. 'I'm not getting out of this.' Then he smiled. "Okay." Professor Sycamore came by with the cameras and handed one to Goh. It had the number 3 on it. "Once you receive your cameras, you can head out! Make sure to be back by sunset." Professor Oak said. Ash, Goh, Chloe, and Serena walked into the forest, along with a bunch of other kids. There were sounds of shutters clicking as kids began taking pictures of nearby pokemon.

"Come on, we don't want to fall behind! Look, there's a Pidgey!" Serena pointed up at a tree. Goh aimed the camera and took a picture. After that, the group was on a roll. They took photos of various different pokemon, and even saw a flock of Hoothoot and a Ninetales resting in a patch of sunlight.

Spark and Swirl played with the Pokemon they met, invisible to the kids. "We did good! We should probably head back now. It's getting late." Chloe said. The sun was indeed falling behind the mountains.

"Okay." Goh agreed. "We got a bunch of cool pictures! I sure hope we win." Serena said. Ash nodded. Personally, he didn't care too much about the competition. Though he supposed he was a bit curious about what the prize was... Ash was snapped out of his musing when he sensed something at the tip of his aura radius.

"Kahhnn!!"