A Shocking Surprise

Chapter 2

With her new Pokémon companion tucked securely in her pokeball, Dawn decided to head to the Pokémon Center to heal her team and grab a quick snack before heading back to meet up with the others.

A few minutes or so later, all of Dawn's Pokémon were fully healed and she had decided to let her newly caught Pikachu out of her pokeball so she could stretch her paws and so Dawn could give her a proper greeting.

"Come on out." A voice called as Ash woke up looking around she saw she was in the cafeteria at the Pokémon Center, but was healed.

"Pi Pika. (She caught me)" Ash said meekly, her ears and tail drooping low in both sadness and dismay. "Pika Pi! Pikapi Pikachu. (Now what do I do?)" She pondered to herself as she let her eyes wonder around the room.

"Hey, it will be alright. No need to worry." Dawn said, rubbing Ash's ears the way Ash taught her to rub Pikachu's. "I'll take good care of you. And one of my travel companions has a male Pikachu. I'm sure you'll both get along great." She added the last part mostly to herself with a small giggle.

"Pika! (That's it!)" Ash said, perking up as Dawn paused. "Pika pi pika! (Pikachu and Brock have seen me become a Pikachu before. They'll recognize me!)

"You know, with two Pikachu I should give you a nickname." Dawn said, thinking for a minute. "I'll call you Spark."

"Ka-pi? (Spark?)" The newly named Spark said in confusion. (She's giving me a nickname?)" Spark mused to herself with a thoughtful look crossing her face.

"Now I'll return you so I can surprise the others." Dawn said, holding up Spark's pokeball and returning Spark before she could stop her.

A few hours later, Brock and Pikachu had returned and the three of them were waiting for Ash to return as well so she could introduce Spark to all of them at once to avoid having to repeat the process over and over again.

"Where on earth is he?" Dawn asked, begging to get worried for her friend. "Do you think something bad happened to him?" She hated to ask it, but she knew it could very well be a possibility.

Brock sighed heavily and looked up to the sky. "I don't know," Brock said, looking at the sun. "It's sunset, maybe we should search for him."

Dan nodded her head numbly in response. "Yeah, you're right. We should go out and look for him." Dawn agreed as they left to search for Ash, though they did not find him. They even passed right through the now empty clearing where he became a pokemon where they noticed his pokeballs, but not him.

This caused a police search that lasted for several weeks before they gave up, after not finding any clues.

"Now what do we do, Brock?" Dawn asked, looking to Brock for advice while she fiddled nervously with the hem of her skirt. "What should we do about this?"

"Now, I take Ash's pokemon back to his mom," Brock said with a sad Pikachu on his shoulder. "You should continue your journey. I'll take care of it. And he might show up somewhere while you're on the journey. I'll rejoin you when I finish everything in Kanto. It will probably take a month though. Get to know your new pokemon too."

Dawn nodded her head, her eyes mournful as she looked up at both Brock and Pikachu. "Alright." Dawn agreed with a sad sigh. "And yeah, I should also get to know Spark, I've been so busy with the search I haven't even let her out of the pokeball. But I hope I do find Ash on my journey."

"Me too, Dawn. Me too." Brock told her before he packed up his things and left with Ash's other Pokémon, including a still saddened and depressed Pikachu, who still sitting sadly on his shoulder.