Pokemon Indigo League stories

Putting the Air in Aerodactyl

" Tracy!"

" Are you okay?"

" That's the last time I'll grab a prehistoric creature!"

Suddenly, a gust of wind knocked them off their feet. A Charizard came into view.

With a very determined trainer.

Ash.

Gary gasped. " What is he doing?!"

Ash, though, remained calm. " Hey, Aerodactyl?" He called. " Remember us?"

The Aerodactyl turned, saw, and widened its eyes.

" You wanna be shot with fire again?" Ash said with a smirk.

The Aerodactyl shook its head.

" Charizard, ready?" Ash said as he took a poke ball.

" Ash, wait!" Gary called.

" Ash that Aerodactyl was just revived!" Oak yelled.

Ash didn't hear. " Poke ball, go!"

The pokeball hit the dinosaur, and it disappeared.

" This is gonna end badly..." Tracy muttered.

But to their astonishment, it almost immediately turned green. Ash smiled.

" I caught another pokemon!" Ash cheered as he did victory stance.

" Pika pi!" Pikachu climbed into his shoulder as Charizard flew to the ground.

" Thanks, Charizard. Good thing you didn't have to do it twice!" He grinned as he took the Pokeball out. " Charizard, return!"

As soon as the creature was gone, everyone came running to him. Ash turned and froze.

" Oh, uh... Hi guys!"

Gary crossed his arms. " I want an explanation right now."

Ash looked at him defensively. " There's nothing to explain, Gary Oak. I caught a pokemon and you didn't."

" Pika pi." Pikachu pulled on Ash's jeans. Ash looked down. " Huh?"

" Pikachu." Pikachu pointed to Misty and Brock, who looked just as proud as Ash felt.

" You did it, Ash!" Misty cheered as she ran into Ash's arms. " You caught it!"

" Yeah," Brock added as he crossed his arms and walked over. " And you didn't need Jigglypuff."

Ash froze. " Don't say that name!" He hissed.

" Why?" Oak asked, but the three would not answer.

" Pikachu."

Ash gave Pikachu a look. " Of course they don't know!"

" Don't know.... What?" Oak asked.

Ash didn't reply. " Remember, only us and Officer jenny knew. Wonder how it got out?"

" ASH KETCHUM OR SOMEONE WILL YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN?!" Gary yelled.

Ash turned to his friend. " Oh, hi. Didn't see you there." He said casually. " Pikachu, call officer Jenny and tell her five other people know, would you?"

" KNOW WHAT?!"

Ash rubbed his temples. " Sheesh, Gary Berry. You're impatient."

Gary sighed. " Sorry! Just.... What are you talking about?!"

Ash gave Gary a cheeky grin, his usual laid-back attitude in full force. "Oh, come on, Gary. You don't know?" He crossed his arms, clearly enjoying dragging out the suspense. Pikachu looked up at Ash and sighed, knowing the theatrics were about to get worse before they got better.

"PIKA!" Pikachu chirped, pointing insistently at Ash's pocket where his Pokégear rested.

Gary groaned, rubbing his temples. "Ash, seriously. I just watched you jump off a prehistoric creature, catch it with a Poké Ball like it was no big deal, and now you're talking like there's some huge secret! Spill it already!"

Tracy, who had been standing by, still shaken from his earlier sketching adventure, chimed in. "Yeah, Ash. What are you hiding?"

Misty crossed her arms, smirking as she approached. "Ash has a habit of getting into trouble, but this might take the cake."

Ash looked around at his friends, knowing the secret he had kept all this time wasn't going to stay quiet much longer. With a deep breath, he tried to look as nonchalant as possible. "Well... you remember Jigglypuff, right?"

At the mention of the name, everyone tensed. Misty's eyes widened, Brock stopped mid-step, and Pikachu groaned again.

"Jigglypuff?" Oak asked, genuinely confused. "What does a Jigglypuff have to do with any of this?"

Ash winced. "Yeah... about that. You see, a while back, there was a... uh... incident." He glanced nervously at Brock and Misty, both of whom were giving him knowing looks.

"Incident?" Gary raised an eyebrow, growing more impatient by the second. "What did you do, Ash?"

Ash scratched the back of his head. "Well, let's just say there was a reason Officer Jenny and I had to keep it under wraps. Jigglypuff went rogue... like, super rogue."

Gary blinked, then shook his head. "Wait, you're telling me that this whole secret is about a Jigglypuff?! What kind of trouble could that cause?"

Ash exchanged glances with Misty and Brock, who had gone from smirking to looking pretty serious. "Gary, you don't understand. That Jigglypuff—it's no ordinary one. It has... abilities. And let's just say it decided to try them out on people."

Brock nodded gravely. "One night, Jigglypuff sang to an entire city. Every single person fell asleep, and when they woke up, they had marker drawings all over their faces. The Pokémon Center was packed with people trying to figure out what had happened."

Gary's jaw dropped. "So you're saying—"

"Yeah," Ash interjected. "Jigglypuff caused a lot of chaos. That's why we had to get Officer Jenny involved. We couldn't exactly announce that a singing Pokémon turned an entire city into its canvas. Jenny's been tracking Jigglypuff ever since. No one's heard from it in a while."

Oak raised an eyebrow. "But what does that have to do with the Aerodactyl?"

Ash rubbed his temples again, clearly struggling to connect the dots. "Well... uh...... Aerodactyl woke up and.... Migha.... Uh..... Remember that dream you had of me being in the clutches of one?"

Gary raised a brow. " Yeah, bu-"

His eyes widened. " Wait.....?"

Ash nodded. " Uh huh."

Gary stared at Ash, processing all of this information. "So you've been dealing with a rogue Jigglypuff this whole time?"

Ash shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much. So, uh, Gary, don't worry about it. I'll tell Officer Jenny to keep it quiet."

Gary threw his hands up in frustration. "Ash, that still doesn't explain why you just jumped off an Aerodactyl to catch it!"

Ash smiled and crossed his arms, acting like it was obvious. "Because I had to catch it before it flew off again, right? Plus, it was kinda fun."

Gary groaned again, shaking his head. "You're hopeless, Ash Ketchum." He paused, looking at the Poké Ball in Ash's hand. "Still... that's an Aerodactyl in there. You really caught it."

Ash grinned, holding up the Poké Ball proudly. "Yep! And it's gonna be awesome." He threw his arm around Gary's shoulders. "Looks like I'm one step ahead of you again, huh?"

Gary sighed, though a small smile tugged at his lips. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't do anything crazy like that again."

Ash winked. "No promises!"

Everyone laughed, though the tension from the earlier chaos slowly began to fade. Misty, Brock, and even Oak couldn't help but shake their heads at Ash's reckless—but undeniably successful—adventure.

As Pikachu climbed back onto Ash's shoulder, Ash looked at his friends and smiled. "What do you say we get back to Pallet Town? I think we've had enough excitement for one day."

Gary rolled his eyes. "You think?"