Out Of The Ashes (A Pokémon Fanfiction) ~on Hold

Chapter 13: Tank, Shade and Ash

Chapter 13: Tank, Shade and Ash

"Will you let me hold onto these so you can go back to your Pokeball and rest?" Ash said, swinging his bag off his shoulder and opening the top flap. The Gastly lowered his face and peered suspiciously into the bag. Ash watched the Pokemon rearrange his rolled up sleeping bag until it had been pushed into a sort of nest, into which the Pokemon carefully laid his precious burdens.

Then the ghost drifted backward and allowed himself to be withdrawn into the Pokeball. Ash quickly miniaturized it and held the small red-and-white sphere in his hands introspectively. It seemed strange that just an hour or so ago he had been fearful of the ghost Pokemon's reaction to being caught. Now he was being entrusted with the most valuable possessions the Pokemon had.

A branch cracked loudly behind him; Ash spun on his heel and broke out into surprised laughter as Tank finally made an appearance. The little Pokemon was stumbling and tripping every other step, tottering to either side as the mass of silken threads that had encapsulated his body overbalanced his stride. Caterpies, weak as they were, produced infamously sticky threads, and apparently didn't appreciate their nest being barged in upon.

As covered in the silk as he was, Tank could have seamlessly blended in with a flock of Mareep.

Clipping Gastly's—or Shade's, as was the name written on the photograph—Pokeball onto his belt, Ash brought his pocketknife out and set to work sawing the distressed Aron free from his restraints.

They broke through the last fringes of Viridian Forest after another two days of hard travel.

Shade had proved to be just as invaluable as Tank—when he actually chose to follow Ash's directions. Apparently receiving the Pokemon's most precious items didn't mean Ash was yet respected as a leader. Perhaps Ash was used to being in control of a baby Pokemon like Tank, who had imprinted on him from hatching. Of course Tank would listen to Ash's orders; he was the only parental/friend figure he had really ever known.

But Shade had been trained by another person—maybe even more, if the Rocket grunt that had stolen him had bothered to give him any training. Techniques that Ash would never have thought of seemed to be commonplace strategies for the ghost type, like putting the target to sleep with Hypnosis and then terrifying the unconscious Pokemon into a frenzy with Night Shade.

Shade was also particularly vengeful towards flying types. Their access to moves like Gust made it difficult for him to hold his body together. When Ash had pitted him against a Pidgey in a battle, the ghost type had immediately used Curse, a move he had yet to unveil. At first, nothing happened except for Shade's gases growing marginally fainter. But a minute into the battle, the Pidgey seized up for no discernible reason and collapsed while Shade watched smugly.

His bloodthirst was slightly disturbing, driving home the fact that Ash knew next to nothing about controlling and training ghost-types. Fortunately, the Pokedex had access to an assortment of training books for sale, so Ash added a promising one—Raising Ghosts; Nature vs. Nurture—to his digital library.

Another problem he had encountered was that Tank seemed to hate Shade on sight. Ash had hoped that the young Pokemon would be able to let go of their less-than-stellar first meeting and accept Shade as a teammate, but apparently Tank could hold quite a grudge. Whenever Ash released them at the same time, Tank stuck close to Ash's side and raised the plates on his stomach in a threatening manner.

While Tank viewed Shade as his archenemy, Shade did not return the sentiment; instead, he regarded Tank with only cool amusement. Ash had caught the Gastly pulling silly, exaggerated faces in Tank's direction more than once already. The teasing, while doing no physical harm, seemed to insult Tank's already impressive pride.

Suffice to say, Ash had firmly talked Tank down from launching an angry and ineffective Mud-slap a few times already.

All of this to say, Ash was very exhausted and operating on a short fuse when their feet finally struck against actual paved roads once again. He was certain the smell of woodsmoke from his campfires had ingrained itself into his clothes, and he was looking forward to an actual hot meal at a PokeCenter.

As they walked the short road (three and a half miles) that fed into Pewter from Viridian Forest, Ash began reviewing his strategies for Pewter City Gym once again. Tank had a type advantage over Pokemon like Geodude and Graveler… except he currently knew no Steel-type moves. According to the Pokedex, Aron could learn Metal Claw at a young age, but the fact remained that Tank was still under a year old. Hopefully Ash would somehow teach it to him before they challenged Brock.

Shade, on the other hand, had access to a godsend combination: Hypnosis and Night Shade. If Tank couldn't learn Metal Claw in time, Ash decided he would use the Gastly to fight instead. Lick could also prove useful. The move worked by the ghost Pokemon delivering a shock of otherworldly energies straight to the victim's nervous systems, administering a mild toxin as well as potentially leaving the Pokemon paralyzed.

Dusk began to set in as the surrounding geography became increasingly rugged and mountainous. Fields of half-buried boulders studied the sloping landscape. Ash eyed them speculatively. He was aware that Geodude often concealed themselves into the earth as rocks. Since Brock used one on his team, it would be good practice to fight some of the wild ones and perfect his strategies.

Shade grew perkier as the sun went down. Like Tank, his white eyes glowed brightly in the darkness. His gaseous body blended faultlessly with the shadows until it seemed that a floating face was drifting along behind Ash. Occasionally the ghost Pokemon laughed softly to himself. The first few times, the scraping sound sent a chill skittering up Ash's back, but soon enough his subconscious designated it as another one of his friends' distinctive noises, like Tank's grumbly purr.

Exhaustion made itself known in the cramps in his thighs and calves and by the ache in his feet. Strategizing could wait until tomorrow, he decided as the first twinkling lights of Pewter emerged over the crest of a hill and he began the walk to the distant red roof of the PokeCenter.

Ash was so tired that he could barely remember registering himself at the PokeCenter for the next three days when he woke up the following morning. Tank was sleeping by the side of his bed, as usual, but Shade was nowhere to be found. Ash wondered if he should be worried, then decided that Shade had probably found a shadowy spot to lurk in in order to avoid the strong shaft of sunlight piercing the curtains. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. The wooden flooring was cold under his bare feet.

He yawned, stretching, and—

—something icy and cold rolled over his ankles, disturbingly akin to the feeling of slimy flesh. Ash shrieked and scrambled backwards on the bed, his heartbeat a jackhammer pace in his throat. The commotion knocked Tank right out of his deep sleep and he leapt up, a half-charged Mud-slap forming sloppily in his jaws.

Delighted cackling echoed from under the bed and Ash's fright melted into acute embarrassment. Shade slithered out from underneath the box spring a moment later, sporting a grin so wide that it curved like a crescent moon nearly right off his spherical body.

His embarrassment quickly turned to anger, and Ash opened his mouth, a dozen furious shouts ready—but then he noticed the piercingly watchful gleam in the Pokemon's eyes as he silently awaited Ash's reaction. Suddenly Ash was reminded of a scene from his childhood; taking a cookie and stuffing it into his mouth despite his mother warning him not to. He had wanted to see if he could get away with it without being punished or how severely his mother would punish him at all.

In all likelihood, Shade had been stolen from his original trainer and then probably abused by whatever Rocket grunt had him after. Though he didn't like his methods, Ash couldn't really blame the Gastly for testing the waters and working out what merited a punishment versus what didn't.

Fortunately for Shade, Ash was neither abusive nor a Rocket Grunt.

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Find out what happens in the next chapter as the journey continues!