Chapter Text
‘Something isn’t right.’
Ash remembered thinking that as he stood in the makeshift arena all the young trainers of Pallet Town used to battle their Pokémon. At first glance, everything seemed just fine; it was a nice sunny day with a clear sky. A gentle breeze rustled the tree branches where Pidgeys and Spearows were resting. There were no signs of rogue Pokémon or even Team Rocket about. Everything was fine.
But still, Ash couldn’t shake this uneasy feeling that had settled in his gut. He tugged on his gloves anxiously, lost in thought until a familiar voice grated on his ears.
“What’s wrong, Ashy-boy? Are you scared?” Gary sneered from the other side of the arena, his partner Eevee sitting at his feet. Right- they were about to have a battle. Ash shook his head, straightening his cap. “I’m not scared, especially not of you! Just.. distracted, that’s all” Ash said as he watched Pikachu from where he sat on his shoulders. His partner Pokémon looked just as unsettled as he was, ears straight up and the fur along his back bristling slightly. He looked at Ash with a small “Chu..”, looking worried.
“Don’t worry Pikachu, once we win this battle, we can head back home” Ash scratched under his buddy’s chin before letting him hop off his shoulders. Pikachu glanced back at his trainer one more time before getting into a battle stance, electricity crackling in his pelt.
The young Pokémon trainer took a grounding breath before swiftly flipping his cap backwards, spiky black hair jutting out from the hole in the back. “Alright Gary, prepare to lose! Pikachu, I choose y-!”
His words were drowned out by a loud gust of wind from right behind him. It flung his hat off his head and into the middle of the arena, but soon the cap started slowly moving back towards him. “What in the..” Ash’s words trailed off as he turned around and saw the source of the gust.
It was… well, he assumed it was a portal of some kind. It looked like a tear in the space right in front of him, green mist surrounding the gash. Ash could feel the almost overwhelming suction power it had, his vest flapping from the force. He didn’t know of any Pokémon that could make something like THIS- though he didn’t really have time to ponder that before hands grabbed the back on his vest and tugged him backwards, making him trip over his shoes in the process.
“Are you dense?! Quit staring and get away from that thing!” Gary snapped at Ash as he held onto his arm, Eevee trembling from their spot on his head. “Eevee! Vee vee!”
The portal’s power seemed to be getting stronger, Ash’s cap skipping across the dirt as it was pulled in closer. He tried to use his foot to stop it, but it flew by too fast. Just then, he saw a streak of yellow lunge at the cap. Ash cried out in panic as he saw Pikachu clutch the hat, his lightning bolt shaped tail planted into the soil to try and keep him from getting pulled in.
“Pikachu!” Ash fought to escape Gary’s grasp, but his rival seemed determined to keep him from being sucked in. After failing to squirm his way out, Ash panted and looked over his shoulder at Gary.
“Forgive me for this”
“What do you-”
In that instant, Ash slammed his elbow into the other boy’s chest. As soon as he felt the arms around him release, he scrambled after his beloved Pokémon. Skidding to a stop behind him, Ash tried tugging Pikachu out of the portal’s range, his sneakers leaving marks in the dirt as they were slowly pulled in. When Pikachu lost grip of the hat and tried to leap after it, it almost sent him tumbling into whatever was beyond the portal’s surface- Ash grabbed onto him as fast as he could, falling to his knees with a wince. His eyes stung from his hair constantly whipping into his face, but he still held on as best as he could. He was vaguely aware of someone, probably Gary, grabbing his ankles to keep him grounded, but it wasn’t enough. In a flash, Ash was pulled from his rival’s grip, Pikachu clutched close to his chest as the pair fell in and promptly warped from this plane. As soon as it had appeared, the portal closed, leaving Gary and Eevee alone in the arena.
Gary stared at the space where Ash and Pikachu had just been, too shocked to even do anything at first. After a minute or so, he blinked rapidly and backed up. Ash couldn’t just be gone, right? He had to be somewhere, maybe not in Kanto, but at least somewhere on their Earth. Gary dragged his hands over his face with a groan. This would be a pain in the ass to explain to Professor Oak.