Destiny Rebirth

Saving Private Riolu

Man, where is Pikachu? Ash thought as he examined, from behind a crate, into the darkened hull of the freighter.

The freighter was currently on the route for the Orange Islands. Ash and Pikachu had snuck on board, the day before, with the rest of Ash's Pokémon, who were in their Pokéballs, in his backpack, after stealing them back from Professor Oak's laboratory, last week. They stayed hidden from the workers on board but had to keep on their toes. They were currently finding a crate, in which they could sneak into and lay low, for the rest of the trip.

Ash looked back into the darkened cargo hull, before peering back to find Pikachu scurrying to his feet. He knelt down and scratched the electric type, behind its ears. "Hey bud, that took a while. What did you find? Are we in the clear?"

Pikachu gave a nod before turning back and quietly dashing to a crate that was in the corner of the space. Ash moved quietly through the shadows as he approached the container. He took out a crowbar, which was hidden away in his backpack. He put it under the lip of the wooden crate and slowly began to apply pressure downwards. The lid began to come up, with a slow creak. Ash gasped, as he heard voices, from across the hull, beginning to make their way toward his position. He quickly grabbed Pikachu and jumped into the crate, closing it before a flashlight hit his position. He breathed a sigh of relief, as he noticed the crate was empty. He began to hear voices, outside the crate and became curious. He leaned into the wall, with one ear, to listen more closely.

"You sure you heard a noise from over here?" Ash could hear a crotchety voice say from the outside.

"Yeah. I'm positive!" a younger voice responded. "We should at least check the package, right? You know, to make sure that it's still in there."

"Alright, but I'm telling you that it hasn't moved," the first voice said as the distinctive noise, of a crate being opened, could be heard. "You see? The package isn't going anywhere any time soon." Ash heard a slap of the crate, as he heard footsteps moving away, down the room.

I wonder what's in that package. Why are they so worried about it?

Ash was snapped out of his thoughts, as he felt Pikachu nuzzling his hand. "Pika pi Pikapi?" he asked Ash with hopeful eyes.

"Huh. . . . Oh yeah. Let's get you some food. You're probably hungry. Well, this is all I got for us, right now," Ash said as he pulled out a few berries that he had managed to pick from the forests, outside of the port city that they had been in, before finding their way onto the ship.

After eating a few of the berries, the duo laid down to rest for the night. Ash was curled up with Pikachu, nuzzling his cheeks. Ash had a hard time falling asleep, as something was pulling at him, but he couldn't figure out why or what it was. Why am I feeling like this? Something is calling to me, but what? The thoughts ran through his mind, before the exhaustion of the paranoia that he felt, in the last two days, finally overtook him and drifted into sleep.

Ash woke to sounds of whimpering. He slowly opened his eyes, to take in his surroundings. After regaining his senses, he noticed the commotion, coming from outside the crate.

"Listen here, you little mutt!" Ash heard the gruff voice, from the previous night, say, "You're going to eat this and you're going to like it!" The command was followed by the sound of a bowl, hitting the crate, and a yelp, belonging to whatever was inside that wooden box.

"Hey, be careful!" the same younger voice said. "The boss said that we need to take care of this one."

"Now, you listen to me!" the first voice stated. "Whoever paid us to capture this Pokémon, will still pay good money, no matter if there are a few scratches and bruises on it. Besides, this little beast needs to be taught some manners." A sudden sound of slap could be heard ringing through the hull of the ship. "Come on, let's get out of this shit hole."