The hoodlum paused for a moment, relishing the terrified look on Ash's face, then lunged with his knife. Had he been a second faster, he would have gutted Ash like a tuna. As it was, he was flung across the alley by a jolt of electricity. Pikachu struggled to its feet, eyes blazing, daring him to try again.
"I don't know what you did, you little punk," the man said angrily. "But nobody blindsides me and lives." He lunged again, and was instantly engulfed in a miniature lightning storm. He collapsed to the ground, the knife slipping from his fingers. Ash picked it up, looked at it for a moment, and then threw it as far away as he could.
He was aware of movement behind him, and when he turned around, he realized that the news was not good. There were several more men similar to the one Pikachu had just downed. They all had weapons, mostly knives and baseball bats, but a couple of them had guns. They were all coming toward him.
The one in front, wearing a long black coat and bald as a cueball, grinned viciously. "Should have held on to the pigsticker, kid."
Ash felt for his Poké balls. He only had three Pokémon with him: Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Charizard. Pikachu and Bulbasaur were not strong enough to take on all of them. So it had to be...
"Charizard, go!" Ash cried, thumbing down the ball's Release button. In a flash of pink-red light, Charizard materialized in front of him. Fire flared from its mouth. The thugs fell back, horrified. Many of them dropped their weapons.
"Charizard, chase them out of here!" Ash ordered. Charizard ignored him. It lay down and resumed its nap.
Seeing that the thing they had just seen was not going to attack, a few of the attackers grinned and picked up their weapons. They started around Charizard, toward Ash and Pikachu.
Understandably, Ash burst into tears. "Noooo," he quavered. "Please, Charizard. I'm begging you! They're going to kill me. Please help me."
Charizard looked at Ash, then at the oncoming men. It remembered a time, some months back, when Ash had helped carry it through the storm, keeping his coat draped over its tail to keep it from going out. Charizard did not respect Ash all that much, but it had not forgotten what he had done for it.
Ash stared, wide-eyed, tears still glistening on his cheeks, as Charizard rose and exhaled a mighty blast of fire directly at the gang. Those in front were turned into instant charcoal. Those in the rear ran for their lives, many of them trailing flames behind them and only dared to stop drop and roll when they were far away.
Suddenly, Ash heard the cound of police sirens. He almost stood by and waited to be rescued, then he saw the bodies, still burning. He had sicked his Charizard on those people, and now some of them were dead. More by instinct than anything else, he ran to Charizard. "Please! Get us out of here," he begged.
For a moment he thought that his Pokémon would refuse, but then it bent down, allowing him to climb on. Pikachu jumped on in front of him, and then Charizard flapped its powerful wings and rose into the air.
Several police officers entered the alley, their guns drawn. One of them was a woman, but unlike the Officer Jennies Ash had seen, she wore pants, just like the men. Upon seeing Ash and Charizard, they fell back, saying words that no Officer Jenny would never have even considered uttering. Jenny was trained to be a positive role model, after all.
Ash steeled himself for the hail of bullets that would end his life and Charizard's, but it never came. Charizard flapped its wings, and they soared into the night. Ash chanced a look down. All of the cops were staring, their guns pointed at the ground and their eyes bulging from their heads.
Ash took out Dexter. He knew that it didn't actually have a map, but it could determine how far he was from Oak's lab, right down to the bearest centimeter. It had to know, so that it could transport them there and back. He pressed the right keys.
"Pokémon lab out of range," Dexter replied placidly. "Location unknown."
"What is your range?" Ash asked. The answer immediately appeared on the screen: POKÉDEX MAXIMUM RANGE: 4.7 light-seconds = 1,410,000 std. kilometers.
"But that's bigger than the world is!" Ash protested. "How could we be so far away?"
"Given recent teleportation, we may have been transported to an alternate world," Dexter replied placidly. "Bringing Aberrant Teleportation Database on-line."
"Then that means there will be lots of new Pokémon to catch," Ash said excitedly. He was already imagining Gary turning green with envy upon seeing his new alien Pokémon.
Dexter burst his bubble. "Negative," it replied. "Other than three of the five Pokémon you were carrying, there are no Pokémon within 250 standard kilometers of this location."
"No Pokémon anywhere?" Ash was amazed.
"Negative."
"What does that mean?" Ash asked the machine.
"Unknown. Given the human population density of this area, it is likely that there are no Pokémon in this world. Locals may be frightened if they see yours."
Ash nodded. That made sense. "Charizard. Can you land us on top of one of those buildings? One with no people on it?"
Charizard slowly glided toward one of the tallest structures, lighting in the exact center of it. Ash thanked Charizard and hugged it before recalling it to its Poké ball. Now there was only one more thing he had to do. He knelt in front of Pikachu.
Pikachu looked miserable. It knew what he was going to ask, and it knew that it had to comply, both for Ash's sake and for its own. Ash hugged his beloved mouse Pokémon, then gave the command and placed the Poké ball on the graveled roof. Pikachu pressed the Return button with its tail, and vanished.
Ash clipped the ball to his belt along with the others. He was turning toward the door when it shot open, and a guard in a gray uniform emerged. "Hey! Kid! How'd you get up here?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Ash responded. "How'd you know I was here?"
"You tripped a silent alarm." The guard sheathed his nightstick and beckoned to Ash. "Come on, kid. The police are on their way. You can tell them what you were doing."
© Oddish c.2000
