literature

The Heart of Darkness Chapter Five

Deviation Actions

Ronin-neko's avatar
By
Published:
839 Views

Literature Text

Heart of Darkness
Chapter Five
Professor Oak frowned as he watched the news report on T.V about strange attack at the new museum that had just opened up in Pewter City over a week ago. That’s where Ash was headed. He thought. No one was quite sure what had happened, although one witness did report seeing a cloud of strange smoke swirling around one of the objects. The Pyramid King had suddenly left with his assistant after the incident and hadn’t been seen since. What could have happened? He was interrupted from his thoughts by Tracey’s startled yell. He turned off the T.V and headed outside to see what was going on. He barely had time to run out of the way when the herd of Ash’s thirty Tauros stampeded past him, followed closely by Bayleef, Donphan and Quilava. What on earth? Professor Oak thought.
“Professor Oak, are you okay?!” Tracey exclaimed as he ran up to the Professor.
“Y-yes…” Professor Oak stammered as he watched Bayleef and Quilava run alongside the Tauros in what seemed to be a frenzy. “But what is going on?”
Tracey frowned at him. “They aren’t the only ones acting up.” He said and motioned around the field. “All of Ash’s Pokémon are acting up.”
“Only Ash’s?” The Professor inquired.
Tracey nodded.  
Professor Oak watched the chaos unfold around him. Tracey was right. While the other Pokémon seemed dazed and upset by the commotion, it was only the Pokémon that specifically belonged to Ash that were to causing all of the trouble.
“Why do you think they’re acting this way?” Tracey asked.
“You know as well as I do that Pokémon can sense when something is wrong and Ash must be some kind of danger.” He answered.
“But this is Ash we’re talking about.” Tracey argued. “Trouble practically follows him wherever he goes!”
“That may be true Tracey,” Professor Oak said. “But there are some things that he cannot do by himself.”
“So you’re going to look for him.”
Professor Oak nodded. “I haven’t heard from him since he left to go to Pewter City. That attack and the strange behavior of his Pokémon must mean that something has happened to him.”
Tracey nodded and a look of determination appeared on his face. “Professor Oak, please let me come with you!” he exclaimed.
Professor Oak shook his head. “No Tracey. I need you to watch over my lab while I’m gone and I need you to go tell Delia what’s going on. She must be worried about Ash.”
Tracey looked disappointed, but there was also understanding in his eyes. “Alright Professor Oak, but please be careful.” He warned.
Professor Oak smiled at him, but it faded when Heracross rammed into Tracey without warning, knocking him off feet.
“Ow…” Tracey complained as Heracross continued to fly across the field, oblivious to the damage that it had just caused to its human victim.
“Perhaps I should be worried about you.” Professor Oak said as he helped the Pokémon Watcher to his feet.
Tracey groaned and trudged out of the lab to walk to Ash’s house.

Pyramid King Brandon, Samuel and Pikachu had returned to the Battle Pyramid to recuperate for now. Samuel had gone to the storage area to retrieve Pokémon food for Pikachu while Brandon poured over his notes to see if he had missed anything about the Pokélantis ruins. That left Pikachu to ponder its thoughts alone. It hated the idea that its best friend, its Trainer was under the control of an evil king and there was nothing it could do about it right now.
“Pikachu, I brought you some food.” Pikachu looked up to see Samuel offering a bowl of Pokémon food. It frowned and turned away.
“Pikachu, you have to eat.” Samuel said and put the bowl of food on the floor in front of it. “You’ll want to be at full strength so that we can get Ash back, right?”
Pikachu continued to ignore him. Samuel sighed and left the room. One he was gone, Pikachu looked down at its food. Pikapi… it thought.  

Ash awoke from his unconscious state gasping for air. The air around him had suddenly become chilling and he felt as if he could barely breathe. The darkness, however, had not receded. What is this place? He thought. He heard a chuckle somewhere off in the distance.
“Who’s there?” he demanded in a hoarse voice.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” a deep voice mocked him.
“What… are you talking about?” Ash asked. It was hard to talk because of the pressure on his chest.
“It doesn’t matter. It won’t be long before you will be devoured by the darkness.”
“Hey--!” Ash began to yell, but he didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence before he felt something wrap around his neck, cutting off his breath. He wildly swung his fists, but all he hit was the air. The last thing he heard was that dark chuckle before he once again drifted off into unconsciousness.

Tracey hesitated as he reached up to knock on the door of the Ketchum residence. What am I going to tell her? He thought nervously. His hand trembled as he began to reach for the door, but he was startled when the door suddenly opened.
“Oh Tracey, I wasn’t expecting you.” Delia looked perplexed by her guest.
“H-Hi Mrs. Ketchum.” Tracey stammered.
Delia then frowned. “Have you heard from Ash? He went to Pewter City two days ago and I haven’t heard from him since.”
“W-well…” Tracey still had no idea what to say especially since he wasn’t entirely sure what was going on himself.
Delia sighed in frustration and moved away from the door. “Please come in.” she said.
Tracey obeyed and stepped inside. “Uh… umm…” he continued to stutter.
“You don’t know where he is, do you?” She said.
Tracey shook his head. “His Pokémon have been acting strangely. We wonder if there some kind of connection.” He said.
“Oh Ash…” Delia said and a look of worry appeared on her face.
Tracey put his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t worry Delia!” he exclaimed. “Professor Oak is on his way to Pewter City right now. He’ll find out what happened to Ash and bring him home!”
Delia nodded. I hope you’re right Tracey… she thought.

Professor Oak looked down at the forest that the helicopter was currently flying over. His thoughts were racing, but thankfully the helicopter was only a few minutes away from Pewter City and he hoped that all of his questions would be soon answered. What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into boy? He thought. He felt the anxiety begin to set in as Pewter City came into view.
“Do you know where the new museum that just opened is?” he asked the pilot.
“Ah, the one about some ancient city called Pokélantis.” The pilot answered. “I heard that Pyramid King Brandon became obsessed with those ruins before he agreed to open that museum.”
“Do you know why?” Professor Oak asked.
“Not a clue.”
There had to be a reason. Professor Oak had heard the legend of Pokélantis before while studying the lore of the Kanto region, but the legend had been particularly difficult to study because no trace of the city had ever been found until Brandon’s recent discovery. Then he began to wonder if Ash’s sudden disappearance was somehow connected. Brandon had contacted Ash to come to Pewter City and suddenly he was gone.
“Can you drop me off in front of the museum?” Professor Oak asked.
“Sure thing.” The pilot answered. He carefully navigated the helicopter to land in front of the museum and Professor Oak stepped out. The media swarmed around him and began to bombard him with questions.
“Professor Oak, are you aware of the attack that just took place here at the museum?” one of the reporters inquired.
“Attack?” Professor Oak asked.
Another reporter holding a small camcorder walked up to him. She took a moment to rewind the tape and pause it and then held the small screen up to him before pressing the play button. Professor Oak’s confusion turned to horror as he watched the cloud of darkness come forth from the stone orb and take control of Ash. The reporter paused the tape and held up a small microphone for him to speak into.
“What do you make of these events?” she asked.
“I...I…” he stammered as he tried to collect his thoughts. What on earth has happened to Ash?! He thought. “I must find Pyramid King Brandon!” he exclaimed before he took off running, leaving confused reporters in his wake.
He felt as if he were running in slow motion as he ran towards the Battle Pyramid. Pyramid King Brandon and Samuel looked up at him in surprise when he suddenly burst into the office.
“What happened to Ash?!” he exclaimed.
“Pi Pi Ka Chu!” Pikachu exclaimed and ran up to Professor Oak.
“Pikachu?” Professor Oak looked down at him in confusion. Ash would never leave him behind. He thought.
“It is nice to see you again Professor Oak.” Samuel said.
Professor Oak nodded, but said nothing and waited. Brandon opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a stone orb that vaguely resembled a Pokéball. Strange markings adorned the side of it and in the center was a black jewel.
“Are you familiar with the legends of Pokélantis?” he asked.
Professor Oak nodded. “The King of Pokélantis was said to have sealed away Ho-oh in revenge for destroying his city after he had asked it to help him conquer the world.” His eyes were drawn to the orb on the table.
“Unfortunately, that’s not what happened.” Samuel said.
Professor Oak looked over at him in surprise and then turned to Brandon. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“The King of Pokélantis failed to capture Ho-oh.” Brandon answered. “So he instead imprisoned his own soul in the stone orb so that he could one day have his revenge against Ho-oh.”
Professor Oak was silent for a moment as the information sunk in. Then he scratched his head in confusion. “But that still doesn’t explain how Ash is involved in this.” He said.
“When Ash came to challenge Brandon for the Brave Symbol, he and his friends fell into the ruins that Brandon and I were studying. It was in those ruins that he discovered the orb containing the King’s spirit and it took control of him.” Samuel answered. “Brandon had to battle him in order to seal the spirit away again.”
“So that’s why Ash had to challenge you again.” Professor Oak muttered. He looked down at the orb with a feeling of unease in his gut. “And it sounds as though the King has taken control of Ash once again.”
“Pi Pikachu…” Pikachu answered.  
Brandon nodded with a grim look on his face. “Yes. The King of Pokélantis has taken over Ash’s body once again. I’m sure he intends to finish what he started all those years ago.”
“We have to stop him!” Professor Oak exclaimed.
“Right now, the only Pokémon that could stand up to his power is Ho-oh.” Samuel said. “We’re trying to locate it right now.”
Ho-oh… Professor Oak thought. “If Ho-oh and the King of Pokélantis fought each other all those years ago, perhaps it will sense that he has returned and come back to stop him.” He suggested.
Brandon and Samuel frowned. “We don’t know that.” Samuel said. “We have to figure out how to stop him without Ho-oh because we don’t know if it will show up.”
Professor Oak sighed and turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” Brandon demanded.
“I want to see this King with my own eyes.” Professor Oak answered as he walked out of the room.
“Professor Oak wait!” Samuel began to yell, but Brandon stopped him.
“Let him go.” He said. Foolish man. He thought.

“You two are idiots! How could you let the plan fail again!” Jessie screeched at James and Meowth who had finally regained consciousness after their latest blastoff.
“You know… that was your plan in the first place…” James muttered, but dared not let his voice be above a whisper in fear of his team mate’s wrath.
Meowth pulled out the wallet and opened it to find it full of nothing but dust once again. “Da Boss ain’t gonna be happy about this…” he grumbled.
All three Team Rocket members’ stomachs let out a grumble at the same time and they sighed. “And on top of dat, we’re outta food…” Meowth complained.
Jessie let out a cry of frustration. “We are Team Rocket and starvation is not going to stop us from stealing some Pokémon!” she declared.
The wind picked up again and rain became to fall from the sky. The trio shivered.
“Yeah… but this storm might...” Meowth commented.
James began to look around for somewhere to escape the storm when he spotted some ruins. “We can hide in there.” He said.
The trio scrambled into the ruins, but they quickly were overcome with confusion when they spotted the familiar carvings. “Hey, haven’t we been here before?” James asked.
“This is that Pokélantis place where Ho-oh was supposed to be!” Jessie exclaimed.
“We should look for it!” Meowth said. “Then we can give it to da Boss and finally get a promotion!”
“Yeah!” all three members exclaimed and hastily ran down the hall. They stopped when they came face to face with a strange door that was adorned with elegant markings.
“What are we supposed to do now?” Meowth asked.
Jessie ran up to the door and began to pound on it. “Open up now!” she yelled, but nothing happened.
James and Meowth stared at her in disbelief. “Did ya really think that ‘open sesame’ would do the trick?” Meowth asked sarcastically, which earned him a slap across the face.
I don’t see you trying anything!” Jessie yelled back.
Jessie and Meowth glared at each other while James took a look around the room. He spotted a stone panel that looked oddly out of place and walked over to it. “What’s this?” he commented and lifted the panel.  
There was some kind of stone button sticking out of the wall. “What did you find?” Jessie asked and she and Meowth walked over to him.
James shrugged and pushed the button, but nothing happened. Then he tried pulling on it and the wall suddenly moved, revealing a room on the other side.
“Alright Jimmy!” Meowth cheered, but he and Jessie remained standing where they were.
“So… uh… who’s going first?” Jessie asked.
Both she and Meowth looked at James who yelped in fright. “No way!” he exclaimed.
“Don’t worry Jimmy boy! We’ll be right behind you!” Meowth said and James was pushed behind the door into the dark hallway.
He was trembling as he dug into his pocket for a flashlight and turned it on, flooding the hallway with light. He felt Jessie and Meowth grab onto his uniform as he led them down the hallway. The dark hallway finally ended and they found themselves in a room with a statue depicting an old king.
“Where are we?” Jessie asked.
“I’m not sure if I should call you brave or foolish for entering my tomb.” A cold voice said.
The trio jumped back in surprise, but they were in even more shock when they saw who was standing in front of them.
“The twerp?”

~End Chapter Five~
Ash is always portrayed traveling as having human companions with him (Misty, Brock, etc). This story is supposed to take place shortly after he returns from the Sinnoh region (a sort of AU), which is why Pikachu is the only one with him.

Pokemon and its characters are copyrighted to Satoshi Tajiri and Nintendo. I only own the plot of this story.
© 2015 - 2024 Ronin-neko
Comments0
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In