Late

Chapter 1: the beginning

Bold is pokespeech

Italics is telepathy and emphasis

~Sonic's World, after the events of Sonic X~

"I'm so glad I made it on time" a red ecidna, named Knuckles, sighed as he reached for the doorknob but froze when he heard a voice.

"Where is Knuckles!" The pink hedgehog know as Amy snarled, angry.

"Apparently he's late even for his own birthday party" The blue hedgehod, called Sonic, shrugged.

"I wish he would just hurry, it's not nice to be late" the bunny called Cream stated, her friend Cheese nodding in agreement.

"I hate to say it but I agree" a theif by the name of Rouge stated.

"You should cut him some slack, he probably had something important to deal with" Shadow, a clone of Sonic created by Eggman turned good, stated.

"He's so selfish and self centered, though!" Amy argued.

"It's his way or the high way!" Sonic added.

"Mmhmm!" Cream and Cheese argeed.

"Sonic? Why? I thought you of all people would be a better judge of character!" The two tailed yellow fox cried.

"I thought so too, Tails. C'mon let's get out of here. I think it would be a better idea to not hang around people that would bad mouth their friend" Shadow stated and Tails seemed to agree as they opened the door to reveal Knuckles with tears in his eyes. He ran off and into a cavern, furiously wiping the tears from his eyes. He didn't realize he went through a portal until it was too late. He wouldn't realize till later that Tails and Shadow followed him there.

~Pokèworld~

"You mean there is no more pokemon?" Ash asked the old professor.

"No, this boy named Yellow took the only extra I had" Professor Oak admitted and Ash didn't say a word as he held the empty pokeball of the pokemon he had wanted most, bulbasaur. He shouldn't have been late, it was his own fault he knew. He shouldn't have stayed up late watching TV. He was just staring blankly at the sky after he got home. He should've been more prepared, more ready. Maybe waiting an extra year would be good for him.

"Why are still here Ashy-boy?" Gary asked the ravenette.

"I didn't get a pokemon, there were none left" Ash mumbled and Gary froze. He didn't want to prove to be the better trainer this way! He couldn't! You see Gary was always been beaten by Ash in everything, besides facts, when it came to pokemon. Sure he beat him in every other area but that didn't mean he was the best pokemon trainer! He wanted to prove that he was once and for all! That couldn't happen if Ash was here for a year, so...

"I was planning on staying here for a year anyway so that makes it better! Now you won't get a head start on me!" Gary lied, easily. Ash smiled, he wouldn't be alone at least. Gary walked off and when he was gone the red ecidna burst through the bushes, glaring at a growlithe that attacked him. Behind the growlithe was a man dresses in a white suit with the letter R on it. Ash jumped to his feet just as the growlithe launched a flamethrower at the ecidna. Ash positioned himself in front of the flamethrower and got hit by it, his clothes taking the brunt of the attack. He still got minor burns on his back for his troubles. That's when sirens went off and the man cursed his luck and ran off, calling back his pokemon.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked the ecidna that was looking at him in  wonder.

"I-I'm fine, you're the one I should be worried about. You got hurt, right?" The ecidna stated, staring worriedly at the raven haired boy in front of him.

"Y-you can talk? I never met a talking pokemon before. Come to think of it I never saw a pokemon like you before. What are you?" Ash asked.

"I guess you could say I'm from another world, my names Knuckles" the ecidna stated and Ash smiled, his vision blurring as nurse Joy raced toward him. She looked frantic as she saw his burns. Knuckles wouldn't leave Ash's side after that. Professor Oak explained to the ecidna what pokemon where, after he pointed the pokedex at him in wonder. It turns out he was a fire, fighting type pokemon now. He only knew three moves, dig, close combat, and mach punch. Professor Oak showed what moves he could learn and asked if he would like to be Ash's pokemon. Seeing as his world was perfectly safe with Sonic, no matter how much he wanted to deny it. He gave a diffident yes as his answer. When Ash awoke it was decided to take the year and train Knuckles while also learning about pokemon. At the same time Knuckles started teaching Ash how to understand pokemon, since Knuckles found he could tell the difference between English and pokespeech, which Ash got surprisingly easily. What he didn't know was that his aura helped him. During that time they met Chara, Frisk, and Asriel and added the three of them to their team. It turned out Chara was very over protective of those he cares for and how Ash got his trust was by saving his life. He was falling off a cliff and Ash dived after him, grabbing the odd chimchar in his arms and turning around so he took the brunt of the fall. If it weren't for the legendary pokemon Ho-oh saving them Ash would be dead. Of course Ho-oh took off after that but the fact remains that Chara became as over protective of Ash as his other pokemon. This was not helped by the fact that Chara hated pokeballs just like Knuckles. The other two didn't seem to mind it though. Ash also decided to leave Chara's and Knuckles pokeballs with the professor when they left so he would have more room before he had to start rotating pokemon. He was heading into the forest ready to leave pallet town right now. He was wearing his new clothes, a blood red tank top, a white long sleeve hooded zipper jacket with grey drawstrings left open, blue jeans, red sneakers with an image of Knuckles fist sewn in by his mother, and white fingerless gloves.

"Take that!" A squeaky voice shouted and a flash of lighting floodef the area. This caused our heroes to rush towards it.

What was that lighting? Better yet who caused it? What's in store for our heroes? And will Shadow and Tails ever catch up to them? Tune in next time to find out!