Born of Sacred Fire

Chapter 8

Nine years ago

Back in Pallet Town, Gary was hanging out with his grandfather and his sister. With them were Erika, her parents, Ash, and his Mom. They heard that Lance was coming with Andrew. Delia was worried that David wasn't with them. Delia was worried as she wondered, 'What could've happened?'

Ash was worried too as Erika had that bad feeling. Gary kept quiet as did Daisy-Mae, they were all worried. The only ones not present were Silver and his mother. Coming over the horizon were Lance and Andrew, looking horrible. Delia knew something was wrong, everyone did. Lance looked at Andrew as he went over to Delia.

Andrew sighed sadly as he stated, "Delia, David has been killed and Raichu has been kidnapped."

Delia immediately started to cry as Andrew held her in a hug. Everyone started to cry all but Ash. The boy was in too much shock. Erika looked over at him and saw that he wasn't crying and was in shock. She knew how he felt since she lost her brother last year.

Erika breathed, "Ash..."

Ash looked at her with sad eyes as tears finally came down.

Ash cried, "I can't believe it...Dad's dead...he's gone..."

Delia scooped up her son and the young boy cried on her shoulder, not even looking at either Lance or Andrew. Both Lance and Andrew started to feel really badly as Delia took her son home, crying herself.

Erika tried to go after them, to help but Gary stopped her and shook his head. Erika looked sadly on as the two remaining Ketchum's went into their house. Andrew turned to his father and handed him a Pokeball with a lightning bolt on it. Professor Oak looked at it and then at his son.

Andrew stated, "We found that Pokeball in David's possession. Inside is a Pikachu, the son of David's Raichu. However, it doesn't like humans. Ash isn't ready for it yet but I know he will be soon, Dad."

Oak studied the Pokeball. Remembering the story that Ash told him when he traveled through time with Celebi, he was indeed the one that gave Ash Pikachu. He just didn't know how he caught it. Oak hung his head in sadness as he thought, 'Sadly, now I do.'

Erika and Gary weren't exactly paying attention since they had walked off before Andrew gave his dad the Pokeball.

Erika whispered, "I still can't believe that this is happening."

Gary whispered, "Me either."

Lance came over to them and asked, "Hey, are you two alright?"

The nine year old girl hissed, "You just told my best friend that his father is dead, what do you think?!"

Gary hugged her shoulders and advised, "Take it easy, Erika."

Lance saw this as he asked, "And you are...?"

He explained, "I'm Gary Oak and this is Erika Jones."

Lance nodded as he stated, "Well, you see, when David took off for Vermillion City with Andrew, we didn't record his victory. Therefore, he is not the Pokémon Master. He was just a challenger to the Elite Four."

Erika and Gary looked at the Dragon type trainer in disbelief as they knew how much the title meant to Delia and Ash.

Erika hissed, "How could you?!"

With that, she ran off, crying her eyes out.

...

Present Day, Pastoria City

As Ash, Misty, Brock, Erika, Dawn, and Ranee were waiting for the report on Raichu; the more Ash was reliving his childhood. Misty was worried about Ash, she couldn't believe that Raichu could belong to Ash's father.