Disclaimer: I don’t own at all.

AN: This takes place years after the anime. And if you want me to continue this story read the authors notes at the end.

*Pant…….pant……….pant.*

The sounds of struggled breathing and running footsteps are heard.

Eyes darting all over in urgency as though a life depends on it …………………….and it does.

The footsteps stop and a man is seen in torn, bloodied clothing leaning on a tree with his right hand, gasping for air while crouching to keep relatively low. His amber brown eyes are worried as he looks around frantically as though searching for something. He is restless, but after listening to the silence around him and taking a few deep breaths he begins to remember what it is like to feel calm.

“I lost it,” he said as though it was the greatest words that passed out his mouth. His body relaxed and he took in a deep breath while his head turned to the heavens despite closed eyes. There was nothing now. Not a sound was heard. Just the peaceful rustling of leaves as the wind stirred them from their graves upon the surface of the forest floor. All is silent………………………………..until

“GGGGROOOOOAAAR!!!!!”

The man jumps suddenly out of his peaceful reverie as he hears the deafening roar.

He quickly looks up and sees a large figure in the sky through tiny spaces in the trees flying over him. The man quickly leans his back against the tree while stooping down so it would obstruct the field of vision between him and the figure. He breathes hard as well as the little mouse on his shoulder. Everything in the forest blows violently as an aftermath of the fly by. As his breathing regulates a bit he hears the wings of the beast flapping then a strange sound. It sounded a lot like hissing. SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS……………………….BOOOM!!! A sort of explosion. He jumps at the loud sound but looks behind the tree anyway. A short distance away he sees trees on fire. Some on the ground some still standing but at the rate they were burning a large portion of the area would soon be gone.

The man stood up while leaning against the tree still. “There is no use hiding Pikachu. It knows we are here and it will keep sending out its flames until we are roast.”

The pokemon stares ahead just like its master. It lets out a deep sigh and then exclaims a determined ‘Pika!’.

The master looks at the pokemon as though it was not his. “Are you crazy?” the man says in a calm and level tone which made it funnier. “Even though we are only a little off the castle we still have to enter the sparsely populated part of the forest. You know? That area right in front of us with no trees in which if we step in we become easy barbeque targets?!?!” the man says while watching his pokemon out of the corner of his eye and shaking his head up and down as though to remind the pokemon.

Pikachu just closed its eyes and squealed, “PIKA!” very happily. The man now exasperated by his attempts to talk sense into the mouse let out a groan while throwing his arms in the air and down again. SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS…..BOOM!!!

The master shielded his eyes with his left forearm from the debris of the exploding trees.

“Damn it! I guess we have no other choice!” and with that Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and ran with his master right on his tail. They sprinted along the path while every so often the trees they passed would burst into flames. The darkness because of the density of the trees was fading. It seemed to be brighter in the direction they were running.

“Here we go pal!” the human shouted to his companion. The trees seemed to be in a canopy one second and then one footstep later it was gone. They ran in to a path with little trees for cover and they did not go unnoticed. GRRRUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!

“Shit! I can actually feel the heat from him!”

As they ran, the figure entered the Sparse area. It was a huge, black, scaly, fire breathing dragon! With claws two feet long and very thick. Its fangs showing out its mouth which was covered with a slimy green ooze that looked like drool. The dragon itself was thick and looked like he could destroy a city in minutes.

The pair ran, zig zagging through to the spread out tress while dodging many attempts of flamethrowers from the beast.

“There it is! The castle!” the master shouted, not slowing down a bit.

A huge castle that looked like it came out of a Robin Hood story came into sights.

“We’re almost done Pikachu! Just a little way again and we-OHFFF!”

In full sprint the man tripped on a root barely sticking out the ground. Pikachu skidded to a stop and turned around to see its fallen trainer. “PIKA!!”

The pokemon shouted as it ran back to its master while the dragon sped past them.

“NO PIKACHU! GET AWAY!” The man shouted to the mouse. Despite the order the pokemon jumped in the air before his master.

The dragon circled and came right back to its original position (closer to the forest they just ran from) and hovered over the two. “PIKAAAAA CHUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!”

Pikachu let out his strongest thunder attack but to its dismay the dragon did not even flinch. The dragon snorted a few times as it got angry at Pikachu’s defiance. It rocked its head back and opened its jaws. It was coming. The flames that would end pokemon and master’s life in one shot. They could feel it already.

Just when the dragon’s head was coming back down something hit it in the side of the head. The dragon’s head jerked to the side and the extreme flames it produced were wasted on one solitary tree. The man and mouse looked to see what had attacked the dragon and to their delight they saw a loyal and powerful Charizard.

The man relieved and happy said, “Where there is one Charizard!” before looking up in the air. The view he saw was amazing. Charizards galore coming from the castle behind them to join the first one to battle the dragon. Some firing fire blasts and flamethrowers while some giving tackle and skull bash attacks.

The two got up and ran to the castle under the cover of the many Charizards. They ran until they met the draw bridge and as they passed it and through the front door into safety they collapsed onto the floor. They still heard the sound of the dragon in pain as well as the hissing of the flamethrowers. Pikachu laid back with its arms spread out and closed its eyes. The man who was sitting up and resting on his hand observed the small pokemon and did the same. They breathed hard and deep and were both glad to have a moments rest.

“Pant, pant, pant, I don’t, pant, pant, think pant I’ll b, pant, be going out, pant, soon.” He said while laying his head back on the ground.

“You don’t gotta choice,” a voice said. The man sat up quickly and spun his head around. He then sighed with a breath of relief. “You scared me Brock,” he stated while going back in his position with a more steady breathing pattern.

Brock laughed. “ME? Scare YOU?! Ha! That is a laugh.”

Brock walked in front of his friend to get a better look. His face turned from a light one to a serious and sort of puzzled one, “You better get cleaned up. You look like shit. And you smell like it too.”

Ash groaned as he sat up. “Well the reason I got that fella chasing me in the first place is because I stumbled into his lair. And you can guess from the smell what else I stumbled into while I was there.”

Brock laughed as hard as he could while wiping away his tears.

“Oh man. That is so funny. Ahahhahaha.”

Ash glared daggers at his long time companion because he thought nothing was funny about said incident.

Brock wiped his tears away while regaining a respectable posture and saying, “But more seriously now. The elders want to talk to you Ash. So you’d better get cleaned up quickly and stop lazing around.”

Ash’s eyes opened wide. “LAZING AROUND?!?! I JUST HAD TO OUT RUN A BLOODY DRAGON!!!!” he shouted. Brock just shrugged his shoulders with a smirk and walked off.

Ash took a few moments to just rest his already tired body before sighing.

“Oh well. Come on Pikachu.” He put his hands behind him slightly and used the support to get up. He stood up straight with slightly clenched hands at his side which moved in rhythm with his feet. Pikachu ran up his back and sat on his shoulder.

Ash was now getting a rest and they called him already. They probably saw him nearing the castle and gave the order to summon him. After all he had been through, couldn’t he get some peace.

*No………… I can’t.* he thought as he began to disappear deep into the dark torch lit halls. *There is no rest for the wicked.* and he was gone.

AN/: I am sure all of you are wondering what the hell are castles and dragons doing in this fic if it is after the anime. Everything will be explained in the next chapter by the elders.

Also lukos told me only one person reviewed my story ‘Rain’. I thank you for doing this but since there seems to be no one else reading it, I’ve decided to write this story for now. If I get enough reviews I will post other chapters. Whether you flame me or not just review. If you flame me I will just take it as criticism that could help me become a better writer.