Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1)

by Barrobroadcaster

Episode 14 Intro

Somewhere in orbit

Ash Ketchum, Pokemon Trainer from Kanto, could feel it deep inside of him. The feeling, the urge to be the very best like no one ever was. It was more than a passion, something indescribable, a burning sensation that overcame all else. And today, he was finally going to satisfy that urge. Today, he would finally become the world's greatest Pokemon Master.

He made fists in his spacesuit's gloves, feeling the padding inside of his palm. Space was cold, the insulation of his suit being the only thing between him and the icy vacuum. But he and his longtime best friend and partner Pikachu were in their element no matter where they were, even in the black emptiness of the stars. Because they were together, they could do anything. Even this.

"You ready, Pikachu?" he asked, already knowing the answer. Or at least, believing he knew the answer.

"Pikaaaa…" his friend turned to him, an uncertain expression visible through his Pikachu-sized spacesuit.

Ash gave him a reassuring smile. "You can do this, buddy. I believe in you."

"Pi…" Pikachu said, turning back towards the task at hand.

Ash knew he could count on Pikachu. Sometimes, one of them lacked confidence. Sometimes, they were daunted by the challenges they faced. And sometimes, they felt overwhelmed by everything that came at them. But they knew that they would always be together, that they would always be their for one another and that their courage would pull them through. If they'd been reading this, they would also have known that that was at least the second line that was stolen from the actual theme song. And it had never been truer than it was right now, this moment, facing Earth.

"Pikachu!" Ash called, "Thunderbolt!"

"Pi-ka-CHHUUUUUUUUUU!!!" The small electric mouse unleashed a blast of electricity from its body bright enough to illuminate the space around them. From the surface, it almost looked as if there was another star high above Kanto. The electricity condensed into a bolt of yellow lightning that arced through space, piercing the Earth's upper atmosphere and dissipating as the ionosphere absorbed it.

"Alright, good job, Pikachu!" Ash said. Pikachu turned to ash, eyes heavy with concern. Ash pulled a Poke Ball off his belt, a special one he'd been saving for just this occasion.

"Now, time to see what this Master Ball the President of Silph Co. can do!" He gripped the ball tightly, shuffled his arm up to his head inside his spacesuit to turn his official Pokemon League hat around and prepared to throw. "Master Ball, go!!" he yelled and threw.

The Master Ball flew through zero gravity, propelled only by the young trainer's pitch. It tumbled in weightlessness, momentarily another satellite in orbit, another spherical body in the great fathomless depths of the cosmos. Ash and Pikachu both watched it, the young man in anticipation and the Pokemon in worry.

If he'd been off by a few degrees, the ball would've missed the planet entirely. Thankfully, the Earth was a pretty big target so it was hard to miss. The ball continued tumbling until it turned into but a tiny dot, unable to bee seen by either of them. It glowed hot as it reentered the atmosphere and picked up speed as it began to plummet all the way down.

Ash didn't take his eye off the planet. Pikachu looked back at him, still wondering about this entire situation. Time passed as the two hung there in total silence.

Finally, a single flash of light and the Earth vanished. Ash saw the moon behind it, blocking the sun from hitting them. Ash's heart began to race. These next seconds were crucial. He could almost hear it even if he couldn't see it: the Master Ball tumbling and twitching, threatening to break open and spill fourth its contents. It was a critical moment for any Pokemon Trainer, the moment after the ball connected with target and tried to contain it. It was the moment before success and failure where only a combination of fate and luck decided on whether or not the capture was successful. You could almost hear your own heartbeat, hard not to hold your breath in such a moment. It was one of the feelings trainers like Ash lived for.

And it passed as quickly as it came. The Master Ball came shooting back to him, returning to him based on its powerful scientific designs that enabled it to, and returned to the same hand he'd thrown it with.

For a moment, he was speechless. He held the ball, literally holding the world in the palm of his hand. "I… I did it!!" he cheered. "I did it! Pikachu, we did it! We finally did it!"

"Pika…"

He looked at the ball, grinning wildly. "We did it, Pikachu! We finally caught 'em all! Every Pokemon!!" He held up the ball high. "I'm finally the world's greatest Pokemon Master!!!"

"Chu…" Pikachu said reluctantly, not knowing what else could be said.

Ash held the ball high, never taking his eyes off it, holding it tightly. He brought it closer to himself, still smiling. "I'm finally the world's greatest Pokemon Master. I… I did it."

He looked at the tiny orb, the M on the top. His smile began to fade. "Pikachu… what have I done?" Panic began to grip him. "Oh no, Pikachu, what have I done?!"

A voice came through the radio inside his space suit. "Looks like you finally blew it, Ashy-boy."

His head snapped up. That voice, he would know it anywhere. It could only mean one thing, it could only be one person, it had to be, "Gary?!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted it. A space shuttle slowly flew by, oddly emblazoned with Team Rocket's red R logo. From the viewports, Ash saw Gary Oak, his longtime hometown rival inside as it passed.

"Gary!!" Ash swam over to it along with Pikachu. "What do you mean 'I finally blew it', Gary? I actually caught 'em all! I finally proved I'm the world's greatest Pokemon Master!"

"Mphheh, world's greatest loser, more like it," Gary scoffed. "Sure you caught every Pokemon but you also caught the entire Pokemon League, too! How's anyone supposed to battle without anything to stand on?"

"Errr," Ash looked away. "I guess I didn't think about that."

"Of course YOU didn't," Gary taunted. "Seriously, catching the whole planet, even if you hadn't caught the whole league, you'd be disqualified for stealing essentially every Pokemon from every trainer in every region on the planet! Guess you didn't think about that either, Ashy-boy!"

Inside the space shuttle, Ash saw Gary's cheerleaders cheering him on. There was even Gary's red corvette and Mr. T along with Jesse and James piloting the shuttle. What they were doing there was anyone's guess. They, along with Meowth waved at him in the rear view mirror.

"Later Twerp!"

"Have fun being the last trainer NOT on Earth!"

"Hope you and Pikachu don't catch a cold in space!"

"Gary!!" Ash called, pounding his fist on the viewport, "You gotta help me fix this! I still have the Poke Ball right here!"

"Ha! Help you? Not likely. Gramps and I just decided to stop and say hi on our way to Alpha Centauri. Maybe on the other side of the galaxy, your stupidity won't reach us! And by the way, you don't need to weaken the target first if you're going to use a Master Ball!" Gary continued taunting. The entire shuttle broke out into laughter.

"Gary, wait!!" Ash called. "At least let me come with you!"

"There's not enough room in here for you and your loser-ness, Ashy-boy! Have fun being the worst Trainer in the solar system!! Hahahaha!!" Gary said, flying away in his pleasure shuttle, leaving Ash to eat his space dust. "And by the way, you didn't catch 'em all, pal! Take a look again!"

Ash turned around. From just behind the moon, he saw a flash of green. "Kiryararararahhh!!!"

"AHHHA!!" Ash woke up. He gasped for breath, and quickly realized he was back at the Pokemon Center in Gateon Port. It had all been a dream.

Next to him, Pikachu was getting up as well. "Pi… Pika?"

"Oh, Pikachu!" he grabbed his friend and hugged him. "Am I glad to see you."

"Pikachu!!" the small mouse clung to him.

"Hey, morning guys," Brock said, getting up from her own bed across from theirs. "What's wrong, Ash? You have a bad dream or something?"

"Or something is more like it. I had horrible nightmare," Ash said, still hugging Pikachu. "Even… Gary was in it."

"Brrrr… that does sound like a nightmare," Brock said, shivering. He took up something from underneath his pillow. "I was hoping this Lunar Wing I got from Nurse Joy would help my own dreams. I guess she misunderstood me when I told her I'd love to see her at night," the dark-skinned man said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Or maybe she was saying you'd only see her in your dreams!" a familiar female voice shouted from the adjacent room.

"Sounds like Misty's up," Brock said. "I better see if they need any help in the cafeteria, maybe get us some breakfast."

Ash walked over to the flatscreen on the wall and turned it on. "I think I'll just watch t.v for a while, see if anything's on to get my mind off… things."

"Not a bad idea," Brock said, heading out. "Hey, if you want to borrow my Lunar Wing, you can."

"Nah, I'm all right but thanks."

"Sure thing," his friend said, departing.

Ash and Pikachu sat in bed, comfortable and watched television. "I think something new to watch is just the ticket to get our minds off things, don't you, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" his partner said, getting comfortable in his lap.

"-with the current Valis region champion, Ryan Stryder and his Searpent winning with a decisive knockout. And this concludes our broadcast for this morning. I'm Barro for ONBS and up next is Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship."

"Huh," Ash said. "I wonder what region this is from."

Author's Note:

Sorry if there is any confusion in this chapter but as some of you may have realized, before each episode, we have an intro specifically from another show. This episode, we decided to use a dream sequence from Pokemon. Because it's a bit longer, we decided to publish it as its own chapter. Episode 14 will commence shortly.

Comments

[Barrobroadcaster]

7338965 I'm sorry about your week but I'm happy I could brighten it up Also, you might be happy to know that all the random characters and cameos are actually there for a reason. And Colress and Team Plasma will likely become regulars now.

7338793
7338698
The All of My Yes is currently the only thing holding temporary Cloudsdale together, along with the remains of most of the other airships in Gust's fleet. They need a Cloudsdale to regulate and supply water to the town so they can't really use it to protect the convoys.

7338958
There's a lot of push and pull towards other outcomes, Fallout Equestria being one of the biggest. A few of the characters CAN see these futures and are trying to guide this version of Equestria down that path. They're trying to direct things, if you will

[Booster Spice]

Yup, Ash definitely does things as dumb as that.

I mean, the giant Whiscash that swallows the Master Ball when its already been primed and it doesnt trigger? Hax.

Thats one way MLP is darker than Pokemon so far. Sombras Slaves vs Dark Balls.

[Dustchu]

Ash... oh Ash, you silly silly trainer this reads like an actual episode hahaha! XD
I could hear Gary's laugh in my head, Gary motherfugging Oak

Nicely done man, nicely done! Looking forward to more!

[Razzy]

No wonder Ash is still as far from his goal of being a pokemon master as he was 20 years ago.

[ShogunWriter106]

That was... interesting.

[Warrior Kitten]

That moment when you realise the Earth isn't a planet; it's a Pokèball.

[Warrior Kitten]

7341051
Uh, I thought the Director was trying to prevent the Fallout Equestria outcome.

Also, another comment I wasn't notified of.

[Barrobroadcaster]

7344991 She actually promised Springer, Spinner and the rest of the proto-Enclave fanboys that it would happen.

[Warrior Kitten]

7345218
Well, mark me confused and intrigued. Lettuce continue; going along for the ride.

[LadyLeomon]

I was having such a crappy weekend but then I saw this intro to Chapter 14 and my expression turned to this

I read it was a Pokemon sequence then I looked like this reading Ash finally reaching his dream made me Ash's snafu made me Gary muthabucking Oak briefly made me and finding out it was all a dream before morning cartoons made me

But I gotta know two things: a) why was Team Rocket with Gary's entourage (did they hide in the corvette?) and b) how long has Mr T been pitying the fools who don't respect Pokemon League Rules?

Just loved this from start to finish, thanks for the smile Barro I so needed it ^_^

[Barrobroadcaster]

7353734 It was a fake that was broken. King Sombra was blamed for attempting to break the Crystal Heart. The real Crystal Heart was taken to the palace basement where Vice and the Director conducted diabolical experiments on it to corrupt the crystal ponies. And you are so welcome! I'm happy you enjoy the story. I owe it all to fans like you.