Chapter fourteen- Shell Shocked

Mason could only rub the ridge between his eyes in annoyance as he walked between Misty and Brock as Ash walked ahead of the three of them, humming the Pokémon league theme song out loud. He had been doing so ever since they left the Pokémon centre three hours ago and he just would not stop.

"I'd wish he'd just give it a rest already" Mason grumbled to the two gym leaders beside him, "we get it, he's over the moon with his luck getting two of the three Kanto starters for his team."

"He's getting a big head," Misty agreed as Dratini nodded in agreement also, from Mason's shoulders.

"Well it is quite the accomplishment," Brock mused, "the three starters are powerful when properly trained, and very hard to catch, so getting two of them would make any trainer pleased with themselves." He explained before wincing as Ash's volume picked up a bit, "but yeah this is getting a little old."

Ash gave a snort as he turned and started walking backwards as he faced them, "ha, you're all just jealous of my good luck".

Mason let out a scoff but did not retort otherwise, not really caring to get into another argument which he would win. After all he could have gotten his own starter Pokémon from the Professor well before Ash had, but he was more than happy with Dratini as his starter and partner.

"Just keep your eyes on the road Ash," Misty spoke up, "knowing your luck you'd trip over backwards and fall down a ditch."

Ash chuckled, "As if that could…" he started to say as he turned around and went to step forward again but the very next step his foot quite literally went through the ground at his feet with a crunch making the four of them, plus Dratini and Pikachu, freeze and stare at the odd event for a spit second.

Mason for his part blinked before the realisation hit him, 'oh how could I forget this,' he thought to himself before the ground beneath all of them gave in and they all fell ten feet into the disguised pit fall trap.

"What the hell!" Mason groaned as he rolled onto his side, wincing from the pain having landed mostly on his hip, 'that's it next time I go cloths shopping I'm getting pants that have pockets for padding'

"Is everyone alright" Brock asked as he got up as well rubbing his head.

"I think I dropped some IQ points when I landed on my head," Ash complained as he sat up before being shoved onto his face when Misty pushed him off her.

"That was my head you landed on dummy" Misty snapped as she got up.

Brock shook his head as he looked up and around at the hole they were in, "who on earth dug this hole here".

"More like why did they dig it," Mason asked as he looked up at the sky.

"Maybe as a practical joke?" Ash suggested.

"Well it's a pretty dumb joke if it is" Misty grumbled as she dusted her pants off.

That was when they all heard the odd laughing from above and Mason squinted his eyes to see the five circular heads poking over the edge of the pit from above. Four of which were each wearing circular glassed, while the fifth… 'Oh you have got to be kidding me' Mason internally sighed, was wearing a pair of completely black shades with pointed edges that stuck up at the side.

'Okay, I don't care who you are or how much of a bad ass you think you are, the only person who deserves to wear shades like those is Kamina, not some blue ass little punk like this' Mason complained in his mind as the five water types laughed at them.

"What's so funny!" Misty snapped up at them making them flinch back from the venom in her tone, apparently, she didn't appreciate being dropped in a hole and then having Ash dropped on top of her.

"Dratini, Dragon rage" Mason ordered after a second of thought.

Dratini responded immediately drawing his head back and letting out a ball of flames shooting straight up and smacking right into one of the other Squirtle's making them cry out in shock at the sudden attack.

Mason did not waste a second as he looked to Brock, "Boost me" he told him.

Getting the idea Brock nodded and knelt down cupping his hands as Mason stepped into them before pushing off them at the same time that Brock lifted, resulting in Mason being thrown up to the edge of the pit where he pulled himself out as Dratini pushed off his shoulders and onto the ground as he glared at the four Squirtle's who had gathered around their downed comrade.

"Are those Squirtle?" Ash asked as he climbed up to the edge of the pit as well fishing his Pokédex out of his jacket pocket as he pointed it at the five of them as he pushed himself out.

"Squirtle. This Tiny Turtle Pokémon draws its long neck into its shell to launch incredible water attacks with amazing range and accuracy. The blasts can be quite powerful."

"No shit genius" Mason commented, "want to give me a hand, there's plenty of them to go around".

"Not without me you don't," Misty commented as she climbed out after Ash, "A Squirtle would be great for my team".

"Um maybe argue about catching them after you help me out of here?" Brock complained still in the hole in the ground.

Misty sighed and turned back to help him while Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and joined Dratini facing down the four Squirtle.

Mason was about to call out to make the first attack but paused when he heard something in the distance. Apparently the four Squirtle heard it as well and once it became clear it was sirens, they rushed to their downed member and lifted them before they started to make a run for it.

Mason blinked as he watched them go, 'damn how the hell do those little shits run so fast with such short legs' he thought to himself before sighing and shaking his head, 'We haven't seen the last of them, there will be another chance.' He thought as he turned to face the approaching officer Jenny on her motorcycle.

-Time skip-

After following Officer Jenny back to the nearby town, and hearing about the "Squirtle Squads" unfortunate roots. They decided to take their minds off the less than enjoyable topic by going down to a nearby river, Misty being more than happy to take this time to try and fish up a new Pokémon for her team seeing as the Squirtle's from before had gotten away.

Mason remembering events that were to happen, had very wisely chosen to lay on the grass a good distance away from the others with Dratini laying curled up on his chest as they took in the sun.

It was only half an hour later when Misty's rod gave a jerk and she smiled as she stood up with a pleased cry, "I got something!"

Mason opened one of his eyes to watch as Ash and Brock moved to stand behind her in case she needed help.

Misty tugged hard on the rod as whatever she had caught fought back, before with a hard pull the water broke and one of the lesser Squirtle from before came flying up out of the water and into the air letting out a powerful water gun soaking the three of them.

Pikachu who didn't like getting soaked sparked his cheeks before letting loose a powerful thunderbolt, not accounting for the fact that the three humans behind him had just been drenched in water, resulting in them being hit instead.

Mason winced seeing the attack but shook his head as he stood up and the Squirtle summersaulted through the air and landed back on the road at the top of the hill down to the river, landing with a perfect pose worthy of an Olympic gymnast.

'Damn, this one got style' Mason mused as Dratini moved between him and the Squirtle.

"Hold it!" Ash yelled as he ran up the slope with Pikachu, "this one's ours! Go Pikachu!"

Mason went to retort but before he could the Squirtle made it's move running forward and throwing itself into a Rapid spin, hitting Pikachu hard and sending him flying out and into the river.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried in worry as Pikachu hit the water but was relieved when Pikachu came up only a few seconds later looking annoyed being drenched a second time.

But the very next second the water behind Pikachu broke in a plume of water as a massive Seaking burst from the water ramming Pikachu with its horn. Pikachu gave a cry of pain as it was launched from the water and hit the edge of the river before bouncing back into the river.

Mason blinked, 'what the hell it was meant to be a Goldeen not a Seaking' he thought to himself. But his thoughts were de-railed when he saw the Seaking moving through the water heading for Pikachu again.

"Crap, Dratini, Help Pikachu out of the water!" Mason ordered and Dratini nodded before moving to the hill and throwing itself over the edge and into the water lifting Pikachu out of the water and towards the ground, but Seaking was coming in fast.

"Dratini, behind you, use Dragon ra..." Mason started to call, but it came too late.

As soon as Pikachu was on the river edge Seaking's attack landed, hitting Dratini from below hard with its horn and launching the small dragon with full force out of the water and into the sky.

"Dratini!" Mason yelled seeing his partner being launched into the air, he went to catch him but suddenly found he couldn't move his feet, he looked down and sound his feet were suddenly frozen to the ground encased in ice, from an artic beam that was coming from the mouth of the Squirtle that he had been about to battle.

'Ice beam,' it was only because of his thick boots that he hadn't noticed before. He could do nothing but watch as Dratini fell and hit the top of the hill with another cry of pain.

Looking to the others for help he had to grit his teeth, each of them had been caught by a lasso of all things and were now trust up like rodeo bulls.

Mason went to reach for his Pokéballs as his hands were still free but the next second another artic beam hit him and he found he was frozen in a half block of ice, from his feet up to the middle of his waste, his hands frozen and trapped half way to his Pokéballs.

"Sqirt~, Squirtle squirt~" came the smug response of the Squirtle who had frozen him.

"That would be, nice try, but no dice" translated Meowth as he stepped around one of the trees with the epitome of a treasure cat grin on his face seeing their predicament, "looks like you four aren't getting out of this one."

-Time skip-

'Note to self' Mason thought as he fought to keep from shivering from the freezing cold ice covering over fifty percent of his body, 'Next time I go clothes shopping, buy thermal underwear'.

It was a good half an hour after events at the river that Mason found himself inside the Squirtle squads cave base. The Squirtle having taken two trips to get them all there, first tying Ash, Misty and Brock to a bolder before coming back to get him, it took four of them to lift him while he was still trapped in the ice. Needless to say, it was a cold trip.

"Mason, are you okay?" Misty asked with worry as the Squirtle hauled him into the cave.

"Oh, you k-know, just c-chilling out" Mason joked, trying to keep his teeth from chattering from the cold.

As soon as they set him down however Mason's attention went directly to the cage perched atop another bolder, inside it was both Pikachu and Dratini, both looking severely injured. Instantly Mason's concern for himself vanished as he looked at his partners shaking form, "Dratini" he said softly with concern.

Brock frowned, "Neither of them are looking too good, they need to get treatment fast, that Seaking was powerful".

"It'll take at least a Super Potion to make sure they are stable" Misty agreed.

"But we don't have any Super Potions" Ash complained.

And they didn't. Mason fought back a curse as he berated himself, 'Stupid, stupid, stupid' he said over in his mind, he had known events were going to turn out like this but he hadn't prepared. Well not exactly like this, he only had his knowledge from the anime series, but it had turned out differently than he had thought.

Looking at his injured partner he felt like absolute garbage, it was his fault he was suffering. He had ordered him to save Pikachu, he had just been so surprised at the change of events he did not have time to think. It was meant to be a Goldeen in the river, and a single attack. Not an overpowered territorial Seaking.

'Why didn't I just order Dratini to drive it away from the shore, stupid, stupid, stupid' Mason continued to berate himself inside his mind. What made him feel even worse was the fact that back in Cerulean he had been flush with cash, but all he had been concerned about was buying things that would make his life easier, his bag and pods, but he never stopped to think about future events and how to prepare for them. Had he done so he would have stocked up on healing items, and now his partner had to suffer for it.

'Never again' Mason thought in anger, he was done. He had thought things were going to be easy, that he could just coast by putting in the work training his Pokémon right and win with his knowledge of things, but these events had put things into perspective for him. It was clear to him now that not everything he knew about events was set in stone. He was done taking things easy, this was a wake-up call, after this he was going to make sure that nothing like this ever happened to him or his team ever again.

When Mason came out of his thoughts he looked to the others and blinked to find Ash was gone and it was just Misty and Brock that were still tied to the boulder.

"Ash go to get the Super Potions then?" Mason queried getting their attention.

"Yeah," Brock confirmed.

"We tried to get your attention, but you were just so focused on Dratini noting got your attention" Misty told him with an understanding tone.

Mason sighed, "Yeah sorry, I was just berating myself for letting something like this happen."

"It's not your fault Mason," Brock told him.

"Yeah you couldn't have known…" Misty started to agree.

"But I should have," Mason cut her off, "I was the one who ordered Dratini into the water, had I just stopped to think for one second..." Mason said before bowing his head, "Damn it all, I was reckless, I was an idiot, I wasn't thinking straight and I wasn't prepared. I'm always giving Ash a hard time about acting like a trainer should and yet now I'm the one who didn't act like one. I didn't think, and now this happened."

"It'll be okay Mason," Brock told him, "they aren't in that bad a shape, once Ash gets back with the Super potions they'll be stable enough for us to get them to the Pokémon centre in town to get proper treatment"

"As long as he gets back before noon that is" Misty commented, "otherwise these little shits," she said gesturing to the Squirtle squad, "have threatened to dye my hair purple".

Looking to the Squirtle's and then back to Misty, Mason shook his head, "It's a bluff" he stated plainly making Misty blink.

"What?" She asked in shock and the Squirtle all chuckled.

"They're pranksters Misty" Mason mused, "they have enough self-preservation instincts to know that permanently changing a girls natural hair colour is a one-way ticket to an early grave. They likely only said that to get a rise out of you."

"Well at least one of you twerps' has a brain," Meowth commented, "we may be Pokémon but even we know not to do stuff like that" he mused.

Misty grumbled in annoyance at having been tricked like that, and Brock had to fight to not chuckle as well.

Mason shook his head, involuntarily shivering from the ice he was still trapped in, 'this is going to be one long wait'. He thought before looking to Meowth again, 'maybe I can speed things along' he thought before looking to the Squirtles.

"So, what's the gag this time?" Mason asked getting their attention, "you're pranksters right, so this is meant to be a joke, well I'm still waiting on the punch line here, so far kidnapping us and keeping our injured Pokémon hostage isn't all that funny"

"Oh, you want a punch line do ya" Meowth smirked, "well just sit tight, once Jessie and James get here, you'll get it".

Mason snorted before looking to the Squirtle's, "so that's it? you five have gone from pranksters to helpers of Pokémon thieves and abusers" he said making the five of them flinch back as if being slapped.

"Squirtle!" one of the other Squirtle said stepping forward seeming angry, mason recognised it as the one who had trapped him in ice. He did not have to speak Pokémon to understand what he meant.

"Yeah, that's what they are and that what it makes you lot if you're helping the likes of them" Mason told them plainly.

The Squirtle frowned as the others muttered between themselves in uncertainty, before the first spoke up, "Squirtle squirt".

Meowth seemed to smirk at that before looking at Mason as he translated, "he says, "prove it"" but his smirk fell as Mason grinned, that had been exactly what he was hoping that he'd say.

"Gladly, I just so happen to have someone who can give a first-hand account to you of team rockets cruelty" Mason said as he gestured down, "But you need to get me out of this ice, I promise that I'm not lying and I won't make any move against you, you have my partner I'm not an idiot"

The Squirtles traded looks with one another for a few moments and Meowth seemed to get nervus, "hey wait a min…" he began to say before the five Squirtle all fixed him with a hard look making him freeze up before the leader Squirtle spoke up to the one that froze Mason, who nodded back and threw himself at Mason going into a rapid spin as he did so hitting the ice hard making it shatter.

Mason instantly brought his hands up together and started rubbing them blowing into them, grateful for what little protection his fingerless gloves had given his hands, "thanks" he told the Squirtle as he started to get some feeling back in his fingertips.

"Squirt" the Squirtle nodded and took a step back to watch Mason carefully as he reached for his belt and the balls attached.

Mason plucked Golbat's Pokéball from his belt and enlarged it slowly not making any sudden movements, "Golbat, come on out" he said pressing the putting on the front releasing the large bat Pokémon in a burst of red light.

Golbat appeared out of the light, flapping her wings in mid-flight, she paused as she looked around taking in the situation before looking to Mason for her orders.

Mason nodded to Golbat in greeting before looking to the group of Squirtle, "Golbat here used to belong to a member of Team Rocket, before I beat them and I freed her and offered her a place on my team" he explained as Meowth's expression seemed to go pale as mason continued, "Ask her about Team Rocket, and her experiences with them," he said before looking to Golbat and nodding.

Golbat got the idea and let herself lower to the ground to land and looked to the Squirtle squad as they approached and began to converse between the six of them. Mason watched as the conversation continued as the Squirtle began to get angry at the more they heard. Clearly, they didn't know much about Team Rocket and they didn't like whatever it was that Golbat was telling them about her time with them.

Meowth seemed to sense the change in the wind and realised that their partnership was about to fall out beneath his feet and began to shimmy his way towards the exit, before jumping back when Squirtle turned on him and blocked his path with an ice beam freezing the exit over.

"Yikes!" Meowth yelped before gulping and turning back to look at the six angry glares being directed his way from the Squirtle squad plus Golbat, "Come on guys, we can talk this out, Pokémon to poke.. Yipes" he began to say only to be cut off when the whole Squirtle squad dog piled him.

Less than three minutes later had Misty and Brock free from the boulder they had been tied too and instead Meowth was in their place. Dratini and Pikachu had been free from their cages and Mason was now cradling his partner while Misty held Pikachu as Brock checked over their injuries.

"It's not as bad as I expected, still not great but they should pull through given Ash gets back soon" Brock told them.

Mason nodded as he gently stroked Dratini's head as he looked down on the small dragon with pain in his eyes, this was his fault, and he knew it. Now all they could do was wait for Ash to get back, and Mason knew that would be a while.

-Time skip-

The hours ticked by slowly as Mason sat outside the back passageway with Dratini in his arms, Misty stood beside him with Pikachu in hers as they waited. While they could have taken them to get treatment, Brock had advised against it, not wanting to risk aggravating their injuries and possibly making it worse, even if Mason could recall Dratini to his Pokéball for the trip nothing could be done for Pikachu and so Mason stayed.

The Squirtle squad had taken to shifting guard rotations to watch Meowth, whom they no longer trusted, and Golbat had taken to perching on one of the bounders outside of the cave chatting with the Squirtle what had frozen Mason before.

Mason glanced over at the pair, they seemed to get on well together, and Mason was impressed with what he had seen from the small Squirtle so far, despite being the target of most of it. He knew Ice beam was not a move that Squirtle could learn on its own. He was willing to bet it was the result of its former trainer teaching it via a TM to power it up before they abandoned it.

Mason shook his head as he looked back down at Dratini, he could never get how any trainer could abandon their partner. Not before when he played the games and watched the anime, and even more so now that he was living the experience. There was a bond between trainer and Pokémon, and to just throw that away for whatever reason. It was the stupidest thing he had ever heard of.

As the minutes ticked by Mason grew more and more worried about Dratini, hoping that his presence in this world hadn't screwed up something that prevented Ash from getting the Super Potions. He knew that Team Rocket would rob the store in town, did his presence change what they took, did Ash get shot before Jenny could get to him. The wait and uncertainty were killing him.

But then he heard movement from inside the cave and turned his head as he got up as Ash was lead out of the cave by the Squirtle on guard duty, he had come in through the blocked off side of the cave.

"Ash!" Misty said with happiness in her voice.

"About time, what happened did you take a nap!" Mason said with an exasperated tone.

"It's a long story," Ash said as he fished the potions out of his jacket pockets, "But I got the Super potions."

"Quick, give them here" Brock said as he took them and turned to Misty and Mason who held the two injured Pokémon out to him as he began to spray their injuries with the Super potions.

Mason had never seen the effects of potions in person before, but he was both amazed and relieved as he watched the wounds Dratini had received started to patch themselves together after just a few sprays.

The nasty gash that Dratini had from Seaking's horn began to close and scab over, the bruises all around the injury began to slowly fade and in no time at all, the injury looked like it had healed over weeks instead of just a few seconds.

"There, they should be safe to transport to the Pokémon centre in town now," Brock nodded, "the potion will take care of the injuries, but they will still need to be checked and get rest to properly recover"

Mason nodded as he gently stroked Dratini's head, "Sorry about this buddy, I promise I won't put you in danger like that again," he told the small dragon.

Dratini made a small cry, still exhausted, but didn't complain as Mason took his Pokéball from his belt and recalled him inside it.

Pikachu remained unconscious and Misty moved to place Pikachu down on the ground but stopped when sudden explosions in the distance made the ground shake.

"What was that!" Ash explained.

Everyone looked in the direction of the explosions and Mason snarled when he saw the outline of the Hot air balloon coming their way, "Team Rocket" he said with venom in his tone.

It was at that precise moment that Meowth came running out of the cave entrance, having cut himself free from the ropes and ran screaming towards the hot air balloon as it got closer, "Get me out of here!"

A rope ladder was dropped and Meowth climbed up it with speed as Jessie and James dropped more bombs on the ground below, setting parts of the forest on fire as they did so.

"Quick, everyone take cover!" Brock yelled as everyone ran for the shelter of the cave as the balloon and explosions got closer.

But the next set of explosions shook the ground so much that the leader Squirtle fell over and onto its shell.

"Squirtle!" Ash yelled and jumped to cover the small water Pokémon as more bombs rained down just barely missing them but hitting them with small rocks broken off by the explosions, as Team Rocket got more bombs ready to drop.

Mason scowled and pointed at the Balloon, but before he could speak a command, the Squirtle next to Golbat ran forward shooting an artic beam at the next volley of falling bombs, freezing them solid in a large pillar of ice that rose up from the ground saving Ash and the leader from being blown to bits.

"Annoying pest, you want a fight!" Jessie yelled from above.

That snapped Mason out of his shock from events as he stepped forward, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size, Golbat end this, Hyper beam!"

Golbat gave a cry as she took off from the boulder and shot into the air and came level with the hot air balloon and let lose her Hyper beam that hit the balloon dead on. The explosion was just as Mason intended and it was satisfying to watch the three idiots being blasted away once again, but that still left one problem.

"The forest is on fire," Misty pointed out in concern.

Yeah…. That.

-Time skip-

"Thank you, Nurse Joy," Mason and Ash said in unison as they collected their partners back from the town's resident Joy having had them treated there after events had ran their course. Everything had gone exactly as in the anime as far as Mason recalled it.

Working together the Squirtle squad had teamed together to put out the forest fire that Team Rocket had started and were officially named the towns resident fire fighters. They were even given a certificate to thank them for their actions. So, all was well that ended well.

"Ready to hit the road?" Brock asked as he and Misty met Ash and Mason at the door on the way out.

"You know it, as much as it would be nice to spend another night here, we gotta get a move on" Mason mused as the doors opened before them, only to stop the very next step as they were met by two Squirtles. The leader of the former gang, and if Mason was not mistaken, the one that had half frozen him. "um, hello"

"Squirtle" the duo greeted them.

"What's this all about?" Ash asked as the four of them looked down at two water Pokémon.

"Squirt" the pair announced as the leader pointed at Ash and the other at Mason.

"You want to join us?" Mason stated as he got it.

Both nodded confirming Mason's guess at their intentions, making Mason blink. Well it wasn't what he had planned but he suppose he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, or was the saying Rapidash, Ponyta or another horse type Pokémon?

Ash grinned as he got down to the Pokémon's level, "Well welcome to the team then?"

The leader grinned as it took off its shades showing its sparking eyes before it ran up and hugged Ash. Mason smirked at the sight before looking to his own future Pokémon.

"Just out of curiosity, what brought this on?" Mason asked curious as to why this Squirtle wanted to join him.

"Squirtle squirt" the Squirtle said as it made a face with a wide mouth and stretched its arms out as wide as it could.

Mason blinked as he got the gist of what it was trying to tell him, "Golbat?" he asked, as it clicked, those two had been pretty chummy, had Golbat's story struck a cord or something, was it impressed with his actions or how well he had treated Golbat. Well that was one mystery solved, and more added to the pile. But mason just shrugged as he took a spare Pokéball from his jacket pocket.

"Fair warning though, my team is full at the moment, so you'll be transported to Professor Oaks Lab, you'll like it there, and I promise that I'll swap you out soon, okay" Mason told it.

Squirtle nodded and took off its shades revealing its eyes like the leader did, before Mason tossed the Pokéball at it, and it was sucked inside, three turns later its light went out and that, as they say was that.

Mason smirked as he picked up the Pokéball that shrunk down and locked itself up in his hand, "Don't worry you'll be back soon, I've got to put you through your training from hell, as payback for freezing me after all" he mused, hoping it could hear him, he could just picture the blood drain from the small Squirtle's face before the ball teleported out of his hand.

'Ah yes, Karma is a bitch.' Mason smirked satisfied.