It's a Wonderful Doom part 1

Ross hummed contentedly as he walked through the snow covered field towards the ranch house. Despite how cold it was he was in a very good mood. He and Saria had finally confessed their love to each other after years of avoiding the subject. He only wished it hadn't taken Saria almost dying for them to confess their feelings but what was done was done. They had also produced a very healthy egg together that was getting close to hatching, something both Ross and Saria were anxiously anticipating.

To make things even better Christmas was quickly approaching and an air of joy and festiveness had descended upon the ranch. Cotton and Napoleon were busy building a snowman while Rupert was building another snowman that bore a striking resemblance to a certain Lopunny. Veruka was busy having a practice battle with Leopold out in the field, resulting in a large section of the field being covered in scorched grass rather than snow. Saria and Iris were inside helping Jenna to make cookies while Matthew and Elizabeth sat on top of the ranch house keeping watch on everyone.

As for Danny and Merry Ross had no idea what they were up to and frankly he didn't want to know. Scratch and Sibelius were inside being looked after by Vincent, a job Ross was about to relieve him off. Ross slowly pushed open the front door and wiped his paws off on the mat before going off to find his two charges, only hoping they hadn't gotten into any serious trouble over the last two hours. He wasn't sure where to start looking but the sound of the TV in the other room gave him a pretty good idea of what they were up to.

As he got closer Ross heard music playing. "Johanna, my life my love Joana-" Ross's eyes got wide, he'd heard that song before. "Oh crap." Ross ran into the room and saw Sibelius staring wide eyed as Sweeney Todd slashed the throat of yet another customer. Vincent was fast asleep on the couch with drool hanging out of his mouth and Scratch was nowhere to be seen. Ross immediately ran over to the couch and stepped on the pause button on the remote, freezing the blood splatter on the TV. Sibelius looked over at Vincent and was about to say something when he saw Ross standing there looking very disappointed.

Sibelius started to stutter but Ross just held up a paw. "We'll talk later Sibelius, right now Vincent is in more trouble than you are." Ross turned to Vincent and placed a paw on his shoulder before delivering a mild electric jolt. Vincent sat bolt upright in shock breathing heavily. He sniffed his fur a smelt that it was burnt a little. "So I wasn't dreaming, fantastic, wait a second, then where's Veruka?" Vincent looked around and noticed Ross standing right next to him tapping his foot in frustration. Vincent looked at him for a second before putting on his goofy smile. "Oh hey Ross, what's going on dude?"

Ross rubbed his temples and sighed. "Vincent let me ask you a quick question, what movie did you put in for Scratch and Sibelius to watch?" Vincent thought for a second before responding. "Some movie about a barber named Sweaty Toad or something like that, I figured if it was about a toad then it was alright for them to watch, kids like frogs right?" Ross groaned and fell over anime style with his feet in the air. Vincent looked at Ross for another second before looking at the TV screen and recoiling. "HOLY CRAP, that's a lot of blood, I thought that this was a kids movie, it was sitting right next to Alice in Wonderland?!"

Ross sat up and rubbed his head. "That's because it's in her Tim Burton collection Vincent, they're directed by the same person." Vincent thought about that and stared into space while Ross turned to Sibelius who had been silent the entire time, afraid of what Ross would do. "Sibelius where is Scratch?" Sibelius looked around. "What he's not here, I thought that he was watching the movie from the couch with Vincent?" Ross's eyes got wide. "Vincent, where is Scratch, and please try and remember or I'm in serious trouble with his parents!" Vincent was about to say something when a white blur shot past them and impacted with the wall, suddenly stopping the crazed Pachirisu.

Ross sighed and walked over to him, indicating for Sibelius to follow. "Vincent did you let him have candy again?" Vincent shrugged. "It said low sugar content, although it did have a warning about sawdust." Ross moaned as Scratch stood up and stared at his older brother from a chocolate covered face. "Big brother I think I'm going to be sick." Ross knew what was going to happen and immediately ran into the bathroom and held Scratch upside down in the toilet until he was done vomiting.  Ross cleaned him up and took him back to the living room where Vincent had turned off the TV and was nervously staring at the ground, terrified of what Matthew would do to him if he ever found out.

Ross walked over and looked up at Vincent before sighing. "Vincent I won't tell Matthew what just happened, but from now on if they want to watch a movie find either me or Saria and ask if it's ok for them, alright?" Vincent slowly nodded and noticeably relaxed. "Oh good, thanks man, I knew you were a real stand up guy." Ross just nodded. "Alright then, I just need you to watch them for a few more minutes, I'm going to go see how Saria is doing, just play some Super Smash Bros. with them." Vincent nodded and started up the Wii while Ross walked into the kitchen where Saria and Iris were busy making cookies.

Ross smiled and walked up behind Saria before giving her a hug and lightly kissing her cheek. Saria jumped a little but once she saw that it was Ross she smiled and returned the kiss. "Why hello there Ross, feeling a bit frisky today I see." Ross smiled and kissed her again. "Well how can I not with the girl of my dreams so close everyday?" Saria giggled a little and was about to come back with something when the oven timer went off. "Just hold that thought a second Ross, Veruka may like burnt cookies but I know for a fact no one else will appreciate it."

Ross let Saria go as Iris opened the oven door for her sister and froze the edges of the tray with an icy wind while Saria picked it up on the cool edges. However, just as she was about to bring it over to the table Saria slipped on some milk left on the floor from making cookies and she dropped the pan. Fortunately it wasn't very far to the floor and the cookies all stayed on the pan, as for Saria she tried to steady herself by reaching her front paw out for something, unfortunately that was the hot oven rack. She screamed in pain and pulled her paw back as Ross and Iris ran over to help. "Saria are you alright?" Saria sat on the floor holding her paw in pain as tears streamed down her face.

Ross gently took her paw in his hands and had a look at it. "It's not that bad Saria, a Rawst berry and some ointment will take care of that just fine." Saria nodded and Ross hugged her as Iris took her sister off to the bathroom. Ross picked up the cookies and set them on the table and was about to go back and bring Scratch and Sibelius outside when Jenna walked in the room followed by Ina. She looked rather distraught and barely noticed Ross as she sat down at the kitchen table. "Jenna what is it, what's wrong, you've been acting strange ever since the mail arrived." Jenna sighed and took a an envelope out of her pocket and handed it to Ina. She read over it before looking back at Jenna. "Your being sued?"

Jenna nodded. "The last time Matthew had an official battle was against some rich kids Meowth. Matthew badly hurt the little guy and he almost died. I apologized and tried to help but he just shrugged me off. So now he wants retribution in the form of ten million poke dollars. But, he also…just read it." Ina read the rest of the letter and gasped. "He wants Matthew to be put down!?" Jenna nodded and took a tissue out of her pocket and wiped her eyes. "Basically he wants to take everything I own and then kill one of my friends, just because I beat him in a battle." Jenna placed her head in her arms and started to cry.

"Jenna, we can't let him do this, you have to get a lawyer." Jenna looked up. "You think I haven't thought about all this already, considering our current bills a lawyer will drive us almost to a state of bankruptcy, not to mention this kid is filthy rich, we'd never be able to beat him in court." Ina took off her glasses and started to clean them. "Well maybe you don't even need a lawyer, I mean Matthew has changed, we can find plenty of proof for that." Jenna sighed. "Yeah, but Matthew's previously violent temperament isn't exactly a secret, I battled quite a few trainers with him, they can all vouch he was quite the violent fighter. All this kid needs to do is convince the jury that Matthew is still a violent uncontrollable Pokemon, and who do you think they would believe, he'll show them pictures of his cute little Meowth, and let's face it, as soon as the jury takes one look at Matthew there going to side with the Meowth."

Ina nodded. "Unfortunately your right, this is bad Jenna, really bad, the best we can hope for is to get Matthew off the hook, even then we'd have to sell the ranch to get him his money, and then what, we can't look after all the Pokemon without any money, we'd have to send most of them to the PC for a long time until we could get another place large enough, that would be hard on everyone, especially Ross." Jenna nodded. "I just don't know what to do, but I guess a good place to start would be to talk with Matthew, let him know what's going on." Ina stood up and grabbed a cookie. "Well I'd recommend telling him sooner rather than later, this isn't something we can waste any time on." Jenna nodded and stood up. "Right, I'll go talk to him right now, but Ina, we should probably keep this quiet, I don't want to start a panic among everyone." They both left the room leaving Ross standing there in utter shock.

It felt like his whole world was falling apart around him. What would Sibelius do if Matthew was put down, despite his rough edges Sibelius loved Matthew, and Elizabeth, she would be heartbroken. Plus there was the matter of the money, if Jenna sold the ranch she would have no choice but to send a lot of them to the PC, everyone would be split up for awhile while Jenna found another place. Friends would be separated for months at a time. Ross was certain that Jenna would try and circulate them as much as possible but it would still be hard on everyone being separated like that. And the little ones, they wouldn't be able to play and frolic around anymore, stuck in the PC, and Saria, he would almost never see her. It was all so too much to think about and he had to get back to Scratch and Sibelius. He slowly walked into the living room where they were playing Super Smash Bros. with Vincent and seriously owning the Lucario.

"BOOM, got you again Vincent, maybe you should try playing as a character other than Lucario." Vincent groaned. "Why, he's the coolest character and he looks like me for that matter?" Scratch, playing as Ness, slammed Vincent off the map again. "Yeah, but you don't do very good as him." The playful banter between the three managed to lift Ross's spirit's, but only slightly. "Okay guys break it up, I think you two have had enough video games for today, how about we go outside and build a snowman, what do you say?" Scratch and Sibelius both cheered and ran right past Ross outside. Vincent was still playing by himself and a second later yelled back at the boys, "Ha, hey Scratch, I just knocked you clean off the map, better step up your game if you hope to beat me."

Ross just sighed and followed the two outside. Scratch and Sibelius were already busy rolling a large snowball to create the lower half of the snowman. "Come on man put your back into it." Sibelius glared at Scratch. "I am, maybe if you hadn't eaten half a plate of poffins this morning you would be able to pull your own weight." Scratch kicked some snow at Sibelius who threw a snowball back at his friend. A second later the previously innocent act of building a snowman had turned into a snowball fight. Ross slowly walked over and broke up the fight. "Come on guys, let's finish making that snowman." Both Scratch and Sibelius stopped and looked at Ross, they had never seen him this depressed before. "Big Brother, are you alright?"

Ross didn't say anything but just started pushing the large snowball along. "I'm fine Scratch, just tired, it's hard work looking after the both of you." Scratch and Sibelius both looked at each other and shrugged before helping Ross push the large ball of snow. They finished making the snowman after half an hour and Scratch put a stick in it's head for the nose. "Hmm, it still needs something Sibelius, but I just can't place my finger on it." While Scratch and Sibelius were trying to decide what their snowman, nicknamed Mr. Frosty, Ross stared off into the field watching everyone enjoying themselves, not knowing how close their safe little world was to falling apart.

Ross idly looked off towards the woods and was surprised to see Saria slowly walking that way. She was limping slightly from her burned paw and even with a scarf around her neck it was obvious to Ross that she was cold. His first thought was that she was going to go for a walk in the woods by herself. That immediately sent shivers up his spine as he remembered what had happened last time. Then he saw Saria stop just before entering the woods and look around. Ross breathed a sigh of relief, at least she wasn't going to go for a walk again But then what on earth was she doing, Ross was about to go over there when something walked out of the forest.

Ross looked hard and saw that it was none other than RGB. Ross's paws curled into fists, if he laid a claw on her Ross would personally gut that conniving little cheat. But to his surprise Saria just walked closer and started talking to him. To say that Ross was in a state of shock was a gross understatement, everyone on the ranch knew that RGB was worse than Danny in some respects, so he had no idea what Saria would want with him. Ross wasn't sure if he should go over there or just stay back. He opted to stay back and watch, not wanting to interrupt a private conversation, even if it was between his mate and a thief.

Ross continued to watch for a few minutes as Saria and RGB continued to talk. Ross was really getting curious as to what this was all about and had finally decided to go over there when he witnessed something that made his heart stop. RGB leaned in close to Saria and she did the same, Ross felt like he couldn't breathe. He watched as she kissed him full on the mouth for almost half a minute before pulling away and talking to him for another minute or so. Ross barely noticed that they were still talking, Saria, his mate, had kissed him, and not just a peck on the cheek or something like that, she had kissed him like she kissed Ross, as a lover. Saria, she would never cheat on him.

Ross started to feel a little dizzy and placed a paw out to steady himself, inadvertently leaning into Scratch and Sibelius's snowman. A second later, due to poor construction on Scratch's part, the head and body came crashing down on top of the poor Raichu, completely burying him in snow. Scratch and Sibelius both looked at the mound of snow as Ross popped his head out. "Whoa that was cool big brother, even though you did trash our snowman, it was still really cool, no cold pun intended." Ross stood up and sighed. "Can, can you two, just, go back inside, I need to, do something." Sibelius did as he was told but Scratch stayed behind for a second. "What's wrong big brother?" Ross looked at Scratch and hugged him tightly. "Scratch, I just want you to know, no matter what happens everything is going to be alright, okay, everyone here cares for you deeply Scratch, and I think of you as not just a friend, but my real brother, and I care for you like one, never forget that."

Scratch looked at Ross for a second before responding. "What's wrong, I've never seen you like this before, and why are you crying?" Ross quickly wiped the tears from his eyes with his paw and did his best to smile at Scratch. "I'm fine, really, now go back to the house, I'll be along in a little while." Scratch took one last look at Ross before running off after Sibelius, yelling something about it was his turn to be first player. Ross sighed, he had to talk to Saria. He walked out in the direction he had seen her go after she was done talking with RGB and found her sitting in the tire swing under the oak tree. Ross took in a deep breath and walked over, not knowing what he was going to say to her.

Saria saw him coming and smiled as he got closer. "Oh hi Ross, you were right about the burn, after a Rawst berry and a bandage it's feeling much better. I saw you playing with Scratch and Sibelius, what the little guys tire you out already?" Ross sighed and leaned against the tree. "No, I just sent them inside." Saria nodded before continuing, Ross pretty much ignored her, not knowing why he'd been unable to tell her what he had seen right then when he had an opportunity. But at the same time he was getting angry, angry that she was avoiding the subject and going along like everything between them was perfect. He felt his fur start to stand up a bit and his tail started to rise.

Saria just continued to talk, oblivious to his anger at the moment. "So anyways I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year, I think we all need to come together and think of something great to get master for Christmas, or maybe we could do something like what we did for her birthday. I just hope that we don't have to go to RGB again for anything, that was quite the downer last year when Danny stole the cake to sell back to him. Probably better if we just made her something, like that card that-" Ross's temper flared and his tail and fur shot straight up as his eyes glowed in rage and his cheeks started to shoot sparks.

"Oh cut the crap already!" Saria gasped and looked at Ross glaring at her, a little afraid. "Wha-what was that." Ross just continued to glare at her and took a step forward. "I told you to cut the crap, stop acting like you love me and whatnot, I saw what you did!" Saria dropped to the ground and took a few steps back. "Ross what are you talking about, what did I do?" Before Saria could react Ross had rushed forward and grabbed her by the neck. She started to gasp for air but Ross just squeezed tighter, excess electricity fueling his rage and overriding all his common sense. "I saw you kissing RGB, so don't think I don't know you've been cheating on me, for Arceus's sake, we have an egg, but that apparently doesn't matter to you!"

Saria looked hard and long at Ross and gasped, not for lack of air but shock. "Ross, your misinterpreting what I did, Danny is really deep in debt to RGB and he was going to hurt him, so I went to him personally and asked him for more time for Danny, I didn't want to see anyone get hurt, he told me that if I kissed him he would give Danny more time, you've got to believe me Ross, think about it." Ross didn't listen and continued to ran and rave. "LIER, I can see it in your eyes!" Saria shook her head no as Ross brought his fist back to hit her with a thunder punch. Suddenly the pressure was released from her neck and she fell to the ground panting. She looked up to find Leopold pinning Ross to the ground while Veruka tried to grab his thrashing tail.

"Ross what the hell do you think your doing?!" Ross didn't answer but instead punched Leopold in the head with his readied thunder punch, stunning the Charizard long enough for Ross to get up. He swung his tail around and the end glowed white from an iron tail. Leopold and Veruka avoided the attack but Saria wasn't so lucky, the tip of Ross's tail cut across her side and she yelled out in pain and fell to the ground. The sound of Saria screaming was enough to bring pause to the crazed Raichu which gave Leopold and Veruka enough time to pin him and jam his tail into the ground.

Ross gasped as a massive blast of electricity escaped from his body. He just lay there while Veruka attended to the nearly hysterical Leafeon. Leopold finally let Ross go after a minute and looked at him sternly from a black eye. "Ross, this is really serious, you almost killed Saria there, you have to be more proactive in releasing your pent up electricity, what would have happened if Veruka and I hadn't gotten here when we did?" Ross didn't say anything and looked down at the ground, sickened with grief and guilt. Leopold continued to look at him. "You really need to think about this Ross, especially with a child on the way, do you want your son to see you like this, do you?"

Ross took in a rattling breath and slowly let it out before slowly shaking his head no. Veruka ran over holding Saria close to her chest and looked down at Ross for a second before turning to Leopold. "Leopold, we have to get her to Jenna, it's pretty serious, and what about Ross?" Leopold looked at the Raichu and sighed. "Come on Ross." Leopold reached a claw out but Ross just brushed it away. "Ross don't do this now, Saria needs you." Ross spun around and glared at Leopold for a second. "No, she doesn't." And without another word Ross took off running. Leopold watched him go. "I should probably go and get him back, you look after Saria, I'll follow him." Veruka nodded and ran with Saria towards the house while Leopold took off and followed Ross.

Ross ran as hard and fast as he could, he had to get away from everyone, and especially Saria. He followed a familiar path for several minutes until he found himself at Lake Verity. He slowly walked towards the shoreline and looked into the freezing cold water. For some strange reason the lake never froze over, he suspected it had something to do with the legendary Pokemon that resided there. But that didn't mean it wasn't cold, to the contrary it was freezing, Ross had fallen in once during the winter and had nearly frozen to death if Jenna hadn't been nearby.

He had spent a lot of time there, primarily with Saria, just talking, not about love or anything, they had always avoided that topic, or veered away from it if possible. He had thought that he loved her, he had thought that he could protect her, but he couldn't, not even from himself. How had he let himself lose his temper like that, he should have known that his electrical levels were rising, he should have done something about it. But he had been too preoccupied, worrying about Matthew and the kids and…no those were just excuses, it was his fault, it was all his fault.

Ross fell to his knees and looked into the foreboding water. What if this happened again, despite his best efforts he felt like he was starting to lose control over himself recently, over the last few months he had noticed it, it was becoming harder and harder to discharge his electricity, it was starting to become painful, which was why he had been doing it less frequently. He felt tears rolling down his face in heavy streams and continued to stare into the lake. "Saria, what have I done, how could I have done this to you?" Ross collapsed onto the ground and started to wail. He knew what the problem was, he was alive, if he had never been born Saria would have found a perfectly nice Eevee for a mate, not a Raichu who couldn't control his own powers.

He looked again at the water. He had considered suicide once or twice before, but that had been because of Napoleon's bullying. This was far more serious, he was a danger to Saria and the rest of the ranch. He felt his electricity starting to build again but he didn't care, just more proof that he was the source of the problems. That thought continued to run through his mind for several more minutes before he couldn't take it any longer. Ross yelled in anger and in that sudden instant of depression, fear, and weakness, he jumped into the lake. The ice cold water hit his skin like a thousand tiny needles and he lost consciousness almost immediately, but right before he did, he thought he saw a bright light coming right towards him.