Chapter 1: Welcome to Hell
Ash walked down the lonesome dirt road, exactly as he had for many miles. His feet kicking up dust in tired puffs. Pika trailed behind him, ever vigilant. The road from Johto to Pallet Town had been long, and treacherous. He'd known it would be, but the message from Professor Oak had been too urgent to ignore. In his message Oak had warned Ash of a mysterious danger that awaited him. More importantly he'd said he had found a way to end the War. The war that had taken so much from so many.
Twelve years ago, when Ash was just a boy, on a cold Autumn morning the Poke'mon had revolted. The attack was as brutal as it was unexpected. The results were devastating. What remained of society clung together in walled off cities, each run with an iron fist by their Jenny.
In the distance, Ash could see a small green sign that read, "Welcome to Pallet Town". Someone had taken the time to cross out the word "town" with red spray paint, and replace it with the word "Hell".
"Welcome to Hell. Sounds about right."
"Pika."
Slung across his back, Ash carried a Kitana, given to him by a young warrior he'd first encountered in these very woods. It had saved his life many times over the years. So had his friend, Pikachu. When all the other Pokemon turned on their masters, Pika had stayed by his side. Some called Ash the last living Pokemon trainer. But he knew he had never been a trainer to Pika, he'd been a friend. Perhaps that's why he'd stayed.
"Be careful here. It looks over run."
Pika nodded solemnly in response.
The town of Pallet was now a ghost town. The empty buildings shone like the white bones of a rotting carcass in the beaming mid-day sun. As Ash approached the city he could see that it had been abandoned for a long time. At least a few months, maybe a few years.
The trip through Pallet was mostly uneventful, a sad trip through memory lane, yet in the back of his mind, Ash couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed. And in his journeys, he had learned the hard way, not to ignore such feelings.
At last, Ash came upon the ruined estate of Professor Oak. The gate, once tended with care, now stood ajar, overgrown with vines and grass.
In his encrypted video message, Professor Oak had asked, almost begged, Ash to meet him at his laboratory in Pallet Town. The laboratory Ash found himself looking at now, couldn't have been used in months. Thick layers of dust covered everything, most of the equipment and computers had been ripped apart, most likely by scavengers looking for copper.
Almost too late, Ash heard the sound of tiny feet, scuffling behind him. As he stepped to the side and turned, he felt the searing pain of a thunder attack glance off of his right shoulder, seconds before he heard the clap of the aftershock.
"Ahhh!"
As the bolt of electricity struck him, he could feel every muscle in his body turn rigid, his teeth clench shut, unnaturally hard. Ash fell to his knees. To his right he could see a wild pikachu, so thin it looked sickly, charging at him from the shadows.
But Pika was quicker, slamming the wild pikachu with a head long tackle, sending the creature sprawling.
Ash was already back up, sword drawn. He made a dash at the feral pikachu, sparks crackling around it's cheeks like lightning, preparing for another thunder attack. Before it could make the attack, Ash made a well practiced thrust with his sword, pinning the starving creature to the rotting floor boards. It's death was quick.
Ash dug a worn out cloth from his satchel, wiped the blood from his sword.
"Thanks, buddy."
"Pika."
The irony was not lost on Ash. This was the lab where he had first met Pika, all those years ago, in what seemed like a different lifetime. A memory of a dream.
Ash began to search the laboratory, not sure what he expected to find. Some clue as to where Professor Oak might have gone when the city fell. Proof that he was still alive at all.
What he found was a handwritten note, scrawled in a hurry, tucked away in a hidden drawer in the professor's desk. It read simply, "Meet me in Viridian."
Chapter 2: The Boy
He had been living in the forest for some time now. Since the city fell. With only the rising and setting of the sun as his calendar it was hard to say how long, exactly. It felt like forever.
It had been hard going at first, there were many nights when he went hungry. Out of necessity he had learned to gather berries from the forest, water from the streams, if he was lucky he would find canned food in the rubble of Pallet Town, on the days he dared venture there. He had learned to hide, when he heard anything else in the forest around him, human or otherwise, and he was good at it.
So it was with caution that he watched the stranger and his pikachu set up camp. He watched the man forage for firewood, careful not to make a noise. He watched the pikachu spark the kindling for the fire. It was dark out by the time he smelled the succulent aroma of meat cooking over an open flame. A sensation he had long forgotten. It was all he could do, not to run into the light of the fire and snatch the meat right off the flame. But his time in the forest had taught him patience. He would wait. Wait until the stranger and his dangerous pet went to sleep, then he would go through their supplies.
It wasn't until the food was done that the stranger spoke.
"You can come out, kid."
This caught the boy off guard, he had been so sure to be stealthy.
"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."
Tentatively, the boy came out of the shadows of the surrounding forest, into the light of the fire.
"I cooked you some food. Me and Pika caught a Magikarp a while back. It's a little salty, but it's good."
His hunger finally outweighing his trepidation, the boy grabbed the food from the man.
The sounds of the forest filled the silence as all three ate their food. After finishing half of his meal the man gave the rest to the boy, then dug a whet stone and a worn blue cloth from his bag and began to sharpen his sword.
"So, what's your name?" the man asked, sounding only politely interested in the answer.
"My name is Jack."
"How long have you been living in the forest, Jack?"
"I'm not sure. Since the city fell. I was playing out here when they attacked."
At this the man put down his sword.
"Your family?"
"I don't know."
"I'm sorry."
The man resumed sharpening his sword. The pikachu had dozed off shortly after eating it's meal.
"You're Ash Ketchum, aren't you. And that's Pika."
The man nodded.
"The last Pokemon trainer."
"There are no more trainers." Ash spoke as though he were saying there were no more cookies left in the jar.
"Where are you guys going?"
"We're headed to Veridian. I'm meeting a friend there. You can come with us."
"We might find my parents there."
"You should get some sleep. We're leaving at the break of dawn." At this, Ash gently nudged Pika awake, then turned over to go to sleep.
Jack had the best sleep he'd had in a long time.
Pika stood watch, alert in the fire light.
Chapter 3: Giovanni
Giovanni Ribisi hadn't felt this uneasy since before the War. Cold sweat, pooled on his forehead. The beginnings of dread sat in his stomach like shards of ice. The incessant ringing of the alarms going off throughout the facility didn't help. His Persian paced nervously, clearly also distressed by the alarms.
"Station One isn't responding, sir." Rocket Commander Greeves tried to look calm as he spoke.
"Why not?" Giovanni growled. The panel of security cameras on the wall opposite his desk, showed footage of Rocket Guards scrambling through the halls and across the fenced in grounds, all armed to the teeth. He knew he shouldn't be nervous. What the city of Veridian knew as a Research Facility, had in fact been the primary base for Team Rocket's illegal experiments, long before the Pokemon revolted and the Jennies took control. This place was more secure than the city itself. And yet he couldn't shake this feeling.
"We sent a team to check it out, we haven't heard back from them."
"What the hell is going on?"
ooo
Station One sat on the southern perimeter of the grounds, just inside the electric fence. A plain brick building with no windows and one locked door. It was used primarily for surveillance, of the facility and key points within the city. A security team would watch the cameras in shifts of four.
The Rocket Commander that approached the door, couldn't help but feel apprehension. Since when did high command send an entire Team to check out a malfunctioning surveillance tower?
"Draw your weapons." He ordered the two Rocket Guards standing nearest to him. Dutifully they obliged. As he opened the door, the first thing that hit him was the smell. The smell of copper and of decay.
"Dear God."
It was a blood bath. All four members of the security team had been killed, violently. One of them still sitting in his chair. He wondered at how someone could have done this with out a single shot being fired. He reached for his radio.
"Command. We have a problem."
ooo
Giovanni sat at his desk, feeling more helpless than ever. An emotion he was not accustomed to.
"We should have heard from them by now."
Greeves put his hand to the earpiece he had been receiving information on. Immediately his expression went from one of vague nervousness to grim determination.
"Station One is down."
"What! How?"
"We need to move you out of here. Now."
Just then, what sounded like two small explosions, sounded in the hallway outside of Giovanni's office.
"What the fuck was that?"
Greeves drew his pistol.
Giovanni glanced at the panel of security cameras. In the hallway just outside of Giovanni's office a figure in a dark hooded cloak dropped a double barreled shotgun on the body of one of the two Rocket Grunts that guarded that hallway, smoke still drifting from the barrels. Both guards lay dead. The cloaked man, without missing a beat, drew a rapier and a silver revolver from his hip.
Giovanni's eyes widened in terror, "Greeves!"
Four shots from the revolver, in a tight pattern, exploded through the door, and through Greeve's chest. The man went down in a spray of blood and bone.
Giovanni opened the top drawer of his desk, just as the cloaked figure kicked in the door. Before he could get his fingers around the small caliber pistol he kept in that drawer, the cloaked figure shot him in the gut. The pain was excruciating. With a grunt, Giovanni doubled over, fell to the ground. Blood poured from the wound, faster than he thought possible.
The cloaked figure entered the room.
With a blood curdling snarl, Persian leapt at the attacker from the corner of the room. The cloaked man, impossibly quick on his feet, side stepped the attack. Persian landed with a crash, the cloaked man turned on his heels and fired with the revolver. Persian let out a high pitched squeal of pain.
Giovanni struggled to reach the pistol, which had fallen just out of reach.
The cloaked man calmly strode over to the wounded Persian and drove his rapier through it's heart.
"You'll pay for that, you fuck." Giovanni spat through gritted teeth.
Without a word, the cloaked man came to Giovanni, and kicked the desk pistol out of reach, then began to reload his revolver, from some extra ammo in his gun belt, dropping the spent shells on Giovanni's chest.
From the floor Giovanni could see that, under the cloak, the man was wearing an extremely weathered Team Rocket uniform, one of the older designs.
"Who are you?"
The man lowered his hood. On the right side of his face, just below the hairline, was a horrific scar, it looked like a burn, maybe acid.
"James?"
The man aimed the gun at Giovanni's head.
"This is for Jesse."
James felt cold satisfaction as he pulled the trigger.
Chapter 4: Jesse and James
James made his way through the forest, the rising sun, lighting his way. Slipping back out of the compound had been easy. He knew the secret passages of that place like the back of his hand. He'd gotten lost in them often enough when he had first started his career with Team Rocket.
The cave he had been sleeping in for the past couple of nights was nestled against a hill, a few miles east of Viridian and the Rocket research facility.
To his left, James heard the grass move. With lightning speed and precision, he drew his pistol and fired. James grabbed the Rattatat by it's tail and slung its carcass over his shoulder. It would make a nice meal, and he knew she would be hungry when he returned.
The cave was empty, except for a crude fire pit, a bag of supplies and a human skull resting on a rock near the fire pit.
"I did it. I was too quick for them. It was easy."
Silence greeted him as he dropped the dead Ratattat on the cave floor, drew his knife and began to butcher the animal.
"And look, I brought us some food."
She continued to watch in silence as James salted the extra meat so it would keep for later, lit the fire and began to cook their dinner.
"So, you're ignoring me." James felt the rage building quietly, slowing his thoughts, "I thought you'd be happy. I did it for you."
The skull stared at the wall, the light of the fire casting flickering shadows across it's bleached white smile.
"You know what I want."
James lowered his head. He'd known this was coming.
"Pikachu."
Chapter 5: Viridian
Part 1:
Jenny's Trike, a three-wheeled Police vehicle specifically designed for both urban and off-road criminal apprehension, clambered down the uneven streets of Viridian. Around noon the clouds had rolled in from the east, blotting out the sun and covering the already gloomy city in a light rain.
"The City of Viridian is officially on lock down. In light of the recent murders, a curfew has been enacted. Anyone caught on the streets after eleven will be jailed and questioned." Jenny spoke into a megaphone built into the Trike, originally for riot dispersal. Her voice echoed up and down the mostly empty streets. A passerby with a shaved head and a faded blue tattoo on his neck flipped her off as she drove by.
"Be on the lookout for suspicious strangers." As she spoke, she noticed, out of the corner of her eye, a man with a red hat sprinting out of the forest for the Wall. In his arms he carried young boy. The boy looked injured.
"Speak of the Devil." Jenny muttered to herself as she flipped on her sirens and took off for the gate.
"Open her up." Jenny called out to the man watching the gate, a civil employee named Joseph.
With the push of a button, the gate, a rusted hunk of metal, creaked open.
The man had been at a dead sprint, but the burden of carrying the boy had slowed him, and he still had about one hundred yards to go before he got to the gate.
"He's hurt. He needs a hospital." The man called out as soon as Jenny was within shouting distance.
Jenny pulled over.
"Put him in the side car."
The man, with great care not to hurt the boy, followed instruction. The boy was soaked in blood. It looked like a stomach wound. The man began to climb on the back of the bike. Jenny's hand instinctively went to her side arm.
"Not you. I'll take the boy for medical care. No one else is allowed in."
"I'm not leaving him."
"Our Gym Leader was murdered last night. This City is on lock down."
"I'm all he has."
"We don't have time for this. Get on."
Part 2:
The hospital was relatively clean. Ash had received medical care in much worse conditions on the road. Jack was sedated, a red liquid, probably blood, fed into his arm via an I.V.
"So. What happened?" Jenny's tone didn't sound accusatory. That was something.
"We were ambushed. Bandits."
"How did you escape?"
"Only one of them had a gun. I took off his arm with the Kitana. But not before he got off one shot."
"Did you keep the gun?"
Ash nodded.
"I'm going to have to take it. Fire arms are not permitted in city limits. You can pick it up at the police station when you leave." Jenny hesitated before adding, "You can keep the sword."
Ash, carefully, retrieved the gun, a rusted six shooter, from his satchel and handed it to Jenny.
"Do you have any identification?"
Ash handed her his Pokedex.
"Pokedex of Ash Ketchum. Unit number 110121..."
"Ash. I think I remember you. You aren't a troublemaker are you?"
"No, mam."
Jenny considered this for a moment.
"I believe you." Jenny handed him his Pokedex, "They tell me the boy will be alright. They want to keep him here for a couple of days. When he's healed, I want you out of town. It's nothing personal."
Without waiting for a response, Jenny stood and left.
On his way out, Ash stopped at the front desk. Behind the desk sat a pleasant middle aged woman.
"Know a nice place to stay for the night?"
"I wouldn't call it nice, but there is a little Inn about four blocks north of here. Just follow Main street."
As he left the hospital and stepped out onto the street Ash noticed Viridian seemed to come alive, just a little bit, after the sun went down. People walked the streets in groups of two or three, illuminated by the neon signs of the city's many bars. No one traveled alone. No one except Ash.