Chapter 2: Cell-Out
Discovering a tunnel brought Ash, Georgia and Pikachu to rescue a girl and meet Gohan while Iris and Cilan wondered where their friend from Pallet Town disappeared to. Led by Gohan, they weeded through a wooded land and found a village which appeared as something out of the Wild West. The entrance had a sign reading "CHAZKE VILLAGE." "Did we go through a rift in time?" asked Georgia. Sand laden roads, houses made of old wood, the occasional tumbleweed… Gohan was more concern that the town appeared abandoned.
"This sucks!" argued Gohan. "This is the fourth village I've been to for groceries!" The detail got Georgia to question the blond.
"Fourth?" Gohan began to believe this wasn't a coincidence.
"Cell really put a scare in these people." As they tried to look for some sort of life, Pikachu turned to see a large dome on a nearby mountain with an emerald green roof. A squeak got Ash to turn to the dome and got an idea.
"You don't suppose they're all in that dome?" he questioned as he thumbed the structure. Gohan and Georgia twisted to see the dome, a thought that the villagers evacuated up to a safe place.
"It's possible." Georgia stepped ahead and turned to find something normally not seen in the Wild West: a green utility van.
"Looks like the village isn't entirely abandoned!" she warned. The boys came by, seeing the green van with a navy blue star somewhat over a red semi-circle. Gohan sensed something amiss.
"Let's go check." The van stood idle in front of a supply store. Inside were three men. One was a rather short, stubby man in a beige fedora while the taller man wore a cowboy hat. Both wore matching blue button-up shirts with their sleeves rolled up, black gloves, blue jeans and sunglasses. Behind the counter, the old man had everything white on him: hair, mustache, shirt, apron and trousers.
"Listen, old man!" the taller man urged to reason. "What is more important, Zeni or your life? The world's gonna end in over a week by that monster!" The old man didn't seem bothered.
"Can you be sure of that?" he questioned. "The immediate future isn't set in stone." The short man wasn't going to take denial as an answer.
"Shut your face, old man!" he snapped. "The villagers needed this more than you need the money!" The taller man pressed the shorter one down and opted a new approach.
"Listen, old man," he calmly pressed his point. "Maybe we can negotiate a trade: your supplies for lodging in the dome, no charges applied."
"You mean that death trap on the mountain?! I've warned everyone in the village that the dome's a bad idea." Choosing now to help settle matters, the kids came in the store.
"Hey, leave the old man alone," Georgia protested. Seeing the kids, the smaller man approached rather upset with the new interference.
"Get outta here, kiddies!" he yelled. "Get!" The taller one tried to ease his smaller partner.
"Burdwell, no need to yell at these young punks!" he tried to reason. Georgia's face puffed at the name-calling.
'Only Iris can call me a punk, that little kid.' Gohan stood forward with his reason.
"Listen, I just came here for groceries for my parents," he wished. The taller man snickered at the request.
"You'll have to look elsewhere," he advised. "This shop's sold out! It's going for a better cause than to rot in an empty village."
"By bribing him?" scorned Ash, his Pikachu backing what they saw.
"Mister Lao will be compensated by the Borbonne family after the crisis of Cell is over!" explained Burdwell. The old man, Lao, disagreed with their phony claim.
"That's enough out of you two!" he scowled, startling the two. Now he turned to the kids, mostly Gohan. "So, young man, is there anything you need? I'll be happy to check if I got what you're looking for." Gohan dug in his pockets while Ash scoffed at the situation that played out. The taller man wasn't throwing in the towel just yet.
"Get it through your thick skull, old man!" he roared right back. "We need all of this!...to survive. Ya dig me?" Lao saw through their bravado.
"Why? So that the Borbonne family will profit from my supplies and force the villagers to work for him?" Whatever the taller man considered, Lao refused to budge. Burdwell strolled to the shelves, a ploy in mind.
"Kasdan, I don't think Lao gets it," he teased as he saw jugs full of various liquids. "Maybe this will help him see our plight." He reached for the shelf but Pikachu leaped from Ash's shoulder, squeezed its cheeks and zapped Burdwell. It stopped the dwarfed man. Pikachu stopped its electric attack and Burdwell fell. Sparks radiated from the stunned man. Ash turned to Kasdan, a smug on his face.
"I think we know who the real monsters are," he growled. Kasdan looked a bit fearful of Pikachu. Things would get worse.
"Cell's here!" a girl's voice cried out. Her warning heard throughout the village alerted Kasdan and Burdwell to leave but not before Burdwell had his final piece.
"Don't say we didn't warn you!" he whined before exiting. Gohan's eyes dialated.
'No, it can't be!' he thought in fear. Ash and Georgia stood befuddled to the situation while Pikachu ran under the doors to see the van leave and the little girl, still shouting her alarm, back in the store.
"It's her false alarm," Lao sighed. Gohan gulped at Lao's realization.
"Wait, he… isn't here?" The little entered through the doors after Pikachu returned. Ash and Georgia's faces lit up at the sight of the little girl who had stopped her erratic shouting.
"Lime, what did I tell you about lying to the town?" The little girl jumped at her name and nervously twisted around to see Lao and the kids. Seeing Ash and Georgia, the little girl changed her mood from nervous to joy as she lunged and hugged the pink-haired trainer.
"It's you!" she cried. "You did come to help out!" Georgia couldn't move, not wanting to startle the little girl. Ash turned to Lao for an explanation.
"How do you know her?" he asked. Lao folded his arms together.
"Lime's my granddaughter," he answered. Ash and Gohan quickly understood the relationship. "Right now, I'm her guardian after Cell ravaged the Chazke Village before and absorbed many of the villagers, including Lime's parents." Ash's heart skipped a beat from the brief story. To Gohan, he did come too late on at least one occasion.
"So Cell was here?" he growled.
"I'm afraid so." The repeated mentions of Cell began to irritate the trainers. Georgia stood up, her legs held by Lime.
"Cell this, Cell that!" she groaned. "Why not tell us what's going on that this Cell freak is such a big deal?" Gohan and Lao glared at each other. To Ash, this was an opportunity to better understand the problems plaguing the village.
"We can work together to help the villagers in any way possible," he added. Lao and Gohan could use the aid.
"Very well," Lao assured. Gohan chose to start as he dug in his pockets again.
"Cell came from the future, created by scientists of the Red Ribbon Army," he began as he pulled out a pair of photos and handed it to Georgia. "The warning came from Trunks, who also came from the future to warn us of many events like my dad's heart problems which we've been able to fix." Georgia studied the first photo of a green creature that stood upright. His face did not have a mouth, orange scales in place of that below a green V-shaped helmet. The helmet and his chest had black jewel-like segments. His torso had orange scales and had dark green splotches over his body. He also had an enormous stinger as a tail and shell pieces that made it appear he had wings. Ash and Georgia cringed at the photo.
"Yeah, he's not entering a beauty pageant anytime soon, let alone winning one," she mocked.
"That's Cell after coming out of his husk. The other photo is after he absorbed the two androids that could power him up." Seeing the second photo, the trainers viewed some of the same from the first except the face looked rather human while wearing the same type of helmet. The face had white skin with purple under the eyes and looked to have a yellow chinstrap. The shell was black around the shoulders and the wings, as well as the leggings and crotch area.
"He almost looks human in this one," Ash surveyed. "So this is the… thing that killed Lime's mom and dad?"
"Yes," Lao replied. "Lately, he made an announcement about the upcoming Cell Games. As such, the Borbonne family issued a plan to 'keep the villagers safe.'" Now the trainers remembered the dome that they saw on the mountains and the argument when they saw Lao with Kasdan and Burdwell.
"You mean the dome on the mountainside?" guessed Georgia. "The one you call a deathtrap?"
"Indeed. The Borbonne family is trying to profit from the threats that if no one can defeat Cell, he'd destroy the world." Ash turned to Lime in realization of the details.
"That's why you give off the warnings," he figured. "You want to protect your grandpa and his business." Lime nodded to the guess, her care of Lao over-weighing her personal safety.
"I love my grandpa!" she proclaimed. "He's the only one who's taking care of me!" Ash understood the heartache and frustration Lime, placing his hands on her shoulders to comfort her.
"There may be a way we can keep you safe better than the Borbonne's dome." Lime started to stutter from Ash being rather close. Gohan grew suspicious to their plan.
"How could you do a better job than what the family is using?" he asked. It only took a second for Georgia to figure out Ash's idea.
"Come on, Gohan," she snickered. "Did you forget where we came from?" It took a moment more for Gohan to remember that Ash, Georgia and the Pokémon weren't from around here.
"Of course! Not even Cell has a clue about how you came to save Lime!" The plan intrigued Lime as she wanted to help her fellow villagers if Cell had his way.
"Are there more animals from your home?" she wished.
"Lots more," Ash snapped his reply.
"And can I have one as well?" Coming over, Georgia laid a hand over Ash's hand and Lime's shoulder.
"Just as long as your Pokémon isn't a Dragon-Type," she joked. Ash sighed at Georgia's remark.
"I don't need a reminder about your rivalry with Iris," he huffed. Lao trusted the words of the trainers and Gohan to help the village anyway possible.
"Okay, let's put away the supplies and come by my house," he offered. "It's in the outskirts." The four kids and Pikachu nodded in willing to help Lao. Meanwhile, Iris and the green-haired ate breakfast despite Ash not joining them. Iris looked over her shoulder in hopes that Ash would stop by and have something to eat. The green-haired saw the somewhat disdain face of the tanned girl.
"It's not like that little kid to miss out on a meal," she groaned. The green-haired remembered the note Ash left, not following on his promise that he'd come back to eat with them.
"I believe that's the reason he hasn't returned," he pointed out. "You calling Ash a little kid." Iris didn't appreciate the theory her friend thought up.
"You're not helping, Cilan!" Her yell spooked the creature with the tusk to hide behind a tree. Hearing the rustle, Iris turned to see the creature scared. "Sorry, Axew. I didn't mean to startle you." Axew came out of hiding and returned to snacking on some large pellets. Iris had a plan to find Ash. "Okay… once I finish, I'll have Emolga search for Ash. I mean, he could have run into Trip." Cilan had doubts but since Ash hadn't appeared, anything could have happened.
"It's leaving an unsavory taste in my heart." Neither were aware of the real situation involving their friend. Ash and Georgia have more to uncover soon enough.
TO BE CONTINUED...