Summary of Previous Chapter: Gary and Ash find out that there is a serious relationship between Dehlia and Professor Oak when they arrive at Ash's house for shelter in the middle of the night. Gary tells Professor Oak that the Gym in Cerulean burned down and that Misty is in a hospital in Cerulean. Professor Oak asks Gary why he did not finish his job in Cerulean. Gary tells Professor Oak the story about Jake Dragon, Josh Weston and Emily Dragon, and how this last person seems to have a grudge against Misty. Gary does not tell any of the three that he loves Misty. Ash, Dehlia and Oak learned that Gary and Misty are very close to being charged with several accusations including arson, second-degree murder, fraud, etc…Gary tells Ash that when he rescued Misty from the fire, he saw Butch from Team Rocket running away from the building.

Unbreakable

Chapter 3: Connections

"Anything good?"

"Nope, a regular man to me."

"Keep looking."

Ash Ketchum had his third cup of hot milk as he looked over what he felt was the 200th people-search website in the past five hours. Gary Oak was reading what Ash had printed a few minutes ago as he jotted down some notes in a desperate attempt to make sense of what was going on. The background noise belonged to the television in Dehlia's kitchen as it played the news of the events that occurred last night in Cerulean. Ash had stationed his mother's laptop on the kitchen table. Gary had stationed himself on the other side of the same table with dozens of papers with notes he was taking down of criminal laws, old news reports of the League's past and most recent movements, and the public profiles of Josh Weston and Jake Dragon.

They had been looking for hours and Emily Dragon's profile was not found anywhere in the net. Gary was starting to believe –and fear, that Emily Dragon did not even exist.

Dehlia Ketchum sat on the living room as she took down notes of the emergency meeting that was taking place in Indigo Plateau. Professor Oak had been called down to the home of the Elite Four to attend this meeting, and Gary had suggested that he took a hidden microphone with him. He had returned home and a helicopter was sent from Indigo Plateau to take him there as soon as possible. Dehlia had volunteered to write down everything that was said and agreed to in the meeting while Gary and Ash looked for clues and information about the people who were involved in what Gary strongly believed was a fraud against him and Misty. Ash Ketchum had also been called in to the meeting, but he had said that his mom was very ill and had called him during the middle of the night, providing him a valid reason for why he was gone. He would later be filled-in with the details by Dawn.

So far, Josh Weston seemed to be the average guy with only a small history of anger management issues. He had been admitted to a rehabilitation hospital a couple of times in account of his uncontrollable rage, but he had never assaulted anyone the way he had tried to assault Misty that night at the Cerulean carnival. The more they had researched about him, the more they realized that he was just a regular citizen who lost it because of his apparent humiliation with Misty, and was pushed to the limit by his lack of control over his anger. Even though he had hurt Misty and had made her spend the worst moments of her life, Gary felt guilty that Josh had died. In Gary's mind, all he needed was medical help and someone to care for him. He did not deserve to be shot on the forehead.

When it came to Jake Dragon, his history was quite interesting. He had always been a known troublemaker since his early years. He had been expelled from three schools while growing up for plotting against a teacher, attempting to rob the school, and making unwelcomed and inappropriate advances to a female student. Every single time he had ended up in deep trouble, he had been bailed out by his older sister. Apparently, Jake's parents had died when Jake was in third grade and his sister had to take over his custody. The name of his sister had never been mentioned in any of these reports, but Gary believed that it was Emily Dragon. The only connection he had found between him and Misty was that Jake was a native of Cerulean just like her, and that his parents had died exactly two years before Misty's parents had died.

Regardless of what Jake had done, he felt his pain. Gary had lost his parents when he was young too. Thankfully for him, the burden of raising a little boy was not all given to his older sister, May, but to his grandfather as well. He was glad he did not end up an angered psychopath or a minor-aged delinquent like Josh or Jake. "But neither of them has been formally charged with anything. I have, and for something I didn't do."

Gary's thoughts were dissipated as he heard Maya's name on T.V. "Ash, another news report!"

Both trainers looked at the television, trying not to disturb Dehlia's work in the living room. Maya was being interviewed in the middle of the meeting while they had a break.

"Ms. Amherst, what is this extraordinary meeting for?"

"Well, we were left no option but to call a non-scheduled meeting to discuss the current situation. I have been given final word on the decision of the League's legal advisors and we are analyzing the current state of affairs. We've come to several arrangements by unanimity."

"Anything you can share with us, you know, unofficially."

"Actually, these arrangements are pretty much legal. Our advisors are working on the final steps to make it legal as we break from the meeting. We will regroup only to read and inform the present about the final decisions before I make the official announcements to the League and then to the media."

"Can we ask a couple of questions before the press conference?"

"I rather not make any other comments until…"

Maya looked to her right and remained quiet for a few seconds. She then nodded and turned back to the news reporter and gave him a weak smile. "Our decisions are final. You may stream them live if you wish."

The reporter was excited to have this exclusive news and he and his cameraman quickly ran to the back of the room so that Maya was seen in the back of the scene as she walked to the front of the room. Everyone returned to their seats, and Gary and Ash were able to see the sadness on Professor Oak's face. Gary took a deep breath.

"The Pokémon League of the region of Kanto has delegated for quite some time about the several issues that are taking place in our association. The members present: Lance, Agatha, Lorelei, Bruno, Koga, Professor Oak, Dawn and myself, have agreed that the current issues surrounding our associations are a cause for impending loss of credibility of our mission and vision, as well as reason to take extreme measures for a good cause.

We have come to the realization that if these extreme measures are not taken seriously as soon as they take effect, the purity of the mission and vision of our organization will cease to exist. This will in turn destroy the spirit and hard work of thousands of members around the region, and will place a dark mark on the quality of Kanto's trainers all around the world. We hereby present the following actions to be placed in effect at the end of this meeting:

Gary Oak and Misty Waterflower will be formally charged with the accusations imposed by the law. These two former members will be exposed to the full penalty of the law and shall receive no aid from the League as they have given up their positions and status when they chose to break the law.

The Pokémon that belonged to these two former members will now become possession of the Pokémon League itself as they are registered under our name. These two former members have shown a lack of qualification to take care of other living beings, and will in turn resign their Pokémon to Ash Ketchum and Dawn Hall.

The Pokémon Gym in Cerulean will no longer exist, and shall not be reconstructed. The Waterflower family has failed to keep their end of the bargain in the probationary period of their term, and their permission to keep and maintain an official Pokémon Gym will be revoked.

The Waterflower sisters, including the temporary Gym Leader who is in medical care at the moment, will be charged for fraud and break of a legal contract. The three older sisters, Daisy, Lily and Violet will be kept in house arrest in our facilities in Indigo Plateau. They will be judged and charged some time this coming week.

Anyone who tries to aid these two former members of the Pokémon League will be subject to charges of aiding outlaws escape, aiding in avoiding the law, and will be trialed as accomplices.

The Pokémon Gyms will not hold any battles until these issues are completely resolved and the two former members are in the custody of the law and are charged with the crimes they have committed.

At the end of this ordeal, a new Gym will be constructed in Lavender Town to replace the Gym in Cerulean City.

As of today, at 1:13 p.m. these resolutions are held in place.

Ash's jaw clenched in anger; he could not believe the League would not given either of them the benefit of the doubt. While it was true that they would have a trial, he knew that there would be nothing fair about it. The League was placing everyone against them by closing the Gym's and stopping Pokémon battling indefinitely. He never thought he would ever hate his job this much.

Needless to say, Gary had already felt this unfairness fall on him. Gary took another sip of his coffee. If someone was going to take care of all of his Pokémon, might as well be Ash who did this. However, losing his Pokémon was something he did not expect and deep inside hurt him very, very much.

The two trainers saw as the media was asked to leave the premises and the doors were locked behind them. Gary and Ash looked at each other before they both sighed.

"This cannot get any worse, can it?"

"In related news, the three bodies that were found in the Cerulean Gym have been identified as Jessie, James and Cassidy. Last names were not available, but it is being rumored that all three of these young people belonged to the well-known Team Rocket gang."

"Guess it can," Gary said.

Ash's head fell as he heard the names of the people he had battled so many times in ten years. He knew Team Rocket was the biggest Pokémon robbery gang in Kanto, perhaps the world, but he knew Jessie and James on a different level as well. Even though they had tried to take Pikachu from him several times, they had also helped him save the world in a few occasions. Neither of them deserved to be burned down alive. Somehow, he knew that Jessie and James would not be the type of mobsters to try and kill a person; he did not know the same about Cassidy, though. It seemed Gary was right; Butch had made it out of the fire alive.

"I don't know how, but we need to find Butch too," Ash said. Gary agreed with him but knew that finding a sole member of Team Rocket was going to be more difficult than finding the mysterious Emily Dragon herself.

Ash rubbed his face with his hands in obvious exasperation. "When did everything get so screwed up?"

Perhaps the moment he decided to break up with Misty. If he had not broken up with her, she had not stayed in Cerulean. She would have not gotten so close to get killed so many times, the Gym would have not burned down, and she would not be alone in a cold hospital bed with machines hooked up to her body. Gary would have not had any need to go to Cerulean, Pikachu had not died, and Misty's sisters would not be in house arrest. He knew he had no say on what other people chose to do, but he felt his decision had opened a can of caterpies that made all of these situations unfold.

Somehow he felt it was his entire fault.

"And maybe it is…"

On the other hand, Gary believed all this to be his fault. If he had not let himself get blackmailed he would have not stayed with the League, he would have not ended up in Misty's gym and would have not placed her or his own sister in so much danger. He knew that he liked Misty way before they shared a roof, but perhaps he had not fallen so hard for her if they had not lived in the same place for six entire months.

And above all, he and Ash's friendship would have never been tainted this way.

He knew they were working together at the moment for Misty's sake, but he also knew that if Ash knew how much he loved Misty, he would never forgive him. The unwritten rule of a guy falling in love with his best friend's ex-girlfriend was floating in the thick air of Ash's mom's kitchen. Yet, Gary also knew that if he wanted to fix the current situation, he would have to open up and be honest to his friend once and for all. They had a common goal at the moment, and as infuriating as the situation was going to become for Ash, Gary knew that he was running out of time and that Ash needed to have all the facts straightened out before Gary was taken away.

Gary sighed before looking at all the information he had in front of him, attempting to make some sort of logical connections among the incidents. Ash continued to look for information about Jake, but the more he searched, the more he thought this issue would have no end.

"Ash, I need to talk to you."

"Yeah?"

"No, really talk to you. There are some things that you should know."

Dehlia heard the tone of voice Gary had used in his last sentence, and she realized that whatever Gary had to tell Ash was not going to be good. She stood up and went to her room to give the two young men some room. If they had to beat the crap out of each other in order to get over their hidden anger, so be it.

Neither man noticed Dehlia was gone.

Ash closed the laptop in front of him and gave Gary his undivided attention. Gary took a deep breath before he spoke, wondering how much of the truth he should let Ash know about. "Ok, so I think Josh Weston shouldn't even be counted as a suspect. What do you think?"

"Yeah, kid was just messed up," Ash said.

"Ok. However, Jake Dragon doesn't get my sympathy. He tried to kill Misty."

"I read the story in an article. One thing I don't understand is how did he get an underwater breather for his Pokémon?"

"I don't either. Those breathers are specially made for the League. Now that I think about it, he must've known someone in the League to get one."

"What kind of League member would give that idiot an underwater breather to cheat? Maybe he stole it from the Gym."

"Impossible. The Gym had a highly sensitive security system. If he had tried to get in, we'd know about it. Besides, we kept the breathers inside the main office; the door needed Misty's fingerprint to get open. Maybe Emily is real and she works for the League."

"I don't think so. Either you or me would have known about it by now."

"Her name sounds so familiar, though," Gary said.

"I'm sure Misty knows her."

"Yup, which is why we'll have to visit her tonight and see if she's awake."

"What? How the fuck are you gonna get inside the hospital? The cops are looking for ya!" Ash said.

"I can't…but you can. You'll have to do that for us. I'll wait in the car."

"That's not gonna work! I'm supposed to be here because my mom's supposed to be sick. They are gonna wonder what I'm doing in Cerulean."

"Misty was your girl, don't you think people will understand if you wanted to see how she is?"

Ash looked down in shame. Misty was his girl –was. Yet, it did not mean that he did not care about her any less than he did when they were still together. Ash wanted to see her again and make sure she was alright and Gary knew it. He wanted to see her and touch her; talk to her and apologize. Apologize like he should have when he saw her again during the Pokémon League's convention months ago.

"So, are you gonna?"

"Yeah," Ash nodded. "We need to leave right now or we won't make it to Cerulean by night."

"I know."

Gary stood up to grab his coat as Ash went to his room to grab his own. He looked at the T.V. one last time before shutting it off. He was tired of hearing how he and Misty where the bad guys, and how the League was an innocent victim of both. "Corporate bullshit," he thought.

He turned around and walked to the living room to wait for Ash. He sat down and tried to relax for a few minutes but his mind kept bugging him that he knew who Emily Dragon was. Her name was too familiar for him but for the life of him he could not remember where he had heard her name before. He closed his eyes for an instant in an attempt to concentrate and find an answer to this question, but his cell phone had other plans for him. Gary pulled out his mobile device as it beeped three times to inform him that he had received a text message labeled as urgent.

Gary opened his cell phone to see a very familiar name on the sender's name. He smiled when he saw it, but his smile did not last long when he read the contents of the text.

"I know who Jake Dragon is."

Gary froze. How did Becca Gall know that he was looking for him? Was it a trap from the League? Had Becca turned her back on him and was now trying to turn him in?

"She'd never do that!"

Gary did the only thing he could do: he texted back. In a matter of seconds a new text came in. Gary read it out loud.

"He dated Dawn Hall. He's a jerk. I know he tried to injure Misty."

"Who dated Dawn?"

Gary's head turned around to watch Ash looking at him, his mom slightly behind him in the hall. Gary looked at Ash and Ash repeated his question to him. Gary was confused for a split second before he realized what was happening. His eyes widened. "It can't be…"

Ash walked to Gary and demanded an explanation. Gary's face was in shock and his fingers would not stop texting. Ash raised his voice again but Gary signaled him to stop with one hand as he held his cell phone with the other one. All three current occupants froze at they stared at each other.

The silence was broken by the three beeps of Gary's cell phone.

"Dawn used 2 be my bff. He is in Celadon. He tried to hurt me."

Gary growled. "Jake is in Celadon City."

Ash was more frustrated than relieved. "How the hell do you know this?"

"Remember Becca Gall? She's the supervisor for Erica's Gym. She's an old friend of mine. Jake tried to hurt her. She said she knows who Jake is. She said he used to date…Dawn."

"What? Dawn knows Jake?"

Gary nodded and sent another text to Becca, asking her if she was alright. Becca replied that she was, but that Jake had been released from jail because someone had paid his bond. He had tried to beat up Becca but the police had shown up.

"He's doing it again! What the hell does he want?" Ash said raising his voice in frustration as Gary told him what Jake had done. "We need to go see Misty and then go to Celadon. We need to find him."

"No, we need to go to Celadon first. Celadon is closer than Cerulean from here," Gary said.

Ash nodded realizing he had had to wait much longer to be able to see Misty again. The police was probably looking for Gary anyway, so the less time they wasted, the better it was for them. Gary asked Becca if she knew where Jake lived, and she gave them his address. Apparently Jake had moved from Cerulean after his parents' deaths and had established himself in Celadon.

"Get him for me. I made it, but Bryan is in the hospital. Jake almost killed him when he tried to defend me."

Gary sighed. Bryan was Becca's husband, and he could only imagine the pain Becca was going through right now. He did not know why Jake had attacked them but he was not going to wait until he tried again. They had no option than to go to Celadon and surprise him at his own home. Once they obtained the information they wanted from him, they would visit Misty and hope she was awake. All they needed was a motive from Jake to kill Misty, and they could begin fighting against the accusations the League was placing on them.

"I will. Thanks," Gary texted her back.

"Come on, Ash. We've got to get going."

Gary waked outside and allowed Ash and his mom to have a moment alone for the both of them. He closed the door behind him as Ash turned around and looked at his mom with the saddest face.

"He'll be alright, Mom. The League won't hurt him."

Dehlia Ketchum could not hold the tears any longer. She had tried to be strong to not cry in front of Gary, but seeing as he was gone now, she could not help it anymore. "I know they won't, but it just happened so fast. Don't let Gary find out."

"I'll try. You've got to stay here. Don't go anywhere. We don't know who this Jake is aiming at, ok?"

"I will. Please be careful, son."

Ash nodded and headed for the door. He made sure his coat was in place as he heard Gary honking at him from outside. Ash sighed.

"Ash," his mom cried.

"Yeah?"

"Whatever happens, don't tell Gary that Samuel was arrested. It'd crush him."

"I know."

Ash opened the door and locked it after him. He ran to Gary's car and got in.

"Ready, Ash?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

Gary Oak shifted gears to reverse and began their road to Celadon. The snow had stopped but dark clouds were still around. Ash saw his home seem smaller and smaller in the side rear-view mirror as they drove away from it. He hoped his mom would be alright. He looked at Gary and then at where the keys should have been only to see that the car was hotwired.

"Did you really steal this car?"

"Shhh…As long as they don't find the body in the trunk we should be fine."
Ash looked at Gary and his eyes widened. Again, he wanted to believe that Gary was lying, but after seeing everything he had seen, and hearing everything he had heard, he was having a difficult time knowing what was real and what was far from an actual truth.

"You scare me sometimes, you know that?"

"I scare myself sometimes."

Ash rolled his eyes. Gary chuckled at his reaction, remembering how they used to tease each other when they were very young, though his smile dissipated in an instant as he realized he had to tell Ash what had happened in the Gym before he left.

"Ash, I've got to tell you something."

"What?"

"Well, you know how Josh tried to attack Misty."

"Yeah."

"And what happened to the Gym when Jake used that Pikachu in battle."

"Yeah."

"But you don't know…nobody knows, what happened inside the Gym when it burned down."

"Does Misty know?"

"I am hoping she knows what happened before I went back; but I can tell ya what happened what happened when I got there. I've got to give you something, but you need to know what happened first."

Ash nodded. Listening to a story where Misty got hurt was not his cup of tea, but he had to know everything before placing blame on anyone –if any, and before returning to the League to interrogate Dawn about Jake.

Gary closed his eyes for a second before opening them again and concentrating on the road. The road to Route 17 was a long one, and even thought they were not going through Viridian Forest again, there were plenty of trees to keep them company all the way to Celadon City.

Without further a due, Gary began to tell his story from the start.

Gary saw the huge flames coming out of the Pokémon Gym. The sounds of the sirens drew him crazy. He hated the sound of danger, especially when he knew it was Misty who was in peril. He turned to face Jake who had an awfully big smile on his face. He knew Gary was in pain, and he was enjoying the suffering he felt.

"Oh, well. I guess you didn't get to fuck her either."

Gary's eyes widened at the realization of how low Jake Dragon really was. He felt so naïve at the thought of ever feeling sorry for him, and for his Pokémon loss. Jake was an asshole; as real as they get.

"You should've stayed a little longer like she asked you to. You'd be burning in hell together now."

Gary pressed Jake against the glass wall and punched him on the stomach. How Jake knew what they had talked about before he left was beyond him. He could not ask either. He had something more important that needed to be taken care of. He would just have to come back and hunt him when he was done.

"Someday I'll find your sorry ass and we'll finish this. While that happens, I wanna give you a little something to remember me by."

"What would th— UGHH!"

Jake bent down and got on his knees. The ground in front of him became tainted with red stains coming from him nose, and the trail of blood could be followed on his clothes. Gary had punched him on the face, really hard. Gary stood up in front him, watching as he curled up on the floor and glared at Gary who was walking backwards making his way to the Gym. He held his testicles with his right hand as he pointed down to them with his left hand and spoke. "These are next, fucker."

He gave Jake that prideful smile he was known for before turning around and running as fast as he could towards the Gym, leaving his bags behind. He did not have anything important in them, anyway. He knew Jake would probably take them with him when he recovered from the punches, but he did not care. All he needed was his Pokémon belt, and he never took it off.

Gary ran to the parking lot of the Gym and saw the yellow caution tape being placed around the building. Firefighters had begun connecting hoses and the police kept bystanders as far away from danger as possible. The flames that came out from the top of the Gym were as high as ten feet, and the windows and doors were covered by the metal strips. Misty had not disarmed the security after he had left and she was now trapped inside. If Misty died inside it would be his fault.

Gary ran to the closest police officer and was told to leave the premises. He showed his Pokémon League Badge and asked what the status of the incident was. The officer nodded before he responded.

"We are not sure what caused the fire, but there seemed to be four people inside, as well as an unknown number of Pokémon trapped. We received a call from the neighbors and not from the inside."

"There are 25 Pokémon in the Gym," Gary began, "and Misty Waterflower was still there when I left about an hour ago."

"Where did you go?"

"My duty was done. I was heading to Indigo Plateau when I saw the fire truck and police heading to the Gym. Why do you say there were four people inside? Misty was the only one there when I left."

"We rescued three of them."

"Misty's sisters?"

"We don't know for certain. There were two women but they died after we took them out, their bodies too burned to identify them by sight. We have an unidentified male heading to the hospital as we speak. He told us there were four people inside."

Gary's heart raced. He looked around him and saw the firefighters aiming water to the top of the Gym while others jumped out the windows followed by flames. Others tried to find another way to go inside the Gym and had begun axing their way in. He looked back as he heard the sound of another fire truck arriving, but his eyes were caught by the scene of the two covered bodies of the women the officer had described on the ground. Misty's sisters were scheduled to arrive today and if they had, they were probably dead by now. On the other hand, it could have been that Misty was one of the burned women and was lying on the ground, dead. Gary wanted to throw up.

"Is there a possibility one of those women is Misty?"

The officer shook his head. "We couldn't tell who they were by their faces, but neither of them had a sign of having red hair. If Miss Waterflower is still alive, she must be inside the Gym. We've check every room we could and the only place we've not been able to check is one upstairs. A code is required to enter and the door is made out of thick metal. Our firefighters haven't been able to last long enough to take it down."

"That's the office. We kept important paperwork inside it so we installed an electronic lock. Misty could be in there."

"Do you know the code? It could help us save her."

"The code alone won't help you."

"Why not?"

"We need Misty's fingerprint to get in."

"How did you ever get in?"

"She let me in."

The officer sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration. Gary looked at the raging fire and then at the officer. "I'm going in."

"Are you crazy? I can't let you in, kid."

"You have no option. She'll die if we don't do something."

"And you'll die along with her if I let you in."

"Might as well…" Gary thought.

Gary reached over his Pokémon belt. If Misty was inside the Gym still, the office was the only room she could be in. This was the most secure room in the entire building and knowing her, if she was not able to leave on time, she was hiding there. The room was safe with the door, but fire could get in from the ceiling or floors. The amount of paper in the room was ridiculous, and if nothing was done she would die a quick but painful death.

Another officer joined them as Gary plotted a way to running inside. He did not doubt the expertise of the firefighters, but with two dead women and a hurt man on his way to the hospital, he could not help to feel he could not rely on them to save Misty's life. "Sir, you have to let me in there. I can use my Pokémon to get her out."

"I already said no! You want to endanger yourself and your Pokémon? What kind of trainer are you?"

"You want to let the only opportunity to save her life pass by. What kind of officer are you?"

Both men stared at each other, and the second officer stared at both of them. He then cleared his throat to catch their attention and after he did, he pulled out a Pokémon belt with six pokeballs on it. "We found this in one of the halls."

Gary snatched the belt from the officer who was ready to snap back at Gary but his colleague stopped him. He shook his head, understanding that Gary's attitude came from his need to save his friend and signaled his partner to let it go. Gary extended the belt in his hands and looked for something only he knew. He sighed as he pointed to the middle of the belt for the two officers to see.

Misty's name was on the belt.

"She's still inside. She would never leave her belt behind. Something must have happened to her."

"She must be in that room, then."

Gary's hand stroked the pokeballs lightly several times until he grabbed one, turned around, and tossed it to call out the Pokémon in it.

After the red light that surrounded all incoming Pokémon ended, an injured Psyduck appeared. Gary ran to the Pokémon and helped him sit on the ground. Psyduck's body was bruised and scratched, and his big eyes were red from crying. Gary feared the worst.

"Psyduck, what happened to you?"

Psyduck sniffed and held his head.

"Were you helping Misty?"

Psyduck slightly nodded.

Gary patted the poor Pokémon as he prepared himself to ask a question he was afraid of asking.

"Where is Misty?"

The Pokémon sniffed again and faced the Gym before he extended his tiny arm and pointed to the top part of the building.

The three men followed the ending path of his little hand and realized where Misty was.

"She is still in the office. I'm going in whether you let me or not."

Gary recalled Psyduck and replaced the pokeball on the Pokémon belt before placing it around his waist. He took one step towards the Gym, waiting for either of the officers to stop him, but when he saw they didn't move an inch, he sped up and disappeared inside the Gym.

Gary sighed before reaching over the glove compartment of the car. He opened it and pulled out a Pokémon belt; Misty's Pokémon belt. "I think you should have this. You're getting them anyway, but please don't give them to Dawn. Don't let the League known you have them either. They'll suspect something."

Ash nodded as he grabbed it and hid it inside his coat. Gary cleared his throat before continuing his story.

As soon as Gary entered the Gym, his lungs began hurting and his eyes itched like nothing else ever had. The smoke was thick and the fire was raging. The once state-of-the-art Gym they had both worked for so hard for the past six months was becoming nothing more than a cruel memory. The walls had lost their navy blue color and were now dark or ash gray. The furniture was gone, and the stairs had been consumed by the fire. Parts of the roof were collapsing in front of him. Despite the firefighters' best effort, the Gym would not last much longer under the lack of mercy of the fire.

Gary chose his Blastoise and ordered him to use water gun. He knew the structure of the building would collapse anyway, but he needed more time to find a way to get to Misty. He then called out Misty's Starmie and ordered both Pokémon to continue their water attacks around the area that was closest to the office he had to reach. Gary knew that trying to open the metal door was going to be a waste of time and that attempting to break the roof on the lower room was easier than any other possible task. He ran to the storage room underneath and kicked the door open. The fire was less intense in this room, but his lungs still complained in the form of chest pains and loud coughing.

He called out his Alakazam and asked him to use his psychic powers to find Misty's presence on top of them. Alakazam took a brief moment before finally finding her on the corner opposite to the door. Once his job was done and Gary knew the exact location of Misty's body, he called back Alakazam. He reached for Misty's belt and called out Dragonite. He stepped out and roared at the discomfort that was the smoking room.

"I'm sorry, Dragonite, but I need your help. I need you to make a hole on the roof over there," Gary said as he pointed to the opposite corner where Alakazam had sensed Misty was at.

Dragonite roared in understanding and began charging a small amount of energy to use hyperbeam. Gary's head began spinning a little as oxygen was becoming scarce. He could still hear Blastoise and Starmie working outside but the fire was slowly winning. Dragonite was almost done charging to attack as he became worried about Gary's condition. He kept trying to take deep breaths filtered by his shirt, but the smoke was too thick to avoid.

Dragonite watched as Gary got down to his knees and coughed non-stop. The smoke in the room was going nowhere fast; Gary's lungs could not take much more before he intoxicated himself to death. Dragonite finally released his attack and without even waiting to make sure he had succeeded, he flew towards Gary and grabbed one of Misty's pokeballs.

Dragonite threw the pokeball and after a few seconds, the red flash of light left behind a shiny, huge Gyrados. Gyrados analyzed the situation for a split second before bathing Gary and the room with his own water gun attack. In a matter of seconds Gary was brought back to reality and the room had been emptied of the smoke.

Gary looked up and saw the newly arrived Pokémon. Even though he had just been called out, Gyrados showed signs of having encountered a battle. Gary knew he did not have a Gyrados and the closest Misty had to it been that shiny Magikarp she had found in her room. "When did it evolve?"

Gary shook his head and remembered what he had gone inside the Gym for. He looked at the corner and realized that Dragonite had succeeded. There was a hole on the roof big enough for him to get there. Gary stared at Dragonite before asking him to give him a lift. Dragonite nodded and threw Gary through the hole. Gyrados stayed behind to help Starmie and Blastoise while Dragonite followed Gary.

As soon as Gary allowed his senses to become aware of his new environment, he realized that though there was no fire in the room, the temperature was easily above the 130 degrees. The heat from the fire around the room was building up and concentrating in the room. The temperature continued to increase, giving Gary a headache and a slight feeling of dizziness.

Gary concentrated on analyzing the status of the room. The sprinklers had gone off, but since there was no fire in the room, the humidity only worsened the heat inside of it. The amounts of paperwork in the room were ruined, and some of the office supplies were slowly melting and becoming part of other supplies.

The office was thrashed. The furniture was either flipped over or broken, and the floor was covered in paper, trash and…red stains.

"Blood."

Gary became uneasy. "Misty, are you here?"

No response.

Gary began screaming Misty's name as he moved around the furniture around him in order to be able to get to the corner Alakazam had felt a human presence. He knew that if she was not here, it meant that she was dead somewhere in the Gym. He had to find her. He just had to. The blood on the walls was fresh and dripping to the floor.

"Misty, talk to me! We need to get out!"

Gary heard Dragonite trying to help out, but the heat was also getting the best out of the Pokémon. Gary thought he could ask Dragonite to use one of his ice attacks but he feared it would hurt Misty if she was indeed somewhere around.

Gary's search took him to the corner of the room where Alakazam had felt Misty's presence. He got on his knees as he moved papers and pieces of furniture. He finally saw a hand come up from the side of the pile of trash.

"Misty!"

Gary grabbed the hand and pulled it up only to find it did not belong to Misty or a woman. Gary had found Butch.

"What the hell?"

Gary's memory was triggered. The officer had said that a man taken to the hospital had said there four people inside the building. There were two women dead, one guy in the hospital and now an unconscious Butch. Gary's heart began racing. There were two possibilities. One: Misty had escaped the building before the fire and had accidentally lost her Pokémon belt; or two: Misty was one of the women dead outside.

Gary sighed. He did not know what Team Rocket had to do with the fire, Jake, or perhaps Emily Dragon's attempt to get rid of Misty, but he could not leave Butch behind. Gary prepared himself to lift up Butch when he heard Dragonite roar.

Gary looked up and saw Dragonite carrying Misty in its arms.

He ran to the Pokémon and thanked him as he grabbed Misty and laid her on the floor. He checked her pulse and was glad to find one even though it was slow. She seemed bruised and burnt here and there but other than that she looked fine. He could not help to smile as he touched her face. "You definitely need life insurance, Red."

Misty smiled.

Gary frowned as he did not know if his mind was playing tricks on him while he held Misty closer to him. "Do you know I'm here?"

Misty slightly nodded.

"Are your sisters here?"

Misty shook her head.

"Then I'm gonna get you out, ok? Can you hold on a little bit more for me?"

Misty nodded before opening her one good eye and using the last of her strength to pull herself up and press her lips against Gary's.

Gary took half a second to react and kissed her back before she finally passed out in his arms. Gary placed Misty safely in his arms. He then walked towards the door and used Misty's fingerprint to open it. The door opened without further adieu. He took one step forward to leave the room, hoping Gyrados could take care of Misty while he returned for Butch. All of a sudden, he felt his legs failing on him.

"What just…"

Gary followed the pain of his legs to his back to his head. Something had hit his head hard enough for the pain to take over his entire body and bringing him down to his knees. He felt a hot liquid pouring from his head down to his back. It was blood; his blood.

His sight was slightly impaired by the hit as he saw Dragonite fly behind him heading towards the opposite corner of the room.

"Did…Dragonite…attack…me?"

Gary could not understand why. He knew Pokémon tend to be jealous of their trainers but his and her Pokémon had trained very close to either trainer. There was no reason why Dragonite would believe he was placing Misty in further danger.

Gary laid down Misty as he turned around, ready to defend himself from Dragonite when he saw the Pokémon flying back to wall and hitting it, falling to the floor unconscious. "What the fuck?"

Gary looked to the other side of the room and saw a standing Butch with an Electabuzz of his own. Gary recalled Dragonite before he spoke.

"You've got to be kidding me. There are greater things right now than stealing Pokémon."

Butch chuckled. "I didn't come here to steal Pokémon, Oak. I'm here to kill her."

Gary's eyes opened wide to the amusement of the Rocket in front of him. Butch's voice was angry and aggressive. He did not seem like the silly regular member of Team Rocket who had tried to steal Gary's Pokémon in more than one occasion. "What?"

"I was given an order to get rid of the redhead. I lost my partner because of her. Now you'll lose yours."

"What are you talking about?"

"Cassidy…is dead…she killed her!"

"Who did?"

"The stupid bitch you were carrying!"

"Misty would never…"

"She did. And now is payback time."

"Butch, we need to get out of…" Gary tried to reason with the Rocket member but it was useless. Butch had already ordered his Electabuzz to attack Gary and stomp over him and Misty. The Pokémon tried to push Gary out of his way to attack Misty, but Gary fell to the floor and placed his body between Electabuzz and the Waterflower sister. Gary felt the pressure of Electabuzz' feet on his back as he tried miserably to protect Misty's body by using his own to shield her.

Butch walked towards Gary and began kicking him to force him to move from top of Misty. Gary tried to call a Pokémon but every time he tried to reach over the pokebelt he was hit even harder by Butch. Gary began coughing up blood as Butch hit his face with his foot.

"Why don't you just give up, kid? The League wants you dead too. Just make it easier on me, will ya?"

"Who…sent…you?"

Butch snickered and kicked him again. Gary could not help to whimper. "Who…sent…you?!"

"Does it matter? It's just one more person that wants you dead. You sure know how to piss off people, Oak."

"Answer me!"

Butch growled in desperation with Gary's stubbornness. He grabbed Gary by his back and pushed him out of the room, leaving Misty helpless with Electabuzz as he did as he wanted with her. Gary tried to run back to the room but Butch began punching him on the face and stomach. Gary did not think he could take more pain. The Pokémon underneath them were now tired and their efforts had begun decreasing as it showed on the fire increasing in strength again.

"Gary Oak; the prodigious kid; Mr. Have-it-all, where is your glory now?"

Gary stood up and held his weight against the wall that led to where the stairs should have been but had been consumed by the fire. Gary took deep breaths to ease the pain, but with bigger breaths only meant more smoke in his lungs.

"What did we ever do to you?"

"I'm just doing a job, it's not my vengeance."

"Then why…are you doing it?"

"Personally, I don't like you."

"Then leave Misty alone."

"Oh, she's part of the bargain. It's either both or none. Besides, I had fun…with her…right before you came…"

Gary's eyes opened wide. He felt the pain of the smoke in his lungs being replaced by the pain of deep anger. His fists trembled and his knuckles cracked. He reached over the Pokémon belts and recalled all the Pokémon that were trying to stop the fire. Half of the Gym had burned down anyway.

"Giving up, Oak?"

Gary did not speak.

Butch began walking to him, describing how it had been with her. Gary's anger only rose. "She's pretty good. The exercise helps her a lot for this. But of course, you know that already, don't you?"

Gary began walking towards Butch. He had never wanted to hurt anyone as much as he wanted to hurt Butch at the moment, not even that Jake kid.

Butch stopped in front of Gary. Gary eyed him until he saw Electabuzz come out from the room. Electabuzz growled and Butch called him back. "Seems the job is done. Now it's just you and me."

"You wish."

Butch smiled as he tried to hit Gary on his face again, but he dodged it. Gary grabbed Butch's fist and did something he never thought he would do. Gary extended Butch's arm with one hand, and then used his closed fist of his other hand to bend Butch's elbow the wrong way in a swift movement that broke Butch's arm. Butch cried in pain seeing his arm bend the wrong way and hang limp in two parts. Butch got down on his knees and held his broke arm to try and easy the pain. Now that the Pokémon were gone, the last part of the Gym was crumbling down. Gary walked next to Butch and headed to the room to check up on Misty; she was still alive, though extremely bruised by Electabuzz' merciless attacks.

Gary picked her up in his arms as he turned around and saw Butch standing up but still crying. "The building will collapse any minute now. We have to get out. You can either stay there or follow me out of here."

"What the fuck are you talking about? How are you gonna get down anyway? The stairs are gone! Besides, I am dead either way if I don't complete the job."

"Gyrados!"

Gyrados came out from Misty's pokebelt. It roared and made Butch take a few steps back. The pain in his arm was extreme, and he could not think of anything else to do. He watched as Gary carried Misty and held her tight before ordering Gyrados to get them out of there. "I need you to take us down and make a hole on the wall so we can escape."

Gyrados nodded and used his strength to make a hole on the wall before using his body as a makeshift stairs for Gary and Misty. Butch stood up there for a few seconds before walking as he followed Gary, standing right next to him. "It's burning down there," Butch said as he looked down. "Tell me how hell looks like in a dream."

"What?"

In a seemingly swift movement –but what seemed like slow motion to Gary, Butch pushed Gary off the top floor, down to the burning first floor. Gary grabbed Misty by her waist with his left arm and used his right arm to grab onto Butch's bad arm as he fell. Butch could not help but to give in to the pain and fall right after Gary. Gary let go of Butch and then grabbed on to Gyrados who had moved to catch the trainers. Butch mimicked Gary's movement and made it safely to the ground.

Gary saw as Butch rolled on the floor and grabbed his broken arm. He then gave Gary the finger and disappeared behind the fire. Gary closed his eyes and asked Gyrados to take them out to safety. Gyrados did as told and then was called back by Gary.

"Look! It's Gary Oak!"

Gary saw the officers and paramedics run to him as he fell on the grass outside the Gym, passing out immediately after but still holding on to Misty for dear life. A few feet away, Gary saw Butch hide behind some bushes before making his way out of the crime scene.

Ash's face was unreadable. A silence invaded the two passengers as Gary read a sign that said: Celadon City, 20 miles. These twenty miles would feel as long as a thousand for the trainers heading there.