Hiya there folks! I know it's been awhile, but life got in the way as it tends to do, and I've been trying to split my free time - what little of it I have - between this story, a SSB fanfiction, a 4th-wall-breaking fanfic, and a new one that probably won't come out for awhile (though I am working on it a lot). So I took a giant hiatus from EVERYTHING.

So, yeah, you're probably tired of my excuses and I'm sorry for not updating and all that BUT - ! I'm here now and here comes a chapter!

Gary: Sweet!

Misty: Kit doesn't own Pokemon.

Meowth: Right, dat's it, an'... he'e we go! Git dose cameras rollin', folks!

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CHAPTER FOUR: Parting Ways

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Catie held tightly to Delia, pressing into her shirt and breathing in her sweet scent.

She didn't really know what was going on. Not really. All she knew was that they'd left the others and they were going somewhere.

"Delia," she whispered, "wh-where are we going?"

"We're going home," Delia murmured in reply. "My home. We're going to Nimbasa City, first, to get some sort of directions, and then we're going home."

Catie nodded. Normally, the thought of home would have excited her, but she was too tired to really be excited. She slumped against Delia and closed her eyes.

...

Her voice was quiet and surprisingly gentle as she spoke.

"I can't live like this anymore, James."

His reply was more urgent. "But you - but this is all we've got! And we've been a part of it for years now!"

She sighed, but it wasn't a sigh of exasperation; it was one of sadness and despair. "We can make our own living, James. We could do it. We've done it before, haven't we?"

"But, Jessie - "

"No." Her voice had taken on a sharp edge. "No, James. Listen. When I joined Team Rocket, I wasn't signing up to be a murderer. I never was. You've seen what Giovanni's doing - you know exactly what he's doing."

She tore off the jacket with the big red "R" and tossed it to the ground, revealing her black turtleneck shirt underneath. "I'm done with this."

He stared for a moment, hesitating, before following suit, ripping off his own jacket. He took a deep breath before speaking.

"Then so am I."

...

Gary heaved a sigh.

The young brown-haired boy was staring listlessly up at the sky, making pictures out of clouds, as he waited with the rest of the group.

He was thinking of his grandfather, and it was easy to see.

Both Gary and Professor Oak had been reluctant to part. Ash and his mom had been, too. But they all agreed it was the safest thing to do. Delia and the professor would go back to Nimbasa City to get a sense of direction, and maybe a map, before heading off for home on Oak's Dragonite.

The group of kids would continue on their way to Sinnoh.

Right now, the group consisted of Ash, Gary, Brock, Misty, Ritchie, May, Max, Drew, Dawn, Paul, Trip, Iris, Cilan, and Chili. Gary gave another, smaller sigh. That was a lot of people to remember.

Chili was going to be headed back to Striaton City, soon, too. But neither Cilan nor his brother were ready to part ways with each other after... after what had happened to Cress.

Gary shivered. He'd seen the blue-haired boy after the battle. That kind of death... it was absolute torture, and, well, Gary would know.

Right now, Cilan and Chili were whipping something up for the group to eat before they left for Sinnoh. Gary watched the two triplets carefully. It was painfully easy to see their grief.

The young researcher did admire the way the green-haired one, Cilan, tried to smile - if only to lift his brother's spirits just a little. It was kind of sweet.

But it also made Gary ache for the both of them. He'd never had a brother, or any kind of a sibling, but when Ash had "died"...

Ash was, in all honesty, the closest thing Gary had to a brother. Once, they were so close that you might have believed they were brothers, and Gary still regretted how awfully he'd treated Ash to ruin that relationship. The sibling-like closeness they'd had as little kids was long gone, thanks to Gary's own arrogance.

For the longest time, he hadn't realized just what he was doing, and how much he was hurting Ash - and himself. But they had both matured. And they became friends again, perhaps not quite like they had been as little kids, but still very close.

Then Ash had "died," and from there, everything just got worse and worse as time wore on.

Gary bit his lip. All this thinking was taking him in a downward spiral of negativity...

Maybe if he talked to Ash, he'd feel better...

"Hey, uh, Gary?"

The brunet boy's head snapped up. What do you know, it was Ash. "Oh, hey there, Ashy-boy."

Ash fidgeted a little upon hearing the nickname. "Um, hey, I wanted to talk to you about something..."

Gary nodded. "Go on, Ash. I'm listening."

The raven-haired trainer smiled gratefully. Then his expression turned somber. "Gary, I wanted to talk to you about... you know... when you..." Ash paused, hesitating.

Gary knew how the sentence was going to end. He knew it the moment it began, from Ash's tone and expression, and the pause made it more obvious.

"...died."

There it was. Gary knew it.

Ash said the word "died" carefully, as if he'd rather not use it. Well, that wasn't exactly a surprise. Ash had had plenty of experience with death by now, sure, but that didn't make it any more of a comfortable topic.

Rather, it made it worse.

Gary just nodded in response to Ash, a sign that he'd heard. Ash seemed to take that as permission to continue. "See, I just... I wanted to let you know that it was really hard to see that. I mean, I hate that feeling of being helpless, and when one of my friends is hurt... I..."

Ash choked up, his shoulders shaking as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Just... please try... not to let that happen again, Gary. Please." Ash gave his friend a weak grin. "I mean, I know it sounds silly, but I just want you to know that I care about you, and try not to... die again unless you're around me."

Gary raised an eyebrow. "Around you?"

"Because I'd find a way to save you if I could - and I think I would, too," Ash explained. His expression darkened a little. "I know I'd die to save you, or any one of my friends."

Gary nodded.

Heck, that was true enough. And Gary knew it.

He gave Ash a smirk. "Gotcha, Ashy-boy. I'll try to only die if it's around you. Even if that means both of us falling off a cliff instead of just me."

Pikachu had just bounded over from where Dawn had been making poffins, hopping into Ash's lap. The little rodent seemed to find Gary's last comment funny and started giggling.

Gary rolled his eyes. "That mouse is thinking of Lumiose Tower, isn't he?"

Ash cracked a smile. "You know, he probably is."

The raven-haired boy rubbed Pikachu's ears affectionately as the little Pokémon's giggles grew into outright laughter. And soon, both of them were laughing harder than ever, holding each other and lying on the ground, like they'd never stop.

Gary shook his head, walking away with a smile on his face, but there was a sinking feeling in his stomach.

There was something off about the way Ash had spoken to him.

He thought of how Ash had paused while speaking, as if looking for some kind of permission to continue, and how he'd chosen his words carefully - not speaking as easily or as relaxed as when he chatted with his other friends. It might've been the topic of death, but it seemed like there was... more to it, somehow.

Gary cringed a little.

He'd caused that discomfort between them, he knew he had, from all he'd done to his fellow trainer when they had just started out. And even still, with how he had treated Ash, the raven-haired boy was still willing to give up his life for Gary.

Gary cursed himself. Oh, how he wished he could've just gone back in time to make things perfectly right again.

Like they used to be.

Like they were supposed to be.

But then, for what felt like a very long time now, nothing had been like it used to be - or like it was supposed to be - no, not in the least.

...

"Get down!" the professor hissed, ducking into a bush and pulling Delia after him.

Catie's eyes widened in fear. "Are - are those the bad people?"

"Hush, Catie, they'll hear us," Delia whispered frantically, almost harshly, but after a slight pause, she nodded 'yes' in answer to the girl's question.

"Yes... they are," she murmured, pressing her lips to Catie's ear so Catie, and no one else, would hear. "Now, you must be quiet..."

Catie nodded, gazing with wide, fearful eyes up at Delia's face. If they heard her... if they found them... Catie didn't know what the bad people would do, but she knew that it would be very, very bad.

So she kept quiet.

But in the end, that didn't matter too much...

...

"Hey, Cassidy! Seen any more of them kids the boss wants so bad?"

"Not a sign of 'em, Bo."

"...CASSIDY, WE'VE BEEN PARTNERS FOR SIX YEARS NOW! MY NAME IS - "

"Biffy, you are way too sensitive about this."

The man, whose name was Baloney - I mean Butch, seethed with fury as his partner kept searching.

"Anyway," Cassidy continued with a somewhat bored sigh, "I guess I'll be glad when he kills them all. Those kids were annoying."

Bi- ah, Butch - sorry kids - nodded his agreement. Neither of them much cared whether the children were dead or alive, but they were a definite pain in the rear end for the pair.

A large, beefy-looking man walked up to them both. "Found 'em yet?"

"No, sorry," Cassidy mumbled.

"Hm. They must've left the city by now. We'll have to search the surrounding a- "

He was interrupted by a shout. "Orm! Orm, come quick!"

The large man - Orm - turned quickly, letting out a bellowing laugh upon seeing the young agent's findings.

The group of Rockets had found and roped an old man, a young woman - who was hiding her face for some reason - and a little rusty-haired girl who was crying, all of whom Orm recognized.

"The kid's mom, the famous professor, and the Aura girl," he breathed. Then he laughed again. "Excellent work..."

...

When he awoke, he didn't recall much.

And then slowly, it came back to him, then faster, and suddenly his head was spinning with all that he'd remembered.

He remembered - he was beaten in an alleyway - the pain, the blood, and oh, the pain - seeing Wallace - Wallace's cries of pain - and then they lifted him, carried him a way, and the next thing he knew he was here.

Steven blinked slowly.

He tried to sit up and gasped sharply.

"I... I don't think you had better do that, sir. Lay down again," a small voice said from out of the darkness. Steven obliged, relaxing, and soon a tiny face leaned over his.

"My name's Emily. I'm ten. Team Rocket got me a... a while ago, maybe two weeks."

He gave a small nod, and she continued. "You got here last night. You're hurt real bad, sir. Broken bones everywhere, black eye, and lots of fractured ribs. And a head wound, too, but they took you away late last night and you came back better, so I guess they wanted to make sure you stayed alive."

Her voice was small and fragile, and her tone grim. She said she felt like it was about two weeks she'd been here, but Steven could tell that had been plenty of time for Team Rocket to hurt her in all kinds of ways - physically, mentally, and emotionally.

"But I don't think you should move around at all. They treated you, sure, but they didn't totally fix you. Stay put and you'll get better soon, 'kay?"

Steven tried to speak, but his voice cracked, and he realized there was dried blood in his mouth. He was repulsed for a moment, then tried to speak again, with better results this time.

"I'm... Steven Stone. Champion of the... Hoenn Region." He coughed up some more blood, and heard a small gasp come from Emily. "My friend... Wallace... is he..."

"I dunno," Emily sighed. "I only know about you, and that's only a little, anyways."

She looked away from him. "Take it from me, though, you'd rather Team Rocket kills you than what you're gonna face. And I'd know." She looked back, tears shining in her eyes. Steven realized what she meant upon seeing the rows of scores lining her arms, and the bruises covering her body, mostly her face. "They're gonna want answers from you. I didn't listen to them. And the one time I did, they hurt me anyway. I know they're going to kill me eventually - I just hope it's soon, so I can be done with this."

Steven felt tears start to form in his own eyes. He sat up, ignoring the excruciating pain in his chest and the throbbing in his head, and reached out to Emily, wrapping her in a one-armed hug.

He didn't say anything, and neither did she.

They just sat in silence, until Steven felt hot tears on his sleeve, and heard the small, muffled noises of Emily crying beside him.

...

Well, there you go.

Cliffhanger with the Prof, Delia, and Catie. Some of Gary's thoughts. And we find out what's happened to Steven.

Next chapter, we'll check on Wallace, Winona, Lance, and Cynthia - I promise! And HUGE thanks to PokemonOtaku0909 and Lala from TechEd (she's not just your average guest, by the way everyone, lol). Lala, you know who you are. ;) and Otaku, your reviews are totally motivating me, so HUUUUUGE thanks for that!

Well, hope you enjoyed this, guys! Even if it was short! I'll try to update soon! :D