Ash's Dark War
By Unknown Bird
Ace Sanchez's Pokemon Master, please read his story before you read mine. I don't want to ruin it for anyone.
Note: Pokemon and its associated characters are copyright by Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures Inc, and 4Kids Productions. Valdera is owned by Ace Sanchez.
Chapter 4 – Adversity
Ash didn't know what to think. Gary had always been almost on the exact same level as him so he had figured that they would gain the elements at almost the exact same time as well. Of course he thought he'd get them first, he was better than Gary obviously so why not, and now that Gary had them and he didn't, well, he wasn't too happy. Jealousy was one word that popped into his head, but he tried to ignore it.
Gary was of course over the moon with the revelation of no powers for Ash. A small mental line was added on to the chalkboard of revenge for the defeat in the Finals. He knew that Ash would eventually gain the elements, but while he had them and Ash didn't he was going to gloat as much as he could.
"Would you like some tea, Ashura?" asked Koga. Ash stopped staring at Gary and spun to face Koga questioningly. "Gary has informed me of your name change, so don't think on it. Everyone else has some so I should ask whether you want some." Ash took the offered cup and sat in the chair opposite Gary. "I'm afraid I only have enough for one more cup as I wasn't expecting so many guests so I'm afraid I can't offer any to you, Blaine or you, Lara. I'm so very sorry."
"That's all right Koga, I know how courteous you are," responded Blaine. "I'm sure Lara here feels the same way. I think that Lara and I will excuse ourselves for just a moment outside the room, if possible?" Koga motioned his acceptance. "Come along now, Lara."
As Blaine and Lara left the room Aya leaned over to Ash. "I swear, if Lara wasn't so young, I'd think those two were dating. Of course, it is possible that she enjoys older men, but I think it highly improbable."
Ash choked into his tea and looked back at the door. Could they be dating? It did seem quite dubious but hey, anything is possible. "I don't know, Aya, but you could be right." Ash glanced at Gary and those horrible feelings came back again. He had on a gray cloak, which didn't correspond to any element he had ever heard of. It nagged at him, but he would not be the first one to speak. Gary was not going to get the satisfaction of informing him about something he didn't know. Gary's smile got a fraction bigger, though Ash couldn't see how, as the two stared each other down.
Gary sighed and stopped smiling. "Since you're not going to ask, I know you want to because I know you don't know what it means; I'm going to answer your first question. What does the gray cloak symbolize? It means I'm League Master. Whenever someone becomes League Master his or her cloak turns gray. We experimented with Lance since you weren't there. Oh yeah, by the way," Gary frowned and sounded like he didn't want to tell Ash what was coming next, "you're next in line for the cloak. If I die you become League Master."
No wonder he sounded like he didn't want to tell me. He didn't want to give me a victory after such a huge blow to the ego. It's not that I didn't know that already but hey whatever he doesn't know won't kill him. "That's great news Gary. I have some for you too. I won't be taking over during the war. I still do have that option. I think you're the right man for the job so you can keep it. If you die than yeah, sure I'll take over but right now, I don't see the need for a power shift."
"Now that business is over with," began Lance, "let's have your report, Ashura."
"That still is business, Lance," laughed Gary. "I'm glad you're not second in line!"
"Guess what, Gary? We still have to worry, he's third in line!" joked Bruno. Everyone got a good laugh out of that one until Lance told Bruno to shut up and everyone laughed all the more.
"Ashura!" cut in Lance. "Could we please have your report?" The group calmed down except for Lorelei who kept repeating 'third in line' under her breath and chuckling. "Would you get a hold of yourself, Lorelei? We're fighting a war here." That silenced her.
"As you can see," began Ash, "I have brought the gym leader Blaine with me along with Lara Larame. Both are very attuned to fire-type Pokémon and Blaine already has his elemental powers. When I left none of you had any elemental abilities so I'm guessing that he got his powers first. Anyone want to take a stab at what that could mean? Does that mean he's stronger than all of us?"
"It could be a measure of how strong he is," responded Gary, then under his breath, "especially compared to you."
"I may have an idea." Agatha interjected. "When did Blaine gain his elemental powers?"
"He says he got them after Team Rocket attacked Cinnabar," answered Ash.
"That explains it. He had been stressed the night before. When Gary had gained his powers he was stressed because he had to tell us about the troubles with Team Rocket. We in turn gained our powers when we were stressed about Gary having fallen unconscious after he gained his powers."
"You fell unconscious?"
"Shut up, Ash."
"Can you not handle you powers or something?"
"I told you to shut up."
"I'm sorry I'm just saying. You fell unconscious?"
"Ok kids, break it up." Koga tried to hide the smile but failed miserably and Ash couldn't help but smile with him. "So it seems that we gain our powers under situations of duress. From what I've heard though, Ashura has been under a lot of stress for the past couple of days." Ash focused a glare on Gary. How dare he talk about my situation. "What with the missions and all. I heard you even went up against five Rocket Pokémon Masters. That brings up the question, why doesn't Ashura have his powers?"
Ash was grateful that Gary hadn't gossiped about anything, but he knew he had to say something before Gary took a shot at him again while he was a wide open target. "Maybe there just hasn't been enough stress. I didn't really feel anything as I killed the Rockets. Sure the Wartortle was a shock but it didn't put any more stress on me than I was already under." It's true. I didn't feel anything as I killed those Rockets. I never thought about that. I should feel something. I killed three people myself and ordered the death of thirty-four others and yet, there's nothing. I just feel dead inside.
"How many gym leaders does that make?" inquired Gary.
"Including Aya it makes three." Ash answered back. "Six Masters, and four potential Masters."
"Ash is one," counted Gary with a smirk, "Lara is two, Koga is three and Aya is four. Valdera makes five doesn't she?"
"That right!" exclaimed Lance. "Where's the blonde!?"
Ash, after being beaten out by Gary for the elementals didn't want to back down about this so he said bluntly, "She left. She didn't want to be around any longer and I didn't want her around any longer." Now that he had the bit in his mouth, he couldn't rein himself in. "If you have any reservations about my letting her go, well you can just shove them up your ass." I think I may have taken that just a bit too far. Gary looks as though he's going to explode.
Gary did in fact look like he was going to explode. He was beginning to glow like a Pokémon about to use the attack Explosion. "Ash, you may be able to take the title away from me any time you want but I will not tolerate such insolence while I am League Master. I will forgive you this once, but don't do it again." Gary stopped glowing and calmed down, slightly.
"I guess you can't stop rivals from being rivals after they've been doing it for their whole lives," chimed in Lorelei. "Jolteon versus Pikachu is still my favorite battle ever."
"Lorelei, stop that. You're ruining the mood," brooded Gary. He lost that battle. "So you lost Valdera. Right now I don't think it's such a big problem. But if she ever gets stressed enough to gain her elements, and she probably will gain them, she'd better be on our side when it happens."
"I don't think we'll have to worry about that," said Ash. "When I first met her, she appeared to be extremely frightened of Team Rocket."
"Just because she won't join Team Rocket, doesn't mean she'll join us, Ashura." Gary exhaled noisily in frustration and got up. "Speaking of Team Rocket, I have a war to fight. Anyone want to come help me? Ashura, I'd like you to come with me back to Indigo. Preliminary reports have the Rockets barely entering Mount Moon at this time so you'll have some time off before you head for your next city. I'd make it Cerulean if I were you, if only to get it over and done with." Gary looked pityingly on Ash as he gathered up his small army and headed for the Pokémon Center. "Koga and Aya. You'll have to shut down your Gym and come with us to the Palace. I don't want to put any stress on you or anything, but we need as many Pokémon Masters as we can get."
"How ironic can you be?" whispered Koga.
(Break)
Ash and company filed through the teleporter two by two. Ash went through first with Gary at his side. "We have working teleporters all over this country. I know that the ones in Vermillion, Cerulean, Fuchsia and Saffron are the only ones left standing at the moment other than the few scattered around Indigo. What are our plans concerning troop movements through those cities?"
"We will talk about logistics when we get back to the Defense Room, Ashura," declared Gary. He punched in the coordinates for Indigo and the computer calculated swiftly and transported them to their destination.
Another five hundred guards encircled the teleporter and these ones all gasped and started to gossip when they saw Ash come out. All of them tried to crowd closer and looked past Ash as he walked out. Ash put his hand on Gary's arm and they both stopped to watch the teleporter from a few feet away. The other eight men and women teleported in and went to stand by Ash and Gary and the guards grew more and more restless. When the whole team had come through the teleporter Ash walked in front of them all.
With all five hundred pairs of eyes on him he took a deep breath and raised one finger. "You have probably all heard the rumors about my interactions with a certain blonde. You have most likely heard that she follows me wherever I go and will only speak to me or when I am around." He pointed behind him. "I know that you are all watching behind me hopping that I am only saying this so that the girl can transport in, in peace. It is my most unfortunate duty to announce that Valdera will not be joining us today. Thank you and have a nice day."
Ash played it cool and didn't laugh out loud hysterically until he got inside the building.
Aya looked askance at Ash. "I really don't see what's so funny."
"He slipped a pretty little blonde into bed," spoke Lance, "and everyone was in the halls outside her door when it happened. This is only third-hand knowledge because I doubt Gary was in the halls when it happened."
It was Ash's turn to fix his eyes on Lance askance, but he didn't say a word. He knew what had happened but nobody else needed to know the truth. Of course, that little outburst before Cinnabar had helped as well so now he couldn't feel so angry about it anymore.
Gary passed Koga, Aya, Blaine and Lara on to some servants to show them to their rooms. The rest of them moved along to the D.C.R. Gary placed his hand on the metal plate and the door slid open to reveal the room that Ash had come to right after the disaster. Bill was still working there along with his under scientists. There were a few additions to the people in the room. Generals of the army were discussing preparations for a massive assault against Team Rocket on one side of the room and other generals were discussing the measures they'd have to take to keep this place defended.
"Bill," called out Gary, "put the map on the big screen with the markers." Bill looked over and was about to say something when Gary cut him off with a gesture. Bill nodded and turned back to his computer. The screen at the front of the room, where the scout's report had been the last time Ash had been here, flickered to an overview of all of Kanto. Entire cities were marked in yellow, red or blue and little flags of yellow and red were spread across the entire country. "Cities in yellow are held by our troops, cities in red are held by Team Rocket and cities in blue are neutral. Corresponding yellow and red flags are troops. There are no blue troops because supposedly they are all our troops we just don't have a hold on those cities yet."
Ash's eyes crossed the map quickly to Pallet Town and sighed with utmost relief when he saw that it was yellow. "Thank you Gary. I'm glad you sent troops to Pallet Town."
"Of course, it's our hometown. Pallet isn't my biggest concern right now though." Gary pointed to sections of the map. "Viridian and Pewter are under Rocket control so, as you'd expect, there are quite a few forces there. But over here," he slid his hand all the way to the other side of the map where there were many red flags, "you wouldn't expect them so far away from the main body. Reports have them at, at least a thousand in that spot alone."
Ash had to look carefully at the map before he could figure out what city it was. "Wait a minute that's Lavender, what are they doing there?" The radio tower was the only thing that came to mind for Ash but Team Rocket couldn't take over the world with nothing but a radio.
"We don't know why yet." replied Gary. "We're doing the best we can to find out. It could be that they need it to reach Vermillion and Fuchsia. For now, we hold Celadon, Fuchsia, Pallet, Cinnabar, Cerulean and most of Saffron."
"Most of Saffron?"
"It's the gateway to the rest of the country. If you hold Saffron you have four different cities you can reach easily. It was obvious that they'd try to capture that city as soon as they could but we already had a force there. The fighting has stopped for now, but we don't know why. They grabbed the eastern part of the city and Lavender Gate and stopped. They might be biding their time to bring more reinforcements but we hold the teleporter, the Gym, and the paths to Celadon, Cerulean and Fuchsia so they would have to come from the rock tunnel and through Lavender."
"The force in Saffron could just be there to keep us from Lavender and whatever they're doing there," put in Lance.
"That is plausible," offered Bill. "We've been trying to get scouts into Lavender to see what they're up to but nothing gets through their barricade." Bill went to the computer and enlarged the area just after Saffron on the Lavender side. "They have a force of approximately fifty soldiers here in the only pass through the mountains." The screen changed again this time to the Mount Moon side of Lavender. "And twenty soldiers here guarding the entrance to Lavender from inside Mount Moon. It may only be twenty and fifty but it's enough that no scout has made it through either pathway."
"Have you tried flying across on Pidgeots?" asked Ash.
"Yes, they have the air covered as well."
"Go back to the map of the whole continent if you could please, Bill. Ok, so by looking at this map, with troops mostly held in Viridian, we can't move troops out of Indigo without the teleporter. The cities with teleporters left are: Cerulean, Fuchsia, Vermillion and Saffron. With the Saffron teleporter we have access to Celadon and with the Fuchsia teleporter we have access to Cinnabar. We're cut off from Pewter, Viridian and Lavender. Key cities include Indigo, Saffron and Fuchsia. With the cities they have they can attack Indigo, Vermillion, Fuchsia, Saffron and Cerulean. Is it just me or do they have a chance to grab all three key cities? Should I have added Lavender as a key city?"
"It would take them days to get an army through Victory Road so we're safe here. With the teleporter we've been feeding troops and supplies to Saffron, Fuchsia, and the Headquarters outside Victory Road so they shouldn't have too much trouble. The only thing is, we can't hold on to Cerulean or Vermillion. They are already heading for Cerulean and we won't be able to stop them. They haven't moved on to Vermillion yet but they will and we can't defend it either."
Ash directed his next question at Gary. "How come they're able to just glide through cities if we have all the teleporters?"
"They have two advantages," replied Gary. "One, they have about ten times our number in troops. As you know the Pokémon League isn't a true army but we do keep the peace. Secondly, their Pokémon Masters. They still outnumber us greatly. How many do you think they have? The video footage from that scout earlier picked up at least a few hundred in Viridian. We have six."
"So then what is our strategy?"
"Unfortunately, it's you."
Gary looked so glum about the fate of the League resting on Ash's shoulders that Ash could only shake his head and give the guy a pat on the back. "I'm not the only one that could do this mission you know."
"Alas, that is not true. I cannot do the mission because I kind of made a few enemies along my journey and not all the gym leaders like me. By law the Elite cannot leave Indigo when we're at war unless they are commanding a portion of the army or escorting the League Master. I'd have to remove the offending person from their position if they tried it. You are the only one who has good relationships with every one of the gym leaders and you're not officially part of the League." Gary appeared to sag with every word. Being League Master must not be enough for him.
"I never knew, Gary. I thought that my missions were just the ingathering of allies. I didn't think that it was so important. I'll be sure to take this seriously and try my hardest now." Ash looked up at the clock on the wall and for the first time noticed how late it was. The boat ride had taken a long time and then all this talking with Gary had made the time pass so quickly. "I think I'll be going to bed now. I assume my quarters are still where they used to be?"
Ash made his good byes and climbed up the confusing stairwells and twists in the Palace to his apartments in the permanent tenants section. While not as big as the rooms for the Elite Four and most certainly not Gary's rooms, his apartment was large enough for being used all of twice since they were given to him. The apartment was the same size as the other seven gym leaders' rooms. His apartment used to be Giovanni's since it had been the largest one available when he won and then passed on the title. Giovanni had been thought dead at the time and no replacement for the Viridian Gym had been found, so Ash took over the rooms.
All eight apartments were exactly alike in that they all had a reception room, a large bathroom, an extremely large bedroom with adjoining bathroom and a reading room. The only thing it lacked to make it a house was a kitchen. The chefs made every meal for the tenants in this part of the palace though which made it was an unnecessary extravagance.
Each apartment was different when you looked a little closer. On a wall in the reception were copies of every trophy the resident had won. The color of the reception room was always the color of the element the person most favored.
Ash stared at his yellow walls and tried to envision a cloak of the same color on himself. Yellow wasn't really his color though. I guess I can't help that my best friend in the world had to be an electric mouse. "Hey, Pikachu, let's play a game of cards."
Ash pulled two of the comfy chairs together in front of a coffee table and grabbed the cards out of his pack while Pikachu hopped up into the other chair. Ash dealt out the cards for Go Fish and sat down heavily into his chair. "Pikachu, got any fours?"
(Break)
On the other side of the Palace, back at the Defense Control Room, Gary stared at the door where Ash had left. "Lord Garick?" began Bill. "Shall I put them back?"
Gary heaved a sigh and nodded in acquiescence. Suddenly a massive amount of red flags appeared above Pallet Town. "Why do they want that town? What is it there that they need?" He was extremely frustrated with the lack of knowledge that he had, especially about this. "I'll take any idea."
"Are you sure not telling Ashura was a wise idea?" asked Lorelei.
"It's for his own good. If he knows that his hometown is in danger he'll go rushing off to save it. The only thing he can do is die if he tries that. He's got a major set of morals. Now, does anyone have any idea why we're even discussing Pallet Town and Team Rocket in the same sentence?"
"There are three possible answers and they could all be true." Bill was very sympathetic to Ash and Gary's situation. Their hometown could be destroyed very soon and there was nothing anyone could do. "Pallet Town has a route to Cinnabar Island which they don't have at the moment. Other than through Fuchsia it's the easiest way to get there. After they sent their advance team to Cinnabar they probably haven't heard from them and now they want to know how the mission went. Also, Professor Oak lives in Pallet." Gary whipped his cloak around and grabbed Bill by the throat.
"Why the hell does that matter?!"
Bill, trying to suck in a little bit of air, tried his best to answer but couldn't with Gary's hand where it was. Gary relaxed his hand a bit and Bill took a long breath before answering. "Knowledge. Professor Oak knows almost everything that has to do with Pokémon. If they can get him they'll learn a great deal. Even if they just get his notes and computers they'll have a lot more information than they do now."
"That's two reasons. Do I even want to know the third?"
Lance put a hand on Gary's shoulder and pulled him over to a corner. Bruno tried to follow but Lance waved him away. "Giovanni may want to send you a message. Try to goad you into saving your hometown even though you know it's impossible. He probably has quite a few Pokémon Masters in the group just to deal with yours and whosoever-you-bring-with-you's Pokémon."
"Those are all very good reason for attacking Pallet Town, Lance. I just wish they weren't true." Gary wilted even further and Lance grabbed him and pulled him close. Gary tensed up at first but in the end relaxed in Lance's arms and let it all out.
"Guys, maybe we should…" Bruno grabbed the other two Elites and they left the room and headed for their apartments.
Gary, held in Lance's arms, sobbed out all the pain he felt every time he watched those markers move closer to Pallet Town. His grandfather had no way of getting out, no one in the town did. His sister was going to die, his friends were going to die, everything he had ever known was going to be taken away from him because of one stupid power hungry man. He cried and cried into Lance's shoulder until all the tears he had were gone. Now all that was left was purpose: obliterate Giovanni. He pushed Lance away and thanked him for the shoulder.
"Any time, Gary." Lance, part of his cloak a little bluer than the rest of it, stood proudly and unashamed. "You are our leader. There are times when you have to bear everything for us and be a pillar of strength. If your mind is on other things at the time you won't be able to do it. It's best to just let the personal stuff out now while you can."
"Words of wisdom from a good friend, Lance, will always be taken to heart. Okay let's stop with this mushy stuff and get back to this war we have to win. What do we need to do to win this thing Lance?"
"It won't be easy. Ashura is part of the equation but right now he appears to be a wild card. I don't know how he's going to fit into all of this."
"Should we remove him from that equation? I don't mean kill him but let somebody else do the job?"
"No. Ashura is loyal; he won't go back on us unless we go back on him. After that spiel you gave him I don't think there's any way we can take him off the mission short of gross incompetence. My opinion is that we shouldn't take him off anyways. The best thing we can do is give him a long leash. He is one of the best Pokémon trainers out there; even without the elements he is a force to be reckoned with."
"Then we'll leave Ashura alone. Actually, we won't leave him alone. If he's going to be tied to the league I want to know what is going on in his head. We're both going to visit him."
"As you wish, Lord Garick." said Lance as he bowed deeply.
(Break)
"You're a very powerful Pokémon, you know that Pikachu?" Ash was still playing the same game of Go Fish with his little buddy. Ash had three sets while Pikachu had only two. "I don't need to have the elements, I just need you."
"Pikachu-u." Pikachu made a few gestures with his hands extrapolating on his point. "Pikachu?"
"No I don't have any threes but you could be right about that elements thing. I might not be stressed enough. I don't know how, what with the last few days and all." Ash drew his card.
"Chuu," said Pikachu sadly.
"Then again, I'm not stressed at all. I'm not happy either. I guess you could call me neutral, if that's an emotion. Kind of like walking through a dream or something like that. I thought of the word dead once to describe me and I think it's the closest to anything. Ah! It's just so hard to describe, Pikachu! Got any kings?"
"Pika!" Pikachu sniffed at him and held out three kings.
"Ha ha! That makes four for me. Oh look, it's raining outside." Thunder pealed in the distance as Pikachu stopped trying not to look at Ash and watched the door when he sensed someone coming. Seconds later Gary and Lance walked into the room.
(Break)
When the two of them came into the room Ash stood up from his game of cards with his Pokémon. Gary motioned him back down, his gray cloak flowing behind him as he pulled across a chair for himself. Lance grabbed a chair and sat on Gary's right. "What's up Gary?" said Ash.
Gary tried to give the appearance of being nonchalant but couldn't meet Ash in the eye. "We need to know what happened between you and Mis… hem… the Cerulean gym leader. If you're going to be working for the League we can't have loose cannons going around. We need to know that if you meet up with her accidentally on one of your forays what the result would be."
There was no other way to describe what Ash did next except to say he clamped up tighter than a Shellder. The room felt darker at once and the air seemed to pulse. Pikachu's eyes gained a glazed look about them and his tail went perfectly rigid. Lance knew at once that this was not going to go the way Gary had it planned out.
Gary fixed his eyes upon Ash and saw that his lips were moving. He leaned in closer to try and hear what he was saying. When he moved so close that he was almost touching Ash's lips he heard what he was saying. "She wasn't there. She wasn't there. She wasn't there. She wasn't there." Ash was whispering that over and over again and Gary shifted away as fast as he could.
"Ashura. Ashura stop," Gary pleaded with him. "Ash, stop it, you're scaring me."
Lance got up and shook Ash by the shoulders until Ash looked up at him. Ash's normally golden eyes had a dull redness to them when Lance saw them but it went away as soon as Ash blinked. Lance let him go and dropped back into his seat. He knew he would never forget how somebody's eyes had actually changed color right before his own eyes.
"Wow. Sorry there, Gary. I think I lost consciousness for a second. Did I do anything?"
"No, not really." Gary gave Lance a look telling him to keep quiet.
Lance ignored Gary and moved in close to Ash. He stared at his eyes and his face for signs of change but couldn't find any. As he looked closer he noticed something disturbing. He carefully sneaked a glance in Gary's direction and looked away right away. He couldn't believe it. There's no way it was true. He was going to leave it at that. He was going to never be in the same room as these two at the same time again. In fact he felt like leaving. Right now.
"Gary, I think I'm going to go check up on the other Elite." As thunder and lightning clashed in the background, Lance gave the least amount of propriety as possible and left the room calmly. As soon as he was out the door though, he ran as fast as his legs could take him. Now he knew what had bugged him about Gary's appearance after he first used his powers.
(Break)
Gary had noticed the peek Lance had given him as he was examining Ash just before he left the room. He had no idea what it meant or why it had obviously spooked the man but if it had been important Lance would have told him. "I think we'll just pretend none of this happened okay, Ash?"
"I really don't know what happened so that's all right with me." Ash noticed that Pikachu was turning his head this way and that as if trying to figure out what happened as well. "Are you leaving?"
"Yeah. I think I'll be heading to my rooms now." Gary got up and shook Ash's hand, and stopped mid shake. Ash watched him as his eyes went wide when he looked at their hands shaking. Ash looked at their hands and didn't see anything the matter. Gary must be imagining things he thought. Ash tried to pull away from Gary's hand, except Gary had him in a death grip. Gary's hand started to twitch uncontrollably as his eyes flicked back and forth between Ash's face and his hand. Suddenly, Gary let go of Ash's hand and ran out of the room with lightning on his heels.
"I wonder what that was all about, Pikachu."
(Break)
The next day Ash woke up late. He had felt really tired the night before and couldn't find the reason why. He decided that he'd have breakfast in bed today and called the kitchen for breakfast. A servant brought up a tray pilled high with bacon, eggs and toast. Pikachu sniffed at the tray and decided against it. Ash had counted on this and waited for the next servant to bring up Pikachu's half of the breakfast.
Ash was two bites into his food before the entire Elite Four came barging in. He put down his utensil carrying his third bite as the Elite Four surrounded him while he lay in bed. "What can I do for you guys this morning?"
"Team Rocket is on the move. They're almost through Mount Moon," said Lance.
"Well that's good for them, but why are you telling me? You should all be with Gary planning on what to do next."
"Gary isn't here."
"What?"
"I said Gary isn't here. As next in command you are to be informed of any new developments that need to be dealt with. Do you understand?"
"What? Where's Gary?"
"We don't know," said Agatha. "During the thunder storm last night, some servants going past Gary's rooms heard a loud crash but thought it was thunder. When we went to his rooms this morning, to bring him up to date, we saw that he was no longer there and all the mirrors were in pieces on the floor. After further investigation we found out that he used the teleporter last night. We don't know where he went though."
"Mirrors…?"
"It doesn't matter!" cut in Lance. "All that matters right now is that Gary is gone, you are in charge, and Team Rocket is on the move. Now, get dressed and get down to the Defense Room."
The Elite Four left Ash to do what he needed to do before he went to the D.C.R. Ash, still confused about Gary, went about the motions of getting dressed without thought. There were many reasons that Gary could give for leaving in the middle of the night but none of the ones Ash could think of involved destroying all his mirrors. After telling Pikachu to wait in the apartments, Ash went to the Defense Room as expected of him.
As soon as Ash walked through the doorway he stopped. His eyes found Pallet Town immediately on the map and the dozens of red markers that were around it that weren't there last time. "They moved from Mount Moon all the way to Pallet Town in one night!?"
Every one of the Elite Four stared straight-faced across the room at Bill. He looked right back and shrugged. The Elite Four shrugged and pulled an angry Ash into a corner. Lance, as usual, took the lead. "We're sorry you found out this way, Ash, but Gary thought it'd be better if you didn't know that Team Rocket was right on top of your hometown."
"But it's his hometown too! Why isn't he doing anything!?"
"Because he can't Ash. There's nothing any of us can do. By the time we realized they might actually want Pallet Town they were already there. As it turns out your key cities forgot to include Pallet Town. Soon they'll have easy access to Cinnabar and then Fuchsia. I'm so sorry. Pallet Town will fall within hours."
"No. No it can't be. Gary said everything was ok. Mom would be all right. Oh light my mom!" Horror took over everything in Ash's mind. His mom flashed through his head thousands of times. Over and over again the picture of his smiling mom waving goodbye as he started his journey lanced him with pain. "Mom!" Ash dragged the word out with a cry of terrible sadness. He shoved Lance to the ground and sprinted towards the door. Bruno tried to stop him and almost got his arm broken for his trouble.
He ran wildly through the halls of the Palace with tears trailing behind him as they fell. He didn't know where he was running to but he knew that he had to get away from them all. He ran until he couldn't run any more and ended up in the almost exact center of the Palace. He knew that because he could see the little marble statue of a Pikachu.
Ash had come to know the spot well. Every time he came to the Palace he came here to sit and think for a while. The Pikachu statue reminded him of his own Pikachu every time he saw it. Maybe his Pikachu was a direct descendant. But those kinds of frivolous thoughts were not in his mind this time around. His mom was probably going to die soon. Team Rocket had already plundered and destroyed Pewter so that it might never return to what it had been. He expected them to do the same thing with Pallet. Ash sat down next to the Pikachu and put his head between his knees and sobbed out, "Mom…"
Blackness. Darkness. Shadows. A memory.
A ten-year-old Ash is running down the road to Professor Oak's house in his pajamas. He looks a lot different from the Ash of six years later. His hair is cut out of his eyes, he is a lot smaller, and that air of innocence still surrounds him.
This was the day. This was the day I got my first Pokémon. I may have been late already but I knew they must have had a Pokémon for me. There's the crowd up ahead.
In front of Oak's laboratory a large throng, waving signs and singing cheers, crowds the entrance. It turns out that they are Gary Oaks's family and fan club. Gary Oak himself stands in front of them all wearing a very smug grin.
He was a real jerk back then. He wouldn't even show me his Pokémon. It was just an Eevee. I don't understand why he couldn't show it to me. He said his Grandpa said it was the best one. Turns out I got the best end of that deal. He probably didn't think Gary was ready for my Pikachu.
As the ten-year-old Gary taunts his way out of Ash's reach and drives away, Ash looks on in envy. Professor Oak comes down the stairs from his research lab and brings Ash to that fateful place.
Bulbasaur, Squirtle or Charmander. Those were the choices I had. What would my life have been like if I hadn't thrown that Voltorb alarm clock against the wall? I wouldn't have had Pikachu and I wouldn't be where I am today that's for sure.
And when I walked down those stairs with Pikachu in tow, the one standing at the head of a new crowd is of course, my number one fan.
"Oh Ash I'm so proud of you!"
Hey mom…
"You're finally going to fulfill your dream and start your Pokémon training. But I'm… I'm going to miss you so much."
I'm going to miss you too mom.
"Oh, my little boy!"
Why, why do I have to relive this moment? Right when she's about to die I have to watch her smile at me over and over again! It hurts so much. I love you mom. I may have never told you enough, but I really do love you. You are everything to me. You brought me into this world and now I'm powerless to stop you from leaving. All my dreams fulfilled and I'm unable to help you complete yours. To watch me grow up, to see me fall in love, and to look upon the face of a newborn member of the family. I tried hard to get you all of them and the one you did see shattered in my hands. The only gift I can give you now is that you will never know what happened between Misty and I. To you, we will forever be in love.
(Break)
Somewhere deep in Viridian forest a young league scout ran terrified through the brush. Checking behind him every so often he tried to gauge how far back his pursuer was.
Did Viridian forest always used to be this thick? He thought to himself. If these damn trees keep getting in the way I'm not going to survive this. He looked behind him again and what he saw made him run just that little bit more.
I have to get back to Indigo and tell everyone what I saw at Pallet Town. The world needs to know what happened there. They'll never believe me, but I have to at least try. The scout thought back to only half an hour ago, right before the chase began, and in his mind's eye he could see the shrouded figure surrounded by flames laughing and crying at the same time as he obliterated Pallet Town.
That shrouded figure was the one chasing him through this light forsaken forest. The scout had never really known true fear but whenever he looked back and saw the man chasing him come closer with every step he grew more and more afraid. He knew it wouldn't last much longer, that he was going to die soon, but there was still a chance he could tell someone what he'd seen. Anybody.
Something hard hit him in the back and he felt a jolting pain in his abdomen. He fell to the forest floor and tried to get up but his legs felt so heavy. He looked behind him and saw that his legs were about two feet behind him. That's not right. They should be closer to me than that. He knew he was in shock and he knew he was about to die, but he didn't feel afraid. Maybe that was the shock but even the sight of the man who was chasing him approaching didn't have the same affect it used to.
He reached up a hand to the man and asked him the one question that had been bothering him since he saw the destruction, "Why…?" Then he choked on his own blood and finally passed away.
(Break)
Ash looked up when he heard footsteps coming his way. He choked back his tears and got up as fast as he could. He wiped the remaining tears off of his face and tried to stand tall. He did not want to look weak in front of this woman. "What are you doing here, Misty?"
She was wearing her normal jean shorts, suspenders and orange tank top. When she was younger they made her look childish. All grown up they made a killer outfit. "I knew I'd find you here. You always did love this place." That red hair looked so good when she kept it out of that stupid side ponytail. Then again she always looked good.
"I asked you a question." All she did was smile at him. After seeing his mother smile for hours on end it just made him angrier. "Answer me!"
"I have a question of my own for you, dear. Why are you sitting here crying? Your hometown is going to be invaded. Get over it. You are now acting League Master. You have a job to do." She moved within inches of his face and tilted her head a bit as if she saw something curious. "You've never let anyone down on purpose before, why start now?"
Ash's throat was so tight with the strain of not crying just at the sight of her that all he could get out were hoarse whispers, "I let you down. I don't know how, but I did." She smiled at him and flicked her hair back. She was so beautiful; he couldn't keep his eyes off her.
"That's different. I wasn't counting on you. They are." Abruptly she spun around and started to walk away. Ash tried to grab her wrist but missed and fell to the floor. He got up almost as soon as he fell and watched as she turned a corner up ahead. He ran to that corner and turned it so quickly that he didn't notice Lance until they were in a heap on the floor together.
"Which way did Misty go!?" asked Ash as he tried to untangle himself from Lance.
"Misty? She isn't here, Ash." Lance got a look at Ash's face and knew immediately that there was something going on inside the kid's head. The two of them had finally extracted each other from each other but neither of them showed signs of getting up. "Ash, what's going on? Where did you see Misty?"
"She isn't here?"
"She hasn't come to the Palace since you brought her here last."
A thought struck Ash: did I miss or was she never…? That was a direction his mind wasn't willing to take for the moment. "Let's… let's not talk about this, okay, Lance? This didn't happen. Now what were you coming here for?"
Lance shook his head and murmured something about too many secrets. "I was coming to see you. It's a well-known fact that you come here whenever you're here." Ash shook his head in turn at the same thing the Misty had told him. "We have a plan. We need you to agree to it before we can proceed."
Ash got up and Lance followed suit. "I guess I'll have to come with you to the Defense Room then." Ash motioned for Lance to take the lead and the two of them headed for the D.C.R. "How long was I there?"
"About five hours. I've come to see you three times in that span, but every time you wouldn't budge when I said your name. The place where you grow up is about to be destroyed so I thought I'd give you as much space as you needed. Turns out a visit from… a friend… has done what I could not."
Five hours of torture. Memories haunting his mind and visions haunting his surroundings. Was there no safe refuge? Lance held open the door for Ash to go through and he thanked him. Inside, Ash checked up on Pallet, but there was no change. Bill was still running around trying to keep an eye on everything while the other three Elite were around a table with a small map on it. Ash and Lance headed over there to confer with them.
Bruno gave Lance a nod but he only shrugged. "He was already coming this way when I went to check on him."
Ash didn't say anything different and instead checked out the map they were looking at. It was the inside of Mount Moon. He could see the exit and a few feet inside on one map and the entrance on another. "So what's your plan?"
Bruno pointed to the map that showed the exit of Mount Moon. "We put soldiers and trainers here, on the inside of the exit. They must be very good at sneaking around though. Ones that won't be heard passing within feet of the Rocket army."
"Why do they have to be so specialized?"
"Because we're going to cave them in. Stop Team Rocket right there." Bruno typed some things into the laptop on the table and the map on the big screen started to flash. "With Cerulean cut off to them they'll only be able to hit land from Cinnabar. Which means that if we control Fuchsia we'll be able to completely stop the advance of Team Rocket."
"What about the ones that are in Lavender already?"
"They appear content to wait right there, so we'll leave them alone. It's the only sensible thing to do." Bruno sighed and made sure Ash was paying attention to him. "The only problem with this plan is that the guys who go in won't be able to come out the same way. To survive they'll have to fight through the entire Rocket army to get back here. Because of that the Elite are at a split-decision. Our vote was private so we won't be telling you who was for or against it. When a draw between the Elite happens it's up to the League Master to make the final decision. As acting League Master, that's you. No one else can make the decision now."
His decision to send soldiers to their death. That was what Bruno was asking him to do. It would stop Team Rocket before they gained too much momentum and perhaps save all the lives of Cerulean. It was a cold way to look at it but it really was an 'I kill this many versus they kill this many' type of decision.
Before Ash had much time to think on it a young man ran in and handed a note to Lance. Lance scanned it once, almost put it down, then read it very carefully. "Gary is back," was all he said.
"This changes nothing, Ashura. You still have to be the one who makes the decision. Now that you have been informed as League Master, you must make the decision as League Master." Bruno put his hands on the table face down so that his muscles were shown off through the maroon cloak.
"I hear you, Bruno. I understand. You don't need to show off to make me decide." That's as far as Ash got before Gary walked in. He had his gray hood up and his cloak closed up tight with his arms inside. Not a single body part wasn't covered by his cloak. He didn't say anything; he just went to the main console and switched Pallet Town's color from yellow to red. "Oh light, it happened. Gary do you know if my mom made it out?"
"Ash," grunted Gary hoarsely. "There's something you need to know. The Rockets, they didn't leave anyone alive. It's as if they took pleasure in completely destroying everything. Your house, Oak's lab, the entire village looks as though it's passed through a meteor shower."
"No. Why would they go that far?" Ash could feel his insides churning. A hunger such as he had never felt was prying at his brain. Not the regular hunger for food but for the blood of Team Rocket members. "Bruno, I give the green light for the mission. Gary and I will be going. Alone."
Gary turned around from his study of the map. "What mission?"
"We're going to go kill some Rockets you and I. Call it Pallet Town's revenge. Yes, that sounds like a good name for the mission. I approve the code name."
"By decree the League Master may only leave on official missions with a unanimous yes vote from the Elite Four," began Gary. "With the stunt I just pulled I don't think I'll get it."
"I vote yes," chimed in Lorelei immediately. "It is my belief that you two are perfect for this mission. You are both the strongest trainers we have and you might be the only ones capable of surviving."
"They are just children!" cried out Bruno in outrage. "They may be the strongest we have but this is stupidity!"
"I vote yes," said Agatha. "You two are the League. Without you we would be nothing. Please be careful on your journey. You will need to watch each others backs out there."
"Not you too, Agatha. This is ridiculous," some of the air had escaped from Bruno's sail as the second Elite voted for it. "Lance. Lance you have to see reason. We can't let them go. Especially not alone."
"I vote yes." spoke Lance softly. He glanced at Gary doubtfully then back at Bruno. "They deserve to Bruno. Their hometown was just completely removed from the map. The only thing that can satisfy that now is blood. On this journey they'll get drunk off blood and high off revenge. They are the only ones who can do this the way it should be done."
"I can't believe you're all agreeing to this. They are the League Master and second in line." Bruno shook his head. "Those are all valid reason and I guess it has to be done but you haven't convinced me yet that it is necessary for them to go. I vote yes, reluctantly."
"You're reluctance will be noted, Bruno," said Gary. "Anybody want to fill me in on this plan that I haven't agreed to go on yet but everyone else has?"
End of Chapter 4
