When The World Ends
Chapter Three – A Tale of Heroines
Serena watched Clemont tap his fingers nervously against the wooden table they were both seated at. She wanted to reach out and stop him, partially to end the infuriating tapping, but more to try and comfort her friend.
They were sitting in a busy police station, several Officer Jennys moving quickly along with some other officers. An Amber Alert was issued, not for just Bonnie, but for Ash as well once she and Clemont reported them both missing. Serena had wanted to keep looking, wanting to believe that they just got held up getting food or something like that. She knew it was unrealistic, neither of them would have missed the match for food, but she wanted to be optimistic. Clemont insisted on going to the police though, since time was so important in kidnapping cases.
It was a bit strange to group Ash under that, since he was older than her, but at 17, he was still considered a minor in the government's eyes, even though the Pokemon League considered trainers who were 16 and older as adults. Sometimes things like that caused issues, but in this case, two people were missing and there was no time for messing around.
Serena didn't know what to say or do. She wanted to tell Clemont that everything would be okay, that Ash would take care of Bonnie, but she couldn't do that. She knew that the police had a video from the Pokemon Center, one that depicted what happened to Ash and Bonnie, and whatever it was made them all seem a little more urgent. They refused to show them, at least not until their parents got there and gave them permission.
The young woman stood up, drawing her friend's attention. She pressed her lips together as she eyed the laptop that the officers had been watching the video on earlier, teasingly sitting outside the door.
"What are you doing?" Clemont asked, his voice coming out as a pained croak.
She looked back around, pressing her finger to her lips before peaking out the door. She looked left and right, reminding herself over and over again that she wasn't stealing, she was just moving something into another room. When she was sure that no one was looking her way, Serena lunged out, grabbing the laptop and running back into the room that they were told to wait in.
Clemont stared at her with wide eyes as she sat down beside him again, pushing the laptop towards him. "The video they were watching, from the security tape at the Pokemon Center, was on this," she explained.
The blond boy understood immediately, pressing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he scooted closer to her, bringing up a search window to find the file on the computer. It was actually fairly easy to find, since it was the last thing they viewed on the video program.
Serena kind of expected blurry images, and was surprised to see how clear it actually was. A few people wandered by, including Ash and then Alain as they both went into the Pokemon Center a few minutes apart. In that period of time, a black SUV pulled up.
Clemont inhaled sharply as Bonnie skipped into view, a big smile on her face. He sat up straight when a man got out of the SUV and grabbed a hold of her. The little girl flailed, and barely a minute later, Ash came barreling around the corner. The encounter was very tense, and they were both surprised to see him willingly put Pikachu away. There was no sound, so they couldn't hear what Ash was saying, but he appeared to be arguing with the other men, motioning towards Bonnie.
Serena's eyes went wide as she put two and two together. "He's trying to get them to let her go."
"They didn't want her," Clemont added, his voice strained. "They wanted Ash and used her." That much was obvious as both were forced into the car, which sped off seconds later. He groaned and slammed the cover of the laptop down, leaning back in his chair.
"That's good for her though, right?" The teenage girl looked at him, tugging nervously at her short hair. She really wished that she still had her long locks instead to hide behind at the scathing look he gave her. Clemont's expression softened quickly and he shook his head.
"No. It means they want Ash for something, but they can get rid of her at any time." He leaned forward, elbows resting on the table as he buried his face in his hands and shook his head again. "Why is this happening?"
Serena's hand rose up, reaching out to him before she brought it close to her chest, staring uncertainly at his slumped form. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and then opened them, reaching out and putting her hand on top of his. "They're not us." Clemont looked over at her. "Ash and Bonnie are both fighters in ways we aren't. You know it and I know it. If anyone can get out of this, it's them. Maybe even easier than if we were with them."
"I hope you're right."
...
The next time Bonnie was kidnapped, she really hoped that her captors would drop her off closer to a sign of some sort so that she could know where she was going. Or give her a map at the very least. Dedenne said that they weren't that far away from the city, but it still felt like they had been walking for hours. The young girl was tired, hungry and her feet hurt badly.
Cars drove by them earlier without stopping, no doubt thinking that she was just a young trainer keeping closer to the roads. That was a while ago though, and she was really surprised that no one else had come by. It was eerie being on a highway without anyone there. At least it made sense in forests.
Dedenne's ears twitched, and the small pokemon stopped, looking around, nose twitching. Bonnie heard the sound of an engine moments later, and was prepared to jump into the woods, just in case it was the people who took Ash coming back to get her.
It was a polished, white sports car that slowly came to a stop by them. Bonnie eyed it warily, but gasped as the person inside quickly got out. The young girl recognized her immediately as Diantha, the Champion of Kalos. The woman's pale blue eyes locked onto her as she made her way over.
"Bonnie Liscio." The blonde nodded her head numbly. Diantha smiled broadly at her response and said, "Thank Arceus. Are you hurt at all, sweetie?"
"No, I... no?" She shook her head.
"Good. Everyone's been looking for you." She pulled out her cellphone and quickly dialed a number. "Yes, Jenny? It's Diantha. I found Bonnie. Yes. Yes. She was on the side of the road walking. No. No. I'll ask." The woman looked towards her. "Bonnie, do you know what happened to Ash?"
Bonnie gasped, slapping herself in the face. She then lurched forward and grabbed onto the hem of the Champion's white shirt. "They still have him. The people that took us. They didn't want me, they wanted him. You have to help him! They knocked him out so he wouldn't fight back and he was just trying to keep me safe." Tears welled up in her big, blue eyes. "They—they said they didn't need me but Ash made them promise to let me go. They were talking and said something about having other people." No one thought twice about talking in front of her. After all, she was just a little girl so why would they worry?
Diantha's brow furrowed and she repeated the information to the woman on the phone before hanging up. "Right, lets get you back to your brother and father. They're both waiting for you. In the mean time, unless it makes you uncomfortable, tell me everything you can remember. Even the small things."
Bonnie picked up Dedenne, who slumped down in her arms, not really surprised by how tired the pokemon was. Diantha helped her into the car and made sure that she was buckled up before they sped off towards the city and Bonnie recounted the story of what happened.
...
The next time Ash regained consciousness, it was with a jerk that made his back crack. His heart beat wildly, his brain was racing, his breathing ragged, and, as his eyes darted around the room, he vaguely realized that someone was throwing out a needle.
The room was dim, but that made all of the other colours and glows stand out even more. There was a man not much older than he himself was, shrouded in a murky aura that was pulsing with confusion.
"Was he supposed to wake up that quickly?" the man asked, looking over Ash's shoulder. The teenager leaned back a bit, looking around to see the same woman from in the car. He made a face at the sight of her putrid pink aura. It was disgusting to look at.
"Yes, but he's being a little more skittish. Must be a reaction to something in it. Oh well," the woman shrugged a bit. She leaned closer to Ash and said, "Do you know why you're here?"
"Cause you guys were nice enough to ask," he shot back sarcastically, unable to hold anything in as his mind raced and stumbled over all the details of the room. Ash felt like he was hyper aware of everything, yet unable to really focus on one specific thing.
"Smart mouthed thing, aren't you?" she grumbled in reply.
The man took a few steps forward and said, "Don't be mouthy to a lady. Do you know why we would be interested in you?"
For a brief moment, he was able to focus on the bright red Rs that were on their clothes. They weren't Jessie or James though, so he didn't plan on being friendly to them. "The fuck would I know? I bet you don't even know?" What did they inject him with, because it was really potent stuff.
"Of course I know."
Brown eyes shot towards him, and a smile curved up on Ash's face. "Tauros shit. You're lying." He was still focusing on things beyond the room they were in, but he found something that was able to make him focus a little more. Two bright, cheery auras that he was very familiar with. "Hey. Hey, I want my mom and my Misty."
"Mama's boy, aren't you? They're not even here."
Ash sighed and looked at them with a raised eyebrow. "Course they are. A few floors down wherever we are."
The woman, who had been leaning on the table in the room, stood up straight. Her hands went to her hips as she leaned forward again. "How do you know that?"
"Maybe that's why they want me."
The two Team Rocket members exchanged uncomfortable looks and Ash knew that they had no idea why they had to take him, just that they did. He had no idea why Team Rocket would bother with him, not as of late, at least. He rarely even got to see Jessie and James anymore.
"Why are we bothering with this?" The woman finally asked, directing her attention to the man. "It doesn't matter why the Boss wants him. We did our job already. Now we just have to keep him secure until pick up."
"We've run after psychics, people who can throw balls of energy, who can talk to pokemon in ways we can't. I'm sick of being unprepared." The man looked at Ash again, narrowing his eyes. "You can do something. You're not that good of a trainer to end up on the list."
"List?" Ash repeated.
"Enough," the woman spoke quickly. "Just make sure he's locked up tight. If he tries something stupid, we'll bring his mother in here and slit her throat."
Just those words alone were enough to make Ash focus on the real problem at hand. He jerked violently, gritting his teeth at the restraints that dug into his wrists. "Don't touch my mother," he spat at her. The teenager should have been expecting the blow to the face that he got from the man. Whatever kind of drugs they put in him made it hard to try and do anything with his Aura, so he couldn't lash out at them.
The man leaned uncomfortably close to him. "We will do whatever you want to them. The redhead's pretty, maybe I can have some fun with her before we ship you off."
Ash jerked forward again, using his head as a weapon by slamming it into the dark-haired man's. He heard a howl of pain, feeling a bit of vindication even as he lost consciousness again.
...
Misty faded in and out of consciousness several times before she fully woke up. Her mouth was dry, her head was woozy, and she was really confused. Realizing that she was laying on an old, wooden floor, the teenager pushed herself and looked around with confusion. The little room was dim and sparse, wallpaper peeling off of the walls.
A small groan caught the teenagers attention, and she shifted, grimacing a little bit at the zip ties that dug into her wrists. A small snort escaped her lips, because their captors couldn't even get real cuffs for them. Misty frowned when she saw Delia slowly waking, her eyes fluttering open. The woman looked around with just as much confusion as she had earlier, and sat up. "What in the world?"
"I think they used something like Sleep Powder on us," Misty said, shaking her head a bit. "When we got in the taxi but I have no idea where we are."
Instead of panicking, Delia frowned. She eyed Misty for a moment warily and asked, "Are you hurt at all?"
"No. I'm fine. Are you?"
"No," if anything, the woman seemed displeased with this. "There were a lot of people looking for cabs at the station, wasn't there?"
"Yeah," Misty didn't say anything else, since Delia was clearly in the middle of an important thought.
"If this was the work of a sicko just wanting to kidnap people, I doubt we'd be left alone like this. Not the two of us together. They must have targeted us specifically, but how..." The woman shook her head. Misty understood what she was wondering, getting on the same track as she was. How would they have known when they were coming? They would have had to have been tracking their passports and itinerary. Why they would have been tracking them in the first place was the real question.
Her head snapped up, sea-green eyes going wide. "Ash. This has to do with Ash." Her mind ran over the scenario in the car, and she remembered the distinct red R that she had seen. "Team Rocket..." There were definitely a lot of reasons Team Rocket might have targeted Ash, especially when he was getting so much media attention at the moment for being in the final two of the Kalos Tournament.
"I think so too," Delia nodded her head, brow furrowing angrily. "I don't know who they are, but if they think they're going to use me to hurt my baby, they have another thing coming." She jerked her hands roughly. "Stupid things."
"Wait, don't hurt yourself," Misty advised her. She pulled her knees up to her chest, slipping her arms underneath her so that she could see her hands, rather than having them bound behind her. The young woman eyed the zip tie, biting onto the part that was looped through the locking mechanism to not only move that part directly between her wrists, but tightening it as much as she could.
Misty looked at Delia and said, "If you get your wrists in front of you and tighten them, you can break out of them." She raised her hands up above her hand and then jerked her arms down and backwards in one fluid motion. Sure enough, the zip ties snapped off of her wrists. "When you do it, your arms should look almost like Torchic wings and when you bring your arms back, your shoulder blades should come together some. Don't let it just go down."
The woman blinked and then laughed a bit. "You're something else, aren't you? Come here for a second." Misty walked over and knelt down in front of Delia. The brunette nodded to her hands, "Look at the lock on zip tie, you should see a tiny plastic bar inside." Misty looked down, humming a bit and nodding her head. "Good, use your finger nail and press down on it." It took her a moment, but she managed to do as the woman instructed, staring with surprise as it came undone with ease. "You're not the only one with tricks up her sleeve," Delia winked at her and stood up, stretching out her limbs.
Misty just stared for a moment before shaking her head in amusement and standing up. She got up and walked over to the window, only seeing a dark forest. If there was anything else around them, she couldn't see it from her position.
The sound of shuffling drew her attention back in the room. She watched Delia take the pink, short sleeved cardigan that she always wore over her yellow t-shirt, off and toss it on top of something. At Misty's inquisitorial look, Delia nodded at it. "There's a camera. I doubt there's more than one, but just be ready in case someone else shows up." Kneeling down in front of the door, Delia reached back and pulled a couple pins out of her hair, letting the brown tresses fall into her face.
Misty walked closer, watching with interest as Delia twisted the two pins and began to move them around slightly in the old keyhole. It took a few minutes, but there was a click, and the woman twisted the doorknob, smiling victoriously as it came open. "How do you..."
"Dates with Ash's father weren't very conventional." Misty's face turned a bright shade of red, and a second later, Delia's did as well. "No, no, no, not like that. I meant that there was always some kind of trouble following him."
Pressing her hand to her warm cheek, the teenager shook her head a bit and said, "Well, I—uh—right. We need to get out of here and find my pokemon." She managed to get her blush under control. "We need to warn Ash before they try to do something to him."
Delia stood up, nodded her head. She peered out the door, and said, "There's no one there. Come on." They slipped out of the room into a long, dark hallway.
"This doesn't look like a Rocket base or something," Misty whispered as they walked carefully along the old floors, wary of the fact that any of the old floorboards could creek loudly beneath their feet. To her, it looked like an old, abandoned mansion that was probably haunted by dozens of ghost-type pokemon.
It wasn't lost on the redhead that Delia stayed in front of her the entire time, being the first to peak around corners to see if there was anyone down there. Misty didn't like it, but she knew how stubborn the woman could be and wasn't about to push the topic.
Delia frowned suddenly and moved back. "There's someone sitting down there. It looks like he's playing with a tablet of some sort."
Misty leaned forward, sea-green eyes narrowing as she took in the young man sitting there. He couldn't be much older than she was.
"We have to wait for him to leave," the brunette muttered. "If he's guarding something, that's probably the way we need to go, and he's armed."
The teenager looked down to see that there was a gun holstered on his belt. The smart thing to do would have been to run and hide, but she had no idea how long until it was discovered that they were gone. She looked back around the corner just in time to see the man jerk with surprise.
"The camera's covered. Damn." Misty pursed her lips and looked back at Delia for a moment. Her face twisted into an apologetic look, and then she moved.
The redhead launched herself at the young man, who was visible startled by her sudden appearance. He reached out to grab her, but Misty was faster, getting close and slamming her fist upward into the soft tissue under his ribs. When he gasped in pain and doubled over, she beat her arm into the back of his head to force him down faster, slamming her knee into his head as he fell. Then she shoved him to the floor, ignoring her throbbing knee as she smirked down. Looking back at Delia, she said, "Problem solved."
The woman laughed and joined them, searching over the desk. "See if he has anything on him."
Misty nodded, frisking through his pockets, coat and around his collar to see if there was anything hanging around his neck. She found keys, a phone, a hunting knife, a gun and extra ammunition. She put everything on the chair and looked at what Delia found.
"Nothing special, just what he had on him," the elder Ketchum said, frowning a bit. "Honestly, this whole place looks kind of thrown-together really quickly. Run down. If I had to guess, I'd say that this is just a holding place."
"A holding place for Ash, and us to use against him," Misty clarified. "We need to find the pokemon and get out of here before they get him."
Delia grimaced as she looked at the tablet, that was conveniently still turned on. "I think we're too late on that." She turned the tablet around so Misty could see, and along with the blank screen that was obviously supposed to show the feed from the room they were in, there was one focused on a boy slumped down and bound to a chair.
"Ash," Misty muttered, her eyes going wide with horror. "They already have him."
Mrs. Ketchum took back the tablet. It was a common brand that Misty herself had shown the older woman how to use, so it took her no time to change the password so that they could open it again if it turned off. Then, she started looking through it. "Huh, well that's convenient. I guess this place is new for these guys too, they have everything listed here. Even the fact that we're still in Kalos. Route 14 in between Laverre and Lumiose. Trees and swamp area."
Misty took the tablet and looked through the information quickly, but then turned it off just in case someone tried to track it. It definitely wasn't something she wanted to lose.
"We know where we are, we know there are cities and probably smaller towns around us," Delia spoke up again. "Lets find the pokemon, Ash, and get out. Do you know how to shoot?"
Misty was startled by the question and looked down at the gun sitting ominously beside her. She touched the cold, dark metal and shook her head. "No. I'm all for self-defense but I never..."
"It's okay," Delia assured her, taking the extra ammunition and putting it in the only place she could, her pocket. She picked up the gun and started checking it over. "I know how."
"You do?" She was surprised, really, really surprised. "Why?"
The woman opened her mouth to answer, but the man on the floor groaned and started to get up. "Pull him up." Misty decided not to question her, using her surprising strength to practically rip the man off of the floor. Delia looked at the man and asked, "Where's my son, and where's their pokemon?"
"I'm not going to tell you—," he grunted in pain as Misty jerked his arm back. "Bitch!"
"Oh I know," Misty agreed with a smirk. "You should answer her though. See, I might look weak, but I can carry my boyfriend over my shoulders like a firefighter and go running for a while, and I'm pretty sure he's a bit bigger than you and eats like a Snorlax. I will break your arm. And your face."
The man was about to argue, but there was a click as Delia took the safety off the gun, pointing it at him. "Misty sweetie, move a bit to the right please. Yes right there, thank you." Not only did that end up pulling Ross' arm even more, but now Misty was out of the way, should she actually shoot. "Tell us where the pokmon are."
The grunt weighed his options before saying, "We're on the top floor now. The pokemon are being held in the first door in the basement. Ketchum's at the end of the hall there."
"Thank you," Delia said in a chipper voice before slamming the butt of the gun into his head. He slumped down, falling to the ground when Misty let go of him. "We should hide him." She peeked into the room by them, which was luckily empty. "In here."
"How do you even..." Misty didn't really know what to say to the woman that she thought she knew well enough. She decided to follow her instructions, tugging the grunt and putting him in the room.
"Right, take that bag and put everything else in it. You never know, we might need it." Delia clicked the safety onto the gun, deciding to carry it with her. It was really a startling sight, the gun contrasting harshly against her blue skirt and yellow shirt.
"Where's all this coming from?"
Delia grimaced and said, "I told you, dates with Ash's father weren't what you'd think. Come on." The brunette led the way, managing to avoid the rooms with a couple people in them rather easily. Misty knew that it was because they were in an old mansion, and that a Rocket base would probably be much harder to get out of. She was really thankful for that.
They got to the basement without incident, finding a door that the old key they found opened easily.
There were twelve pokeballs there, and Misty was quick to grab hers, decorated with little wave patterns that Dawn had given her for her seventeenth birthday.
One of the other pokeballs started flailing wildly, the oldest one on the table with a distinct, yellow lightning bolt on it. "Pikachu," she breathed out, pressing the button and watching the familiar pokemon appeared. Pikachu's cheeks were sparking, instantly ready for battle, but his ears perked up and the sparks vanished when he saw her.
"Pikachupi!" Pikachu jumped up into her arms and nuzzled her.
"I'm glad you're okay too, but we need to find Ash now. We need to do it fast before someone realizes we're gone." Pikachu frowned and nodded, jumping back onto the table. He hit the button on one of the pokeballs, and in a blaze of light, a rather short Lucario appeared.
Though much smaller than most Lucario, this one, nicknamed Ria, wasn't something to shake a stick at. Misty knew that she was easily one of Ash's most powerful pokemon, her slight build and height stemming from her premature hatching rather than her strength. Unique by the fact that she was the only pokemon Ash had who actually had a nickname, Ria was a rather proud, but occasionally goofy specimen. Her nickname was given to her to distinguish her from another important Lucario they once knew, who's death resulted in her life.
She lived up to that sacrifice every day.
"Ria," Misty said, understanding exactly what Pikachu was doing. "We need to find Ash, now. They said he's at the end of the hall, but we want to be sure. Can you lead us to him while avoiding everyone else?"
Ria closed her red eyes briefly, putting her paw over her chest before opening her eyes and nodding. "I can sense him." Her voice was rich, but feminine, sounding in many ways like she was wise beyond her years, though Misty knew that wasn't exactly true. She was easily one of the least serious Lucario that the redhead ever met. "Follow me." Situations like this were a completely different story though.
With Ria leading, they were able to avoid any confrontations. Her Aura gave her the ability to sense all the living people and pokemon in the house, so they were able to avoid them with ease as they made their way through the rather massive basement.
They stopped outside of an open door, peering in and seeing several people around a table, playing a card game with drinks and snacks at the table. It was such a normal sight, that it was actually startling.
"They're all so young," Delia muttered mournfully, and she wasn't wrong. Every single person in that was sitting around that table, proudly wearing a bright red R on their clothes, had to be younger than her. It made their escape easier, since no one even noticed yet, but it was still unsettling.
"Why would trainers come to a place like this?'
"Team Rocket has always preyed on young, inexperienced trainers. Not everyone can find themselves or make it on their own when they leave home, especially when they're very young. Things like that are why I'm glad Pallet has such strict rules. I'd never want to see a child that I once knew here."
Misty thought about it as they followed Ria. She'd like to say that she didn't understand, but if someone else had taken her in, told her that she could be strong, that she could belong, she might have gone with them. Only in retrospect did Misty realize how desperate she was for a friend, for a place to call her own in the world. It was amazing to think that, by saving Ash's life when she fished him out of the river, he might have inadvertently saved hers as well.
They got by them without any trouble, following Ria down the hall until she stopped at a door. "Here." Ria was about to break the door, but recognizing the old lock, Delia stopped her. The house must have been old if the same key unlocked several doors, maybe even all of them. They quietly pushed it open, peering inside.
Ash was sitting in a chair, slumped forward slightly, his arms bound behind the chair being the only thing keeping him upright. His hat was missing, hair matted to blood on his forehead. Misty didn't remember moving, but she was by his side instantly, looking for a serious head wound. It actually wasn't that serious, much to her relief. "Ash? Wake up." She patted his cheek lightly, watching as his eyes flutter a bit.
"He might have been drugged," Delia noted, her voice tense and angry. She was standing over a needle that had been carelessly tossed aside.
"Pikapi?" Pikachu jumped up onto Ash's lap. He suddenly motioned to Misty, who took a step back, and then let a very light jolt of electricity rush from his paw into his trainer. The teenager jerked away, looking around with confusion for a moment. "Misty?" He looked around. "Mom?" Then he looked down. "Pikachu? Ria? What's going on?"
"We're getting out of here," Delia said, unlocking the handcuffs on him with the same pins that she used to escape their prison cell. Ash pulled his arms around, rolling his shoulders and grimacing before rubbing his wrists that she could see bruising from atop his gloves. "That one might be broken," she said worriedly, nodding to the one that seemed much bigger under the cuff of his dirty, ripped gloves.
"No," Ash shook his head and pushed the fabric down, revealing a shiny, black band with an iridescent stone in the middle. "I didn't want them to see it. They didn't seem super interested in me anyway." He stood up, and Delia frowned at his torn, dirty clothes.
"Interested enough to kidnap you."
"Yeah, but they were talking," Ash grimaced, holding out his arm for Pikachu to climb up before stroking Ria's forehead. "They didn't know why they were told to get me, and they didn't say it but I know they thought I wasn't worth it. They talked about other people too."
"Other people?" Misty repeated, walking in front of him. He nodded his head as he stared at her. She reached up, putting her fingers on either side of his nose, and the boy's bright brown eyes went wide. He knew exactly what she was about to do and braced himself for it. He bit his lip, a muffled grunt escaping him as she put his broken nose back into place.
Ash ignored her question, staring at her through watery eyes as he reached up, taking her hands into his own. "Are you guys okay?"
"We'll be better once we get out of here," Delia spoke up. "We need to go. Now."
There was no arguing with Ash's mother when she used that tone of voice. They both knew that. Misty looked up as Ash grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly as they followed his mother out the door, Ria walking in front of her.
Ash just knew that whatever situation they were really in wasn't good. He couldn't even think straight due to a massive headache and just wanted to get out of there. He wouldn't admit it, but a small part of him just wanted to curl up in Misty's arms and go to sleep.
Okay maybe a big part of him wanted to do that.
"Are you guys sure you're okay?" he asked them, brow furrowing with worry as he followed them to the door.
"We're fine. They just used some sort of Sleep Powder to knock us out when we were coming to watch your match, and we woke up here in a cell. Your mom broke us out, I kicked ass, and here we are, rescuing your damsel-ass." Misty smiled at him teasingly, and Ash just shook his head. "Oh, right." She took the pokeballs that she hooked on her belt and put them on his own. "We got these for you too."
He stared at her with pure admiration that made her feel warm inside. "You guys are seriously my favourite people, people," he stressed to Pikachu, who bristled at the statement, "in the world."
There was a sudden yell from behind them, and they looked around as a young Team Rocket grunt ran out of the room, staring at them with wide eyes.
"Run," Ria spoke clearly, and that was exactly what the three of them did. They followed after her, rushing up the stairs. Another grunt was waiting by the door, but the small Lucario easily beat the person out of the way. They got outside, and ran into the doors.
"Hey, I know where we are," Ash said suddenly, looking back over his shoulder. "That was an old, gimmicky haunted house before. There's a town not far from here. It's closer than Lumiose."
"Good, lets go," Delia started leading the way without any hesitation, Ria walking by her side.
"Mist?" Ash spoke up after a moment of hurrying through the trees. "Why does my mom have a gun?"
"It's a long story."
...
Note
Holy chicken nuggets! Thank you so much for al lthe awesome reviews an support! Huge thank you go to: remisolleke, ultimateCCC, Leonais Frostwind, Wraith Five, Kauris Azurai, MaxKnight1010101, Intensity215, JediMasterDraco, EchidnaPower, thedarkpokemaster cidneha, amandaalb4, Guest, check it bonsly, Great, VolcanicPanic, Eliza272, awolflover2, windowwarrior234, NoSignalBlueScreen, Ejennings167, Phoenix Keeper Avalon, RightHandOfPalpatine and Kasumi96!
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Written by: Skylight Sparkle
Edited by: CLAVUS