Chapter Four

Dexter

Ash stopped off at the Cianwood Poke Centre only long enough to heal his Pokemon. Before he exited, he scanned the surroundings, the sea, and the sky for any sign that those metal behemoths were in pursuit, Once he'd worked out that the coast was clear, he got back on Marshtomp's back and directed it to surf for the Whirl Islands. Promising the Trainers who challenged him to battles later, Ash kept both eyes and ears wide open for suspicious sea or air-going vehicles. Upon reaching the Whirl Islands with no sign of surveillance or pursuit, Ash breathed a sigh of relief.

He went down two floors of passages before finding somewhere small and well hidden enough to stop. He sat down, got Pikachu to use Flash, and began thinking things through.

First, he had found that weird stalky thing that had been blasted by that big electric Pokemon. Then he had picked up that odd cube. It was after that that all this seemed to start. It seemed obvious that this cube was the reason for the madness that had followed.

He took the cube out of his backpack, to examine it again, but he fumbled it, dropping it. Blue lightning sizzled out from it, striking the pocket which contained his Pokedex. Immediately, his Pokedex started moving and the bulge of it in his pocket distorted and jumped. It was as if his Pokedex had suddenly gained a life of its own.

Ash put his hand in his pocket to pull out the spasming bit of machinery, and pulled his hand out with a yelp. "Ow!" he cried. He looked at his finger, which was bleeding and had a tiny pattern of teeth marks at the tip. "It bit me!" he cried in surprise and outrage. Grabbing a pair of socks, and double-socking his hand for protection, he again reached into his pocket, hauling out the tiny mechanical Fury his Pokedex had become.

It landed on the ground on little silver legs, glaring at him with its LEDs. The sharp-toothed little mouth made biting motions, and it backed up a foot or so, aiming a little cannon which had originated who-knows-where at Ash. The thing was alive!

It fired its missiles, and Ash dodged. Then the Pokedex dropped to a four-legged stance, sprouted four more legs, and scuttled off down the corner before Ash could react. Worried that it might accidentally or deliberately find the other robots, Ash hurriedly packed, and relocated to a different set of tunnels.

Once there, he once again-more carefully this time-took out

the cube. He minutely examined it, but this examination told him no more that the cursory one in the Ilex Forest had told him. It was obviously far more than it looked, however. He remembered how his hands tingled whenever he picked it up. These was some power in there, and it had given his Pokedex a mind of its own and an evil disposition. He put the cube away again.

Casting his mind back to the attacks, Ash considered the robots he had so far seen and encountered. The Police car, tank, and helicopter had quite obviously been after him, in all likelihood because of what he carried in his backpack. Was this the "AllSpark" that the Police car had demanded of him? Perhaps if they had simply asked nicely, Ash might have handed the dratted thing over. Instead, they had gone about it using violence and intimidation, taking forceful and inimical action against him. This told Ash that whatever purpose they wanted the cube for was unlikely to be good. Last time, he had not handed over the cube out of ignorance. Perhaps, under the circumstances, not handing it over it was the morally correct thing to do anyway.

He remembered the other five robots. They had not seemed threatening at all-in fact, they had seemed to have some concern for him. They had blasted Blackout when it had pursued him-but had waited until Ash was out of the line of fire. Then they had moved, to be between he and Blackout, slowing the murderous Army chopper further. Had they done it in an attempt to protect him, or were the two groups ancestral enemies with no concern for collateral damage that might be caused to the organic forms on the planet? Ash remembered the bigger robot instructing the others to hold their fire until he was clear. No, that one at least was at lest trying to avoid accidental damage to him.

Ash's head hurt and he was exhausted. He decided to leave this mystery for a while and get some badly-needed shut-eye.

He had Pikachu extinguish the Flash, and curled up, hoping his repose would not be interrupted. Five minutes later, Ash was fleeing red-eyed robots again, but only in his dreams, for he was fast asleep.

Ash woke, surprisingly enough, naturally, after some badly-needed sleep. He felt refreshed and invigorated by his sleep, and far more ready to face the world than he had been before he slept. No giant robots had come to disturb him, although he knew he had dreamed about them. Even his newly-alive Pokedex had not come looking for him. He sat up, yawned, and decided to review what he knew.

Firstly, ever since he had found and taken that cube, he had been threatened and pursued by giant red-eyed robots.

Secondly, there were at least five more of these robots around, but these ones seemed to be concerned with not harming him, and were also the enemies of those pursuing him. The question was, had they been protecting him, or just what he was carrying?

Thirdly, the cube obviously had immense power-including giving his Pokedex life, and homicidal tendancies.

Lastly, what seemed to be his main trump card: These robots seemed to be as vulnerable to Pikachu's electric attacks as any other type of machine.

Unfortunately, he had just as many unanswered questions. What on Earth was he to do with this highly-desired cube? How could he move around without getting chased? What was he going to do about Dexter, and the most pressing question: were the robots pursuing him limited to three, and if not, then how many of them were there?

Ash decided he had had enough of skulking about the Whirl Islands. He'd have to come out for food at some point, and he'd rather the choice of when to come out wasn't dictated by the pangs of his stomach. He had an advantage in that he could fly from city to city on his Swellow. If he spent, say, only two or less hours in each city, holing up in a cave or ruin for nights, maybe he could stay one step ahead of his pursuers.

He got up and made his way back to the entrance of the Whirl Islands' labyrinth. Scanning the sea and sky before he left the cave mouth's shelter, Ash got out when he saw no sign of pursuit. He opened Swellow's Pokeball, then picked a destination at random: Blackthorn City, the city of the dragon tamers.

It was a long flight, from one end of Johto to the other, and from Swellow's back, Ash got a glorious view of Johto, spread out beneath him as Swellow flew him to Blackthorn.

Unfortunately, he was visible from the ground for much of that flight, and although most who saw him were indifferent, there were eight pairs of unfriendly optics looking for any sign of his whereabouts.