Chapter 5

I decided to write out a letter and give it to the surgeons. They said they would give it to them. I then opened the hatch to the side of the chopper. I looked down into the forest. Then I looked up at the blood red sky filling with black smoke and black clouds. A cold chill shot up my spine as I closed my eyes and leaned forward out of the chopper. I dropped a good thirty feet before hitting the tree line and using branches to slow my fall. I remembered the note as I dropped out. It read:

Misty and Tracy,

I can't begin to explain how sorry I am that I won't get to see you. Its been a long time since either of you have talked with me. I hope that one day, I will get to see you again. For now, I must disappear from the area, due to the fact that the Deoxys army is following me. I don't want to endanger anyone else. I will draw the Deoxys out into the woods, and form an ambush to weaken their forces. I hope you wish me luck.

Sincerely,

Ash Ketchum

I landed in the forest and radioed in my location. They said that they would have several APC's and helicopters in my area within five minutes. I floated back up above the tree line. I then cleared my throat and screamed out for all to hear, "You think you're better than me? Come get me if you're so great!" Within seconds, dozens of normal types rose from the trees that were planning to hit Pallet Town. I pulled out the whip and cracked it once, to show that I meant business. Some looked fearful, while others looked at me with pride or overconfidence, I couldn't tell.

One charged at me with a sword. I lashed out the whip to three times its normal length and reached the clone before it was even close to me. It exploded into dust as the commander called out, "Fall back and reform our ranks. We must continue the attack on Kanto." They started to run, but an explosion stopped them dead in their tracks. All one hundred Deoxys turned their gaze at once to a tank that fired. They turned back around to be surrounded by Apache Choppers. They realized they were surrounded and tried to flee.

"We out number them one to 3," the lead defense clone said. "Destroy them all! Don't run away! What are you, chicken?"

They heard that last comment and came back to fight. They began opening fire, but the military had learned and added personal EMP generators that they could use to disrupt enemy fire. The Pokémon's attacks were being cut down before they were halfway to the targets, and they couldn't figure out why. We took that chance of confusion and fired tank missiles, chopper machine guns, and focus blasts. Nearly 30 of them were demolished in the barrage of attacks. They attempted to retaliate, but were led to the same conclusion of nothing.

"Fall back into Johto, we will join the attack there and come back to Kanto for a finisher. They fled off to the northwest. The choppers tried a chase, but the enemy was flying too fast. We pulled back into Pallet Town where we were greeted with thanks and admiration from the civilians. My friends saw me and brought Misty and Tracy over. Before they said anything, I showed them where I had been burnt, and how fast it was healed.

"Wow, your face was burnt that badly, and already healed?" Tracy said.

"He's probably just saying that for attention." Misty said sarcastically. I clenched my fists, hearing that. Sometimes, she just annoyed me so much with her jealous, childish behavior.

"Speaking of attention, guess what?" Tracy asked.

"What?"

Tracy started, "We are-"

"-In love!" Misty finished.

"That's great!" I exclaimed. Then, in the corner of my eye, I saw Broc hand Dawn something and she gasped. Next, she wrapped her arms around Broc's necked gave him a big kiss. "What's up?" I asked stupidly.

"Broc just gave me this!" Dawn said as she shoved her hand in my face. There was a beautiful sapphire gem surrounded by black diamonds on a ring. It truly did look nice. "It's a present, for me! I love it so much!"

"That's amazing." I grumbled. Broc came over and whispered in her ear. She gave him another kiss and told me that they were now dating. I then decided to run into the local jewelry store.

I asked for a plain black ring. He looked at me oddly, but gave me one to look at. Then, I walked around the store, looking at all the gems. The store was pretty plain in design, with three tables full of pre-decorated rings and sample rings, one on each side of the room. Then, cases were lined along the wall behind the cashier, and one on either side of the entrance. I saw a large ruby. I looked at it and imagined it on the ring. Next, I looked over at some smaller emeralds and thought about putting them on the ring. I walked back up to the cashier and asked for the proper ring size.

"What would you like on the ring?" he asked casually.

"First, I want two medium-sized rubies, one on each side of the ring," he wrote that down and I continued. "Second, I want a slightly larger emerald placed between it, forming a horizontal line when looking like this." I turned the blank ring so that looking from above, the ring part extended from the left and right. He scribbled that down and I finished. "Finally, I want silver lining around the rubies and gold around the emerald. So how much is it?" I finished.

"It's on the house, for saving us all from extinction." He smiled with gratitude and went off to start the ring. I walked back out to May, seeing her look at me in confusion.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

"Its special, so don't worry about it." I answered.

Out of nowhere, I started to hear the hum of engines. I looked around in confusion. I couldn't figure it out, not until I looked into the sky. I saw the entire remainder of soldiers and civilians pulling in from Johto. I guess the Deoxys overran them. The Orange Islands had already pulled into Johto, and now they were coming into the final stand, Kanto. This was humanity's last hope, a small fleeting one at that. Some of the choppers landed in town and others continued on into Pewter City. Several of the soldiers and people needed medical attention. Some were missing limbs; some had been burned or badly wounded.

Pokémon in small holding cages were being carried into a makeshift Pokémon Center. Some were covered in cuts and bruises while others were badly burned or with broken limbs. It seemed that the enemy had more compassion for Pokémon than us. It made sense, because they were similar. They still didn't show very much mercy to them though, for they were still enemies.

I looked at the whole situation, and thought that in the end, I wouldn't be appreciated for my work. They would still hate me for causing the whole thing. That's when some kind of Deoxys started flying away. I chased after it and tried to catch up, but it was too incredibly fast. I was losing it, until a sudden surge of psychic energy pushed me even faster than the Pokémon. I didn't know how it was possible, but I didn't question it either. I grabbed the speed type by the two horns that came from its head. I tried to shake me off, but all the extra energy allowed me to stop almost instantly. It couldn't stop and kept flying. I ended up tearing its head off as its body shoot through the woods and tumbled to a halt. Its head started to dissipate. I thought of absorbing it, but every time I did that, I felt less human. It didn't change my appearance, or my mental state. I just felt like something was missing.

Instead, I jabbed my fingers into its eyes and began to read its mind. It was given orders from the commander itself, to follow me and report his location, so they could send their secret weapon to eliminate me. What was he talking about? I wondered that as I returned to the place I lived in as a kid. I opened the door to the house and stepped inside. I saw my mother with my friends, waiting for me. I greeted them and told them the situation.

"You should go report that to the military, but after supper." Delia said.

"Yeah," everyone agreed.

While May and I were gorging on food and everyone else just eating, Delia said, "Oh Ash, you two were made for each other." She laughed as May looked at me with gentle eyes.

"May, there's something that I wanted to tell you about," I said. "While I was chasing the speed type, I felt a sudden burst of energy. I don't really understand why."

"While you were gone, the ring you got was delivered to me. I put it on and started meditating before I trained. I do it to clear my mind and concentrate on improvement. Is there a possible connection in that?"

"There might be, because if you look at the rubies on the ring, you would notice that they are an extremely dark, blood red. I picked up some shards from gem while you were watching that van drive away."

"Ash, why would you do that?" May asked. The rest were just watching, listening intently.

"They looked so beautiful, and I thought they would give me luck. Apparently, because of the love you and I share, it transferred the energy you were generating with meditation, and gave it to me in my time of need." I explained.

"That explains why I wasn't feeling anything, normally, meditation makes me feel better and stronger, on the inside and out." May said.

Then, the ring glowed pink. When it faded away, it was not the same design. The rubies and emerald had fused into one gem. The colors were swirled together, looking like a shirt worn by hippies. The silver and gold lacing was now intertwined throughout the gem. Strands were twisting through the gem. It was a hundred times more beautiful.

"Amazing" May said. The rest were also mesmerized.

I wolfed down the rest of my food and told my mom that I would be back. I walked out to the military base, a.k.a. Professor Oak's lab and ranch. I walked up to Professor Oak, who was sitting outside his house that was overrun with soldiers. We talked for a while and how all my traveling really helped his research and how great I was. I thanked him and said I would be back. I then went inside the lab and walked up to the first soldier I saw. I asked for a meeting with some higher-ups and he looked at me funny. I told him who I was and he ran off to find some other soldiers. He returned within a few minutes with their general and a couple of colonels. I told them I what I had "overheard" from the Deoxys, and he nodded and understood what was going on.

"You're sure it'll be coming here?" The general asked.

"Indefinitely, they communicate through telepathy, so there's no doubt my location hasn't reached them yet. We should be expecting their secret weapon by tomorrow morning." I explained.

"Okay, we are going to get our soldiers and Pokémon ready, you should go off and get some rest from the war." One of the colonels said.

I walked out and looked up at the sky. I remember when I could tell the time of day from looking at the sky. The sky was always so close to blood red anymore, I had to go home and look at the clock. It was about 8 p.m. I didn't feel tired, but I needed it since I hadn't slept since I shattered the ruby a few days ago. I had another nightmare. This time however, I was walking through Pewter City. Dead bodies lie all over the street. The city was in shambles; I walked into the gym, where Broc's large family lived. The building itself was still intact, probably the only building like that in town. I walked around, following the streaks of blood and destroyed furniture. I walked into the main bedroom to see about four of Broc's siblings lying on the bed. It was soaked in blood as I walked closer to the bed. I noticed that Broc's siblings didn't have any eyes, just empty holes. Their legs where cut and some even missing. Then, what scared me the most was seeing Broc's father having hung himself in corner. There was an old nail in the ceiling with a rotted, old rope, leading down to Broc's father. His hands were bloody and a pen was on the ground from where he might have dropped it.

I saw a note on the nightstand next to the bed. I read it out loud:

To whomever is unfortunate enough to find this site,

I have done this as a mercy killing. The creatures invaded Pewter city about 1 a.m. They were on their way to Pallet Town and noticed us moving around. The secret weapon completely destroyed everything. It was coming our way when I pulled the children into the bedroom. I then killed the off so the aliens couldn't do it themselves. I wrote this note and hung myself.

I couldn't believe the sight. I then woke up and looked around. I looked at the clock and saw it was 12:30 at night. I tiptoed outside and headed for Pewter City. There wasn't enough time to call the military and warn them. I would have to get to the city first. I flew at about 50 mph and arrived in a matter of minutes. I looked around and then went to the Pewter City gym. I went in and snuck around until I found the children's room. I went in a boarded it up so the psychopath wouldn't kill them. I then went out the window and onto the roof to call the military. They said they would double their presence in ten minutes. While I waited, the god of all monsters rose from the trees.