---0---0--- SCENARIO 06 ---0---0---
"This must be the work of Genesis." Professor Rowan started his explanation.
"Genesis…?" Ash asked. "Who or what is that?"
"It's an evil underground organization whose motives still remain unclear up to this present day. The Pokemon Rangers stationed here are trained to fly a fighter plane to intercept and destroy anything threatening in the sky. I don't know why they would suddenly attack the city indiscriminately and harmed innocent civilians."
"So they're like Team Rocket, Magma, and Aqua. But how come you know all of this?"
"Believe it or not, young lad, I was a Pokemon Ranger back in my days. My final mission before retiring was to bring the supreme leader of Genesis to justice…but I let him get away because of my weakness. I failed miserably. Several days later, I retired and turned my attention on Pokemon research. I thought that by concentrating on a different field I could forget my failure. But the past kept on calling me back and I simply couldn't resist. That's why I returned here as the commander of this airbase."
"That is so cool. I never thought that you had such a life, professor."
"Well, now you know. Now you know."
"So if the leader's still at large…then it must mean that today's air raid is only the beginning."
"My thoughts exactly…but I can't let you kids get involved even further. You must leave Gracemeria at once."
"But professor, we can't—"
"No buts, Ash. You and your friends must leave Gracemeria at once. Get away from here as far as you can; I don't care where you go."
"Professor, I can't leave! I don't really want to be a hero but I can't stand innocent lives at risk."
"I'm not asking you to help me, lad. I'm asking you to get to safety. What would I tell your parents?"
"I've faced many dangers throughout my journey. I don't plan on backing out on this one."
"Listen here, boy, I just had about enough of your—"
Before the dialogue could spark a fight between trainer and professor, another loud air raid siren echoed across the airbase. Seconds later, Professor Rowan picked up the red phone; directly connecting him to the command post at the top of the building without even dialing for a few seconds.
"What's going on Command?" He asked.
"Commander, we have twelve unidentified aircraft moving at top speed detected just outside HQ." One command post personnel reported. "They're unlike anything we have come across."
"I want all planes airborne. Take them out of the sky."
Suddenly, the building was rocked by explosions caused by bomb ordinances going off upon impact. The hangars were set ablaze and the planes inside them immediately caught fire. The maintenance crew tried to save the planes and get them airborne while keeping the flames at bay and from damaging their only means of retaliation. Even if there were some planes who managed to get up in the air, speed was a different story.
"Damn! These guys are too fast!" Terry said; trying to get a lock on his prey but to no avail. "I can't get a lock."
"Terry, cover me; I'm taking off." His wingman Mikhail was just about to taxi along the tarmac. "I don't want to get shot down on take-off."
"Where've you been? I began thinking if your plane caught fire."
"I was busy helping the mechanics get the planes out of the burning hangars. Sorry I'm late."
"Just get up here you lazy bum."
"Hey, I'm not lazy!"
---0---
Meanwhile, Ash unhesitatingly busted the door open and ran out in the open. Professor Rowan and his friends tried to stop him but it was too late. He was already meters ahead of them. A clueless May entered the quarters after talking to her stubborn cousin and crying for a bit.
"What's going on? Why is Ash running outside?" May asked, a bit worried.
"That idiot…!" Professor Rowan said; frustrated to the bone. "He's going to get himself killed."
"Huh? What's happening? What's this about Ash getting killed?"
"This could get messy. Everybody follow me."
"What…more moving around? I'm getting too tired for this."
---0---
Out in the tarmac, Ash sent out his only Pokemon capable of taking him as high as the planes were flying: his Charizard. He hopped aboard the Pokemon as it spread its wings and took off from the runway—just in time to get away from a random bomb exploding at the point where they took off. His once pain-in-the-neck Pokemon was now working alongside him for better or for worse. Ash saw one of the bombers passing by him.
"Charizard, go after that plane!" He yelled.
Terry looked out the window of his reserve plane's cockpit (his other plane got knocked out of the sky in the last battle) and saw the trainer and the Pokemon going after one high-speed bomber. He was rather impressed by Ash's courage but he found his tactics very unorthodox.
"That's one crazy, brave idiot." He said; turning hard towards the direction of the flying Pokemon. "Mikhail, cover my tail. I'm going after the trainer in the Charizard."
"Hey, weren't you supposed to be covering me?" Mikhail replied over the radio.
"Well you're airborne now so watch your six and follow me closely."
"This is nuts! That trainer's nuts! You're nuts!"
"I'll take that as a compliment, Mikhail. Ha, ha, ha, ha…"
One Flamethrower was all it needed to knock Charizard's prime target out of the sky. The training with its fellow kin was finally paying off.
"That was a nice shot, Charizard. Let's move to the next one." Ash said.
The trainer's friends were watching him closely on different angles in different monitors inside the command post at the top floor of the headquarters building. Sure, the good guys were winning as he and his Charizard took down at least three bogeys with the help of the delta fighters covering his tail. But his friends below couldn't help but feel very uneasy about his decision to fight for justice—the kind of justice that was life-threatening.
"Yup, it looks like he's done it." Brock said. "Once Ash gets into the swing of things, there's no stopping him…not even us."
"That idiot…always getting us involved in dangerous situations like this." Dawn replied stingily.
May was the most affected of them all. "Ash, why are you doing this?"