Chapter 10

Misty's eyes awoke, but for a moment she felt like she was still asleep. Everything around her was shrouded in darkness. Slowly, she began to sit up, but as she did a sharp pain coursed through her left shoulder. She clutched at it with her other hand, and was surprised to see it wrapped up in bandages. 'What... what happened?' Her attention was then drawn to a noise... footsteps. She could hear feet clicking against the rocky ground. Scared and shaking, she stood up, still clutching at her throbbing shoulder.

"Who's there?" She quietly asked the shadows.

Silence followed for a while, but the sound continued to get louder.

"Who's there?" Bravely, she yelled out, hoping that the fear in her voice would not become evident.

"It's just me," A sigh of relief coursed through her as she recognised the voice of her old friend Gary. "I didn't mean to scare you." He said kindly as he emerged with a large torch shining a bright beam of light in front of him.

"Yeah well you did!"

"Sorry." Gary said, embarrassed but also slightly scared of Misty's renowned temper. "How are you feeling?"

As Misty looked back into her wound, she tried to remember what had happened, but it still felt like a blur. "It... it hurts, but... I don't know why." Misty's blue eyes looked to Gary's deep brown eyes. Her expression was filled with sadness and fear. Gary wanted to reach out and hold her, but he restrained himself. Now was not the time for him to let his emotions get the better of him.

"Team Rocket captured you. They used you to try and get information out of me." Gary looked away in shame as he said it. This is what I had always feared...

"They did this to me..." Misty's mind began to stir, her foggy memory slowly began to clear. "I went to the gym... but they were already there. His Magmortar... it was so powerful even against my Gyarados... my pokemon. Gary they got my Pokemon!"

"I know, I saw them... I couldn't get them back." Gary's heart began to sink even further into himself.

Misty's heart also sank. She had vowed to protect all of her Pokemon from harm, she had failed them. Not only that, she had failed the man she loved.

"I am sorry... I promise you though..." Misty looked up as she felt his warm gentle hand comfortingly touch her shoulder. She looked deep into his eyes, although the darkness shaded them she could feel something powerful emanating from them, almost like hope. "I will keep you safe." Misty's eyes stretched wider in shock.

"Keep me safe? What about Ash? What are you going to do to keep him safe, Gary?" She shouted violently as she pushed his hand away with some considerable force. "You have been hiding away like a coward for so long I bet you have forgotten how to fight. I bet you don't even want to find him, you just want to stay here and hide in your little hole!"

"I tried to warn you Misty, I tried to protect you, but you never listen! You are so driven by your stubbornness that you fail to see that your actions have consequences!"

"At least I'm trying to do something! What are you doing?"

"I saved your life!"

"That's not enough!"

Gary, stunned by her arrogance, almost burst into laughter. "So you would have preferred it if I just left you there to die?"

"You didn't do anything anyway, it was your Arcanine. He did all the work!"

"I healed you, don't think Arcanine could have done that do you?"

"Don't think he could have drugged me either."

"Oh are you ever going to let that go? I was trying to help you, if you didn't rest your wounds wouldn't heal properly!"

"Oh there is no time for resting, we have to act!"

"But now thanks to you, they know that I am alive! Now they are going to do whatever they can to get what's inside my head!"

Misty stood silent for a moment; her foggy memory vaguely recalled that Frasier was asking Gary something... "The carvings?"

Gary nodded. "They have been trying to translate them for years, I am the only one who has been able to translate most of the text."

"And... What does it say?"

Gary shook his head, his expression was stern. "If you knew it could put you in even more danger than you already are. I won't do that to you."

"My shoulder is already in agony, and don't get me started on how my back is feeling right now. I think I can handle it." Misty said angrily, 'If I'm in this, I want to know why, maybe that could help me get Ash back home.'

"No Misty!" Gary snapped, his fists clenched as his thoughts trailed back to his friend, Professor Green.

"Well then, maybe if I knew the information, they'd keep me alive."

Gary looked over, almost stunned at Misty's ignorance. "You really have no idea. They will torture you, they will do anything to hurt you and they will enjoy making you suffer, whether you give them the information or not." Gary paused for a moment as he looked at the fear on Misty's face. "Still want to know?" Misty directed her gaze down to the rocky floor. "Thought so" Gary slowly walked away. Although concerned about her, he didn't want Misty to see, because to him right now emotion was a weakness. He had made that mistake when Frasier captured Misty. When Frasier ordered Skarmory to let her go, he knew then and there that he would have given him all the information he needed to save her. He could never let that happen again. He had to keep Misty safe at all costs, otherwise he would have to make a decision which he could never live with.

"What about your grandfather? Is he safe?" Gary winced for a moment, but he continued to walk away.

Gary followed the passageway. As he saw the bright light in front of him, he entered it. His eyes quickly adjusted to the beautiful view that was laid out before him. Gary looked down at the vast forest, it was clearly divided by a raging river. Beyond the forest was a steep mountain, surrounding the entire area. Gary could hear the sounds of the waterfall as it fed the river far across the canyon.

"I know how to pick a good hiding spot." Gary looked over, his good friend standing smugly on the ledge. His head lowered, his brown hair covered his face in a shadow.

"Thank you, don't know what I would have done without you there." Gary remembered back to that frightful moment, the immensely powerful hyper beam shining it's bright light in his face. But just before the attack fired, the floor gave in below him. The hyper beam resealed the hole as it fused all of the loose dirt that had emerged. As Gary tried to regain himself, he saw the culprit of the previous earthquake and of this new hole. Brock's Steelix, although Brock was nowhere to be seen, he knew it was his.

"You are welcome." Brock said smugly as he lifted his head, "Feels good to get out of the office." He had changed much since the days when he travelled with Ash and his friends. He was now a world renowned Pokemon Doctor, with an extremely successful practice. His clothes represented his new found success, his brown shirt was very smart and expensive looking, but he had never lost that kindness that made him so popular with all of his friends.

"Are you going to head back?" Gary asked as Brock stepped carefully towards him from the ledge. They both sat down, gazing out upon the scenic view.

"I was thinking about it, but then I thought that you might need me to help with Misty."

"You know I can heal her wounds just as good as you can."

"I wasn't talking about her injuries." He jested, but Gary didn't smile. "How did she take it?"

"Almost as well as you did..."

"She try to hit you?"

"Oh she got me alright... though I came out from it less scarred than when you found out."

"Yeah well, you do deserve it."

"You still think I should go back then huh?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"I can't risk it Brock. It's bad enough that you two know."

"But Frasier..."

"It makes no difference. Anyone that's near me will be in danger." Gary looked away from Brock, trying to hide his shame. He so badly wanted to see his grandfather again, he wanted more than anything to be able to look after and work with him like how they used to. But even being close to him right now, could put him in so much danger.

"Gary, he's safe."

Gary turned to him, his eyes filled with confusion. "What?"

"I told the Professor that he was in danger, I didn't explain why but he understood. He's left, I don't know where but he has gone to another region. Team Rocket won't be able to reach him there."

Gary breathed a sigh of relief. His only family was safe, now he just had his friends to worry about. Although it was still a huge task, it was at least one weight of his shoulders. "Thank you. I owe you a lot."

"Then you can give me an explanation." Brock asked, with little hesitation, "Did you know?"

Gary turned away from him once again, although Brock was being vague, he knew exactly what he meant.

"Please... you owe me that at least."

"I had a hunch... but I never thought they had achieved it till now." Gary remembered back to that Skarmory. Normally, a Skarmory cannot learn hyper beam, but thanks to him they had succeeded in teaching it to him.

"They turned your theory, and made it real." Brock said, almost stunned. He had watched most of the battle unfold from a distance with Arcanine. He could clearly remember the shock he felt when he saw that Skarmory unleash such a powerful hyper beam.

"Skarmory learning that move is the least of our worries." Gary said, refocusing his attention back on Brock. "If they managed that, who knows what else they have accomplished. It will make it even harder for us to get Ash back."

Brock lowered his head in shame. "I hope you don't mean me." He could hardly bare to look at his friend, as Gary looked upon him with shock in his eyes, but also disappointment.

"But Brock... I thought that..."

"You thought wrong." Brock said angrily, his eyes nearly filling with tears. It broke both their hearts. "I... I'm sorry." Brock calmly apologised as he wiped what little tears had slipped through his eyes. "I just can't put my brother in any danger. I don't want to get him involved in this."

Gary smiled kindly as he rested his hands upon Brock's broad shoulders. "Don't worry. I should be sorry for expecting so much from you. You owe me nothing pal." Brock finally felt enough courage to smile back. "You should get back to him; otherwise he'll start to miss that Steelix of his." Gary chuckled.

"Thanks Gary." Brock stood back up, leaving Gary. One step at a time he walked out onto the ledge, pulling out a Pokeball from his pocket he threw it into the air away from the cliff face. Brock suddenly jumped after it and flew into the light. Gary watched on as he landed on Steelix and disappeared underground.

"Thank you..." Gary muttered as he continued to look out at the horizon, whilst Misty lurked watching him from the shadows, with tears dripping from her cheeks.

To be continued

Authors Note

Hi guys! I should again apologise for how long it is taking me to keep up to date with this and also for the rewrite. You see I actually forgot I had already published this chapter and decided to make some changes to it, but when I realised I thought that this would be better and reveals a bit more without being too overdramatic. Also, I have just started my second year of Uni and well it is taking a lot of my time. But I will try to keep this story going, but especially in the next few weeks I might be a bit slow because I have two presentations as well as an essay and a web page to make.

Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter and I hope that it has started to open up many more mysteries for you, and I promise next chapter you will find out why Ash was taken! How exciting :D Please enjoy and I would love to hear all your thoughts.

Beckyjo13xxx