Route 105 – Storm Drain

A/N: Lies all lies! Every one of my A/N's is full of slanderous lies…as usual I have diverted from what I said I was going to cover in the next chapter. One day…one day. I know my grammar is something to be desired so if anyone wants to sign on as a Beta/Editor let me know.

Route 104 – enroute to route 105 – on board the boat Angel's Adoration

Throwing up over the side of the boat for the third time in Ash did not know how many days was not a desired activity. Unfortunately for the young Ranger he was once again hanging onto the side rail of the small boat for dear life before losing his lunch. Even after he finished spitting up the last few chunks of whatever sandwich he had eaten early that day, he still felt the ill effects of the boat's rocking back and forth. "Stupid Brock booking this stupid boat based on the name." The Ranger grumbled unhappily.

Ash stared at his reflection over the side of the small boat and groaned a little from the green look in his face. The Captain had joked that he would get his sea legs yet. Brock of course was busy attempting to woo Lucy with his patented Brock charm…which basically meant that the squinty eyed man was following the squinty eyed woman around like a lost puppy dog.

"Chuu…." Pikachu patted his trainer with a sympathetic look in its large eyes.

"…Thanks Pikachu, why don't you go ahead and go back below deck and finish your nap." Ash managed to pat the yellow rodent on the head, being an electric type the mouse did not have an affinity for water.

Pikachu gave his master a questioning look before bounding off below deck on the small finish boat. The boat was a small vessel for the scope of travel they were taking. Captain Haddock had informed them that the boat could make the journey without an issue, Ash had some doubt about that but there was not much he could do at this point. Speaking of the older man, the captain chose that moment to call down from the elevated wheelhouse that sat about 14 feet off the main deck.

"Ya alright down there laddie? Ya gonna hav' ta work harter ta keep tha food down if ya wanna live ta make land fall." The Captain chortled at his own joke before just laughing more at the displeased look the young lad was shooting him.

"How in hell did ya make it ta Hoenn in one piece laddie?"

Barely managing to hold in another round of bile from coming up, Ash managed to glare up at the old man at the helm. He half willed the old codger to fall over the glass windshield that the Captain was currently leaning over to converse with him. "Flew."

"Ah…well if ya dun mind ma askin' when da ya think tha lova' birds will surface from below? Someone'll needa catch dinna and it certainly don't appear ya are in any shape fer it." The Captain had a self-satisfied smirk on his face while thinking about the lovely young lady who had persuaded him to help the young group of trainers get to Dewford town. "Ya lady friend o' course bein excluded from ship duties."

"Yeah I noticed." Ash muttered petulantly more to himself than to the Captain. He briefly went over the pokemon that he had on hand. Lucario wouldn't do…nor would Pikachu…the damn rodent barely tolerated being below deck. Of course he had Charizard…but who the hell knows how he would respond to such an order…probably burn the ship down. Arcanine was similarly out due to a combination of fears that he would respond like Charizard and Pikachu combined together…first burning down the ship enraged at being surrounded by water. This would be quickly followed by pure panic at the realization that he just torched his only barrier from the water. Gengar was a maybe but the ghost pokemon was half as likely to fill the ship with fish as he was to fill it with rotting fish as a practical joke.

This of course left Ash with only one semi viable option…that being Gardevoir. He was hesitant to dispatch the pokemon as he had been actively blocking her from accessing his mind since his hasty departure from Rustboro without May. "Shit…this is not going to be fun."

Turning his attention to the Captain, Ash glared at the old man momentarily for putting him in the situation, though to be honest if he had just kept Pidgeot this would not be an issue. "I'll take care of it."

Ash quickly turned around again before puking his goat out into the crystal waters below. Behind him the old man was laughing again at the young man's unfortunate situation. "Well ga crackin' ya may be able ta catch ya dinna 'efore ya puke up all ya lunch laddie!" The old man chuckled before turning his attention back to sea.

"Go Gardevoir!" Ash half heartedly released his psychic pokemon in a flash of white light. The moment Gardevoir appeared, Ash knew he was in trouble from the glare he was receiving.

'You realize I am displeased with you Ash Ketchum.' The pokemon's voice floated through his mind with a sharp edge to it.

"Yeah…sorry Gardevoir…I really promise I will never do it again!" Ash managed to pull off a winning smile…while absently wiping a bit of bile from his cheek. So really an abject failure judging from the pokemon's folded ethereal arms.

'It is a wonder you don't have women running into your arms with charm like that.' The less than pleased Gardevoir responded sarcastically.

"Heh…yeah…" Ash trailed off while rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly trying to think of a way to get out of the conversation he knew would inevitably lead to the girl Gardevoir had assisted in saving and had been traveling with them. A complete 180 was in order! "Well Gardevoir I am on fishing duty and you kinda are the only one that can help…" Ash trailed off hopefully.

'…I see so I take it that you have once again decided to settle on the good old slash and burn methodology and traded Pidgeot for Charizard then?' Gardevoir questioned her master with a hint of amusement running through her psychic connection.

For his part Ash just mock glared at his pokemon with a petulant look coming over his face at his pokemon's pointed assessment. Instead of answering directly he simply grumbled unhappily over the ribbing. "Save the country and you get a medal before they forget about you in a year. Burn down a portion! Portion of a village and they never let you live it down."

Gardevoir floated closer to her master, amusement over the situation alight in her eyes. 'Yes well I believe the villagers did make a stink over the fact you burned down their sacred temple. I mean really Ash…Charizard AND Arcanine was going overboard but unleashing Salamence was just over kill.'

Instead of acknowledging his pokemon's points he just decided to ignore her in favor of going back to looking over the railing. He all of a sudden did not feel particularly great…again. "Well could you just get back to fishing."

'Of course…by the way…what ever happened to that young girl traveling with us? I can sense the horn dog and another I am unfamiliar with below…but I would think…' Gardevoir's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing her trainer suddenly freeze up.

'You didn't!'

"Well you see…Gardevoir…" This was it…game over nothing left to live for, death at sea by his own pokemon…damn he should have seen this one coming. The longer he thought about it the crappier excuses he came up with…so he just went with the truth. "Well…umm yeah…I uh…wanted to protect her."

'So you sent her off on her own then with no other protection to protect her?' Once again the tone carried a heavy dose of sarcasm.

"Well it sounds stupid when you put it like that…" Ash muttered unhappily to his psychic pokemon. "And she isn't alone!" Grasping the tiny bit of hope to get himself out of trouble with his pokemon he went for it. "I left her in the care of her brother!"

'Her older brother who of course must be a fully trained pokemon tamer and is fully equipped to deal with high level threats from the assailants that of course know she was traveling with you and have marked her as a target at this point to get to you? I know you would never be so foolish to do anything else being a fully trained League Ranger that is able to assess and make the best tactical judgment call in a moment's notice.'

Blushing bright red from embarrassment over the issue that Gardevoir pointed out, he slowly started sinking against the railing. "Younger brother…"

Sighing mentally across their link in frustration , Gardevoir rolled her eyes at her trainer's immaturity and ability to plan ahead. 'I suppose I will help you catch fish as I have scolded you enough…but don't think this is over!'

Without so much as another word the psychic pokemon made her way to the ship's front end and used her psychic attack to lift a net from the deck and casting it into the water.

This left Ash to continue his vigil at the side of the boat staring off into the blue skies. A hint of concern crossed Ash's face when he caught a glimpse of dark storm clouds roiling across the sky at the western most edges of his peripheral vision.

Professor Oak's Ranch – property line

"Scald shot!"

Barely managing to fall out of the way of the super-heated water, Gary quickly realized he had not gotten away clean from the battle.

"Ah shit!" Gary managed to pull his fall into a roll before releasing a pokeball that hung at his waist. The red and white pokeball half fell to the ground before the large shape of the giant blue turtle pokemon appeared in front of Gary.

Managing to get his balance again, Gary turned towards where the original shot was fired from but saw nothing in the darkened forest. "Come on punk! By attacking the great Gary Oak you have signed your own death warrant!"

The pair did not have to wait long before they heard the rumbling coming from within the trees. A scarred Blastoise broke through the underbrush. The giant turtle pokemon should have been a mirror to Gary's own. Instead this Blastoise was missing one of it's trademark cannons and the face was heavily scarred. A moment later the trainer appeared by Blastoise's side. Wrapped in a tattered clock the frail woman placed a hand on Blastoise's side before turning her attention to the danger at hand that stood before her.

"Professor Oak…the younger…I see you still have misplaced faith in your abilities."

"Che! I realized my limits a long time ago and though I may not be top notice Ranger material, I still have enough power to take care of you. Now out of my way! Blastoise! Hydro Cannon!"

Gary's Blastoise quickly fell to all fours to handle the artillery attack's recoil. Blastoise roared before two giant torrents of water propelled into the enemy Blastoise.

The scarred Blastoise took the brunt of the attack on his shell without much of a comment. It carefully aimed the singular water cannon at Gary before firing off a high powered water gun.

Throwing himself to the side once more to avoid the enemy pokemon's attack, Gary ended up rolling right into a tree. Grunting his pain he grabbed his shoulder before managing to push through the pain. "Blastoise quick hit him with water pledge and follow it up with a brick break attack!"

"Hammer use withdraw!" The still cloaked figure yelled out when she heard Gary's attack pattern. She nodded with satisfaction when the column of water bounced harmlessly off of Hammer's shell and was redirected into the sky.

This of course still left the problem of the charging Blastoise that was rapidly approaching Hammer with glowing fists. Gary only had a moment to realize that the bitch had drawn him into a trap.

"Hyper beam…point plank crack his shell like an oyster."

"Blastoise no! Iron Defense!" Gary yelled in a panic as he watched on helplessly at his charging pokemon.

Hammer withdrew from his shell the golden beam of light already charging in his mouth. The bedeviled pokemon almost appeared to have a smile on his face before unleashing the golden beam of hellfire point blank into Blastoise.

One moment Blastoise appeared to be charging and the next moment he was consumed by the golden light.

"Your tactics are so predictable Gary, same old tune, distract and attack." A feral grin crossed the young woman's face as she finally threw back her hood. "I of course prefer the head on approach, but you already know that don't you Gary!" The hooded woman shared a heavily scarred face just like her Blastoise. Her left eye was a colorless white that no longer held a pupil or iris, surrounding this was a heavy scar that ran from her hair line to her neck. Deep scars crossed most of her right cheek and most of her eyebrow was missing on her left side as well. The one good eye though was a crystal blue and it was currently narrowed.

Of course Gary recognized her immediately, no one else in this region had the fiery orange hair that Misty of the sensational three had. It had originally been four but of course prior to the Rocket wars. A fact that Gary was intimately aware of.

"Well Misty…I would say it was a pleasure but you are a bit of a psychotic bitch." Gary glanced over to check on his Blastoise and was relieved to see that his pokemon had managed to use his iron defense in time. The shellfish pokemon was shaking off the bits of broken shell from its frame and slowly stood back up.

Misty glared at Gary with her one good eye before turning to her Blastoise. "Finish him Hammer! Giga Impact!"

Gary was torn as his Blastoise had taken a heavy amount of damage and he knew that Blastoise could not take a direct hit like that. "Blastoise! Blast off with Water fall and then follow it up with water spin!"

Following his master's orders without question, Blastoise performed a hand stand…quite impressive for such a large pokemon really, before firing his water cannons directly into the ground. The giant turtle managed to push itself into the air just in time on the twin streams of water. Misty's Blastoise charged right through the spot where Gary's once stood without hitting anything.

In the moment it took for Hammer to recover from the needless expenditure of energy, Blastoise fell from the sky. While in the middle of the air he had withdrawn into his shell and used his water cannons to create a vicious spin. The water circulated at such a speed that it formed a water spout as it tore through the trees and branches on a direct path towards Hammer.

Misty stood in shock as she watched her nigh unbeatable Blastoise become trapped into the spinning funnel of water. While Gary's Blastoise continued to spin around in the funnel itself.

Hammer roared in pain as it was continually hammered from Blastoise's rapid spin attack. While Hammer was trapped in the water and unable to gain momentum, Blastoise flowed through the water in the funnel almost effortlessly in his spinning shell and continued to ram Hammer at every opportunity.

With a sudden crack Hammer roared in pain before falling to the ground after Blastoise ceased his water spin attack.

When the water funnel finally dissipated it left a Blastoise that was completely tired out rest on its haunches over his fallen enemy. Hammer was left on the ground with a steadily expanding pool of dark liquid leaking out of from under his shell.

"HAMMER! NO!" Misty screamed in realization that Gary had almost killed her oldest friend. Misty was in tears as she recalled her dying pokemon. "Return!" Misty glanced down at the pokeball with some relief that it was beating a steady black, which meant that while dying, Hammer wasn't dead yet. "Stabilize!" Clicking in her pokeball a second time she sighed in relief when the stasis took ergo saving her pokemon for the moment at least.

"You fucking monster! First Lily and now Hammer!" Misty turned her anger back to Gary as she carefully returned her pokeball to her belt, she would need to retreat soon if she was going to save him.

Gary similarly returned his pokemon since the battle was clearly over. He decided mentioning that Misty attacked first was not going to help the unstable girl at the moment. "Che, did all that care under Team Rocket's tender mercies scramble your brain that badly! Lily chose to come with me to save your ass so don't get all high and mighty with me!"

"You as good as killed her Gary Oak!" Screaming back was not exactly a sign of maturity but ever since her time in Rocket custody she found her rational side was not exactly in control. "You left her there in that botched rescue!"

Gary shook his head in frustration at Misty's unwillingness to see the truth for what it was. "She gave her life so you could live you ungrateful bitch. Is this how you repay her? By saddling up with Agatha? Do you think she gives a shit about you? By now Gramps has probably handed her, her ass." Crossing his arms he stared expectantly at Misty.

"Lily died because of your failure as a trainer! If you were one half the trainer Ash was she would have survived!"

Irrationality was never charming and at the level Misty was at, it was just downright sad. Gary's glare lessoned and he just shook his head before releasing Ash's Pidgeot. "I am not Ash, Misty, I learned to accept that a long time ago. I regret thinking I could take on the entire Rocket base with only Lily's help and I will never forget that day. My inexperience and ego cost a brilliant young woman her life…but!" Gary raised his finger before pointing it directly at Misty. "I have learned from that day and I have grown to accept that under the circumstances I did the best I could to get everyone, including you, out alive."

"Just because Daisy and Violet forgave you doesn't mean I won't kill you Gary!" Misty screamed before dropping to the ground and fell in on herself. She looked a miserable retch with the tears running down her ruined face, curtsey of Team Rocket. "Agatha promised me…she promised me I could kill you."

Watching Misty dissolve into this was just sad. Gary understood he would have to be careful from now on, he knew that Misty resented him and really hated him but he never thought that it would be to this level. Gary mounted up on Pidgeot and got the flying type skyward in a matter of moments.

He glanced down one last time while Misty was still in sight and saw the broken girl raging and clawing at the dirt. The girl never thought past the pain she felt. Sighing a bit in both exhaustion and annoyance he turned Pidgeot towards Hoenn absent mindedly. In his mind he replayed that day. The day he lost almost his entire team of pokemon to his sheer over confidence and lost the love of his life to Team Rocket's troops on the ground.

Rocket Wars Era – Enroute to Black Hall

Laughing aloud Gary shot a confident grin at his girlfriend Lily. "Come on Lils, we have six other high level trainers with us. Not to mention yours truly the future Champion of Kanto!"

Playfully hitting her boyfriend's chest, Lily managed to find a shaky smile. "Like Gary…I know, it is just Daisy and Violet did make a good point about waiting for league reinforcements."

Gary clutched his heart and placed a look of mock hurt on his face. "You stab me Lil! Right to the heart babe, are you saying we should leave Misty to Rocket's tender loving any longer than we have to when A.J. went to all that work to find the location just for League reinforcements."

Sighing a bit she just gave in and shook her head a little. A rueful smile slowly crossed Lily's features as she stared at her ever confident boyfriend. "You know I want to save Misty as soon as possible. I wouldn't be coming with your merry band Sir Robin Hood."

Ever the show off Gary managed to pull himself to his feet atop his Aerodactyl that the two were riding on. "Why thank you milady you humble this brave soul!" He took a bow and almost lost his balance when they hit some turbulence. With a grin he fell gracelessly into Lily's lap and right into her chest by "accident" when they hit another wind gust.

"Gary!" Lily found herself shrieking as she pushed her boyfriend off of her chest, her face was now burning a bright red. "Like watch yourself buster or you will be sleeping on the sofa tonight whether you get injured in this raid or not!"

Laughing again at Lily's agitation, he pulled himself…reluctantly off of his girlfriend. "Come on Lils you are gonna be fine, you are with me!" Gary managed to sit himself upright and stared ahead to try and judge how far they were from the Rocket interrogation base, code named Black Hall. Supposedly per A.J.'s sources this was where any high priority targets were taken and Misty being one of the Sensational Four of Celadon was considered high priority. Mostly thanks to the fact she was one of the primary reasons that Celadon remained in League control.

"Gary! Gary!" A Beedrill floated over from the left side and the green haired man on the back waved to get Gary's attention.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts he managed to send a grin at A.J. "You got visual?"

"Yeah! Straight ahead about half a mile! The others are landing soon!"

Gary nodded a little as he once again peered ahead and he could now see the garrison. From above it barely looked like a spec. As with most of Team Rocket's bases the top level was barely more than the size of a modern house. The rest of the base was usually deep underground. This was how Team Rocket had managed to set up locations all throughout the Kanto/Johto region with minimal detection.

Snapping his fingers he smiled at his own genius. "Got it! Alright A.J. I want you, Lils, Brendon, and what the fuck….that little dude…obsessed with bugs?"

When he received blank stares from both his compatriots he just shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "Well whatever, take Lils and two others. I want you to use that Sandslash to burrow underground and find the prisoners."

"And what are you going to do oh mighty General." A.J. snorted in derision.

Grinning in response Gary pointed a finger at the top of the base that was now coming in range. He could already see the Rocket troops scrambling as they probably had not missed the giant target that was Aerodactyl. "I'm gonna go kick an ant hill and show them I don't need no stinkin Ranger title to show them to the curb."

"Hey Lils get on with A.J. I am gonna distract them."

"Just be careful sweetie!" Lily giggled a little at Gary's grandstanding before leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "That was for good luck. There will be more where that came from if you manage to keep my pretty ass safe."

A.J. just grumbled at the overly touchy feely good bye between the two. Once Lily was safely on his Beedrill he took off in a dive towards the ground to grab two of the other five remaining trainers to come with him and Lily on the extraction mission.

The moment Beedrill disappeared from his view Gary lined up his sights on the base below. "Alright Aerodactyl let's kick the nest with a hyper beam attack! Rake pattern!"

The giant stone fossil pokemon roared an acknowledgement. A moment later it let out a wave of golden hell fire below which consumed all in its path. Aerodactyl was unable to pivot his head due to the tremendous power rocketing from his mouth. The giant stone fossil was able to rake the beam across the ground by strafing left to right by tilting his wings and managed to wreck devastation below.

Grinning in satisfaction he directed Aerodactyl to land while the Rocket members and their pokemon recovered from the chaos wrought by the golden hell fire of the hyper beam attack.

The moment he was close enough Gary tossed two pokeballs out followed by another two. Gary's Nidoqueen and Nidoking duo were the first that appeared. The heavy weight pokemon roared a challenge to the Rocket Troops that were starting to pour out of the underground entrance that surprisingly had only been damaged and not destroyed.

Scizor and Pinsir appeared a moment later both calling out their own challenges.

"Alright Nidoking and Nidoqueen you take the heavy hits and knock them down! Scizor and Pinsir you guys clean up the stragglers."

The two Nido evolutions quickly got to work using dual earthquake attacks, horn drills, and mega punches to clear the area of pokemon and Rocket troops alike. Once the enemy was down Scizor flew in using it's claws to quickly remove limbs or heads from their bodies.

Pinsir used a more gruesome method to take out its prey. The stag pokemon would use the giant pinchers on its head to trap a Rocket member or a pokemon before drawing the prey into its mouth. The stag beetle pokemon had an unhealthy taste for flesh and was enjoying the easy meals.

"Erg…seriously Pinsir…issues man issues." Gary grumbled a bit before putting his hand onto Aerodactyl. "Alright buddy I need you to be aerial support. Anyone tries to get too far out make sure you either turn them back into the kill zone or take care of them. I don't want anyone flanking us."

The giant fossil pokemon took the air with a screech of acknowledgement. He could only hope that Aerodactyl understood his instructions, Gary was never too sure how smart the giant flying rock head was to be quite honest.

Turning his attention back to the battle at hand he was pleased to see that they had created a choke point with the help of the other three trainers to keep the Rocket members from gaining a foothold out of the base's entrance.

"Alright Nidoking! Nidoqueen keep it up!" Gary yelled encouragement to his pokemon a confident grin crossing his face once more. They were going to win and quite handily too. 'So what if Ash just obtained Ranger class recently. This little fight will make sure the League takes notice of true talent. I bet they will even promote me to Elite Ranger after this.'

"Hey chumps!" Yelling at his current allies, who judging from the looks on their faces looked none too pleased with Gary's use of the word in reference to them, Gary waved towards the entrance. "It looks like these losers are about mopped up…and Pinsir is about full for that matter. Let's flash fry any suckers still looking to get out of there!"

"Nidoking and Nidoqueen flame thrower!"

Gary heard similar cries from the Vulpix, Magmar, Torkoal, and Volcarona that belonged to his current team mates. The sweet and sickly smell of charred human flesh started to waft through the air. "Damn bastards never had a chance." Commenting more to himself than to those around him, Gary cast his eyes around for any danger.

"Well that looks like that is that! A.J., Lily and the others should be up soon if this is the best that Rocket could offer." Not realizing how wrong he was, Gary relaxed slightly…and just a little too soon.

The ground around them started to rumble and the other trainers started to back away warily. Of course being the confident trainer he was, Gary stood his ground awaiting for whatever would come next.

A sigh of relief passed when he recognized A.J.'s Sandslash burrow out of the ground. For its size it managed to make a hole large enough for a human to pass through. A frown passed Gary's face though when he saw how beat up the pokemon looked. There were obvious scorch marks and lacerations that covered it's body.

Whatever concerns he had though he pushed aside when he saw Lily pop up but the smile that was threatening to come across his face disappeared immediately. Her left arm was hanging by her side uselessly. Her pink hair was scorched in places and her outfit had various cuts in it.

"Shit, Lily! What happened!" Gary pulled Lily out of the way of the various once prisoners that were surging from underground and running towards the forest in a surge. "Where the hell are the others?"

Shaking her head in frustration she felt tears pricking the corners of her eyes but she refused to let them fall. "Dead…A.J. died to keep it away from us. The others died in the initial fight. It is so strong. We have to get out of here now!" A hint of desperation entered her voice.

Lily must have realized that Misty was not with her and surged back into the crowd to find the orange haired sister.

This left Gary in a state of disbelief…A.J. killed? The guy may have been a bit of a dick but he wasn't a slouch when it came to training pokemon. There shouldn't have been anything down there that could have killed him. "Nidoking and Nidoqueen…prepare for anything. If anything that isn't human comes out of that hole I want you to put a stop to it. Pinsir and Scizor you are support!" Turning his attention to the other trainers in the group, the unspoken leader of the group directed the remaining trainers to do the same.

Lily dove through the crowd with Misty in tow. She managed to grasp Gary's shoulder and squeezed it to get his attention. "Gary, like, we gotta go! We can't survive this thing! It ripped Danny and Brendon to shreds."

"Sorry Lils but if that thing is as strong as you say we are gonna need a rear guard to protect these people. I am gonna need your help if you have any pokemon left."

Nodding hesitantly, Lily lifted the flap of her vest up to reveal all 6 of her pokeballs still hooked to the belt looping around her shorts. "Like after we broke everyone out A.J. took rear guard but he was getting pretty beat up before I pulled out."

Nodding a little Gary turned his attention to Misty. The girl looked a mess, her one eye was now completely white and she had a series of fresh lacerations across her face. "Get going Misty. Your sister and I will handle this."

Misty looked like she was about to protest but Lily leveled her sister with a glare. "Like Gary is right Misty, get out of here we will handle this. You have done enough, your only job now is to survive."

Gary would have said more on the subject but suddenly the ground surged beneath them. Screams rent the air as the hole that had been made by A.J.'s Sandslash closed up, swallowing anyone who had not made it out yet.

The roiling ground surged up and formed into a giant rock like golem. Regirock had arrived and it didn't even assess the situation. Its heavy hammer arm immediately crushed an unfortunate Claydol. The small rock pokemon didn't even have time to utter a protest before it met its end.

"OH fucking shit! What the fuck was Rocket doing down there?" Gary growled as he started to move away from the giant rock pokemon. The two girls were behind him.

"Nidoking put that drill to good use! Horn drill that hunk of rock apart. Nidoqueen mega punch!"

Nidoking charged the giant rock pokemon with its drill on maximum power. It bit into the flank of the rock pokemon but if it noticed, it had no reaction to the chunks of rock pouring off the drill attack.

Without flinching the rock golem brought both of its hammer arms down on Nidoking. Gary watched helplessly as one of his most powerful pokemon's back was broken in one swift attack. Nidoking squealed in pain before life left his eyes not a moment later when Regirock brought both arms down on the downed pokemon for a second time.

"Fuck! You bastard!" Not needing any provocation at the loss of her mate, Nidoqueen charged with reckless abandon, her fingers tearing into the giant golem.

Regirock did not make a sound as it systematically started to kill the remaining trainers. Gary could only watch in complete shock as Regirock completely tore his team apart. The only reason Aerodactyl was still alive was that Regirock couldn't reach him.

The giant golem had just finished smashing Pinsir like the big it was against the unmoving body of Nidoqueen. Her spikes were driven into Pinsir, spearing the pokemon and breaking his hard shell. The green innards of the bug pokemon leaked out as it moaned pitifully.

He was briefly aware of Lily shaking him and registering the panic in her voice. "Gary we like gotta go now!" He let himself be led away from the carnage in front of him by his girlfriend.

The ex-prisoners in front of them were starting to slow down, most tired out as the adrenaline left their bodies. They had to push onward because they could see Gary's Aerodactyl above was getting closer and closer to them. The giant fossil pokemon was trying to harry the golem and slow its movement but it was unfortunately having little effect.

They had been running for the past three miles and the giant rock golem showed no signs of tiring out.

Lily turned to Gary and shot him a resigned smile. "Like…I am gonna go back and try to buy us some time."

Looking visibly shaken by her words, Misty immediately grabbed her sister's arm. "No! You can't go back there! We can make it out! You said the League knew about the base they have to be here soon!"

The older sister just shook her head a sad smile on her lips. "Like Misty…we can't count on a white knight. The only thing I can do is buy you guys some time. Even if it only gives you another five minutes it will be worth it."

"I'll go Lils! Give me your pokemon!" The young Oak held out his hand and leveled his best authoritative gaze at his girlfriend.

Lily leaned up and kissed Gary on the lips. Tears were streaming down her eyes as she drew back. A shuddering sigh left her body. "Like…no Gary you gotta make sure Misty gets out of here. Promise me if it catches you, you take Aerodactyl and take Misty with you. The damned stone bird will only listen to you."

Shaking his head in frustration he tried to deny her logic. 'Damnit if only I had taken someone else for my air support.' There was nothing else he could do…nothing his remaining team was dead. Aerodactyl was all but useless. He took his remaining pokeball and pushed it into Lily's hand. "I…I love you babe, take Rhydon…he will…"

The pink haired girl shot a resigned smile to her boyfriend, knowing exactly what he meant, the pokemon would probably buy her another minute or two of life. She tilted her face towards Gary and smashed her lips against him in a passionate kiss. Fully aware this may be the last time she would see him alive.

A moment later she pulled out of the embrace and smiled at Misty. The youngest of the sensational sisters currently seemed to be in denial. Shaking her head back and forth she only stopped when Lily brought her into a crushing hug. The only thing that broke it apart was the roar of Regirock that signaled it was closing in on their position. Any prisoner that could was already starting to run.

"Misty…like I will never regret this…send Daisy and Violet my love hm ki and don't forget…even though you are the runt I totally love you as well!" Shooting a smile towards the pair she broke away and ran towards Regirock before either could come to their senses and stop her.

"Shit…" Gary muttered more to himself than to anyone else. Misty stared after her sister hoping to see her one last time.

The sounds of fighting grew again in the distance. Gary was hesitant to move and felt his feet planted to the ground. Misty was tugging at his shoulder but there was nothing in the world that could get him to move at the moment. Straining to hear anything all he could hear was silence in the distance…silence.

Gary's eyebrows widened in realization as he felt tears start to gather in the corners of his eyes. The heavy footfalls of Regirock created mini tremors in the ground. Coming over the hill the giant golem appeared slick in blood, none of it, its own. Roaring in challenge the living being of rock threw the lifeless body of Lily towards the two remaining humans.

Her head was caved in, the only remaining features that Gary could identify was her hair. The first sensation he felt was the jagged ground beneath him, his knees had given out under him but he couldn't even bring himself to acknowledge it. Gary knew that he should get Misty out of here but he found himself frozen to the ground. He couldn't bring his eyes off the crumbled body of Lily. Briefly registering Misty's scream as Regirock closed in on them he felt maybe just maybe it was easier this way. What was the point? How could he have let Lily go out there, the girl wasn't a slouch at training but she wasn't at his level. Whereas his pokemon could operate with a certain level of independence much like Ash's could. Lily's pokemon just had not had the kind of rough and tumble experience that he and Ash's pokemon had, the gym leader's pokemon required constant input to keep them on target. Without a trainer they fell apart. If his pokemon hadn't died…he could have been rear guard.

"It should have been me!" Raging at the injustice of it all, Gary found himself slamming the ground with his curled up fists. Regirock roared in response and lumbered towards the distraught trainer and the scarred girl that was rocking herself back and forth next to the brunette trainer.

"Salamence! Air drop!"

"Wha?" Half formed thoughts managed to form in his head but they disappeared into further confusion as a giant pokemon landed in front of him. The heavy creature roared a challenge as it stood up from the giant crater it had created with its landing. The metal on the giant dinosaur like pokemon glittered in the sunlight as the giant pokemon shifted. Standing atop the metal rock monstrosity that was Aggron was none other than Ash Ketchum.

Crazy, that was what that son of a bitch was. Only Ash would ride on the shoulder of an Aggron that was being air dropped from a Salamence. Blinking in disbelief he felt his jaw drop when Ash turned towards him and shot him a thumbs up. "Hey Gary I heard from Violet and Daisy that you could use some help."

"Woah!" Crying out in surprise Ash just barely managed to hold onto his ride for lack of a better term. Turning his attention to the matter at hand he realized that Regirock had apparently been none too impressed by his entrance. The rock pokemon had used it's hammer arms to strike Aggron but it seemed to only annoy the iron armor pokemon.

An excited glint came to Ash's eyes, it was to every day you got to taken down a legendary creature that he had only seen in books while studying for his Ranger exam. "Alright Aggron! Rip it to shreds with your metal claw attack."

Despite his confidence in his pokemon, Ash realized that staying on Aggron would be a hindrance at this point. Jumping down from his pokemon, Ash turned his attention to Gary and quickly assessed the area. His happy smile turned to a frown when he took stock of the crushed in body of a young pink haired girl lying on the ground nearby and Gary's unseeing eyes.

Gary was left to just stare as Ash so casually left his pokemon to rip Regirock to shreds. 'Is this what it is to be a Ranger?' He questioned as he felt Ash pick him up off the ground but did not bother to acknowledge it with any outward sign. 'He is not even paying attention…it is like he just knows Aggron is going to win.'

Watching the battle it was certainly the case. Regirock attempted to bring one of its hammer arms down on Aggron only for the iron hide pokemon to rip right through the entire arm at the shoulder joint with its metal claws. Regirock for being an emotionless golem seemed surprised by the sudden disappearance of its right arm.

Turning back to watch the battle once more, Ash took a moment to assess the situation before deciding to finish this off for good. "Take it down with heavy slam Aggron."

The giant iron pokemon roared before throwing itself into Regirock in a vicious slam attack. Despite Regirock being classified as a heavier pokemon, there were few pokemon heavier than the armored giant that was Aggron. The heavy slam turned the Regirock to piles of rock.

Kanto Ocean – enroute to Hoenn

Gary shook himself out of his dark thoughts. It had taken years but he had mostly…key word mostly moved past most of the guilt. Meeting with Misty again…well that stirred up old memories and he knew he couldn't afford to be distracted, not with what was on the line.

"Come on Pidgeot lets pick up the pace. Ashy boy needs all the help he can get and it wouldn't hurt to pick up May along the way to keep him grounded." A smirk crossed his face as he flew towards Hoenn.

A/N: I swear…I really swear we will get to May next time. I promise on my computers, my cats, and my cars. This was originally supposed to be just a simple little battle between Gary and the surprise figure of Misty. Of course as per usual I have to create a god damn good reason why Misty is attacking Gary…which of course begets the actual origin story which of course turns the whole chapter into a flash back for half of it. I am half debating just writing a prequel after this about the Rocket Wars I have half created in the amount of flash backs I have done. I was originally also going to make a sequel of the succession wars in Kanto but the way it is going I am probably just going to turn the whole thing into one giant overarching story that you people will surely kill me for. Read now and get two wars with a romantic/tragedy subplot for the price of one. Anyway I semi-take back my request for a beta. I think I would just end up driving them insane, if not with my terrible grammar my inability to stick to what I was planning on writing. Anyway enough of my ramblings, this is probably the last update until October or November, and then of course that could be a lie as well!