Ash frowned and held Pikachu tightly as he looked out the window of a helicopter. He had never even seen a helicopter before today, and normally he probably would have been ecstatic, but he was way too nervous to be excited. He could see Cinnabar Island in the distance. He knew that his mom had always wanted to take a vacation there, but he could still see smoke from the explosion that morning, and multiple boats absolutely full of people were quickly retreating from the island. At the sight, Ash really couldn't imagine this place being a very good vacation spot.
And he was headed straight there.
"Pika?" Pikachu looked up at Ash, curious.
"It's okay, Pikachu." Ash smiled at his little pokémon. "We're almost there." He knew that Pikachu wasn't upset or nervous about flying, he was probably just concerned about his trainer. Ash didn't want to admit, even to himself, that he was nervous about going to Cinnabar Island. He wasn't really nervous about the explosion, it had happened that morning, and the danger was probably gone by now. Ash just had a bad feeling about this, and he didn't know why.
He had felt completely fine before they left. Ash had only started feeling weird just before the helicopter had taken off, when he had heard shouting outside. He had recognized Koga and Giovanni's voices, but he hadn't been able to make out what they were saying over the sound of the helicopter blades. Ash had been uncomfortable during the shouting, but then somebody had screamed, and he had been scared.
A few moments later, Giovanni had come into the helicopter, and they had taken off. Giovanni had seemed as calm and in control as he had ever been, and that had scared Ash even more. Looking at Giovanni, Ash didn't have any reason to think that anything was wrong, but he knew what he had heard. Something was wrong, he knew there was, even if Giovanni was acting like there wasn't.
Giovanni didn't say a word to Ash during the helicopter ride, so he was stuck with his own thoughts during the quiet trip. Ash didn't normally like it when things were too quiet, he got bored easily, but now he had a completely different reason for disliking the silence. Without a conversation to distract him, Ash couldn't help but think about what had happened before they had left the dojo, and wonder if Koga was okay.
Ash didn't know Koga very well. The man was usually really distant, but Ash had never felt like he was mean. Koga had been able to give Ash some pretty awesome advice on how to train his pokémon. Koga had always been really patient with Ash, no matter how long it took him to learn a new move.
Koga was nice, but Ash had never gotten all that close to him. When they weren't training together, Ash never saw him around, but he had known that he was there. Whenever Ash had been with Giovanni, he had always felt like somebody was watching him. Sometimes, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Koga standing there. Ash had never seen or felt like Koga was around when he had been with Sabrina, Janine, or Lt. Surge, only when he was with Giovanni.
Ash hadn't thought a lot about it, but now, with the fight he knew they'd had, he couldn't help but think about it. Something weird was going on here, and he wish he knew what.
It wasn't long before they reached Cinnabar Island. The helicopter flew right over the part of the island that looked like it was where people usually were, and went right towards all the smoke. Ash was surprised at how empty the other side of the island was. There was plenty of room for them to land.
Ash looked out the window as they landed. There wasn't a lot to look at, except for a couple of big buildings in the distance. A lot of smoke was coming from one of them. That must have been where the explosion had happened. Ash also saw a bunch of people running around, some of them in white coats, some of them in some kind of uniform. Before Ash could think twice about who those people might be, Giovanni put a hand on his shoulder and lead him outside.
"What's going on?" Ash asked as Giovanni brought him to a side of the helicopter where he couldn't see the other people anymore. "What are all those people doing?" None of them looked like they were trying to put out a lingering fire or something. A bunch of them looked like scientists, but why would a bunch of scientists be near where an explosion had happened just a few hours ago? Were they trying to figure out what had happened?
"They're waiting for orders." Giovanni said vaguely.
"From you?" Ash asked. He remembered that Lt. Surge had mentioned some work that Giovanni had on the island. Did all of these people work for him?
Giovanni raised an eyebrow at him, impressed. "Yes." Giovanni took out a pokéball and let Persian out. "I have some things I need to do. Stay away from the buildings, but don't go too far."
Ash wondered what he had been brought here for if he was just going to stay away from everything, but he didn't question Giovanni. He just nodded and put Pikachu on his shoulders.
"One more thing." Giovanni's tone was more serious than it usually was, and Ash payed attention. "Keep Persian with you at all times." Ash didn't understand why Giovanni would be so insistent about this, but he didn't want to challenge him about this. Not now.
"Yeah, I can do that." Ash knelt down and pet Persian behind the ears. It had been a long time since Persian had been a temporary part of his team. Ash just hoped that the pokémon would be more relaxed than his trainer was...unless that relaxed nature was just a show to catch him off guard. Ash seriously hated feeling so paranoid, it made him feel like he couldn't trust anybody.
Giovanni went to his workers, or whoever all those people were, and Ash went in the other direction. If Giovanni wanted him to be out of the way of the work they were doing, he would go somewhere else. Besides, this was a good opportunity to get some pokémon training in. Ash had been spending most of his time training his pokémon individually. He wanted to see how much they had improved in battle.
When Ash had gotten far enough from everything else that he couldn't hear anybody talking, or smell the smoke, he took out all of his pokéballs. "Alright, guys, let's see what you've learned." Ash threw all his pokéballs in the air, letting out his five remaining pokémon.
Butterfree began to flutter around. He always did this when he was first let out of his pokéball. Butterfree liked wide open spaces. Ash always felt bad whenever he returned him to his pokéball, but Lt. Surge had promised him that if he really didn't want to be in his ball, he could escape.
Pidgeotto stretched his wings and joined Butterfree in the air. Ash could have watched his pokémon fly around and enjoy themselves all afternoon, but he forced his attention to Charmeleon and Bulbasaur. The two of them weren't attacking each other, so Ash figured he had made some progress, but things were still tense between the two of them. Ash hated how his pokémon didn't get along with each other, but he hadn't really let them be anywhere near each other since Charmander had evolved into Charmeleon. Maybe it was too much to ask that they suddenly became friends when the last time they had even seen each other they had been fighting.
Ash was glad that he didn't have to worry about there being any fighting between Charmeleon and Bulbasaur today. In his relief, he had nearly forgotten that he had another rivalry with him at that moment.
"Squirtle, stop it!" Ash frowned as he picked up his water pokémon, who had started attacking Persian the second he had laid eyes on the other pokémon. Ash understood that Squirtle had a bit of a grudge against Persian, but couldn't he ever just let it go? Why did he feel like he had something to prove? Ash knew that Persian wasn't hurt, it was a lot stronger than Squirtle was, but he also knew that Persian was as proud as Squirtle was stubborn. If Squirtle kept on attacking it, Persian would start to fight back, and Ash didn't want that to happen. He didn't want any of his pokémon, or any of Giovanni's pokémon, to get hurt. He just wanted them all to get along with each other.
Ash hoped that some practice pokémon battling might help his pokémon get rid of their pent up aggression.
"Alright Squirtle, Charmeleon, why don't you show each other how strong you are?" Ash put Squirtle on the ground. For a moment he was worried that Squirtle would just attack Persian again, but Squirtle's attention was solely on Charmeleon, and vice versa. They both looked excited to have a willing opponent to show off to.
"Try not to go too hard on each other." Ash said as he stepped back to give his pokémon room. He knew that usually during battles the trainer gave their pokémon orders, but he didn't know how to do that for two pokémon at the same time, and he didn't want to confuse them. Besides, Lt. Surge, Koga, and Giovanni had all told him that he should study the natural way that his pokémon fought. If he knew their fighting styles, he would know what strategies they would work best with in a battle. So Squirtle and Charmeleon were just going to battle like they would if they met in the wild, and Ash would watch and pay attention.
Squirtle and Charmeleon used water gun and flamethrower at the same time. Squirtle's water gun had the type advantage over the flamethrower, but Charmeleon was stronger than Squirtle was, so their attacks just countered each other.
"You guys need to think about what you're doing." Ash reminded his pokémon. "Jumping headfirst into a battle doesn't always work." Ash had heard these words repeated to him so many times, it felt weird to be the one to say them. "Remember what Koga taught you guys about strategy." While Lt. Surge helped Ash train Pikachu, Koga had helped him to work one on one with the rest of his pokémon. With the ninja master's help, Charmeleon had learned to focus his ember attack on a specific target, and Squirtle had learned how to take advantage of his ability to withdraw into his shell.
At Ash's words, Charmeleon switched from a flamethrower to ember. It wasn't as powerful of an attack, but Charmeleon knew that a weaker attack hitting just a single point could actually do more damage than a powerful attack that was more widespread. Charmeleon's attack was too quick for Squirtle to dodge it, so he drew back into his shell and took the attack. Because Squirtle's shell was so tough, he barely even felt the ember attack and was soon able to jump back and send out an attack for himself.
Ash watched Squirtle and Charmeleon go at each other in this way for awhile. He shouted words of encouragement and occasional bits of advice, but otherwise left them alone. Of all his pokémon, Squirtle and Charmeleon were probably the most natural fighters, meaning they were the ones most likely to start a fight if someone looked at them wrong. Ash usually had to keep them from picking fights, so it was nice to be able to just let them do what they wanted.
While Ash was focused mostly on his battling pokémon, Bulbasaur had taken up the task of keeping an eye on the others. Ash hadn't seen Pidgeotto and Butterfree fly off, but Bulbasaur had, and he didn't hesitate to tell his trainer.
"Bulba," Bulbasaur put his front legs on Ash's leg so he could reach higher. He gently bit the the bottom of Ash's shirt and tugged on it to get his attention. Ash looked down at Bulbasaur and frowned slightly.
"Is something wrong?" It wasn't like Bulbasaur to try to get his attention like this, not without a good reason.
"Bulbasaur." The pokémon got off of Ash's leg and gestured towards some cliffs in the distance. "Bulba, bulbasaur!"
Ash couldn't see anything that might be bothering Bulbasaur, but a second look showed two pokémon flying around over there. "Oh, is that Butterfree and Pidgeotto?"
"Bulba." Bulbasaur nodded.
"They look like they're having fun." Ash smiled. Sometimes he felt bad that he didn't give his flying pokémon the freedom to really soar like they wanted to. Bulbasaur didn't seem convinced though. "You can go after them, if you want."
"Bulba!" Bulbasaur enthusiastically went off after Butterfree and Pidgeotto. Ash watched them for a moment before he turned back to Squirtle and Charmeleon's fight. They seemed completely evenly matched, which made him think that they were just holding back on each other. One of them had to have slipped up at some point, and if it was a normal battle the other surely would have taken advantage of that. Maybe neither of them wanted to finish the battle.
Pikachu seemed to get tired of just watching a battle. He wanted to be part of the action, so he went to bother Persian. Giovanni's pokémon seemed bored with Pikachu's challenge, but he accepted it anyways. Persian didn't attack Pikachu back, but he allowed himself to be a target for Pikachu's thunder attacks. Persian was too fast to let himself be hit by the attacks, but it served as good practice for Pikachu.
Training for the four pokémon went on like this for some time before Pidgeotto and Butterfree came flying back frantically. They both looked scared about something. Ash would normally just think that his pokémon had been spooked by something and it wouldn't be a big deal, but when he saw that Bulbasaur was nowhere in sight, he got concerned himself. Bulbasaur had run off after them because he had wanted to make sure they were safe. Even if they were flying, Bulbasaur would have noticed that they had turned around and followed them, so where was he?
"What happened?" Ash knelt down as Butterfree landed on the ground. "Where's Bulbasaur?" At his second question, both of his pokémon became more frantic. Something must have happened to Bulbasaur. "Can you take me to where he is?"
Pidgeotto screeched and flew off with Butterfree just behind him. Pikachu had stopped going after Persian and climbed onto Ash's shoulders. Pikachu must be worried too, and he wasn't the only one.
"Squirt." Squirtle had been on the offensive against Charmeleon, but when he had heard that Bulbasaur was missing, he had stopped mid attack. Charmeleon wasn't happy about the interruption to their battle, but he didn't attack Squirtle while his back was turned, so at least he was playing fair.
"Do you want to come too, Squirtle?" Ash asked. Squirtle nodded and ran to join Ash's side. Persian had no emotional attachments to Bulbasaur, but he had been told to stay by Ash's side, so wherever Ash went, Persian would go. That left just Charmeleon.
"What about you?" Ash asked kindly. He didn't want to pressure Charmeleon into doing anything he didn't want to do, but he didn't want to leave Charmeleon out either. Besides, they could really use his fire-power if something was wrong.
"Char, charmeleon." Charmeleon huffed and the flame on his tail flared slightly, but he approached his trainer anyways. It looked like the whole crew was on board.
"Let's go." Ash ran off after Pidgeotto. Butterfree flew just ahead of him, in case he lost sight of Pidgeotto. The terrain was not good to run on, and a couple of times the only thing that kept Ash from tripping and falling flat on his face was Persian snagging the back of his shirt and pulling him back to his feet. It took them longer to run on the rocky ground than it did for Pidgeotto and Butterfree to fly there, but eventually they got closer to the cliff, which must have been where Bulbasaur was.
As they got closer Ash was able to see that the cliff wall had caves in it. If Ash had to guess, he would say that Bulbasaur was somewhere near one of those caves. Maybe there had been a rockslide and he had gotten trapped. Maybe a wild pokémon had attacked him. Whatever the case, he might need their help, and they needed to get there soon.
Charmeleon seemed to realize this at the same time as Ash did because he sped up and ran ahead. Pikachu and Squirtle tried to do the same, but Charmeleon had longer legs and was faster than the two of them were. By the time Ash had gotten close enough to the cliffs to see Bulbasaur lying down at the entrance of a cafe, Charmeleon was already at his side, but he wasn't there for long. Mere moments after getting to Bulbasaur, Charmeleon let out a furious roar and ran into the cave.
"Charmeleon!" Ash didn't like the thought of his pokémon running off like that, probably towards whatever had hurt Bulbasaur. He couldn't worry about Charmeleon right now though, not with Bulbasaur hurt. As much as Ash hated it, he could only focus completely on one pokémon in need at a time.
Finally Ash got to Bulbasaur's side. He knelt down and pulled his pokémon into his arms. "Bulbasaur, are you alright?"
"B-bulba." Bulbasaur said weakly. Ash wasn't an expert on the health of pokémon, but he thought that Bulbasaur would be okay after a good, long rest.
"You're gonna be alright, buddy." Ash got out Bulbasaur's pokéball and returned him. With Bulbasaur safe and out of harm's way, Ash turned to his other pokémon. "Do you guys know what happened?" His question was aimed at Pidgeotto and Butterfree, who were only too happy to answer him as best they could.
Pidgeotto used whirlwind to blow a strong force of wind, and Butterfree used stun spore into the whirlwind, which made it look strange. Ash looked at their combined attacks for a few moments as he thought about what they could be trying to tell him.
"...There was a wind like force," Ash guessed. "But it wasn't quite wind. There was something weird about it, right?" Pidgeotto and Butterfree eagerly nodde, and Ash couldn't help but grin proudly. He was always happy when he was able to tell what his pokémon were trying to tell him.
He had to set his pride aside, at least for the moment. He needed to worry about his pokémon. Bulbasaur was safe, which meant now he had the room to worry about Charmeleon.
"Wait here, guys." Ash told all of his pokémon, including Pikachu. If there was something dangerous in that cave, he didn't want any of his other pokémon exposed to it. "I'll be back with Charmeleon as soon as I can." Ash ran inside the cave. It didn't take him long to realize that one of the pokémon were following along behind him. He didn't have to turn around to know what pokémon it was, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. Persian wasn't his pokémon. He couldn't tell Persian what to do.
Ash continued on and on until suddenly Persian dashed in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. "Persian, what are you doing? I have to find Charmeleon!" Persian growled slightly in irritation and lifted a paw. Persian put his paw up in front of them and rested it on an invisible barrier. Ash would have run directly into it if Persian hadn't stopped him.
Ash had seen Sabrina and her pokémon make barriers like this. This was psychic power at work, and the one who was responsible had to be nearby, and Ash guessed that Charmeleon was too.
"Charmeleon!" Ash called out, despite Persian's warning hiss. "Charmeleon!"
At Ash's shout, the barrier seemed to waver and a moment later he heard a harsh cry of pain further down the cave. Charmeleon.
"No!" Ash clenched his teeth and ran over to the barrier. He bashed into it, hitting it with his shoulder, but it didn't yield. The barrier just threw him back. "Charmeleon!"
Ash heard a loud roar that he recognized as Charmeleon's. It wasn't a roar of pain, it was one of anger and power. Whatever Charmeleon was fighting, he wasn't going to just take it lying down. Charmeleon was fighting back.
Ash couldn't get beyond the barrier, but he needed to be able to help him. He couldn't do that when Charmeleon was out of his line of vision. "Charmeleon, I need you to come closer!" Ash shouted. "Let me help you."
A moment passed and suddenly Ash could hear more than Charmeleon's occasional roars and shouts. He could hear sounds of battle, and they were coming closer. A moment after that Ash could see the glow of Charmeleon's fire, as well as a second, purple colored glow from an unfamiliar source.
The glows grew brighter, but Ash still couldn't see the battling pokémon. They were taking too long, and Ash was getting concerned. Before he could call out to Charmeleon again he heard another sharp cry of pain. The glow of Charmeleon's flame grew even brighter, faster than it had before until finally he could see his pokémon, but it wasn't the way that he wanted to see him.
It was as though Charmeleon was being forced back by some kind of psychic force. Just like Pidgeotto and Butterfree had said, it was like a strange looking wind. Ash barely had a moment to think about this before Charmeleon was thrown against the psychic barrier. Ash flinched at the impact and felt his legs grow weak. That had to have hurt.
"Charmeleon?" Ash knelt on the ground and put his hands against the barrier. "Charmeleon, get up...please?" Charmeleon didn't move or respond at all. He was down, and the purple glow was only coming closer. Whatever had hurt Bulbasaur and Charmeleon, it wasn't finished yet.
"Persian, use bite." A voice from behind Ash ordered. Persian growled and lunged at the barrier. Ash didn't believe that a bite attack would have any good against the barrier, but when the barrier actually broke under the force of Persian's attack, he didn't question it. Ash was too concerned for his pokémon to give a second thought to the broken barrier.
"Ch-Charmeleon?" Ash felt his breath get caught in his throat as he put his arms around his pokémon. Ash held Charmeleon close for a moment before he he grabbed his pokéball and returned him, just as he had done for Bulbasaur. He hated that there was nothing more he could do for his pokémon at that point. He was their trainer, and he was little more than completely useless.
"Well done, Ash," He flinched when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He didn't look up or turn around, but he didn't have to to know that it was Giovanni just behind him. Giovanni's words were calm and reassuring, he sounded almost proud. Ash had heard much the same thing nearly every day these past few months, but it sounded...different.
Ash slowly put Charmeleon's pokéball back in his pocket and pulled himself to his feet. He looked at Giovanni, but the man wasn't looking back at him. Giovanni's gaze was focused solely on the purple glow that was coming ever closer. There was an odd look in Giovanni's eyes, a strange kind of hunger. Ash had seen that look a couple of times before. He didn't know what it meant, and he had never thought twice about it, but now…
"Giovanni…?"
