Author's Note:

Welcome back, guys! I can't believe I'm nearing the end of this story already – only about four or five chapters left! This chapter's been so fun to write, I just hope you all enjoy it. Get ready for the return of someone who we haven't seen in a while!

Hunt

Chapter 11

Days had gone by since Ash had first started searching for Misty, although in his eyes, it seemed like months. He traipsed through endless amount of land trying to find her, but unfortunately, nothing even remotely related to Misty seemed to turn up. He had no clue whatsoever of her whereabouts or even the organisation's whereabouts, so at that moment in time you could say that his hope was slowly falling to pieces.

Deciding to take a breather, Ash settled down in a random area of shrubbery and leant against a nearby tree – he'd only just realised how he exhausted he was. It was at times like these that he wished he had Brock with him who could cook him up a nice meal to give him some energy, but all he had was a pathetic protein bar – nothing particularly special. Releasing his Pokémon from their Poké Balls, he got out some leftover Pokéblock and shared it out between them. Hungrily they dived in, appreciating the small amount of food that Ash was able to give to them. He smiled lazily at their happiness but then he remembered the reason why they were even out here in the first place; Misty. He wasn't going to give up hope anytime soon, but knowing that he literally had no clue as to where she could be was like a huge kick in the stomach – it left him feeling empty and useless, but for his sake and his Pokémon's sake, he continued to act positive.

"Noctowl, fly on ahead and see if you can spot anything," Ash ordered. Noctowl obeyed without hesitation and took off into the night sky, disappearing within a matter of seconds. Ash sighed heavily and looked up at the sky above him, deep in thought about Misty's whereabouts and more importantly, whether she was still alive. He shivered at the thought and looked down at Pikachu who had noticed his tense behaviour. Scratching him on the head Ash smiled warmly and reassured the mouse Pokémon that he was okay.

"Don't worry, Pikachu," he said. "Just thinking about what we're gonna do… I feel like I need a plan of action."

He shifted his gaze to Charizard who had suddenly become extremely tense – before, he'd been observing the other Pokémon, now and again watching the forest around them, but something had definitely caught his eye. Ash frowned at his Pokémon's odd behaviour and stood up, walking over towards him – Charizard's gaze remained fixed and sharp, his body solid.

"What's the matter, Charizard?" Ash asked hesitantly, looking in the same direction as him. Charizard continued to stare, a strong glint in his eye when suddenly, he grunted and stepped in front of Ash – something was definitely wrong. He started to growl underneath his breath and his eyes narrowed. The rest of Ash's Pokémon watched Charizard in suspicion but held back knowing that if they interrupted it wouldn't end well – waiting in anticipation, Ash squinted to try and see what exactly it was that Charizard was concerned about when all of a sudden, a large, panic-stricken Pokémon jumped out of the bushes and landed in front of them.

Wait… is that… is that an Arcanine?

The large fire-type Pokémon roared in desperation, unable to keep still. Ash's Charizard continued to eye the Pokémon warily, but a look of confusion was evident in its expression – Pikachu narrowed his gaze and watched Arcanine with both astonishment and disbelief, and as Ash glanced from Pokémon to Pokémon, he couldn't help but question what on earth was going on.

"Pika, pika-pika! Chu, pika!"

Ash watched Pikachu have its own conversation with the Arcanine intently, trying to grasp what it could be that was making Arcanine so frantic – Charizard's eyes widened and strong puffs of smoke blew out of its nostrils as the conversation went on, causing Ash even more confusion. The Arcanine continued to talk to Pikachu in a panicked manner, and as Pikachu gave one last sentence, the Arcanine seemed to nod its head vigorously.

"What's the matter, Pikachu?" Ash asked sternly, kneeling down to reach the mouse Pokémon's level. Pikachu started to talk frantically, making many different facial expressions in the process – Ash watched cautiously and tried to make out what it was that Pikachu was saying but he still failed to realise what he was trying to tell him. It was only when Pikachu made a certain facial expression that it caused Ash to freeze – it looked very familiar.

"Wait, Pikachu," Ash said, narrowing his brows. "Do that expression again."

Pikachu repeated the expression and Ash's face dropped.

"Gary?" Ash asked, watching Pikachu intently. Pikachu nodded his head vigorously and started pointing towards Arcanine hysterically, and it was only then did Ash realise exactly what he meant.

"You're Gary's Arcanine, aren't you?"

Arcanine nodded its head subtly and stared into Ash's eyes – Ash felt his own start to water and for a literal second, time stopped. As he stared endlessly into Arcanine's broken eyes, a large lump formed in Ash's throat.

"So… so that means that Gary's alive?"

Arcanine nodded once again.

Ash's breathing began to tremble – Gary was alive? After all of these years of believing that Gary was dead, he was alive? He couldn't grasp it – just when he desperately needed help, Arcanine showed up and revealed itself to be Gary's Arcanine? How on earth did it find them? And where was Gary? Hundreds of questions bombarded Ash's brain as he struggled to get his head around the situation, but shaking it off the best that he could, he gave Arcanine a stern expression.

"Where is Gary, Arcanine?"

Arcanine leapt up and turned around sharply, sprinting off into the forest. Pikachu tugged at Ash's jeans and then hopped up onto his shoulders, a look of determination plastered across his face. Ash nodded his head confidently and returned the rest of his team before bringing his fingers towards his mouth – he whistled as loudly as he could and within a few seconds, Noctowl had returned. Returning the bird Pokémon he then raced over towards Charizard and leapt onto his back, grabbing firmly onto his neck.

"Charizard, follow Arcanine!"

Without any hesitation Charizard lifted into the air with so much power it caused the trees around them to lean back with the force. As they climbed higher and higher Ash spotted Arcanine's shadowed figure sprinting in and out of the trees below at top speed, dodging everything in its path. Pikachu's cheeks sparked with anticipation, a look of determination evident in his eyes. The moon shone brightly down upon them, endless amounts of stars going on for miles and miles ahead – the forest looked as if it covered the entire world as not a town or city was in sight, and as the wind crashed against Ash's face, a strong feeling of uncertainty pulsed through him.

Eventually, Arcanine came to a stop in a part of the forest that was close to a nearby waterfall. Charizard dived down into the ground and came to a sharp stop before hitting the floor – patting him on the back, Ash jumped off of Charizard and approached Arcanine cautiously. The Pokémon was watching the waterfall attentively, its gaze fixed sharply on the pouring water that crashed into a large pool before continuing on-stream. Ash observed the scene slowly – it looked completely deserted. Why had Arcanine lead them here? He then heard Arcanine growl slightly next to him and he went into a position as if he was ready to hunt something down, and then, Ash froze – two figures appeared and were walking towards the waterfall. Due to the night, it was difficult for Ash to make out who they were, but as he squinted even further, he could just about make out that they were wearing some sort of uniform. A large gun was hung over the shoulder of one while the other had a large belt filled with what appeared to be numerous amounts of weapons – unexpectedly, one of them turned around and looked in his direction, and quickly, Ash ducked beneath a bush – luckily, it just about covered him. Peeking through the leaves, he noticed some sort of badge engraved into the front of their uniform in the top right-hand corner.

E.

"What could that stand for?" he muttered to himself, breathing out heavily when the two men continued on in their tracks. Before he could think about it further, his mouth dropped open – right next to the waterfall on the right-hand side, a secret opening appeared out of nowhere. The surface of the rocky cliffside next to the waterfall opened up, and as the two men walked inside, it disappeared after a matter of seconds.

"Pika!"

Ash turned his attention to Pikachu and realised that Arcanine was ordering them to follow him. Ash leant out his arm for Pikachu to run up and then returned Charizard to his Poké Ball, thanking him for his support. Swiftly, he ran over to Arcanine, still keeping watch of the area in front of him and still trying his best to keep his cover. They came to the edge of the cliffside on the left-hand side of the waterfall and Arcanine focused its gaze above them. Without warning, Arcanine took off all of a sudden back in the direction they came, startling Ash greatly – what on earth was it doing?

As quickly as it had turned around, it soon came back to Ash, charging at full speed – Ash froze.

"Arcanine, what are yo-wah!"

Ash was flipped through the air and landed on Arcanine's back – before he even had time to get his balance, Arcanine had leapt up onto a narrow pathway that the cliffside held, sprinting up it at full pelt. Clinging onto it as hard as he could, Ash looked below him and saw that the pool of water below them was becoming smaller and smaller and Arcanine only took them higher and higher. Then, with one last leap, Arcanine landed on a ledge that brought them to a large, dark opening hidden deep within the cliffside.

Sliding off of Arcanine's back, Ash eyed the opening warily.

"You want us to go in there?" Ash asked.

Pikachu leapt off of Ash's shoulder and ran up to Arcanine. He turned back to Ash and pointed inside of the cave-like opening, urging Ash to follow. Nodding confidently, Ash followed the two Pokémon and walked into the cave cautiously, keeping his eyes open as wide as he could in case of any danger. The further into the cave, the lighter it became – small lights had been built into the ceiling of the cave making it a lot easier for Ash to see. He stopped when he saw that Arcanine was investigating the area, sniffing around the ground rapidly. Then, he stopped.

"Arcanine!"

Ash paced over towards Arcanine and knelt down to pick the object up that it had found.

A Poké Ball.

"This is your Poké Ball, isn't it?"

"Arc!"

He observed his surroundings cautiously and felt the walls around him – if there was a back entrance to the headquarters, it must've been in here.

Even if there is a back entrance it would be too much of a risk for me to just waltz on in there.

Interrupting him from his thoughts, Arcanine nuzzled Ash's hand and then pointed his head in the direction of the ceiling – looking upwards, Ash noticed a large opening built high into the wall just above where Arcanine's ball was found. Stepping back a few feet to see if he could make out what was in there, he saw that it looked large enough for him to fit through – how he was going to get up there, he didn't know.

"Arcanine, do you think you could lift me up high enough for me to fit through there?"

Understanding Ash's words, Arcanine knelt down and waited for Ash to step onto his back. Carefully, Ash followed its lead and placed himself firmly on Arcanine's back, and as Arcanine slowly stood up again, Ash could just about reach the edge of the opening.

"I can reach," Ash said. Before lifting himself up onto it, he stepped off of Arcanine and quickly took off his belt and took Noctowl's ball. Releasing the bird Pokémon, he placed the rest of his team onto the floor and waited for Noctowl's attention.

"Noctowl, I need you to fly back to Pallet Town and alert the Professor of my whereabouts," he said sternly. Ash then turned his attention to Pikachu who eyed his master warily – he knew exactly what Ash was about to ask him.

"Pikachu, I need you to listen to me," Ash said firmly, looking around the cave again. "Go with Noctowl and take my belt with you. Show the Professor and my mom – they'll know straightaway that something's wrong. You need to get them to phone the police and you need to lead them here as quickly as you possibly can, it's my only chance of being able to get out of here."

"Pika-"

"No, Pikachu! You need to do this for me! I know you want to help but I can't risk taking any of you guys in here with me – I don't know where it's going to take me or what's going to happen. You're the only Pokémon that my mom understands, Pikachu – she'll be able to take in what's happened, trust me."

Ash then turned to Arcanine and eyed him carefully.

"Arcanine, do you think you could follow Noctowl and take yourself and Pikachu back to Pallet Town?"

"Arc!" it exclaimed.

Nodding with determination, Ash pulled himself back onto Arcanine and then onto the ledge of the opening. Turning around on his knees, he faced Pikachu, Noctowl and Arcanine one last time.

"Be as fast as you can," Ash said, watching Pikachu hop onto Arcanine's back. "Pallet Town's not exactly around the corner… do you think you'll be able to find your way back?"

With one swift nod, Arcanine sprinted back out of the cave and disappeared like a bolt of lightning – it was all down to himself now. He had no idea what would greet him on the other side of the opening, but he had to brace himself for it. Feeling his eyes adjust to the darkness, he crawled along the passageway that was gradually getting narrower and narrower – then, all of a sudden, he hit a dead end. Feeling the wall in front of him, Ash came across a hole that seemed to have been formed there by accident. Using his fist, he punched the wall with all of his strength and grinned triumphantly to himself when the rock started breaking away.

His grin soon faded as soon as the path he was on started to break away, too.

"Oh sh- wah!"

His hands slipped and before he knew it, Ash had tumbled out of the high opening in the wall of rock and landed in a pitiful heap on the floor. Small rocks continued to fall around him until suddenly, everything went quiet.

Moving his arms away from his head, Ash looked up from the floor and observed the scene that he had just entered; it was dark, damp and extremely cold, with nothing but hard, stone floor covering the entire space. Almost no light could be seen other than the even bigger hole in the wall that he had just made, and he could just about make out the silhouette of a door on the right-hand side. Before he could prepare himself, as Ash got to his feet he could hear the footsteps of someone else behind him and out of instinct, he turned around and punched whatever it was that was stalking him.

His fist collided hard with a jawline, causing whoever the person was to stumble back and grasp their face with their hand. Ash stood open-mouthed for a while, his fist still trembling and as he saw the figure start coming closer to him, he prepared himself for another punch.

"Geez, what was that for, Ash!?"

His fist froze.

Slowly, he lowered it by his side, staring at the dark figure in shock. His mouth had gone dry and his skin started to shiver – could it be?

"G-Gary?"

The figure took a few more steps towards him and paused just before he reached the light – then, with one last step, he took a deep breath and came into view. Ash became rigid and paralysed all of a sudden, his bottom lip trembling with disbelief – he just couldn't believe it.

"Y-you're alive," he said, finally managing to speak a few words.

"How did you find me?" Gary asked, ignoring Ash's shocked posterior. "Did Arcanine lead you here?"

"Y-yeah, he turned up out of nowhere and started acting like a maniac!" Ash exclaimed, stuttering slightly as he tried to gain his composure. "Pikachu recognised it to be your Arcanine so without any thought on anything I followed it on Charizard! Fuck, you're alive Gary!?"

"Yes, Ash, I'm alive! Are you too dense to figure that out?" Gary asked frustratingly.

"Shut up, Gary!"

"Where's Arcanine now?"

"Heading back to Pallet Town," Ash said. "I sent Pikachu with him to alert my mom, the Professor, whoever's back in Pallet Town wanting to know where I am!"

"Why do they need to know where you are?" Gary asked. "Aren't you out travelling?"

"No, n-not anymore," Ash said weakly, remembering his main goal. "Gary, since you've been gone, some pretty fucked up stuff's been happening all over the regions… gym leaders are disappearing, Gary, and no one knows why."

"I know," Gary said bluntly.

"You do? How do you know?" Ash asked incredulously, rubbing his temples in agitation. "Gary, where are we? What happened to you?"

"We're in the headquarters of Euphoria," Gary said, storming past Ash and observing the door. "This is the west dungeon – I can't tell you how long ago I was thrown in here but it feels like hours."

"Aren't Euphoria the group that's supposedly taking the gym leaders?"

"Yeah, except they aren't supposedly taking the gym leaders, Ash, they are taking the gym leaders. They've been doing it for the past three years, and this is where they've been keeping them. You must've seen how well hidden this place is – if you were just a passer-by you'd never guess that a huge organisation is hiding in the depths of a waterfall. That's why they've never been caught, and unless someone does something about this, they'll continue to carry out their plans without even breaking a sweat."

"Do you know why they're doing it?"

"Something about taking over the League – I don't know this for sure but I'm pretty certain they're planning to wipe something out but what the gym leaders have to do with that, I don't know."

"Is Misty here?"

Gary froze.

"Yes," he said steadily. "She's somewhere here in the headquarters. I've been trying to escape from this shithole of a dungeon to try and rescue her but I've got nothing on me to get me out."

"Why do you want to rescue her?"

Gary paused momentarily before carefully choosing his words.

"Ash, when I say that it's a long story, I mean it," Gary said, swallowing down a large lump in his throat. "If we ever get out of here alive then I'll happily explain to you everything that's happened to me… and not just you – everyone. But right now, Misty's in danger, and we need to get our asses into gear if we're gonna have a chance at finding her."

Ash narrowed his brows at Gary and chose not to question him any further – it proved to be difficult, but he was positive that Gary had a valid explanation as to why he'd want to rescue Misty in-particular. Had he seen Misty? Had he interacted with her since her capture from Euphoria? Most importantly, was she still alive? Deciding that those questions would have to wait, he nodded his head in agreement.

"Fine," Ash said, looking around the chamber. "But at least tell me something, Gary – is she still alive?"

"Y-yes," Gary said hesitantly, suddenly becoming nervous. "I wouldn't count on knowing that she's safe though, Ash – my boss can't be trusted."

His stomach dropped – he hadn't planned on saying that.

"Your boss?" Ash asked astoundingly, stepping back slightly. "Gary, do you work for these people!?"

"Now's not the time to be discussing that, Ash!" he exclaimed, grabbing his spiked hair in his hands. "We need to get out of here now before it's too late – anything could be happening to her right now and if we don't get a move on then we'll be the ones to blame!"

For some reason, this made Ash seemingly forget what Gary had just said about Euphoria – bringing his hands to the top of his head, Ash looked up to the ceiling and took in a deep breath before turning to face Gary again.

"Fine," he said shakily, warily observing Gary. "What's the plan?"

"I know the way to the east dungeon from here – that's where Misty's being kept. It's right over the over side of the headquarters but if we manage to get out of here, I know the back way round – not many Euphoria guards take this route. It'll take longer but we'll have more of a chance at getting to her without getting shot."

"Right," Ash said confidently, listening intently to Gary's words. "And if we get there?"

"I know the access code so we should be able to bust in pretty easily – I just hope they haven't changed it. After that, we'll think of what we do next – we're just gonna have to deal with anything that tries to stop us."

Gary stopped and rubbed his temples, pacing the floor.

"Do you have anything sharp?"

Ash instantly started searching through each of his pockets, rummaging around desperately to try and find anything that could help them escape – just as he thought it proved to be useless, his hand stopped on something small.

Grabbing the object between his fingers, he lifted it out of his pockets and brought it up close to his face.

"Misty's lure," he said disbelievingly.

"That'll do," Gary said, holding out his hand for Ash to place the lure in. "She made this for you?"

"Yeah, years ago," Ash said, smiling subtly at the memory. "I carry it with me as a good luck charm – looks like it's proved to work."

"Let's just hope it gets us out of here," Gary said as he used the lure to try and break the lock, "because if it doesn't then our plan pretty much goes to shit."

As Gary twisted the lure around in the lock of the door, Ash waited in anticipation – it just had to work. As Gary breathed in sharply when the hook of the lure dug into his skin he gave it one last twist and suddenly, a large click echoed across the chamber.

Gary paused and looked at Ash before grinning triumphantly.

"Well done, Ashy-boy," Gary said teasingly, giving the lure back to him. "For once, you proved yourself to be useful – who knew you had a brain in that thick head of yours?"

"Shut up, Gary," Ash muttered, scowling at his cocky counterpart.

Flashing an arrogant smirk for a brief second, Gary's expression turned stern. He inhaled deeply and grasped the handle of the door, being careful enough to twist it as smoothly and quietly as he could. When the handle could no longer turn, he gently pushed the door open and placed his right-eye to the gap. The corridor was completely empty and deadly silent – any sudden movement or sound and they'd be done for. Opening the door slightly more, Gary poked his head out from the chamber and studied the corridor even further.

"It's clear," he whispered to Ash, facing him again. "Now, listen – we have to do this smoothly and quietly. Do not make a sound. Any sudden movement or noise and those guards will be on our case within seconds, you got it?"

"Right," Ash nodded.

"Alright," Gary said, nodding confidently at his childhood rival. "Let's do it."

Taking one final check at the corridor that lead out of the chamber, Gary nodded his head to Ash to follow him – Ash didn't even hesitate, and within a matter of seconds, they were running swiftly down the endless tunnel of the west dungeon.

The hunt to find Misty was on.

Author's Note:

Bloody hell, this was the hardest chapter I've ever had to write! It took me ages to get this perfect – the Pokémon's interactions, Ash's interactions with the Pokémon, Ash and Gary's confrontation… it took a lot of time and thought to make it as realistic as possible.

I wanted to add Ash into the plot to give him some sort of meaning – I didn't want him to just search for Misty and his whole role in the story to just be forgotten about. Plus, I think it's good how he's had to all of a sudden forget that Gary has supposedly been dead for four years and just get on with it – he isn't ten anymore, things have changed!

Please please please review if you're reading this story – only if it's a few words long, just leave me something to let me know what you're liking/disliking about the story so far. It's mighty helpful and really encourages me to push on and continue writing!

Another big thanks to Ally147 for supporting me throughout most of the writing of this story!

Until next time,

Charityx