.: Chapter 13 :.

The Freedom Movement

Time was running out. The pidgeotto knew this, but no matter how hard she tried, she just could not get her wings to go – any – faster.

A sudden gust buffeted the pidgeotto's wings and she relaxed, gratefully letting the wind carry her for a few short seconds. Of all nights for the wind to hold its breath… What she needed was a good, strong storm, not this quiet starless night. Maybe she was already turned around; maybe she'd see the sea soon, and then she'd know it was all over, that she'd failed.

And then the pidgeotto's keen eyes picked out the shape of trees in the distance, and hope blossomed in her breast. A forest! This was it – this had to be it. She'd never been this far away from home before, but she'd passed a town just a few minutes ago, and now here was the forest…

The pidgeotto tucked her tired wings to her side and dove toward the trees, eyes alert for the first hint of yellow.

xXx

"This is boring," Ash announced. He glanced over at his companion and decided to modify his statement. "You're boring."

"Well, if you would rather be somewhere else, you are more than welcometo leave," Gary ground out.

"What's so interesting about a bunch of plants, anyway?"

"Nothing you can comprehend, obviously."

"I don't know why I'm helping you when you won't even tell me what we're doing."

"I don't know why you think you're helping me."

"Hey, I collected a whole basket of those berry things for you! Show some gratitude!"

"Yes, an entire basket of electrocuted berries which will probably be of no use whatsoever. I am eternally in your debt, Mr. Amazing Pokemon Master."

Ash glared.

"Just an idea, Champion; when someone says they want ripe, untouched berries, it generally means they also don't want them electrocuted."

"I cooked them!"

"You burnt them! No self-respecting pokemon would eat that. And all the proteins are denatured now, and probably not even recognizable enough to extract the pieces!"

"…What?"

Instead of exploding like he would have a handful of years ago, Gary just shook his head and sighed.

"Look, maybe if you tell me what you're doing then I can help," Ash tried. "I wouldn't have used my thundershock on those berries if I'd known you were going to extract…stuff from them."

"Ash…"

"Umbrrreeon!"

Ash and Gary looked down at the new arrival, who was happily rubbing against Gary's legs. At her feet was a basket brimming with perfect, shining red berries.

The sight of her seemed to relax Gary, and he even smiled. "Thanks, girl."

"Brree!"

"Well, it looks like Umbreon saved the day, Ashy-boy," Gary drawled while inspecting his pokemon's haul. "There are enough perfect berries here to make up even for your stunning failure."

But Ash wasn't listening. "Pi pika!"

"Bree?" Umbreon turned to stare at the mysterious pikachu, having never encountered Ash's other form before.

"It's me," Ash introduced cheerfully. "Ash!"

If anything, this seemed to confuse Umbreon more. "…Eon?"

"Do you understand the concept of secrecy at all?" Gary hissed, exasperated.

"Pika, pi pikachu!"

"You know I can't understand you like that, Ash."

Ash grumbled, but didn't bother to change back.

"Honestly, I don't know what Celebi was thinking, entrusting you with this. You've always been completely useless at keeping secrets, and giving you the ability to control electricity is just asking for troub—ow!"

"Piiikachu."

A now-singed Gary glared at Ash, and then grinned evilly. "Umbreon, get him."

"Breee," Umbreon growled, eyes narrowing to slits and glowing a little. Ash freaked.

"Pika!" he cried, and leapt to the only safe spot he could see – Gary's head.

"Gah! Ash, get off!" Despite the researcher's flailing, Ash was small and agile enough now to dodge his hands. Eventually, after a final useless swat, Gary gave up and Ash settled in a more comfortable spot on his friend's shoulder. Umbreon gave a purring laugh, and a suspicious cough slipped past Gary's annoyance.

"Fine, stay there for all I care," he huffed. "I need to get these berries back to the lab before something terrible happens."

Ash just cooed happily, doing his best to mimic Pikachu at her most insufferable. Judging by Gary's scoff, it appeared to be working.

-Ash!—

Ash tensed, his ears perking up instinctively and trying in vain to locate the source of the voice. "Pi?"

-Ash, can you hear me?—

"Ash, what's wrong?"

The black-cheeked pikachu shook his head, as if he could physically shake away all the voices suddenly pestering him. Deciding that Gary's face was way too close, he jumped back on top of the researcher's head and dealt with the first voice. –Tek? What is it?—

-Finally. Did you forget how to talk, or something?—

Even though he kind of had, Ash wasn't about to admit it. -Tek, is something wrong?—

-No, no, calm down. Well. Maybe a bit. Pikachu went to sort it out though, so it should be fine.—

Ash's stomach swooped in a way that he definitely did not like. –What do you mean, a bit? Where did she go? Tek!—

-For Mew's sake, calm down! She just went to Vermillion for a bit, apparently some Surge guy is making some trouble down there. She didn't even go alone; Bulbasaur and Raichu went with her, and Pidgeot, even though she had to come back right away because of all the electricity flying around down there.—

Ash paused, let that sink in. –…Raichu?—

-Yeah, haven't you seen him? He came back with Bulbasaur and Sienne. I guess he thinks it's funny to beat up his old trainer or something; don't ask me, the guy's seriously messed up.—

Ash didn't doubt that. –So wait, when did they leave?—

-Just last night. I would've told you earlier, but no one woke me up. Some panicky pidgeotto flew in after sundown, and wouldn't rest until we did something about it. Pidgeot says it should be fine, though. Nothing they can't handle. It's just, with all the weird energy down there, you won't be able to contact her til she gets back.—

Ash realized his claws had dug a little into Gary's scalp, and forced himself to relax. It wasn't like there was anything he could do about it at this point. –Fine. Thanks for letting me know.—

-Wait, one more thing! There's ah…um…-

-…Tek?—

-I don't know how to explain it. There's just…something out there. It's powerful, and it's coming…or coming close, anyway. Or maybe it was close? I'm not sure.—

-Tek. What are you talking about?—

-I don't know!- The little cat snapped, and Ash could practically hear his forked tail buzzing. –Just…be careful, okay?—

-Okay,- Ash agreed, trying to sound as reassuring as possible, even though he still had no idea what the tiny espeon meant. These days he was always careful – more careful than normal for him, anyway – so it wasn't like he'd have to change anything. Nothing could take him by surprise anymore.

So of course Gary chose that moment to knock the poor unsuspecting pikachu off his head. Ash registered a sudden blow to his side, a brief fall, and then he was staring into Gary's narrowed brown eyes.

The sudden familiarity of Gary's glare erased the residual unease that telepathy still instilled in Ash, and he felt an unexpected rush of affection for his oldest friend. Back before the Championship, before gym battles and travelling and before pokemon-before Pikachu (though Ash was hard-pressed to remember such a time), there'd been Gary. They were Pallet's bright hopes (well, Gary Oak was, anyway), and they'd been inseparable. Gary had been there the first time he scraped his knee, the first time he got stung by a weedle, the first time he (they) saw an actual, wild pokemon…and now, when Ash's world felt turned upside down, Gary was still here. Intimidated not a whit by the researcher's obvious irritation, Ash followed his heart and gave his friend a small nuzzle.

Gary coughed and held the small pikachu out at arm's length. "Whatever you have better not be catching," he grumbled, but he wouldn't look Ash in the eye and…was that a blush?

Ash grinned hugely. "Chaaa."

Gary coughed again. "Yeah, yeah. I do actually need to get back to the lab, you know; I wasn't just talking to fill up space before. If you're finished daydreaming, of course." Gary cast him his best you are not worthy look, but he looked away rather quickly and did, in the end, let Ash ride on his shoulder to the edge of the forest, so Ash decided to count it as a grand victory.

xXx

This, Pikachu mused, was possibly the most bizarre experience of her life.

Which, considering her life, said quite a lot.

"Go left!"

After only the briefest pause during which the rational part of her mind battled her nerves, instincts, and everything else, Pikachu obeyed the hateful voice and jumped to the left. The ground she'd been standing on opened up less than a second after she moved, revealing a gaping chasm of earthy death. She felt quite proud of herself; she'd actually reacted fast enough to avoid it, this time. She was getting better at this whole teamwork thing.

Something whipped at the back of her head and she rolled, half intentionally and half because she'd completely lost her balance. She regained her feet with a strategic twist, and looked back at the smirking, evil Raichu, his tail curling innocently.

"You forgot to say thank you!" he called to her. She decided not to warn him about the ridge of earth creeping up behind him.

See? Teamwork.

Pikachu veered to the right this time and circled around, hearing the very satisfying shriek of a raichu in pain from behind her. Her glowing tail slammed into the distracted dugtrio and, while it was still reeling from her blow, Raichu recovered enough to punch it in the face. The move definitely lacked finesse (as did everything about Raichu), but even Pikachu had to admit it was effective. The dugtrio was out cold.

Raichu kicked it anyway, because he was just like that.

Pikachu sighed. She had long since given up trying to talk him out of being horrible. "Is that the last of them?"

"There was a voltorb making eyes at us earlier," Bulbasaur answered from somewhere at her back. "But I think it changed its mind."

"You mean not all voltorbs are suicidal?" Raichu sneered. "Shocking."

Pikachu definitely did not laugh, nor did she think that was funny. At all.

Dear Mew, she wasn't actually this easily corrupted, was she?

Bulbasaur snorted, which made her feel slightly better. "Either way, we still don't know where Surge scurried off to."

Pikachu's fur crackled with static at the reminder. Surge had been wreaking havoc when they arrived, as had been foretold, but in an astonishing display of cowardice, he had turn tail and fled when he saw them, leaving a small rampaging army behind for them to slice through. And now he was gone. Pikachu would say he was hiding, except for the fact that Surge didn't hide.

"He's planning something," Raichu growled with a certain vicious glee. Pikachu eyed him warily. The rat was clearly unstable.

"Yes, well, he'd better do it soon," Bulbasaur grumped. "Who knows what trouble Ash is getting into without us."

"He'll be fine," Pikachu cut in with more confidence than she felt. Which was unfair; Ash was capable, of course he would be fine. Of course.

Bulbasaur didn't look convinced, but was wise enough not to say so.

xXx

Sleeping alone, Ash discovered, was surprisingly difficult. For one thing, it was cold. Not that he needed the extra heat, exactly; it was summer, after all, and he never felt cold during the day. And yet, at night he found himself piling on his winter comforter and extra blankets in an attempt to warm himself up. Inevitably he tossed these off in the middle of the night, but the extra weight helped him to sleep, a little.

Space was also a problem, in that there was too much of it. Ash had never considered his childhood bed large, but now it seemed wide enough to swallow him. Over the years he'd settled down and adapted to not moving much as he slept, and it was disconcerting to be able to roll over without crashing into another warm body. Gary had refused point-blank to let Ash stay with him, even as a pikachu (he saw enough of him during the day, he'd said), and Ash had to admit that his disappearance overnight would be a bit suspicious.

As a result, his sleep was mostly restless and unfulfilling, composed of long stretches spent staring at the ceiling and interspersed with short restless naps. So it was no surprise that he was already wide awake when someone appeared in his room.

Since he was awake, Ash knew that 'appeared' really was the correct word, because the being had not done anything so normal as open a door or even a window to enter. In fact, its appearance was so soundless and abrupt that Ash only knew someone was there at all by the sudden eerie sense of being watched. Gradually, Ash's dark-adjusted eyes picked out a lighter, vaguely humanoid shape standing at the foot of his bed, which only served to alarm the Champion more.

~It's been a long time, Ash.~

Ash gaped. It couldn't be… "Mewtwo?"

The shape tilted its head. ~So you do remember. Good. That will make things easier.~

"Things? What things? What are you doing here? Where have you been? What—"

~Slow down, human. I am here because there are things you need to know.~

Ash badly wanted to respond to that with another string of questions, but even he realized that would get him nowhere. And Mewtwo was…still intimidating, especially cloaked in darkness as it (he?) was, no matter how benevolent it seemed at the moment. So instead, Ash decided to address that problem first. "I don't suppose you could turn on a light?"

Ash didn't see Mewtwo move, but seconds later the room was bright enough to make Ash squint. Ash wasn't sure where the light was coming from, since his lamp still appeared to be off, but he wasn't about to waste time questioning it. Also, Mewtwo didn't really look much more approachable with the light on.

~Satisfied?~

Ash nodded, willing the scary psychic to get on with it already.

~I am glad,~ Mewtwo said in a sneering sort of tone, which reminded Ash of just how much the clone seemed to hate…well, everyone, really. Why would it want to help him?

Mewtwo must have read his thoughts or something (which really wouldn't surprise Ash), because he said next, ~I am here because I have been following your activities, and I agree with your goals, if not your…sloppy execution. This rebellion is long overdue, and I will see it succeed this time.~

Wait…yes, Ash remembered now. Celebi had mentioned that Mewtwo had been the first attempt to continue the "cycle", the first turning point that Ash had interrupted. If so, then his current appearance made sense, as did his offer of support. So his motives were accounted for. And he didn't seem exactly hostile towards Ash, and they had parted on friendly terms – or so Ash thought, anyway. So maybe he could trust him?

~Yes, you can trust me.~ Mewtwo actually sounded faintly resentful. ~You have other enemies to worry about.~

Okay, Ash was sure Mewtwo had read his mind that time. If he had been a pikachu, his cheeks would have been sparking. "Stop doing that!"

~I can't help myself when you broadcast so strongly. You have always been incredibly easy to read.~

Ash took a deep breath, acknowledged the truth of that statement, and reminded himself that Mewtwo was not a good pokemon to anger. "Fine, whatever. What enemies?"

~The League. They know your location.~

"What? What do you mean, my 'location'? Of course they know where I live, I'm-"

~Not you. Your friends, your…army. And they do not approve.~

Ash blinked. His mouth felt suddenly dry. "They…they know it's me?"

~I do not believe so. However, that does not change the fact that they will take action. Are you ready, Ash?~

Ash had no idea. He suspected not. But it didn't matter, did it? "Who's coming?"

Mewtwo tilted his head to the side, as if he was listening to something. ~The Elite Four, assorted league hopefuls, team rocket, and the police.~

Ash blinked, his train of thought completely derailed. "Team Rocket?"

Mewtwo grinned, an evil, horrible gash of a smile that made Ash want to pull the covers over his head. ~Not officially, of course. But they will be there. And they will regret it.~

The death in Mewtwo's voice was unmistakable, and Ash thought it best to just agree. "Right. Okay. Um, when?"

~By dawn.~

Ash stopped breathing. "Dawn?! But it's…that's four hours from now!"

~Then you'd better get moving, don't you think?~

Ash was already moving. In record time he dressed, gathered Charizard's pokeball, and was out the door, completely dismissing Mewtwo's presence. Until he got outside, that is, where it truly became inescapable.

An army was gathered on his lawn. That was the only word for it. All of Mewtwo's cloned pokemon were there, standing in formation in front of a tiny house in Pallet Town at three in the morning, and looking a bit like they wanted to eat Ash for breakfast.

~You didn't really think I'd let you have all the fun?~ Mewtwo remarked from behind him. Ash swallowed.

"They don't look very friendly."

Mewtwo made a sound that sounded very suspiciously like a laugh. ~They're not meant to, human.~ The psychic paused, and then added, ~You may want to change your form now. My clones have inherited my dislike of humans, and they may actually try to eat you.~

Ash had to laugh at that, but did as Mewtwo suggested. It wouldn't look very good to get eaten by his own side before the battle had even begun.

xXx

Meowth took one look at Ash's face and groaned. "Ah Mew, we're all goin' ta die."

Pidgeot, at Ash's shoulder, gave Meowth a Look. "Please don't say things like that out loud, dear. You'll scare the children."

Ash caught sight of the utterly baffled and affronted expression on Meowth's face and had to stifle a dangerously hysterical laugh. The sight of their leader collapsing into a fit of unexplainable giggles would doubtless scare the 'children' just as much.

But glancing back out at the group of worried, expectant eyes sobered him faster than a bucket of ice water. These were his friends, his most trusted allies, and yet…some of them were just children, in at least one sense of the word. Cyndaquil's nervous gaze caught him from the front of the crowd, and he couldn't look away. He was her hero, he knew. Her something to believe in. What if he let her down? This wouldn't be like the battles they were used to, where the rules were clear and honour was paramount. This would be confusing and chaotic and lawless, and anything could happen. She would be on her own – they all would. They could be hurt, or worse. And they all could have been safe at home right now, in Pallet Town or elsewhere, if it hadn't been for Ash sticking his nose into other peoples' business.

Nothing but a troublemaker. Well, at least his mother would be glad to know he hadn't changed.

~We need to move, human.~

Ash swallowed, and almost choked in the attempt. "Right. I know."

If only Pikachu were here—but no. She wasn't and when he'd tried to reach her he'd sensed only static but Ash couldn't think about that right now. She'd be back as soon as she could, as they'd arranged, and until then he'd just have to manage. On his own. He'd done that before, right? …Right?

"Ash, spit it out already," Squirtle snapped irritably. "We're close to exploding from nerves he-"

"The League's coming," Ash blurted immediately, as if Squirtle's prod had burst whatever bubble the words had been hiding in. "By dawn. They know we're here, and they mean to crush us."

A collective gasp issued from his audience, followed by a swift exchange of glances as they all sought to confirm that they weren't alone in their alarm. Ash let the panic run its course, and calm eventually reasserted itself with Bayleef's grumbling voice.

"Finally. Sure took their time about it, didn't they?"

Ash blinked at her. "You're looking forward to this?"

Bayleef gave him a devilish smile that made her look manic but weirdly assured. "Come on Ash, it's been forever since we had a proper battle."

A sharp crack drew Ash's attention to Squirtle, who was grinding his fist into his hand. "I can't wait to show those elitist wannabes who's boss," the tiny turtle growled. A roar from Charizard backed him up, and sparked a spontaneous cheer from the rest of the small group. Only Meowth and Sienne kept quiet, preferring instead to grin toothily at him from their corner.

Ash shook his head, but felt a grin creeping onto his own face despite it all. "You guys are incredible. Really."

"We aim to please," Noctowl trilled, and Ash laughed. Things didn't seem quite so dire anymore – he wasn't alone in this, even without Pikachu. Except…

"So what's the plan then, boss?"

…Except in some ways, he always would be alone. But Ash was used to that. He took a deep breath. "Okay team, listen up. We've got surprise on our side and not much else, so here's what we're going to do…"

xXx

Something was wrong.

No matter how she tried, Pikachu couldn't shake the feeling. It made her twitchy, itchy and restless like her own skin had shrunk several sizes over the last hour. Bulbasaur would blame it on the lack of sleep if she dared to mention it, she was sure, and Raichu would likely claim it was her inherently wimpy pikachu-ness acting up again, if he deigned to comment at all. But Pikachu knew it was something else, something worse. She didn't know how she knew, but if there was one thing she'd learned from Ash over the years, apart from how reckless bravery can get you very far indeed, it was to trust her instincts.

They had to go back. Now.

But Pidgeot wasn't set to return for days, and Pikachu knew with that same eerie certainty that an aerial message from their end would take far too long. She had never been able to initiate Ash's strange telepathy herself, and she could no longer believe her own no news is good news mantra – now she felt it was far more likely that something was preventing him from contacting her. She couldn't rely on it – she had to go back.

But without transportation, she couldn't see how. And of course, there was still Lt. Surge to deal with. Despite patrolling the city dutifully ever since he'd disappeared, they'd seen no sign of the ex-military man. Pikachu was becoming more convinced that he'd used some sort of personal bolthole to escape the city entirely, which was all the more reason for them to leave and go back to Ash.

She sighed and ground her head against the wall of a nearby building. Even though she knew very well that there were people and possibly pokemon inside that very building, and most of the others along this street, the city felt like a ghost town. The only sound her sensitive ears could detect was the irregular crash of waves down in the harbour. Everyone else might as well have been dead.

Needless to say, none of this was helping her mood.

BOOM!

Pikachu moved so fast, she slammed her head against an overhanging windowsill and stumbled as her vision swam in chaotic swirls of sudden colour and light. Her ears were ringing and her eyes wouldn't focus – and was that the sky that was suddenly so red?

"…u!"

Pikachu blinked at nothing and realized that the nice solid wall against her back was actually the ground, which meant that at some point she'd fallen down. "Wha?"

"…re y…kay?"

Pikachu sat up, shook her head and wobbled a bit. Her ears were still ringing something fierce, and she felt horribly confused. "What—what happened? What's…"

"…you wer…on't no…" The voice was still weirdly distorted, but Pikachu focused on listening as best she could. "…at happened. Something to do with Lt. Surge, must be."

Right. Lt. Surge, and Bulbasaur and Raichu, and the hiding, and the wrongness. Pikachu scrubbed at her eyes one last time and watched as the world came back into focus.

But it wasn't the world she remembered.

Where before Vermillion had resembled a ghost town, now it looked like it had been hit by a bomb. The buildings immediately near her were still standing, but rubble in the street was on fire, and there was an alarmingly large amount of it. She could see black smoke clouding the sky behind Bulbasaur's head.

How many people had…

"It's not as bad as it looks," Bulbasaur blurted, no doubt seeing the horror creeping into her expression. "I mean, it's bad, obviously, but it wasn't a residential area, mostly just factories and warehouses got hit…"

Not even Bulbasaur's uncharacteristic stumbling could distract her now. "Got hit by what? Bulbasaur, what happened? Did you see it?"

"Nothing, there was nothing. Completely silent, and then—boom. Same as you, I'd guess, only…I wasn't as close."

Pikachu swallowed and nodded, and then started picking her way cautiously through the rubble and towards the heart of the blast. Her balance was still a little off, but Bulbasaur was sturdy and reliable when she couldn't be. Together they plunged through the thickening smoke and dodged the sputtering fires, keeping four ears and four eyes open for any sign of an injured person or pokemon. But no matter how far they went or how carefully they searched, apart from the background hiss of flames, the city remained as still and silent as it had been before the blast.

"There…are other pokemon in this city besides us," Pikachu whispered. "…Right?"

Bulbasaur looked about as unsettled as she felt, which didn't help. "I…don't know."

Pikachu shivered but didn't say anything more. The smoke got thicker the farther they went, and her throat already felt raw; inhaling more would not help. Just when she was about to ready to give up, retreat and come back with something with wings as backup to deal with this creepy town, she noticed something gleaming through the smoke. Squinting, she tried to make out what it was, but the smoke kept billowing by, and it was useless. Attempting to clear the air with electricity yielded similar results.

Luckily, Bulbasaur hadn't hit his head quite so hard today.

A great whoosh of air grazed Pikachu's side as Bulbasaur advanced, wielding a slab of broken plaster in each vine like giant fans. The smoke parted, but what was revealed wasn't nearly as informative as Pikachu had hoped.

Bulbasaur dropped his plaster chunks with a disappointed cra-thak. "Well, it's…definitely a machine."

"…Yep." Pikachu wasn't sure what to do next. She had absolutely no idea what the huge mechanical contraption in front of her did, it was far too large for even Pidgeot to transport, and she didn't think she could make it any more broken than it already was. The thing seemed to have been a tall dome at one point; the top had caved in completely, leaving only the iron frame and walls still standing. Multi-coloured lights and buttons were scattered among the debris at its base, and Pikachu could see some sockets near the top where they may have once been attached. One side panel was bent outwards, and the machine's guts spilled out through the opening in a mess of scorched wires, some still sparking.

For lack of a better idea, Pikachu wandered over to get a better look.

The world went black.

xXx

Ash crouched in the bushes at the edge of the forest watching an army advance and wondered, not for the first time, how exactly this became his life.

He'd never seen so many pokemon in one place before – which, for someone who'd grown up outside Professor Oak's lab and then made it his life's goal to see as many pokemon as possible, was saying quite a lot. The approaching trainers seemed to have followed the rebellion's lead and dispensed with pokeballs; each trainer was surrounded by their full six pokemon—with the exception of the police, who were each paced by a single growlithe or arcanine, and a weird group of people trailing along at the back, with not a single pokemon among them. Ash suspected they were Rockets and, remembering Mewtwo's glee, actually felt bad for them.

Lance led the procession, which Ash suspected was due to some sort of misplaced nobility rather than status. His dragonite flanked him, and Ash felt a pang at the sight. He remembered what Brock had said, about extreme overbonding and how rare it was, and remembered the few times he'd seen Lance and his dragonite interact. Watching them, and the grim determination mirrored in both partners' eyes, Ash could all too easily imagine himself and Pikachu in their place. As the current Champion, Lance's spot in the lead should have been his, and Pikachu would have been the one facing an impossible tear between loyalty to her trainer and best friend, and loyalty to her own kind.

Ash hated that it had come to this. There had to be another way.

Through so much of this, Ash had been listening to other people. Celebi on the mountain, who'd first summoned them and told them the only way to fix things was to fight back; Sienne and the wild pokemon, whose fear and bitterness towards trainers made them thirst for revenge; the wild pikachu clan, with its tale of woe and its youngsters drumming for war; the Elite Four, whose aggressive opposition forced Ash to retaliate; Mewtwo, with his violent clones and his terrifying smiles, who'd attempted the first rebellion all those years ago; even Pikachu, whose fear of people would probably never completely disappear. But no matter what anyone else said, no matter what they'd done or were willing to do—this, right here, right now, this was all Ash. The Freedom Movement was his creation, his responsibility. And he would not let it turn into this.

In a flash, he had broken cover and was running towards the oncoming army, ignoring the calls of dismay behind him. He stopped only when he was completely out in the open and solidly between the two opposing groups, and only then did his actions really catch up with him. He was so close now that Lance's dragonite could probably knock him down with one solid beat of his wings, if it chose. Ash suddenly felt very small.

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. They wouldn't understand him, he belatedly realized. There was nothing he could do. It was too late.

Meanwhile, the League had finally stopped puzzling at the single pikachu standing in their way, and someone even seemed to have recognized him. After that, it took very little time for them to decide what to do.

"Jynx, show it we're serious. Ice Beam!"

Ash felt the entire forest tense at his back, but he didn't have time to call them off. The ice was coming at him fast, far too fast—he was jumping but it had already corrected for that, he'd never make it and this was all going so wrong—

And the suddenly, PINK.

Ash landed clumsily, surrounded by pink but unharmed. Before he could puzzle about this overmuch, he heard a pop! and the pink vanished. He was back in the field. Aside from the League's stunned expressions, it was as if nothing had ever happened at all.

And then something giggled, and Ash's heart leapt with hope.

Mew.

xXx

When Pikachu came to, the first thing she noticed was a heavy weight on her stomach. After that, sensory input came thick and fast: the smell of burning, a couple sharp things digging into her back, her tail twisted uncomfortably, a very bright light and another strange, electric smell… Pikachu opened her eyes.

Raichu stared back at her.

Wishing she'd kept her eyes closed, Pikachu screeched and tried to bolt, but Raichu was too heavy and she was still weak. All she managed to do was roll a bit, so Raichu was now sitting on her back instead.

Overall, not an improvement.

"Er…I think you can let her up now, Raichu," Bulbasaur attempted.

Raichu didn't move. Pikachu began to feel homicidal. "Get. Off."

Raichu ignored her. "I dunno, you sure? I think we should wait, just in case."

Knowing it would do no good, Pikachu shocked him anyway, for catharsis. To her surprise, the weight on her back disappeared immediately. She stood up to find Raichu glaring at her with more real anger than she could remember seeing in the electric type.

"You're bonded," he spat, like it was an insult, or a curse.

Pikachu stared, boggled that he could tell from a single shock, first of all, and secondly, that he would care enough to interrupt tormenting her. She considered that a bit more, and let an evil grin spread across her face. "What's wrong, jealous?"

If anything, this seemed to make Raichu angrier – though whether that was because it was true or just insulting, Pikachu didn't know. He lashed his tail, obviously wanting to attack but knowing as well as she did that it would accomplish nothing.

Pikachu sighed and turned to Bulbasaur, who was regarding them both with confusion. "Bulbasaur, what happened?"

Bulbasaur visibly swallowed his questions, and gestured with a vine behind his shoulder. Pikachu picked out the weird machine a few meters away, or the remnants of it anyway – it looked like it had been set on fire and then stomped on by something very, very large. Pikachu scrubbed at her eyes. "What did I do?"

Bulbasaur glanced back and seemed to realize what she was thinking. "Oh, that wasn't you, that was just—"

"You went crazy," Raichu interrupted. Pikachu blinked, and looked to Bulbasaur for confirmation.

"Well…" Bulbasaur seemed to want to deny it, but couldn't find the words. "…Yes. You got too close to the machine, and then your eyes went red and you…turned on us."

Pikachu winced. That did not sound good. "But you…you're alright. Right?"

"Yes, but it was close. We had…help."

The vagueness was beginning to annoy Pikachu, but she supposed it made sense given that she'd apparently tried to kill them only a few minutes ago. "Help? Is that who destroyed the machine?"

"Yeah. Apparently it was Surge's secret weapon – we were right about that, at least. It's some sort of mind control device, makes pokemon more aggressive and ready to attack anything that moves. We're not sure whether it only works on electric types or not, but I didn't really feel like testing it."

"Like that Drowzee…" Pikachu murmured to herself. It felt like ages had passed since that debacle, but the experience had been disturbing enough for Pikachu to remember it clearly, even now. "What about Surge? Any sign of him?"

"It was a distraction." Bulbasaur looked grim, and Pikachu felt her stomach swoop. "He's long gone, but we need to get back to Viridian."

Pikachu didn't need to be told that. Already she was nearly vibrating in place with urgency to get back to Ash. "Can this…helper get us back? Where are they?" Whoever it was, they had to be quite powerful. Pikachu wasn't conceited, but she was well aware of her own power and knew that, at this point, there was very little that could stop her if she wanted something dead.

"She's doing a sweep of the city right now," Bulbasaur explained, "but if you signal her, she should come down."

Pikachu glanced nonsensically at Raichu for confirmation, but the larger rodent just glared back at her. Pikachu shook her head and did as Bulbasaur suggested, sending a thin stream of electricity crackling into the sky. Within moments a tinkling cry sounded, and a large winged shape swept into the sky above them. Even through the still-billowing smoke, the newcomer sparkled and shone unmistakably. On golden wings, the creature sliced down through the smoke and alighted before the small group.

"Greetings, little shining one," she said, in a voice that sounded like bells.

For a long moment, Pikachu forgot how to breathe.