Inner Strength part 14
Ash held the blue prints before him and Pikachu. He didn't know how or why Team Aqua's blue prints to their base were underneath his own bed, but right now that didn't matter to him. He needed to get these to Prof. Oak ASAP!
Ash ran out of his room, with Pikachu closely following behind, and dashed out the door to his house.
Brock, May, Max, James, Mr. Mime, and Ash's mother saw him run right across their gaze and dash outside.
"What's with Ash?" asked May.
"I don't know, but it must be something important if he's running that fast," said Brock and walked over to the window. "He's heading for the professor's lab!"
"The lab?!" said Max, surprised as everyone else was.
Everyone (except Ash's mother and James) turned towards the door and ran outside to catch up with Ash.
BANG! Ash slammed open the front door to the lab, scaring all of the scientists half to death.
"Professor!" called Ash.
"Pika!" called Pikachu.
Ash ran over to the door which led into Oak's office, while passing by scared and confused assistants. Because of his small size, Ash jumped up to reach the doorknob (while still holding the blueprints in one paw), grabbed it, then turned the handle to open the door.
Pikachu, who was below Ash while he hanged onto the knob, pushed the door open, allowing both Pikachus into the office.
As Ash dropped down and ran into the office, Max, May, and Brock came through the front. May was able to get a small glimpse of Ash's yellow tail going into a room.
"There!" she said, pointing, and darted after Ash.
The group ran over to the now closed door, opened it, and ran in. Ash and Pikachu, however, stood still as they saw the professor.
Oak was at the same table that they found him at yesterday, with the cluster of papers everywhere, but this time there were also bottles and flasks amongst the cluster of paper. The professor, himself, was asleep in the middle of it again.
Ash walked up to the professor's leg and pushed it to wake him up.
Oak just ignored it and continued his sleeping.
"Professor! Please wake up!" yelled Ash.
Again, Oak was just too tired to wake up. Ash didn't want to wake him up, but he knew that he had to tell him what he had just found.
"Prof. Oak, wake up!" shouted Ash.
"Pika pikapi!" said Pikachu.
"Ash, maybe we shouldn't wake him," said May.
Ash turned around. He didn't notice that they were behind him. May, Max, and Brock were watching Ash and Pikachu with wondering eyes, pondering why they would need to wake the professor.
"Ash, what is it? Maybe instead of waking up Prof. Oak, you could ask us," suggested Brock.
Then Brock noticed the papers in Ash's paw.
"Ash, what are those in your hand?" he asked.
"The reason why we need Prof. Oak to wake up," replied Ash.
Ash turned back to face the sleeping professor. Oak was sitting on his chair, slumped over on his table, and his head was laying on his arms, which were also laying on the table.
Ash climbed up the professor's chair and got up on the table. From there, Ash got close to Oak's ear.
"Professor, we need you to wake up now!" shouted Ash.
The professor awoke with a start, startling Ash who was still right next to the scientist.
"Huh? What? Where?" mumbled Oak, still half asleep.
He looked down at Ash on his table.
"Oh. It's just a talking Pikachu . . ." He yawned. "Nothing to worry about."
Oak was about to lay his head back on the table when he realized that he wasn't dreaming. He quickly rubbed the crusty sleep in his eyes and looked at Ash.
"A-Ash? What are you doing here?"
The professor turned in his chair and saw that the rest of the gang was here.
"What is everyone —" He stopped to let out another long yawn. "— doing here?"
"We were just asking Ash that same thing," said Max.
The professor turned back around to face Ash again, still with a very tired look.
"Ash, I'm sorry that I was asleep again, but I've been working all day and night. Now, why did you have to wake me up?" asked Oak.
Ash held up the papers in his paw out to the professor.
"This is the reason why, professor. I found the blue prints to Team Aqua's base," said Ash.
May gasped, Max mumbled a "No way!" out of his breath, and Brock's closed eyes became even more clenched as the three heard the shocking news. Prof. Oak became wide-eyed and grabbed the papers out of Ash's paws.
"Could it be?" mumbled Oak as he pushed all of the other papers on his table aside and laid Ash's blue prints down.
Oak looked closely at the blue prints. He took out a calculator out of one of his pockets from his lab coat and placed it next to the prints.
The professor started pushing in numbers that he was apparently finding in the blue prints. When the numbers were computed in the calculator, the professor would write them down on the blue prints with his pencil that was laying on the table next to the other papers and beakers.
After some time of doing all of this, the professor wrote down one more number and looked at what he had found.
"Well, Ash, I'm still not sure how you found these or if these are even the real blue prints, but according to my calculations, this building was made to survive underwater," said Prof. Oak.
Ash nodded his head with a smile. He knew that these were real.
"And according to these numbers, I believe I have found a weak point to the building."
"Really? Where?" asked May. If she was sitting down, she would've been on the edge of her seat by now from the anticipation.
"Well, come on over here so I won't have to explain too much and confuse everyone," said the professor while getting out of his chair so that everyone could see the blue prints.
Everyone (except Ash, because he was already on the table) walked up to the table to look at the prints.
The building on the blue prints was very big by the looks of it. It was completely circular and round. All over the picture of the building were masses of numbers and equations. As Ash looked, he could see an equation for how thick the walls are, an equation for how far apart the outer-layer wall was to the inner-layer wall, there were even equations on how big each room in the building was.
But, what caught Ash's glance were not those numbers, but the names of each room. Particularly one room.
The Room.
"I locked Ash up in The Room."
"That's the room!" said Ash, almost shouting.
Everyone looked at him. The professor was about to say something else, but when Ash talked, he cut him off.
"What room?" asked Max.
"The Room! That's the place that they put me in when they captured me!" said Ash.
Brock looked down at the blue prints and saw the room labeled "The Room".
"How do you know for sure, Ash?" asked Brock.
"Because I was there, Brock," said Ash. "I heard Misty call it 'The Room'. They took me to their HQ!"
"I think Ash may be right," said the professor while pointing at the designs for The Room. "Look, according to this, The Room is covered with a dense, rubber, alloy and the only way out is in."
As the professor talked, he pointed out all of the markings that indicated so.
"So, this means that this room was made to keeping something electric in and never get out," finished Oak.
May leaned down to see the markings, but could not read them and gave up. This wasn't what she was looking for anyhow.
"But, Prof. Oak, how can we destroy it?" asked May, remembering the dot on her palm.
"I was just getting to that," said Oak.
He sighed. Whenever he tried to talk, someone else would interrupt him.
"All right, look," he started. "With such a big and complex building underwater, it will need a lot of electricity to keep it running, but because they are underwater there are no cables or telephone poles to bring any to them. So, that means that they must be making their own electricity."
"Generators," said Max.
The professor nodded his head.
"Yes, that should be their week point. Where the five of you need to go is right here," said the professor while pointing right at the middle of the blue prints. "Right in the very middle of the building."
"All the way there? But, that would be where most of the Team Aqua members would be at!" said Brock.
"True," said Oak while nodding his head again. "It does show here that many main hallways do go right in front of where the generators are located, so you'll have to use stealth to get there."
"How are we supposed to do that?" asked May.
Oak moved the blue prints ninety degrees over, to make it to were it was vertical.
"Well, if this is correct, then we could use these water pipes." He pointed at some small pipe shaped drawings on the prints. "These water pipes lead from one end of the building to the other. Now, if you five could get inside those pipes, they will lead you right over this hallway — " He pointed to a hallway shaped drawing that was right below the pipes. "— which lead right to the room with the generators."
Oak pulled his hands away from the prints so that everyone could see what he was seeing.
Brock pondered what the professor was thinking. He understood everything and even agreed with the plan, but there was something that was left unanswered.
"But, Prof. Oak, how are we going to get into these pipes?" asked Brock.
"Good question, Brock. Now, if you look closer at the front of the pipe, you will see that it leads outside of the building, but it only opens when that 'claw' that you spoke of comes out," said the professor.
"So, you mean that we have to make a distraction to get the claw out so we can get in?" asked Ash, still on the table and looking over the blue prints.
"Yes, Ash," said the professor. "You see, it says here that when the claw is inside the building the outside water must be drained out. I'm guessing that they do that so that it wont rust up. Now, when it's drained out, all that's left over is air, but when this claw has to go back out into the water, the container it was in still has only air, and that's when these pipes come in."
Brock pondered it a little bit, then nodded in understanding.
"I get it now! Because there is air, but then suddenly water, the pipes allow water in so that it wont collapse," he said.
Ash started scratching his head.
"But I still don't get it," said Ash, confused.
"Think of it this way," said the professor. "When you drink a can of soda, there is only one hole for the soda to get out, and when you drink it, the soda is choppy and takes a while just to come out. Now, if you poke another hole in the soda can, the soda doesn't come out so choppy, instead it comes out smoothly and more at once."
The professor put his finger on the blue prints and moved it in a circle, indicating the whole building.
"Now, imagine that the soda is air and the water is the air coming into the can, which is the building. Something has to take the other's spot when it moves, otherwise space would fill it instead," finished Oak.
Ash pondered it while still scratching his head. However, soon he finally understood it and nodded his own head.
"But, Prof. Oak," said Ash. "What kind of distraction should we use? We can't send in Squirtle again and none of us can out-swim that machine."
"I could do it," volunteered May.
Ash turned towards her, confused and yet amazed.
"No, May. You can't go, it's way too dangerous. You could get captured!" argued Ash.
"Ash, trust me, I'll be fine," said May.
But Ash couldn't let her, not after all he had been through already.
He didn't want her to get hurt. He didn't want her to be in the hands of Team Aqua, for he knows what they can do.
He didn't want someone else that he cared so dearly for get killed or wish for death . . . just because of him.
He remembered Misty, joining Team Aqua so that Ash wouldn't get hurt.
He remembered Misty II, the Pikachu that loved him and gave him a son, but gave up her own life to save his.
Ash was starting to cry, but tried his best to hold it in. He didn't want everyone else see him sobbing just for disagreeing with May.
But May could see it. Ash might have been able to fight the urge to cry, but May could see the sadness and pain that overcame her friend.
She reached out to him and laid her hand on his head, and started petting him again.
Ash liked the feeling of such a warm hand on his yellow fur. It relaxed him and somehow cheered him up.
Then, May brought over her other hand and used both of them to pick Ash up, and then she hugged him.
Ash felt the embrace and longed for it, so he returned it gratefully.
The professor cleared his throat loudly to get their attention. Ash and May froze when they realized what they were doing and quickly let go of each other with embarrassed faces.
But, after Ash quickly let go of May, he remembered that he was much smaller now and fell down to the hard floor.
"Ow . . ." mumbled Ash when he landed.
"Well, before I interrupt something important, I would like to continue with —" started the professor, but was interrupted by May.
"Um, professor? Do you think that you could give me and Ash some time alone? I want to ask him something personal," said May.
The professor seamed confused, out of all people that need Team Aqua gone and yet she wants to waist time talking to Ash? But, none the less, he waved everyone out of the room as he walked out himself.
Brock quickly followed the professor, but Max gave a small playful star at his sister, as if saying that he knows her secret.
May just shooed him out and pushed him out of the room and closed the door.
Ash was back on his feet now and was looking at May with a confused look again.
"What is it that you want to ask me, May?" he asked.
May bit her lip. How was she going to ask him? Just blurt it out and say it? She took a deep breath and got ready.
"Why are you so worried, Ash?" she asked.
"Why? What do you mean 'why'? Anyone would be worried that you are doing something this dangerous. It's only natural for me."
"Come on, Ash. I know that there is something else behind it. Why are you truly worried about me?"
Ash looked away for a second. All of his memories were coming back now.
Misty II laying in bed, talking to Ash as if they were her last words. They probably were.
That seemed like it was years ago, but it was only a couple of days in the past.
Either way, she might be dead right now.
All . . . because . . . of him.
Ash fell down to his small knees and began to cry. He didn't care if May was watching, and he probably wouldn't have cared if anyone else was watching either, he just had to get this pain of his out somehow.
He stayed there, crying his heart out for a long time. Then, May walked over to him and picked him up.
And there, they embraced. It wasn't the same hug as last time when everyone else was around them, but this was a hug to help each other through. A hug that told Ash that May truly cared about him and wanted to help.
During the hug, Ash cried on May's shoulder, just simply letting it all out.
"So you are telling me that they're not here?" asked Bob.
Misty nodded her head. She might be lying right now, but at least she was able to buy some time for Ash.
Bob looked right into Misty's eyes, as if trying to see into her mind if she was telling the truth. Misty tried to be as still and as unfocused about the matter as possible, otherwise it could mess everything up.
"Hm . . ." said Bob, pondering. "What do you think, Ray?"
Ray, leaning on a near by counter, stood up. The three of them where back in the lab. Computers and lab tables where everywhere, but all of the scientists and fellow Team Aqua members were busy doing other business.
"If you ask me," started Ray with a smirk. "I think that little punk, who you call 'Ash', is the one who alerted our defense system and activated one of our claws."
Bob turned around and faced Ray.
"You think so? Why?"
Ray shrugged and leaned back on the counter where many computers were lined up next to each other.
"Lets just call it a hunch for right now, but I'll tell you that this I know is true: When one of the claws had captured one of the intruders, the radar showed an object with a huge level of Inner Strength energy, and the last person that we checked with that much energy has to be that punk Pikachu," said Ray.
"And since when did you learn how to read the radar?" asked Bob.
Ray didn't say anything, instead he looked around, trying to act as if he hadn't heard the question.
Bob sighed at knowing that Ray was completely guessing at the fact. He turned back to face Misty.
"Well, this is hard to decide, isn't it?" he asked. "Ray here can read a radar just as good as he can do math."
Ray tensed up and growled, but stayed where he was at. He wouldn't dare go up against someone like Bob.
"Then, there's you," continued Bob, motioning to Misty. "You used to be friends with Experiment 102, so for all I know, you could be just helping him."
Misty wanted to object, but no ideas of what to say next would come to her mind, so she stayed quiet.
Bob walked over to Misty's side.
"You know what I think?" he asked.
Misty shook her head.
"I think that you did see 102. I think that you really did see him, but then reconsidered turning in your own best friend," said Bob.
Misty swallowed, but tried her best to look as calm as possible.
"I think that you still have feelings for 102 —"
"His name is Ash," said Misty, sternly.
Bob and Ray gave her a look, which made Misty realize her mistake. She turned her head so that her face wouldn't give anything else away.
"Which proves my point," continued Bob. "Now, I think that you still care for 102, as a true friend should. I think that you want him to be safe and tried to break the rules just to satisfy yourself, after all that is the reason why you joined in the first place. Am I correct?"
Misty said nothing, but kept her face pointed away from Bob's and Ray's eyes.
Bob took her silence as a yes.
"If what I say is true, then that means that you're in violation with our agreement. You know what that means."
Misty turned her head back to face Bob. His face was clear, emotionless, unreadable, almost as if he couldn't care for a thing in the world.
"You mean?" said Misty.
Ray smiled. Bob nodded.
Bob turned around and walked over to a computer. There, he placed his hands on the keyboard and began typing.
Misty could see the instructions that he was giving the computer, and she could not let him do such a thing.
She ran over to him, while pulling out one of her Poke Balls from her pocket, and slammed a fist right into the side of Bob's jaw. The scientist staggered a bit, then stood up straight and gave Misty another emotionless look.
"Do you honestly want to battle me?" asked Bob, seeing Misty's Poke Ball in her hand.
"It doesn't matter now, does it? I'm no longer a pawn in your evil game!" said Misty.
Bob seemed to have cracked a hint of a smile at the edge of his lips, but soon disappeared with force.
"I suppose that I'll take that as a 'yes' then," continued Bob.
Ray walked over to Bob and stood by his side while taking out one of his own Poke Balls. His new metal arm made a small grinding noise as he moved it to his belt.
"Are you sure that you want to go against both of us?" asked Ray with a evil smile.
As he answer, Misty put her other empty hand into her pocket and pulled out a second Poke Ball and enlarged it.
When her Poke Ball had enlarged, Bob shook his head in disappointment.
"You haven't really thought this out, have you?" said Bob.
Misty was confused at what he meant, but tried not to show it in her face.
"Look around you," said Bob while moving his arms in a manner to show everything in the room. "This room is filled with computers that control everything in this building. If one of your Pokemon's attacks misses me or Ray, then you could possibly destroy some of the equipment here and who knows what could happen. You just might hit a computer that controls the heating system, possibly making turning to heat to unbearable temperatures and killing everyone here. In other words, if you try to attack me, you could end up in killing yourself in the process."
"I don't care," said Misty. "Just as long as it ends up in getting rid of you and getting Ash and everyone else in this world safer."
Bob shook his head again.
"I honestly thought that you were smarter then that, Misty. Maybe Experim—"
"His name is Ash!" shouted Misty.
"Experiment 102," said Bob, ignoring her. "And his friends have clouded up your mind so much that you can't think anymore. You worry too much about him that you can't even think for yourself. You fear someone getting hurt, but not about your own safety. You have gotten weak, and of no further use."
"Shut up!" shouted Misty and threw out her Poke Balls.
Both balls fell against the hard ground. Each opened up, releasing a bright, white light, which formed into a Marill and a Staryu. Both Pokemon stood up and got into their stance, ready to begin.
But, Bob didn't bring out his own Pokemon. Instead, he just shook his head in disgrace.
"Oh, Misty. You might be willing to risk your own life, but would you risk your own Pokemon's lives as well?" asked Bob.
At hearing that, the two water Pokemon turned to their trainer and awaited her response.
Misty stood still. She couldn't think of any way out. She couldn't let her own Pokemon get hurt just because of her, but what else could she do?
Run away? If she did that, then Bob would have the chance to hurt Ash.
Stop him? How? She didn't know how these computers work and she couldn't even use her own Pokemon in this room.
"Then lets move," suggested Misty. "Lets go to a bigger room and battle there."
"Why should I move?" asked Bob. "As far as I'm concerned, you can't touch me here. Why should I even spare you a chance?"
"Because if you don't, then that shows the fear you have," spat Misty.
Bob stayed quiet. Misty couldn't tell whether she had won this argument by insulting him, for his face was still emotionless, but she could tell by the quietness that she was getting somewhere.
Then, Bob took a step closer to Misty.
"No."
Misty was shocked. She was about to call out an order to her two Pokemon, but stopped herself from realizing where she was at.
"Ray? Would you like to do the honors?" asked Bob.
Ray smiled evilly and walked over to Misty. Misty wanted to fight back, but Ray quickly snatched her neck with his new metal arm and lifted her up off of the floor.
She dropped her Poke Balls that were still in her hand onto the floor. Ray bent down, still holding Misty's neck, and picked up the Poke Balls. He then recalled both of Misty's Pokemon and placed the two balls onto his belt.
"Put her in The Room with the other prisoner while I send a little message," said Bob and walked back over to the computer he was originally at.
Ray carried Misty out of the room and out of sight from Bob.
Bob's fingers flew across the keyboard, typing instructions of what to do. All he wanted to do was to tell a certain "friend" what was about to happen.
"Lets see what true potential your Inner Strength has," said Bob to himself.
And he smiled. That was probably the first smile he has had this year.
Ash kept crying until he couldn't cry anymore. May's shoulder was all wet because of his tears and made her shirt stick to her skin.
While Ash cried, May kept patting and stroking his back, trying to give as much comfort as she could.
Ash was grateful for her warm hand and a shoulder to cry on. It made him feel safe and understood. If his body would've let him, he would have cried all day on her shoulder, just to feel all of his tears drown out is weight and feel May's warm hand against his yellow fur.
But, he had to stop eventually. So, Ash tried to regain control and attempted to stop crying.
"All better?" asked May when Ash was done.
"Yeah . . . I think so."
Ash leaned back and May slightly extended her arms so that they could see each other.
"How do you feel?" asked May.
"I feels . . . good. It feels good to finally get all of that out of me," replied Ash.
"All of what?"
Ash looked away from May's eyes.
"Everyone's pain . . . it's all my fault. If it wasn't for me, then none of this would've ever have happened."
"That's not true, Ash," comforted May. "You never hurt anyone, you even tried to protect anyone that you knew was about to get hurt. How can you say that it's your fault?"
Then, May remembered Misty II. She was dying right now. Could Ash be blaming himself for her condition?
May put Ash back down to the ground and let him stand.
"Are you still worried about Misty II?" she asked.
Ash looked up at May, then nodded.
"But not only her, I'm worried about you and the other Misty. Misty is over there on Team Aqua's side because she wanted to protect me, Misty II is now probably dead because she used her own life to save me, and you are now a Team Magma member that has been ordered to go on a suicidal mission," said Ash.
Ash took a step closer to May.
"Don't you see? I've hurt so many people, and now you want to go inside the worst possible place alone! I just can't let you do that, May. I don't want another person to get hurt just because they want to protect me!" said Ash, almost shouting it out.
May was shocked. She had no idea what Ash was going through, and she never even suspected this.
Now she looked at him a different way, not seeing the Pikachu, not even seeing the trainer, but now seeing the true person inside of Ash. The person that loves everyone equally and cares for each of them dearly.
She wanted to hug him again, to give just some more comfort to the worrisome Pikachu, but Ash turned away.
Ash was about to say something, but suddenly pain shot through his head. He placed both of his paws on his head to somehow stop the pain, but it kept coming.
More and more kept shooting up his skull and almost like into his brain. Ash could only scream and groan to try to reduce the pain as much as he could.
May ran over to the front of Ash to see what was wrong, and as she looked and listened to Ash scream in pain, his microchip seemed to be melting away the covering Prof. Oak gave to Ash. The microchip must be the reason why Ash was having so much pain, but why and how was it doing that?
Then, when the microchip was completely visible, a hologram appeared out of it. In the hologram, as Ash saw, was Bob in the same room that he was in when Ash was with him.
"Hello," said the hologram of Bob.
Ash clenched his teeth as he tried his best to ignore the pain that was coursing through his head.
"What are you doing to me?" asked Ash.
"I'm just trying to get your attention," replied Bob.
"You . . . have it," said Ash, gritting his teeth.
"Good."
Suddenly, the pain stopped, and Ash was able to talk freely and think freely again.
He looked up at the hologram. It was defiantly coming out of the microchip on his head, Ash's could even see the small beams of light that made the projection.
"Now, down to business," said Bob. "We know that you're here, but we don't know what exactly you're trying to do."
Bob started typing on a keyboard that Ash could not see because of the position of where Bob was in the hologram, and continued talking.
"So, we would like for you to come back over here . . . Ash," said Bob, seeming like he wasn't used to saying the name.
"Never!" shouted Ash. "Why would I ever come over there willingly with you knowing?"
"'With us knowing'?" asked Bob, stopping his typing for a bit. "Does that mean that you were going to come?"
Ash closed his mouth. He never liked lying, so it just kind of came out as he said it.
May stepped over to Ash's side.
"Yeah, we were coming! We were about to go and get rid of you forever!" shouted May triumphantly.
"Well, then you might as well come then," replied Bob.
"Why?" asked Ash.
"Because if you don't, your friends will never forgive you," said bob while pressing another key.
An image came up and covered Bob's face. It showed The Room, the same room that Ash was stuck in when he was over there.
However, this time, The Room had more people in it. Two to be exact.
One was a girl, wearing the Team Aqua uniform, had orange hair, and looked very worried and scared. It was Misty.
Ash was indeed shocked at seeing Misty trapped in there, but it was the other that made him gasp.
Chained to the wall with chains that weren't there last time, with long tubes going in and out of her . . .
Was Misty II.
Ha! Bet you didn't see that one coming!
Well, sorry that this took so long. School's starting and this is my first time starting high school. Yep, I'm a freshman!
Also, I've been wanted to put in more action, because lately there has only been these fillers or whatever they're called. I promise that the next or the one after the next will have a whole lot more action.
Thank you everyone for reading this story and helping me out so much! I cannot thank you all enough!