September 2

Tracy felt confident as he walked forward, his eyes moving back and forth from the map on his pokeglov. They now had fifty-four Pokemon into total added to their arsenal. That kind of power could make almost anyone feel a lot more confident about their safety.

He knew he shouldn't let the thought get to his head, it would cloud his judgment and possibly get them into danger.

"WATCH OUT" Samurai screamed, unsheathing his sword.

Everyone's pokeglovs began to beep frantically; flashes from the summoning were everywhere.

Misty's pokeglov summoned Corsola, James summoned Carnivine, Dawn summon Prinplup, and Brock summoned Swampert. Everyone's pokeglovs were still on automatic from the fight against Misty's Pokemon inside the gym.

Their pokeglovs had scanned the area and encountered a Pokemon heading right for them. The pokeglovs systematically summoned the best Pokemon to combat the upcoming challenger.

Ash quickly realized that the Pokemon being summoned were water and grass types.

Samurai surged forward with almost inhuman speed, thrusting his blade in front of Ash. Sceptile who had just been summoned did the same thing with his leaf blade, as did Pikachu with his Iron Tail, crossing swords with Samurai.

The ground at Ash's feet dissolved as something burst through the earth and collided with the blades before Ash's face. Tracy who had neither water nor plant Pokemon couldn't summon anything; instead the only thing his pokeglov did was scan the Pokemon that had just attacked.

Ash's mind was blank for a few seconds; unable to identify what Pokemon it was, staring into its black glossy eyes. It was after a few seconds that the other details, like the Pokemon's face and body clicked into Ash's head.

Ash's body was frozen, he saw the Pokemon's other claw arched to attack and Ash knew there was no way for him to avoid it.

It was after two seconds that Ash realized that he was still alive; a purple glow enveloped the Sandslash before him. Mr. Mime had summoned himself; both his hands had cast Psychic to save Ash. Chansey had healed every Pokemon's wounds before they had left.

"Sandslash, the mouse Pokemon, evolution of Sandshrew, it curls up and rolls onto its foes with its back. The sharp spines cause severe damage. It is a ground type. Average Height: 3ft : 65lbs." Dexter's robotic voice explained, reaching only Tracy's ears.

The Sandslash's claw had been aimed at Ash's head, had Samurai and Sceptile not been there, Ash's brain would've been skewered. Mr. Mime lifted the Sandslash; an angry scowl was painted upon his face. He pondered how he would kill the Sandslash that had tried attacking his master.

Before he could do anything Ash yelled, "Stop Mr. Mime! Don't kill it!"

This had been the weirdest command anyone had ever given Mr. Mime, but he begrudgingly complied.

"What's the meaning of this Ash?" Samurai asked, pointing his blade at the levitated Sandslash.

Pikachu was the first to recognize the Sandslash, lowering his guard immediately.

"This Sandslash didn't attack me when it had the chance, you guys only blocked one of its claws, it had another claw ready to kill me. It stopped itself before Mr. Mime could use psychic on it" Ash pointed out.

Not everyone was willing to believe this, which was explainable, seeing as how they had been fighting for their lives against wild Pokemon.

"Mr. Mime, let him go" Ash ordered.

Mr. Mime was hesitant, giving Samurai a chance to speak.

"Ash, this thing tried to kill you, what's to stop it from trying again?"

"Well, if it's had a good look around, it would know that it's completely outnumbered and outmatched and run away" Ash countered.

Meowth managed to hear the captured Sandslash murmur in Pokemon under its breath, "Pfft, bring it on, I could take all of them."

"What if it runs away to alert other Sandslash and Sandshrew?" Samurai refuted.

Ash turned away from Samurai, looking at Tracy this time, "Tracy, can your pokeglov tell whether or not a Pokemon is owned by a trainer?"

Tracy pondered whether he had installed such a system on the pokeglov, and eventually nodded. He was already one step ahead of Ash, scanning the floating Sandslash.

It made sense to Tracy, the pokeglov had encountered a Pokemon, it didn't differentiate whether it was wild or captured. It seemed the more and more that they traveled, the more flaws he was finding with the pokeglov. "I guess I learn more from my mistakes than I do with my successes" Tracy thought as he finished scanning the Sandslash.

"The readings come out positive, this Sandslash was captured by a trainer," Tracy announced.

"See!" Ash said to Samurai.

"See what, that proves nothing, this Pokemon could've killed his master and become wild" Samurai replied, shaking his katana at the Sandslash.

The Sandslash shivered at the mention of the words, "killing his master."

"Sandslash, do you have a master?" Ash asked.

The Sandslash nodded

"Ash, Pokemon can lie" Samurai pointed out.

Ash ignored Samurai and continued, "Sandslash, if we let you go will you attack us?"

The Sandslash shook its head, only to be met with Samurai's hiss. Sceptile and everyone else's Pokemon calmed down, they felt no murderous intent inside Sandslash, at least not towards humans or them specifically.

"Sandslash, if we let you go, will you take us to your master?" Ash asked his last question.

The Sandslash nodded, and as much as Samurai disliked it, he too felt no murderous intent from the Sandslash. He refused to let his guard down around it, but found it difficult not to.

"Mr. Mime, let him go, I won't ask you again" Ash commanded. Mr. Mime hesitated for only a few seconds before releasing the Sandslash.

The second the Sandslash landed, Samurai became defensive, angling his sword in the best possible way to counter anything that the Sandslash could've thrown at him. His human instincts told him to be wary, but something also told him that there was no danger in trusting this Pokemon.

The Sandslash began walking away; pointing its claws in the direction it was going, beckoning them with a sweeping motion.

Pikachu climbed onto Ash's shoulder, everyone else kept their Pokemon out due to paranoia. Ash having no problem decided to walk up directly beside the Sandslash.

Misty and Dawn exhaled, relieved that Ash was in one piece, James and his group continued to hold up the rear.

"How did you know that the Sandslash wasn't going to kill you?"

"I…I don't really know, I just kinda…felt it, ya know. I just kinda knew it wasn't gonna hurt me" Ash replied sheepishly.

"That's interesting" Brock replied, saying nothing more on the subject. Despite knowing that the Sandslash wasn't going to attack them, the others continued to keep their distance.

Ash looked at the Sandslash, "Sorry about them, I hope you don't take it personally."

The Sandslash shrugged its shoulders apathetically and continued walking.

As they walked, Tracy couldn't help but be bothered by a tiny detail that he had noticed in the midst of the action.

Samurai had sensed the Sandslash before his pokeglov could.

It took only a few minutes before they reached the town that Sandslash was pointing to. Interestingly enough, that was the same town that they were headed towards. Standing at the entrance to the town was a young man with spiked green hair, and his arms crossed.

Ash's suspicions had been right, making him smile for keeping the Sandslash alive. The Sandslash curled into a ball, suspended by the spikes on his back; and began to roll over to its master.

"And here I was, thinkin I was the last damned person on his planet" the man said.

"It's been a while" Ash said, Brock and Misty slowly recognizing the owner of the Sandslash.

At first the man seemed to not recognize Ash, but only after seeing his Pikachu did it finally click for him.

"Well I'll be, I remember you. You were the guy that was around when I first decided ta leave home, if I remember right, you were my ninety-ninth win. What was your name again?…something burnt…Soot?"

"It's Ash, and it's nice to see you too AJ." Ash replied.

"Oh, sorry bout that" He apologized.

"It's fine" Ash reassured but still somewhat annoyed underneath his composed exterior.

At a closer glance, AJ had changed over the years, now sporting a lot of facial hair, chiseled arm muscles, and grown a lot taller. He was still shorter than James and Brock, but taller than Ash and Misty. He hadn't grown his hair out, keeping it at the same length from when they met him. There was a fierce smile on his lips, a glint in his eyes; he had the look of a weathered Pokemon trainer, similar to Ash's.

"Hi, I'm Dawn" Dawn introduced herself, stretching her hand to shake his. AJ nodded, receiving the hand with his own. Misty and Brock smiled, "We've met before."

Tracy reached out to shake AJ's hand as well; Samurai did the same out of courtesy. James, Jessie, and Meowth slid into the background; they had wronged this person before. No one seemed to notice that they hadn't introduced themselves and continued on.

"Anyways, now that introductions are out of the way come with me to what's left of my home, we can talk there."

Everyone followed AJ through the town, returning the Pokemon they had summoned and set their pokeglovs to manual. Their heads began to swivel back and forth after returning their Pokemon.

The entire town was in ruins, houses abandoned, patches of the homes were missing. Ash, Misty, and Brock recognized that they were reaching AJ's house when they saw the giant electronic scoreboard that he had used to count his victories until he left.

A chunk of the scoreboard was missing, the glass was cracked, and the scoreboard itself was leaning at a certain angle and threatened to fall over. Parts of the screen were dead; others had a random jumble of numbers and letters. The battlefield was left alone from the looks of it.

To Dawn, Samurai, and Tracy, the fissure in the center of the battlefield worried them, but to the others, they had no reason to worry since they had been there when the fissure had been made against the battle against Team Rocket by Sandshrew.

As they ventured further into the town they noticed the ground was filled with holes, trenches, ravines, and the entire town for that matter was abnormally sloped.

"Not that I want you to, but we're just curious as to why you haven't attacked us yet" James commented to AJ, finally striking up the courage.

AJ stared back at them, as if analyzing them from head to toe before finally replying, "oh right, you were the guys that I defeated and got my hundredth win. Well, if Sandslash hasn't attacked you, I don't think that there's any reason for me to tell him to. Besides, the way the world is going to hell, the last thing I need is to kill humans."

Jessie, James, and Meowth stared at Sandslash who had his back to them, of all the people or Pokemon to dislike them; Sandslash and his trainer should have to be one of them.

"Welcome to ma humble abode" AJ announced, his voice laced with sarcasm.

Home wasn't exactly the word that came to mind when they saw the structure before them. AJ seemed to pretend that everything was normal, walking up the steps to the door to where his house should've been.

Thing was, the door was one of the only things left standing, the first half of the house had completely toppled. Ash and the others weren't sure whether to actually go through the door or just walk around it.

There was a mountain of rubble that you had to cross to get into AJ's living room. Ash decided to walk over the mound like AJ did while the others decided to walk around it. One the other side they found AJ slumped into a badly torn couch, threatening to collapse down the middle.

"I always wanted a skylight in the living room" AJ joked as he crossed his legs and positioned his hands to cushion the back of his head as he laid down.

Ash couldn't find any suitable place to sit down, deciding the floor would be best.

"So how long have you been here?" Ash asked

"Few days" He answered casually and stretched.

"What happened here?" Misty asked, she didn't think that the Zubat would've traveled this far.

"Honestly, I have no idea. This place was like this when I came here, actually, that's not exactly true. It was a lot better before I got here; there were some Ratattas, Radicates, Beedrills, an other local Pokemon. When I found out that my parents were dead and that they were the cause of all this, I kinda snapped. Sandslash took out an entire Beedrill hive near here; it wasn't too hard for him to do. The next few days were pretty much him going around and killing every Pokemon he saw. Sometimes, the Pokemon would attack the town so to kill me. I'm talkin legions of Radicates and Rattata. So I told Sandslash that he didn't have to hold back, the town was already destroyed. I'm just guessing that the initial damage was from the Pokemon going crazy."

There was a moment of silence until Brock broke it, "do you guys want to tell him or should I?" No one made any notion to explain what the reasons of why the Pokemon were so brutally real now.

Brock seemed to be getting better at explaining the situation, it was taking less time to explain what was happening, that or AJ was smart enough to understand what they were saying.

"I guess that makes sense," AJ concluded.

"Why've you stayed here?" Jessie asked

"I was waiting for you. Well, not specifically you but for someone to pass through here. I was willing to wait here for a few weeks before I left. I took the entire town's rations and I've got enough food to last me about a month. So now that we're on the topic, where are you guys heading out to?" AJ asked.

Everyone stared at Tracy; he cleared his throat before speaking.

"We're trying to find a safe haven from the Pokemon, maybe a fortress or stronghold. In fact, do any of you here know of a place that's safe from Pokemon and big enough to be a fortress?"

Ash had been to many places; he knew places that were like fortresses but had Pokemon, and he knew places without Pokemon, but they were no strongholds. He thought about Brandon's flying pyramid, but he had no idea of where to find it or where to start looking.

It was then that AJ began to laugh, it wasn't a giggle or a chuckle; it was a roaring laughter that made him have to hold himself from falling off the couch. Everyone stared in bewilderment, as far as that had heard, there had been no joke being said.

"This is your big-ha ha-hahaha-plan? That's rich! Okay, seriously now, what's the plan? Why are you guys looking at me like I'm crazy? NO! You can't be serious! This is your grand plan? Ha ha ha-" AJ almost broke out into hysteria.

Dawn glared angrily at him, Tracy frowned, and Ash shifted uncomfortably where he sat.

"What might I ask makes our goal so funny?" Tracy asked sternly.

AJ took a deep breath to calm himself down before he talked once more.

"When this all happened, like you, I decided ta check up on my home town. On my way there, I passed through towns an cities. They were no better than here. There's no fortress Pokemon can't reach. The Beedrill hive that Sandslash took out a while ago was bigger than this town. All he needed ta do was weaken the support structures around it, create a large enough fissure, use earthquake to weaken it, and when the hive fell into the cracks, then all he needed to do was close the fissure and crush everything inside. What's to stop an earth Pokemon from destroying any fortress from beneath? Sure, you could find a base of operations on top of a section of bedrock, but ta be honest, that would only slow a Pokemon down for a few weeks, and that's only if it's just one Pokemon, not including the thousands of wild Pokemon out there. By air, by water, by underground, and by land. An Abra can teleport inside a building if it needed to. That's what makes me laugh. I thought that you would've brought something better to the table. I guessing that you're the only people left from the towns behind mine, so there's no point in staying here, but I don't see the point in going with you guys, just to get cornered in a "fortress" and get killed off."

It was then that the cold realization had hit him. Tracy began to feel how futile his plan had been from the start. Should they even try to hold off an area, the word would get around to the other Pokemon. They could hold Pokemon off bay, but not every single day, and each new day could be worse. Other than the surviving humans out there and their personal Pokemon, they were alone.

"We have to try" Tracy replied weakly, "If we don't try, all that we've done will be for naught."

"Listen to yourself, you don't even believe what you're saying. And what do ya mean "all for naught." You've tried living just for the sake of this? How about living cause ya don't wanna die!"

"Well why don't you come up with a plan then?" Misty yelled angrily at AJ.

"Pfft, I could come up with a better plan than that, just gimme some time." AJ replied coolly.

Tracy had gone pale, Jessie, Meowth, and James seemed distraught, Brock looked disappointed. Misty and Dawn were fuming at AJ, Samurai and Ash seemed unmoved by AJ's logic.

"I need…I need time to think" Tracy relented and began walking away.

"Don't let the door hit your ass one the way out," AJ yelled, snickering at the sight of Tracy's pallid face.

"I swear, he looks like he's gonna cry, I think I might've crushed his spirit…oh well."

There was a long moment of silence until AJ spoke once more, "If ya want something ta drink, I think there's some stuff in ma fridge, just leave some stuff for me, I wanna ration as much as I can. That's only if ya don't have your own rations, check the cabinets for cups, otherwise, check the other houses."

AJ decided it would be best to leave out the fact that he had drunken everything right out of the carton. It wasn't like he had any germs, so they would be fine.

The next few hours were passed in silence, Tracy was outside pacing back and forth; thinking.

The silence began to agitate AJ; he leaped off his bed and started asking them questions. Misty and Dawn refused to have anything to do with him, Brock, Jessie, James, and Meowth decided to fill AJ on what they had been through. AJ dispensed his own stories in return, talking about the burning cities he'd passed, narrow escapes from death, all with rapid movements of his arms to emphasize.

Before they knew it, night had come. Tracy came back inside, looking worn out, not physically but mentally. Samurai had spent the past few hours doing sword stances, Misty, Dawn, and Jessie conversing amongst each other, needless to say, they were having some much deserved girl time, considering that their journeys were spent mostly around men.

Everyone prepared their sleeping bags; the girls had decided to sleep as far away from AJ as possible. James and Meowth slept next to each other at the end of the room. Brock slept across the room from them. Samurai decided to lean against the wall, holding his blade at the ready.

Tracy slept in the middle, AJ decided to sleep on the couch and Ash had decided to sleep at the foot of the couch.

Sandslash had taken a nap the previous hours; tonight, like every night that he and AJ had been here, he had night watch duty. Some days he found and opponent, some days he didn't. He could sense vibrations in the dirt, through his spikes, claws, and whiskers. Tonight was different though; he did not patrol alone. Ash and Brock threw Noctowl and Crobat into the mix.

Hours passed, and one by one everyone dozed off. Brock pulled out his personal diary inside the inner flap of his vest. His pen was at the ready, but he wrote nothing that night. There was so much to write about, he might end up filling his book entirely with one single night escapade. His last entry had been the moment before all insanity started.

It made him think, was this a diary to himself, or was it something that he would leave for someone else to read should he die. He couldn't help but picture a person finding and reading his diary over his skeleton.

Brock shook the thought away; deciding to read instead of writing this night. He looked back on all the previous pages. The words he read pulled at his heartstrings; they were the recipes, the plans for the next days, the fantasies and dreams that he had.

It took him back to the days when he didn't have to look over his shoulder every few seconds just to make sure that something wasn't going to pounce and kill him. When he planned what meal he was going to make Ash and the others, jotting down recipes he wanted to remember for the Pokemon or the group.

Dreams and fantasies about the girls that he saw on their journeys.

When was the last time he had a dreamed? These days all he had seen in his sleep were the instantaneous black voids, neither dreams nor nightmares, just sleep. Every time he slept he couldn't help but wonder whether these were his last seconds of life.

Then again, what was there to dream about?

He could still see her, her eyes gazing back at him, even when they were no longer there and he stared at the holes in her skull. Given enough time, he could've painted it if he had wanted to, which he didn't. The death of the first Nurse Joy, he had seen. She had been so happy, she had loved electric Pokemon, it was ironic that they were the ones who'd killed her. Such a drastic change in such a short amount of time.

His imagination could only picture what the Ariados had done to Officer Jenny back in Dawn's hometown. He could still hear the bloodcurdling screams of Officer Jenny as the Zubats turned her into a bloody frappe.

Brock had to close the diary so that his tears wouldn't smudge and smear the ink on his pages. Reading about his happier, carefree days tortured him, but at the same time kept him sane.

There were thousands of face, every individual screaming for help, the jaws of death closing in around them. So death was met with death. Had he made the right decision? No one had judged him. In fact, no one had spoken a word of it, like it had vanished out of their memories, but not out of his heart.

Would they have hated him? Would they have understood? Would they have been please? Knowing that there had been no other way but that their killers would be taken out with them.

Every couple of nights, he could see, and hear them, each individual voice and face, each unique, with families and dreams. Did he have any right to kill them? Would he have been guilty anyway had he watched them die before him and done nothing? Was it his right? Could anyone else have done it for him, why was the responsibility of executioner placed on him?

Ash's eyes opened up suddenly, he had broken into a cold sweat, staring out at the night sky above him through the hole in the ceiling. He had dreamt of the aftermath of the cruise ship, the hundreds of people that died by Pikachu's hand on his order.

This wasn't the first time his dreams had been haunted by these thoughts, and no matter how many times he heard it in his head, he felt no closer to the answer he wanted.

The stars above him were calming, reminding him of the night before all this madness had started. A new thought provoked him, not only was he worried about Gary's safety, he now worried about Ritchie's safety.

Ash tried to not think anymore of other people and on whether they were alive or not. It's not that he didn't care, but he would be overwhelmed with worry should he continue.

"Bad dream?" AJ whispered.

Ash flinched; a blush grew on his cheeks, wondering what sort of noises he had made in his sleep.

"Why d'ya ask?" Ash asked sheepishly, knowing AJ's answer.

"You rolled in your bed a lot, mumbling something" AJ replied. To be honest, Ash had done more than that, but AJ felt that the less embarrassment, the better. In return, he hoped that Ash would do the same should they have heard his ruckus about the nightmares or fire and death that he witnessed in the last couple of days.

The next morning surprised everyone; it started out when AJ was packing all of his rations and personal belongings.

"What changed your mind?" Tracy asked.

"I slept on it, and I think your plan might work, but it'll totally fail if I don't go with you" AJ replied smugly.

"Dawn stuck her tongue at him and continued packing. Brock and Ash returned their Pokemon. AJ had, like Ash, decided to not return Sandslash and keep it out of his pokeball.

All of AJ's Pokemon had been killed in the first day of the dampener removal. AJ didn't tell them that they died because they accidentally got caught in Sandslash's way.

They set off early in the morning; they had only been walking for an hour when they were met with a dense fog. Everyone summoned their Pokemon just in case they were attacked. For the next couple of minutes, nothing happened, letting them lower their guard slightly. As they trekked further into the grayness, a giant shadow loomed over them.

Ash squinted, barely making out the large words that were embroidered on the wall. The fog cleared enough for him to see the words,

Pokemon Tech

AJ also recognized the school; he had also passed through the area before Ash and the others when he first started his journey.

"It's a school" Dawn said out loud.

"D'ya tink anything's still inside?" Meowth asked.

"Only one way to find out" Brock replied, pointing his finger in the direction of the school. The fog dimmed the flash of light that outlined Crobat, "Crobat, use your sonar to find out if there's anything living inside the building" Brock ordered.

Crobat fluttered away; the sound of his screech could be heard in the distance and the echoing halls of solitude within the school. Within a minute Crobat came back with a single response that Meowth translated.

No

Seeing as it was safe, Jessie, James, Meowth, Brock, Misty, and Tracy entered the building. The rest guarded the entrance, Dawn and Ash scanning the area for anything important.

The fog was so thick that Ash almost crashed into something directly in front of him. Pikachu cleared most of the fog with the swing of its tail, bringing to view a treadmill. The very same treadmill that Ash had seen four years ago, the very same one that Joe had been running on and being tested on the evolutions of Pidgey.

Ash couldn't help but force a laugh at how easy that knowledge came to him now. It would do him no good to think of Joe or Giselle who he had fought with Pikachu against her Cubone.

Dawn's scream penetrated Ash's thoughts, Samurai began running in her direction, AJ and Ash did the same only a second after. Dawn's figure appeared through the mist, she was slowly backing away from something.

Samurai shifted in front of Dawn, his sword drawn, Pikachu to her right and Sandslash to her left, Ash and AJ bringing up the rear.

"Dawn, what is it?" Ash asked, Pikachu's sparks flying as it licked it's lips in anticipation, Sandslash baring his claws.

"It was a…a dead body" Dawn replied

Pikachu's sparks died out instantly; Samurai's sword was instantly sheathed, Ash and AJ seemed disappointed.

"For the love of…" AJ fumed, stomping back to where Misty stood with Sandslash at his side.

"You've gotta be kidding me Dawn. A dead body, you should be used to things like that by now" Ash sighed.

"Well sorry for not being Mr. Brave, it was creepy and I screamed, sue me!" Dawn snapped.

Samurai walked away, somewhat content that there wasn't going to be a fight, Pikachu bounding back onto Ash's shoulder.

Misty gave a sigh of relief, waiting for her heart to calm down.

"Is everything alright?" Tracy asked, almost out of breath.

"Yeah, Dawn just got freaked out by a dead body and screamed" Ash explained, his voice laced with annoyance.

"So-rry" Dawn muttered.

"Give her a break, seeing something like that would've made me scream too" Misty defended.

"It's not like it jumped out at her" Ash retorted, walking towards the direction of the dead body in question. The shadow of a tree was the first thing that Ash saw, at the foot of the tree was some abnormal growth that Ash perceived was the body.

He couldn't help but flinch when he saw it; Dawn was the first to comment on his reaction.

"See, I told you it was creepy"

The fact that the person was dead, wasn't what made him flinch, it was the fact that he knew the dead person. Not personally, but his memory served well enough to remember what he had looked like.

He hadn't died from being killed by Pokemon; there wasn't a scratch on him. The skin on his body had been stretched back, the bones on his body clearly showing. His glasses were drooped over his face, the only thing suspending them were his ears.

His body was propped up against the tree; his bony hands were holding a book. The boy that had never been able to enter Pokemon Tech because of his scores, the boy who couldn't go back home because of the shame he would bring. So there he sat, studying until he could make his scores better, and there he died, still studying, without a single foot inside the very school he died for.

Worse of all, from the looks of it, he had died before the dampener removal crisis had even started.

The others soon came to look at what Ash was staring at; the only ones that gave a response from the scene were Jessie, James, Meowth, Brock, and Misty.

One of Ash's fingers pointed to his side, summoning Mr. Mime.

"Mr. Mime, lift this body with psychic, and bring it into the school with me" Ash ordered solemnly. There was no second of hesitation; Mr. Mime did as he was told. The book fell from the boy's hands along with his glasses. "AJ, could you do me a small favor?" Ash asked.

"Uh…sure" He replied, following Ash into the school. The others chose not to look at the body dangling above the ground. Once they were inside, Ash pointed to a certain area in the center of the hall.

"AJ, could you make Sandslash dig a small hole over there?"

AJ nodded and looked over to Sandslash, "You heard him."

Sandslash curled into a ball, rolling over to the sight, and rolling in place. A small hole was dug as Sandslash sunk into the ground. Mr. Mime knew all to well what his master wanted, laying the body in the hole once Sandslash moved away. The remaining dirt was moved psychically over the hole.

Ash gave a sigh of sad satisfaction, now the man's soul could probably rest in peace. He had finally gotten to enter the school.

Ash returned Mr. Mime, walking away from the school and to the rest of the group, AJ close behind him and brooding over how pointless the gesture was.

Ash gave a deep sigh before talking again; Dawn stared at him, wanting to know if that had been a close friend of Ash but held her tongue, seeing as it wasn't a good time to talk about it.

"Find anything of interest?" Ash asked.

"Nothing really, the place has been wiped clean, looked like a major battle inside though. You can't really see with all this fog, but there are some pretty big holes through this entire building." Tracy explained.

"Dere was one interestin ting. Dere was a Marowak Skull." Meowth informed.

Ash winced again and began to walk away, his back to the others.

"Let's move on, if there's nothing we need from here there's no point in staying."

The others nodded and followed, eventually leaving the mist and into a forest.