"Ash! Ash, it's Ruby! Are you up there?" Ruby called out, stepping up the stairs. A strong, icey wind blew, almost throwing her backwards. Snowflakes crawled into her jacket, kissing her neck with their cold lips and leaving behind a small sting. The wind howled louder than usual, adding an intense feeling to the setting of the summit. She stepped off the last step, her boots burying themselves in the mushy snow.

The summit seemed to be completely empty. It was lonely and cold, the snow covering every inch of it. A few jagged rocks peeked out, covered in a clear film of ice. Ruby let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding in, a white puff hovering in front of her face.

"Ash!" she shouted again, and heard her voice echo. "…Ash?" she said softer, her voice shaky.

"Ruby!" a voice called out. Her eyes widened. It was deeper, different, but she knew it was Ash's voice.

"Ash?" she called out, stepping forward.

Ash closed his eyes tight, biting the inside of his lip as a pain shot through his back. The man dug his knee into his back harder, causing Ash to let out a small groan. He struggled a bit more, but his hands were tied back, his belt where his pokeballs were thrown aside, too far for him to reach. Pikachu was trapped in a small, clear cage where he could barely move. Pikachu screamed out, but the noise didn't come out. His cheeks sparked with electricity, but the cage was immune to that.

"Call out to her again," the man hissed, digging his knee in further. "Call out to her, and tell her to come here."

He knew what he had to do, and hopefully he'd be the only one hurt.

"Ruby!" He took in a deep breath. A low howl could be heard; the wind was picking up. "Ruby, run!"

"Wh-what?"

"Run!" Ash boomed, and the man threw him down against the snow.

"You little bastard," he hissed, then ran forward.

Ruby's eyes widened. Run? What was wrong? Why was Ash telling her to run away? She couldn't see anyone, and as she took a few steps back, a figure came into view.

Saturn.

She almost screamed, but she held her fear back and ran off, towards the stairs, no, towards the cave entrance. Her muscles were tensed up, but she was running as fast as she could. She wanted to help Ash, but she didn't know how, so she simply ran in hopes to find Gary and Silver.

Something cold gripped her neck, cold and metallic. It wrapped around her neck and she heard a small beep.

Fire seemed to course throw her veins. It fried her skin and shook her whole body. The feeling seemed vaguely familiar.

Her body numbed and she fell to the ground, her senses out of wack. When she came to and the fear set in again, she struggled to her feet, but Saturn was pinning her down, her hands already tied together.

"Get up," he growled, grabbing the back of her jacket and pulling her to her feet. She winced; her body was in pain from what it just went through. She didn't want to, but a yelp escaped her. Saturn laughed.

"Like it? It's sort of what your friend, Silver, had. One push of a button, and electricity courses through your body. One wrong move and you'll go through that again."

Her heart was pounding furiously and she was holding her breath. She felt that if she breathed, electricity would run across her body again. A shiver ran across her back.

Ruby breathed slowly through her nose. Saturn tugged her jacket.

"The two of you are quite a pain, you and Silver. I didn't realize he ran to you without my knowing until I realized that he was up in that mountain for way too long. I sent a few shocks his way, but no reaction. No angry phone call my way. So I called him. No reply. I was pissed by then, so I went to go check on him. That mountain was completely empty, and I found his cuff lying around. The rage I was in by then was unexplainable. If I was as angry as I was then right now, I don't think you'd be alive, pretty girl." His nails dug into Ruby's wrist. "But I still had a lead on him. I still knew where he was. So I followed your guys' trail for a while until I got the message that you guys were heading for the summit. In the end I beat you guys to it! I got to Ash, and I was about to kill that guy off but then you came in. But I guess keeping you as a trophy would be fun too." His voice had some sort of humorous tone to it, a cold humor that only he saw.

He had on a wicked smile. "I hear you're a freak as well-"

"Let her go!" a voice roared. Saturn and Ruby looked up and saw Gary standing in front of the cave's entrance. Silver appeared behind him a few seconds after, his eyes wide with fear, but his eyebrows furrowed with anger.

Gary took a step forward, his hands balled into fists. Saturn brought his hand up; let the two boys take a good look at the remote control. Silver's eyes widened with realization.

"Take another step forward and see what happens."

"Don't," Silver growled. Ruby wasn't sure whether he was talking to Saturn, or to Gary. Saturn saw it as a challenge. He gave Silver an evil grin and pressed down on the button.

Electricity escaped from the metal collar around Ruby's neck and made its way around Ruby's entire body. Through all of the pain, she warned herself not to scream, not to give Saturn that kind of satisfaction, not to scare Gary and Silver like that, but her body couldn't take it. She let out a scream, let her body go limp against the electricity. The pain stopped, her skin hot against the cold wind. She would have been on the ground if Saturn wasn't holding her up by the back of her jacket.

"Ruby!" Gary shouted, stepping forward. Saturn's eyes darted towards the remote control and he grinned, warning Gary, challenging him, threatening him. Gary bit his lip and stepped back.

"If only you would have obeyed," Saturn growled lowly, narrowing his eyes at Silver. "If you would have just done as told and not gotten yourself involved with this girl, she wouldn't be in pain right now. You put her into this, Silver, I just want you to know that."

"Let her go, Saturn," Silver said, his voice low and wavering. He was about ready to explode, but he wouldn't, for Ruby's sake. He had to take control of this situation, somehow.

"No, Silver, I'm done giving you chances," Saturn growled. It was evident he was fuming with anger. The cold around him seemed to dissipate because of his hot fury; a vein on his neck and forehead popped out. He wasn't wearing a jacket; his skin looked ghostly. Silver realized he had never been more afraid of Saturn than he was then, even without the cuff on his wrist. Now that string was wrapped around Ruby's neck.

Something inside Saturn seemed to snap. He threw Ruby forward, and it took every muscle in Gary's body not to rush forward. Ruby fell to the ground, the snow burning her skin more. She groaned in pain, started to pick herself up, but Saturn pushed her back down with his muddy boot.

"I'm sick and tired of you ignorant teens," he shouted, his voice booming around the screaming wind. From his pocket he drew out a gun.

"No!" Gary and Silver shouted.

Saturn pointed the sleek, black gun at Ruby, and he almost pulled the trigger.

But a thick, purple energy surrounded him. His body tensed and he struggled to move, but his body remained frozen. Ruby took her eyes off of the gun and stared at Saturn's frozen body. She turned her head to look at Gary and Silver, her body shaking and trembling. Gary was also frozen in place, staring back at her. Silver was glaring at Saturn, his arm outstretched, his hand covered in purple energy as well.

Silver kept his steady glare on Saturn. Inside, he was freaking out with surprise, relief, and power.

"You're not killing anyone anymore," Silver shouted, stepping forward. From the corner of his eye, he saw something flicker. He held back a grin.

He had no idea what to say to end all of this, so he simply said, "Go to hell," and with a swipe of his hand, he was gone.

He could hardly believe it. He was finally gone, out of his hair, out of his life.

After what seemed like an hour passed by, the two boys finally recovered from their stunned status and rushed towards Ruby. Gary helped her sit up and brought out Arcanine. Arcanine curled up around her; he desperately wanted to know what happened but he stayed silent and helped keep Ruby warm. Her skin was pinker than usual, and she was shivering.

"Ruby," Gary whispered, gently grabbing her face in his hands. Both of their eyes swelled up with tears. Gary ran his thumb across Ruby's cheek and she closed her eyes. "Ruby, oh my God, I-" He didn't know what else to say, so he pressed his lips against hers, and she pressed back, but she quickly pulled away.

"Gary, Ash-"

"What?"

"Ash, he's- he's back there," Ruby stumbled over her words, shivering and trying to get to her feet.

"Hey, you need to rest," Gary said, picking her up and placing her on Growlithe's back.

"But Ash-"

"I'm fine," a voice spoke up. Silver and Ash came into view, Ash hugging onto Pikachu. Gary's eyes widened.

Ash didn't look all that different. He looked older, but he didn't look ancient and worn out. He looked like he'd grown stronger mind wise. Pikachu looked the same as well, but it was evident that he leveled up plenty while they were here.

"Ash," Gary whispered and found himself frozen in place. Ruby, on the other hand, was running towards him, ignoring her worn out body.

"Ash, oh my god, I can't believe- I'm so- I-"

"Are you okay?" Ash asked, gripping her shoulders. She winced a little.

"I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm just glad that lunatic's gone… Hey, you look completely different. Are you wearing contacts?"

"I-It's a really long story. Let's just get out of this mountain," Ruby said. She paused, and worry set into her stomach. What if Ash didn't want to come down with them? What if he wanted to stay up there longer because his feelings were still unresolved towards Gary? "Will you come down with us?" Ruby asked, her voice softer and hesitant.

Ash's eyes immediately went to Gary. A rush of guilt spread throughout Gary's body.

"Ash, I'm- I'm sorry," Gary began, walking towards him. "I don't even remember what we were fighting about, all I know is that I'm sorry. When you left, well, I was such a wreck. I thought you were dead." He silenced, looking away, at the grey clouds that showered them in snow. "I kind of… got really depressed. Suicidal, even, because I believed I killed my best friend. But then Ruby and Silver showed up and they lead me to you, and I… I'm so sorry," his voice croaked at the last bit. Suddenly, arms wrapped around him, giving him a strong hug.

"It's alright, Gary," Ash said, hugging him tight. "I'm sorry, too."

Ruby smiled wide at the sight of them reunited, hugging and happy. Silver and Arcanine glanced at each other, then smiled as well.

"Let's get out of here," Ash finally said, turning around to look for his backpack.

"Hey," Ruby spoke up, looking at Silver. "Thanks for saving me. How did you do that?"

"Well, the whole freezing Saturn in place, I could do that from the start. It's just that I was kind of drained for a while there that I wasn't sure if I could do it. I tried it anyways, and it worked, thank Arceus. And the making-him-disappear part, well, that would be Mesprit's doing."

Mesprit flew up to them from behind Silver, giving them a big grin. She set herself on Silver's shoulder.

"I sent him with Diagla and Palkia. I'm sure he'll learn his lesson," Mesprit said, nodding at them.

"Thank you guys so much. You guys saved my life!"

"I'm just glad it's over," Silver sighed. He turned around, looking at the view under them. "I'm finally free."

-Ahhh it's over ;u; For a really long time I had no idea how to end this story, but I think I ended it in a good manner, don't you think? Meh.

Anyways, thank you guys so much for reading, thanks for all the views, thanks for adding it to your favorites and alerts and thank you for the reviews c: Your opinions and your support are what kept me going n_n So thank you guys! I'm planning on writing a PMD fic, actually I'm planning on writing a lot of pokemon fics, and a few others, so if you'd like, add me to your author alerts c:

This story is done! It's over! I'm sort of sad, but hey! All good things come to an end c:

Thank you for reading! n_n