AN: First and foremost, a big round of thanks goes to my ever vigilant beta, for his saving me from making a massive mistake. Second, thanks to all of you who keep reading. It's nice to know you're enjoying the story which, by reading this far, I'll assume you are... that or you're some kind of masochist... not that there's anything wrong with that either... OK, moving on now.
Thanks for reading and I'll see you all next chapter!
Chapter 26 – Eye of the Hurricane
"My god..." Vicki muttered, one hand held before her face as she stared down at what remained of Margaret. She watched for a second as Janine reexamined the corpse's belongings, picking over her remains for any missed clues. "It's like something just... busted out her chest."
Janine stood up, exacerbation flitting across her face. "Thank you for illuminating that..." she said, flicking some of the blood from her fingers and wiping her hands across the lab coat she still wore. The girl glanced across the room, first at James's corpse, then at the undisturbed body of Ash's Pikachu, then at Ash himself, standing in front of the machine and speaking with Sabrina in relative private. "What do you think they're talking about?" asked Janine, head lowered as she eyed the other Gym Leaders.
Glancing at the two trainers, Vicki shrugged, then dropped her hands in her pockets. "When Sabrina asks for a minute alone, I'm not keen on prying." The redhead raised an eyebrow and smirked when Janine remained silent and continued glaring across the room. "You know," she went on, turning back to Margaret's remains, "I'd known Margaret since before I knew she was Fuchsia... and I always thought she was like a psychotic lowlife."
"And I think calling her that is an insult to the psychotic lowlife community," Janine muttered, without turning to face her friend.
"But I always knew she was good at her job, whatever that might have been at any given moment." Vicki toned, pressing one finger to her cheek.
"Of course she was good, that's why Koga hired her," said Janine. "What's your meaning?"
Vicki stepped between Janine and the other Gym Leaders, turning her back to the private conversation. "If you must know, I'm trying to distract you," she whispered, glancing over her shoulder at Ash and Sabrina before turning back to Janine with a knowing expression. "I've been your friend for a long time and I can see where you're aiming. You should probably hold off on any romantic intent. Men never work the way you want them to. They don't multitask."
"Why can't you ever just speak plainly?" Janine griped, keeping her voice down but letting her tone grow biting.
"With respect, I always speak plainly with you," said the green eyed girl. "I can also read you like a book, and I can read men just as easily. I'm only warning you that given a choice between a woman and vengeance he feels he's owed, a man will choose revenge every time. I'm only looking out for you, Janie."
"Don't forget your place," Janine sighed. "I'm perfectly mature enough to look after myself in that regard and if that's all you have-"
"Remember that conversation we had a few weeks back..." interrupted the redhead, eyes mirroring the smile on her lips, "when I mentioned a successful trial run of the adenoviral gene therapy?"
"I remember, your message was why I came here in the first place" Janine interrupted, her demeanor immediately changing, growing more focused. "What did you find out?"
"The initial trials, the successful ones, were conducted on Cinnabar under Blaine Katsura," said Vicki, "which makes sense now that we know Margaret was a traitor. She reported your condition to Team Rocket years ago when you first told me and her about it. They then ordered Blaine to develop a treatment to coerce Koga into turning Fuchsia over to them and, thanks to Koga's correspondences, we know now that the treatment exists... you see my point."
Janine's mouth dropped open a little. "So you're saying-"
"You need to get to Cinnabar," Vicki cut her off, reaching behind her back and producing a small satchel from under her shirt. She handed Janine the package. "A parting gift from one of my contacts. That should be enough of the mix to get you through the end of next month, relatively symptom-free. Now, you need to get to Blaine before Team Rocket or those Johtans do-" she stopped as the ground trembled and the lights flickered overhead. "Alright, really," muttered the redhead. "What is all that damn shaking?"
Glancing at Sabrina, Janine shrugged, still unsure whether to look at the other woman's red eye or the purple one. "I'm sure we'll find out soon."
Across the room, Ash pulled his hands from his pockets, pausing after a long and mostly one-sided conversation. "That's pretty much it," he said, awkwardly shifting his weight away from the woman standing far closer to him than the volume of their conversation necessitated. "Here we are."
Sabrina folded her arms across her chest and opened her eyes. "Wow, you have been causing quite a lot of havoc," she said, tone steady and not at all impolite, "All of our, or rather Team Rocket's" the psychic corrected herself, "models pointed towards your causing only a minor disruption before Jesse and James finished you off."
"Can't say I'm sorry to disappoint," Ash muttered.
"On the contrary," Sabrina answered, a flicker of amusement in her eyes as she looked at Ash. They psychic shifted, perfectly casually, a little closer to him as though the action had been completely unconscious. "It's always fascinating when someone beats the numbers. But...that should be enough on your part for the moment. Ready to move on?" she asked, starting to say something else but stopping as a lock of her hair floated up seemingly of its own accord. Chagrin flitted in her features. "Please tell your partner to stop pestering me. It's quite rude."
"Gladly," Ash nodded, tuning out Haunter's giggling and insistence that the psychic didn't currently have the strength to resist any incorporeal hijinks. Ash frowned as a second lock of Sabrina's hair floated up. The two rough pigtails danced up and down on their own for a second as Haunter silently giggled.
"Just wait until I'm recovered," Sabrina whispered. Instantly a purple spark, accompanied by a sharp crack shot between her temple and an apparently empty zone of space.
Smirking as Haunter yelped in surprise and dove away from the psychic, Ash put his hands in his pocket and took a step back from the older Gym Leader. "So where to now?"
"My gym," said the psychic. "I left my subordinates with orders to keep tabs on several ranking members of Team Rocket and the Kanto League. Assuming anyone can actually follow orders, we should be able to locate Blaine and get a feel for his involvement in the events on Cinnabar."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "I'll assume you're going to explain," he said, following her as the Gym Leader walked towards the two Fuchsia agents standing by the exit.
"Patience. I'm not sure myself what's going on yet. My condition for the last year hasn't lent itself to much activity." Sabrina stopped by the exit and faced Janine. "I believe my thanks would be appropriate," she extended her hand.
The girl in the lab coat nodded and gave Sabrina's hand a quick shake. "You're welcome."
"And thank you," said the psychic, turning to Vicki and nodding to her. "I appreciate your hand in this, and it's pleasant to finally know your true loyalties."
"Would you have trusted me if I'd told you?" asked the redhead.
"Indeed I would have," Sabrina turned for the door and lead the other three trainers into the hall beyond, where only the red emergency lighting provided any illumination, though the alarms had since gone silent. "I don't mean to insist that we hurry up and wait," said the psychic, glancing at Ash who had stopped and looked back into the laboratory, his face hard, "but the sooner we leave, the sooner we can plan our next move."
"Sorry," Ash said, turning away from Pikachu's body with a deep breath and following the group down a bend in the corridor that lead them passed several more of the long observation windows.
As they walked, Vicki and Janine both kept glancing through the windows and at the labs beyond. All but a slight few were occupied by various Pokemon, each in different stages of cybernetic modification.
"What about them?" Vicki nodded into one of the labs where several dozen Rattata sat idly in cages or sedated on sterile steel tables. "Can we do anything for them?"
Without so much as a stutter in her stride, Sabrina kept walking towards the door at the end of the hall. "Like turn them loose in the city? No. They're all dead anyway," said the Psychic as casually as ever. "Your setting me free cut power to the entire city so all of these labs will be without life support before the hour's up." She stopped and opened the door to a tall stairwell. This room also was lit only by emergency lighting, and all of the trainers could hear high overhead a dull thumping, as if a great hailstones were falling on a thick stone roof. "Besides, with the fate they were bound for, asphyxiation is a happier end."
Sabrina's words ringing in his ears, their chill clinging to him, Ash climbed the stairs. Hand tight on the rail the young trainer didn't utter a word, instead running through his mind over and over again how it could be possible that he was unknowingly linked to Team Rocket. He tried to reason it out, tried to rationalize away the sinking feeling in his chest, but no matter what he told himself, the fear seeped deeper and deeper into his mind. He couldn't explain why, or how he knew, but something about what Sabrina had said about Giovanni and Team Rocket rang with absolute truth. He had just started to wonder if this growing gut feeling was one of those that Bill had warned him about, when a roar startled him out of his thoughts.
"What the hell is going on up here?" asked Vicki as Sabrina opened up a heavy metal door, immediately filling the entire stairwell with a colossal thundering and a rapidly pulsating white light.
Forcing a shocked Ash and Janine to cover their ears, boom after boom, dozens of thunderbolts per second rattled the room and shook the reinforced building. Sabrina grimaced and reached up to cover her ears as the vibrations in the air made Ash's teeth chatter and his legs shake. The psychic shouted something at the other trainers, though her words disappeared unheard into the din.
Even through the booming however, Ash could sense Haunter's growing trepidation. The ghost hunkered close to the trainer, casting about and floating invisibly into Ash's pack where it quickly went dormant. Ash, still covering his ears, stepped back into the stairwell and shouted for the others to come back and close the door. Immediately it became obvious that they hadn't heard him, and he shouted again, louder this time.
Just as Janine and Vicki both turned around to come back, the noise grew a little fainter and the number of thunderbolts going off dropped noticeably to maybe one or two booms every other second. The group of trainers slowly uncovered their ears as the noise grew tolerable, and looked around at one another and their surroundings. The stairwell had lead them up into a hallway lined on one side with office doors, and with waist high windows on the other. The floor, a polished tile, was now littered with countless shards of broken glass from the windows shattered by the thunder.
Thunderbolts still booming every other second or so, Ash stepped cautiously into the hall and glanced around, shielding his eyes from the sporadic flashes of lighting still lighting up the hall. "What was that?" he muttered, looking down the chamber and seeing every window shattered.
Sabrina, her bare feet wreathed in a faint purple glow the same color as her dimly luminescent eye as she hovered an inch above the ground, motioned to the sky outside. "That," she said, a grin on her lips as the other trainers walked to the windows, glass crunching under their boots, "is a prime example of what happens when humans try to manipulate things beyond their comprehension." She again motioned to the sky where a constant flashing of lightning and booming of thunder illuminated the dark clouds with a constantly shifting spiderweb of light. "Just imagine... the source of the storm is almost one hundred miles off. I can only dream of what it looks like at the epicenter."
"Is it coming from the power plant you mentioned?" asked Ash, transfixed by the sky.
"Yes," Sabrina nodded.
"What caused it?" Ash went on.
"Hah," the psychic laughed once. "Well to be truthful, I don't know what to call it... a god, maybe. No, 'force of nature' is more appropriate."
The three other trainers waited a second, all standing at the windows and transfixed by the tendrils of light streaking across the sky. The weight of his pack pulled on his shoulder some, and Ash reached up to scratch Pikachu behind the ears. When his hand found only empty air however, the young Gym Leader sucked in a breath and bit his lip.
"Care to explain?" Ash snapped himself to another thought before the tightness in his chest could grow more uncomfortable. "Are we in danger here?"
"I doubt it," said the psychic, taking a breath and staring off into space as she idly floated up next to Ash, her shoulder brushing his, " And if you care to know, it started almost sixteen months ago... Saffron was on the verge of collapse. Ever since Pallet Town was destroyed, cutting off the flow of natural gas to most of the East, the price of fuel had done nothing but skyrocket, sometimes doubling from one month to another... on top of that, food from the west was getting more and more expensive thanks to the shortage, and trade with Celadon hit an all time low thanks to their own declining stability.
"Team Rocket and I were doing everything in our power to smooth things out, but nothing we tried had any positive effect. Mostly we just made our economy worse," she shrugged. "And then, the fighter's rebelled at a... most inopportune time. You might remember that machine Team Rocket built in Lavender," she looked at Ash, "to pull in the ghosts?"
Ash nodded. "Not with any fondness," he said as what little rain was falling outside ceased all together.
Standing back from them a little, Janine crossed her arms and hiked up her shoulders some. "Could they stand any closer?" she muttered, words barely audible. Janine twitched when the psychic paused in the middle of resuming her explanation and glanced back at her, red eye studying her for a split second. For an instant, Janine felt her head go light before Sabrina's face softened a little.
"They were hoping to use it," said Sabrina, turning back to Ash and leaving Janine silent, "to finally defeat our good friend Mewtwo by flooding Kanto with weakling ghosts to disrupt his psychic abilities. It would have worked too, but there was just one problem, besides you of course."
Janine nudged Vicki. "They sure are chatty," whispered the girl, shaking herself out of her daze and sticking her hands in her pockets with no small amount of force. "Talk, talk, talk."
Glancing at her long time friend with a wry grin, Vicki nudged her back. "Of course," she said. "Somebody has to explain what's going on. Wouldn't be proper otherwise."
"You were closer than Mewtwo," Ash muttered. "So you got caught in it too."
"That's right," said the older Gym Leader, pausing and nodding down the hall. "Walk with me," she went on, leading the trainers towards a door at the far end of the passage. Moving through it they entered into a large room decorated with marble floors and chandeliers. The huge double doors across the room stood open a little, allowing in flashes of lightning from outside.
"I wonder where everyone's gotten to," muttered Vicki as the trainers crossed the room and stepped through the big doors into the streets of Saffron City's inner circle. Looking around, the redhead could see no one out and about.
Sabrina, still hovering an inch off the ground, glanced around the small square outside Silph's headquarters. "Outside the wall I'd imagine that everyone's either staying home or heading home. Here it's likely that the recent light show has convinced the elite to stay indoors. With any luck the storm will prevent my city from tearing itself apart for lack of power for a few hours."
"About that," said Janine. "Were you going to tell us what you know about what's causing... this?" she pointed upwards. "Maybe concisely?"
"Not interested in my exposition, eh?" the Gym Leader smirked. "Am I boring you?"
"Uh, no, not really," said Janine, a little off balance. "I just didn't know if you were... never mind."
"Please continue," said Ash.
"To be a bit more brief," said Sabrina, walking calmly down the street with Ash and the two girls in tow, "after you ruined the machine in Lavender, I decided that drastic measures were necessary to bring stability back to Saffron. It was my duty as a Gym Leader to maintain order, after all." She paused for a second and held up one hand which began to shed a bright purple glow, providing the only the meaningful illumination for as far as the party could see. "That's better. With a little help from Team Rocket, I tracked down and I caged the creature that's doing this," she nodded upwards, "a nameless thing predating humanity by countless centuries. Team Rocket called it Zapdos, but when I bent all of my power to putting it to sleep and my mind touched its surface thoughts, I immediately knew that no name anyone could give the thing could properly describe its..." she waved her hand as though searching for a word, "essence.
"Simply forcing Zapdos into a sleep deep enough to allow for safely moving it claimed the lives of two of my psychics. Their minds couldn't handle the contact and burned out, but thanks to them, we safely moved Zapdos to the old power plant and began siphoning off its energy. Doing so provided more than enough power to run Saffron twice over, but not without cost. We knew before we began that containing Zapdos for any great length of time would require more than I could provide on my own."
"Hence the machine," said Ash.
"Correct again," said Sabrina. "The timing was perfect. As soon as Zapdos was contained at the power plant, the machine here was complete... a device built solely to amplify my telesthetic power and direct it all towards the plant... and it almost worked." A particularly loud thunderbolt cut her off.
Vicki cleared her throat. "What went wrong?" she asked.
"Apparently the human brain isn't meant to generate super high-amplitude beta and gamma waves for long stints," said Sabrina with a grin. "Trying to force it to do so tends to reduce a perfectly healthy brain to pudding and that is exactly the trouble in which I found myself. Even semi-comatose, I could feel myself dying, but I couldn't really do anything about it... being completely helpless and all that. I could reach out subconsciously and touch the dreams of people with innate psychic gifts, but never with any meaningful effect. Luckily for me, along came," she turned to Ash with a quick glance out of the corner of her eye, "our good friend, with promises of freeing me if I helped him. And here we are," she said with a kind of finality as the group rounded a corner. "I see no one came out to greet us."
Casting about, Ash spotted the building at which Sabrina was looking, a squat structure, at least compared to the surrounding skyscrapers, with only three floors and not a single window to be seen. Taking a breath, Ash followed as Sabrina lead them forward. The eldest Gym Leader walked casually up to the door, ignoring the sound as a massive thunderbolt boomed overhead and shook the ground, and banged her fist on the metal door. A few seconds passed and Sabrina knocked again.
"Hm?" Ash toned, turning around as Janine tapped his shoulder. "What's up?"
"Just wanted to know what you're thinking," she said, "about where we'll go next, I mean."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd be going back to Fuchsia after you were done here," he said.
"Well," the girl stammered, "that was one possibility... I suppose. I was thinking I might," she trailed off for a second.
Ash blinked, his eyes still adjusting to the soft purple light radiating from the psychic. "You might?" he prompted.
"If you're going somewhere else I might follow-" Janine started, only to be cut short by the earsplitting groan of metal on metal.
Both trainers turned back to the unassuming front entrance to the Saffron Gym, where Sabrina had extended her hand towards the heavy metal door that slowly opened on grating rollers as if moved by an invisible force. A single purple spark leapt between the psychic's hand and the door and the slab of metal rocketed over to one side and slammed into its slot, leaving the door wide open. The eldest Gym Leader drew in a breath and balled one hand into a loose fist.
"I guess that means the Gym's without power," said Sabrina. "So the generators are burned out. Perfect. I wonder what else will be wrong." She turned to the rest of the party. "Shall we?"
Ash glanced at Janine. They briefly exchanged looks of caution, but followed Sabrina and Vicki into the unlit interior of the Gym.
SC
Sirens wailing, people screaming orders, and the sounds of massive fires all filled the night as the tall man wearing a white lab coat and thin glasses stepped out of his tent. He could see the pillars of smoke rising out of the opposite end of the camp and the glow from the fires illuminated even his corner of the camp, and the smell of smoke and turned up dirt filled his nostrils.
"Hm," he muttered, reaching up and adjusting his glasses with one finger. "Good thing I decided not to sleep in the command center."
"Professor Elm!" someone shouted, the high voice piercing through the surrounding ruckus.
Elm turned, one hand on his waist as a girl in Johto's dark fatigues ran to his side, stopping and resting her hands on her knees.
"Professor," she gasped, long brown hair clinging to a sweat drenched forehead, "thank goodness you're alright. When I heard we were under attack by the Cinnabareans, I feared the worst. Command thinks that more raids are coming and they're recalling the airborne troopers. We should get to-"
"Calm yourself," said Elm, turning and surveying the surrounding tents before looking up into the sky. "If the Cinnabareans had more to hit us with they'd have dropped it all at once while we weren't ready, or more waves would have come by now. This was likely a distraction, and if command is recalling the fliers then I'd hazard to say it worked. We're in no immediate danger but thank you for your concern, May."
"I was just worried," May answered, straightening up and anxiously fiddling with the pokeballs on her belt as her blue eyes darted this way and that, searching for danger.
Elm smiled reassuringly and patted her on the head, despite her moving away from the gesture. "You need to stay focused," he said, turning and walking towards the perimeter of the camp, motioning for her to follow. "Our dear, dear friend will no doubt be arriving soon, I'd say in no more than three weeks, and when he does we'll have to be at our best if we want to stand a chance."
May nodded and followed after him, beginning to leave the noise behind them. "Professor," she said. "Shouldn't we go help the troops put out the fires? They probably can't do it by themselves."
"Leave the common work to the common soldiers," answered the professor, coming upon a crude bunker, little more than a large foxhole with a camouflaged metal roof. He walked down the few stairs into the unoccupied shelter, turned a knob on a little lamp, and stretched as warm but subdued lantern light provided just enough illumination by which to see. "Sit, sit," he gestured to one of the two chairs in the little bunker. "No sense in standing around."
May glanced over her shoulder, back at the camp where she could still hear fires burning and people shouting. With a sigh she knocked a pokeball from her belt and stepped down the stairs as it snapped open and flooded the ground in white light. A hulking Venusaur materialized out of the light with a low growl and turned around to look for its trainer.
"Keep an eye out for trouble," May put one hand on the Venusaur's face before retreating into the bunker and sitting opposite Elm at a little table. Quickly straightening out her clothes, she brushed the dust from her fatigues and leaned back in the chair with a sour look on her face.
"What's on your mind?" asked Elm. "You look troubled."
May shook her head. "I'd just rather be in the air," she said, "or helping the patrols or helping to get the fires under control; something other than sitting around. We've been doing way to much of that the last few days."
"Your time will come," said the professor. "Oak no doubt saw the Red Gyarados on the news and he knows I'm here. It's only a matter of time until he shows his face and you can get your revenge. And after that," he stopped as May's expression shifted from sour to downright murderous. Her eyes narrowed, her jaw clenched, and the tendons of her hands bulged as she clenched her fists. "After that we'll just have to see what happens."
May took a deep breath and let it out, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I want to see the look on his face when I kill him," she said. "When Oak arrives, he's mine."
Sitting quietly for a moment and suppressing a grin as May stewed, Elm crossed his arms. "Your parents and Birch," he said at length, "I know I've said it, but they were good people and Hoenn is less without them."
"Don't talk about them, please," May growled, clenching her fists even tighter as her voice shook and her blue eyes sparked in the light. "I'll avenge my parents, I'll avenge my little brother, and I'll avenge Professor Birch. That's that." She looked up at Elm, face softening a little. "I can't thank you enough for helping me so much," she said. "Thank you again. Thank you"
Elm held up a hand to stop her. "Think nothing of it," he said. "You're not the only one Oak has wronged, after all."
May looked down at the ground and relaxed a little. "You never did tell me why the two of you hated each other so much," she said.
Elm shrugged. "You never really asked... Suffice to say that on top of his astounding lack of vision and monumental arrogance, someone very dear to me is dead on his account. I'd see justice done."
Nodding and still focusing on an unremarkable patch of dirt beneath the table before her, May nodded. "Justice," she said. "I can't wait."
SC
"Sabrina, ma'am," the young man in the unassuming brown robes stammered. "You're back! Everyone!" he shouted, an uneasy, if genuine, grin on his face as he turned around. "Sabrina is back!"
Leaning to the side just a little, still standing in the dark hall, Ash looked around Sabrina and into the room on the other side of the heavily reinforced door. Inside he could make out a room very similar in appearance to the Silph laboratory he'd just departed. Tables, lab equipment, cots, and desks were set up around the large floorspace, with all of the furniture and beeping devices arranged in rough circles around the central table. In the middle of the room there sat a large circular table piled high with paper, writing utensils, maps, and HAM radios.
As perhaps a dozen people, all arrayed in simple lavender or brown robes got up from the cots, or turned from the tables and desks around which they stood, Ash noticed that all around the room, on benches, on tables, and even on the floor, sat shallow silver bowls and pitchers of water. This in and of itself wouldn't have struck him as odd if not for there being far more bowls and pitchers than there were people in the room.
Stepping over the threshold, Sabrina glanced about the room. A single floodlight, powered by a noisy generator in the corner, provided the only illumination to be had. The senior psychic put her hands on her hips as Ash, Janine, and Vicki all stepped up behind her.
"You could all at least try to look busy," Sabrina called, one corner of her lip twitching up as her subordinates gathered around in the Gym's basement. "I could do with a report. Where's Lorenzo?" she cast about, spotting a shorter figure in lavender attire standing near the back of the group. "You've been keeping up on events while I was away?" she addressed the man. "What's happened here? Why are you all in the bunker?"
Clearing his throat, Lorenzo, a shorter man with less than remarkable features, stepped forward. "I ordered everyone down here when the electrical systems went haywire forty minutes ago," he said calmly. "The whole city's grid fried and went down during that weird storm so I decided it would be safest to institute a lockdown. You caught us right in the middle of relocating actually. Now that you're here, I assume it means Zapdos has escaped?"
Sabrina nodded. "Correct," she answered. "But the storm is abating, which means the creature is, thankfully, not headed this direction." She turned around and addressed Ash. "If you'll excuse me for just a moment, I need to get a quick report on what's been going on recently. I'll try to be brief," she smiled a little. "Please, try to make yourselves," she looked between the three other trainers, "as comfortable as you can."
Ash nodded and looked to Janine and Vicki, both of whom had entered the room and stepped up behind him while Sabrina turned back to her psychics. Janine more than either of her companions shifted about and kept looking around from place to place in the poorly lit room.
"Well," said Ash, glancing back at the collection of cots as Sabrina began questioning the psychics, "I guess we might as well relax while we can."
"Good idea," Vicki muttered, walking without any hesitation over to one of the cots, promptly flopping down on it, and resting her chin on the pillow. "God it's been a long day..."
Ash and Janine both followed behind her, the two of them electing to sit on the floor beside one of the cots and lean up against a wall. Almost in unison they sighed and leaned their heads back against the cold concrete walls. Ash, his frame growing suddenly heavy, caught his vision beginning to blur and his muscles aching as they refused to relax. The young trainer took another deep breath and sank a little lower, letting his hands rest on the ground at his sides.
"I can barely keep my eyes open," he muttered, lacking the energy to even twitch in surprise when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"You should probably rest," Janine said, giving Ash's arm a reassuring pat. "You're no good to anyone half-dead."
Shaking his head a little, Ash glanced across the room where Sabrina had engaged herself in a rapid fire bout of questions and answers with her subordinates. "I need to stay up in case something happens," he said, each word a little quieter than the last.
"Nope," said the girl, standing up and grabbing Ash by the arm. "This is one thing you don't have a say in. C'mon, get up for just a second."
"Would you be serious for a second," Ash complained, though he didn't resist and got to his feet. "This is important," he said as Janine moved him to a cot and made him sit him down on it.
"I promise I'll wake you if anything important happens," Janine said as Ash laid back and dropped his head on the pillow.
"Alright, fine," muttered the young Gym Leader. "Maybe for just a minute or-" he trailed off. A minute later his eyes were closed and his breathing had completely leveled off.
Still laying on her stomach and barely turning her head to look, Vicki watched as Janine knelt by the foot of Ash's cot. "Poor guy," she muttered. "Y'know his file from Fuchsia said that he lost his mom when Pallet burned. His whole life's been pretty much spiraling down since then, yeah?"
Janine didn't answer for a second. Rather she loosened a very unconscious Ash's boots and pulled them from his feet, setting them down on the floor with a quiet thud. "Yeah," the girl answered after another moment. "He just keeps going though."
"That might not be a good thing," said Vicki. "Determination is great and all, right up until the point that it gets someone killed, or hurt, or both."
"What are you saying?" asked Janine, looking at her old friend.
"Nothing Vicki answered, closing her eyes and yawning. "Nothing at all."
Janine sighed as her friend closed her eyes and began breathing rhythmically. The girl took off her lab coat, leaving herself in her tank top and harness, and dropping back against the wall. A second later she slid down the cold concrete surface and just sat against the wall, pulling her legs in and sitting quietly. She remained there for a minute, quiet and listening absentmindedly to the conversations on the other side of the room. For a brief moment, the girl in the black tank top closed her eyes and retreated into her own thoughts, trying to simultaneously listen in on the conversations across the room and suppress the primal uneasiness she felt every time her thoughts stumbled across anything about the Gym Leader, Sabrina.
A chill shooting down her spine, Janine's eyes popped open. She cast about the room, immediately spotting Sabrina directly across the room from where she sat. The elder Gym Leader still seemed to be talking with her subordinates, but had turned just enough to glance at Janine from the corner of her purple eye. Janine stared straight ahead, her mind again going blank as the sensation of fingers running over her forehead overtook the girl from Fuchsia's mind. For what felt like only a split second, Janine couldn't control her thoughts. Random and chaotic images, every one of them a memory of her life flying through her head, Janine went rigid. A near perfect portrait of her life flew before her eyes, and then she snapped to as Sabrina turned back to the other Gym Members.
"Huh?" Janine muttered, confused. "What the hell?"
I'm not your enemy here, the words echoed in Janine's mind.
The girl instantly rolled to her feet, eyes darting around for the source of the voice as one hand balled into a fist and her other went to the pokeballs at her belt. "Who said that?" she hissed. Glancing forward, Janine spotted that Sabrina had again turned to look at her, though the psychic still spoke with her gym's other members.
Our causes are not opposed to one another, the words again echoed in Janine's mind, completely independent of her ears. You don't need to be so hostile...
Eyes going wide, Janine stepped back and pressed her back to the wall. "Stay out of my head," she growled. "Or I'll show you how hostile I can be."
As you wish, I meant you neither harm nor offense, the voice trailed off.
Janine took several steadying breaths as Sabrina continued her conversations. More than a minute passed until the girl in the tank top relaxed enough for her arms to stop shaking. After another few seconds, she sidestepped, still facing Sabrina's back, and sat on the cot next to Ash's. She set her back to the wall and pulled her knees up to her chest, but otherwise remained alert, staring across the room.
SC
Head still fuzzy with sleep, Ash rose from his cot and stretched, scratching his head and arching his back with a groan. He glanced around and immediately remembered falling asleep in the bunker. Looking for his companions the young Gym Leader sat up straighter and spotted Janine and Vicki, both asleep on cots adjacent to his own. After a second glance around the room, Ash noticed that several figures in robes, perhaps half as many as he saw before falling asleep, remained in the bunker where they sat alone and staring into the silver water bowls as intently as if they were reading a book.
"Ah, good you're awake," said an unfamiliar voice.
Ash turned as one of the psychics in a purple robe stepped up next to his cot. "Yep," Ash muttered, still dazed with fatigue. He reached down to the floor, looking to find Pikachu and pick the Pokemon up, but stopping short when his thoughts flashed to the battle at Silph Company. Ash bit the inside of his cheek and shook his head, determined to shift his thoughts elsewhere.
The young man in the robe, Lorenzo if Ash remembered correctly, cleared his throat and crossed his arms behind his back. "Sabrina requested I send you to her as soon as you awoke."
"What time is it?" Ash asked, absentmindedly scratching his jaw and deciding not to bother shaving what was now closer to being a beard than unchecked stubble.
"Seven," said the man, the rumbling of the generator powering the room droning in the background.
"A.M.?" Ash blinked, surprised. "I slept all night?"
"Sabrina requested we not wake you or your friends," Lorenzo stated flatly. "Of all of us, she said, you need your strength the most"
Shaking his head, Ash rolled out of the cot and put his feet on the floor, recoiling at the cold and suddenly realizing he didn't remember removing his boots. "Alright," he said, spotting his boots and picking them up. "Where's she at?"
"Bathing," said Lorenzo, turning just a little and pointing down the hall on the opposite side of the bunker from which Ash had entered. "Down there, second door on the left. I'd advise against wasting time."
"Ok," Ash tightened his boot's laces and stood up. "Guess I should-" he paused halfway through his stretch and looked at the gym member. "Wait, if she's taking a bath, shouldn't I wait?"
Lorenzo grimaced. "For what reason?" he asked.
"Well," said Ash, "bathing implies she'd be taking a bath."
"Yes," said the psychic, his tone growing more patronizing. "It does carry that connotation. I miss your meaning, I'm afraid."
"Well," Ash stammered, rolling his hand through the air as he searched for how to word his next statement. "Wouldn't she be naked?"
"I still," Lorenzo began, stopping short and raising one eyebrow as realization dawned on him. "Ah, yes, I forgot you might have some reservations about that. A word of clarification," the psychic let a friendly grin slip across his lips. "Psychics in general, being able to read minds without meaning to, tend to lack certain compunctions and place the efficient use of time above modesty. Don't worry, you won't offend her."
Ash swallowed a lump in his throat as Lorenzo turned and went back to the cluster of gym members standing around the table in the center of the room.
"Well," said the younger Gym Leader. "Whatever works, I guess," he straightened out his clothes as much as he could, then walked to the hall and knocked on the second door to his left. He flinched just a little when someone called for him to come in.
"Heard you wanted to talk to me," said Ash, pulling the door open and stepping inside. Glancing around the large bathroom, Ash spotted the figure knelt by the tub on the other end of the room.
Wrapped in a towel and glancing at Ash, Sabrina nodded and reached for the small bucket of water sitting by the tub. "Yes, I'm glad you're awake," she said, picking up the bucket with both hands, leaning further over the tub. "You slept well, I assume?"
"Enough," Ash shrugged, "given the circumstances."
Ash jumped at the sound of a loud click, turning and spotting that the bathroom door had pulled itself shut under its own weight. He took a quick breath and looked back to Sabrina, now noting the dim light of the candles that sat on the rack above the tub and filling the room with the pleasant smell of flowers.
"Apologies for the lack of certain luxuries," said the psychic. She paused and slowly poured most of the contents of the bucket over her head to wash the soap from her hair. After taking a second to wring out her hair, the psychic reached out for a bar of soap and began lathering up her hands. "Running water, proper lighting, and warm accommodations are hard to come by in a bunker with barely enough electricity to keep the ventilation working, but I'm sure you've dealt with worse."
"Viridian Forest, Mt. Moon," Ash said, numbering off the locations on his fingers. "The wilds north of Cerulean, the Lavender, oh, and," he smirked, "perhaps most harrowing of all: putting up with Erika."
Sabrina laughed once and started spreading the soap up her arms and rubbing it over her shoulders and collar. "Well it's good to see your sense of humor remains intact." the psychic took a ladle from inside the tub and began rinsing herself of the bubbles. "I thought about waking you once I was finished catching up on recent events but decided you would need your rest, especially since I've already divined how you'll react to what I'm going to tell you... now that you're awake however, it's time I fulfilled my end of the bargain."
"Whenever you're ready," said Ash, glancing at the chair in the corner of the room, pulling it to where he stood, and sitting down.
"Saffron," said Sabrina, standing up, and then sitting on the edge of the tub, "for all of its faults, is my everything. I'm married to this city and I will have no higher priority than its safety until the day I die. Needless to say, recent events and my well-intentioned role in them have weighed heavily on me, and I hope that you, as a fellow Gym Leader, a man once responsible for the well being of his own people, can understand my decisions."
"I'm not going to judge you," said Ash. "That's not why I'm here. I just want to know what my next step should be."
"Right," said the psychic. "It's a little odd..." she stopped and chuckled. "Alright, it's disconcerting beyond belief to hear someone say that without hearing their thoughts confirming or denying the words of their mouth. It's a good thing, refreshing and different, but extremely weird... At any rate, the next phase of Mewtwo's plan is for you to go to Cinnabar Island with two goals in mind. Your main priority is to rescue Blaine Katsura and get him to safety. Second, you need to kill Professor Elm and at the very least disable his Red Gyarados."
A single shiver disturbing his otherwise perfect composure, Ash swallowed the lump in his throat. "Alright," he said, unconsciously balling his hands into fists. "I'd be more than happy to take care of that last part."
"Yes, but are you prepared to work with Team Rocket to do it?" asked Sabrina, any semblance of a smile fading from her face as she folded her hands in her lap.
Ash felt bile well up in the back of his mouth, but he fought the sudden urge to spit. "Why would I even think of doing that?" he asked, more than a flavor of venom in his tone.
"Rocket's sent a peacekeeping force to the island," said Sabrina. "Originally their stated mission was to protect Indigo Plateau's Embassy, also known as Blaine's Gym, when in all reality their goal was to evacuate Blaine and get as much of his research to safety as possible. Unfortunately, or perhaps luckily, depending on your view, they were delayed by bad weather and the peacekeepers were caught in the gym, on the northern extreme of the island and far from help, when the Johtan army arrived. They've entrenched themselves in the gym and its numerous laboratories but they can't hold out forever... they need help."
"Well maybe they can kiss my ass," Ash growled. "If Team Rocket is so fond of Blaine then why would Mewtwo want to protect him?"
"He has his reasons, not the least of which being Blaine's work on an agricultural project to rebuild and increase the output of the plantations west of Viridian City... the plantations on which a great deal of Kanto was reliant, the plantations that Elm destroyed in much the same fashion that he destroyed Pallet Town."
"No," Ash shook his head. "Team Rocket was behind both of those attacks."
"Says who?" asked the psychic, shifting on the edge of the tub. "Both of those attacks were perpetrated solely by Professor Elm and his minions in an effort to kill your grandfather and get back at the Elite Four for perceived wrongs. If you don't believe me you can ask Oak yourself when you meet him. Within the right circles, the shadow-wars the various professors fought amongst each other were legendary."
Ash stood up and took a step back, firmly planting his side against the wall. "Assuming I buy that," he said, "What does Mewtwo stand to gain by rescuing Blaine and killing Elm?"
"Blaine is an absolutely brilliant scientist and a master of just about every field of study with a name," said Sabrina. "He also has close personal ties to Mewtwo. The two of them were friends for a long time and Mewtwo hopes to exploit that link to convince Blaine to turn his efforts to restoring some of Kanto's agricultural capacity. Killing Elm would simply be best for Kanto, and Johto for that matter, in general. Without his constant scheming for revenge and glory, things in both regions might settle down some."
Ash thought for a second, crossing his arms and scratching at the stubble on his chin. "What are the odds I could rescue Blaine without helping Team Rocket?" he asked.
"Virtually zero," said Sabrina. "Blaine and the peacekeepers are both fighting for their lives and getting to them would entail fighting your way through the Johtans trying to kill them. Either all of them escape, or none of them do." Sabrina paused as Ash's face hardened with the thoughts playing behind his features. "They're not all evil, you know," she said after a moment, continuing when Ash looked up at her. "Not everyone in Team Rocket is a raving monster... most of them are pretty decent people just trying to make a difference-"
"By making my life a living hell!" Ash shouted, breaking in. "I've spent almost two years just trying to survive because of them! Because of this Giovanni, who courtesy of you I now know is my father, I've been living in constant fear, never knowing when the next ambush will come or when it's safe to sleep, or what tomorrow might bring. Everyone I had left is dead or gone because of them!"
"You didn't make any particular effort to stay out of their way," Sabrina noted, as poised as ever. "From what I understand, you made your intent to fight them clear long before they actually attacked you. In fact, you began moving against Team Rocket after they tried to peacefully recruit you. If you're referring to Misty being gone, then again, if memory serves, there was nothing preventing you from simply walking away from the Battle of Celadon."
Ash's eyes opened wider and he began to realize his face was growing red. "How did you know about that?" he growled, hands shaking. "Who told you?"
"One of my psychics was scrying on the battle and the events leading up to it," said Sabrina. "She told me of yours and Brock's insistence on fighting when Misty just wanted to leave."
"Don't mention her again," Ash began trembling. He thought he could feel hot streaks beginning to run down his face. "Don't you say her name again. You have no idea what we went through to get this far. You have no idea how many people have been hurt so far, just trying to stop Team Rocket."
Sabrina got to her feet and lifted one hand to hold her towel in place. "Stop them from what, Ash? Stop them from what?" her tone grew almost cold and Ash backed even more firmly against the wall. "Do you want to stop them from handing out free food to the needy? Or is it Team Rocket's efforts to protect Blaine, a good man, from the hatred of a crazed killed like Elm with which you take issue? When have they done you wrong, Ash, without your first inciting them with your attacks against their people?"
"Shut up," Ash hissed. "You were working for them. You were one of them," he growled, "and you still are. You're just trying to slow me down, shake my resolve. Well it's not going to work," he pointed a finger at her. "You're never going to stop me."
Ash froze as Sabrina walked forward. Her eyes locked on his, the young trainer could only go rigid as she raised a hand, anticipation of pain lancing through his face. He grimaced and squinted his eyes shut, waiting for some attack, but none came. He felt a gentle touch on his cheek and opened his eyes. Sabrina stood less than a pace from him, her hand resting on his cheek and her expression so saddened that Ash couldn't help but feel his heart sink into his stomach at the same time he felt it begin to thrum with a furious tempo. The fact that a woman who's natural beauty shamed anyone he knew stood before him in nothing but a towel remained at the back of Ash's mind.
"No," the psychic shook her head. "All I'm trying to do is make you see the people." She kept looking into his eyes. "Team Rocket has a dark side, yes, absolutely. But there's good there too. Maybe not in everything they do, but there are good people working for that bad organization... Ash, you're not cruel, and you're not cold, and it would be a tragedy to see you become either one. But I feel there's so much hatred in your heart... I don't have to be psychic to see that you're overflowing with anger, or to tell you that nothing good will come of such things."
Ash let out a curt breath before sucking in another. He felt stinging tears rolling down his hot face now. Images of his mother, of Misty, and of Pikachu rioted before his eyes. "I could have revenge," he said, voice shaking. "I could get back at them for everything they've taken from me."
"And then what?" Sabrina asked, her words gentle as she ran the backs of her fingers down his face. "You get back at them, then whoever you leave alive will have cause to hate you and they'll seek their own revenge and the cycle will start again... revenge is a venomous thing," she said. "And I would hate to see a soul as noble as yours succumb to it."
"Why are you saying this?" Ash asked, closing his eyes. "I don't want to hear it."
"You need to hear it," said the psychic. "It's a shame no one said it to you earlier... Besides," Sabrina grinned just a little, "it's best to hear it from someone who genuinely respects you and only wants what's best for everyone." She stepped even closer and, much to Ash's surprise, kissed him on the cheek. "Save the peacekeepers," she said, words still soft. "Every one of them is someone's son or daughter. They all have people who love them: just like you and me."
Ash stopped and took a deep breath. "What about the Johtans?" he asked. "I'd have to fight my way through them wouldn't I?"
Sabrina's smile faded. "That's the tragic part, in my mind, and it's the tragedy of the situation." She stepped back and looked between Ash and the door. "Unfortunately they've allied themselves against the people we need to protect. It's sad, but you'll probably have to kill many of them to get to Blaine... or," she paused, "you could simply leave and go seek peace elsewhere. I wouldn't recommend it, but it's an option."
Ash shook his head and took a final steadying breath. "No, no it isn't... I've come too far to back down but... I guess I'll just have to fight a little longer. I'll go and rescue Blaine," he said, looking Sabrina in the eye. "I'll make Elm answer for his crimes, and... I'll take care of the peacekeepers if I can."
Smile growing wider, Sabrina nodded her approval. "You're a good person, Ash Ketchum. Now, a few minor ideas to kick around. First, the ruins of Pallet Town, where Oak is rebuilding his lab are right between here and Cinnabar. You might be able to convince your grandfather to join you and provide some extra firepower."
"Right," Ash shifted around a little. "That's a good idea."
"Also, Team Rocket and the Cinnabareans might not have have any love for each other, but they both detest Elm with a passion. With a little effort you might be able to convince the Cinnabareans to help you get to Blaine's Gym. I'd try o find a Captain Zvika, if you could, and try to convince him to devote his 'Dragon Company' to your effort."
"Another good idea," said Ash. "When should I leave?"
Sabrina shrugged. "It likely wouldn't matter if you took the rest of today to recover. You could depart for Pallet in the morning and from there it wouldn't be more than a week before you reached Cinnabar."
"Actually," said Ash, pausing and dropping his arms. "I think I'll stop by Pewter first... try to make amends with Brock for being such an ass back in Celadon."
"A noble idea," said Sabrina. "If you flew the whole way it wouldn't add more than a day to your trip."
"I'll do that," Ash said. "And Sabrina," he turned back to the psychic. "Thank you... even if I... just thank you."
Sabrina smiled. "It's what I do," she said. "Now, unless you had something else you wanted to say, I should probably finish cleaning up so I can get back to work. Keeping Saffron under control isn't going to be easy."
"Oh, excuse me," said Ash, running his sleeve across his eye. "I'll get out of your way." As he turned away, a thin grin flitted over Ash's features. I'd be more than willing to, he thought, choosing his words with surgical precision and intent, take care of the peacekeepers... A chilling laugh echoed inside his head, alerting Ash to Haunter's having heard his thoughts over their link.
Grabbing the door's handle, Ash stepped out into the hall and closed the bathroom door behind him. Turning around the young trainer nearly jumped as Janine darted quickly out of his path and he nearly fell over trying not to run into her. Stumbling and stammering, Ash caught himself on the wall and Janine quickly stepped up beside him to help steady his balance.
"Sorry about that," said the girl in the tank top. "I didn't expect you to come walking out of the bathroom, where Sabrina was taking a bath, naked, in the same room as you, for twenty minutes." She looked up at him, chagrin plain on her face.
"Huh?" Ash blinked. "I don't follow. Oh!" he stuttered, seeing her point. "Um, yeah that probably didn't look to good, did it?"
"Care to explain?" said Janine, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one leg. "I heard shouting."
"Oh god no," Ash held up his hands.
"Yeah," said the girl. "Something like that."
"Would you let me explain," Ash glared at her. "We were just talking. Sabrina was bringing me up to speed, and I heard a few things I didn't really want to and I got a little emotional. That's all. Apparently psychics have no idea what modesty or privacy are about and she just wanted to be efficient with her time."
Raising an eyebrow, Janine uncrossed her arms. "Well, whatever. I'll let it slide for now."
"Tell you what," Ash sighed. "I'm going to go scrounge for some breakfast. Anything you'd like me to bring you? Maybe we can have breakfast together."
Janine's eyes lit up a little. "OK, sure," she chirped. "Just whatever you find will work great."
Waiting until Ash had left the hallway and asked one of the psychics on the opposite side of the room about a kitchen, Janine sighed and popped her neck, so flustered that she didn't see Vicki stepping up behind her. The second woman, red hair frizzy from sleep, wore a remarkably feline grin on her lips as she stepped up behind Janine.
"He smells like scented candles," Vicki purred.
"Shut up!" Janine whirled on her.