Chapter 2

Ash kept dashing into the gym, all by himself. It wasn't too far away when he encountered another Grunt, with a Golbat and a Houndour – but they were quickly defeated by Gengar's Night Shade.

Misty and Leaf gave Ash a phone call in the morning, right before Ash left. They told him that they learned of the incident from the local Kanto news, wished their condolences to Brock's family, and for Pikachu to get well. The two girls also told him they would quickly get to Pewter City to help Ash clean out the base, and told him they would be there by 10 AM.

Out of Ash's friends in Kanto, Misty and Leaf were by far the most worried about him. Leaf was a childhood friend of his. She met him when he was 7 years old and was Ash's only female friend until the day he left with Pikachu to become a Pokemon Master. Misty was none other than the Cerulean City Gym Leader – she was in fact the first to learn the news. The two happened to dine together in Cerulean City, and it was on Kanto's regional TV station when they got the news, early in the morning. They knew Ash was there.

And the two girls wanted to be... more than his friends. They were quite beautiful and slender. And what was funnier was that they showed zero animosity towards each other. But this was probably not the best time to reveal their intentions to Ash.

Ash kept dashing through the gym and eventually reached a locked door, which he commanded Gengar to use Psychic on, revealing the entrance to what was the backyard. And what he saw was a disaster.

He could see Flint and Lola, Brock's parents, handcuffed and tied to the tree located in the yard. In front of them, their two Pokemon, Granbull and Kabuto respectively, were trapped in what seemed to be an energy sapping device, similar to Leech Seed. The two Pokemon were visibly tortured and screaming for help.

„Flint! Lola! What... what's going on?"

„We're held hostages! Team Rocket is looking for something only we know. They won't release us and our Pokemon until we tell them about the Old Amber's location!" Flint murmured.

„The Old Amber? Are they planning to...?"

„Indeed. They want to revive that giant Aerodactyl."

„That's not possible! They won't have their way with me! Gengar, Psychokinesis!"

Gengar immediately jumped and focused his energy towards the two handcuffs, but suddenly...

„Houndoom, use Flamethrower! Now's your chance!"

A black, canine Pokemon suddenly appeared and hit Gengar at point-blank, dealing severe damage to his back and causing his Psychic attack to miss badly, even managing to break a large twig that almost hit Flint's head.

„Gengar! Are you okay, Gengar?"

When the smoke cleared, Gengar was still standing and facing Houndoom, but he was barely breathing. His back was almost carbonified.

That damn Houndoom stroke again. His nightmare from yesterday.

„You... motherfucker..." Ash shouted. „What have you done to my Pikachu, retard? And now you're using your shady tactics to wipe my Pokemon out of comission."

„Heh heh heh. Nice to see you again, Ash Ketchum." That Grunt was back.

„How can you still look in the mirror after yesterday? You just badly injured Gengar. You're now holding people hostages and experimenting on innocent Pokemon to power up your stupid robotic devices? Is this how you're planning to take over the world?"

„Don't you know how we operate by now? There are no rules here. Didn't your Pokemon smash one of our minions against the wall earlier?"

„Well, I just gave you a dose of your medicine. And now I will do it again." Ash said, determined.

„If you say so. Houndoom, Dark Pulse!"

„Gengar, use Night Shade!"

Gengar was powerful enough to somehow unleash a powerful Night Shade, despite his obviously worsening condition, and it collided with Houndoom's attack, nullifying it in the process. However, the Ghost-type Pokemon was obviously on the defensive, and later barely dodged a well-planned Crunch by the canine Fire-type. Gengar stroke back with Ice Punch, hitting Houndoom's face at point-blank, but doing little damage. Ash noticed that this Houndoom seemed to be very loyal to his trainer, and he was obviously seeming to put a little trust into it.

Houndoom charged at Gengar with another Crunch, which collided with a second Ice Punch before being overpowered by it. This allowed Gengar to fall back.

„Let's finish this!" Ash said, unleashing his Z-Power Ring.

„No you won't!" the Grunt snickered, and revealed his own Z-Power Ring as well.

As the two trainers visibly became one with their Pokemon, Ash secretly hoped this would be enough to destroy the device trapping Flint and Lola's Pokemon. He shortly thought of Brock, his family and Pikachu, before shouting:

„Let's go! This is our full power!"

„Houndoom, become one with me! This is it!" the Grunt fired back.

„RAGING GEO-FREEZE!"

„DYNAMIC FULL FLAME!"

Gengar, with his last powers, transformed his Ice Punch into a huge chunk of ice, then fired a powerful ice beam towards the battlefield, hoping to freeze Houndoom. However, he also needed to be careful not to damage too much in the backyard, fearing this would affect Brock's parents and their Pokemon.

Houndoom opened its mouth and created a giant fireball, before launching it at Gengar and the huge ice ray shot at him. The whole backyard turned into nothing but smoke for about thirty seconds.

When the smoke cleared, the two Pokemon were back on their feet, barely able to breathe. Houndoom was obviously badly damaged and had his tail completely frozen, and two of his legs slightly injured. It was obvious Houndoom couldn't take it much longer. And Gengar...

...collapsed. Badly.

His whole body was burned and his head was visibly injured, to the point where he needed to be rushed in to the Pokemon Center. But Team Rocket wouldn't let that happen. They reacted quickly, before Ash was able to come to its senses and return his Gengar.

„Houndoom, finish it off! Use one last Flamethrower!"

Ash's Gengar was sitting right in front of Kabuto and Granbull. Ash could not risk returning Gengar and having Houndoom's Flamethrower potentially hurt Flint and Lola's Pokemon badly.

Houndoom rolled its eyes and nodded, gave a small nod towards Gengar – it was a small form of respect for his opponent – and prepared his attack. It was 9:53 AM.

„Gengar! Noooooo!"

Ash was desperate. He could not afford to lose another reliable Pokemon. Besides Gengar, he also had the option to send out his Swellow – this Pokemon was also injured from yesterday's battle – but could somewhat fight.

And why did not Ash manage to call for help from Oak's lab? Well... we'll find out.

***DAY ZERO***

The flames would not stop burning.

Swellow seemingly defeated Houndoom with a powerful Aerial Ace.

The Pewter City Gym was in an emergency state. Flames were everywhere already, and Brock's family managed to quickly evacuate and wait for Ash to help. He quickly recalled Swellow and rushed over to get Pikachu. Someone needed to care for it. He could not afford to get to the Pokemon Center now.

He decided to take Pikachu and run with him in his arms towards the backyard. He got there and saw the other Pokemon fighting for the gym's structure and ultimately its life.

As Ash got into the backyard, he suddenly heard a voice out of nowhere.

„Heh heh heh."

„What is this?"

„Operation Gothic Serpent. Target one."

„What's going on...?"

A sudden huge sound was heard. It was the sound of a sniper rifle.

Moments later, Brock collapsed.

„Huh? Brock...?" Ash murmured.

Brock's parents were absolutely shocked. As were the children. They were seeing their loved one's life flashing before their eyes.

„Brock! Brock! Stay with me!" Ash shouted, with tears in his eyes. Everyone was on the verge of crying.

It was obviously Team Rocket's doing.

„Mission complete. He will die in a few seconds." the mysterious voice spoke, on the phone.

„Great. Now you can return to Viridian City. To discuss our next target." another mysterious voice said.

„Will do."

Ash started performing CPR on Brock to try to save him, while also requesting help from his brothers in order to possibly take him to the Pokemon Center.

But it was already too late. He was shot in the back of the head.

Brock died.

No amount of words can be used to describe Ash's feeling of shock, pain and disbelief. He just lost his best friend, what was like a brother to him. His parents, knowing they now have to dispart from their child, lost it completely. Forrest was speechless and emotionless. The other children... let's just say they were acting like their parents. Lola fell down and fainted. Complete silence.