Me: *Walking around looking for pokemon to catch and runs into a trainer*
Game: Pokemon trainer "Stress" challenges you to a battle.
Me: No…*Tries to run away*
Game: You cannot run from a trainer battle.
Me: NOOOOOOOOO!
Summary of my life so far. Sorry for not having posted in quite a while. The past few months (and next few months) have been and are going to be crazy.
o - o - o - o - o
February 1st, 2141
2:09 am
News Years Day came and went. The soldiers watched fireworks erupt in the sky. A wonderful mirage of colors and lights to celebrate the beginning of a new year. Ash might've actually enjoyed the celebrations if he hadn't killed Clemont.
For some odd reason, Clemont's death didn't hurt Ash as much as he first thought. Clemont's death was in self-defense. If he hadn't killed Clemont, then Kalos might have the papers. And that was a terrifying thought that Ash simply couldn't fathom.
Clemont himself looked like he was willing to murder Ash himself to get those papers back. The years of friendship that the two young men had, had vanished the second Ash revealed his true identity. In Clemont's eyes, Ash was just another Kantonian soldier who was trying to bring down Kalos. Ash was ashamed to say, he didn't feel that terrible for killing his friend.
But he definitely wished that their fight didn't end up with a dead Clemont.
o - o - o - o - o
February 1st, 2141
7:06 am
Toast, sausage, and bacon. The perfect breakfast for such a beautiful day. He was about to take his first mouthful when he hears a voice calling him out in the distance.
"Ash! Ash! Hey Ash!" cried a red-haired woman running towards him. Ash grinned at the sight of her. It was Misty.
"How are you?" He asked his friend.
"I am good, but you won't believe the news!" She told him exasperated. "It is about Hoenn again!"
"Again?" said Ash in surprise. Misty nodded.
"Kalos no longer has custody of the Hoenn region, they sold it." Said, Misty.
Ash stared at her for a moment, his mouth agape. "WHAT?"
"I know, it is so random."
"You sure your source is reliable though? It sounds a lot like fake news…" Said Ash unconvinced.
"It's on the news channels and all the newspapers," she replied. Ash shook his head in shock.
"Who did they sell it to?" he asked her.
"That's what made it such huge news, they didn't sell it to any region, oh no. They sold it to Team Magma and Team Aqua!" She said.
"Wait.. what?!" cried Ash.
"Archie and Maxie each bought one half of the region for themselves. Magma owns everything west of Fortree City, and Aqua owns Fortree and everything east of it. They went to Lumiose the same night as your escape actually. It took an entire month to make final preparations and they finally settled the deal late last night" She answered.
"But why would Kalos sell Hoenn to two of the most wicked, and cruelest organizations out there? Why would they even sell it in the first place?" Asked Ash in shock.
"Kalos was going bankrupt before they attacked Hoenn, after Hoenn they were losing money faster than ever. They saw Hoenn as expandable, they don't care for the well being of the Hoenneers, just for the Kalosians. Team Magma and Team Aqua were willing to pay a handsome amount, and they agreed to side with the Vindictive Powers during the war. Kalos had much to gain from the deal." Misty explained sadly.
Ash nodded. He was repulsed that Kalos would abandon their own people like that (Hoenn might not like Kalosian rule but they were still officially Kalosian people).
But it was a war. Many things were at stake, so some things must go.
"Well, it looks like Hoenn is going from the grasp of one tyrant to another." Said Ash solemnly.
o - o - o - o - o
February 16th, 2141
1:03 am
Ash was waiting for his boat to reach the Cinnabar Island Naval Port (used to be called Cinnabar Island port but now it is the Naval port.) He was being transported to Exeggutor Island on the outskirts of Alola's Poni Island. The Alolan government didn't know the Kantonians were on the island (Ash was quite unsure of how that was the case, but he didn't question it), the Kantonians used the island to keep close tabs on their enemies.
Pikachu and he had said goodbye to Misty, whom they may not see again until after the war ended, only the gods knew when that would be. Finally, the boat arrived. Ash and Pikachu boarded it, saying goodbye to the island which had been their home for about six months. Slowly but surely, Cinnabar island became a tiny green dot in the distance, until it finally disappeared from view.
He entered his new barracks and crashed onto the bed. This time, he got the top bunk. The unfortunate guy who got the lower bunk groaned in annoyance. Ash smirked.
"Should we go around asking for names?" Asked the guy who got the bottom bunk.
"Perhaps, so hi everyone. My name is Matt… this is my partner Beedy," said a blonde soldier, he pointed to his Beedrill.
"I am Charles," said the man who laid below Ash. Each of the soldiers went around the room, saying their names. Ash went last.
"Hi… um… so I am Ash," he said with a huge smile. The soldiers around him smiled in reply.
The soldiers in the barracks continued to talk, sing songs, tell jokes, and laugh. Ash enjoyed every second of it. But he also had a sudden urge to take a walk since his legs really needed to stretch.
"Hey, Charles. I am gonna go take a walk," he told the guy below him.
"Shucks, why you asking me son? Don't worry, We'd know you didn't walk out on us," the red-haired man said. His Arbok seemed to be in a conversation with Pikachu, the Arbok said bye to Pikachu as the two left.
Ash and Pikachu were walking around the island. Ironically, there wasn't an Exeggutor in sight, saying that the island was named after them. They were walking around until they heard someone cry out in pain. They looked at each other and ran towards the screamer.
They found four people standing in an abandoned alleyway between two empty barracks. One was tied up with rope and sitting on the ground, while the other three were surrounding her (Ash thought it was a woman, the scream was a bit too high for any man to do).
"Alright, we will ask you one more time, what are you doing on Exeggutor Island!" Cried a red-haired male, with an awfully familiar voice. The woman called her captors a bunch of colorful names.
"Oh, rot in hell you imbeciles!" Cried the woman.
"It's not that hard… tell us the plans and we won't hurt you," said a blue-haired woman beside the red-haired man.
"You think I am stupid? Of course, you'll kill me." Said the woman.
"Lieutenant… just give us the plan damnnit!" Cried a green-haired woman.
The woman remained silent. In the dark, Ash couldn't make out what was going on… until he heard her scream out. The red-haired man pulled something out of her chest, the Lieutenant slumped to the ground. Ash presumed she was dead.
"Mallow, Lana, hide the body somewhere, I'll report back to Colonel Kukui," Said the red-haired man. Ash's heart stopped for a second. He knew those people. Dang-it. Not this again. If he was correct, then those people were friends from his old pokemon school. That means that the red-haired man must be Kiawe. Colonel Kukui must be Professor Kukui from the pokemon school. Ash wasn't surprised that the professor had such a high military ranking, most famous pokemon trainers had such a high ranking. Since pokemon trainers knew tons about battle strategies, even though the battle strategies involved pokemon and not actual people.
Ash realized he'd been standing there in utter shock for a good 5 or so minutes, he turned around and made a run back to the Kantonian military base. He ran back into his barracks, closely followed by Pikachu.
His fellow soldiers were singing the Kantonian national Anthem, he figured a few of them were drunk saying that they looked pretty unstable. Those who were not drunk stared at Ash as he ran inside. The drunken soldiers kept singing (with absolutely horrid voices) until the rest of the soldiers told them to shut up.
"Yo, Ash. What's wrong man?" Asked Matt as he saw the young man run inside and gasp for fresh air.
"Let's just say something happened while I was out…" He simply replied. He then repeated everything he saw to his barrack mates. After he was finished, many looked at him in shock while others looked at him in rage.
"Those danged Alolans! Ash, you must take the news to Base headquarters. Come on I'll show you the way." said Charles. "Make sure to tell them every little detail."
Ash and Pikachu then followed Charles and his Arbok to the Base headquarters. They walked over to the front desk. The secretary looked up at them with a stolid expression.
"How can I help you?" He asked indifferently.
"The soldier behind me saw some suspicious activity in some alleyway between two abandoned barracks," Charles said, thrusting his thumb in Ash's direction, who stood behind him.
"What sort?" Said the secretary yawning.
"Murder of a Lieutenant," Charles casually said while inspecting his fingernails.
"Oh that's nice… wait what?" The secretary man finally looked up with a mixture of shock and horror on his face. "Er, ok I will call the Colonel."
The secretary got on his phone and called someone up. Another man appeared from the door behind the secretary. Looking rather shook. He turned and saw Charles, Ash, Arbok, and Pikachu. Without waiting for them to salute to him, he gruffly told them to lead the way.
Ash led the way, with Colonel Andres and Charles right behind him. He led them to the alleyway while Colonel Andres gave them the basics.
"We have a Lieutenant missing, she has been missing for a week or so. It was a female voice you heard right?" Asked the Colonel.
"Yes sir. It was too high to be male," replied Ash.
The Colonel simply nodded in return. "No one was supposed to know. We told everyone that she went home because a family member passed away. I thought wherever she was, she was not on the island. You sure these people were Alolan?"
"Yes, you sir know for a fact that Kukui is a high ranking officer in the Alolan army. And those people who actually murdered her, they were friends with me years ago. I was enrolled in the professor's pokemon school. They were some of my classmates." Ash replied. Ash then took a turn and turned around to face Charles and Andres.
"We are here Colonel." He pointed to the dead body. The Colonel tried his best to mask his emotions, but Ash still saw a wave of terror and sorrow cross over it. He walked over and crouched in front of her. He then stared in her face. He sighed.
"This is her, this is Lt. Laurens." He closed her eyes with his fingers and got up. He stood in front of her for a few seconds. He then pulled out his walkie-talkie and started talking to the person on the other side. After a few minutes, he put the walkie-talkie down.
"Come on soldiers… let's get back to the base. There is nothing left for us to do here," Colonel Andres said sadly. He then led the way back to the headquarters. When they arrived, the secretary looked up at the colonel and saluted.
"Sir, what happened sir? Was it true? Do we have a…"
"Yes, Thomas. We have a dead lieutenant. Private Charles, please head on back to your barracks. I need to talk to Private Ash Ketchum for a few minutes," Colonel Andres said.
"Yessir," Charles replied, saluting. He gave Ash a wary look then he left. The colonel was silent for a few moments, then he beckoned Ash into his office. The colonel sat down in his chair, and Ash sat down across from him.
"So, I heard a lot about you private. You have been on many missions. Quite a few successful ones too. Keep that up and we might end up promoting you to lieutenant." The colonel then laughed at his joke (maybe it was a joke or maybe not, Ash wasn't too sure). Even when he was laughing, Ash saw sadness in his eyes. Ash merely smiled in return, not sure what he was supposed to do.
"Laurens is dead… she was a close friend of mine from my early days in the military you know. I've been worried sick since the day she disappeared. Although your story is quite believable; we are not far from the Alolan mainland, it makes sense to have the Alolans spying on us. Tell me everything. From the beginning, if you will."
So Ash told him. Somehow the entire conversation between Kiawe, Mallow, and Lana was still in his head… perfectly. He remembered every single word. Colonel Andres did not interrupt him once. He sat there scratching his chin, taking in every word. When Ash was finished he was silent for a few minutes. Probably deciding on whether or not to trust Ash's story. In the end, he seemed to believe it.
"Private Ketchum. May I ask you a question?" Asked Colonel Andres.
Ash looked surprised. "Yes sir."
"Will you help me find the base of these Alolans…" Colonel Andres said the word "Alolans" like it was bile, "...and capture them."
Ash was not expecting that reply. "Yes sir, I will."
"Let us then go to the CCTV room and look for these imposters. Since you know how they look, it only makes sense for you to come with me and identify them." The Colonel then got up, beckoned to Ash, and left the office. Ash then followed him.
They walked to the CCTV room and then entered. It was much bigger than the security room on the S.S. Cloyster. This was an entire base after all.
They walked towards a man who seemed to be a supervisor. The man saluted towards the colonel and then the two engaged in a conversation. After a few minutes, the supervisor led them to some screens projecting the security camera footage of the alleyway where they found the lieutenant's corpse.
They rewinded the clip until they found the scene where Ash's old friends dragged Laurens into the alleyway. They watched it from the beginning.
Nothing much happened before Ash's arrival, they simply dragged poor Laurens and questioned her. Eventually, Ash appeared, and then not soon after Laurens was murdered. The Alolans then began to leave, as they walked the supervisor kept changing camera's to keep an eye on them.
Suddenly, they walked out of the camera's range. The supervisor tried to switch to another camera, but none of the other cameras were anywhere near the Alolans. The supervisor cursed.
"Colonel, they must've walked out of the range of our camera. We must not have placed any cameras near the place where they are going. We are going to have to look with our very own eyes," the supervisor said.
"Alright, seems like we have no choice then. Private Ketchum!" Colonel Andres suddenly called out.
"Yessir?" Replied Ash in surprise, although he still managed to sound respectful. He saluted once more to the colonel.
"You have been on many missions before soldier, and you seem to know these Alolan soldiers well. You will work under me to help me capture these scumbags. I will also have to have some other soldiers as well… How about your bunkmates? Do you think that they seem fit for a mission?" Asked the colonel. Ash merely smiled in reply. The colonel nodded.
"Ok Private, me and my other commanding officers will come up with a plan to get these scumbags and at some point within the next few days, they will be our prisoners.
o - o - o - o - o
I know it has been a long while since I last posted. And I know that this is not a very long chapter, I at first wanted to make this chapter longer, but I wanted to get a chapter out sooner. So I cut it off here. I really was stuck on what to write for this chapter, but the next few chapters will be easier since I have the basic plot in my head.
Hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did writing it. I am excited to read your comments! (WRITE COMMENTS PLZ)
Again, I do not own any of the characters except for a few (takes no genius to figure out which ones lol) and places mentioned in this fan-fiction story, it all belongs to the Pokemon Company. I only own the plot.