Vermillion City

Time Unknown

The world was too bright, a harsh white that smelled too cleaned vaguely chemically. But gradually everything shifted into focus. The white melted and became walls and the overwhelming brightness shifted to overhead lights. Goh's head felt like it was filled with cotton and his sore throat felt like he had been sleeping with his mouth open again. It was all of the pain of a hangover and none of the memory of drinking. Was there a crazy party and he blacked out?

Goh blinked the crust from his eyes. The beeping that he originally thought was his alarm was too steady but he raised his arm to stop it anyway. Or he tried to raise his arm. It was heavy and in a sling and when he tried to turn his head his neck felt stiff. But when he finally did he saw the iv in the back his hand. Questions swam in his mind, but the words felt like gibberish. He groaned, trying to force the nonsense to form coherent words.

"Goh? Are you awake?" Chole jumped from her chair, dropping her book onto the table next to her. Adjusting the bed so Goh was sitting up, she grabbed some water and brought the straw to his lips as he greedily drank. "How are you feeling?"

"What happened?" Goh rasped. "Where am I?"

Chole shook her head. "Does your head hurt? What do you remember?"

Goh growled. "Answer my questions!"

"Answer mine!" Chole glared back.

Goh sagged against his pillows. "I don't know. My head hurts and everything is kinda fuzzy. Did something happen to me? I'm in the hospital so I got hurt."

"You fell and hit your head. You've been in a coma for almost a month." Chole nodded as she sat back into her seat. "Do you remember working for Aether Paradise?"

Goh nodded. "The research part of the mission part? After Ash… left." He furrowed his brow. "They were studying where legendaries come from."

Chloe passed him the water again and he reached out with a shaky hand to try and take the cup before giving up and letting Chloe hold it while he sipped at the straw. A memory pushed its way to the front of his mind and he jerked, grabbing at the rail on the bed.

"Project: Nul! It was stolen by someone at Macro Cosmos! We need to do something." He scrambled to try and get out of bed, pulling at the iv when Chloe put her hand on his to stop him from hurting himself.

"Goh stop. It's been a month. You went to try and get it back already. That's how you got hurt."

Goh settled back in the bed and frowned. "It was Ash wasn't it? He works for Macro Cosmos now and he helped Aether before. When we stayed in Alola for a while."

Chloe bit her lip. "No one really knows. There weren't any witnesses to what happened to you. My Dad said that the doctors in Galar called it an accident, you fell down the steps near Rose tower. Your parents freaked out. They blamed dad for you being in Galar and working for Aether Paradise. You almost died. You could have died if Cinderace hadn't gone for help."

Goh studied her face, the tears pooling in her eyes. He glanced back at his arm in the sling, the other hooked up to the iv. He closed his eyes as Chloe kept talking, letting the words wash over him as he felt sick to his stomach.

"They wanted to get rid of your Pokemon. Said if you had never become a trainer, never gotten the job as a research fellow when we were kids, you would have worked with them at their company and been safe."

Goh nodded absently. "They want me to give it all up. All my dreams, everything."

Chloe picked at the corner of her book, holding it in her lap. "They threatened a restraining order on dad and everyone at the lab. I guess they don't have an issue with me since I finished school and I'm not doing the whole trainer thing. But I've been trying not to visit when they do just in case." She pulled her phone from her pocket. "I should let them know you're awake. They'll kill me if I don't saw anything."

Goh rubbed his face with the iv hand. "Is it wrong if I don't want to see them? Like I get being worried, but also I can't give up my Pokemon. They're my friends." He looked up at the ceiling. "Can you tell them I'm tired and I'll see them tomorrow?"

Chloe glanced at her phone before clicking off the screen and sliding it back into her pocket without a word.

Goh smiled wryly. "They weren't going t come today anyway were they? Too busy."

Chloe sighed and nodded. "I can go if you're actually tired. I'll let my dad know what's going on with you."

"Cool. Tell him I said hi and I'll try to get back to the lab as soon as I can. I don't care what My parents have to say, I'm fucking 19 and I have my own apartment. Wait do I still have my apartment?"

Chloe laughed. "Yeah, though we might have to clean out your fridge before you get discharged. Dads been loaning out some of your Pokemon on jobs to pay for it. He figured you wouldn't mind too much and it helps them exercise."

A wave of calm washed over Goh and he adjusted the pillows by his sling arm. "Good. Thanks for taking care of them."

Chloe pat his hand, nodding as she stood to leave. "Feel better," she said as she headed to the door. She opened it and waved as she closed it behind her leaving Goh alone with his thoughts. He needed to remember what happened, if only for his own benefit.

Wyndon

Time: just after dark one month ago

Goh pulled at the hood of his jacket as he moved through the crowds near Wyndon stadium. There was an exhibition match tonight in honor of the start of the next Monarch series league. Leon was still the champion, but Ash was quickly become the fan favorite because of his crazy battle strategies. Loathe Goh was to admit it, but even after leaving to work for Macro Cosmos he still battled the same way. It was probably the only thing about him that hadn't changed.

As he got closer to the tower he pulled the keycard from his pocket and clenched it in his hand. Bypassing the front door Goh headed for there side door that his informant mentioned, tapping the card against the panel there and pushing on the door as soon as the lock flashed green. Based on the info he had Project: Nul should be in the lab four floors up and the building would be empty because of the Pokemon match tonight. He jogged toward the elevators and jabbed at the button, tapping his foot as he waited for the doors to open.

Once inside the elevator he release Cinderace, not having to worry about anyone seeing the light. Her ears swiveled as the door opened and gave the all clear as the two of them crept toward the lab. Goh wasn't sure which room it actually was but Cinderace had no issues kicking open each door until they found the one with the equipment needed to contain Project: Nul. But the containment pod was empty.

"No!" Goh whispered, tracing his hand over the glass. "Fuck where did they move it?"

He sank onto one of the computer chairs and typed the password he had been provided. Skimming through some of the document titles he tried to find anything that mentioned Nul but he didn't see anything obvious. So he settled for copying every file that had been edited since Nul had been taken to his phone. Gladion could sort it all out later and they could plan their next move.

Cinderace's ears turned to the door and she pushed Goh's shoulder. A shadow moved in the hallway, shining a flashlight across the open door. Goh ducked undertake desk, Cinderace curling into his side.

"Come on out!" A very familiar voice called. "I know you're in here. This is the last busted door on this hall."

Goh peered around the corner of the workstation, but got caught in the light's beam. Tapping Cinderace's paw he made a run for it, pushing passed the body in the door. Cinderace burst into the hallway after him and took an aura sphere to the chest. Goh turned to yell and got slammed into the wall, his arm pinned to his back as a body pressed against him, holding him in place. A hand pulled the keycard from his hoodie pocket and waved it in front of his nose.

"This seems like a severe compliance breach," the voice purred in his ear.

Goh growled and tried to squirm away. "Let me go Ash!"

Ash smirked as he flipped Goh easily, holding his wrist to the wall and pinning him with his hips. "Not until you return what you took."

Goh barked a laugh. "Thats rich coming from you. Where's Project: Nul?"

Ash tapped the stolen keycard to his chin in mock thought. "I would check Aether Paradise. It's their project after all."

"I know you took it!" Goh struggled against Ash's hold, casting a futile glance to Cinderace who was pinned by Lucario on the floor.

"You can't prove anything," Ash breathed in his ear.

In a last ditch effort Goh slammed his head forward into Ash's nose. He yelped and grabbed his face as he stumbled backward. Goh half turned to recall Cinderace to her poke ball and ran to the stairs. He slammed into the door and jumped to the first landing, hitting the wall hard as he tried to turn. Dropping Cinderace's poke ball she popped out again and lifted him into her arms to dash down the rest of the stairs at a breakneck pace. They made it out the side door and into a nearby alley to catch their breath.

"Do you think they followed us?" Goh gasped as he leaned over, resting his hands on his knees.

Cinderace looked around, shifting her ears to try and listen before shaking her head. Goh nodded and after a moment pulled himself upright. Checking outside the alley he and Cinderace tried to blend into the people still milling outside of the stadium as they headed back out of the city. The streets slowly emptied of people the farther they got from the stadium and Goh started to relax as they moved away from the tower. Until something hard slammed into his side and he went tumbling. He heard Cinderace scream as everything faded to black.