6 – Down with the Sickness
The undergrowth snatched and tore at their arms and legs as Ash and his companions pushed their way through the darkness. Ash had decided to leave the road, to which Misty had furiously argued against. However, Brock sided with Ash, agreeing it was best to hide themselves just in case Butch and Cassidy broke the line.
Now from somewhere over his shoulder, Ash could hear Misty huffing as she tripped at hidden roots.
"Great idea Ash," She complained icily, but Ash knew better than to engage her. "Do you even know where we are going?" She demanded, angry at being ignored.
"Misty, let it go." Brock said wearily.
Ash felt Brock's tiredness reflected within his own body. The cuts and burns from the earlier fight pained him and he was exhausted from all the running, but he did not let it show. Instead, he pushed harder, breaking a path forward.
The bush finally gave way to long grass which reached to waist height. In the centre of the grassy field, Ash could make out the dark outline of a structure. Brock, who was at his side, took a sharp intake of breath.
"This isn't Bill's house, is it?"
"Dunno, guess we'll find out." Ash grunted in reply, pushing through the overgrown grass which he now gathered was once a front garden. As he approached the house, he noted it was in ill repair. For now, this was good fortune.
Without any sign of feigning politeness, Ash grabbed the door handle and opened the door, which swung inwards without resistance to reveal more darkness.
Misty and Brock followed him in as he wandered into the room. A quick sweep of the room confirmed its lack of occupants. But from what he could make out, it reminded him of Professor Oak's lab with bookshelves overfilling with books and tables littered with paper.
Misty brushed up against a table, let out a scream and jumped jerkily, knocking one of the machines that were sitting on one of the paper laden tables.
Insert Pokedex, the machine flashed, suddenly a source of light in the darkened room.
"Insert Pokedex?" Ash repeated out loud. Staring intently at the flashing message.
Ash slipped his backpack of and placed it on the floor, before squatting down and searching through it, finally he straightened up, in his hand a red device.
"I haven't used this in years." He said to no one in particular before slipping the Pokedex into the slot as pointed to by the machine.
A blue percentage bar replaced the message on the screen as it read the data from the device. At 100 it stopped and a picture of the 10-year-old Ash Ketchum appeared before them.
"Welcome Ash, Bill will attend to you shortly." A cool, feminine sounding robotic voice emitted from the machine as the Pokedex was ejected. Ash grabbed it back and placed it in his pocket, his eyes meeting Misty's and even in the darkness, he could tell his confusion was reflected in her own.
There was a bright flash, unexpectedly lighting the darkened room. Ash lifted his arm automatically, covering his eyes but he need not have. As quickly as the flash had come, it had subsided, leaving a strange blue person in the middle of the room. Ash started towards it cautiously, noticing the blue person wasn't actually solid but some sort of projection which flickered sporadically. He reached out and his hand passed right through the hologram. He stared at his hand in confusion.
"Bill?" Misty questioned almost breathlessly. She looked uncertain, perhaps even wary; Ash reasoned.
"Misty, welcome! Great to see you again!" The hologram of Bill spoke and Ash was completely wrongfooted.
"But I heard you passed away from a heart attack!" said Misty.
"Well, my body has passed, but I am alive and kicking." Bill laughed to a completely bewildered Misty.
"You don't look very alive." Ash said, recovering from his state of confusion and placing his hand once again through the hologram.
"Just because I am not in the flesh anymore does not mean I am not Alive." Bill counted, frustrated. "My body may be just a hologram but my conscious is just as here as you are."
Ash folded his arms across his body with an unaccepting expression.
"Okay then," he said simply.
Bill sighed and smiled. "Well at least this time I'm not trapped in a Kabuto costume." He finished with a chuckle.
"Small wonders." Ash said nonchalantly.
During this conversation, Brock had been inching around the hologram device, taking in the intricate details. He made several impressed sounds as he followed the mechanics. With a nod as though it finalised the matter he spoke to Bill.
"An impressive way to keep your knowledge beyond the normal lifespan of a human." Brock noted, voice filled with praise. "But what if something happens to the power that keeps your consciousness aware?"
Bill smiled broadly looking at Brock with enthusiasm.
"Yes, well the power supply was one of my most pressing concerns. But I created a network of UPS across several server rooms. It would take a great catastrophe for this to fail." Bill finished with a hint or arrogance. Brock nodded as he drunk in his words.
"Impressive." He repeated again. 'I am to assume that these servers are spread across Kanto?"
Bill's eyes lit up with obvious excitement. "Yes, of course!" he nodded wildly, seemingly encouraged by Brock.
"Nerds." Ash muttered bitterly under breath to Misty, who stifled a laugh with her hand.
"So, what do I owe the pleasure?" Bill asked, focusing on Brock.
"Needed a place to lay low for a while." Brock told him to which Bill nodded knowingly.
"Bit of a kerfuffle out there, huh?" Bill said with the air of someone commenting on the weather to which Brock indulged him a small smile.
"That's putting it one way."
Bill allowed himself a few seconds before moving his attention back to Ash.
"You're back because of Rocket, I take it?"
Ash stared at him, chewing the inside of his lip, choosing not to answer. Bill, unperturbed continued
"Well then, I guess you'll want to know about the Three Feathers of the legendary birds." He said while looking around as though this was common knowledge; only to be met by complete blankness from his audience. He swiped his hand through the air in front of him, impatiently, as if searching for something.
"Ah, yes here it is; 'When the feathers of the three birds are united, they will release the power capable of stopping the Song of Heart and Soul.'"
Ash snorted in disbelief.
"The Song of Heart and Soul." He derided. "What is that shit?"
Bill shook his head with a small smile.
"The text has been translated from the very rare language of the first Cinnabar Island people. It's not an exactly translation but as close as we can ever get. Oak had spent years working on these journals recovered from Cinnabar."
"Right." Said Ash, his tone heavy with scepticism.
"There is a gap in our knowledge however. And that is how Team Rocket unleashed the Song of Heart and Soul. Oak believed it had something to do with the Genetically Modified Pokémon; Mewtwo. But he never got to finish that research." Bill finished speaking with a significant look at the people before him. Ash knew instantly what he was implying. Rocket had disposed of Oak before he found out too much.
"And all of this comes back to Giovanni?" Ash asked.
"Yes."
"But he is dead." Ash said flatly.
'Well, yes. I thought so too but the man is living and breathing just as you and I. Actually, more just you. I gave up the need to breathe myself."
Ash considered Bill's words with a slight frown. His eyes wandered and his attention turned to Pikachu, who was curiously sniffing around old books stacked on a dusty bookshelf, closest to the floor.
"Could he be a hologram, like you?" Ash asked slowly as he watched his yellow mouse Pokémon.
"No, all accounts have him as being a fully-fledged, living human." Bill answered.
"Where are you getting your information from? Aren't you stuck in that thing?"
Bill's face lit up with excitement. "Yes, but as Brock deducted before, I have spread myself across servers right across Kanto. What good would it be if I were unable to continue my research in this state."
Bill looked as though he had every intention of continuing but Ash stopped him with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"I don't want to know all that Computer Nerd shit." He said contemptuously, leaving Bill crestfallen.
Misty decided it was time for her to chime in, before Ash caused Bill to lose interest in helping them. Stepping forward she coughed to gain Bill's attention.
"You mentioned before that we need the feathers of the Three Legendary Birds to stop this song thing. Well, where do we find them? And what's the point of the Gym Badges and stone things Elm told us about if we need feathers?"
Bill considered Misty for a moment, tracing his lips with a finger.
"Well, again the translation isn't 100 percent accurate but it seems you need both in tandem. One can't work without the other. That is what I sent Elm to Pallet town to find out but from the reports back, it was a lost cause."
"That was you?" Misty gasped. "Elm never mentioned you."
Bill shrugged but did not add anything further/
"So, where are the feathers?" Brock now asked, turning Bill's attention back to the previously unanswered question.
"I don't know." He said simply.
"Well, thank you very much for the help. Couldn't have done it without you." Ash muttered sarcastically which was not missed by Bill.
"They are legendary birds for a reason."
Ash growled and turned, stalking away from Bill and over to the bookshelf Pikachu was still showing interest in. He decided he had had enough of Bill and his lack of answers. He picked a book at random and busied himself with it, pretending to read.
"Well, there must be information about them somewhere." Brock argued. "Legends always have tales."
Bill nodded slowly, thinking to himself. Misty and Brock watched him with bated breath, Ash snorted to himself, although he pretended not to be listening, his ears were strained.
"Yes, the Legendary Birds have always been a pet interest of mine." Bill said slowly, still deep in thought. "I have three locations that are often associated with the birds, but my research trips to those locations have never netted me sight of the Pokémon. It would seem unlikely that the feathers are there, although I never had a reason to check."
"What are the locations?" Misty said quickly with an anxious bite to her tone.
"The Power Plant on route 10. The one that was abandoned years ago. They say it was abandoned because of Zapdos, but I have never been able to confirm that rumour." Bill ticked each one off on his fingers as he spoke. "Then there are the Seafoam islands, Articuno is said to reside there. And lastly Victory Road is the supposed home of Motres but every traveller to the Indigo league passes through there and there has never been a valid sighting of the bird."
Ash sighed loudly, letting his cynicism show, while forgetting he was supposed to be ignoring the conversation happening behind him. He placed the book down and turned back to the Hologram.
"And we are supposed to believe all of this nonsense?" He challenged.
Bill did not answer straight away, instead he made another of his swiping motions, eyes blurring as he seemed to read a text invisible to the trio.
"It isn't a matter of believing it or not, Ash." He said in a firm tone, letting Ash know he was not to be bullied. "It's a matter of this is what we have on hand and we have no evidence to contradict it."
"Basically, you're saying that this is the real deal." Brock finished for him.
Bill nodded slowly. "Unfortunately, it is what it is."
With that Ash finally cracked. A wave of anger rose within him and he stormed out of the room, through a door which led to the outside, making sure to slam it with as much force as he could muster behind him. Pikachu went to follow but Misty crouched down and caught it.
"Just let him go for now," She said soothingly as she clutched the Pokémon to her chest.
The smell of sea-salt hit Ash as he took his first breath of fresh air. Now that he was outside, he felt his anger abate. This is useless, he thought to himself as he stopped and took in his surroundings. He could hear the crashing of the waves onto the shore somewhere behind the row of wispy trees and thick shrubs Bill had arranged in such a way as to give his home some privacy. Even though the coastal foliage was thick, Ash spied a path through and he followed it, the urge to get further away from the dwelling pushing him on.
On the other side of the brush was a small cove. A narrow sandy beach the only buffer between him and the inky swell. The small waves of the ocean caught the moonlight causing dazzling ripples of light across the vast black surface. Ash stared out over the water from his location on the beach with a tight frown, in the back of his mind he had the strange sense of déjà vu. A blinding flash of pain burst behind his eyes and he grunted, sinking into blackness
…
The ocean sparkled like thousands of tiny diamonds, the light dancing across the ripples in the water as the sun set on the horizon. Ash stood, the light salty breeze tussling the black bangs of hair across his forehead, facing the idyllic scene.
"Ash," A soft female voice reached his ears from somewhere behind his left shoulder. He turned his head to face the voice.
Misty stood wearing a long bottle green dress that flowed freely around her legs, fluttering in the breeze at her ankles. Her slim face was heavy with concern. Ash turned to face her.
'What's up?" he asked casually, however Misty did not smile, instead she chewed her bottom lip, nervously.
"I – Well, I," She spluttered. Ash raised an eyebrow, confused by her unease.
"What, Misty." He said, the words coming out harsher than he intended. Silently he chastised himself.
Misty's mouth moved by no words escaped her lips. Ash took a step towards her, unsure of what to do.
"Misty?" he pressed.
"Ash… I'm pregnant." She almost whispered. Tears being to dribble down her checks. She instantly turned her head downwards, letting her long, orange hair fall across her face, shielding her from Ash.
Ash was dumbfounded, he opened his mouth several times to speak but his brain suddenly seemed incapable of speech. He stared hopelessly at Misty's hair, which played in the breeze and heard misty stiffen a sniffle.
"You can't be" Ash finally managed. His voice unsteady.
Misty shook her head, her orange hair dancing in front of her.
Ash turned his back on her and faced the ocean again, allowing the raft of emotions to wash over him.
"You're going to have to get rid of it." He told her, weighing each word carefully.
"No!" Misty gasped, exasperated. "I can't do that."
Ash suddenly felt anger rare up inside him. "We're fifteen Misty!" He snapped; voice thick with rage and refusing to look at her. "I can't be a father now, I'm league champion! That is my priority now!"
Misty said nothing, but he could hear her breathing heavily.
"You planned this, didn't you?" Ash asked, his voice laden with accusation, "You didn't want me to go away and do my duties as league champion. You got pregnant on purpose to keep me here. Didn't you?"
Misty let out a sob.
"No Ash, how could I?" Her voice shook violently with every syllable.
Ash balled his hand into a fist and released it, repeating this action a few times. Trying to calm the sense of betrayal and rage following through his being.
"I'm fifteen," he repeated again. "I'm not going to let you stand between me and my life's work."
He knew how harsh the words sounded coming out of his mouth, but he didn't care. He savoured them, enjoying their effect on Misty.
Misty, now losing all sense of restraint, openly cried. Her voice broken as she gasped for air.
"Ash, you can't do this! Don't make me do this!" She pleaded him.
"Misty, I don't want to be a father!" Ash yelled back. "And I'm not staying around because you don't know how to use the pill properly."
It was a low blow but Ash didn't regret it. He wanted to hurt Misty at that very moment, he wanted to unleash his anger on her. Misty gave a strangled cry and fell to her knees, holding her head in her hands, wailing. Ash kept his back firmly turned, ignoring her. He had nothing more to say, he wasn't going to throw away being League Champion just because she was pregnant. To him it was clear this was her way of trying to trap him. From stopping him from leaving.
"If you don't get rid of it, don't expect me to accept that I'm the father. I don't want any part of it. You're on your own."
"Ash" Misty sobbed, "I didn't, I really didn't"
…
Ash came too with a start; he was face down in the sand. Spluttering and spitting the grains from his mouth, he scrambled to his knees. The sharp stabbing sensation behind his eyes flared and he screeched in pain. He could feel his stomach churring and bile, sickly and burning, on the back of his tongue. He rested his head in his palms as nausea threatened to overwhelm him.
"Ash!"
"Pika, Pi!"
The voices sounded far away, faint like a poorly turned radio.
Misty's face swum before him; her turquoise eyes bright with concern. The usual sneer of distrust replaced by honest worry. Ash blinked furiously and shook his head from side to side, desperately trying to clear his vision and mind.
Pikachu nudged Ash hard on his lower legs, trying to gain his attention.
"It's okay, Pikachu." He grunted, hoarsely.
Misty knelt in front of him, bringing her eyes level with his own. Brown on turquoises. She searched his face trying to get a read on him. Ash felt exposed, and bitterly he tried to mask his feelings. Allowing the pain to wash over him to cover his vulnerability. Desperate to block Misty out.
"Ash." She whispered, barely audible. He grunted and looked downwards, breaking eye contact. Shakily he placed his hands before him on the sand and pushed to his feet. Carefully testing his balance. Misty rose with him, her expression now unfathomable. For a few seconds they stood facing each other but neither was looking at the other. Both far away in their own thoughts, the atmosphere between them heavy with tension.
Ash finally opened his mouth to speak.
"Come Pikachu, to me."
Pikachu obeyed in silence, leaping from Ash's feet onto his shoulder. He then turned-on heel. Leaving Misty to watch his retreating back. A sad smile crossed her mouth but as soon as it had appeared, it was gone, replaced with a look of cold indifference.
Silhouetted against the dark light house; a slender figure watched the party on the beach. The moonlight casting deep shadows across the woman's face as a stern expression settled on her features. However, her eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, two purple pinpricks in a sea of greys and blacks twinkling with unknown emotions. She blinked once and flicked her wrist in front of her head purposefully.
As the slim woman vanished into the night; the wind whispered.
"Save me."
Violet, Lilly and Daisy; the sensational sisters sat across the fire from their sister, Ash and Brock. Reunited after the Nugget Bridge fiasco, they had set up camp outside Bill's house. Unwilling to stay inside, which Ash was privately grateful for.
"I never expected to see this again." Lilly tittered, her hand covering her mouth as if it were rude to smile. Misty sat looking at her sisters, stone faced, while Ash was apathetic to the whole situation. Brock, however, was quite open to the company of Misty's older sisters. Indulging them in a beaming smile that reached his eyes.
"I guess you can say, stranger things have happened." He replied, his voice oozed forced charm which was noted by the sisters before him.
"Oh Brock, still the same I see. See a pretty woman and you lose your mind." Daisy taunted him playfully as she moved around the fire, planting herself between Brock and Ash.
"While you do have your charms," She started with a flourish, "I think Ash here is the real ladies man." She unexpectedly grabbed a hold of Ash's arm and nuzzled her head into his shoulder. Ash scowled at her but that only caused her to double down, gripping his arm tighter as he tried to shake her off.
"How about it, Ash? Ever had a foursome with three sisters?" She cooed seductively, her eyes twinkling mischievously.
Surprisingly it was Misty who was next to speak. Her body rigid as she fumed with rage.
"That's enough!" She snapped savagely, Glaring daggers at her older sister.
"Misty, could it be you still carry the flame for your childhood crush!" Daisy put on an overexaggerated look of surprise, her mouth forming a wide O shape and she let go of Ash's arm as if she had been shocked.
"Well, I never. Misty." Violet was next to speak, staring at her sister in a strangely calculating way. "If I recall right this is the boy who broke your he- "
"Shut up." Misty said, her voice ice cold.
A strangled silence broke over the group at the tone of Misty's voice. The only sound was the crackling of the fire in the middle of the circle. Daisy rose quickly and shuffled back to her spot between Lilly and Violet. The unspoken boundaries had been pushed too far.
"I'm sorry" Daisy started earnestly but Ash raised his hand.
"I don't want to hear it." He scowled.
Daisy looked sulkily downwards. Lilly sensing this, hastened to break the awkwardness.
"Butch and Cassidy have been sent back to wherever they came from licking their wounds but I have no doubt they will be back soon." Lilly explained with a heavy sigh. "We couldn't finish them off. That bitch ran first and he followed her like a lost puppy dog."
Ash nodded in acknowledgement. His chest still stung from where Cassidy had cut him and the burns on his arms where raw and smarting.
"Where will you go from here then?" Violet asked to which Ash shrugged nonchalantly before saying, darkly.
"It doesn't matter, whatever we do, all roads lead through Vermillion City."