AN-

"Speech" 'thoughts' 'telepathy'

Thanks to my beta reader, Flamewing98!

Please enjoy and review!

Chapter Thirteen

"Uh, my head." Ash sat up clutching his head with both hands. He rubbed his eyes before shaking the fatigue away and looked around "Well, crap."

Ash was in a small jail cell, and he could see Red in an identical one just across the room, only about ten feet away from his cell. They looked completely normal except for the cuffs that were used to bind them to their beds by their ankles; they used the same kind of plasma that Team Rocket used to hold Mewtwo, which meant that the two would be unable to use their powers to escape. However, unlike Mewtwo's chains, these weren't self sustaining, as Ash deduced from the thick cables running from them to the wall and attached to the cuffs.

The cells were about 10 feet by ten feet, enough room for a rough cot, toilet, and sink, but nothing more. There were no one else in sight, and theirs was the only pair of cells in the room.

'Hm,' Ash thought of a plan to escape immediately 'I can definitely break those cables now that I feel up to full strength again.' Ash started and his eyes widened 'Whoa, I feel way stronger than I did before. Before...'

The previous events rushed back into Ash's mind. His eyes started to water, but he quickly shook them away. He had already grieved, and any more would dishonor his Pokemon's memories. He took a deep breath to compose himself.

'Anyway,' Ash thought to himself, refocusing on their escape 'those cables will be easy to break with this much power, then I'll bust these cell bars apart and get Red out. Once that's done, escaping should be a cinch. This is clearly a police prison, not a Rocket one, so we should be careful to not kill anyone.'

He nodded to himself, satisfied with his plan. He leaned in the direction of Red's cell to voice his plan. Red was lying down on his cot with his arms behind his head "Hey Red, I've got an idea."

Red cut him off "No, we can't break out and escape."

Ash paused, taking a moment to make sure he had heard Red correctly "What do you mean? We've got to get out of here!"

Red sat up and looked at Ash "Clearly, you've seen these cuffs, right?" he pointed to the cuffs that were attached to his ankles.

"Yeah."

"Well, these aren't like the one's Team Rocket used on Mewtwo. You see how they've got cables?

Ash nodded.

"These kind of restraint cuffs are used on people that they don't really care if they live or die. The cables serve two functions: to power the plasma in the cuffs and if the flow of plasma is disturbed, to signal for something, probably explosives to go off and kill the wearer."

Ash looked dumbfoundedly at them "I wouldn't think that the police would allow that kind of device."

"They made a special exception for us."

"Well then." Ash laid back down with an exasperated sigh "What do we do?"

"We wait. When someone with a key comes in here, I can contact Mewtwo with my psychic powers, he'll teleport in and I'll have him grab the key and free us. Then we all teleport out of here."

"What happened to all of our Pokemon after I passed out? Do the police have them?"

"No, don't worry. I had Mewtwo take them all when he went to hide. He's waiting for me to contact him. I have no idea where he is though."

Ash grunted in frustration "So we just have to sit and wait?"

Red tapped his fingers melodically and hummed a yes in response.

Ash stared at the ceiling, annoyed with himself for letting his anger get the best of him and putting them into this situation in the first place. Of course, he didn't regret the immediate outcome of his rage, but the consequences were unfortunate. He continued to reflect on this for about five minutes until Red broke the silence.

"I'm bored. Wanna play I spy?"

May, and the gang stopped at the front desk of the police station. Everyone was stressed out, but they all wanted to see the man who they thought was lost to them. Even some of the friends Ash hadn't seen for a long time before he disappeared had showed up after being called by Brock, Misty, and Dawn. Ritchie was there, along with Barry, Tracey, and surprisingly, Paul who had made up with Ash after Ash had defeated him in the Sinnoh League, and the two quickly became friends after Paul dropped his rude attitude. All of Ash's friends had gotten calls, but these were the only ones who were anywhere close enough to make it. Unfortunately, they had been briefed by Brock, Misty, Dawn, and Max before May and Gary could, so they all thought to some degree that Ash was the guilty party.

May especially was nervous. She was desperate to know if Ash still felt the same way about her. Now that she knew that he had been alive for the last five years, she suddenly felt very self conscience about her reaction to his 'death'. She knew that there was no way that she could have known that he wasn't really dead, but that's just how she felt. Regardless of that, she needed to see him one more time, since he would probably be spending the rest of his life in prison at the very least.

"Hello, what can I do for you all?" The receptionist asked as she gave the group a smile.

"Hello," Brock said, seizing the role of the de facto leader of the group, something he did quite often "we were wondering if we could visit a prisoner."

"Sure thing." She looked at her computer "What is the prisoner's name?"

"Ash Ketchum."

The receptionist looked at the group in surprise before maintaining her cool exterior "Um, okay." She typed something into the computer and reached down in one of her desk drawers to pull out a piece of paper on a clipboard with a pen attached to it by a string "If I could have you all put your signatures on this sign in sheet please, someone will be along shortly to escort you to the prisoner's cell."

One by one, everyone signed it. By time the last person, Ritchie, had signed it, their escort had already arrived.

"Hello everyone." The man wore a black trench coat with a dark brown vest and matching pants. Underneath, her wore a white button up shirt with a dark purple tie "Please follow me." Everyone followed him is he took them to a door to the left. He opened the door for them and once they were all through, he shut it behind him. The room was clearly a break room; it had a fridge, microwave, sink, two small sofas and even a small television set. However, no one appeared to be taking a break, so it was empty save all of them. They stood in the middle of the room, confused, so they waited for the man to speak first.

He turned to face them after shutting the door "Why do you all want to see Ash Ketchum?"

With that, everyone understood. They figured beforehand that it wouldn't be that easy to just visit someone accused of mass murder when he was a known aura user. They were more surprised when the receptionist made it seem like they could visit with a simple sign in sheet.

"Because he's our friend, and we want to see him." A certain feisty redhead retorted.

"Plus, we haven't seen him in over five years." Ritchie threw a look at Misty "We want to see for ourselves how he's changed."

The man scrutinized the group for a moment before his eyes landed on Dawn and Brock "Hm, you two look familiar."

Dawn rubbed the back of her head "We do? Have we met before?"

The man nodded "Yes, I remember. I met you two along with Ash on the train to Lake Acuity, then later on Mt. Coronet."

Brock gave him a once over "Oh yeah, I remember. You're Detective Looker, right?"

Looker nodded again "I am." He sighed "Well, I was originally planning on not letting you all see him, but since you two helped me with Team Galactic, I suppose I can make an exception; I feel like I can trust you two. I have no reason not to, unlike Ash."

May and Gary stiffened at the slight, but no one else seemed to even notice it. They didn't say anything, however, because they didn't want to lose their chance to see Ash.

"Alright," Looker grunted as he opened the door once more "I'll take you all to see Ash."

Everyone filed out of the room once more, and once Looker took the lead again, followed him. He lead them across the reception area again, but this time took a pair of doors to the right. Inside the doors was an elevator.

"Everyone in here." Looker motioned to the elevator and the gang complied, Looker following them in. As the doors closed, he pressed a button marked with a B and the elevator descended. When the doors opened with a ding, Looker walked out and down the hallway that lay in front of them. As the gang walked behind him, they looked around. It looked like a normal basement; and it was. There a few doors on the wall, most marked storage, but other than that, only a door at the end of the hallway was visible. Looker led them through that door which revealed a room with about ten cells, five on each side. Only the first two were being used. They stopped in front of the cell on the left, and a sleeping Ash chained to his bed with strange cuffs could be seen between the gaps in the bars.

Looker banged on those bars with his fist "Ketchum, wake up! You have visitors!"

For a moment, it seemed like that didn't wake him, but then Ash's arms stretched in the air before he sat up with his eyes still closed. He rubbed the, and yawned, stretching his arms once more before opening his eyes halfway. Once he saw his friends, his eyes quickly snapped open, and his mouth hung open in shock. They reacted in a similar way, eyes wide as they caught their breath.

Looker's gaze went from Ash to his friends "You all don't have all day."

Max snapped out of it first and he ran up to the bars and grabbed them "Ash! I can't believe it's you! I haven't seen you in so long and I've missed you so much! We never got to battle!"

Ash just stared, unsure of what to say and afraid of what his friends might.

Brock walked up to Max and put a hand on his shoulder. Max looked up at him before remembering where they were and why they were there. His hands dropped from the bars and he took a step back, head down. Ash looked at all his friend's faces: Max, Brock, Tracey, Dawn, Misty, Gary, Ritchie, Barry, Paul, May.

May.

Ash's heart nearly stopped. She was just as beautiful as he remembered her, only more so. She met his eyes, and she seemed to almost be in tears. That broke Ash's heart and he wanted nothing more than to get up and comfort her, but he turned to Brock as he started to speak.

"Ash," Brock started slowly "while I would love to start with a greeting like Max's, I feel like we need to know some things first."

Gary looked at Brock like he was insane, already knowing what was on his mind and not believing that he would bring it up like this.

"What?" Ash responded lamely before mentally kicking himself 'The first time you see them in years and the first thing they hear from you is what.'

Brock took a deep breath "Did you attack the Resort with intent to steal? Why did you murder all of those people?"

His words knocked Ash out of his stupor "What? Of course I didn't try to steal from the resort! You know me Brock, I'm not a thief!"

Misty spoke up "Did you murder all those people?"

Ash looked at her "Huh?"

Misty struggled to respond "I said, did you murder all those people?"

"Answer honestly Ash." Dawn told him, though she seemed to have as much trouble as Misty "We've all seen the footage, and it doesn't look good."

"Well…" Ash couldn't think of what to say. He knew that he did, but he had good reason to "Yes, but I had no choice! They were going to kill us!"

May nodded "It's true, Team Rocket was going to kill them!"

"Not this again," Looker shook his head "There's absolutely no proof of that. The Royal Aura Resort has no ties to Team Rocket whatsoever."

Ash's heart sunk as he realized his mistake. May had inadvertently taken away his defense. Now, if he tried to blame Team Rocket, it would seem as though he was just going along with what May said. If he wanted to be believable, he should have mentioned them straight off the bat. Now it was going to be a lot harder to convince them.

"I know this will look weak, but yes, it was Team Rocket. They had my and my partner's Pokemon, and we had to get them back."

Red lifted a hand to the group in greeting, uncomfortable with speaking in front of strangers to him, but especially Detective Looker. No one noticed him.

"That seems unlikely." Ritchie said, giving voice to Ash's fear "What with all the evidence against you."

Gary decided it was time Ash got some help "Guys, come on! We've all known Ash for a long time, and I for one refuse to believe that he would do all this! Sure, he killed those people, but May corroborates his story!"

Max nodded "Well, at first, it was hard to ignore the evidence, but it's even harder to believe it when Ash himself is here to defend himself."

Misty mumbled some sort of agreement while May looked at her brother with pride. Even Barry, Ritchie, and Paul looked satisfied with Max's reasoning.

"He's not wrong." Paul said.

"That is true." Tracey agreed.

"I've changed my mind too." Dawn said "This is Ash we're talking about. He'd never even hurt a fly!"

Brock seemed to be the only one still on the fence "I don't know you guys, we haven't seen him for five years. I've seen people completely change in less. I'm afraid that I'll need a bit more before I believe him."

May gasped "Brock! How can you say that! Everyone else sees the truth now, why don't you?"

Ash sighed and ran his hand through his hair "I don't know what to say, Brock. Other than it really hurts that you don't believe your old friend."

Brock's face seemed undeterred "Sorry Ash. When both my parents left, it became really hard for me to trust so easily. I know you can understand that because of your father."

Ash thought for a moment "Brock, I don't have anything to say that can prove without a doubt that what I say is true. However, I can remind you of everything that I've been through with you all."

Brock looked surprised as Ash admitted he had no evidence.

"We traveled together through Kanto, the Orange Archipelago, Johto, Hoenn, Kanto again, then Sinnoh. We saved the world together many times. Remember Shamouti Island? Mount Quenna? How about when we stopped the Unown, Celebi from being kidnapped, saved Latias and Latios from Annie and Oakley, Jirachi from being stolen? Or when we helped Deoxys, revived the Tree of Beginning, saved the Temple of the Sea and Manaphy? Don't forget when we saved Alamos town, Shaymin, Arceus, and Zoroark." Everyone's eyes teared up as they were reminded of their past adventures with Ash. Misty thought about Shamouti Island when she rescued him from the ocean, only to have him immediately rush back out to stop Lawrence III. Tracey also thought about Shamouti Island, but when he and Misty revived Ash after she had pulled him out. Ritchie was flooded with memories about when they had been kidnapped by Team Rocket and had to work together so they could battle in the Indigo League. Max remembered Jirachi, who still remained one of the best friends he had ever made, and how hard Ash fought to protect him. May remembered the Temple of the Sea and how Ash had softly lowered her alongside Pikachu and Manaphy into a capsule so that they could survive while he ran back in to replace the crystals on the Sea Crown. Dawn's mind filled with thoughts of when Ash went back into the Reverse World by himself after Zero. Gary hadn't been present for any of those events, but he remembered his interactions with Ash when they were younger, and regretted how he had treated him. Paul remembered how he Ash had taught him to treat his Pokemon well by beating him in the Sinnoh League. Barry hadn't known Ash as long as anyone else, but they had been inspired by his enthusiasm, and it was something they missed. Even Red was at loss for words; he and Ash had never discussed their pasts in detail, and it seemed that there was more to the raven haired trainer than meets the eye. Brock saw all of these things alongside Ash minus the mishap with Ritchie and the Orange Islands, but he had always been there for him, and the same was for Ash. His hesitance crumbled as Ash continued.

"I've always done my best to make sure that you guys were safe; that was always my top priority, alongside saving the world. I don't have anything to prove what I say, but I hope that my past actions can convince you of my sincerity. You guys are the most important people in the world to me, and I wouldn't lie to you. You're all family to me."

Brock nodded, tears dripping down his face. He was beating himself up on the inside, how could he have ever doubted his friend?

"You're right, Ash." He wiped his eyes with the corner of his sleeve "You've never been anything but loyal, and it's time I repaid the favor."

A huge smile broke out on Ash's face. Even though he couldn't get off of his cot to go to the bars, he reached a hand out to them. Everyone rushed to the bars and they started crying together, happy to be back together. Even Paul's eyes were wet, though he wasn't really crying as hard as everyone else.

The door to the hallway opened and the front desk receptionist walked in, holding a manila folder up to her chest. No one noticed her except Looker and Red; the rest were too engrossed with their reunion. She hurried to Looker and handed him the folder before whispering something in his ear then she rushed back out. Being near the two prisoners made her nervous. Looker opened the folder and removed the paper inside of it. He thumbed through them, his attention solely on their contents. A large smile broke out over his face when he lowered the paper. Red frowned; he had a bad feeling about this, and his gut was usually right.

"Ash." Looker said, breaking up the trainer's reunion. All eyes were on him "Can you smooth talk your way out of this?" He threw the folder to Brock, who caught it with a look of surprise on his face. As he opened it and read the first bit, the surprise quickly turned to fury.

When he spoke, it was deadly calm "Ash, you say you were fighting Team Rocket?"

Confused by the turn of events, Ash responded "Yes, that's right."

Brock thrust the paper against the bars of the cell, and bellowed, his voice reverberating off of the concrete walls that lined the room "Then how do you explain this!"

Ash squinted, unable to see the paper clearly from his cot, but he could make it out well enough, and he didn't like what he saw. It was a security photo of Ash in a Team Rocket uniform looting a vault with Domino, Pikachu guarding some knocked out men with a Lucario and an Absol standing next to him. Ash remembered the raid, as he did all of his "exploits" with Team Rocket. This one was fairly recently, maybe about a year ago.

"Brock, it's not what you think!"

"Not what I think!? How could this be anything but!?" He turned around to the rest of the group, who were worriedly curious about the sheet's contents. Brock handed the photo to Max to look at with everyone else while he began to read another paper's contents "This photo has been recovered from the security cameras of Hoenn Jewelers. The suspects have been clearly ID'd, the male being Ash Ketchum, and the female is the known Rocket agent Domino. They had wiped the system before they left, but after a year of recovery work, this photo came up. This not only suggests that Ketchum has been with Team Rocket in his absence from the world, but finally uncovers the perpetrators of this crime, who had killed one person in the robbery!"

Ash shook his hands wildly in front of his face "Brock, I can explain everything, and that guy's death was a total accident! It haunts me to this day! We tried to get him to calm down, but he wouldn't and tripped and fell over a balcony, there was nothing we could do for him!"

Unfortunately, his words fell on deaf ears. Everyone except Brock and Looker were looking at the photo, dumbstruck.

"Ash... I don't know what to say to you." Tracy said softly.

Ash was starting to panic "Guys, I have a good reason for joining Team Rocket! They threatened to kill my Pokemon, and to prove it, they shot Jessie and James and then Giovanni smashed Gible in his pokeball! I didn't want to do it, but I had no choice!"

Silence dominated the room for a few moment as his words sunk in.

"If that's true, then why didn't you say that in the first place?" Dawn asked very softly.

"What?" Ash couldn't quite make out her words.

"I said, if that's true, then why didn't you say that in the first place!" Dawn screamed, tears flowing freely down her face.

"Well, I-I didn't want to bring it up." Ash said in his defense "I'm ashamed of my time with them and want to-"
"Shut up Ash Ketchum!" Misty yelled at him "I don't believe a word you're saying!" Misty was crying in anger, unable to even recognize the man who used to be her friend "You never even gave us substantial proof about the attack on the resort!"

"I don't appreciate being lied to." Paul muttered darkly with some venom.
"Yeah!" Max wiped his nose, which was wet with tears too "You just used the past to butter us up and trick us! I'll bet you just wanted to get close to us again so we would help you get off the hook and then steal our Pokemon!"

"If that's true, I'm going to fine you until you're broke!" Barry steamed.

Ash shook his head desperately "No, guys, I promise! We were attacking the resort to try and get our Pokemon back! Seriously! Right when we were about to do it, Team Rocket had all of my old Pokemon killed, right in front of my eyes!"

But once again, no one listened; his old friends felt too angry and betrayed to listen to him any more. Only May was silent, because she was afraid of the anger her incredible friends were showing.

Even Gary looked furious at Ash, but May quickly stepped over to him and whispered in his ear "He's telling the truth. I saw his Pokemon die, remember?"

Gary's anger instantly faltered, and he looked at May. Slowly nodding, he gave himself a few heartbeats to calm down "Guys?" He said. No one heard him over their own talking and yelling at Ash. Annoyed, Gary tried a little louder "Guys." Still no one heard him, so Gary tried yelling "Guys!"

This got everyone's attention, and they all looked over at him, still panting from their anger.

"Everyone, remember, May was there and saw the whole thing happen."

Ash's eyes widened. He had no idea that May was there and he felt guilty that he had put her in danger.

"What Ash is saying makes sense," May said in a quiet voice "I saw all of his Pokemon die, so he's not lying." She looked at her feet before walking over to Ash's cell and standing in front of it "I believe him."

Everyone looked at her as if she had grown a second head.

"I believe him too." Gary announced "I found May, and she was extremely distraught. She wouldn't be that way if she hadn't of seen Ash, so there's no reason to not believe her, and she agrees with Ash. Plus, Ash has never lied to us, so I'm not about to start doubting him now." Gary joined May by Ash's cell.

Brock looked like he was about to explode before Looker stepped in "Okay, everyone calm down. This is a police station, not a bar. Let's not get caught up in a fight." He turned to Max, Misty, Dawn, Tracey, Paul, Ritchie, Brock, and Barry "For the purposes of the trial, it would be helpful if we could get some statements from you all, as his old friends, saying that he is capable of the crimes that he is being accused of."

Brock grunted and said "Anything you need, Detective. I would be more than willing to oblige if it means getting rid of this traitor."
The rest of them quickly nodded and voiced their agreement.

"Yeah, anything if it means I never have to see him again!"

"As long as he gets a looong jail sentence!"

"I hope you give him a wickedly huge fine!"

At that moment, Ash Ketchum's heart broke. Sitting there, having already gone through a staggering amount of agony a few days before when his Pokemon were murdered, unable to convince them otherwise, he had no choice but to do nothing as the people who used to be his friends badmouthed him and expressed their desires for him to be severely punished. He even heard some requests for the death penalty. He had never been anything but loyal to his friends and now, in his greatest time of need, they were abandoning him. What was left of his old self after the horrors he underwent with Team Rocket was irreversibly changed. He may not have gone completely off the deep end, but he would never be the same.

His will to live would have broken, if not for the two people standing in front of his cell, both as speechless as he was, and Red, who was frantically pumping Ash full of reassuring thoughts with his psychic abilities. Even if that made little difference in to Ash in his current mindset.

Looker gestured to the doorway "If you could all come this way, I'll take your statements upstairs."

He led the group of Ash's ex friends out of the detention room and into the hallway, out of sight.

No one moved for a full three minutes.

Ash made the first movement, falling to his back on his cot with a blank expression on his face.

May was in shock. She desperately wanted Ash to comfort her, but she knew that he was obviously way more hurt than she was; it's not like her friends just betrayed her. However, that didn't stop her from being scared about her friends unwillingness to believe her, Gary, or Ash.

She turned around to face Ash "Ash?"

No response.

"Ash, I know that you must be feeling like the world is against you right now, but it's not." Gary grabbed the bars as he spoke, face determined "You still have May and me, and your partner is clearly worried about you too, so there's no reason to give up. You've gone all this time without any real friends around, right? So you can make it with just us, you've just gotta be strong!"

Ash didn't respond, and Gary feared that he only made it worse.

Red tried his hand "Come on, Ash. We've only know each other for a few weeks, but I feel like it's been forever. We work great together, and our dynamic is strong. Listen to Gary, you've just gotta be strong!"

Still no response. May started to tear up again as she made he try "Ash, I'm sure these last five years have been much harder for you than it has been for us. While we've had the company of friends and family, you've had Team Rocket. While we had the comfort of our homes and familiar places, you've had Team Rocket. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you, but you had to have been strong to get through it for five years, so that's what I'm asking now. Be strong, Ash! I don't know what I'll do with myself if you give up." She shook her head and clenched her fist to her chest as tears fell freely "I love you Ash Ketchum, and you still have friends, no matter what!"

May collapsed to her knees and sat there, crying. Gary made no move to comfort her, however. He knew that the only one who could was his best friend.

Ash still remained motionless. But as May continued to cry, Gary started to tear up too. Not crying, but tears formed.

Ash slowly sat up, but his eyes were no longer the chocolate brown they used to be. They were both black as night.

Gary gasped as he saw Ash's eyes, prompting May to look up and do the same.

"A-Ash," Gary stared "your eyes. They changed color."

"I'm not surprised."

Gary and May both looked to Red.

"If an aura user experiences so much emotional trauma, his eyes will go as soulless black as he feels. The only way to change it is to get his fighting spirit back, which has never been done before. It's widely speculated by aura users to be the outcome, however."

They looked back at Ash who just sat there. They worried that Ash would never recover from this.

However, Ash surprised them "It's fine, you guys. I'm all right. I just need some sleep."

He layed back down and closed his black eyes before exhaustion quickly overcame him and he fell back to sleep.

Gary and May exchanged glances with Red, and they all silently agreed that Ash was lying. He was just trying to be strong for them. It was pretty obvious.

"So what do we do?" Gary asked Red "As much as I hate to say it, you probably know more about Ash than us at this point. You've seen him since he joined Team Rocket."

Red rubbed his chin "Well, you're half right. I know what he's like, but I don't know the full reason as to why. We've never really discussed our pasts together in length."

May wiped her eyes with her sleeves, determined to be strong like Ash "Then do you know how to snap him out of this? Obviously, he'll need some time to recover, but we'll need to pull him though at some point; it's not healthy to stay like this. I know that first hand."

Gary looked at her in surprise. May was usually reluctant to talk about her problems concerning Ash and her depression, but she mentioned it almost nonchalantly.

"First things first, we'll need to break out of here." Red said "There's no chance of him recovering in here. He'll need his Pokemon as well as us to do that. And that can't happen until we're out of here."

"Where are your Pokemon?" Gary asked.

Red hesitated "I know Ash trusts you two, but it's best if I don't tell you that. Looker will have noticed that you two are still in here, and the less you know, the easier it will be for you. Just know that I'll get us out of here, and then contact you two somehow to join us. I assume that's no problem now that, sorry if this seem blunt, you have no other friends?"

That hurt Gary and May, but they didn't comment because they knew it was true. They both nodded in confirmation.

"Anything for Ash." Gary was determined to help his old friend, no matter what.

May had a harder time, seeing as how one of those people was her little brother, but she would just have to see how that went in the future.

"Good." Red drummed his fingers on his cot and looked pensive "Looker didn't bring a key down, so I couldn't get one." He muttered to himself.

"Is there anything we can do for now, or should we just wait?" May asked.

"Just wait. And you should probably go now. Don't want Looker getting suspicious, and this goes without saying: don't tell anyone anything. Anyone. Don't tell anyone, and trust no one. It probably won't be long before I have you collected."

"Alright." Gary stood up before helping May to her feet "We'll get going then."

He started to walk, but May stood there, watching Ash's sleeping form.

"Come on, May." Gary held a hand out "We need to go."

May looked at Gary's hand and took it, but before he started walking, she turned to Red "When he wakes up, tell him I said I love him, will you?"

Red simply nodded.

As satisfied as she could be with the situation, May let Gary take her out of the detention room.

Red watched them leave and took one last look at Ash before lying down and letting sleep claim him too.

Crash!

Ash woke with a start, looking around for the source of the loud noise. Across the room, he could see Red doing the same.

"You have any idea what that was?"

"No." Red gestured towards the door to the hall "But it sounds like it came from over there, and I sense a lot of people."

"So do I."

They both watched the door for a few moments when it suddenly burst open, and about three dozen people poured in.

Surprised, they both had expected something else, not what appeared to be civilians and a few officers.

"What's going on?" Red shouted to the people who had stopped in front of his cell.

"The police station caught fire! We came down here to escape it because the doorway was blocked and at least everything is concrete down here?" One of the officers replied. He and another officer opened the two prisoner's doors with key cards.

"Here, we'll let you out. Even you two don't deserve such a painful death if it comes to it"

Ash and Red sat still, minds racing. If there was a fire, that was great news. This was the perfect time to escape.

The two officers reached the cots where they rested "Let us grab the keys to the cuffs."

Ash and Red sat patiently when the two officers pulled syringes out instead of keys, and plunged them into their skin before they could react.

"What!" Ash bellowed as he released two aura spheres which ripped through the two men.

Red went limp quickly, the paralisant working it's way through his system already.

Ash struggled for a few moments more, but his energy was quickly drained. Just before he passed out, a man walked up to him and unbuttoned his shirt. Underneath was a t-shirt with a large red R on it. If they had any strength left to, Ash's eyes would have widened.

The last thing he remembered before passing out was the rocket man walking up to him and saying, "No one escapes Team Rocket."

AN- See y'all later!

DarkLucario98