DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon!!!
A/N: Okay, my turn now, great chapter Graham! Yay! Let's keep going!
A fuzzy vision filled Ash's light-headed mind. It looked like two people, staring at him in what seemed bewilderment. He took a glimpse of the destruction surrounding him and suddenly remembered everything.
"Oh, God" Ash spluttered the phrase as he sat up and witnessed the scene. Misty hadn't heard him as she was sobbing into Jessie's shoulder, but Ash instantly saw her and looked on in confusion. Why was she crying? He was alive, wasn't he?
Brock and James hadn't said anything, the whole experience of Ash "coming back" overwhelemed them. They watched as he walked over to Misty, his vision still not perfect, his eyes briefly scanning for his mother.
"Mist?" Ash coughed out, his lungs trying to regain normal composure. "Misty?" he said louder. Having no response, he leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Misty, it's me."
Misty sobbed even louder. "Oh Jess, I could've sworn..." She pulled away from the hug, continuing her sentance. "I thought I just heard...AAAAHHHH!!!" Her scream was one of disbelief, shock and joy, and Misty immediatly hugged Ash, happier to be in his arms than she ever had been.
"Ash...Ash I thought...I'd lost you..." The words were strangled by her emotions, and she gave up trying to talk, knowing that Ash knew what she meant.
"It's alright, I'm here" Ash said soothingly, ignoring a throbbing pain in his left side. He pulled away and looked at her seriously. "Where's Mom?" he asked. "Did you get her out, to a hospital or something?" He had only been out of it for a minute, but he didn't know how long he had been gone.
Misty hated doing this, and she gulped, the same terror invading her as when she had told him about Michael.
Ash saw the look in her eyes and let her go. It was the sign that something had gone wrong, that they hadn't got Delia out. She was still here somewhere.
Furniture, magazines, and potplants lay everywhere in a tangled mess, and even part of the roof had blown off from the tremendous force. The damage was incomprehesible to someone who didn't witness it.
Then Ash saw her. Delia's eyes were wide open, as though she were in shock. But he knew she could feel nothing, no emotions, no pain. He strode over as best he could, a slight limp affecting his walk, and knelt down beside his mother, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Mom?" he asked quietly, knowing it was hopeless. "Mom, come on, Mom...not now, no, come on...gimme a sign Mom, squeeze my hand, Mom, c'mon Mom..." He shook her in a wild moment of anger and pain, but finally gave up and buried his face in the ground, trying to muffle his sobs.
Misty came up to him and put her arms around him. "Oh Ash, you don't need this..." she sighed, tears also affecting her own cheeks. He had been through so much already, but this would be the icing on the cake.
Ash suddenly forgot his earlier doubts of being able to take another life. He knew he could. If that life was Giovanni's. He looked up at Misty, but couldn't hide his tears, not in front of her. She had seen it all before.
"I can't believe...he did this" Ash sniffled through the sentance. His mother didn't do anything, she shouldn't have to die for something she didn't even know about. He stared at the ground for a minute longer as the other four people tried to find something to say.
"Ash..." Brock said quietly, losing words.
Ash stood up with an impending scowl on his face. "We're going, right now, to Viridian City. That bastard is not going to do this anymore, not as long as I'm around." With that he stomped to the kitchen, gathered his things, and the others followed close behind.
"What about the guns?" James asked. Ash reached into the box and had no response but to randomly throw him a machine gun, much to James' delight.
"Uh, Ash..that's a machine gun..." Misty said shakily. Ash ignored her as she approached him. "Ash?" She tried again, but only got given a small pistol. She gasped as she felt its cool metal on her hands and had a mad instinct to drop it. But she reminded herself that she was on this team, he had told her about the guns and she shouldn't be surprised. Still...
"It's easy Misty" Ash said, almost reading her thoughts. "You aim, pull the trigger and kaboom." He sighed at his coldness. "I'm sorry Mist, I shouldn't be so mean, but Mom..." He felt the tears well up again as the others grabbed their weapons.
"I know" Misty nodded. She had been through exactly the same thing, and knew only too well the pain Ash was going through. She gave him a small hug and grabbed her bag, her hands still shaking at the feeling of a real gun.
"Don't use it unless you absolutly have to" Ash cautioned. He was dead serious, and Misty understood.
The headed north, on the way to Viridian City and the old Team Rocket headquarters. The gym there was scarcely used anymore, and as far as Jessie and James knew, the last time it had been used was two years ago in a badge gym battle. But no one knew that there could be any sort of illegal activity going on there.
Ash stayed close to Misty the whole four hour walk there, but as they reached the end of the forest, not a sound had been heard, except for the occasional Pidgey or Rattata scrounging for food. Every rustling along the way had made Ash jump, and made everyone stand on guard.
"Maybe there's nothing out here, Ash. There hasn't been any sort of signs of human life out here since we started" Brock noted.
Ash shook his head stubbornly. "You never know, Brock. Someone could just jump out at any time and..." He trailed off as he heard something.
"Ash? You okay?" Brock asked. Jessie and James looked on in confusion as he stood listening.
"I'm sure I heard something..." Ash muttered.
James shrugged. "Maybe it was just another Pokemon" he suggested, looking around anyway.
Ash shook his head hurridly. "No, no I heard it again. Listen!" He persisted, like he had every other time, and put everyone else on edge.
"You've gotta stop doing this Ash" Brock laughed. "You're making us all nervous."
Before he could say anymore, a louder sound was heard that penetrated everyone's thoughts. "DUCK!" Ash yelled, immediatly shoving Misty on to the ground.
"Ash, wha-" Misty started, before seeing an object fly over hers and the others heads.
"Shhh!" Ash hissed, his hands trembling as he took a glimpse of the object. It was a kinfe, and no dinner knife at that. It was big, sharp and had just been thrown in the direction of the group.
James, deciding that because his machine gun could withstand anything, grabbed the knife and stood up.
"James, you idiot, get down!" Jessie almost yelled, concerned for her lifelong friend. She noticed that he had dropped his gun and was armed with only this knife for protection.
He slowly walked towards where the knife had come, despite the quiet protests of the others, and cautiously looked around. It wasn't long before he spotted a figure clad in black, armed with a similar knife and looking viscious.
James grasped the knife tighter and tried to block the view of this figure from the others, especially Ash, who would undoubtly freak out about Misty. Of course, it didn't work, as the figure charged up and James braced himself.
At first, the guy paid no attention to James when he spotted Ash, but suddenly realised that they were in this together and pointed the knife at Misty.
"Is that Misty Ketchum?" he asked in a tone that was not to be messed with.
James stood his ground. "No" he answered firmly, knowing it wouldn't work.
"Do you dare to lie to a Team Rocket member?" the guy asked, his eyes narrowing and his knife slowly inching up towards James.
James couldn't reply. He backed away, discreetly waving a hand at the others to tell them to do the same, but a small stone tripped him up as he desperatly tried to scramble back.
Jessie had taken the machine gun when she had crawled back, in case the TR member had a go at it, and now she wished she could throw it to James as a mean of help. But she couldn't, it was too big for her to throw, and she cringed, not wanting to see what was about to erupt.
James still had the other knife, and took a failed swipe at the TR member, who replied with the same treatment. He finally stood up and took another failed swipe, ignoring the desperate cries of the others. Ash wanted to move, he really did, he could hardly stand back and watch James risk his life like this, but...but something made him stay. He wasn't sure what it was, but he was frozen to the spot, unable to move at the terror before him.
The "fight" hardly developed into anything, as they all covered their eyes when the member took a devestating blow to James's stomach, and watched in satisfaction as James crumpled to the ground.
Jessie screamed, unable to believe what this person had just done to her best friend, and ran up to him. "YOU MONSTER!" she yelled, as the others came to help James as best they could.
"Woah, chill out, girlie. It's not you I'm after" the guy said, totally cool about the fact that he had seriously injured an innocent civillian. "It's her." He pointed straight at Misty, who glared and was about to make a comeback when the guy fell back from a physical blow.
Ash was standing over him, glaring with a face that could not be reckoned with. The man was unconsciouness from the punch, but Ash no longer cared, and turned back to James.
"Hey man, where did he get you?" Brock asked as Ash returned. Misty's eyes were wide and she was going dizzy from everything she had just seen. The sight of James' profuse bleeding and of her husband becoming more violent than she had ever seen him didn't help matters. She shook off her fears and tried to help James without panicking. She didn't want to show Ash she was frightened, or he might send her back with no questions asked.
"Okay, we have REALLY gotta get him to a hospital or something" Jessie said, panic overtaking her. Misty took her by the shoulders and stared at her in the eyes.
"Jess, he is gonna be okay, you have to believe that, okay? We're taking him right now" Misty reassured her.
"But he's not even talking!" Jessie cried. "Look!" She pointed, but all James was doing was moaning about the pain.
"I know it looks bad, but we'll get him there. See! Brock and Ash are carrying him right now!" Misty said hopefully. It was true. They had picked him up and were now going as fast as they could in the direction of the Viridian Hospital.
He was admitted to ward 16, but was able to stay conscious until they started working on him. His stomach had been cut quite deep and had narrowly missed vital nerves that could have easily paralysed him. But after being stitched up and causing many people worry, he was resting in his private ward as the sun went down.
Misty quietly asked the others if she could talk to him alone, and they agreed. She walked in with a little apprehension, not knowing what to expect, but found James lying on a bit of an angle, looking out the window. He noticed Misty's arrival and groggily looked at her.
"Hey, you should stop getting yourself into trouble like that" he quietly scolded.
Misty laughed. "I could say the same for you!" She sat next to him and sighed. "You know, if it hadn't been for you I might not be here right now" she smiled.
James waved a hand carelessly. "That's a load of crap Misty. Of course you would still be here. If I hadn't jumped out I know Ash sure would of." They both laughed in agreement.
"Thankyou, James. I'll never be able to pay you back for what you did today" Misty said genuinly.
"Yeah, I put us back a day, woopee, delayed us all" James groaned, thinking it was his fault.
"That was not you, it was that henchman" Misty shook her head firmly. "Tomorrow we'll get you outta here and back hunting again."
James nodded and fell into a deep sleep, wondering how he could have ever been proud to be part of Team Rocket.
* * * * *
The next day James was discharged, and the gang set off at a slower pace now that they were in the city they had targeted.
"Okay guys, do you remember where the headquarters are?" Ash asked. James was still a little groggy so Jessie supplied.
"It's about five minutes walk from here. I'll guide you" she said happily, glad to be in charge for once. The walk did take about five minutes, although everyone persistantly asked if James was alright. He insisted he was, and the search continued until they came across it.
The building looked like it had been abandoned for years. Boards were nailed across the front doors and everything they touched creaked or groaned.
"Wow, these guys need a better landlord" Brock joked, trying to make light of the situation. But nobody could ignore the increasing fear and anxiety that was mounting up inside them.
"Okay guys, I'm goin' in" Ash said dramatically.
"Uh, Ash, how are you going in if the door is shut up?" Misty pointed out.
Ash sighed. "There's gotta be a side door round here somewhere..."
Jessie grinned. "Follow me" she said deviously, knowing all the secrets that lay there...
All but one.
She lead them down a trapdoor, that seemed to go into a sort of basement. The lights were off, but Jessie knew her way around. She felt along the wall and found a switch, flicked it on, and felt something at her foot.
"What on earth..." Her voice faded as she realised what it was. The body of Tracey Sketchit was lying before her feet, an easily recongisible bullet wound to his head and a note on his pale green shirt.
Ash angrily swiped the note off, tears forming in his eyes as Misty cried openly. The note read, "One to go before the show down. And what a pretty little thing she is too."
Ash screwed it up before Misty could see it and shoved it in his pocket as the others crowded around Tracey.
"When will he stop?" Misty asked, her voice choking up.
"When I get him, Mist" Ash answered simply. And he knew that it had to be soon.
A/N: I'm putting the others up now, so there's not long to wait for the others! Please keep reading and reviewing, it really helps us along!
A/N: Okay, my turn now, great chapter Graham! Yay! Let's keep going!
A fuzzy vision filled Ash's light-headed mind. It looked like two people, staring at him in what seemed bewilderment. He took a glimpse of the destruction surrounding him and suddenly remembered everything.
"Oh, God" Ash spluttered the phrase as he sat up and witnessed the scene. Misty hadn't heard him as she was sobbing into Jessie's shoulder, but Ash instantly saw her and looked on in confusion. Why was she crying? He was alive, wasn't he?
Brock and James hadn't said anything, the whole experience of Ash "coming back" overwhelemed them. They watched as he walked over to Misty, his vision still not perfect, his eyes briefly scanning for his mother.
"Mist?" Ash coughed out, his lungs trying to regain normal composure. "Misty?" he said louder. Having no response, he leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Misty, it's me."
Misty sobbed even louder. "Oh Jess, I could've sworn..." She pulled away from the hug, continuing her sentance. "I thought I just heard...AAAAHHHH!!!" Her scream was one of disbelief, shock and joy, and Misty immediatly hugged Ash, happier to be in his arms than she ever had been.
"Ash...Ash I thought...I'd lost you..." The words were strangled by her emotions, and she gave up trying to talk, knowing that Ash knew what she meant.
"It's alright, I'm here" Ash said soothingly, ignoring a throbbing pain in his left side. He pulled away and looked at her seriously. "Where's Mom?" he asked. "Did you get her out, to a hospital or something?" He had only been out of it for a minute, but he didn't know how long he had been gone.
Misty hated doing this, and she gulped, the same terror invading her as when she had told him about Michael.
Ash saw the look in her eyes and let her go. It was the sign that something had gone wrong, that they hadn't got Delia out. She was still here somewhere.
Furniture, magazines, and potplants lay everywhere in a tangled mess, and even part of the roof had blown off from the tremendous force. The damage was incomprehesible to someone who didn't witness it.
Then Ash saw her. Delia's eyes were wide open, as though she were in shock. But he knew she could feel nothing, no emotions, no pain. He strode over as best he could, a slight limp affecting his walk, and knelt down beside his mother, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Mom?" he asked quietly, knowing it was hopeless. "Mom, come on, Mom...not now, no, come on...gimme a sign Mom, squeeze my hand, Mom, c'mon Mom..." He shook her in a wild moment of anger and pain, but finally gave up and buried his face in the ground, trying to muffle his sobs.
Misty came up to him and put her arms around him. "Oh Ash, you don't need this..." she sighed, tears also affecting her own cheeks. He had been through so much already, but this would be the icing on the cake.
Ash suddenly forgot his earlier doubts of being able to take another life. He knew he could. If that life was Giovanni's. He looked up at Misty, but couldn't hide his tears, not in front of her. She had seen it all before.
"I can't believe...he did this" Ash sniffled through the sentance. His mother didn't do anything, she shouldn't have to die for something she didn't even know about. He stared at the ground for a minute longer as the other four people tried to find something to say.
"Ash..." Brock said quietly, losing words.
Ash stood up with an impending scowl on his face. "We're going, right now, to Viridian City. That bastard is not going to do this anymore, not as long as I'm around." With that he stomped to the kitchen, gathered his things, and the others followed close behind.
"What about the guns?" James asked. Ash reached into the box and had no response but to randomly throw him a machine gun, much to James' delight.
"Uh, Ash..that's a machine gun..." Misty said shakily. Ash ignored her as she approached him. "Ash?" She tried again, but only got given a small pistol. She gasped as she felt its cool metal on her hands and had a mad instinct to drop it. But she reminded herself that she was on this team, he had told her about the guns and she shouldn't be surprised. Still...
"It's easy Misty" Ash said, almost reading her thoughts. "You aim, pull the trigger and kaboom." He sighed at his coldness. "I'm sorry Mist, I shouldn't be so mean, but Mom..." He felt the tears well up again as the others grabbed their weapons.
"I know" Misty nodded. She had been through exactly the same thing, and knew only too well the pain Ash was going through. She gave him a small hug and grabbed her bag, her hands still shaking at the feeling of a real gun.
"Don't use it unless you absolutly have to" Ash cautioned. He was dead serious, and Misty understood.
The headed north, on the way to Viridian City and the old Team Rocket headquarters. The gym there was scarcely used anymore, and as far as Jessie and James knew, the last time it had been used was two years ago in a badge gym battle. But no one knew that there could be any sort of illegal activity going on there.
Ash stayed close to Misty the whole four hour walk there, but as they reached the end of the forest, not a sound had been heard, except for the occasional Pidgey or Rattata scrounging for food. Every rustling along the way had made Ash jump, and made everyone stand on guard.
"Maybe there's nothing out here, Ash. There hasn't been any sort of signs of human life out here since we started" Brock noted.
Ash shook his head stubbornly. "You never know, Brock. Someone could just jump out at any time and..." He trailed off as he heard something.
"Ash? You okay?" Brock asked. Jessie and James looked on in confusion as he stood listening.
"I'm sure I heard something..." Ash muttered.
James shrugged. "Maybe it was just another Pokemon" he suggested, looking around anyway.
Ash shook his head hurridly. "No, no I heard it again. Listen!" He persisted, like he had every other time, and put everyone else on edge.
"You've gotta stop doing this Ash" Brock laughed. "You're making us all nervous."
Before he could say anymore, a louder sound was heard that penetrated everyone's thoughts. "DUCK!" Ash yelled, immediatly shoving Misty on to the ground.
"Ash, wha-" Misty started, before seeing an object fly over hers and the others heads.
"Shhh!" Ash hissed, his hands trembling as he took a glimpse of the object. It was a kinfe, and no dinner knife at that. It was big, sharp and had just been thrown in the direction of the group.
James, deciding that because his machine gun could withstand anything, grabbed the knife and stood up.
"James, you idiot, get down!" Jessie almost yelled, concerned for her lifelong friend. She noticed that he had dropped his gun and was armed with only this knife for protection.
He slowly walked towards where the knife had come, despite the quiet protests of the others, and cautiously looked around. It wasn't long before he spotted a figure clad in black, armed with a similar knife and looking viscious.
James grasped the knife tighter and tried to block the view of this figure from the others, especially Ash, who would undoubtly freak out about Misty. Of course, it didn't work, as the figure charged up and James braced himself.
At first, the guy paid no attention to James when he spotted Ash, but suddenly realised that they were in this together and pointed the knife at Misty.
"Is that Misty Ketchum?" he asked in a tone that was not to be messed with.
James stood his ground. "No" he answered firmly, knowing it wouldn't work.
"Do you dare to lie to a Team Rocket member?" the guy asked, his eyes narrowing and his knife slowly inching up towards James.
James couldn't reply. He backed away, discreetly waving a hand at the others to tell them to do the same, but a small stone tripped him up as he desperatly tried to scramble back.
Jessie had taken the machine gun when she had crawled back, in case the TR member had a go at it, and now she wished she could throw it to James as a mean of help. But she couldn't, it was too big for her to throw, and she cringed, not wanting to see what was about to erupt.
James still had the other knife, and took a failed swipe at the TR member, who replied with the same treatment. He finally stood up and took another failed swipe, ignoring the desperate cries of the others. Ash wanted to move, he really did, he could hardly stand back and watch James risk his life like this, but...but something made him stay. He wasn't sure what it was, but he was frozen to the spot, unable to move at the terror before him.
The "fight" hardly developed into anything, as they all covered their eyes when the member took a devestating blow to James's stomach, and watched in satisfaction as James crumpled to the ground.
Jessie screamed, unable to believe what this person had just done to her best friend, and ran up to him. "YOU MONSTER!" she yelled, as the others came to help James as best they could.
"Woah, chill out, girlie. It's not you I'm after" the guy said, totally cool about the fact that he had seriously injured an innocent civillian. "It's her." He pointed straight at Misty, who glared and was about to make a comeback when the guy fell back from a physical blow.
Ash was standing over him, glaring with a face that could not be reckoned with. The man was unconsciouness from the punch, but Ash no longer cared, and turned back to James.
"Hey man, where did he get you?" Brock asked as Ash returned. Misty's eyes were wide and she was going dizzy from everything she had just seen. The sight of James' profuse bleeding and of her husband becoming more violent than she had ever seen him didn't help matters. She shook off her fears and tried to help James without panicking. She didn't want to show Ash she was frightened, or he might send her back with no questions asked.
"Okay, we have REALLY gotta get him to a hospital or something" Jessie said, panic overtaking her. Misty took her by the shoulders and stared at her in the eyes.
"Jess, he is gonna be okay, you have to believe that, okay? We're taking him right now" Misty reassured her.
"But he's not even talking!" Jessie cried. "Look!" She pointed, but all James was doing was moaning about the pain.
"I know it looks bad, but we'll get him there. See! Brock and Ash are carrying him right now!" Misty said hopefully. It was true. They had picked him up and were now going as fast as they could in the direction of the Viridian Hospital.
He was admitted to ward 16, but was able to stay conscious until they started working on him. His stomach had been cut quite deep and had narrowly missed vital nerves that could have easily paralysed him. But after being stitched up and causing many people worry, he was resting in his private ward as the sun went down.
Misty quietly asked the others if she could talk to him alone, and they agreed. She walked in with a little apprehension, not knowing what to expect, but found James lying on a bit of an angle, looking out the window. He noticed Misty's arrival and groggily looked at her.
"Hey, you should stop getting yourself into trouble like that" he quietly scolded.
Misty laughed. "I could say the same for you!" She sat next to him and sighed. "You know, if it hadn't been for you I might not be here right now" she smiled.
James waved a hand carelessly. "That's a load of crap Misty. Of course you would still be here. If I hadn't jumped out I know Ash sure would of." They both laughed in agreement.
"Thankyou, James. I'll never be able to pay you back for what you did today" Misty said genuinly.
"Yeah, I put us back a day, woopee, delayed us all" James groaned, thinking it was his fault.
"That was not you, it was that henchman" Misty shook her head firmly. "Tomorrow we'll get you outta here and back hunting again."
James nodded and fell into a deep sleep, wondering how he could have ever been proud to be part of Team Rocket.
* * * * *
The next day James was discharged, and the gang set off at a slower pace now that they were in the city they had targeted.
"Okay guys, do you remember where the headquarters are?" Ash asked. James was still a little groggy so Jessie supplied.
"It's about five minutes walk from here. I'll guide you" she said happily, glad to be in charge for once. The walk did take about five minutes, although everyone persistantly asked if James was alright. He insisted he was, and the search continued until they came across it.
The building looked like it had been abandoned for years. Boards were nailed across the front doors and everything they touched creaked or groaned.
"Wow, these guys need a better landlord" Brock joked, trying to make light of the situation. But nobody could ignore the increasing fear and anxiety that was mounting up inside them.
"Okay guys, I'm goin' in" Ash said dramatically.
"Uh, Ash, how are you going in if the door is shut up?" Misty pointed out.
Ash sighed. "There's gotta be a side door round here somewhere..."
Jessie grinned. "Follow me" she said deviously, knowing all the secrets that lay there...
All but one.
She lead them down a trapdoor, that seemed to go into a sort of basement. The lights were off, but Jessie knew her way around. She felt along the wall and found a switch, flicked it on, and felt something at her foot.
"What on earth..." Her voice faded as she realised what it was. The body of Tracey Sketchit was lying before her feet, an easily recongisible bullet wound to his head and a note on his pale green shirt.
Ash angrily swiped the note off, tears forming in his eyes as Misty cried openly. The note read, "One to go before the show down. And what a pretty little thing she is too."
Ash screwed it up before Misty could see it and shoved it in his pocket as the others crowded around Tracey.
"When will he stop?" Misty asked, her voice choking up.
"When I get him, Mist" Ash answered simply. And he knew that it had to be soon.
A/N: I'm putting the others up now, so there's not long to wait for the others! Please keep reading and reviewing, it really helps us along!