Part 5 : The Flower of Blood

Chapter 21 : Invasion

"General Oak? We got a signal from the frigate Predator. They are warning us that if we keep heading south at this rate we will enter the detection range of the Cerulean coastal defense in thirty minutes." A young officer signaled.

"General Oak, the Obliterator report that they engaged and successfully captured a ship that saw us. Thanks to the communication jamming we have up, nothing got out. Minimal losses on both side, and the ship is heading for the Headquarters with a capture crew.

"General Oak? We are getting a message from the Frigate Manticore."

May tensed suddenly as the information reached her. The Manticore was farther west, and served to relay messages from the Succubus task force to her, informing her of the way things went with the attack on Rock tunnel.

"They are relying the information that this year's winternight was a success." The man told her. Unlike most other officer, this one actually knew what winternight was about, what had just happened. He knew of the war that had just started.

May sighed in relief, knowing that the crimson Lotus could finally move openly, as all was no ready.

"Signal the fleet to halt." She ordered one of the communication officer. "Then, give me a direct communication line with the Lotus Headquarters."

"Yes, General." The man saluted her, before moving back to his control panel. Soon, she felt the [i]Bloodsword[/i] shuddering to an halt, as the other ships of the fleet did the same, slowing down. They were just outside of the detection range of the Cerulean coastal defense, which meant they were a few hours away from the city itself.

Soon, the videoscreen turned on, revealing the aged face of the man who led the Crimson Lotus.

"General Oak?" He asked, his face taking an hawk-like appearance. As old as he was, there was still a great deal of strength left in the man. "What is it?"

"We have succeeded, and are ready to continue." She answered, not giving away too much, even though the communication was covered by a powerful signal to prevent any attempt at intercepting it.

"Very well. I am going to call President Blackthorn and his...friends." the man nodded. "Launch your attack in exactly half an hour."

________________________

The tournament was over, and as the sun rose as always over Indigo on that monday, most gym leaders had already left the town, going back to their homes. Misty, of course, was not going anywhere, and Brock and Suzie were still around, but mostly every other gym leader had left.

The night before, finally building up his courage, Ash had admitted to his friends - not only Misty, who already knew about it, but all others - that Lance was his fater, something that Danea, whom they mostly all knew, had confirmed. And now, wearing his long blue cloak in the streets of Indigo, he followed his father toward the league headquarter.

Now that he was a pokemon master and the co-winner of the tournament, there was not much point in trying to keep Ash hidden from the glares of the cameras. Gary was there also, and so was Misty, the first as he was the other co-winner and another pokemon master, the other as a gym leader. With their titles, and the fact that they were entering along with Lance himself, there would be no problem entering the headquarters.

They quickly walked by the guards at the main gate, Lance letting his hand rest on an infrared panel to open the door. As they went in the main building slightly past the gate, they were met by a very pretty young woman with long, purple hair, wearing glasses over her blue eyes.

"Lance." She greeted Ash's father, smiling at him.

"Lorelei." He nodded back, smiling too. "How are you?" he asked her.

"Great, though we might have a problem." She answered, and her smile disappeared, her face becoming very serious.

"What is it?" Lance asked, his face suddenly becoming just as serious. Lorelei threw a significant glance at Ash and his companions, and he suddenly remembered were he had met her before: in the Orange islands, were she had been travelling, and were Misty had openly admitted she was her idol.

"Don't worry, they're safe to be around. Pokemon masters for the two boys, one the grandson of Samuel Oak, the other my own son I mentioned to you and Bruno once or twice. The third is a gym leader, as you probably know so they all have a certain ranking as league officials."

"If you say so." Lorelei nodded. "I think I met your son and the gym leader once before." She added. "And of course I've seen them a lot in the recent tournaments. I already knew they were pokemon masters, it's just...sensitive stuff...but if the president is willing to give them clearance to that stuff..." she looked at him teasingly.

"Get to the point..." Lance told her, starting to sound a bit impatient.

"Alright. We lost all contact with Rock tunnel at some point last night."

"Darn." This time, the seriousness on Lance face was definitely not faked. Something big had happened, alright. "Have you tried to check it out?"

"The people over at Lighthouse point have sent a pair of their best choppers to check it out." Lorelei nodded.

"That's our closest military airport....guess they were the best choice to check it out." Lance nodded, while Ash tried to make some sense of what was happening as they walked inside the building.

Suddenly, a big, muscular man rushed toward them, a man that Ash knew, having met him once before.

"Lance, buddy, you're there!" Come quick, we're getting the report from those choppers, they're almost at Rock Tunnel!" He told them, barely even noticing Misty and Gary, and throwing a look at Ash, then Lance, smiling. Lance looked around, especially at the three young trainers.

"Darn. I'd rather not have you in there, but I guess it's too late, and I sure can't let you wander around...just promise me you aren't going to do anything that would be a problem to us..." Lance told them.

"Of course!" Ash said, his friends giving similar answers a moment later.

They all entered the room, Bruno leading, Lance second, then the three of them, who got a short glance from Agatha before she turned back to listening to the report that was being heard by everyone in the room.

"We are about to reach Rock Tunnel...nothing to report yet...the radar station still seems to be there...Wait! the Pokemon Center looks like it was burned down! Repeat, pokemon center burned down..." the voice said, and everyone in the room glanced questioningly at everyone else.

"There seems to be a ship close to the shore...make that two...wait, there are at least four ships out there..." the voice continued, giving them a better idea of the situation, but no clear insight as to what was up.

"DAMN IT!" the man suddenly yelled over the radio. "Someone's locking a missile launcher on us or something! They've got a missile off!" the voice added, obviously trying to control the panic, yet failing. "They..." the voice died, and they could only presume the helicopter had been destroyed by whoever was there.

"All right, any idea on what's that?" Lance asked them all.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, because the radar station is intact but the pokemon center was burned down." Agatha nodded, her voice old and tired.

"I think I see what you are talking about..." Lorelei nodded. "It almost has..." she was interrupted by a buzz from the console near Lance's seat.

"What is it?" He said,

"President Blackthorn? We have a priority message for you. Source unknown." The voice told Ash's father, as Ash looked around at everyone gathered, wondering what they were thinking about. His own mind was on the fact that the voice of the helicopter pilot had not sounded that old. He was probably no more than a few years older than Ash himself. Or rather, had been. Now, of course, he was dead.

"President Blackthorn." A man's voice said as his face appeared on the screen. He was almost as old as Agatha, but there was a distinctive strength that could easily be seen.

"What do you want?" Lance asked, at the same time as Agatha hissed.

"Maximilian" She glared at the face on the screen, her eyes filled with hatred.

"Agatha, Agatha. I see you still think the same way of me."

"Why would my feeling change, scum?" she asked her fiercely.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Such a language from a lady like you. At your age, you should know better...It must be a result of your...improper...closeness with those creatures of darkness you insist on raising." The voice had become hard as steel, the eyes of the man filling with ice as he made the comment.

"That tired old nonsense again?" Agatha said

"Please, sir, please Agatha. That's beside the point." Lance stopped them. "What is it that you want?" he asked.

"I am only warning you, as international laws require that I do. I am the leader of the group known as the Crimson Lotus. You might have heard of us." The man smirked, while the faces of Agatha, Lance, Lorelei and Bruno filled with steel.

"Crimson Lotus." Lance muttered. "What a surprise." He said, obviously not meaning the last. "What is it that you want, so that we can end this...displeasing...talk?"

"A simple warning, as I was saying. As of right now, the Crimson Lotus is officially at war with the state of Kanto." He looked at them all.

"What?" Lance roared.

"How dare you!" Agatha added, all traces of weakness and tiredness suddenly gone from her voice, though she still looked as old as always.

"You bastard!" Lorelei added.

"As nice as this chat is, I'm afraid I have to leave you...I have pressin matters to attend to. Such as overseeing your defeat, for one." The man said, looking at them, then the screen went blank.

"DAMN THE MAN!" Lorelei said as soon as the screen was out.

"We just don't have the military forces to fight back against them...they certainly have enough forces to grind us down." Bruno nodded.

"I know, but we can't give up." Lance countered. We have to fight back."

"I know we have to. We'll give it our best shot. But unless they made a serious blunder somewhere we lost already. We just don't have enough forces to fight back, and we certainly lack weaponry..."

As they continued to talk, Ash let the terrible news seeping slowly in him. As he did so, an idea began to take form at the back of his mind.

____________________________

May watched as the ships carrying the troop edged closer to Cerulean City, watching for any sign of an enemy counterattack against them. Cerulean was not too shabbily defended, as recent reports indicated about a thousand or so defenders, as well as a few air force squadron at the lighthouse point base. Of course, these would soon be taken care off by the Bloodsword's own squadrons, sneaking toward the base at almost sea level to avoid the radars.

"General, the frigate Basilisk signal that they are in position." A first voice reported, and she nodded.

"General, the submarine Slaughterer reached position outside Cerulean harbor." A second voice added.

"General, the transports of the First and Second Marine division are ready for the landing." The last voice said, as she turned toward the three communication officers who had relayed the messages from the warships to her.

"Order Colonel Andar and Colonel Trevor to wait a moment." She told one, giving her orders for the leaders of their two marine divisions. "Transmit this order to the Obliterator. I want them to move within range of the beach, so that they can crush the opposition with their heavy cannons." She ordered the second one. " Order two frigates - Griffin and Afreet - to do the same." She added, talking to the third one.

"Yes, General." They all nodded at once, and immediately started moving. They had been well trained, both in obedience and in the ability to take the initiative when it was needful, and that was just what the Lotus needed.

_________________

From the top of the tower that stood near the Cerulean gym, Lily Waterflower watched the approaching fleet, her eyes detailing all the information she could find about the opposition. She liked nothing of what she saw, but then, why would there be anything to like in that? They were outnumbered, outgunned, and out-everything. She could easily estimate to nearly three thousands the number of soldiers the enemy was ready to field, thrice what she could field. She went back in the elevator, heading downstairs to talk to her sisters, in the gym on the other side of the street. There was no time to loose, with the assault coming.

"There's no way to save the city." Were the first words out of her mouth as she joined them. "We're just too badly outnumbered."

"I expected as much." Daisy nodded. "Is there any chance we can try to evacuate some people?"

"Maybe." Lily answered, her face bleak. "If we manage to pin them down on the beach for a while, we could manage to evacuate some people..."

"The Pokemon center crew first." Violet nodded. "Then, every trainer we can find. And let everyone know to keep their pokemon very well hidden, or, if they can, release them in the forest near the town." She looked at both of her sisters at once. "See to it, everyone. We have no time to loose."

"Shouldn't we plan some sort of defensive tactic, first?" Daisy objected.

"What's there to plan? You take about four hundreds or so soldiers and escort everyone we evacuate toward Saffron. Violet take an hundred or so, and head toward Pewter, and make sure to collapse the Mount Moon tunnel. We don't want them sneaking on Pewter that way. I'll take the rest and try to buy you all some time."

Both of her sisters looked at her, and she hesitated, but stood firm. Someone had to lead the troop that would stay behind and buy everyone the time to flee, and she would take the role.

The storm would soon begin.

___________________________

Her soldiers were falling around her like flies, despite trying to put up a good fight. They had been repeatedly forced to withdraw over the last few hours, first to the city outskirts, still trying to draw the enemy away from the main ways out toward Pewter and Saffron, then they had been forced to withdraw downtown. Seeing as they were being slaughtered again, there was no choice but to order another withdrawal, this time toward the gym at the heart of the town.

Picking up the riffle of a fallen soldier, she took a few shot at a Lotus sniper who was fighting from the top of a building, and had the satisfaction, tainted with disgust, to see him falling in the street, hit. Two more lotus troopers turned a corner, and one fell to her shooting, while another fell to the shooting of a young soldier standing beside her.

They ran toward the entrance of the gym, the only place still defended in the whole city, and one that was conveniently located away from the two roads were the refugees were fleeing. They would succeed at allowing them to flee, but no one of them would make it out, probably.

She slowly went downstairs, as her troops did their best to hold the entrance of the gym, shooting at the lotus soldiers every time they came close to the entrance. As she entered the room the League had insisted was built, she heard an explosion, certainly that of the main door being blown away. The one wound she had received, from a shot that had passed very close to her leg, causing a small cut to appear, was painful, but far from preventing her to do anything. And certainly not preventing her from doing what she had to.

When the league had heard disquieting report of the Lotus building a base in the vicinity of Cerulean city, they had insisted that such a system was to be installed at the gym, and as Lily pulled the keyboard that controlled it, she could do nothing but agree. They could not let the Lotus take the gym and all the league-related sensitive information it held.

Feverishly, hoping to finish in time, she started entering the codes that would trigger the hidden explosives charges within the gym, and destroy it. She was nearly done, ready to press the enter key for the last time, when she heard a blast, then the sun of a gun shooting, and the keyboard flew in pieces before her eyes, causing many shards to hit her hands and arms. She winced in pain as she turned, facing a squadron of Lotus troops standing there. She moved her hands upwards, in a sign of surrender. They had lost.

Cerulean had fallen - at a ridiculously low cost for the Lotus. The only positive tought in Lily mind as the trooper bound her hands behind her back was that at least Violet and Daisy had evacuated the city in time.

______________________________

Lily was soon brought before the one who apparently lead the Lotus Army, one General May Oak. The name and figure sounded familiar, though she could not replace it, lost in her mind as she tried to comprehend the events of the last few hour. It was an additional surprise to discover that the leader of the assault was a woman, and one younger than Lily herself at that. The woman looked at her with curiosity in her brown eyes.

"You were very courageous." The woman complimented her.

"What?" Lily asked in puzzlement. She had certainly not expected to be complimented by an enemy leader for her courage, especially since, to her mind, she had done nothing that courageous.

"Staying behind to buy the others the time to flee. I don't know many persons about our age that would do that. And even if you are my enemy, that doesn't prevent me from respecting you for what you did." The woman explained. "You are a brave warrior, and that is something to respect in an enemy. Those who fail to see what is worth respect in the opposition die young."

"Ah." Lily answered, sill puzzled by the behavior. Suddenly, the woman took another tone.

"So...all pleasant talking set aside...I believe we should start at the beginning...from your look and age, I'd say you are Lily Waterflower. Am I correct?" she asked, and her eyes became hard as steel, reminding Lily of the handcuffs securing her hands behind her back. She hesitated a long time before answering, not knowing what advantage the opposing leader could get of her name, finally deciding that there was nothing worth resisting over.

"Yes..."

"You are worthy of respect for your courage Lily, I told you that already." The young woman looked at her. "I will do my best to see that the questioners are not too hard on you. In fact...I believe that if you were to swear fealty to the crimson lotus here and now, I might be able to avoid such unpleasantness totally." She offered. Lily sighed. She had heard a little about the questioners, from guards mostly, and didn't really want to experience their methods, but swearing fealty to the Lotus would be a simple denial of everything she believed in.

"I'm afraid I can't accept." She answered.

"You stand up for what you believe in, no matter the cost." The General nodded. "Very well then. I will still try to make sure you are spared as much as you can be, but there is not that much I can do. The offer still stand, should you choose to accept it." The voice of the young woman told her, and Lily felt for a second an urge to go back and accept.

Before she could do any such, two guards stepped in from outside the room, taking her back to her cell to await the coming of the questioners.

Chapter 22 : Plans of War

The league headquarters were in a state of turmoil, a state that was reflected throughout the city of Indigo. There had been little choice, once the news of the attack on Cerulean had come, but to reveal the fact that Kanto was at war. Lance had already called the leaders of both the Orange and Johto leagues, hoping to gain some reinforcements, but not really expecting to succeed, at least not in time to change much.

The news had started to filer among the trainers in the city, and most of them were in panic, trying to find a way to escape the rushing tide of war. Ash and Misty knew more than most, but also, somehow, just couldn't panic, as if some force was keeping them calm. The feeling that panic had no use for them, and would only serve the opposition was strong in them, preventing them from falling to the deep fear they felt as much as anyone else.

"Just what's the Crimson Lotus?" Ash had asked his father, trying to understand what this was all about.

"They're a...sect, I suppose...that got started about a thousand years or so ago...Maybe a bit more, around the time where the first pokemon trainers kicked the Westerners and their One God philosophy out of Johto and Kanto. their main belief is that Pokemons are creatures of darkness, evil beings, and that anyone who train them or associate with them in anyway either is evil already or will be corrupted, becoming evil as well." He had explained. "I suppose I'd think that too if my side had just had his ass kicked in a war by pokemon and I happened to believe my side was the side of God..."

"Okkkaaaayyyy..." had been Misty's reply, while Gary had called the whole thing a crazy religion, while his eyes had turned speculative, as if he was forming up a plan.

The bad news were more in the military domain, were league forces were badly outnumbered, nearly three to one in fact. The Crimson Lotus would have an easy time sweeping over the defenses of the league, taking town after town until nothing was left of Kanto. According to Lance, the Crimson Lotus had been bidding its time, waiting in the shadow until it was ready to strike, with the size to take victory. Now, they were ready, and they were attacking.

____________________________

Reaching for the sky, made of concrete and shining glass, the towers of the Silph Corporation were definitely the highest buildings in all of the megalopolis of Saffron. From the top of the northern tower, nearly eighteen hundred feets above the ground, one could easily see the surrounding countryside, far to the north, east and west, only south being hidden by the mass of the second of the twin towers. In all directions, the great hills of the Saffron Highlands dominated the view, though none of them were even as high as the tower.

Further north, a cloud of smoke marked Cerulean City. Even though what few reports they had received from aerial reconnaissance and Gengar's little scout trip showed no sign that anything not related to pokemon had been burned, the cloud of smoke was still there. Sabrina watched it from the top of the tower, Daisy at her side, Erica standing slightly off. The young psychic gym leader had called for a meeting the second her psychics and their probing had confirmed the fall of Cerulean and Lavender, long before the League had announced it, and a few hours before Daisy's arrival in the city.

They went back to seat around the table, that had until recently been the table for the meetings of the Silph Corporation executives, until Sabrina had expropriated it for her own use. Of course, as a place that let them see the general vicinity, it was definitely better than her gym to hold the meeting.

A hand knocked on the door, a harsh sound, as there was definitely great strength in the hand of whoever was knocking. With a smile, Sabrina used her psychic power to open the door, letting it a visibly concerned Jonathan Surge.

"You're in trouble." He told her bluntly as soon as he entered.

"I know." She replied, pointing to the column of smoke, and the figure of Daisy.

"I wasn't talking about that, I was talking about your silly Gengar waking me up in the middle of the night with scary faces to get me here." The man muttered, glaring at her, and Sabrina had to try very hard to keep herself from laughing. "But admittedly, the Lotus is more trouble for you than I am." His face became very serious. "Erica, Daisy." He nodded to the two of them. "I'm glad to see some of the people of Cerulean made it here. There has been no announcement of that yet." He told them.

"Most of them have yet to arrive, but Sabrina came and fetched me, saying she wanted to hold a meeting."

"And then she came and fetched me." Erica added.

"Why did you have to send your Gengar to fetch me then?" The man grumbled, looking at her. Sabrina looked back at him.

"Teleportation is tiring, as I told you before." She answered simply.

"Yeah, sure." He grumbled, reminding Sabrina of the grouchy ursarings that cartoon makers were so found of.

"Anyway, that's not why I wanted you all here." She said, before anyone else could talk. "It occurred to me that maybe we should plan our next moves, since the Lotus are sure to come for us."

"We won't hold any of the town." Surge said bluntly. "We just can't do it. Best thing to do is try to slow them down here in Saffron to at least buy the time to evacuate Saffron completely, then getting the civilians off to the sea once we run from Vermilion. That means holding Saffron long enough to evacuate it and Celadon. After that, we can start pulling back. I'm not sure if it'll work, though. They might be able to overwhelm us here."

"We're going to need time for that." Daisy pointed out.

"We have some. They're going to have to stop and regroup before starting down south, and land more troops in Cerulean so we don't slip in from behind and cut their supply lines."

"What?" Erica asked. The Celadon gym leader was a brilliant diplomat and a great artist, but her understanding of tactic and military operation was quite limited.

"You see, right now they hold Cerulean. If they were to move now, and start south toward Saffron, they'd have to be careful to avoid leaving themselves too open to a counterattack from behind. Because if we retake Cerulean, they won't be able to send more troops to help their forces, or ammunitions, or supplies of any kind. That's why they have to land more troops in Cerulean before they can move against Saffron." Surge explained her. Erica nodded, and from what she could feel, the young woman did understand quite clearly.

"It certainly make sense. Maybe we should find a way to attack those shipments?" She suggested, and Surge nodded.

"You're picking up fast." He gave her one of his rare smile.

"Thank you." Was her only answer.

"All right. We need a way to attack the shipments, and we need a way to hold the town for a while. Slowing them down on the way south seems the best way." Surge detailed the situation.

"We also need to shut down the Highlands Underpasses." Sabrina noted, referring to the two highways that ran under the town of Saffron, between Cerulean and Vermilion for one, and Lavender and Celadon for the other.

"Definitely. The East-West underpass as soon as possible. I think we might want only to lock down the southern gates of the North-South one, though." Daisy said, for the first time really offering a suggestion in the debate.

"Why?" Surge asked her curiously.

"Simple. If I remember what I learned well, the Saffron Dam is the only thing holding the water of the Highland Lakes from flooding that underpass, right?" She asked, and Sabrina gasped as the idea of what Lily was hinting at struck her.

"Yeah..." she replied slowly, hoping she was wrong.

"What do you think would possibly happen if we opened all the flood gates of the dam at once - with the tunnel half-full of Lotus troops?"

"I like the way you think." Surge grinned.

"There's one problem though." Sabrina pointed out. "The control center for the flood gates is in the Guard house of the tunnel - which will certainly be a primary target of the Lotus forces."

"Not much of a problem, no." A new voice, that of a woman, said from the door. They all turned to look at a young adult in Hoshoan clothes, followed by a group of black-clothed warriors. They all knew her, of course, as the sister of one of their fellow gym leader, and Sabrina had heard of the warriors accompanying her before, the elite force of Ninja gathered and trained by Koga.

"Aiya, it's a pleasure to see you." Sabrina said, meaning it. With some members of the Shinobi elite getting involved, sneaking in the guard house would be a piece of cake.

"My brother sent me to give you an hand, he thought you might use some sneaky help. Actually, he came up with the flood plan too, and he sent me to take care of it, but since you were going to do it as well, I suppose we might benefit from working together." Aiya told them.

"Actually, I'd go as far as saying we can't succeed without each other." Sabrina corrected quickly.

"What?" Aiya asked.

"We need the stealth of your ninja to get things running, and you need me to open the door to that control room." She explained. "The door is controlled by fingerprints detection, only the elite four and I - and the director of the dam, who wouldn't be of much help - can get in." She finished.

"I see." Aiya nodded. "I hope you can be stealthy." She said.

"Don't worry. I can be as stealthy as you, if not more." Sabrina smiled, concentrating on warping their perception of her, from that of a woman to that of empty air. There were gasps from Daisy and Surge, who had never seen her doing it, and Erica smiled knowingly, while Aiya just watched, interested.

"I believe that will be enough." Aiya smiled, and Sabrina warped their perceptions again, back to her normal self.

"Alright, now about hitting their shipments..." Surge started, and they all went back to their strategy planning.

___________________________________

It had taken five days after the assault on Cerulean for Gary and Ash to gather all the trainers in the vicinity of Indigo, using all the influence that his titles meant to try to convince them to come to the park, away from the Headquarters, where he intended to make his speech. Now, as he looked at the gathered trainers, most of them whom he knew, Gary wondered again if this was really the thing to do.

"All right. I suppose you all wonder why I asked you to come here?" He asked them, hoping fervently that Ash had managed to convince Lance to keep all leagues officials away from meddling there. That had been is part in the actual speech, though he had been as instrumental to the creation of the original plan as Gary. If Leagues official started meddling in the discussion here, things might not go as well as he planned they would, and he wasn't planning things would go too well already.

"I guess it has to do with the Crimson Lotus." AJ's voice said from somewhere.

"Yes, it does. It has to do with how all of you have been reacting to it. You're all afraid they'll kill you, but you do nothing to try to change that, do you?" he asked them, watching for their reactions.

"What can we do? I mean, they're coming to kill us...if we don't fight, they kill us, if we fight, they kill us...And they have gun, we have no way to fight back." another trainer, whom Gary recognized as Shingo Musashi, a well-known pokemon tactician.

"You're wrong. We CAN fight back." Another voice objected. "We're all fighters, and we all have our own weapons." A new voice said, and Gary turned, identifying the new speaker as Ashton Maxwell. "We can fight, we all proved it - that's the whole reason we came here in the first place, to fight against each other."

"Exactly." The voice came from the hooded form of Kyle Stery, who nodded in agreement. "They have way better guns and the like, but our weapons are equally deadly. They fight by commanding technology, bending the world to their will. We'll fight back by allying with the living forces, working together with the elements." He said, a strange tone to his voice. "Our fire pokemon can burn them down to ashes, and our ice pokemon freeze them in place. Our water pokemon can flood the roads they'll take, and our thunder pokemon fry their so precious technology. Our rock pokemon can crush their valuable tanks with their rock slides, and our ground pokemon can trap them with tremendous earthquakes. Our psychic types can make them see what we want them to see, not what really is, and our ghost pokemon can end their dreams, and their live. Our dark pokemon can strike in the depths of the night, and our steel types, shield us from their guns. We can fight back." He told them, his eyes almost seeming to be blazing under his hooded cloak.

"That's exactly what I mean. We CAN fight back. And for another thing, what's better? Dying being executed, or dying fighting so that some of us get a shot at surviving? And there's something else. All of us here, we share a special bond to pokemon. Do we really want to stand there, and let the kill us, our pokemon, and all the wild pokemon they find?" he told them, talking as if a flame was rising inside him.

"Yeah! You're right!" Maxwell yelled again, his fist high in the air. "We HAVE to fight!"

"Yeah!" Many others took up the shout, AJ, Suzie and even Richie among them, all of them seeming ready to fight.

"These Lotus guy thinks they can come in and start killing people just for being trainer. We'll show them they're wrong!" Gary yelled again. "Arcanine, Umbreon, go, both of you!" he called out his two favorite pokemon, his Arcanine roaring in defiance the second she came out. Many other pokemon were being called out, and told of what would happen, and their roars filled the air.

"I think Gary and his friend Ash should lead us, shouldn't they? After all, they're the ones behind this - and the best of us all." Kyle Stery said, his half-hidden eyes seeming to glow yet again, as Gary wondered how it was that he knew of Ash's involvement in the plan.

"Yeah!" Again, the roar was taken up by the whole crowd, as they were ready to fight.

"Thank you." He turned toward Kyle. "You really helped a lot." He told him, wondering how exactly the young man had known the thing to say at the right moment to get the movement really started.

"No, not really. I only gave you a little help, but you would have done it alone. The fuel was already there, all they needed was someone to light the match, and you did that just fine." The young man answered mysteriously.

___________________________

Lance looked annoyingly at the window of his office, wondering what the noise outside was about, and why Ash had been so insistent about keeping the police out of the southern parts of Indigo. Someone knocked at the door, and he reluctantly went and opened, revealing the young man in question.

"Ash? What do you want?" he asked his son.

"Just to give you something that you might see as good news, a good idea, or else an atrocious idea, but if it's the later, then it's too late to change it." Ash told him.

"Why do I have a feeling I won't like it?" Lance rolled his eyes.

"Well, Gary and I thought that since the Lotus are out to kill every trainer and pokemon, maybe we could give a shot at convincing the trainers that at least if we tried fighting back, some of us might make it out alive..." Ash explained. Lance looked at him, suddenly having an idea of where this was going.

"Go ahead." He told his son.

"Simply put, we gathered a few trainers, and asked them what they thought. They appear to prefer the idea of dying fighting for their own lives and their pokemon's to the idea of getting slaughtered without fighting."

"I'm not too sure I like that idea...and what exactly do you mean by a few trainers?" he asked his son suspiciously. There had been an hint of something in Ash's eyes and Lance definitely wanted to know what it was.

"Oh, well, all the trainers in the general vicinity of Indigo in the last week or so...we traveled around on our pokemon, called them, asked for some help from a few friends...maybe a few hundred, five or so..." Ash said, his eyes glinting.

"And are we supposed to have the weapons for all of them? To give them the training?" Lance objected.

"You are forgetting one thing dad. We don't need weapons, we don't need training. We already have our weapons and already are trained with them. Aren't we Raiken?" he asked the pikachu resting on his shoulders. "Pokemon can kill just as effectively as guns, even more effectively in some cases. Just because they almost never unleash their full powers doesn't mean they can't kill. They can, you know it as well as I do." He argued, while Lance noticed Lorelei coming up from behind Ash.

"What your son is saying has real possibilities Lance." She told him. "Pokemon control the elements, and controlling the element might just be enough to turn the tide of the war. Five hundred trainers with six pokemon each means three thousand pokemon at least - more, actually, since they probably all have some pokemon stored away at some league office and we can make sure they can use all their pokemon with them - that might be enough to change the flow of the war completely." She said, looking at him.

as much as he hated it, Lance had to admit they were right. Each of these pokemon had attacks or could learn attacks that would make them as deadly as a machine gun fired from afar. And with their numbers, they could very easily stand as a third, if not more, of the forces the league would be able to field.

"I guess it's not too bad an idea Ash...just be careful not to get yourself killed..." Lance said, putting his hand on his son's shoulder, admitting to himself for the first time he had often be worried over the years about him.

"Don't worry. I'll be alright." Ash replied, smiling at his father.

Chapter 23 : City of Shadow

The evacuation of Saffron and Celadon was going well, most of the refugees being already well underway toward Vermilion and Fuchsia. Sabrina was now only waiting for the last groups of refugees they were planning to move to safety, the survivors of Cerulean, to leave the town. Once they would have done that, the only thing left to do would be to wait for the Crimson Lotus to show up, something that would probably happen very soon. The most recent reports had them a few hours north of the city, in battle with a few of the best Saffranian troops.

She looked again at Aiya and her group of Ninja, all of them who had shown her time and time again over the course of the last week that they were aces when it came to sneaking somewhere without being seen, and to fading in the shadows.

"In a few hours, it'll be time for us to go." She told Aiya, looking at her, her eyes serious.

"Yes." Aiya nodded, as they both stood at the top of the Silph tower again, waiting for the time to be right for them to make their move.

They stood silent, as they kept a close watch on the reports coming in, of Saffranian troops withdrawing to avoid taking too much losses, and of the Lotus constant advance. Soon, the roar of the engines of the vehicles of the Saffranian militia was heard, followed shortly after by the roar of the engines of the vehicles of the Lotus army, helicopters in the lead.

Within a few moments, the helicopters were landing on the top of the gate house, unloading troops.

"You know, I just thought of something." Sabrina said suddenly. "How are we getting out of there?" she looked at Aiya, who simply pointed at the helicopters on the top.

"All right." Sabrina nodded, ready for the move, wondering a bit in the depths of her mind why there were so few ways to open the door, and what would happen in the unlikely events all of them were unable to use it at a critical moment. She then pushed the thought aside, choosing to make herself mentally ready for the raid.

"It's time." Aiya told her a moment after she started doing so, or what seemed like a moment, but in fact seemed closer to half an hour spent in meditation.

"All right. Let's go." Sabrina nodded, leading them out of the Silph tower, toward the northern entrance of Saffron. They left the city stealthily, sneaking through a back door in a side service tunnel of the underpass, that was often used by people walking to avoid crossing the main road. The tunnel would eventually lead them to the northern gatehouse itself, they knew that.

Once they entered the building, Aiya quickly gave a few orders, and soon the rest of the team of Ninja was gone, leaving only the two of them.

"I don't think we'll need them for the other part, and someone need to secure the helicopter." She quickly explained, her voice hushed, before calling upon the energies of Shinobi, a force similar to the one called upon by both psychics and Kai masters. Soon, all that was left of the young ninja was a faint shadowy outline, a dim shadow that none would see without seeking.

"Now I see why they say that Ninja lives in the shadow." Sabrina nodded as they headed toward the room, and she made sure to probe the vicinity for anyone who needed to be deluded about her presence, while making sure Aiya could keep sight of her.

Very soon, they reached the room they were trying for, surprised to see that both guards there were already locked deep in battle, faced by an Arbok and a Weezing, attacking with all their powerful poisonous tactics. The two guards were not faring well, the dark clouds of nauseous matters soon sending them to the ground writhing in agony.

"Arbok, return" A woman's voice said in a hushed tone.

"Weezing, come back." A man voice added, his tone much the same. The owners of the two voice soon stepped in, wearing black combat suit with, surprisingly, the leaf-shaped mark of the Earth Badge with a stylized R under it on the back, marking them as members of Giovanni's elite security force for the Viridian gym, the Raptor's Talon, a marking that was further confirmed by the talon shaped-insignia on their shoulders. One of them had middle length blue hair loose over his face, while the other had long, red hair. They moved toward the door, apparently determinate to open it.

"Jessie, what did the boss tell us about that door?" The man asked the woman hurriedly, his emerald eyes intent.

"He talked about a special switch he made sure was installed..." the woman replied, and Sabrina, still invisible, watched them curiously. She walked near them, letting her hand rest on the mechanical device, which could perceive her despite the invisibility, as it had no mind to be fooled. Suddenly, she heard Aiya swearing, and half a second later, heard the explosion of a bullet being fired and felt a sudden flash of pain through her back as she fell forward in the now open room. Her illusion broken, the two Raptor's Talon gasped as they saw her falling forward, and followed her in the room, followed by the rapidly materializing outline of Aiya.

"That was bad luck...they were firing at them, but they missed and got you instead." Aiya said. Sabrina nodded despite the pain, before suddenly loosing all traces of the world around her, as it vanished from her sight replaced by utter nothingness.

____________________________

"Saffron is under attack. Even as organized as your trainers are now, you can't help there. And I don't know if they'll have the time to finish evacuating Vermilion before the attack start there." Lance told Ash and Gary as the two.

"We can go help there. If we leave now, we can help them with trying to hold Vermilion long enough to pull out." Ash replied, feeling confident.

"We shouldn't send everyone, though. How does a hundred trainer for the relief force strikes you?" Gary suggested. "That's not too many, and it's still six hundred pokemon, a sizeable fighting force." He explained. "Not to mention that that way we'll be able to pick only those with fast flying pokemon, so you can get there faster." He added, and Ash nodded.

"You're right." He said as he started planning their move to Vermilion. "I'll lead that group." He added.

"All right then. I'll stay behind and take care of everyone else." Gary nodded.

They were all gathered in the room in the league headquarters, along with Lance, Lorelei, Elayne, the mysterious Kyle Stery, Misty, Damian and Giovanni who had made the trip from Viridian to try to give them a hand.

"The Lotus might run in some trouble in Saffron. I sent two of my ex-Rocket to cause them some trouble, and I'm sure Sabrina is going to have a few idea of her own about slowing them down." He pointed out as they kept planning. "Any news about possible allies?" he asked Lance.

"Karen told me she'd try to find a way to help, but with Claire speaking against us every chance she get, and all the influence she has with the league council, I'm not sure Johto will be able to do much for us. Orange refused to help directly in the fighting, but offered to take care of all the civilians refugees we can evacuate there. I'm still trying to get through to Hosho, as we could seriously use their help." He explained.

"That's true." Lorelei nodded. "The Hoshoans don't have that big of an army, but it's superior technology-wise to anything anyone can field, except maybe the Feldars and the Alerian, and they are on the other side of the world."

"And busy with a war of their own, with Tevas and Manawa causing trouble." Lance added.

"Though Manawa's half-openly supporting the Lotus, so maybe we can convince them to give us a hand by shutting down the main safe haven of the Crimson Lotus, but changes in the situation on Amara won't have much of an effect here." Giovanni pointed out. Ash listened confusedly. He knew Amara, on the other side of the world was, along with Serland, to the west of Johto, Farissa to the south of Serland, Sanara, south of Amara and Aucea, the great southern island and it's may , one of the major continents of the world, just like Aysaka, their home continent. But when it came to the political situations of those countries, he was completely lost, barely even knowing that Feldaranne and Aler were generaly acknowledged as two of the greatest world powers.

"We need to get the Hoshoan to help, that's certain." Lorelei pointed out again.

"And we need to convince Claire to get a clue so that Karen can send us some help. I think I have just the people we need for that." Giovanni grinned.

They continued to talk, planning for a long while before the session concluded, and Ash walked out to go recruit those trainers who would be going with him to Vermilion, were the trainers would face their first battle.

As confident as he had been talking to his father and planning with Gary, he had no doubt most of them wouldn't make it.

_______________________

Slowly opening her eyes to the light that streamed in the room, Sabrina felt a piercing pain in her side, remembering the bullet that had struck her from behind. She looked at Aiya and the two Raptor's Talon, seeing that the blue-haired man and Aiya were still trying to help her while the red-hair was slowly entering the codes that would release the water. One day, she though despite the pain, she would have to ask Giovanni how he had gotten the codes.

"I see you decided to stay with us a while longer." Aiya said, her tone half-sarcastic. Looking around, Sabrina noticed that the door had been closed.

"You really thought I was going to let you down?" Sabrina replied through clenched teeth.

"All right. Now that she's awake again, do you care to explain why you two are here, and why exactly you're masquerading as Raptor's Talon?" Aiya asked the two of them.

"What?" They both said at once, seeming outraged by the comment.

"Oh, don't play innocents with me. I remember when you raided my brother's gym two years ago or so." She told them. "I want to know what two Rocket agents are doing pretending to be Raptor's Talon." She glared a them.

"Who said we were pretending?" The girl answered.

"I'm afraid you'll have to ask the boss about it." the man shrugged.

"Team Rocket bosses? Those who escaped from prison? Or is there someone else? Or maybe you mean Giovanni?" Aiya asked suspiciously. The two Rockets looked at each other.

"The real Rocket boss never was in prison , though he disbanded Team Rocket, and Giovanni's the one you want to ask answers from." The girl replied. "And the Elite Four knows all about it, so don't bother them with that." She added, looking suspiciously at the ninja woman.

"Anyway, if you don't mind too much, that's not exactly why any of us is here." The man pointed out, pressing enter on the control keyboard in which his partner had already entered the information that would open the flood gates of the dam at their full opening.

As the screeching sound of the flood gates being opened was heard even in the sheltered room, they all knew that they had to get out quickly, Sabrina most of all, as she had studied the maps more than once, and knew that after an hour or so the gatehouse would be flooded as well as the tunnel.

"How do we get out? They're waiting for us outside..." Aiya pointed out.

"There's an emergency door back behind you. It won't open from the outside but from the inside it can be opened at any time by anyone. It lead to a concealed stairway that will take us to the top..."

"And the helicopters." Aiya nodded, finishing the thought. They quickly climbed up the stair, the two Rockets carrying Sabrina between them, as her wound was starting to get worse.

Soon, they had reached the top, were Aiya's team of ninja was waiting for them. One was dead, but the others were apparently all right. Feeling herself becoming weaker and weaker, Sabrina watched everything as if it was in a haze. As she felt the helicopter lifting from the top, she also felt herself falling to the floor of the cabin, unable to stay up any longer.

__________________________

May looked at the city of Saffron, which her troops had just managed to take, though at an high price. She had not expected the ennemy trap with the underpass, and a good few hundreds of her best soldiers had died in there.

Now that she had Saffron and Cerulean in her grasp, it was time to go back and clean all the villages and forests between the two towns of pokemon, at least as far as the more fanatical members were concerned. Of course, to her, such an operation had a much more practical reason, which was to secure their conquests and make sure there would be no counterattack from behind.

She gave the orders, still looking at the city from the top of the undamaged Silph tower, her hand resting on the helicopter that had just dropped her there.

"General Oak? You have a message." An aide came and told her, though it was not Eric. She would have preferred it had the aide been Eric, but he was busy leading the clean-up of all remnants of the enemy presence in the city.

She took her personal radio, and answered.

"General Oak." She said, identifying herself to whoever was talking with her.

"General, I am most pleased with your success so far." The voice of the grandmaster indeed sounded pleased. "You are definitely showing yourself worthy of the trust we put in you. Can we expect more conquests soon?" the question came.

"I don't know yet. It depend on how much time it takes to clean the land we control to avoid resistance." She answered.

"Try to avoid killing. We don't want to make the population too angry at us." The man suggested.

"Of course." She replied shortly.

__________________________

Melanie looked at her refuge for one last time. With Lotus troops sweeping the nearby woods as they had been doing for the last few days, she had no choice but to run now, abandon the small mountain valley in which she had worked so hard for so long. Turning toward the Venomoth who had replaced Bulbasaur as the protector of the refuge, she gave him a few quick orders.

"The others trust you Venomoth. You lead them toward the moutains and then to Pewter."

"Moth." The pokemon nodded. Melanie

The bug nodded, and headed out followed by the other pokemon. Melanie went back to preparing the traps she was setting for the Lotus troops that were sweeping the woods, troops that were almost certain to find clues to the existence of the refuge.

As soon as the last trap was set, she left to, following her pokemon on the roads that led to the southern Moon Mountains and beyond them to Pewter and Viridian - and safety.

Behind her, the sound of screams were heard, and she could only guess a small group of Lotus soldiers had fallen for one of her traps. The noise of the sweeping troops grew louder, an helicopter passing overhead once, barely giving her the time to dodge under an evergreen before they could see her. She shuddered, knowing she would need luck to avoid the sweeping.

____________________

"You've picked up everyone who's going?" Lance asked Ash as the young man watched his father intently.

"Yeah." Ash nodded simply. They were near Ash's new room, in the official house of the president of Kanto.

"There's one thing. Tell them to go to the Headquarter tomorrow morning. We'll have something for them." Lance told him, causing Ash to turn to look at him, feeling a deep curiosity within him.

"Alright. Why?" he said cautiously.

"Just a little device we need to give them. It lets them carry as many pokemon as they want with them at once - well, not that much, but around fifteen or so pokemon, instead of the usual six." Lance explained. "You won't need one, though, I think." He added.

"Why?" Ash asked in surprise.

"When you went to the shrine, did you get a sword?" Lance asked, and Ash wondered why he was changing the subject like that.

"Yeah..." Ash replied slowly.

"That sword was a probably kind of early pokeball...back then, the people would simply alter objects they would normally use to make them in pokeball. It allowed them to carry their pokemon with them without being obvious about it. Most swords were altered to include that. Just play with it a little, I'm sure you'll find how to trigger it." Lance answered his son. "And it can probably hold more pokemon than the devices we'll give to the rest of the trainer." He finished, and left, leaving Ash to ponder what he had said- and go to his room to check.

Holding the sword close to him, he could easily feel the small loose part near the handle, that looked suspiciously like a trigger. Pressing it caused a sparks of red energy, similar to that of a normal pokeball, to run along the length of the blade, turning in a beam as the blade ended, shooting right ahead. Calling out Celes, he had no difficulties calling her back in the blade, then out of it again. Calling in Esper as well, he found out that naming the right pokemon was enough to get the one he wanted to appear.

Smiling, he tied the scabbard of the blade to his belt, sliding the slender, deadly sword back in it, after calling out all his pokemon, explaining them about the sword, and calling them back. Even though he had no idea how to use the sword to catch a new pokemon, he would still have six pokeball empty and available for just that, while his sword would let him keep the rest of his team safely with him, and give him a certain surprise advantage.

Chapter 24 : City of Remorse

"Remind me exactly why we're here again?" The brown-haired woman turned toward her friend, who sighed inwardly as she heard the same words, yet again.

"We're here because your little sister kept complaining about life on Shamuti being "boring" and you decided to give in and take her off the island for a few weeks. You decided to go with her because you didn't trust her to be alone yet. And you asked me to tag along so as to have company, not to mention someone who knew the region, even if only a little bit." She answered, pushing her green hair out of the way.

"And now we're in the middle of a war." Carol completed. Marin sighed again as this was about the twentieth time or so that they had the exact same discussion.

Of course, coming to visit Kanto had not seemed like that bad of an idea to Marin when Carol had mentioned she was giving in and taking Melody there after the festival of the legend - a festival that didn't mean much now that the legendary prophecy was fulfilled, of course. Melody, apparently, had gotten a taste for adventure during the events in which they had both played a role back in the Islands, along with Ash and his friends. Consequently, the never changing life on the small island of Shamuti, bound by traditions and ceremonies, had seemed boring, dull to the young woman.

"Talking about your sister, where is she?" Marin suddenly asked her friend.

"How would I know? She apparently got the hang of evading me in that town, so I lost track of her a long while ago. As long as she gets back to the ship to get some sleep every night..." Carol shook her head.

"You aren't the least bit worried about her?" Marin was surprised, considering how she had insisted Melody was not old enough to go on vacations alone, at an age where, on the mainland and in most of Orange, kids left their house at twelve or so on pokemon journey. Melody was sixteen, on the mainland she should have been old enough not to care about her parents at all anymore.

"Of course I'm worried. But have you tried to keep track of her?" Carol objected. "She's too fast, and she managed to get the hang of this town before us." She explained.

"I guess I see what you mean." Marin admitted, looking at her friend. In her normal Shamutan dress, she definitely did not fit in with most of the population of the seaport of Vermilion.

Suddenly, a swarm of tiny black points appeared to the south-west, over the large body of water that was the bay of Vermilion.

"Jets?" Carol said, looking curiously at them as they came slowly closer.

"I don't think so...let me check..." Karen answered, picking up the binoculars she was always travelling with.

She spent some time trying to adjust the lenses to get the better view of the flying objects, recognizing as she did so the familiar beating motions of the wings of birds.

"No, these are bird pokemon. And I'd say they have trainer on top of them." She told her friend, trying to get a better view. There were trainers there, all right.

"What are you looking at?" A youthful voice asked from behind them. Marin turned to face Carol's sister, Melody. Where Carol did not fit in with the people of Vermilion, Melody certainly did, looking for all the world like any other teenage girl.

"Where have you been?" Carol replied, looking at her sister with a look that was definitely anger in her eyes.

"Here and there." Melody replied, an amused grin on her face, and Marin had to work hard to avoid laughing. Carol knew, or at least should have known she would never get an answer to a question asked like that, yet for some odd reason she had asked it all the same. A waste of time was the only term that Marin could find to describe what her friend had just done.

"What are you looking at, anyway?" Melody insisted.

"That flock of bird pokemon over there." Marin replied, turning to see that they were much closer. Apparently, they were flying faster than she had first assumed. Looking in the binoculars again, she saw that there were most definitely trainers sitting on the pokemon as they came toward the city. Refugees from the war, perhaps, or else trainers who had decided to fight instead of running away.

___________________________

Ash watched the hundred or so flying pokemon behind him with a certain sense of pride, his head turned as he trusted Deathwing to take him where he needed to go, without trouble. Celes flew side by side with them, carrying Misty, while shortly behind, Richie flew on his Charizard, Zippo and Damian on Gary's pideot, which they had borrowed. The shore was already within sighting distance, as it had been for the better part of an hour now.

The four days journey in the sky had gone well, without any battle, skirmish or other marring their road, and with as little time as possible lost on halts and night stops. Of course, he still had managed to make sure everyone was in good shape and ready to fight once they reached Vermilion, but still, he had tried to make it to the town as fast as possible.

"Misty, take the others down there, Richie, you come with me, we'll take a look up north to see how far the Lotus troops have come." He rapidly yelled over the sound of the rushing wind that sent his hair flying behind him, feeling again the exhilaration of flight as the powerful muscles of Deathwing clawed at the sky, carrying the two of them. There was a subtle change of movement in the powerful wings of the great dragon, and Ash soon found himself flying lower than the others, in a different direction, amazed by the sheer power of the pokemon that flew.He had wondered for a long time why it was that flying pokemon were able to do so much with their wings, now seeing the muscles that moved them in action, he could easily understand why a blow from one's wings would be severely damaging.

"Any idea what we're looking for?" Richie asked him, flying by his side.

"Not yet." Ash replied, glancing at his friend. There was a kind of defensive shield around Richie now, as if he was afraid of something, and Ash knew without knowing - a feeling deep inside him - that it was related to him. "What's wrong?" He asked his friend?

"I don't know...nightmares, mostly. Scary ones...they seem so...real..." his friend shuddered, and Ash looked at him closely. "I don't really want to talk about it now Ash." He added.

"Later maybe?" Ash said, worried about his friend. Even though his friendship with Gary had taken the first place in his life, Richie still counted as far as Ash was concerned, still was a great friend.

"Maybe..." Richie did not answer further, instead pointing to below them, were Ash noticed that they were crossing the shoreline. "I'll ask again. What should we look for?" he said, and though Ash knew very well that this was mostly an attempt at changing what they were talking about, he decided to go along, for now. Maybe later Richie would be ready to talk about it. Hopefully, he would.

They continued flying side by side in an uneasy silence, a truce between the questions that Ash burned to ask and the answer Richie was not ready to give. The two Charizard continued clawing at the sky with their powerful wings, as they looked around for any sign of Lotus activity, finding none so far. At one point, Ash located a group of running creatures he thought might be Lotus soldiers, but on closer inspection found out it was simply a group of pokemon running through the forest.

"Hey Ash!" Richie suddenly said, his finger pointing at two tiny points in the sky, two points that were just too far to really identify. Two points that were getting closer quite fast, however. Within a moment, he could easily identify them as a pair of airplanes, and a moment later, from their shape, as Lotus planes. They were a kind that the League did not really use, hence there was no mistaking them.

"I think that's what we were looking for..." Richie stated.

"Not really, their planes don't tell us how far south their troops got..." Ash objected.

"You got a point there." Richie admitted quickly, and there was some regret in his voice, as if he had been trying to prove himself something and had failed. "But what do we do about them?" he then asked, looking as the planes came closer. They had certainly been sighed by then and there would be no evading them, now with the superior speed the planes had.

"Think you can deal with one of them?" He asked his friend, already forming up a plan to dispatch the other, calling upon the power of Tairan that rested within his soul.

"Yeah, I have an idea." Richie replied, concentrating. "Steely! I choose you!" He yelled, calling out a pokemon, a steel-covered Skarmory. "Steely, use your steel wing attack on the gas tank of that plane!" he ordered, and they both watched as the pokemon came close to the plane, opening a gap to the gas tank.

In the meantime, Ash did not say idle, calling upon Tairan's powers to freeze the wings of the plane in place, making it heavier by the second. Soon, it was starting on a downward path, unable to move back up as the flaps were frozen in place by the beam of pure ice that had come out of Ash's hand. Ash watched, trying to keep all emotions at bay as he saw the airplane crashing down below. Of course, this was war, but the fact remained he had just killed a human being for the first time, and somehow, the simple act made him feel less of a human, more as if he was a mindless beast. He shuddered a little at the thought, then turned back to watching Richie, wondering what his friend was up to, trying to think anything but the fact that he had just killed a human being, perhaps more.

"Are you just going to wait until they run out of gas?" he asked his friend, watching him suspiciously.

"No. What kind of pokemon am I flying on Ash?" he asked back, pointing at the burning tail of his Charizard, as Ash gasped, realizing what Richie was planning.

"Uh...I think I'll go stand a short distance away...a few miles..." he said cautiously, nudging Deathwing to fly away, even though he mostly meant what he had said as a joke.

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing." Richie replied. "I'm not suicidal. Zippo, Fire blast." He added, watching as the roaring wave of fire left the mouth of his dragon, flying past the returning Skarmory who was almost back to them already, and striking the plane that was still quite a distance away. The air around the metallic machine burst into flame as a devastating explosion shattered the war machine.

Richie stared at the burning remnants that fell toward the ground, and Ash watched him as he moved closer to the side, retching.

"That's...man, how...how are you...doing ...it?" Richie stared at Ash. "How...how can you...take it...that... calmly?" his face what white.

"I'm just trying to keep it inside...not to think about it..." Ash continued looking worriedly at his friend. He seemed to be taking his first kill even harder than Ash himself took his own.

"I think we'd better go back now..." He said, watching Richie's empty eyes and his pale face.

"Yeah...I...I think it'd be...better..." The voice came in a hoarse whisper, as the horror seemed to come back after a brief pause.

As they flew back toward Vermilion, Ash thought about the war, wondering how many of the young trainers who had volunteered would fall just because they could not take their first kill, and would fall to it instead. There had to be something to do to make it easier, but he had no idea what.

_____________________

"I know that face." Misty watched the young woman standing near the docks, by a ship. There were two other woman behind her, and one of them Misty could definitely recognize. She raced toward them.

"Marin!" she yelled, causing the green-haired ship captain to turn toward her. She looked at her for a long while, as if trying to remember who she was.

"I'm...sorry...do we know each other?" She asked finally, still looking at Misty who smiled a little, realizing that in the two year since they had last met, she had definitely changed a lot.

"Yes. My name's Misty Waterflower. Maybe you remember it?" she smiled, and watched as the older woman seemed to concentrate, as if she was trying hard to remember.

"You took me and two of my friend in your ship in a cruise in the orange Island two years ago, but during a storm we landed on Shamuti island." She added, watching the woman's eyes shining with recognition as she finished.

"You're that girl?" Marin gasped. "It's great to meet you again! You sure changed!" A big grin split her face.

"Do you admit it now?" A mocking voice came from behind her, and she turned to face the brown-haired young woman she was sure she knew. Looking at her, Misty suddenly gasped, realizing who it was.

"Melody?" She looked at the young woman, about her own age, in surprise.

"That's my name." She smiled. "Now, do you admit it?" she insisted again.

"Admit what?" Misty answered, though she had a very good idea what it was.

"That you love him." She replied. There was, of course, no doubt who "him" was. Misty smiled.

"Of course, why would I do otherwise?" she smiled back, watching the surprise in her eyes. She obviously had not expected the answer, and Misty felt a short moment of pride at having surprised the ever-so-slightly annoying girl.

They continued talking for a while, remembering what they had all gone through together, and talking about why they all were there now. Then, as Ash arrived, Misty quickly raced toward him. He didn't seem well, that was for sure, as if something extremely painful had happened. Richie, on the other hand was pale, as if he had seen a vision of horror he did not want to hear about again.

"What's wrong Ash?" she asked him softly.

"I...we ran in lotus planes...I destroyed one...killed the people inside...." He was shuddering as she wrapped her arms around him, holding him close to her, whispering soothing words, wondering if she would be able to live with the pain of having the blood of another human on her hands.

"It's...I can't describe it...the feeling that I'm so...dirty...now..." he continued to shudder in her arms, while Misty watched him helplessly, holding him closely. From the corner of her eyes, she caught sight of Damian helping Richie back up.

Her only wishes were that they would come to term with what they had done...and that she would never have to do so.

____________________________

"We've started evacuating the town quite a while ago..." Surge reported, his face bleak as he watched a report. Ash half listened, trying to think up more ways to pull back without causing too much casualties on either side. There had been many skirmish in the two days since the arrival of the trainers' relief force, and none of those who had killed took it much better than Ash or Richie, except perhaps those who had lost loved ones in Saffron or Cerulean.

Surge had suggested that they try to think of it as a matter of self-defense, kill or be killed, but while that made it slightly easier - enough so that most trainers had no more problem with it, to Ash it was not enough. The only way that allowed him to actually fight without too many remorse was to think of that they allegedly did to pokemon they caught. That prevented in from falling to guilt as he brought down more Lotus troops, the same guilt that had almost destroyed him after that first battle.

"We'll be done evacuating very soon...maybe you should pull your trainers off?" He suggested and Ash snapped back to the present situation.

"I think so...we'll have to go by sea, though. Most of our pokemon are completely spent, especially the flying ones, and the pokemon center is down..." Ash pointed out. "I'll give orders for the bulk of our forces to get on the next liners, along with the other trainers that joined since we arrived." Ash smiled. Since they had arrived, they had lost twelve or so trainers in battle, a high price, but on the other hand, they had gained fifty or so new trainers from the refugees and citizens of Vermilion. "We'll stay here a bit longer, though." He added, thinking it up. "The leaders, I mean." He explained.

"If you want." Surge shrugged.

___________________________

A day had passed, and the fighting in the outskirts of the cities had grown weaker as they fell, the troops withdrawing to the harbor, ready to evacuate. Most ships were already fully loaded, or would be, once the troops were inside. Fortunately, and thanks to Misty, there would be no need for Ash or his friends to kicks soldiers off their ships, which was something he just wouldn't have done.

"Why are you sill here?" Ash asked Marin as he walked onboard her ship, were his companions were already waiting.

"Misty asked us to wait and give you a lift out. After what you did two years ago, I decided we owed you that much." Marin replied simply. "You just so happened to save the world."

"I'll remind you I helped!" Melody corrected from her place near the bow of the ship. Surge ran along the pier, toward his own ship, a sleek boat much similar to the one Marin herself was using, which was in turn similar to the one Carol, Melody's sister had once owned, before Melody had wrecked it in the Shamuti Island, during their mad dash to save the world.

"Watch out on your way out! Koga just managed to get through with a radio message, they spotted a battleship off Fuchsia a few days ago. Might be around here now!" He shouted as Marin powered up the engines of her ship.

"Is everyone onboard?" she asked, and got a nod from Ash, as Surge walked away toward his ship.

"We're ready." He nodded, feeling happy to get away from Vermilion and the dark memories the town now held, that of the blood on his hands.

The ship suddenly roared to life, bounding forward toward the open sea that stood outside the harbor, and freedom behind, as Ash relaxed. Even though he hated the feel of killing, he had to admit, this first mission had gone rather well, though he wouldn't complain about returning to Indigo and his father.

Chapter 25 : City of Illusions

Far, far away from the chaos of the war that threatened to drown the land of Kanto in blood and death, the sun shone brightly over a single crater, a crater that stood alone by the side of a great lake. If one was to look at the crater from above, one would see a lush forest inside, surrounding a lake, a lake that itself turned in a river, a river than ran underground, cascading down the rocky flanks of the natural walls toward the great lake outside.

In the middle of the smaller lake, a single point was that could not in any way be mistaken for a natural location. There was no way to tell what it was, only that the hand of man had crafted it, long ago perhaps, as it seemed long since abandoned.

Abandoned by humans, at least. If one was to peek at it at night, one would sometime see strange, eeries lights coming from the objects, a bluish glow that could only mean one thing, that a being inside was unleashing tremendous amounts of psychic powers.

And such a thought, such a suspicion would have been the absolute truth, the being in question reflected, looking at the strange tube at the back of the room he stood in, inside the abandoned, crashed remnants of an airplane. A smaller being, this one female, was there as well, watching closely, her blue eyes worried as she glanced at both the strange tube that held a human being, and at the other being, the inhabitant of the place.

"Are you sure this will work?" the female being sent the thought out of her mind.

"I don't know." The second being answered, admitting to himself that despite all of his futile pretense at confidence, he was equally worried. The last attempt done by anyone at what he was trying had ultimately failed, and broken his own heart, and he did not know if he could take the same thing happening again.

"I hope you know what you're doing. I risked a lot retrieving those for you. Not to mention warping is extremely tiring." She pointed out.

"I know all that, auntie" he used the name she hated so much, though it was a name that made sense in a certain way. She considered herself the sister of the one he considered as a mother.

"I thought I had asked you not to call me that." She pointed out.

"Yes, you did. But I don't see why I shouldn't mention it." he replied, concentrating still on the machines in front of him. There was no room for mistake, especially knowing how costly a mistake would be, both to him, and to their plans in general.

"Have you thought up a name for her?" she asked him suddenly, her eyes focused on the tube just as well, watching the flickering light within.

"Not yet...calling her her original name just doesn't seem right...she..." He sighed. "She's not the same. We changed her." He admitted, something he had been trying not to think too much about it, there was no way that the human that would soon appear would be the same as the human that had meant so much to him. No way that this would ever be.

"You're right." She nodded. "A similar name, then?" she suggested.

"Maybe...though that's not what we did for her "brother"..." he objected, their mind still meeting in endless conversation that no normal being could comprehend, could even realize was taking place.

"We picked at random for her brother. Not exactly the best way." She objected, a strange glitter in her eyes.

"I suppose you are right. Still, is her name that important? I mean, a name is just a sound that other use when they want to talk to you...it has nothing to do with what's inside her...and what's inside is what really counts, because that's from where our actions comes."

"There you go, philosophy again." A grin, made strange by the shape of her head, appeared.

"Please, don't go there." He replied.

"All right..." her mental voice was soft once again. "What about Aimée for a name? Not too far from the original name, and there's a meaning to it, too..." she told him.

"What is it?" He asked curiously, not recognizing the words from any of the language he understood.

"In a tongue that the humans use...it means loved one." She smiled. He felt something he had not felt for a long time coming up his throat, as the corner of his eyes became ever so slightly humid.

[i]What is...?A...a...tear?...It's been...so...long...[/i] the thought ran through his mind as he brushed aside the tear, feeling one more welling up in each eye..

"That's definitely a good name." He agreed, trying to keep his emotions hidden.

_____________________________________

Water splashed on the deck as the [i]Legend[/i] sped forward, but the falling drops of waters certainly did not bother any of those who sat in the back of the ship. Marin was driving, of course, as she was the expert sailor, though they all knew Melody could probably give her a good challenge when it came to skill. However, at that specific time, she was too busy talking with Ash and Misty, remembering how the three of them had saved the world, working together.

"Well, we didn't exactly do it alone." Misty pointed out. "Slowking, Lugia and Tracey did help. And I didn't do THAT much..." she looked fondly at Ash. "He did most of it."

Ash blushed, not having expected Misty to say that, and he brought his left arm around her shoulders, bringing her close to him and holding her very tightly.

"Team Rocket helped a lot, too." He pointed out. "They were even ready to die to save the world." He remembered the event, the feeling of disbelief as the three villains had let go off Lugia's leg, condemning themselves to a fall that would, under most circumstances have cost them their live. He had never learned how they had survived that, had never heard from them about that after it had happened. Still, whenever he thought about all the evil they had done, the memory of the two of them jumping off, shouting a final variation of their traditional "Team Rocket blasting off again!" came as well, reminding him that no one could be absolutely evil, and that deep inside, the three of them had a good heart.

"You never told me much about that." Misty pointed out. Ash was about to answer when Marin shouted, calling them all, and making them look ahead...

Straight at the dark, huge shape of a Crimson Lotus battleship heading in their general direction.

"That's not good." Damian, who had been silent until then, pointed out.

"Obviously." Kyle Stery remarked, standing in his seat still.

"Guys, instead on trying to decide whether or not it's obvious, why don't we try to come up with a solution?" Richie suggested, his eyes locked on the dark shape.

"That would be a good idea, wouldn't it?" Damian agreed, but before Kyle tried to point out again it was obvious, Richie signaled him to shut up.

"Let me drive." Melody told Marin. "You might be better at safe sailing, but that's not what we need here. We need someone who's good at risky sailing." She explained, and Ash watched as Marin reluctantly nodded.

"Can't your pokemon help?" She asked them, watching the situation, her eyes on the same dark shape they were all watching.

There was a sound like a thunderclap, and the end of the cannons of the ship were made brighter for a moment. Melody desperately turned the control wheel to the left, and the ship barely dodged the first shot, as Melody took a deadly turn to the right to help make the next shot less accurate.

"I don't think so!" Ash yelled, his hand gripping the railing of the ship tightly, afraid that he might fall off during one of Melody dangerous maneuver. He locked his eyes on the battleship, trying to come up with a way to defeat it. Electric attacks would do no good here, considering the size involved and the defense system the ship was likely to have. Similarly, even an explosion similar to the one Richie had provoked to get rid of the enemy plane a few days before would not be enough.

"Hang on back there!" Melody yelled, as the ship made a shart turn to starboard, narrowly dodging another blast, yet being hit by some shards that resulted from the explosion, lightly damaging the ship. The ship turned tightly to port, avoiding the next blast, though only narrowly, but the one after that came very close to hitting, again damaging the ships through hot shards.

"We're not going to hold out long at that rhythm!" Marin yelled, and Ash shuddered, knowing that she meant the ship was not designed to withstand the beating it was taking from the enemy guns.

Suddenly, the battleship seemed to rear, as a horse would do, a long slender twister appearing underneath it. The twister moved slightly, and soon the mighty battleship was being tossed in the sky as if it was a mere toy of little consequence, falling back in the sea near the [i]Legend[/i], causing a wave to strike the small ship as the enormous war vessel broke apart, both parts of it slowly vanishing in the sea that had claimed them.

It had taken barely more than a few seconds, it seemed like a lifetime. Ash stared, mouth wide open, at the spot in the sea where the ship had been, barely a few second ago. He saw something drifting in the wind, a feather-shaped object. A hand struck out from the [i]Legend[/i], a arm covered in black leather, catching it. The feather was white, yet black at the same time, the color going from a gathering of all colors to the total absence of color in the space of moments as the feather shimmered under the early winter sun.

"Was...was that what I think it was?" Melody gasped, obviously refering to the same whirlpool Ash had though the had recognized as well.

"I...think so..." he answered, hesitant.

"So far from Shamuti?" She questioned, her eyes wide.

"Do you know any other reason?" Misty answered, her eyes just as wide with awe.

The mysterious intervention had to have come from Lugia, as hard to believe as it was. In all the world, they knew of only one creature with such power, and they could not, would not believe tales of another such.

"I think we have a problem..." Marin said suddenly, her voice bleak. A few second after, a wave crashed on the damaged little ship, nearly causing it to capsize. They all hung out for dear life, trying desperately to survive as the vessel was thrown off course.

______________________

Ash opened his eyes, trying not to be bothered too much by the harsh glare of the sun. He looked around, half panicked, wondering where the weather had landed them, and if they all were safe. He could see he was still inside the ship, which was lucky, even luckier being that he was nearly dry, meaning that for the most part he had managed to avoid falling in the water, and that his cloak had managed to shrug off the rest.

Misty was, luckily, near him, nearly as dry, waking up even as he turned to look at her. She rubbed her head slightly, and Ash deduced she had hit it on a railing during the storm.

"Are you all right dear?" she asked, as he looked around for the others. They all seemed to have managed to stay on board, and Ash turned toward her, smiling as he brought her close to him.

"I'm fine." He told her, letting their lips meet for a brief moment, before turning toward the others, who seemed to be surprisingly fine, considering the ship had been tossed off, shaken, and covered in water more than once.

"Any idea where we are?" Richie asked, and Ash looked at his surrounding. This was not Porta Vista, that he knew, but he had no idea where they were, at least not as first.

Suddenly, Misty pointed something at him, a nearby cliff dominated by a small temple...a shrine, perhaps. And one that looked awfully familiar, far too familiar.

"Maiden's Peak. We're back in Maiden's Peak." He finally said, and Misty nodded, agreeing with him.

"What's this place?" Richie asked, his voice filled with wonder.

"Maiden's Peak. It's a village, near here. Ash, Brock and I stopped her once, a bit over three years ago. It was a...marking visit.

"That's where I really started noticing you, too. I didn't realize it back then, but now that I think of it..." Ash smiled at his girlfriend, fondly remembering the memories of the festival. Misty turned back and smiled at him.

They walked toward the town, soon reaching it, rushing toward the local pokemon center to heal their wounded and tired pokemon. Strangely ,the town had not yet been evacuated.

"That's not good...the Lotus army will probably start sweeping this way soon..."

"And we have no troops worth the name to fight back here." Richie added.

Ash thought about the situation, trying to come up with a plan, a way to buy everyone the time to flee from the town.

"We don't really need troops...as long as the Lotus thinks we have a huge army here, does it really matter if we really have it?" He wondered out loud.

"No, of course...if we can scare them off long enough to get out, it's alright." Richie nodded thoughtfully. "The trick is making sure they do not realize what we are up to." He pointed out. "I don't think straw soldiers will work."

"I wasn't thinking about that. Misty, do you know what I'm thinking about?" he turned toward his girlfriend, looking at her.

"I'd rather say, WHO you are thinking about." She pointed out quickly, then looked toward the cliff. "We might manage to convince him to help...if we're lucky..." she hesitated.

"If not, Fenrir and Esper can convince him not to bug us." Ash concluded, and Misty nodded as they set off toward the cliff.

________________________

It was nearly nightfall when Ash and Misty reached the top of the cliff, and in the descending darkness, they could see the light of the Lotus army camp to the north. They would soon be there, and there was no time to loose.

"Gastly, we know you're here." Ash said sternly, trying to convince himself that there was nothing to be afraid off.

"Yeah ,come out now..." Misty said, her voice hesitant, as Ash squeezed her hand, trying to give both of them the strength they needed to finish what they had decided to do.

" You are looking for me, maybe?" the voice was behind them, and Ash whirled, sword in hand in an instant.

The Gastly, surprisingly, was there, and was not trying to pull out a trick on them.

"Why are you here?" he asked in his voice.

"Because your help is needed. To defend the town." Ash replied slowly, hoping to convince the Gastly to do it.

"And why would that convince me to do anything? I don't care about humans, except as a source of mental energy." The ghost replied, though Ash was not really sure he meant it.

"Because I ask you, too." The voice sounded hollow, yet beautiful. Ash whirled again, to face the sight of a woman made of gray mist floating toward them. The maiden, the real ghost of Maiden's Peak. He had thought her a legend, and he opened his mouth wide in a stunned look as he realized he had been wrong. "If they destroy the town, or the spirit of the town at least, then I will vanish forever. You must help me, as you did so often in the past." She pleaded. The eyes of the Gastly seemed to change, as he stared at the specter.

"I...all right, I will do it." He accepted. "What do you want me to do?" he asked Ash and Misty, turning toward them.

"It's simple...all you have to do is create an illusion, and hold it up long enough for the people of the city to escape, so that we all can come back once the enemy is defeated. Can you do it?" He asked.

"I think so, yes."

_____________________________

Ash watched as the last group of refugees left Maiden's Peak late the next night, while the army of illusion still guarded the town, holding the Lotus forces at bay. Suddenly, Richie ran up to him.

"There's a small group of Lotus soldiers coming this way!" He yelled, and Ash followed him back to the edge of the town, wanting to know what was up.

There was indeed a small group of soldiers, led by a woman, nearly a girl in white uniform, coming toward them. Besides him, Gastly seemed to tire under the strain of maintaining the powerful illusions that defended the town.

Suddenly, Gastly gasped, watching the group.

"That girl...she's seeing through the illusions!" he told them, and they all turned to look at the woman as she raised her hand ,sending forth a beam of psychic energy, her eyes glowing with fire. The beam struck out, screeching toward the undefended ghost pokemon, striking him down. The illusions vanished, and Ash thanked whatever power there were that they had managed to evacuate everyone in time.

A second psychic beam struck out, but this time was met in mid flight by a freezing spear of ice thrown forth from Ash's hand, as he glared at the approaching Lotus officer. She looked familiar, he was sure of that as he watched his friend go, calling upon all his power to hold the enemy at bay. There was no large army out there yet, apparently, the woman had come simply to check on the supposed army they had, and had rapidly found the weakness.

Before she could send out another psychic beam out, he called forth another spear of ice, freezing her into place, if only for a brief moment, buying himself the time to call Celes out to fly him away. He glanced at the Gastly. The creature had been frozen in solid state, and knocked out by the powerful beam of energy, and would certainly not be able to flee or escape, he realized as he climbed on the back of his bird pokemon.

As Celes took flight, Ash hesitated, weighting the inherent evil of the Gastly against the fact that if the creature was left here, he would soon die, in an atrocious way.

Reluctantly, he took a pokeball from his belt and threw it with a deadly aim, as it struck the Gastly dead center, causing it to be absorbed by the pokeball, which then flew back with ease to Ash's outstretched hand.

As Celes flew away, toward the mountains were his friends were, and Fuchsia behind, where they were all headed, he held his new pokeball, wondering still if he had done the right choice by capturing the Gastly.