Chapter Eight
Preparation
Ash found sleep impossible that night. At least, he was determined to find it impossible. He thought it would be a kind of betrayal to Misty to sleep when she was lost and scared, when he was going to rescue her the next day. He had a lot to think about. But it might not be a rescue. She's probably fine. He frowned in spite of himself. But it doesn't make sense. If she had gone on her own, she'd have let us know what was going on by now. So either she's too weak or hurt to find us and let us know, or someone is holding her captive in some way… But why would anyone want to hold Misty prisoner? What could anyone want from her that they'd need to take her away in such secrecy?
All he could do was toss and turn in his sleeping bag, and wonder if the mission of tomorrow would be successful. It wasn't that he was unsure if Misty really was on that island or not: he knew she was there. He just didn't know if it would be that easy to find her once they got there.
What if there is someone there with her? Stopping her leaving? Hiding her? What if she hides from us not knowing that it's me, come to find her? What it she's hurt? Or unconscious? Or… What if… if she's… NO. She's FINE. I know she is. She couldn't be… Nothing could happen to her without me knowing about it. It couldn't. I know you're there, Misty. And I'm coming to get you. Nothing is going to stop me from finding you. Nothing and no one.
The same thoughts, the same resolutions kept running through Ash's mind, over and over, until it became a chant, putting him in a kind of trance.
Despite all his determination to stay awake, his fears and worries eventually faded away, and sleep overtook him, finally giving his body a chance to rest a bit. Not that it provided any rest for his mind. That was ever active, and sleep could only take him from the frying pan into the fire as he began to dream again…
Brock turned over. Again. He'd tried to stay still: he didn't want Ash to know he was still awake. He just wanted some quiet, and was pretty sure that Ash wanted the same thing.
Brock was just as worried as his friend. But he had another worry.
Was Misty really there? Really, how could Ash know? And be sure? He'd had so little sleep recently… But then, none of us have slept very well. How can we, with Misty gone?
But help had come, in the form of a lovely stranger. Beth, thought Brock, a soft smile spreading across his face. The most beautiful girl I've ever seen… She'd help them. She'd take them to the island, to Misty. But despite her offer of help, Brock couldn't quite trust her. There was something… well, strange, about her. She was a girl with many secrets. And not just little secrets. She had big secrets. She was a girl surrounded by mystery, and she didn't even try to hide that fact.
Brock remembered the conversation he'd had with her earlier.
"So where are you from?" he'd asked.
"I can't tell you. I said before that I won't be able to tell you everything about me," she said, dismissing Brock's seriousness easily.
"Why? Why the secrecy?" he persisted.
She frowned, though not at Brock. "For my protection. I don't want to get any more involved in this than I have to be. No more than I already am."
"How involved are you?" asked Brock. He wanted answers, and couldn't stop himself asking questions, though he managed to ask them gently.
She sighed, and her sapphire gaze flooded his eyes again. She thought about what she wanted to say. "I've been involved in this since the beginning. It goes back further than you think. I can't tell you about the way it began…" Her eyes shimmered, and she blinked and looked away from Brock again. He looked at her with surprise and concern. She was obviously really emotional about something to do with this whole situation. Brock watched her, sympathy in his gaze. He expected her to stop talking, but after a while she continued. "It's got worse and worse. I can't pull away; I can't get away from this. Not until the end." Again she met Brock's dark-eyed gaze. "It has to end. And it will. Whether we want it to or not," she whispered. Her eyes sparkled with tears in the light of the dying fire. They gazed at each other for a little longer, then Beth abruptly stood up, turning away, and Brock saw her wipe hastily at her face with her arm. She walked away, to a darker place under a nearby tree.
"We can do it if we do it together," Brock had called softly after her. She hadn't even turned round.
Brock frowned as he recalled it, and glanced over to the dark place. She was there, sleeping on her side, her back to Brock. He watched her side rise and fall with each breath under the black cloak. Her hair had spilled loose from underneath the dark cloth, and glimmered a faint blue in the moonlight. Brock watched a little longer, and finally turned over again, and back to his thoughts.
"No… No!"
Ash muttered in his sleep as he dreamed. The dream was very similar to what he'd seen before: a cliff, a girl, and a shadowy figure, taking Misty away from him. Ash still hadn't figured out what it all meant, and the visions kept plaguing him, day and night. It was getting to be more than he could stand.
With a cry, he woke up, flying upright, sweat on his face and his body. It quickly cooled, making him shiver with cold and fear.
He turned his gaze to the star-studded sky above him. He shook with the chill, and with the burden of the feelings he was carrying.
"Soon," he whispered fiercely.
Eventually the east began to show faint hints of grey, promising dawn. Beth watched the sky, as it got slowly lighter ahead of her. She was lost in thought, and didn't hear the person walk up behind her.
"Awake already?" asked Brock.
Beth turned. "I…Yeh, I guess so." She shrugged. "It's kind of hard to sleep when there's a day like this one ahead of you."
"I know exactly what you mean," Brock sighed in reply.
They just stood together for a while, watching the dawn in companionable silence. The grey spread and grew across the sky, forcing the darkness to fade away. The last few stars winked out in the west, as a hint of blue touched the east.
Just then, Brock thought he could feel something: like a message trying to be sent, but to someone else, not to him. It was like a telephone line was going right beside his mind, between two other people, and he thought he could almost hear the conversation that was being had. Brock looked instinctively to Beth, standing silently beside him. She wasn't looking at him. She was still facing the east.
Brock shook his head, and the strange feeling went away. He wondered if it had ever been there.
With the faint glimmers of pre-dawn came the beginning of the mission. As the sun was just starting to show, a thin, pale light on the horizon, they shoved off in the boat. Each of the group was wrapped in their own silence, their own thoughts. Ash was thinking about his dream, still trying to work it out. Brock was puzzling over Beth, mulling over the conversations he'd had with her, the things she'd said, and the things she hadn't said. Beth, perched by the rudder, where she guided the little vessel, had secret thoughts of her own. Even Pikachu was silent in thought, wondering if Misty was all right. He understood enough to know she was gone and in trouble, and that Ash was very worried. He watched his friend and trainer with concern.
One feeling brought them all together though: a feeling of guilt.
Officer Jenny had been called out on a sudden, very important case late the night before. She'd told them to postpone the mission a day, as she said it wasn't safe for them to go without her. Beth had seemed startled by the sudden demand of an important case, and then seemed very angry. But she'd said nothing, only pursed her lips, and gazed fearfully at the horizon. Ash and Brock had asked, again and again, if they could go ahead without her, or if she could put off the case for a day. She had refused and refused, until she finally lost her temper.
"You will wait a day, and that's final!" she'd ordered, in a voice that was not to be argued with. Ash had been sulky and Brock had been worried. Pikachu had accidentally electrocuted all of them in his frustration. That had made the officer even more annoyed, and she'd left them with a black cloud over their heads.
What made all of them laugh a little, as well as feel uncomfortable, was that they'd all been up and ready before dawn the next day. None of them had said anything about disobeying Jenny, they'd just all known, in themselves, that they could, and that they would: they all felt they had to.
So now, surrounded by gentle waves, shimmering in the growing light, they traveled to the island. That mysterious, elusive place, still almost entirely hidden by fog, a dark shadow ahead in the distance. Beth had known exactly where to go, even when the others had not been able to spot the island. That had struck Brock as strange.
A rare atmosphere of hopeful camaraderie had settled over them. Here, with the breeze in their faces and hair, the dawn ahead, and a destination fixed in their path, a real mission in their hearts, they had hope again. Ash was grinning, and flicking salty drops of water out of the rushing waves at Pikachu, who danced about in the boat, chuckling in his Pokemon language. Brock's brows had finally lifted, the line of worry between them disappearing at last. He smiled and faced the wind, laughing at Ash and Pikachu, until their battle suddenly included him. He joined in with a grin, splashing Ash and Pikachu at the same time.
Even the stranger, wrapped in black, had a new shine to her eyes and a new light to her face. Even she had a little hope now. Though she knew, unlike the others with her, that this would be far from easy. She shuddered involuntarily. It wouldn't be easy at all. Not with him involved.
"James! Get a move on!" Jesse yelled to her teammate. He was struggling with the little boat they'd managed to 'get hold of' at the last minute. He heaved against it, trying to push it into the waves.
"I'm going… as fast… as I can!" he cried, throwing himself against the boat between gasps.
"Well it's not fast enough! They'll be out of sight soon, and then we'll be stuck and it'll be all your fault!" she cried mercilessly.
"Maybe if you pushed too…" suggested Meowth.
"Shut it Meowth! Why don't you push?" retorted Jesse. However, when she turned to see the other boat already closing in on the horizon, she strode over to James. Waiting for the next incoming wave, she pushed as hard as she could. The boat was finally in the water, and the three of them leapt in, grinning devilishly.
"This time we'll do it!" cried Jesse.
"We'll grab that little Pikachu!" added James.
Meowth only nodded, grinning his feline grin to himself. They would do it. They would get Pikachu, and nothing and no one could stop them this time.
There was a knock at the door. A voice called out softly.
"Misty! Are you awake?"
The door handle turned, and Simon stepped around the door, entering almost silently. He immediately looked to the bed, remembering the last time he'd been here, when he'd almost… He shook his head. He'd been awake all last night, thinking, thinking. About the experiment, about Mew, about Misty. Why did he feel like this about her? It didn't make sense! He hadn't planned this! But he had eventually worked it out: when it came to love, to caring about someone else, it couldn't be planned, and it couldn't be changed. Knowing that didn't make accepting it any easier, or ignoring it, and treating her carelessly, any less painful to himself.
"Misty?" he called softly again, as he approached the bed. He pulled aside the hangings, and saw her, sleeping. But her sleep was not peaceful.
A frown creased her brow, and she shifted about slightly, restlessly trying to find a comfortable position. Simon frowned. She needed all her energy for what they were about to do. If she hadn't slept properly, she might not be able to last the time they'd need. Not that he himself really knew how long it would take. Everything that was logical and scientific in him was shouting out against this. It was far too rushed: Misty had barely used her power before; he hadn't had time to form a proper link with her; he hadn't been able to persuade her to agree that Mew could be sacrificed; if she didn't agree, it could affect the extraction process. They had to be in complete agreement. It would be hard enough to battle against Mew's will, never mind battling with Misty's, too.
He frowned again. It really was far too rushed. His preliminary research was nowhere near complete. The extraction process itself would have to be mostly guess work. It went against his nature to be unprepared for things, especially an experiment as important as this. Time was against them, though: the communication of this morning that a certain person had sent him had sounded like too confident a challenge to be ignored.
Misty suddenly started shivering in her sleep, and pulled herself into a tight little ball. Simon reached out to touch her, to try and wake her up gently. His hand stopped short of her cheek.
Tears had formed at the corners of her tightly shut eyes, and then they rolled down her face. Simon sat beside her, and stroked her cheeks gently, brushing away the tears. Her eyes opened slowly, and she looked up at him miserably. He took her hand, and she held it tight. Suddenly she sat up and put her arms around him, hiding her face against his shoulder. He patted her back gently, and the link between them told them both that there was no escaping what was about to happen. Misty's sadness still poured out of her though in waves, spilling into Simon as he held her. They sat in silence for a while, listening to the birds as they began to sing outside. Dawn had broken.
"Is it time?" Misty finally asked quietly.
"It is."