Chapter 11- I Believe

"Hmmmm…" Oak said, as he looked a Mew with Tracey and Misty by his side. The poor legendary was panting heavily and seemed to be in a lot of pain as it tossed and turned desperately. Brock was probably having a worse time as he tried to explain to Mrs. Ketchum in the next room.

"Is Ash… hurt?" Misty questioned, wondering how the boy she adored was fairing after she'd ridden out on him. Tracey could see she was taking the blame, and they had all tried to convince her otherwise, but Misty refused, keeping mostly quiet.

"Well… he's alive…" The Professor murmured, almost to himself as he tapped an on-screen monitor of Mew's heartbeat.

"Please Ash… we'll come and rescue you soon… be there for me… I believe in you" Though Misty had little faith in her words.

-----------

"Typhlosion, Flame Wheel!" A young boy stood defiantly on one side of the gym room, flaming red hair poking out at all angles. His fire type had an advantage over the oddly coloured Vileplume who belonged to the gym leader, some tall figure whose face could never quite be seen clearly. Recalling his pokémon, the man smiled, and turned to face a wall, which slid up to reveal… some strange metal robot. Or that's what it looked like at first. A glint of light flashed over red glass and the creature disappeared.

"Alright, my last pokémon will be what you just saw" Giovanni came into view, smirking at the boy below, who was copying his Typhlosion's movements in turning his head swiftly back and fourth, searching for an unseen opponent. "Fool" Giovanni hissed, before leaning over the edge slightly, "Attack that Typhlosion!"

A small shine caught Typhlosion's eye and it turned, to see a metal claw strike its face. Three red lines shimmered on the fur and skin, burning with excruciating pain, and even seemed to scorch the air as it passed. The boy gasped as his Typhlosion flew through the air, before crashing onto the ground, passed out. Grumbling he reached for another pokéball, re-calling the first.

"Use more than one if you must, I don't mind" One of the boy's gray eyes twitched as he grabbed four pokéballs and tossed them all at once. "Go! Attack that… thing…!" A Sandslash, Venasaur, Politoad and a Croconaw appeared, each giving a battle cry before charging towards the figure of Giovanni's only pokémon in battle.

"Gnnnaaaar!" It hissed, a barrier appeared before the strange metal pokémon and stopped all four in their tracks. With a flick of its hand, the thing sent the Sandslash and Venasaur crashing into each other. The ground beneath Croconaw disappeared, and it began to fall, cries coming from the ground until it appeared in the air and slammed hard into the ground. Cupping both hands, a red beam spiraled from metal fists towards the Politoad, and levitated it for a moment or two, before forcing it back into the jumble of three pokémon.

Adding a little extra force to the beam, all four pokémon where being moved backwards, even as they stood and tried to push against the beam. Each with its own cry, though this time in fear and pain, they where flung towards the boy. "Ahhhh!" Pokémon connected with trainer and the whole group slammed into a wall, before there was a flash and all the pokémon where re-called. The boy stood weakly, eyes half closed. "What kind of a monster… is… is that?" He asked, before the monstrosity appeared beside him, a sphere of energy glinted in its palm before exploding around the boy and itself. When the smoke cleared, the boy tottered, looking scraped and bruised, before collapsing onto the ground and staying there.

Giovanni turned, to see the metallic pokémon standing, looking at him expectantly. "Good job. You may go and rest now…" As the creature turned and jumped over the platform's ledge and disappeared back to whence it came, Giovanni grinned maliciously. "Yes, rest well… Ashy-Boy"

-----------

"ASH!"

'Who's calling me? What do you want?'

Ash's body floated in an expanse of nothing, complete and utter… nothing.

"Ash, it's me, Mew. Where are you Ash? Can you here me?"

Ash's eyes jerked open in the darkness, as he stared ahead at the little pink light. Something else appeared behind it, an image.

'Misty!'

Yes, Misty indeed. She stood, sobbing into her hands, before dropping to her knees and howling in pain, in sorrow, in loss. What was going on?

-----------

Mew's eyes opened and it looked up to Misty weakly, a few sweat drops on it's forehead. "He's at the Viridian Gym… but… there's something a little wrong. He doesn't seem quite the same…"

Misty's eyes looked worried but her face held little to no expression as she looked out the window, glancing at Tracey and Oak's reflection, they were already devising a plan to rescue Ash from his captors. "We'll come for you soon Ash…"

-----------

As if in answer, far away in the gym, the red glass on the face of the beast caught a small glint as the metal creature slept.