Ages ~

Ash ~ 15

Misty ~ 16

Brock ~ 18

Gary ~ 16

Ritchie ~ 17

Josiah ~ 16

Rosie ~ 6

*cough* I'll say this again… you '.' Who apparently has absolutely nothing better in his/her time but to flame me for no particular reason, this has SOME referances to the war now, but that is all! It obviously is different! So stop being so critical and jerky about everything, and if you don't like it, DON'T READ IT! *deep breathe* Sorry… Just wanted to get that out.

War and Death

~Part 4; prepare everyone for battle ~

'You can't say civilization isn't advancing: in every war they kill you in a new way.'
Will Rogers (1879-1935)

May 23, 2010

"Ash?" Misty looked over from her spot on the couch to Ash. He was sitting by the window; his forehead was creased with worry. Misty pushed herself up from the couch and walked over to Ash. "Ash?" She asked again. "What's wrong?"

Ash turned to look at Misty, then looked back out the window. "I've got a bad feeling, like something's coming."

Misty cocked her head and gazed out the window. "What?"

"I don't know."

Misty sighed and hugged herself. "I wish Brock was here."

Ash smiled sadly. "He wanted to be with his family since we're so close to Pewter, we would do the same thing if we were close to home."

Misty just smiled and shook her head. "Nah, I think I'd still stay with you."

Ash turned to smile gratefully at Misty. Misty patted him on the back. "Don't worry so much!" With that, she walked back to the couch and let herself fall down comfortably.

Ash's watchful gaze suddenly turned into a serious frown. "Misty…"

"Huh?"

"Get our pokemon."

"Wh-"

"Now!"

Misty quickly jumped up and ran to their room to grab their poke'balls while Ash ran to the front door. Once Pikachu was at his side, he thrust open the door and stepped out, Misty ran up to him and closed the door behind her. She handed him his poke'balls and looked at him curiously. "What's wrong Ash?"

Ash didn't answer but kept his angry stare to the left. Misty followed his stare and gulped.

Coming their way was an army of pokemon and men and women – all from Johto.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

A skinny man with dark brown hair was seen running down the hill to an older man yelling at some poor souls. "Sir! We are nearing New Bark Town!"

The older man turned sharply to the younger one and nodded. "Inform everyone else. I'm sure we will have to attack soon."

"Yes, sir!" The young man saluted and ran off.

The older man shook his head and turned back to the group he was yelling at. "I don't want you anywhere near the front lines, got it? This is entirely too important for you bumbling idiots to screw up!"

A shaking red head nodded her head vigorously. "Oh, you don't have to worry about us, boss!"

"Yea!" The other man agreed, "We will stay as far away as possible!"

"Still fight though, understood?!" The older man roared.

A small cat-like pokemon spoke up, "But yous don't want us to fight, so why don't we just stay back and away from all the danger?"

The older man bared his teeth and pushed out, "You WILL fight, and I don't want you to mess anything up, GOT IT?!"

The trio nodded numbly and raced off, too afraid to face the wrath of their boss.

"Giovanni!" The older man turned to face a tan, blonde man coming towards him. "Do you find something odd?"

"Like?"

"Like shouldn't we be attacked by now?"

Giovanni thought a moment. "I do believe you may be right, they may be waiting for us..."

A young woman came running over to Giovanni, her face pale. "Sir! Our scouts and spotted a very large group of trainers coming this way, it looks like we'll be evenly matched."

Giovanni gritted his teeth and nodded. "Prepare everyone for battle."

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~ 

Gary gulped nervously and looked around him. His group was joined by five others, all marching in rows of three under the command of some guy named Gregory Wilson. They were marching into battle, making their way into Johto territory. Gary could feel the sweat from behind his back and on his face. Funny thing was, it wasn't all that hot. He reached an arm off to wipe some of the sticky sweat away. He knew what it was. Could the great Gary actually be nervous? Gary snorted at the thought. Yea, why would he be nervous when he could be walking into the face of death? What he wouldn't give to be defending instead of attacking! Even worse, he was with the group that was to back the first attack up. Behind his group there was supposedly another five groups, but in front of him only one, and in his particular group, he was in the middle row beside one of the friends he'd made.

There was a loud cry from ahead. Gary snapped his head up and strained to see over the many heads in front of him. He heard the voice of their commander in the front. His face was drained of any color. "Get ready to attack people!"

Gary's breathing was becoming ragged, and he could tell by the looks of the people around him, many of them were having second thoughts about this war, while others were still as cocky as ever as if they thought they were invulnerable to any and all attacks.

Gray fingered the poke'ball of his ever-faithful Umbreon and whispered some words to it, his eyes straight ahead.

He hoped Josiah wasn't in any of this.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~     

Josiah sat on a fallen log in the middle of the woods between the cities of Saffron and Lavender Town. His elbows rested on his knees and his head set in the palm of his hands. His army group was a few feet away playing cards and giggling to each other, but Josiah had chosen to sit this one out. His green eyes gazed up at the many stars in the dark sky. A little light from the sun was peeking in over the hills in the east. It was just before sunrise, and most of the group still had to get used to getting up at insane hours of the night

  The sound of twigs and leaves crunching under someone's feet from nearby made Josiah snap his head to the right. Ritchie, their captain, was walking towards him. Josiah silently moved over to give Ritchie a place to sit. "Good morning Captain."

  Ritchie smiled at Josiah, "Ah, don't call me captain. Ritchie is fine." Ritchie studied Josiah for a moment before turning his stare at the slowly lightening sky. "Why are you here?" He asked suddenly.

Josiah turned to look at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Ritchie didn't look at him. "I mean, why did you sign up for the army."

Josiah looked up at the stars and leaned back on the tree behind him. "I guess because I wanted to help out, and get out and do something. What about you?"

Ritchie smiled a sad, whistle smile. "I wanted to get back for what they did to the Celadon store."

Josiah nodded with understanding. "Is that why you joined?"

Ritchie nodded. "Yeah, well, half of it. I didn't have anywhere else to go anyway."

Josiah cocked his head. Didn't he have a home?

Ritchie sighed sadly and shook his head. "It was my family. They were shopping there at the time they crashed into the building." He closed his eyes to fight back the tears. "They never made it out."

Josiah winced with sympathy. "I'm sorry."

Ritchie shrugged. "It's not our fault. I wanted to fight, but I guess defense is better than nothing."

"Captain!"

Both Ritchie and Josiah looked over to see the youngest member of the group running towards them. He finally stopped a few inches before him and started, "Sir!It'stheJohto!They'reattackingyouhavetogohelpnowthey'recomingheresoonwhatarewegonnadoWHATAREWEGONNADO?!"

"Slow down!" Ritchie commanded. He stood up and put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Now repeat that slower."

The boy nodded and breathed in and out. He gazed up at Ritchie with nothing but fear and determination in his eyes. "We're under attack."

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Annie raced down the hall of her house as fast as she could, calling out her daughter's name. Her little girl wasn't in her own room! She could feel tears running down her cheeks. What if she was outside during the attack? Her heart clenched in worry. She couldn't stand the thought of loosing both her children.

Annie pushed open the door of Josiah's room and scanned the area for any sign of her daughter. She sighed with great relief.

There on her brother's bed, was Rosie. She was kneeling down staring out the window at something, oblivious to everything around her. Her mother crept in the room and sat down beside her. "Rosie, honey? What are you doing?"

Rosie didn't look at her mother, she just kept staring out the window. "I'm waiting."

"Waiting? Waiting for what?"

"I know it will get awfully lonely for Josiah out there, so I put my Teddy on the roof so God could take it to him, and I'm making sure God gets it."

Annie felt the tears come to her eyes again for the second time that day. She loved her child's innocence. She pulled Rosie into her embrace and hugged her tightly. "Oh honey –"

A strong breeze blew, pushing Rosie further into her mother's embrace. As soon as the wind had passed, Rosie turned back to face the window. A wild grin was placed on her lips and she screeched in happiness. Her mother was amazed.

The Teddy was gone.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Cuuuuuute. I like the little girl ^_^ Hee hee… um… sorry 'bout that… okay. Review please!

Smile Jesus loves you!