Part 9 – A Shift in the Balance of Power

The tears flowed with tremendous force as Misty ran blindly through the crowded Park.  A million thoughts went through her head as she came to grips after what she saw only moments before.

"How could he!  I never want to see that jerk again! Never!"
She looked up just in time to see Brock running towards her.  She reluctantly stopped and tried her best to hide her stinging tears, although she failed.

"What happened? Where's Ash?"  Brock asked enquiringly.

Misty lowered her head to the ground.  "Where ever you find that two-timing jerk you'll find Ruth!"

She was about to run off once again when Brock stopped her.  "Hey, Hey! Don't be crazy, the last time I saw Ash was when Ruth stole his hat and ran off.  What could he have possibly done!"

Misty trembled with rage.  "He kissed her!!"

Brock began to laugh, much to her surprise.  "Oh ya right! Ash is crazy in love with you! If anything She kissed him!  You know in your heart that he would never to that!……right?"

She wiped away another tear.  "I don't know anymore…."

It wasn't long before Ash located Misty.  Their eyes met, but their lips remained motionless, neither of them knew what to say.  It was very awkward.  Ash knew that it would be difficult to explain that Ruth forced herself on him, but he had to try.

"Misty…its not what you think, Ruth kissed me.  I know what you must be thinking and you have the right to be upset, I would to, but you must believe that I would never intentionally hurt you."

Misty wanted to believe him, but the image of the two of them kissing was to painful to conceive.  She turned away from him as more tears began to fall. 
"I don't know if I …."

The hurt in her voice was clearing heard as Ash gently wrapped his arms around her.  Misty tired to fight him but found his embrace naturally comforting.  He slowly turned hr around to face him.  She looked into this big brown eyes and stopped crying."

"Misty….you must believe me….I love you"

There was an incredibly long period of silence that seemed to last for days as Misty continued to probe into his eyes. 

Brock, who had been watching the spectacle unfold was becoming uneasy, and decided to step in. 

"Misty, it was a total setup, it wasn't Ash's fault, if anybody is to be blamed it's Ruth, she was the one who was flirting with Ash, She was the one who took his hat, and it was her that kissed him."

Her thoughts where swirling in her head like a blender, she couldn't believe this was happening……but could she believe him?

"I…..I………believe you….Ash…..I'm sorry….I should of trusted you more….."

Brock and Pikachu all breathed a heavy sigh of relief, while Ash almost collapsed to the ground after holding in his breath during the whole ordeal.  Ash and Misty embraced each other and breathed in each other's scent.  He was about to go in for a kiss when Misty pulled away.

"its to soon, it's to soon…. I keep thinking of how she touch those lips…..just give me more time…"

Ash sighed and reluctantly nodded his head, he tried his best to give her a smile.  "Sure Misty, time heals all wounds."

Ash knew that their relationship would prevail.  He knew that time healed all wounds, but then again, nobody forgets where they buried the hatchet.

They all gathered themselves and left the festivities so as not to run into Ruth again.  While walking Brock leaned over to Ash.. "Damn dude, you came this close to snatching you ass in a bear trap."

Ash chuckled.  "if I ever see that girl again, it will be to soon….uh?"

He had stopped and looked over the horizon.  Huge dark clouds spread over the sunny afternoon sky like water on a kitchen floor.  Far in the distance bright flashes of light indicated that it was a huge thunderstorm.

"wow, its coming up so fast, we better get inside!"

No sooner had he said it, then the clouds opened up and released a torrential downpour.  Many of the park visitors rushed under storefront canopies to escape the rain.  But the group was caught in the middle. 

"Ah! We better find shelter before the lightening strikes!"

Brock handed a soaking wet Pikachu to Ash as he lifted his vest over his head to block the stinging rain.  It seemed useless for no matter where they went, the rain seemed to find them.

"its no use! Let's get the hell out of here!"  Brock yelled over the din. 

Lightning streaked across the sky and soon let out deafening thunderclaps.  The wind really began to pickup as waiters ran after airborne patio umbrellas and tables being tossed around the streets.  The gang all huddled together as they fought their way back to the pokemon center.  By the time they had reached the front door the storm was in full swing as their could hardly heat themselves breath because of the wailing wind.  It was quite a chore just to get the front door open.  And when inside they where met with the screams of panic of several hundred trainers, packed into the front lobby of the Pokemon Center.  They fought they're way to the front desk where Nurse Joy was indisposed at the moment dealing with the frantic complaints of the other trainers.  "Please, Please calm down!" 

She was at her wits end, nobody could hear her, until Chansey walked up behind her and handed Nurse Joy a megaphone. 

"Everyone SHUT UP!!"

And like she said, everyone went dead quite. They didn't know whether to be surprised at the fact she screamed at them or she told them to shut up.

~"Alright everyone!  Officer Jenny has issued a warning! A tropical storm off the coast of Violet town has reached the main land and we are experiencing high winds from it's tail!  Just be grateful we aren't being hit full force.  The storm should die down in about 5 hours, in the meantime you will have to stay here!  Any trainers with injured pokemon will line up at the desk and we will treat them!"~

And with that she disappeared behind the mass of bodies wanting to get their pokemon healed.  Ash and the gang had nothing better to do then watch the storm.  Misty was being awfully quiet as she sat in a nearby seat next to a huge window.  Ash sighed and continued to stare out into the abyss, he felt Pikachu rub up against his leg.  He looked down from the storm to see his little buddy staring out as well, only his eyes where fixed on one spot in the sky. 

"what are you looking at?"

He tried to locate where Pikachu was looking, he only saw the churning clouds.  Suddenly the loud and ear-splitting chatter of the lobby seemed to die down.  He looked around him, the people were still talking, but he could not here them.  It got quieter and quieter and pretty soon he couldn't hear a thing.  Panic began to sink in as he strained to hear anything that was going on around him. He tried to speak, but could not utter a sound.  His vision become blurry and he couldn't even feel himself touch his face.  It's as if someone had shut off all of his senses.  

Then deep in the pit of his stomach he felt a strong power he had never felt before.  It grew inside him and spread through his body.  He had felt this power before, once.  It was when he faced off with Moltres, only now it was much stronger, almost overwhelming.  He knew what was coming, and it was here, now.

Almost as soon as began, it mysteriously subsided. His vision came back and the noise level picked up.  Ash spun around stunned, still gripping with what he had just experienced.  His eyes were as wide as dinner plates as he stumbled around the lobby.  As he regained his composure he sought out to find Brock in the mass of bodies. 

Ash finally located him trying to get near Nurse Joy, although Brock wasn't having much luck. 

"Brock! Brock!  We need to go now!"

Brock stop his flirting and glared at Ash.  "Are you crazy!  Why in the world would you need to go out there!"  He exclaimed his point by motioning to the raging storm outside.

Ash leaned in and whispered so that no one could hear. 

"ZAPDOS…"

"…………………………..I'll get my jacket"

***

Misty looked up from the window to see the crowd parting down the middle and Brock emerging out in front, paving the way for Ash.  She noticed they were dressed in heavy rain gear and clumpy solid boots.  Before Misty could ask what they where doing they hoisted her out of her seat and began throwing a rain jacket on her.

"Hey! What's going on!"

Ash pushed her through the crowd toward the door.  "No time to explain, we need to hurry!"

They quickly left so no one would see them.  The wind howled and whipped past their ears as they ran down the empty streets.  The leaves blew into their faces and rain pelted their coats.  Pikachu and Togepi were both tucked into Brock's dry backpack as the rest of them were getting soaked to the bone.  Misty couldn't take it anymore; she stopped abruptly and demanded to know what was happening.  It took only minutes to explain to Misty before they ran off once again; this time she was leading the way and excitedly dragging Ash behind her.  

None of them could really explain what was happening, Ash more then others.  He just knew what was coming, and he had to be there for it.  But it wasn't soon before they were only blocks from the city gates that Brock raised an important point. 

"WHAT ABOUT THE GS BALL!!"

They all skidded along the slippery road and glanced quickly from one person to the other waiting for a solution for the huge problem that had arisen.

Misty darted her eyes around.  "Okay okay…what if we just grab it now then leave town?"

Ash shook his head.  "We have to go now! Let's leave it and come back!"

"But what if we don't come back for it and forget about it!"

"Then have Brock go get it then we can leave town!"

"I don't think we should split up!"

Ash nervously looked down at the Pokegear on his arm.  He turned on the clock.  It read 7 PM.  He gazed out the city gates onto the planes leading to Violet City.  "Okay we have one hour! Let's get the ball and leave pronto!!"  He shouted over the storm.

They ducked into an alley leading to the road that would take them to Kurt's house.  It would be close, but they might make it.  Their lungs burned and their legs burned as they ran down the wet streets of Azalea.  Twenty minutes went by until they located Kurt's house.  They busted through the front gates and banged on the front door.

"come on open up! I'm here for the GS ball!"

They heard someone walking towards the door, and as it swung open, it quickly reveled the form of Ruth standing in front of them.  For Ash there wasn't enough time to gasp or be shocked, he was on a mission.  He pushed past Ruth and ran downstairs; meanwhile Brock was trying his best to hold back Misty. 

Downstairs, Ash had arrived at Kurt's workshop and began slamming his door.  He soon found out that it wasn't locked, it effortlessly opened revealing a dark, dank and dingy room covered in soot.  And In the corner of the room an old man sat down before a kiln.  It was obviously Kurt.

Ash quickly ran over to him and tapped his shoulder.  Kurt jumped in the air, and whipped his head toward Ash.  "Who are you!  What do you want?!"

Ash waved his hands in the air.  "I didn't mean to startle you, I'm Ash, I'm here for the GS ball."

The old man exhaled and laughed softly, holding a hand over his rapidly beating heart.

"You scared me.  I'm glad you're here though, the GS ball is right here."  He reached behind a picture frame hanging on the wall and revealed a small safe.  After failing to get the combination right he opened the heavy door and withdrew the mysterious GS ball.  He buffed it's surface on his shirt as if it were an apple.  After admiring it for a few seconds he handed it over.  Ash quickly

 snatched it from his hand, dipped his hat in respect and headed out the door.  He stopped when he heard Kurt yell.

"wait young man!  Remember I need you to test it on what kind of pokemon it works on! Don't forget!!"

Ash nodded and ran back out the door.  Back upstairs, Brock was having trouble holding back Misty.  Ruth had said nothing this whole time, knowing what she did, she was already ashamed.  Ash blew past her once again, without acknowledging her presence.  With the GS ball in hand he led the others out the door and out Ruth's sight for the rest of their lives.  Brock scratched his head.  "Hmm, I thought there would be a huge confrontation, aw well…"

The storm was still going strong as they raced down the windy streets.  Pikachu had poked his head out of the safety of Brock's backpack to see what was going on.  The skies had blackened and visibility was at it's lowest.  They sprinted out of the city towards the forest they had found Moltres. 

Lightning streaked across the sky, one bolt after another in succession.  The area around them began to light up revealing spooky shadows on the trees.  At this time, the group had be running for almost an hour and ran clear across town non-stop.  Misty and Brocks legs screamed for as much oxygen as their burning lungs could pump out.  Although Ash seemed to be alright, in fact he had yet to break a sweat.  Upon entering the forest Ash's senses once again flared.  He strained to pin point this strange feeling to find what direction Zapdos was in.  After a minute, he ran off due north into the thicket with Brock and Misty trying their best to catch up.  Ash had found a energy deep within him that he had never experienced before.  He only wished he knew how to explain it. 

Ash burst through the brush and found himself standing in a large clearing with the forest surrounding it like a large fence.  Misty and Brock emerged from behind and collapsed to the wet ground sucking in air to relieve their lungs.  With all the trees that surrounded them the wind wasn't much of a problem anymore.  But the lightning continued to strike down to the forest floor igniting small fires that were quickly put out from the rain.

Ash slowly turned to Misty and Brock and told them to be very quiet.  He then pointed to the sky.  They looked up to a spot in the sky which revealed gray swirling clouds.  As the Lightning came down with more speed and power, Misty and Brock had to take cover, but Ash still stood staring with his piercing gaze towards the clouds. 

Misty gasp as a funnel began to reach down from the sky.  It came down a short distance and opened up.  And from within, they heard the most shrill cry they had ever heard.  Suddenly a massive Bolt of electricity flew down from the funnel and struck hard into the ground only 20 feet from Ash.  But still he did not move.

"HEY!"

Through the noise of the storm he heard a voice from across the field.  He saw a figure run towards him as he strained his eyes to make out the stranger.

"HEY! LOSER!!"

Those words hit Ash like a ton of bricks, only one person he knew called him that.  And this person happened to be his worst rival.

"……..Gary….."

Of all the times for his nemesis to show up, this was certainly not the time.  Zapdos was minutes from revealing itself and he knew Gary would try to stop him from capturing it.

Gary ran up to him and removed the hood from his cloak.  "So, what are you doing out here! Shouldn't you be going home to mommy!" 

His insults just slid right off his back, Ash had bigger Magikarp to fry. 

"if you knew what was good for you, you'd leave now…" Ash said coldly.

Gary chuckled and shoved him slightly.  "who are you to tell me what to do, Huh? No good Punk!"

Gary waited for a retaliation, but got none, Ash just kept looking towards the sky.  He was about to shove him again when a large bolt of lightning landed just feet away form him.

"WHOAA!"  Ash grabbed his pokeballs containing Moltres and Articuno, ready to throw.  Gary in the meantime was just puzzled at Ash's serious demeanor.  Then from above another ear piercing shrill cry emanated from the swirling clouds.  And then it happened, a proverbial stream of electricity flowed from the sky.  Gary, Misty and Brock all ducked into the thickets to escape harm, but Ash didn't move, his eyes fixed on what he came for, Zapdos.

In a flash the third legendary bird flew down and announced it's arrival.  In a wonderful spectacle it repeatedly shot thunderbolts all over the forests.  Gary stood with his mouth open and his eyes gazing at the magnificent bird.  He looked down to see Ash take the two pokeballs that contained the other legendary birds and hold them in his hands, ready to deploy.  A flurry of emotions and thoughts ran threw Gary's mind as he pondered what to do.  As his eyes continued down to the ground, he saw a large rock near his feet.  He looked back up to the wonder rare pokemon in front of him.  There was no way he was going to let a loser like Ash make a fool out of him.  He was the one who was going to be the greatest pokemon master.  He had no choice.  With a quick fliud movement he picked up the rock, reared back and brought it down onto Ash's skull. 

He collapsed to the soggy ground as a few minor trickles of blood flowed down his forehead.  Gary smirked and tossed the rock aside. 

Misty had seen the whole sleazy undertaking and was filled with a rage that was unparallel but Brock was holding her back, afraid a stray bolt of lightning might strike her.

Zapdos had finished circling the area and landing in the middle of the field.  It stared at the motionless Ash on the ground.  It flared its static feathers and scratched at the ground with it's feet. 

Gary slowly began to walk towards Zapdos, cautiously.  Brock and Misty emerged from the forest and ran over to check on their friend.  Pikachu flared it's cheeks, ready to shock Ash back reality.  But before it had the chance, it heard Gary laughing manically.  Everyone watched as he turned to them showing a blue pokeball with a large M painted on it.

"behold! I will be the one to Capture Zapdos!"

Brock ran in-between Gary and the others.  "How?! You don't have any pokemon strong enough to capture it!!"

Gary chuckled.  "Using pokemon to capture is a thing of the past, well it soon will be when this pokeball is mass produced."

"What?"

"this is the latest pokeball prototype, the Masterball.  I got it from my Grandpa, Professor Oak.  This ball will allow me to capture any pokemon I want, there is no chance of the pokemon to break free, just watch!"

He laughed as he flung the prototype at Zapdos.  To everyone's surprise it opened up and Zapdos disappeared in a glowing beam of red light.  Gary continued to laugh as he walked up to the ball, which was still shaking.  Misty and Brock stared wide eyed as the red light on the front of the ball disappeared. 

"what……"  Misty managed to say.

Gary ran around laughing waving the pokeball in the air.  "YES! I am the greatest!!!"

His celebrations were cut short when he heard Ash scream.

**********

"……where am I?"

He was standing on a cliff.

"Aw shit, not again!!"

Only this was not the same cliff, he was able to see miles all around him.  And that cloud that haunted him the first time, was no where to be found.  There was a very comfortable soft light that filled the air.  He jumped as he heard a voice from behind him.

"whose there?!"

Only two feet from him hovered the large ball of light he had seen before.

"Ash, this is his doing.  He is trying to destroy you.  You must retrieve the third Odakama.  You must release me."

"He? Whose he?"

"the evil one."

"what evil one!"

"I…I…"

Instantaneously the glowing entity disappeared and the area around him turned black.  He gasped and gripped his chest in pain.  The energy he once felt was no pulsating through his body.  He writhed in the darkness in agony.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

********

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" 

Ash bolted up holding his head and screaming.  His eyes were empty as he began to convulse and spit up blood.

Misty tried to hold him down so he wouldn't crack his head by repeatedly slamming it on the ground.  Her voice was filled with worry as she asked Brock what was going on.

"I don't know!"  Yelled Brock.

Ash shakily got to his knees and vomited.  His bloodshot eyes looked upon Gary, he was still laughing.  He slowly walked toward him proudly displaying his recent capture.  The closer he got to Ash, the more the pain throb within him.  He reached out blindly towards him.

"Zap…dos…" he slowly muttered before spitting up another drop of blood. 

Gary smiled.  "you want this huh?  Well to bad, its mine!"  He dramatically tossed the Masterball into the air.  And out came Zapdos in all its glory once again.  Once Ash had laid eyes on the legendary bird, he almost passed out again as the pain was overwhelming. 

Brock tried to help his friend when he noticed that Zapdos was almost on the edge of falling over like Ash was.  Brock looked into its eyes, and could see that it was in a great deal of pain.  Gary however was unaware. 

"You see Ash! I am the greatest trainer! You are nothing to me!"

The storm around them seemed to explode, the rain fell harder, and the wind blew stronger.  Suddenly something clicked inside Misty.  She somehow knew what was happening.  From her experience at shimoutee and the mysterious man who captured two of the legendary birds, the horrible storm that followed.  But Ash had not acted like this, could it have been a test?  Misty gasped at her sudden realization.  His duty as the Chosen One was not over.

The pieces slowly came together; although the picture was fuzzy she knew what she had to do.  She let go of Ash and pushed against the wind towards to get to Gary.  The young trainer was still laughing his head off.  He had just enough time to see a fist come flying toward his face.

'KAPOW!'

The sound of Misty's fist hitting the now mangled face of Gary resonated throughout the night sky.  Brock looked on in shock while Ash continued to convulse in pain.  The next sound was Gary's limp body slamming into the wet, muddy ground.  Misty grabbed her tender fingers and rubbed them to get the feeling back.  She quickly remembered about the Master ball and grabbed it from Gary's limp hands.  She ran over to brock and Ash and placed the Masterball on the rock. 

"Brock hand me that rock!" 

Brock did what he was told to do and gave Misty the rock Gary had used on Ash, it still had his blood on it.  With the storm at it's highest peak she lifted the rock far above her head and brought it down hard onto the surface of the Masterball.  The rock spilt in half due to the force of the blow and so did the prototype of the unbeatable ball.

Brock was speechless.  "you broke it!"

Their attention was diverted when they heard Ash mumble something.  Misty bent over to hear him better.

"help me up…."

It was clear to both of them that whatever was happening to Ash, had up and stopped.  And what was possibly more amazing was the fact that the storm had practically disappeared.  There was no more rain and the galling winds were now slight breezes. 

Brock tossed his arm around him and propped Ash up.  The blood still trickled down Ash's forehead as he walked over to Zapdos, who was lying on the ground.  He carefully knelt down and placed his hand on the legendary birds head. 

He slowly took out a pokeball from his belt.  He raised it to Zapdos who let out a little cry as it's strength regained.  The two of them stared into each others eyes, sharing an unspoken bond, of trust and respect towards another.

"Zapdos……your mine……."

The third legendary bird disappeared in the soft light of his pokeball.  The shaking subsided and the light dispersed.  Misty and Brock looked on silently as Ash struggled to get up under his own power.  Pikachu happily ran up to him and hugged his leg.  Ash managed to give him a smile and his trademark peace sign.

"I'm okay buddy, just a little to tired to celebrate right now….."  He looked at the ball in his hand and was shocked to see it disappear in front of him.  Ash stared at his empty hand and looked around to see if Team rocket had sucked it up in a giant vacuum like they usually do.  But he suddenly remembered that when you have more then 6 pokemon at a time the 7 pokemon gets transported to back to where you got your first pokemon, and of course in his case, it was Prof. Oak.

"OH NO!! Professor gonna have a coronary when he see Zapdos!"

And would you know it, almost completely on cue, the pokegear on his wrist began to ring.  He was hesitant at first but flipped the switch to reveal non other then Prof. Oak on the other line.

~"ASH!!!"~

"yeah?"  Pretending that nothing was wrong.

~"There is a legendary pokemon in my lab!!!!"~
"oh yeah, right….i knew there was something I forgot to tell you."

~"WHAT?!"~

"I also have Articuno and Moltres.."

~"………."~

"Prof?"

~"I need to sit down……"~

"would you please check on Zapdos for me, his energy is severely drained….I'll explain more later."

~"it would be an honor….have you seen my Grandson?  I gave him a new pokeball to test and I haven't heard from him."~

Ash looked down to Gary still lying still in the mud and then at the completely destroyed Masterball."

"nope….haven't seen him…Bye Prof.."

~"Remember I want to know what has happened with you!"~
Ash stared into the sky.  "so do I Professor, so do I…."

They all decided to make a hasty get away before Gary was to reawaken.  Ash was still in pain from his experience before.  There were so many questions, but again hardly any were being answered.  Ash didn't know what was happening to him, or what would happen next.

Brock undid his backpack and handed the slumbering Togepi to Misty.  "Hey Misty, how did you know about the Masterball?"

"Somehow, I had a feeling that Gary having Zapdos was doing something to Ash.  And if I destroyed the Masterball then Zapdos would no longer belong to Gary and then….then……I wish I could explain it more!  This is so confusing!"

Ash walked out in front along the path to Violet City.  "I have a feeling the answers will come….we just have to keep our eyes open….um Misty?"

"Yeah?"

Ash stopped and dug into his pocket.  "I was wondering if you would like this back?"

He pulled out her promise ring and blew off the lint.  Misty smiled and gave Ash her hand do he could put it on her.  She twirled the ring on her finger and leaned in to give Ash a sweet passionate kiss.  The two of them continued down the path, with their arms around each other.  Misty was mainly trying to help him walk

They were all happy to finally be traveling to Violet City, pleased to leave Azalea and troubles they had, but they brought with them memories that would last a lifetime.

Now that Ash had three legendary birds on his side, he felt that competing in the Johto league was now not his top priority.  But to find answers, to the all to important question….why?

To be continued….

Authors Notes: Yes, I finished! And before Christmas! This Part was really fun to write, and it was so fast.  Butter was literally come off the tips of my fingers onto the keyboard and into word!  I loved writing this because, it is the turning point in my huge 25 part story! And to think 1 more part and I've competed 10 parts!  I love writing this and I hope that you love reading this!

Part 10 will be out new years day!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!