Chapter 9

Misty turned on the boat and soon they were heading toward the place where the pokemon were taken. Ash was amazed at how graceful she was at handling the boat. It seemed as if she didn't even have to look and they would still get there in one piece.

"So Misty…what happened?" he asked quietly.

She looked firmly ahead and then she glanced at him. Misty sighed and then began to tell her tale.

"Well, as you know, I got an invitation to come here, for the pokemon convention. I was really excited and so I found the next ship to set sail to Lilycove City. On the ship I bumped into Rudy…"

Ash looked away angrily at the sound of the name, but she just smiled and continued.

"So I talked to him for a bit, and then I found out that he too got an invitation just like me."

"But wait, I thought that he was the one that was in charge of it? Why would he send an invitation to himself?"

"Ash! You're so impatient! I'm getting there!"

Ash pouted and she sighed. Misty steered sharply to avoid crashing on the turn.

"Where was I? … Oh yeah! So we were just talking for a few minutes when a messenger came up to us and gave Rudy an envelope." She paused for a few seconds and then she continued. "Inside was a message- We look forward to your arrival at the convention. Here is a token of our appreciation for taking the time to come."

"Well what was it?" asked Ash curiously.

"It was… the medallion…"

Ash's eyes got wider. "So Rudy was…a victim too?" He sounded disappointed.

"Yes. That's how it all started. He got the medallion and when he put it around his neck, he went into some sort of…trance like state of mind…and he changed so drastically, I didn't know what to do."

She paused and cringed. Ash looked at her with sympathetic eyes.

"It's okay…you're you again…"

"Yeah, I know…Well, like I said, I didn't know what to do, so…I asked him what was wrong with him and as I did, I tried to take off the medallion…Ash, it was horrible…I…I became so small…I felt so small and weak. When I touched the medallion, it was like someone-something, came inside of me and took over me. I felt so cold and weak, I couldn't do anything."

"I'm so sorry Misty…I didn't know…If I knew sooner…"

"No Ash…it doesn't matter anymore… So I hid somewhere within myself watching every move that this thing inside of me was doing. Through my own eyes I saw myself giving my pokemon away to Rudy, who was also in the same position as me, but worse. The medallion was the strongest on the person wearing it."

"But wait, who did Rudy give the pokemon to?"

"Well you see, we arrived at Lilycove City and it was like some kind of force directed us to him…He's so evil Ash…I've never met anyone as cruel as him."

She paused once again, and then continued.

"Ash, have you heard of Team Aqua?"

It took a few moments for him to figure it out.

"No! You mean…that awful man…."

"Yes. Archie. The leader of Team Aqua. We went straight to him and gave him our pokemon. Then Archie took us to where we are headed now-his secret underground base…where he does all of his…his…pokemon experiments!"

Misty couldn't take the pain anymore and she lost control of the boat.

"MISTY! WATCH OUT!"

Ash pushed Misty out of the boat and the three of them landed on the little edge of cement that was at both sides of the underground tunnel. The boat crashed into the wall just like Ash thought it would. Misty caught her breath and looked at Ash. He was lying on the floor a few feet away from her.

"Ash! Are you okay?"

She knelt by him, and helped him get up. She looked really worried and then she began to wipe off the dirt on his shirt. Ash looked at her adoringly. Misty looked at him and then realized what she was doing. She stepped back and turned away so that he wouldn't see her blushing.

"Hey Ash…where's Pikachu?"

"Don't worry," he smiled as Pikachu jumped up onto his shoulder, "he's right here."

"Pi Pika Pi!"

"Oh, good! Then everyone's all right. Well, the base is close by so we could just walk there."

"Good idea. Hey Misty?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm still confused about something. How did the medallion have so much power?"

"Well, that was another one of Archie's experiments. He used his Gardevoir and connected its psychic power to the medallion. So whenever Archie wanted to control someone, he would just tell Gardevoir to use Psychic or any other kind of attack, and then it was transferred to the medallion. After you guys didn't give the pokemon to him, he ordered me to go after you. But I tried resisting; I really did try Ash. That's when he put the medallion on me, so that I wouldn't be able to resist."

"That is so cruel…using pokemon like that…to control you…" He clenched his fists and teeth. "He uses them as his personal tools for his evil plans…Come on! We need to free all of the pokemon!"

Misty saw the spirit in him and her spirit was renewed by his ambition. They turned a final corner and in front of them was a wall.

"Pika Pikachu!"

"Oh no! It's a dead end!"

Misty smirked and chuckled.

"No, it's not."

Ash was confused but soon saw why she said that. Misty pushed another secretly hidden button and the wall moved aside to reveal Team Aqua's hidden base. Ash's jaw dropped. They were surrounded by water. The tunnel continued but instead of bricks the wall was made of glass so they could see all of the pokemon swimming.

"Well I guess some pokemon were sparred. They look normal."

"Ash, it's not just their looks. He does all kinds of evil experiments and this is one of them."

Ash looked at the pokemon more closely and saw that they looked drained of energy.

"This one is where he takes the pokemon's water energy and puts it back into the water that they swim in. Then, he drinks it to become more powerful."

Ash yelled out at her.

"That's sickening! What kind of-…"

"SHHH!"

Misty put her hand over his mouth and led him over to a small corner with some boxes. Two members of Team Aqua had come around the corner.

"Hey Jules, did you just hear something?"

"No I didn't you moron! You're probably hungry or something, and then you think you hear things. Will you ever learn to take care of yourself Jeff?"

The two of them passed by Ash and Misty without even noticing them. They got up and continued to walk down the never-ending tunnel. The two of them were whispering now.

"How could you be so careless Ash?" Misty asked with a mean tone.

"I'm sorry. It's just that I can't stand what is going on here."

Misty's expression turned into a soft smile. They continued to walk along the passage and then Misty motioned Ash and Pikachu to hide behind some more boxes. There was another door.

"Okay, this is the plan. I don't think that Archie knows that I'm not under his spell anymore so I'll go in and pretend like I still am."

"Misty, you can't! What if he knows and he does something to you?"

"I have to take that chance Ash. I'll distract him and then I'll motion for you to come in."

Ash and Pikachu nodded in agreement as they watched Misty take a deep breath and open the door. She looked at them one more time and headed into the laboratory. It looked like no one was in there, so she looked back out and gave Ash and Pikachu the thumbs up. When they got into the lab, Misty closed the door.

"Ash, somewhere in here are the keys to the cages. You need to find-…"

"What cages?"

Misty walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out a book. All of a sudden, one of the walls lifted up to reveal hundreds of cages with pokemon in them. Ash gasped as he saw all of the hurt pokemon's faces looking at him.

"You need to find the keys Ash, and keep a look out, you never know when-…"

Ash ducked down behind the counter as a door on the other side of the room opened. A tall man came in with two members of Team Aqua behind him. He looked at the cages and then he looked at Misty with a raised eyebrow.

"So…what do you think you are doing?" He said slyly.

"Nothing Boss. Just checking to see if the pokemon are becoming stronger, like you said they would."

He eyed her suspisouciouly.

"Without anyone else? Where's Rudy?"

"He went to go look for more pokemon," Misty said coolly.

Ash couldn't believe how well Misty's acting was. He himself almost believed her. The tall man came closer to her, but then changed his mind and went over to the cages. Misty kept still and didn't move a muscle. He looked back at her and smirked.

"These pokemon aren't even on the experiment yet! So how could you-…"

"I wasn't aware of that Boss. I was curious though to see how strong they were."

He eyed her closely from his position a few feet away.

"You know? You're right! A man like me, Archie! I should have thought of that! We should test their strength. Jeff! Jules!"

The two members came to attention.

"Yes Boss?"

"Set the pre-experiment into place! We need to weaken these pokemon!"

He laughed cruelly and Misty tried her hardest not to show any emotions. However, Ash couldn't help it. He jumped out of his hiding spot with Pikachu and yelled at the leader of Team Aqua.

"STOP IT NOW! You have no right to treat pokemon this way!"

Ash and Pikachu growled at him. Archie just laughed.

"Ash! NO!"

Misty quickly put her hands over her mouth as she realized that she had just given her position away to Archie. Archie stopped laughing and looked at the two of them deadly.

"Misty! How dare you! Going against me? Sneaking this rebel into our secret base? BUT HOW!"

His face was turning red and the members were assembling behind him to back him up.

"Your medallion was flawed Archie! I'm going to get you back for what you did to Misty!"

Archie laughed madly. "Silly pathetic human being! You, going against me? Archie, leader of Team Aqua? You don't stand a chance!"

"Oh yeah? You just watch!"

"Ash! No! You don't know what you're up against!" yelled Misty desperately trying to stop him.

"Pikachu! Thunder, now!"

"Piiiiikkkkaaaa-CHUUU!"

Jeff and Jules moved quickly in front of Archie and the attack hit them forcefully sending them flying out of the room. Archie gasped at the small pokemon's power and backed away a bit. He looked worried, but only for a second because just then he smirked and laughed.

"HAHAHA! That was a fun show! Now watch this!"

Ash braced himself and Misty clung to him, watching the whole thing from behind Ash's shoulder.

"Gardevoir! Come out!"

Misty's jaw dropped in terror as she knew what was coming next.

"Ash! Ash! We've got to get out of here! Now!"

"No Misty! We've got to get the pokemon!"

Out of the poke ball came Gardevoir and Ash took out his pokedex.

"Gardevoir. The evolved form of Kirlia and Ralts. Gardevoir has the ability to read the future. If it senses impending danger to its trainer, this pokemon is said to unleash its psychokinetic energy at full power." Quote taken from Ruby version.

Archie pulled out another medallion and sneered at the two shocked facial expressions that stood before him. Misty realized what he was going to do and tried desperately to get Ash to leave.

"Ash! Come on! We've got to go before he hurts one of us!"

"Misty! Go! I don't want you to be here! It's too dangerous! Pikachu! Give it all you've got!"

But before Pikachu could do anything, Gardevoir stood in its trainers way, just like the pokedex said it would. Archie laughed and put the medallion on his pokemon. After a few seconds it was glowing and then it glided to Ash. In what seemed like less than a minutes time, Ash had went from on the top of his game, to the bottom.

Misty watched in horror as Ash struggled to keep Gardevoir's psychic power from possessing him. She had endured the same pain, but she knew that he would not be able to win. And she was right. Ash's face went blank and then suddenly he sneered at Misty. She took a few steps backward and put her hands to her face.

"No…" she whispered. "NO! Ash! You've got to fight it! Don't let him get to you!"

She didn't know what to do. She had no pokemon, Archie had Gardevoir, and Ash… Ash had Pikachu! She looked around the room to see what had happened to Pikachu. She finally spotted him lying on the ground. But then she remembered what had happened when Ash tried using Pikachu against her. She had to be careful.

"Archie! You can't win! Just watch, a Pokemon could do something, something like shock him."

He chuckled at her feeble attempt to scare him.

"You really think I'm going to fall for that?"

She was looking at Pikachu anxiously to see if he had understood her hint. He was still lying on the floor. It seemed as if the spell had not only worked on Ash, but it had hurt Pikachu as well.

Misty began to panic. She didn't know what else to do. Archie turned to Ash and Ash turned towards his new Boss.

"What would you like my first task to be?"

"Make that girl quiet. Get rid of her anyway you please."

He turned to Misty and walked towards her. He grabbed her by the arms and she tried to set herself free of his grip. He looked at her with the same evil in his eyes as Archie. She felt the coldness spread from his touch and Misty stopped trying to move. She knew she couldn't win. With Gardevoir's power, Ash was stronger than he normally would be. Tears began to form in her eyes.

"Ash…Ash…please…don't do this…come back…"

Ash obeyed Archie's orders and put one of his hands over her mouth and he laughed at her struggle. The tears fell freely down her face. Archie saw that his job here was done.

"Gardevoir, let's go."

Archie was about to turn and leave the room, when suddenly Pikachu got up and shocked Gardevoir. At first it seemed that Pikachu was attacking him, but instead of that, Pikachu was communicating with it. Gardevoir looked from Pikachu to Misty and held its gaze on the struggling girl.

"Come on you stupid pokemon! Obey me!" yelled a red faced Archie.

Gardevoir stood firm and then put its arms up in the air. It concentrated itself by closing its eyes and from nowhere a purple mist filled the room. Misty couldn't breathe anymore and started to become faint. Slowly her eyes closed, and her body became limp. The purple mist reached Ash and the medallion was lifted off of him. It glided in the air and landed on a shocked Archie.

Ash became himself again and shook his head. He looked down at what he held in his hands. Misty lay limp and lifeless.

"Misty…What did I do?…No, its not possible…"

He fell to his knees with Misty still in his arms. He put his ear to her chest to see if there was still a heartbeat. After a few seconds, he heard it faintly and relief overcame him. But he had to do something quick. He cradled her in his arms as Gardevoir came to him. He looked up at the pokemon and watched as it bent over Misty's body. Gardevoir closed its eyes again and spread out its hands. A pink mist came this time and spread itself towards the sleeping girl. Pikachu came to Ash's side and looked on as the mist disappeared.

Ash's jaw dropped as he marveled at the pokemon. "Recover!…" Ash said faintly.

Gardevoir stood upright and nodded to Ash. Ash nodded back and looked worryingly at Misty. After a few seconds he could see her breathing, and then she began to open her eyes.

"Ash?…" she murmured gently.

"It's okay, I'm here."

She smiled and Ash helped her stand up.

"Hey Ash?" she asked teasingly, "why are your eyes so watery?"

"Um! Uh…" he quickly rubbed his eyes and came up with an excuse. "Allergies I guess…from Gardevoir's mist…"

"Right…" she smiled at him and he tried to hide his flushed cheeks.

"Hey Ash? What about Archie?"

They both turned around to see Archie dancing like an idiot in a circle. Ash, Misty and Pikachu all laughed at the leader of Team Aqua. Gardevoir had realized that its trainer was doing bad things and now it was controlling him. They went up to Gardevoir and stood with it.

"Thank you Gardevoir," said Misty.

The pokemon nodded and looked back at Archie. He froze with his leg up in the air and his hands on his behind. Gardevoir pointed to the cages and Archie bowed. He went to the pokemon and pushed a button. Poke balls appeared in the cages and each pokemon was recalled into it.

Gardevoir turned toward Ash and Misty and surprising the two of them, spoke. He handed Misty her bag.

"Here are your pokemon."

They gasped.

"Your talking!" said Misty astonishingly.

"It's using telepathy!" said Ash in awe.

"Yes I am. Because of your pokemon and your friend, I have realized the errors of the ways of my trainer. I will make sure that he returns every pokemon and restores them to health and their rightful trainers."

Ash and Misty smiled happily.

"Oh, and Misty, I think someone has missed you long enough."

Misty looked at the pokemon puzzled, but then she cried out in joy.

"TOGEPI! Thank you so much Gardevoir!"

"Togepriiii!"

Misty hugged her dear pokemon and Ash smiled.

"Thanks Gardevoir! We couldn't of done it without your help."

The pokemon said its goodbye and went to Archie occupying itself with the task at hand. Ash, Misty and Pikachu went through a secret door and they were back in the forest. It was close to dawn now, but it was still dark. Misty yawned and started to become sleepy. Seeing this, Ash too became sleepy and they stopped to lean next to a tree. As if on cue, the two slumped down and began to sleep. Pikachu lay in Ash's lap and Togepi in Misty's. She and Ash fell asleep side by side leaning on each others heads.

Drew was walking through the forest, not being able to sleep. He was walking along until he spotted a clearing. He was heading through it, when suddenly he heard a noise coming from a patch of bushes. Slowly, he approached cautiously. He peeked over the bushes expecting to find some kind of pokemon, but instead he found his rival curled up, sleeping on the ground. He rolled his eyes, and bent down to pick her up. They walked for about ten minutes when suddenly May stirred.

"Ahh…this is so comfy…and warm…"

She opened her eyes and looked right at Drew.

"AHHHHHHH!" she screamed but Drew put his hand over her mouth.

May looked at him angrily and then finally took his hand off of her mouth. He put her down and she scowled at his smile.

"What do you think you are doing? Huh? I WANT ANSWERS!"

He simply smiled at her, and spoke coolly.

"Why, I didn't want my rival to die sleeping in the forest. I mean, sure there are plenty more trainers out there more worthy than you, but it's just so fun seeing you lose."

He smirked and May growled at him, starting to yell.

"Who says I was going to die? And for your information I am worthy enough! You just watch! I'll beat you in every competition! I didn't need your help!"

He smiled again. "Fine. Then I'll leave."

Drew walked away and out of sight, leaving May in the dark, cold forest all by herself. She could do this! She didn't need his help. May started to hear noises and tried to cheer herself up by chuckling. Then she turned abruptly. She thought she had heard a rustling in the bushes.

"Drew?"

Nothing.

"DREW?"

All she heard was a slight breeze and it sent chills up her spine. She dashed away toward the direction where Drew had left, her eyes closed and arms wailing.

"DREWWWW! Umph!"

She had bumped into someone. Drew smiled down at her. Her arms were around him and she shut her eyes.

"I need your help! I'm sorry!"

"No problem."

He chuckled and that was when she realized what she was doing. She backed away quickly and she looked disgusted.

"Don't flatter yourself! I was just in a state of panic, that's all!"

"Okay…whatever."

He started walking and May looked away huffing. Who did he think he was anyway? She could take care of herself! She was thinking about Drew, when she realized that he had started walking away again. May started to run after him.

"Drew! Wait up!"