In front of Ash with a rifle pointed behind him was his childhood friend and rival, Gary Oak
Gary had changed his appearance since the last time Ash saw him. He wore a black leather jacket, a black belt around his waist, khaki cargo pants, and black shoes. Ash also noted he looked slightly taller and had an overall mature-looking appearance
"Ash? W-what the- I-I thought you were i-infected! I mean I literally threw a bomb at you!" he exclaimed in shock after realizing who was standing before him
"You were the one who almost blew us up in pieces?" Brendan exclaimed as Gary turned his weapon towards him "Stop pointing your rifle to us! We're not infected!"
"Ran into a small group that said the same thing you did before they jumped me. I lost both Electivire and Arcanine due to that. I'm not taking anymore risks" Gary stated as Brendan wasn't sure what to say
"You're Gary Oak, right? Cousin of Blue and Daisy Oak?" Red asked seeing the similarities with his rival and the teen with the rifle
"Kanto champion Red. Winner of the 9th League. I remember watching your battle against my cousin with Ash. Surprised he didn't go nuts asking you questions since you are someone he looks up to" Gary said as suddenly Ash realized why Red looked familiar to him and blushed when he saw the glances shot his way due to Gary's comment
Sighing, Gary lowered his weapon. If they were infected, they would have already attacked him instead of trying to make conversation. He threw his weapon over his shoulder and allowed them to follow him into the small safehouse he was able to find
Unlocking the chains, the group saw a Blastoise and Umbreon tackled Gary making the group tense until Ash waved off their concern by telling them it was only two of Gary's Pokemon
"Were you still doing research here in Sinnoh when infected appeared?" Ash asked leaning on the wall while the others were sitting on the ground
"I was actually planning on joining this project group when I saw the news about the infected. When Sinnoh was declared with their first infected case, it was the first time I saw Pokemon and humans alike dying. It reminded me of that movie we once saw when we were younger Ash..." Gary said as Ash remembered the movie as well. To think they were now living a fantasy was hard to comprehend at times "I remember the first time I had to take a life... remember that infected group I mentioned, they were my first kill. One of them was a little girl, that I shot a bullet into her skull"
"You did what was necessary. They would have killed or infected you. While it's hard to take a life, know that they are no longer suffering" Red stated as Gary nodded at his comment
"What do you about the infected you encountered so far?" Leaf asked as she was seen cleaning her knife "You said one of them talked, was this while they looked human or while looking infected?"
Gary was silent for a moment "The one who talked had sunglasses over his eyes so I couldn't see if they were the pitch black infected have. However, no I don't think they were infected yet when they stumbled into me. They were a group of 4, two teens, one young girl and an adult. The girl attacked both the adult carrying her and one of the teens. That's when I sent out Electivire and Arcanine against the two. The other teen was named Grant... he took a hit meant for me as he was stabbed in the chest after being thrown away. When I saw both my Pokemon follow a similar fate... that's when I killed them"
No one said anything after his story. May looked down as she wondered if she could have done what Gary did if she were in his position
"Anyway, if you plan on sticking around here, I guess we need to introduce ourselves. I'm Gary oak with rifle is my main weapon of choice"
"You already know me. My weapon is both a sword and gun I carry around" Red said pointing to both weapons as Gary noticed Red seemed to be in possession of a Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol
"Leaf Green, knife" said the brunette in a monotone as everyone sweat dropped at her bluntness
"Brendan Birch. I use a sword against these infected. Trying to get another blade after finding out dual blading is easier"
"May Maple. I'm the archer of the group. I-I use this custom recurve bow I was able to get my hands on" the Hoenn native explained showing her weapon
When Gary turned to Ash, he was shocked to finally notice his friend didn't seem to be in possession of any weapon at all. He wondered how on earth Ash had survived for this long without anything
"Ash doesn't need a weapon. He literally could take on the infected himself if he wanted too" Brendan whispered to Gary after seeing his gaze on Ash "It's not my secret to tell you how though. If he wants to, Ash will tell you"
Gary just looked even more confused at this but nodded. If they said Ash could protect himself, then who is he to judge. Gary only knew what he sees, not what they've gone through
Ash on the other hand was ignoring the conversation currently going on as his eyes suddenly widened once he realized what was coming towards them "RUN!"
His exclamation startled the group as they gasped at the sight of the incoming infected from afar
"You heard him, run!" Red ordered as the group sprung to their feet as Gary returned his Pokemon and saw the others jump out the window
"How'd Ash know their were infected making a move towards us!" Gary yelled as he saw Ash was in the front leading them
"Let's just say Ash is special and leave it at that!" May shouted back
"Call it an uneasy feeling. I had this suspicious that something is going to go wrong!" Ash screamed as Gary decided that Ash must have good instincts or something to know that
May kept shooting arrow, making a note to make more the next time they stop as she ducked and twisted away from the infected that managed to get past her before stabbing them in the head "They're catching up with us!"
"Just keep going and killing them! That's why we came to this forest in the first place!" Red said as he took out his gun and shot at the human infected and used his sword to decapitate the others
"Keep going? For how long? And they are literally right on top of us" Brendan yelled, turning around and slashing at the infected that planned to tackle him in half
"Unless one of you happens to have a secret weapon at hand, we're not going to make it out of here alive!" Gary yelled out using his rifle to shoot or knock the infected away when they got to close
"I can do it" Ash spoke quietly
Gary, Brendan and Leaf looked at him with disbelief while May and Red's eyes widened with realization. They knew what Ash was talking about due to having seen him practice what he was planning to do
"That's right! Ash you should be able to do it... but are you sure?" Red asked in concern
"Infected will continue to chase after us if I don't. It's not a question of will I do it, but that I have to do it" Ash states seriously as he stopped running making the group look at him questionably
"Go. Keep running, you'll be entering Sunnyshore City. Head to Sunnyshore Tower! I'll take care of them"
Red, Leaf and Brendan knew better than to argue with Ash. May was worried, but knew that Ash could take of himself and as such gave him an encouraging smile as she pulled a confused and hesitant Gary
"Are we really going to leave him back there alone to face all those infected?" Gary asked shocked that they would leave behind one of their own. It was basically rule 1 in surviving infected while with a group 101; never leave a teammate behind
"Compared to all of us. Ash can actually do more damage than our weapons can" Red explained
"That doesn't make any sense! Ash is just one guy against and army of infected, what can he-"
"He's got abilities! These powers that for one reason or another affected the infected to the point where it actually hurts them even!" Brendan revealed as the other three shot him betrayed looks since it wasn't their secret to tell
Gary couldn't believe what he heard... Ash has actual powers! He swears if it wasn't due to events leading up to this point, he'd never believe them
"You aren't wrong to want to leave Ash alone. If you truly believe he can't take care of himself, then by all means go back. Believe in yourself or believe in us and Ash. Choose what you feel is the correct thing to do. If you do choose to go back, you might only end up getting in Ash's way, causing him to worry about you. You need to decide now Gary. What will it be?" Red calmly said, as Gary looked behind him and then back at the others still moving forwards. They all trusted Ash would be fine, heck Gary knew that his childhood friend wasn't planning on going down any time soon either
"I'll trust you all and move forward!" he shouted making the others smile at his resolve and finally entered Sunnyshore City. Quickly making their way towards the tower Ash had mentioned, the group made their way inside as May noticed a grappling gun and decided to take it along
Meanwhile Ash was on his knees as he looked at the destroyed forest area. He wasn't sure if he would be able to do what he did after asking the others to keep going. When Riley first told him about this ability, Ash had been shocked about the major damage it could cause, but in this case was happy
After making sure no infected was in any condition to follow him, Ash was about to leave when he was tackled once again by a blue blur. Ash was about to panic when he saw a familiar looking non-infected Pokemon before him
"Riolu?"
Ok! Another AOT reference where Gary needed to trust Ash and the others! Also did anyone at one point think about Riolu being the blue Pokemon mentioned before? When Manaphy was mentioned, I though about changing, but decided to go with the original idea in the end. The reason why Riolu was following May to begin with is due to sensing the connection she seemed to have to Ash, which was the person he was actually looking for. Promise me in the next chapter not to get mad until you read the story to the end