Chapter 22: Resolve to Stand
Ash, May and the others tried to protest, but the Jenny of Saffron and her deputies put them in handcuffs and into a large prisoner truck. They were then taken to prison again. Ash, Brock, and Max were put in one cell, Misty, May, and Dawn in the other across from them. Pikachu sat on the bench in the cell next to Ash, being the loyal pokemon he was he refused to leave his trainers side. Jenny had confiscated all of their pokemon. They were still in the Team Rocket uniforms.
"Uggh! I wish I had something else to wear!" Dawn said as she tugged at the one she was wearing.
"Yeah. But it wouldn't change the things we did when we were working for them," Misty said.
"I hope Mom and Dad are okay," Max said.
"And Mrs. Ketchum too!" Brock agreed.
Ash flinched at the mention of his mothers name.
"Pika!" Pikachu put a paw on his trainers hand.
"I'm okay Pikachu, just worried about Mom," Ash said.
"Pika. Pika pi!"
Pikachu pointed to the bars and wagged its tail, Ash knew what it was thinking.
"Nice try but we can't use your iron tail to break out of prison. I mean… we could… but we'd be breaking the law."
"Yeah, for all we know we might have ruined our reputations with just attacking Saffron!" Brock said.
Ash gritted his teeth. Not only was his mother, Norman, Caroline, and others being held captive by Team Rocket but his dream of becoming the worlds greatest Pokemon master might be shot.
"What are we going to do now?" Max asked.
Everyone was silent. Then May looked at Ash.
"Ash?"
"I don't know," Ash said. "I mean… we just attacked an entire city… I don't know what's gonna happen now."
"Ash… are you giving up?" May asked.
Ash held back a sob. "What can I do about it? People out there probably hate me now! Or will as soon as they hear what I… we did!"
"But we were hypnotized!" Max reminded them.
"How's everyone gonna know that? I don't think they'll believe us if we tell them!" Ash said.
"Ash we've been in a situation like this before!" Brock reminded him. "And Misty came and sorted it out."
"Yeah thanks to Snap's camera!" Ash shouted.
"Who's Snap?" Dawn asked. "When was this?"
"It was a long time ago, back when the three of us were traveling together," Misty said. "We met a kid who always took pictures. We came across a breeding center that was really a base for Team Rocket. We found out when we tried to get my Psyduck back from them. Snap took pictures, but we were caught, I managed to escape but the Ash, Brock and Snap all went to jail with Team Rocket… Jessie, James and Meowth that is. I got the camera and showed the pictures of pokemon in cages to Officer Jenny."
"I doubt Snap or anyone else is gonna be here to save us this time," Ash grumbled.
May looked at him with wide sad eyes. "Ash! You can't give up! You never do that! You're-
"I'm nothing but a failure!" Ash snapped. "I've dreamed of being the world's greatest Pokemon Master since I was a little kid! And I've been on my journey as a pokemon trainer for five years now and what have I done? I've lost the leagues in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh! How am I ever gonna become a Pokemon Master if I keep losing like that? My home has been turned to rubble, and I'm in jail now."
"Ash! Listen to me! No one is invincible," Brock said looking at his friend. "You might have lost a lot of the leagues! But you've come a long way! You're the strongest trainer out of all of us… and I think that one day… if anyone can ever claim the top spot in the entire world… you can."
"Yeah! When we first started traveling together you were the worst trainer I'd ever met!" Misty said. "Sending a Caterpie out to battle a Pidgeotto! And all your early gym battles. Ha! They were flukes for the most part!"
"Gee thanks Misty! How is that supposed to make me feel better?" Ash looked up with a glare.
"Ut ut ah! Let me finish! You got better. You were able to win the Orange League remember. And in Johto you triumphed through all your gym battles through skill!" Misty said. "I've never known anyone like you!"
"Neither have I!" May said. "It was through traveling with you that I started to like… no… love Pokemon! You taught me a lot during our travels like how to battle and catch pokemon! And how to love them. I've known you since I began my journey and you've protected me more times than I can count. I believe in you Ash."
Ash looked at her and managed a smile, his cheeks flushing as he did so. Recalling when they'd first met with her cutely hiding the flower pot behind her back. She'd always believed in him, while Misty had had her doubts. Not wrongly of course but it meant a lot from May.
"Yeah, you're amazing Ash! I always admired that about you!" Dawn said. "I was really bummed out after that time I didn't make it past the appeals round twice in a row. But seeing your determination helped me a bit too!"
"Ash… you might not be the best pokemon trainer in the world! But you are one of the best!" Max said. "I can't tell you how to do it… but I believe you do it someday!"
"Pika!" Pikachu agreed.
Ash was silent for a moment, looking around at all his friends. "Thanks guys."
He stood up. "Alright. If we ever get out of here… we're gonna stop Team Rocket. Giovanni, Phantom, and anyone else who plans to hurt Pokemon. We're gonna save my mom, Norman, and Caroline!"
May smiled with a blush at Ash's declaration and nodded.
"Yeah!" Brock agreed.
"Count me in!" Misty said. "We'll give Team Rocket and all those bad guys exactly what they deserve."
"Yeah! I'm gonna get Mom and Dad back!" Max declared.
"This might not be my region… but I can't ever abandon you guys after all we've been through!" Dawn said.
All they could do was wait and hope things would be figured out. But somehow they doubted it would be that easy.
…
Giovanni was not pleased when Butch and Cassidy returned with the report that Ash and his friends had escaped.
"You lose someone who has managed to get far in multiple leagues, as well as two Gym leaders and two high-level Coordinators?" Giovanni snapped. "Here I always thought you were my successful agents! But it seems whenever Ash Ketchum gets involved he ruins my plans."
"We're sorry boss!" Butch said.
'Well… at least Professor Namba had some good success in Johto with retrieving our captured agents there. They should be arriving soon."
The door suddenly opened and three people entered. One man with spiky brown hair, his face covered in an Iron Mask, and a pair of young woman. One with silver hair, the other blonde.
"Iron Masked Marauder, Annie, and Oakley." Giovanni greeted.
"Giovanni." The Marauder said in an agitated voice, secretly loathing the fact that he'd lost his chance to overthrow the man before him.
"Thank you for freeing us sir," Annie said.
"I was close to getting you a thing that could control the whole world back in Altmare!" Oakley said.
Giovanni scoffed. "It doesn't matter. We'll have the entire world under our control soon."
Well Ash and his friends are in jail again, this time it's the jail for good guys but still that's not great. Well… I think I just planted the seeds for Ash eventually choosing May over Misty. Cause if I recall correctly they get along better than Ash and Misty who would fight every so often, while with him and May it was just a couple of times like in The Bicker the Better and Cruising For a Losing. Even if there is a couple more its still far less than how much Ash and Misty argue. Also looking back at the previous chapter, some of you might be wondering what happened to Haunter, Sabrina, Anthony and Primeape? Well, Anthony's gang is under hypnosis now and be forced to replace Ash and his friends. Haunter and Sabrina, well, being a ghost type Pokemon Haunter would be immune to the Hypnosis like Gastly was in the Orange Island arc. That gives me an idea for how to take down Hypno. Ah well, no spoilers for that aside from ghost pokemon. Haunter probably took Sabrina and fled to a hospital which I will probably show next chapter. See you in a couple weeks hopefully unless I'm delayed by something. Might be 10 or so more chapters. We'll see.