Chapter 5
The next day, the gang woke up good and early the next day and were getting ready to move out. As Ash was getting all his stuff together when he heard the phone ring. He never thought twice about it though and continued to pack his bag, placing his last item in. It was a half Pokémon Contest ribbon that he took everywhere with him. Almost as soon as he placed it in the front slot of his bag though, Forrest came in.
"Um, Ash, there's a phone call for you." He said to him.
"For me?" Ash asked heavily confused.
Forrest just nodded and led Ash to the phone. It was a video phone, so Ash was able to see who it was that was calling him. It was someone who he hadn't seen in years. Specifically, since a trip to Alto Mare with Brock and Misty.
"Bianca?"
"Oh Ash, thank God I finally found you." She exclaimed. She looked very flustered and as if she had been crying.
"What's wrong?" Ash asked, his voice full of concern.
"Lati has gone missing."
Lati was the Latias native to Alto Mare that Ash befriended during his visit there. She was also great friends with Bianca.
"Are you serious?" Ash almost shouted.
"Yes, I'm so worried." Bianca looked close to tears again, she was biting her lip with anxiety.
"Do you think it was Team Rocket again?" Ash asked.
"I'm not sure. I know Annie and Oakley were put in jail, but I suppose they could have sent more operatives."
"It wouldn't surprise me." Ash told her.
"I didn't know what else to do or who else to turn too so I decided to reach out to you because you helped so much before." Bianca said.
"Bianca, I promise I'll do all I can to help you and Latias" Ash said with passion.
Bianca smiled for the first time during the call.
"Thank you, Ash." She said quietly.
"Bianca, I have to go, but if you find anything else out let me know." Ash said to her.
"Will do. You keep me informed too." Bianca replied.
"I will. Goodbye Bianca." With that, Ash hung up the phone.
Everything in Ash's life is turning upside down at the moment. He only came home for a quick visit on his Elite 4 challenge and now his friend betrayed him and another one is missing. Add in the revelation of Red and Ash's head was really starting to hurt.
He knew he shouldn't be thinking too much about that, but he couldn't help but have his mind wander to the subject. He wanted to find out more information, but he didn't know how to do it or where to even start.
Ash looked around Brock's house and his mind started wandering back to his first journey through Kanto. Countless memories alongside Misty and Brock. They travelled the region going to many different places, meeting many different people. Some even quite close to here like…
"Oh...that could work." He said aloud.
He saw Brock making his way down the corridor that Ash and the video phone were in.
"Hey Brock, do you mind if I use your phone for a minute?" He asked.
"Sure Ash." Brock answered. "Who are you calling?"
"An old friend." Ash told him.
Brock decided not to pry and only said to him:
"Ok, don't take too long though because we're leaving soon."
"I won't, thanks buddy." Ash said and proceeded to make his phone call.
Ten minutes later, Ash joined the rest of the group outside Brocks house. Pikachu jumped up on his shoulder and the group began to set out. For once, the journey seemed quite uneventful. Team Rocket didn't even show up to be blasted away again.
That was until Ash announced that they were to take a little detour.
"What do you mean we've to stop?" Misty asked.
"I need to make a visit to a friend that I haven't seen for a while." Ash said sheepishly.
"Well, who is it?" May asked.
"Giselle." Ash told her.
"Who?" Max asked. "I've never heard of-"
He was cut off though as Brock, who was walking behind everyone else, unexpectedly ran almost through him and to the front of the group.
"Giselle? Of course! My one true love. One of the first entries in my book of beautiful women. Pokémon Tech is near here let's go see-"
He was cut off right there though by a Poison Jab from his Croagunk, causing him to collapse in agony.
"Wow." Max exclaimed.
"Saves me some trouble." Misty shrugged while watching Croagunk drag Brock away.
"Why do we need to stop here Ash?" Gary asked him.
Ash held Gary back a bit and motioned for Leaf to come over.
"It's about what the Professor told us about Red. I just can't help thinking about it and we've been to Pokémon Tech before, so I know they have the pieces to help us."
"With what?" Leaf said, she didn't seem happy about this.
"Yeah Ash." Gary chipped in. "What exactly is your plan? How is this going to help?"
"I have to do something," Ash said frustrated. "Nothing about this adds up."
"Ash you're hurt and blinded," Gary told him. "All that stuff happened years ago; it shouldn't impact what's happening in your life now."
"But what about what happened with Cilan? What about Paul, Drew and Kenny?" Ash asked, his voice rising.
"What? Do you think that's connected to Red and everything?" Leaf asked, bemused at the notion.
"I don't know, but I'll try to find out." Ash told them and with that he walked away and led the group toward Pokémon Tech.
The group passed through the majestic front gates of the school and made their way through the grounds. As they walked, they received plenty of suspicious and dubious looks from the people there.
"Why is everyone staring at us?" Dawn asked uncomfortably.
"Probably because we don't really fit in here." Brock remarked.
The group noticed that he had a point. Everyone around was dressed in the pristine Pokémon Tech uniform and they were giving strange looks to the group as they walked through the grounds.
"If they keep giving me these looks, I swear to Arceus I'll make sure they'll never see again." Misty said incredibly annoyed at the constant stares.
"She's kinda scary." Serena whispered to May.
"Yep, that's Misty for you." May laughed. "But be quiet she might hear you."
Serena looked scared at the thought.
"So, Ash, how do you plan to find Giselle?" Brock asked.
"I assume that if I wander around the school for a while, I'll eventually find her." He answered with confidence.
"That's your plan?" Max asked while shaking his head. "You really need to start thinking things out. I mean, do you know how long that could-"
"Ash?"
Everyone looked to the source of the voice and saw a beautiful teenage girl standing there. She had long black hair and dazzling eyes.
"Hey Giselle, it's been a long time." Ash said with a smile as he walked towards her.
"Shut you up." May said to Max with a laugh.
As Ash reached Giselle, she gave him a hug, causing May to gain a slight frown on her face at this sight.
"Shut you up." Dawn whispered to May, who received a nudge in the ribs from her.
"Is it just me or do you feel really out of place?" Cameron whispered to Gaz.
"I'm surprised they even let us inside the gates I thought we'd have been kicked out by now just of our appearance." Gaz answered trying his best not to draw attention to himself in this high-class area.
Brock on the other hand had absolutely no problem with the eyes of other people as he rushed forward to Giselle with the utmost confidence.
"We have been separated for much too long my love, but you have not left my mind for a single moment. Love has now returned us to each other once again-" Brock was once again cut short from a sharp jab from his trusty Croagunk.
After recovering from Brocks expression with surprising calm, Giselle addressed the group of trainers.
"Okay, well let's go somewhere we can all talk privately so we can get away from any onlookers."
She led the group through the grounds of Pokémon Tech, they were all intrigued with the environment they were passing through. Teenagers stood socialising with pokéballs in one hand and books in the other. All the students stood dressed in very similar clothes, the uniform only varying with the females wearing skirts and the males wearing trousers.
As they walked Gary spoke quietly to Ash.
"What's your plan Ash? Why are we here, what's your plan, what's the point?" Gary sounded exasperated at Ash's decisions.
"We can learn things here that we can't anywhere else." Ash answered. "I know you're just as curious as I am when it comes to the famous Kanto trio and you have a closer connection to it. Giselle can't help us with it."
Gary couldn't argue with that. He was extremely curious to find out answers as to what happened and why his cousin had to suffer his fate, but at the same time he didn't want to get lost in the search for it.
"Fine, but remember you have tough battles coming up and our plan is to go to Vermillion as a team, don't get lost in your own agenda." Gary warned his rival.
Ash nodded.
"Thank you, I won't."
Giselle took the group into a room that had many computers running attached to the walls and circled all around them.
"I'm guessing this is the computer lab." Leaf muttered.
"You are correct." Giselle confirmed. "This is the official Pokémon Tech Database Storage area. Any and all information collected by Pokémon Tech has been stored here."
"This seems like information you shouldn't be giving away..." Iris remarked.
"I trust Ash and I trust in the company that he keeps around him." Giselle shrugged.
"Well to warn you we've had a few trust issues lately so that might not be a wise move." Iris followed up.
This caused Giselle to raise an eyebrow and the mood of the group to dampen.
"Well, there's still the matter as to why we're here." Giselle addressed. "I assume you've informed everyone here too Ash?"
"Actually, no." Ash replied. "It's time I told you all what Professor Oak told the three of us in his study."
Ash began to recount the whole story that Oak had told the Pallet natives. Gary and Leaf chimed in at certain areas where Ash left out information, which because it was Ash, happened quite often. Safe to say once the story had been told everyone in the room was left with a sense of shock.
"So, the famous trainer Red... really did all that?" Brock asked, stunned.
"Yeah he did." Confirmed Leaf.
"Gary, I'm so sorry to hear that about your cousin." Misty said solemnly to the young researcher while patting his arm.
"Thank you, Misty." He responded with a heavy voice.
"So, what does this have to do with why we're here?" May asked.
"I heard from Professor Oak during one of his long rambles when I was at the lab that Pokémon Tech has the access to the most information in the Kanto region, even if a lot of it isn't exactly legal to have." Ash explained.
Giselle showed no reaction to Ash spreading this information.
"So, you're looking for info on Red from the Pokémon Tech files." She deduced.
"Yeah, pretty much." Ash replied.
"And you want me to help you." Giselle continued.
"Yep." Ash said sheepishly.
"Why though Ash?" May inquired worriedly. "What are you trying to achieve?"
"I just need to know." Ash looked dejected and desperate, he wanted answers. "All I heard growing up was how great Red, Blue and Green were as trainers. They were the pinnacle of Kanto and they came from Pallet Town. I looked up to them, especially Red, he was my inspiration for becoming a trainer and now I find out he was this terrible person who betrayed his friends. I need answers."
Everyone was silent for a while following Ash's explanation until May spoke up.
"We understand Ash." She said sweetly. "We care about you and trust you we know you need closure on this, and we'll be with you every step of the way to help you."
May then gave Ash a wide smile that gave him a warm feeling inside.
"Thank you May, and all of you."
Giselle then brought the attention to the task at hand.
"So, Ash what exactly do you want me to look for?"
Ash looked away from May and approached Giselle.
"I need you to look at the reports from 25 years ago for any info about a mysterious trainer or any battles around Mt. Silver. There are usually patrol guards around or cameras in certain are to ensure safety so I'm sure someone picked up something."
"That sounds like a real long shot Ash." Dawn remarked.
"Yeah even if there is footage or reports of someone it might not be Red." Serena added.
"Well standing here talking won't solve anything either." Leaf sighed. "And you know that Ash is going to let us leave till we try."
"Fair enough." Giselle said. "I'll pull up all we have but there will be a lot, so I'll need all your help. I'll transfer the information to you all so pick a computer each and I'll send it."
With that everyone sat down at a computer and got to work.
"So, Giselle how did Pokémon Tech get all these files?" Gary asked.
"I'm not legally permitted to answer that question." Giselle said shiftily.
"Ah, I see." Gary responded with a slight smirk on his face.
The group spent the next while pouring over video feeds of several Mt. Silver spots and the online text files that guards have filled out after their shifts. They found numerous instances of someone suspicious being around but after checking the other sources them found they were all dead ends.
It didn't take long for frustration to build up.
"How long are we going to be stuck here doing this?" Misty exclaimed, clearly agitated with the activities.
"Yeah I don't know if we're going to find anything here." Max sighed while rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses.
Cameron was slumped on his desk and looked to be asleep, an occasional snore breaking out from him.
"Hey guys I think I found something." Giselle spoke up.
Everyone perked up at this statement and all squeezed around the computer that Giselle was operating.
"This report states that there was a shady figure at the top of Mt. Silver for quite some time and was known to have Pokémon, there was reports of certain marks on the landscape only possible from Pokémon attacks. As well as this there was eyewitness accounts saying there was a Charizard flying overhead and a sighting of what appeared to be a Lapras in days round this time. Lapras could make sense due to the climate of Mt. Silver, but the Charizard belong to a trainer, there's no reason a Charizard would be at Mt. Silver at that time of year."
"Well we do know that Red owned both a Charizard and a Lapras." Brock remarked.
"Is there anything else?" Gary probed.
"Well we have this video of someone in the distance returning a Pokémon that we can't make out and then... well I'll let you watch it yourself." Giselle then brought up a video and allowed it to play.
The group saw someone barely distinguishable due to the distance and weather conditions. They seemed to hold up an arm and some energy seemed to transport into it, strongly suggesting that it was someone returning a Pokémon. Then a different figure appeared at the corner of the screen. The group could make out this person a bit better. Judging by the build, it seemed to be a fully-grown man and he had a quadruped creature stood beside him. Both the people and the Pokémon stood for a while, there was no sound feed, but common sense suggests they were talking. After around 15 minutes the first person they spotted made their way to the second and extended their arm and the second person responded. A handshake was made and the two left the screen along with the quadruped.
"Now, wait and see this." Giselle told them.
She rewound the feed and then paused at the point just before they left the cameras vicinity. She then zoomed in as much as possible.
"Now this doesn't really narrow things down but..."
Once the image was fully enhanced and clarified, they got a clear look at the first person's face.
On his head was a red hat with a white brim, a hat that was synonymous with one trainer.
"Red..." Ash whispered.
Hope you're all continuing to stay safe and I hope you really enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review on your thoughts so far, it helps the story and me as a writer. Keep safe everyone!
