Ash and Gary watched from afar, waiting for the first sign of departure for the plan to begin.
I Hope it all works out, Ash thought, hoping for the best.
His Porygon and Gary's Charmander were trapped inside the robot of that group of bandits. His dear Poly.
He remembered the moment Professor Oak had given him the task of taking care of the Pokémon:
"I wanted to give the Porygon to my grandson, but unfortunately I haven't been able to make contact with him for now. So, Ash, could you accept the task of taking care of him?," he had said.
"Of course," he had replied, eager for the idea of having a new partner.
In that moment, the man had placed all his trust in Ash. He had to protect Poly, it was a matter of honor.
I can't disappoint him!
Suddenly, a sound began to stream through the warehouse.
"Clefairyyyyy Clefairyyyyy Clefairyyyyy."
It was Luna. That meant the plan was about to start.
He felt his hand go cold with nervousness.
Gary seemed to read his mind as he quickly whispered, "I know you're nervous, but it's going to be all right. Trust me."
He touched his shoulder.
Ash looked into his eyes.
In these last few hours he was getting to know a side of Gary that even he didn't know existed. Who knew that underneath that layer of ignorance and haughtiness there was a genuinely nice person.
If he was like that all the time, maybe I wouldn't have hated him for so long..., Ash reflected remembering the time when they were in Pokemon school. The Bullying, the mocking, the rivalry.
Maybe we can be friends.
He woke up from his daydreaming and came back to reality.
"A Clefairy!?," he heard Jessie's confused voice.
Sneaking away, the two could see that the three of them were looking at Clefairy who was shaking her hands, from side to side, suddenly.
"How did this Pokémon get here?", James said.
Jessie shrugged.
"He he he, stop stalling. You know that Clefairys are extremely rare Pokémon. Have you ever wondered how the boss will react if we deliver him with this rare found, nyah."
The three opened wide smiles.
Then, they started running towards the Pokemon.
"Clefairyyyyy." Luna floated out and disappeared through the labyrinth of crates, being followed by the gang of gold-diggers.
Ash and Gary emerged from where they were, carrying makeshift bats with them.
When they got close to the robot, Porygon and Charmander, who until then had been looking downcast and sad, began to cheer up. Then, they banged desperately on the glass trying to get free.
" Shiii." Ash motioned for them not to make any noise.
The two obeyed.
Ash turned and looked at Gary. The boy nodded in agreement.
"Let's start."
The two raised their bats and began to hit hard on the glass.
Trec. Trec. Trec.
The wood hit the tough glass, making a deafening sound. It would be a matter of time before team rocket found out what was going on there. By then they had to have released their Pokemons. Otherwise...
I prefer not to think about it.
The impact of the sticks began to cause small cracks in the thick glass.
"Come on, just a little more..." Gary was saying frantically.
Trec. Trec. Trec.
The cracks were beginning to increase in size.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps behind them. They turned in time to see the trio return to where they had started. The man was carrying the Clefairy, apparently unconscious. They widened their eyes.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?," Jessie yelled.
"We came to retrieve the Pokemon you stole from us, bitch," replied Gary angrily. He began to carry his bat in an offensive position.
Ash knew what would follow from there.
It's a matter of life or death now, he thought fearfully. He started to shake.
Memories of the day he thought his Clefairy had died welled up in his mind.
I will not chicken out! He raised his bat in an offensive position.
"Bitch is your mother who put a trash like you in the world!", exclaimed Jessie feeling offended. She pulled a Pokeball out of her pocket and fired it. "Go, Arbok."
The snake came out of the Pokeball and materialized on the field.
The Meowth began to show its sharp claws. "You'll regret messing with the rocket team, brats!," he said.
Then the two went after Ash and Gary.
The Arbok fired towards Gary, who dodged in time to escape his 'Bite' in time.
The Meowth, in turn, ran towards Ash with its claw bared. Ash aimed the bat in the cat's direction, however, he missed.
The cat climbed onto Ash's face and began to scratch it.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH", shouted Ash as he felt the extreme pain caused by the scratch.
Blood began to flow from his face. His vision turned red.
Ash grabbed the cat roughly, then kicked him in the stomach. The cat gasped in pain and went flying through the air, falling to the ground.
"Damn brat, nyah," cursed the cat.
Gary, in turn, had been caught by the Arbok winding. His face was purple and he moaned in pain as he was squeezed by the snake's scales.
The Charmander and Porygon watched it all, desperate, from within the imprisonment.
Ash didn't think twice and ran towards them both. He took his bat and attacked the snake on its head. The stick ended up breaking. She looked at Ash with a dark gaze. She freed Gary and charged at Ash with her poisoned fangs bared.
Gary had held the snake's tail, giving Ash time to escape its Bite.
The snake, in turn, had used its tail to hurl Gary away. The boy ended up slamming his leg against a crate, letting out a great cry of pain.
"James, stop being useless and help us stop these motherfuckers," Jessie scolded.
James held Clefairy unconscious.
"But-"
"No buts. Just do what I'm telling you!"
"Okay…" He shrugged. He dropped Clefairy on the ground and threw a Pokémon out of a Poké Ball. "Go Weezing. Use Sludge Bomb."
The poisonous pokemon launched a poisonous jet from its mouth towards the boys.
Ash and Gary were hit by the blast of mud. The smell had nauseated Ash and he ended up throwing up his lunch on the floor.
Suddenly the Clefairy, which until then had been unconscious on the ground, rose and floated through the air. Luna stopped in front of the two.
"Am I late?," she said.
"Luna!," exclaimed Ash, surprised.
"It was too easy to fool these idiots."
Ash understood. Luna had pretended that she had been knocked out by team rocket and let herself be taken by them. Although that wasn't the original plan - the orders had been for her to manage to distract the rockets for as long as possible - Ash still felt happy that she was okay. For a moment, he had even forgotten everything that had happened on Route 1.
Ash tipped his cap back. Then he spoke with determination: "Battle time! Luna, Mega Punch!"
Luna hit the compartment where the two Pokemon were, breaking the glass and releasing them.
" Ember!," said Gary. Charmander came running and jumped into his lap. "Let's get rid of these bastards!" The boy, with difficulty, got up from the ground, limping.
The rockets faltered knowing they had lost their advantage.
"Don't get so confident, this battle isn't over yet. Arbok, Poison Tailon Clefairy!", ordered Jessie.
The snake aimed its sharp tail at Ash. Clefairy countered with Mega Punch. The moves collided, causing friction. The two Pokemons were thrown away.
"Charmander, Flamethrower!", this time it was Gary who gave the command.
The fire lizard launched a blast of fire towards the cat, who fled in fear of the flames. The flames hit the crates, which began to burn.
A smokescreen was thrown on the scene.
Ash coughed.
"Jessie, this place is going to be consumed by fire, we need to get away," warned James.
Jessie was furious. Out of nowhere, she started yelling, "AHHHHHHHH IT WAS ALL RIGHT. THE PROMOTION, THE RECOGNITION, THE GLORY OF TEAM ROCKET... ALL DESTROYED BY A BAND OF BRATS LIKE YOU."
She pulled a pocketknife from her pocket and took off running towards Gary. The boy was so busy battling the Weezing that he didn't even notice the hate-ridden woman running towards him.
Ash was faster and ran towards Jessie, tripping her. The two fell to the ground. The rocket went rolling. Her long purple hair was all tousled. She got up. She looked at Ash with a deadly gaze. Then she came towards him holding the knife.
Ash picked up the splinter of what was left of his bat thrown to the ground and aimed at the woman. The sharp stick ended up hitting her right eye, piercing her eyeball. Where, until then, there had been an eye, there was now only a hole leaking blood.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH," the woman screamed in agony. "MY EYE. FUCK YOU."
Ash felt remorse.
"S-s-sorry, I was just defending myself."
The flames were beginning to advance across the ceiling.
Jamies ran towards Jessie and led her away, towards the exit. The Arbok, Weezing and Meowth followed them, retreating.
Ash got up from the ground. He looked at Gary, who was struggling with his feet.
"Can you walk?," Ash asked as he stopped next to the boy.
"I have a hard time... I think my foot was broken."
Ash ordered him to lean on his shoulder. Then they were joined by Clefairy, Charmander and Porygon.
"I need you all to hold onto me," Ash ordered. The Pokemons leaned their body to the two. Then he touched his Porygon. " Teleport us out of here."
Porygon followed the order. Soon, the group began to feel the space around them change shape, squeezing. Then they began to spin in a spiral. Their bodies had acquired immense flexibility.
Ash began to feel nauseous and dizzy as he stared down a tunnel at a sea of distorted images. When they reached the end of the tunnel, a solid image began to be projected.
In a blink of an eye, they were outside the warehouse, watching it being consumed by the fury of the flames.
They sat on the ground, relieved to have escaped safe and sound - even though the plan didn't go as planned.
"It all worked out in the end," Gary said.
Ash sighed.
"We got those bastards running... Though I felt a little sorry for that woman."
"Don't be. That slut wouldn't think twice about whether or not she would kill you if she had the chance."
"Yeah, I think so..."
Despite being far enough away from the warehouse, smoke still permeated the air.
Ash coughed. "We have to go to the hospital to see how is your foot," Ash said, looking at Gary's purple bruised foot. "Plus I think Officer Jenny will be very interested to know about this team rocket."
"And you your face."
The moment of euphoria had made the boy forget about the Meowth's claw marks drawn on his face.
Gary chuckled as he noticed Ash's expression.
Ash and Gary called their respective Pokémon into the PokéBall. Luna landed on his shoulder, until she remembered the argument she'd had with Ash and made a move to leave.
"You can climb on my shoulder if you want. I think after what you've done today I'm willing to forgive you."
Luna smiled. "Okay."
She stayed on his shoulder.
Then Gary leaned on Ash's shoulder and the two walked away.
They were walking through the woods, trying as quickly as possible to reach the urban area of Viridian, when they heard an icy voice speak behind them:
"You didn't think you'd get away with leaving me one-eyed, did you?"
Ash turned just in time to see Jessie look at them with a sadistic look, accompanied by her Arbok. The bleeding from her pierced right eye had stopped.
Then everything seemed to go painfully slow.
The Arbok shot its 'Poison Tail' towards Ash.
Gary had shoved Ash hard, knocking him aside.
The tail had hit Gary square in the chest, knocking him across the floor and causing a great deal of purple blood to spew from the wound.
Jessie smiled when she saw that her goal had been achieved. Then she climbed on top of her Arbok, which began to move through the woods until they were out of sight.
Ash ran towards Gary, sprawled on the ground. He was choking on his own blood.
"GARY!," Ash swayed him from side to side. "Come on, we have to run to the hospital."
Gary smiled.
"I'm afraid my journey ends here."
Tears streamed from Ash's eyes, saturating Gary.
"But... But... You had promised at the pokemon school that you would beat the champion, gym leaders and everyone else that got in your way. You promised..."
He remembered a specific day at pokemon school.
Teacher Matilde had called the students to speak to the entire class.
"I want you to explain to your classmates what dreams you want for your life", she had explained to the students.
"Nurse!"
"Cop!"
"Gym Leader!"
"Gardener!"
The answers were the most varied.
When it was Ash's turn, he replied without hesitation: "I want to be a Pokémon master!"
The entire class had laughed at his response, making him redden with anger.
"And what would a Pokemon master be, Ash?", asked Teacher Matilde with raised eyebrows.
"A Pokémon master is the one who aspires to become the strongest of all, of course!", he had replied with determination.
When it was Gary's turn, everyone had fallen silent. He was known as being one of the most popular kids in school. Professor Oak's grandson, destined for great glory, was what everyone said.
"I dream of becoming Kanto's strongest trainer, the champion. Unlike certain delusional idiots..." He looked at Ash with disdain making the boy grimace. "I know my limits. The Oak's glory will progress to another generation."
Gary spat purple blood. At that point the Arbok's poison was already starting to take effect on his body.
"A... A... Ash," he said.
Ash sobbed as he tried to plug the blood running down the boy's chest with his hands. Luna helped him with the task. "What?"
"I need you to… see you go," he struggled to speak cohesively. "You need to make a promise to me."
"What promise?"
He made a move with his hand to pull something out of his pocket.
"Y-Y-you t-te... You have to promise me you'll take good care of him." He handed Charmander's Pokeball into his hand. Ash caught it, dousing it with Gary's blood.
He squeezed the sphere.
"I promise," replied Ash.
Gary's nose started to bleed. Then he closed his eyes.
Ash looked at Gary's lifeless body lying on the ground, dark. Siren sounds began to play, however, Ash was so shaken that the world around him simply dissolved.
He remembered the day he left home.
"Ash, you're still too young to know the harsh reality of the life. The world isn't the fairy tale you kids believe it to be," Delia had said. "I believe that one day you will learn all that in the most painful way possible."
Ash just hadn't expected that, more than a warning, that was a prelude. A prelude to the direction his life would take from that tragic day.