{—} 10 hours earlier from the arrival {—}
It had been six hours since Ash had begun searching for the cottage. So far, he had found remnants of places he used to hang out when he and Samuel weren't training. One such place was a tree clearing that stood near the center of the island. It held a great spot where Ash could escape from his tight schedule. When he found it after the burning, however, it had been reduced to nothing but a spot in the ground.
Ash had realized that it was midday, meaning he had spent hours looking, to no avail. This was terrifying to him, but even after these six years, Ash had maintained his persistent attitude. He kept desperately searching all over the island for any remnants of a cottage and hopefully a safe and healthy Samuel.
He eventually managed to do a full loop, reaching back to where his Pokemon were still helping all the native Pokemon relocate from the fire. They saw Ash and began happily waving until they saw his face. "I still haven't found him..." Ash muttered, sitting down on the nearby log that stood untouched from the fire.
His Pokémon's expressions changed from calm to angry determination. They were going to find Samuel and safely bring him to Ash if it meant searching every inch of the island. Farfetch'd begun sprinting away in a search while Dragonite and Gengar quickly went to look from above. Ash didn't even notice this happening, as he was too shocked by the entire situation.
What snapped him out of it, though, was a small amount of groaning. Ash looked over at the noise and saw that Dragonite had placed all of the Team Rocket grunts nearby and that one of them was just beginning to wake up. "That nasty little idiot is gonna get what he deserves," The grunt said. "We'll make sure he doesn't get in the way of dealing with that old waste of space."
Ash realized that the grunt was referring to Samuel. Anger filled his whole body and, without thinking, he stormed over in a rage. The grunt saw him coming and stood up, his face showing annoyance. "You're getting in our way, you know that?" The grunt yelled. "I suggest you get out of it!"
Ash wordlessly continued right towards the man, who was slightly worried as he continued to approach him. "It's you who needs to get out of my way," Ash said coldly, his voice filled with enough anger to cripple any opponent. He pulled back his fist and sent a powerful punch to the grunt's face, sending him sprawling onto the ground.
Grabbing him by the uniform's color, Ash kept throwing punch after punch, unable to stop himself from his blind rage. He heard some wild Pokemon behind him causing a commotion to get his attention, but Ash didn't care. In his mind, the ungrateful grunt had caused so much destruction and had possibly ruined Ash's current life.
"You can't just come here and set everything on fire!" Ash screamed. Smack. "Do you know how much pain you've caused these Pokemon? To me?!" Smack. "You might've just killed my only friend right now! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" Smack. Ash had hit the grunt so hard on the final blow that he lost grip on his uniform and fell alongside him.
The grunt, who had been knocked out after the first punch, was unmoving but still breathing. Ash decided to stay on the ground and breathe heavily while staring at the blue sky being infested by the gray smoke from the fire. He could feel blood coming from his knuckles; it made it worse that he didn't know if it was his or the grunts.
{—} 4 hours earlier from the arrival {—}
Despite his rage, Ash had known he needed to help the grunt, so he employed a few of the wild Pokemon to tend to him, while he got a group of Paras to use Sleep Powder to ensure that none of them would wake up for a while. While this was all happening, Ash's Pokemon began slowly returning from their searches, all coming up empty-handed. Farfetch'd and Gengar had both returned, while Dragonite was still gone.
Ash knew it was futile. While he had feigned hope during the first two returns, his heart knew that Dragonite's results would be the same thing: No cottage. No Samuel. Ash had accepted this oddly quickly, almost to the point where it felt unnatural. Ash simply waited around for Dragonite to return, and once he saw the powerful creature returning empty-handed, he realized something.
"Samuel is gone," he whispered once Dragonite had landed, looking defeated. "This island is gone..." He fell to his knees and let out a guttural scream that shocked all of the Pokemon on the island. It was a scream that had been bottled up for not only Samuel but for everything that had happened during the Cell War. He hadn't truly let out his frustrations with how things turned out, and now was the best opportunity to do so.
After a minute of non-stop screaming, Ash fell on his side and began crying hysterically. His Pokemon rushed over and all tried consoling him. He allowed himself to be enveloped and for a few minutes, his crying faltered and he was able to regain his breath. He brought himself onto his knees and took a deep breath, forcing himself to meditate on the situation.
{—} 1 hour earlier from the arrival {—}
His meditation was interrupted by Dragonite, who frantically was tapping Ash on the shoulder. "What is it?" Ash asked, trying to block out the tragedy and focus on keeping a clear head. "Drag!" Dragonite exclaimed, presenting Ash with Pikachu, who was coughing sporadically and horribly. "Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed, grabbing him from Dragonite's claws.
Pikachu had burn marks all over its body, and his cough sounded as if someone had suffocated it in smoke. "Pikachu must've tried to look for Samuel as well!" Ash exclaimed, quickly looking around. He realized he needed to get Pikachu to a Pokemon Center if he wanted to treat him correctly, but didn't know where the nearest city even was.
He took one last look at the island and held back tears as he turned to Dragonite and said, "W-We need to get out of here. We need to go home." Dragonite started at Ash and nodded, realizing this was no easy task. Ash reluctantly called back Gengar and Farfecth'd to their Pokeballs and hopped on Dragonite's back with Pikachu in his arms.
"I'll be back to help you all!" He exclaimed to all the Pokemon, who were crowded on the beach without any homes. "I promise." That's not the first time I've made a promise, Ash thought to himself. As he turned away and commanded Dragonite to fly simply away from the island, Ash hoped desperately that they were heading in the right direction.
{—} 5 minutes earlier from the arrival {—}
"Pikachu, just hang in there a little longer, ok?" Ash yelled above the wind flowing past them at Mach speeds. Dragonite didn't know where to go but just trusted that Ash did. Ash looked up and was about to cry as he saw nothing but clear ocean water, with no land in sight. He felt tears welling up in his eyes, covering his vision and almost causing him to miss what he saw next.
A small strip of land appeared, followed by a small road that looked like it led to somewhere. "Yes!" Ash exclaimed happily, clutching Pikachu to his chest. "Finally..." He was able to breathe normally, finding that the discovery of any form of civilization was relieving.
It then washed over him that he was going to have to interact with a person that wasn't Samuel for the first time in six years. The last time he had even spoken to a different person was Serena, and even that wasn't a direct conversation. He shuddered as he reminded himself of the note he had left Serena, the one he had written back in Lumiose City.
His mind was racing as Dragonite began landing on the landmass. He had felt an immense amount of feelings for her on that night but didn't know if he ever would again. Truth be told, he didn't know if he was going to see her again. Thinking like that is going to make my brain hurt, Ash told himself, hopping off of Dragonite and quickly recalling him after thanking him for the ride.
Ash readjusted Pikachu in his arms and frantically looked on both sides of the roads, hoping to see a sign that could point him to the nearest Pokemon Center. He eventually decided on going down the path that had the least trees, as maybe this meant that buildings were just down the road.
He was elated and secretly shocked at his fortune, to find a sign after running for a few minutes. Pikachu had begun coughing more frequently, and Ash worriedly noticed that the quality of his cough had worsened. He approached the sign that stuck out on a wooden post and quickly read its contents.
Santalune City was all that it read, with the sign having a small arrow pointing towards the destination. The first thing that came to Ash's mind was the fact that he was in Kalos, and not Kanto, where he had originally left. "I must've left the island from a completely different direction from where I originally came from," he whispered to himself.
He shook his head and realized that he was losing focus. "I'm not just gonna let Pikachu stay this way any longer," he said out loud, running down the road towards Santalune City. As he began approaching civilization, he noticed more Pokemon that he had never seen on the island; Bunnelbys hopped around in packs while Fletchling soared above in search of fruits and berries.
He saw up ahead that the road ended and led into the city street that belonged to Santalune City. Along those streets, he saw people. Gulping, Ash thought to himself, It's not like you haven't seen a person in your whole life. It'll be just like before. He entered through the gate and soon realized one major flaw in his plan.
He was exhausted and covered in blood on his fists, courtesy of that Team Rocket grunt. A few people gasped around him as they saw the sight of Ash and Pikachu; a beaten down duo. Ash had run the whole way from where he had landed, which proved to be a mistake, as his legs had now turned to gelatin from the running and injuries he had sustained.
While it was embarrassing and only raised more of a scene, Ash had no choice but to crawl towards the Pokemon Center, which was only a few yards from the entrance to Santalune City. Bystanders whispered and averted their attention from the daily tasks, but Ash didn't care; he wanted to make sure Pikachu was safe.
Inside, Ash could see Nurse Joy approaching the door, seemingly packing up her items for the day. He took one final crawl and held up Pikachu as she opened the sliding door. "Help... Pikachu..." he said weakly, before going limp and passing out. That was the moment Nurse Joy quickly realized she had a much longer work shift ahead of her.
"That was great!" Goh exclaimed after watching Florence perform her Performance. She was able to utilize Sunflora's Sunny Day to light up the room, which Goh was impressed with. He knew, however, that the next Performance would knock the audience's socks off. "Now, ze next Performer! Miss Chloe!" Monsieur Pierre announced as Chloe walked onto the stage with just her Eevee. She had been utilizing Eevee's newly learned Bite move and had incorporated Copycat in such a way that would favor the audience.
Goh knew every step of her Performance, and couldn't wait to see how the audience would react. As he sat on the edge of his seat, he felt an urgent buzzing in his pocket, belonging to his phone. I'll just ignore it, he thought to himself, stuffing it in his bag. It began vibrating faster and more frequently, which was something that Goh did not want to know.
He reluctantly pulled it out and saw the dreaded caller. It was an urgent call from Professor Cerise, something that he rarely used. Goh groaned quietly as he looked at Chloe, who was beautifully bowing in her gorgeous dress, leading Goh to hate what he did next.
He grabbed his bag and quickly rushed into the lobby, the phone still ringing in his hand. He opened the door that led outside and frantically accepted the call, nearly yelling at Cerise when he answered the phone. "What is it?!" Goh asked angrily. "I was just about to watch your dau-" He was quickly interrupted by Cerise. "Goh, there was a horrible forest fire on an island that happened early this morning," he frantically said; rapid typing could be heard in the background.
"A fire?" Goh asked. "How did that happen?" Professor Cerise paused and then responded, "We don't know. But Goh, there are hundreds of Pokemon over there that need our help! They're all stranded and we need a group of helpers to be led by someone such as yourself!" Goh sighed and shook his head in annoyance. "Fine," he said. "Just send me the location."
A notification quickly popped up on his phone and checked the location. "It is in the middle of nowhere," Goh exclaimed, seeing how far away it was from where he was. "Right. That's why the group I'm sending needs your help. I need to tend to other matters, but please help those Pokemon," Professor Cerise said hurriedly.
"Wait, Professor, who's going to be in the-" The sound of the call ending cut Goh off, leading him to grunt out of frustration. He angrily stuffed his phone in his pocket and longingly stared at the Performance building, wishing he could see Chloe. He simply sighed and released Flygon, hopping onto his back and taking off for this deserted, burnt island.
