(5)-COMMUNITY CHAOS.

The inside of the airport was just as chaotic as outside.

All around him as he walked through the building with his red backpack on, Ash could see that all the people inside were in a state of panic. Though he wasn't sure if it was because their Pokemon were missing or because of what was going on in Pallet Town. Probably a mixture of both. He even saw several male soldiers dressed in green camo uniforms and black hiking boots. His guess was they had been called into town to coral the situation. Some job they were doing. The 15-year old looked and saw some people standing at the green computer-like phones, yelling at each other as they fought over the receivers.

Ash stopped in his tracks, reached into his right pants pocket, got out his gray flip-poke-gear, opened it, dialed his house number, and waited to hear his Mom's voice.

"We're sorry, all circuits are busy. Please try again later. Goodbye." Said a female computer voice.

Refusing to give up, Ash dialed his Mom's poke-gear number and waited for her to respond. "Come on, come on. Pick up, pick up."

"We're sorry, all circuits are busy. Please try again later. Goodbye." Said the same female computer voice.

The 15-year old dialed his aunt Hilary's house number and waited for her to answer, hoping someone at her place would pick up. Her. Trey, Troy, Jinx. Anyone. "Come on. Come on, answer."

"We're sorry, all circuits are busy. Please try again later. Goodbye." Said the female computer voice.

The raven-haired boy dialed his aunt Hilary's poke-gear number and waited for her to reply. "Please pick up. Please pick up."

"We're sorry, all circuits are busy. Please try again later. Goodbye." The female computer voice said.

"Drat." Ash said before closing his poke-gear and placing it back in his right pants pocket. The black-haired boy resumed walking through the chaotic airport and soon stopped in his tracks when he came across a group of people watching a TV monitor that had the red words BREAKING NEWS on the screen. The words were then replaced by a Pallet Town News anchor-man sitting at his desk, wearing an ear-piece on his right ear.

"We come to you live today for a report from our traffic helicopter." Said the anchor-man.

The scene then changed to the inside of a helicopter flying over the traffic-jammed freeway of Pallet Town that seemed to go on forever.

"This is your traffic helicopter." Said an unseen male pilot. "And we are directly above the southside freeway where the strangest traffic-jams we have ever seen has happened, with vehicles blocked in both the North and South bound lanes. When we first approached the freeway, we thought there had been one accident. But i can tell you that these traffic-jams are not the results of one, two or even three wrecks." Several wrecked vehicles came into view, spread out all over the place. "All along the three-mile stretch of the highway from the town limits all the way to the beltway, there are vehicles off the road to the left and the right and the North and the South bound lanes. Traffic on the beltway is almost exactly the same. The cause of this disaster is likely due to the town-wide black-out. Less than an hour ago, all the power went out all over Pallet Town, making all electrical devices cease to function, including all vehicles, planes and helicopters. Though this community power-outage was only for 15 minutes, it was long enough to cause all of this devastation. And worse yet, every Pokemon in Pallet Town has disappeared without a trace, creating mass hysteria in all Pokemon owners. Back to the freeway disaster, there is just an un-ending string of single and multi-vehicle wrecks. We have covered more than six miles of highway and there is no end in sight to the pile-ups. There is absolutely no way for the vehicles to be moved in either direction. Do not attempt to drive your vehicle or to come anywhere on the South side. We will give you further information as we cover the different areas of the community."

Ash's stomach dropped and his heart jumped into his throat as he took in every word that had been said on the TV monitor, unable to make sense out of what had happened to Pallet Town while he was away. But who could make sense out of this? It was incomprehensible. Less than two hours ago, he was on a plane and on his way to another region to start to new journey with Pikachu. Now Pikachu was gone...along with every other Pokemon in the entire community of Pallet Town. And to make matters worse, the entire town had suffered a black-out of all electronic device, including vehicles, planes and helicopters, which resulted in multiple accidents. He was glad that the power had been restored, but the damage had been done. And there was nothing anyone could do to repair it, it seemed. His thoughts then transitioned to something else. If these disappearances and this black-out were town-wide, that meant his family and Professor Oak were all right in the middle of this chaos and their lives were likely in danger. Ash envied those who could use their contact devices to get in touch with their families and friends and make sure they were alright. He was desperate to call his Mom, aunt, cousins and Professor Oak.

Were they okay?

Were they hurt?

Were they alive?

Were they dead?

There was only one way to find out.

He had to get home and see his family. After that, he would call Professor Oak and make sure he was alright. But how was he going to get home in all this chaos? He could walk, but his home neighborhood was a long way on foot and he imagined it would probably take longer to get there with all the accidents that had occurred around town. But how else was he to get home? He knew he had no other choice. He had to walk. After all, it wasn't like this would be the first time he walked to a place that was far away. He'd been doing it a lot on his journeys as a trainer since he was 10 years old, so he was no stranger to walking long distances. But he knew this would be his very first most difficult trip ever. He knew he could do it, but he also knew it was going to be extremely difficult to get from the airport to his house on foot in the midst of all this madness and turmoil.

"Excuse me, kid?" Said a male soldier as he walked up behind Ash.

Ash turned to face the soldier. "Yes, sir?"

"How old are you?" The soldier asked.

"I'm 15, why?" Ash said.

"Please come with me." The soldier said.

"Oh. Well...okay." Ash said.

The man walked over and Ash, without a first or second thought, followed after him.


Later, on the airport roof, the soldier opened a door and he and Ash stepped out onto the roof.

"I don't understand. Why did you bring me up here to the roof?" Ash said. Why had this man asked him to come with him? Why had he brought him up here to the roof? It made no sense, to be honest. Then again, everything stopped making sense when all the Pokemon in Pallet Town disappeared without a trace.

"Right this way, kid." The soldier said before walking off.

Ash closed the door back and then followed after the soldier, who soon led him over to a Bell 47 helicopter without doors. Then all of a sudden, things started to make sense to the black-haired boy. He knew why the soldier had brought him up here to the airport roof. "Are we gonna fly in that?"

"Affirmative. Our orders are to fly people here at the airport home. Passenger helicopters will be here shortly to pick up more people in groups." Said the soldier before getting inside the helicopter, followed by sitting down in the right seat and putting his seat-belt on. "Climb in."

Ash got inside the helicopter, closed the door, sat down in the left seat, and put his seat-belt on.

"Welcome aboard, kid-o." The soldier said.

"Thanks." Ash said.

The soldier then started the helicopter and it slowly ascended off the roof, followed by flying off into the blue sky.


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