Locked Away, Chapter 25

In the end, when Ash called to let her know that the town had truly disappeared, it did not come as a surprise to Misty. In fact, she almost expected it at this point. The only thing that had, was the missing statue of wartortle—what in the world would Team Rocket want with that?

Pfft. Misty blew a strand of hair from her face while rapping her fingers against her wrist. She had been trying to sleep for the last three hours, but found no reprieve from her thoughts. They were everywhere, about her job, about the gym, about Ash and Brock, about Team Rocket, and...well everything. In the last six months, her life had turned upside down in more ways than she would ever admit to anyone, and it was all thanks to former-coma patient, Ash Ketchum.

She wasn't mad at him, for introducing her to this new, exciting world, but she was definitely unsettled. Misty prided herself on logic, reason, swift, approachable justice. She didn't fancy fables, or theories—she liked facts. That was a part of who she was. It was a fact that Ash had been electrocuted, a fact that he woke up with no immediate problems, a fact that she might have adopted him into her life as her singular best friend.

However, since he woke up, he continuously shook up her world, and not always in a good way. Shooting forward, the blankets fell to her waist and she pulled on her insistently growing hair and groaned. On a day to day basis, she found herself questioning the differences between Ash's world and this one, as if Ash's world was real. But at least to some degree, wasn't it? But how could he of all people know so much? Should she have his head examined, check for bugs—maybe see if someone was testing her? Ash should have been considered crazy, his ideals, and thoughts and memories should have had no affect on the world; should not have resembled the world. Misty, Brock, and anyone else who thought that the pokemon-speaking, optimistic, coma patient was the sane one, needed to have their heads checked. And yet, here she was.

With a sigh of frustration, she threw herself back for the umpteenth time that night, replaying the news in her head. Ash and Brock were all but convinced that it was Team Rocket behind everything that was wrong in the world—and because Ash hasn't been wrong about anything yet, she almost wanted to believe him. Let go of that nagging logic and give into their stubborn abnormalities...and yet.

Damning all the problems of the world to "Team Rocket" after their supposed "disband" spread through the news like a tidal wave was too strange. Though...she had to admit, lying that they were still around made more sense to her now than it ever did. Why admit that Team Rocket still waits in the wings, when the media could lie about it, make everyone feel safe?

Suddenly, the missing trainer alerts seemed natural, reasonable. Team Rocket always targeted the strongest trainers to steal their pokemon. Though, when they did that years ago, the media kept tabs on the defunct trainers—now, they only appeared in news on rare occasion, and mostly to indicate that the "missing person" search was ending. Misty's lips curled pessimistically as she stared up into the darkness of her ceiling.

Thinking back to it, the missing persons reports stopped rolling efficiently about a month after Giovanni was sentenced to life in prison even though trainers were still disappearing. People talked about it on the streets, trainers feared it, but the noise around missing trainers and stolen pokemone stopped. To think that Giovanni had the kind of power to control the media and Team Rocket chilled her to the bone. How could one person, if it was truly Team Rocket, truly Giovanni, have so much power? Was it the whole justice system that was corrupt, not Team Rocket as Brock believed? A missing town, and covered media didn't justify Team Rocket—what happened to Brock was terrible, but he had no further evidence than "a feeling".

Misty had a feeling, too. That the system was ruined. Dysfunctional.

The justice system—their joke of a system—was faulty at best. The lawyers, the league champions, elite four, and chief executives—the pokemon "masters"-anyone who held some seat of power wasn't doing their job if they allowed the prosecution of Giovanni to slip through their fingers. If he was able to control the media, the league, everything from a prison cell, clearly, the fault wasn't on Team Rocket. It was on them for letting him.

So maybe Misty was a skeptic, maybe she didn't believe it was Giovanni or Team Rocket. It seemed to easy, after so many years of rising prices, terrible rules and horrible restrictions-why would they only be discovered now; by a bunch of young adults and not by some leading official?

That was what didn't make sense to her. When the world is wrong, it's easy to blame some evil power—but what if Brock was wrong? The system, the strange occurrences, the fact that a rampaged charizard could even live on Route twenty five for five years boggled her. Honestly, it could have just as easily been negligent leadership as it could have been Giovanni—painting the picture of a perfect society because it was easier to live in denial than it was to live in reality.

This wasn't without reason, though, reality wasn't pretty. The last ten years were mangled with strife amongst the regions, even more between trainers—Team Rocket was not even an issue until the Elite Four created half the mess themselves. Team Rocket were opportunist, and if they were controlling events, it wasn't because they forced their way in—it was because they let Team Rocket in.

Ten years ago, the world was a different place—happy, bright, full of laughter. Today's world seemed to be the embodiment of hate crimes and distrust. Team Rocket didn't create that, no, the leagues did that to themselves.

Fear held young trainers hostage in their homes—fear of the unknown. Fear of Team Rocket, of other trainers. Rules and regulations didn't seem to apply to the rich, the famous. But they applied to everyone else. After Team Rocket was disbanded, and Giovanni was put behind bars—pokemon trainers started to increase again—the economy started back up, new businesses were opened—things started to look up.

...It only made sense that if this was a false safety, the media wouldn't allow anyone to break that. New trainers brought in more money—more money brought more infrastructure. Therefore, when some young trainer went missing, they only looked at the larger picture.

Misty clawed at her wrist, asking the darkness of her room for answers to her questions. Her nails dug into her skin gently as she sat forward to kick her feet over the side of the bed and crack her neck side to side. Busy trying to formulate a plan, remove fear from her observations, as well as facts from fiction.

Brock did have a good reason to believe that Team Rocket was influencing the world. They took his father away from him.

….but,

Misty could not be so sure. Not without facts. Blaming Team Rocket was the easy decision to make. It was also a nifty scapegoat, with no evidence to stand on. Aside from media coverage, some bias facts determining that the town might have been Team Rocket related—there was no proof, Ash hadn't discovered anything new, so they had nothing. No proof that the league was being controlled. This was a conspiracy theory at best, and Misty couldn't buy into it without evidence.

Until recently, there was no indication that something was amiss in the world to begin with. Gym leaders, to Misty's knowledge, weren't being controlled—at least she wasn't. New rules and regulations that were passed by the Elite Four in order to protect against the rise of tyranny in the league that hindered Misty's success much more than anything Team Rocket related. If anything, the fear Team Rocket induced after their mass destruction was more damaging than their actual attempt to over-throw the league.

Brock's words had done little to stir fear in her mind, that she, as the likely new Elite Four member would be controlled like the rest of the figureheads, if anything, she was furious.

Furious that fear dictated their lives. Fear of Team Rocket still controlled them—then Team Rocket won. Their violence, riots and thievery did exactly what they were supposed to do—bring the world together to stop the root of evil, only for it to cower in its shadow by replacing guidelines with laws, and replacing kindness with brutality.

Misty chewed the inside of her cheek as her thoughts raced madly. It didn't matter to her if Team Rocket was behind the allegations or not—if they controlled everything from the shadows. Misty wouldn't cower; her plan, her goals, they never changed.

She would still become and Elite Four member, she would still fix the problems left over from her peers, and she would find the right way to conduct business and politics in the league without secrets and hate. If Team Rocket was pulling the strings, she would cut them.

Rolling out of bed, Misty's feet brushed against the carpeted floors and she rose to her feet to click on the light of her bedroom and crack her knuckles as she did. Recalling Ash's revelation, Misty hummed.

"What does this mean? If Team Rocket is back?"

She didn't have an answer for him back then, so few hours ago, but she had one now: Nothing changes, nothing was different.

She-they-would strive to fix the world, if only one baby step at a time. Ash supported her, Brock supported her, her sisters supported her. In the last six months since she met Ash, he had unconsciously opened several doors for the reclusive redhead—she was on good terms with Gary Oak, the head Professor of the Kanto region, and was well known thanks to that incident with charizard.

While they weren't a lot...they were still motivation.

They were goals.

Smiling, she inhaled, staring out her window into the dark of the night—she was wrong. Everything was different. She wasn't alone in this anymore—and oddly enough, she had Ash to thank for that. He spent months telling her thank you, appreciating the 'goodness' of her actions—but it was Misty who should have thanked him.

XOXs

Ash didn't return to Viridian City like he originally planned when he left for Bill's laboratory; after discovering that, like his other pokemon, kingler was no where to be seen, he took the closest route to his next destination, which was north, to Sinnoh. Johto had been his original intention when he returned to Viridian City the first time, but after witnessing the disappearance of the town, he needed to get away.

After being in Sinnoh for a month, totaling his time away from Misty at three months, and his time out of a coma at seven months, he was progressing rather nicely. Growing, adapting, changing as the environment changed around him- he made quick work of the northern country.

Winter was far worse in Sinnoh, than it had been in Kanto. He long ditched the light jackets for heavy winter coats, and leggings to wear under his jeans. He wore a toque over his patchy hat, and fingered gloves to protect his hands, and boots rather than sneakers. Togepi spent the majority of the travel tucked away in his pack with Misty's red scarf—as an egg pokemon, it was not accustomed to the same levels of body heat that he and pikachu were, and so it was much colder. Pikachu wore pokemon-clothes, and rode around in the zipper of his jacket, keeping his head between Ash's sweater and large coat to keep warm. Ash didn't mind, pikachu was his personal heater.

Most of the region, aside from the southern parts, was covered in a deep, treacherous snow. On his way, he discovered that like most aves species, staraptor was long deceased—and if the pokemon was still around, Ash had no clue where to start his search; so he kept moving north. From there, he found his way to the Eterna Forest, where he looked for toterra, the large grass, turtle pokemon- but observed that in the heavy storm, he wasn't likely to find the grass pokemon because they hibernated through winter. Writing the pokemons name off of his list with a question mark, Ash moved forward, towards Snowpoint City, only to realize that the path was blocked off with caution signs. Rather than risking his life, and the life of his pokemon he started east towards the coast, where he passed through Veilstone City.

On his way, he learned that the small town at which he originally caught gliscor did not exist as more than a village to pass through on his way to the large city, but once he reached Veilstone, he discovered that a little over four years ago a swarm of gliscor flooded the city during the heaviest of the windy season. Just like it had happened in his dream.

However, as most things happened in this 'real' world, anything that was an issue that couldn't be solved with words, was quickly solved with aggression. The pokemon were driven out of the city—those that were left alive. Once he asked where the gliscor might have gone from there, he was informed they hadn't been seen inhabiting the Sinnoh region in years.

With a heavy heart, Ash left the city, moving to Sunnyshore City, where he believed he would find buizel, who thrived for battles about as much as Ash and pikachu did. The pokemon was originally captured near Eterna City, but upon seeing the harrowing appearance of the forest and surrounding area—he believed that buizel would be further east.

Trying to find his pokemon was more than remembering where he caught them now, he also checked where they had most of their memories, where he felt that they would go upon having no place else to go. Simply put, Ash found his way to Sunnyshore City because the brisk city was found right before the championship league, and if his pokemon were anywhere—they would be here. Buizel was a battler, and infernape was..

Well, when Ash caught chimchar, the pokemon was never really his. The fire-ape pokemon belonged to Paul before it joined Ash and his companions—which meant, essentially, he had no idea where to begin his search. However, since Sunnyshore city was the start of their final into the Sinnoh league, he hoped the two of them would have found their way to the city center, or at least, some place near.

Resting from his long journey, Ash was seated in a cafe on main street, rummaging through his prepared letters, and reminiscing on his failed journey thus far. How was it possible that in a week, he found charizard, bulbasaur, and the remains of squirtle, but in a month, he couldn't find a single one of his companions from the Sinnoh region?

With a heavy heart, he found himself seeking advice from strangers—about any strange pokemon, which led him to the cafe. He found that people accepted strangers easier in diners, pubs, and markets than they did in any pokemon center he had visited along the way. Outside of the pokemon center, when people saw pikachu, they would gush over the lovable rat, which helped Ash prod for questions. His secret weapon, however, was togepi.

Who could deny Ash's questions when he held such an adorable pokemon? Even if Ash looked scraggly and worn from the weather outside; his messy hair long enough to tie into a low pony tail and his face permanently weather worn; togepi's innate charm never faltered to garner him the information that he sought.

Pinning for such a strategy, he took a table in the middle of the cafe, near the bustle of the guests, in the eye of the barista—that way, he could see and hear anything of interest.

Ash found that unlike Kanto, Sinnoh, outside of the cold, poor weather, was a much nicer place. Trainers of all kinds were friendlier, coordinators that he saw weren't quite as mean as they were in Kanto, and battlers seemed to be fond of their time spent in city centers—along with that, the region seemed to have top coordinators and champions placed in the same category—pure contrast to that of Kanto, where coordinators barely had a voice, let alone a large one.

The make matters even worse, her name kept coming up, Dawn Matthews.

"We can thank Dawn and her mother for this."

"Dawn is the reason we managed to come this far"

To put it simply, Sinnoh was the safe haven for coordinators all around the world. After the events of five years ago where a few riots put an end to major coordinator inequality, Sinnoh became the hope of coordinators. If the northern country could so easily accept and thrive with top coordinators and champions batting eye to eye, couldn't the rest of the world as well? Truthfully, it was finally nice to be an area where admitting he was a battler wasn't met with scrutiny.

People had Dawn to thank for this, the voice an entire group of wrong coordinators. Even though Ash didn't know this world's Dawn, he wouldn't put such a movement past the courageous, determined woman. Even in his dreams she placed contests and fair treatment above all else, and he doubt that would have changed in this world. He snickered, writing carelessly his thoughts into a note with the words "Cole" scrawled at the top. Misty and Dawn might not have gotten along initially, but they had more in common than they both thought.

As he wrote, the waitress who had taken his order a few minutes ago circled back to his table with a questioning gaze. Her wide, brown eyes blinking at his own.

"Uhm, no, the last time we heard about a buizel was in Pastoria City, but that was a few months ago—I'm sorry." The young waitress told Ash as she returned with his small basket of fries and ketchup.

Quietly, Ash sipped his water after tossing a quick thanks, and then scoot the ketchup to pikachu—who in his fit and lean disposition was hardly awarded the ability to snack. When Ash allowed him too, he all but gorged himself. The small mouse had come a long way from plump to lean, and Ash wasn't so sure letting him snack all the time was a good choice.

Togepi, much like his mo—ehem-Misty, sighed upon watching the rodent slurp the sauce bowl of ketchup with glee as the egg chose to gnaw on the pokemon food Ash gave them earlier. Togepi hadn't stopped training, it was because of its shape and form an average battler at best—against some of the easiest pokemon it could be damaged, but that didn't stop the egg from trying. It was admirable, and had it not been for his pokemon, charizard, bulbasaur, togepi and pikachu's, fellow determination to find their lost companions, Ash might have already give up.

Slumping into his chair to think about where to go next, Ash didn't bother with the fries, they were the cheapest item on the menu and Ash felt rude if all he ordered was a water and took up space. However, he had no intention of eating, if not because his hands were busy, then because he found that fries were uneasy on his stomach—a draw back to sleeping for ten years, he supposed.

Which sucked because they were delicious. His eyes drifted barely to pikachu, who sneaked two fries from the tray, and Ash's stomach rumbled.

While his companions ate, Ash turned out his list which was now stapled to the inside of a notebook, and started to write down the information he received in this town regarding pokemon, as well as buizel and gliscor. He made a note to return to Eterna Forest once the snow cleared to look for tuterra once more. He scratched off a name, lost in thoughts as a body scoot into the seat opposite his.

"For someone as cute as you, you look pretty serious." A feminine voice cooed to him, alerting his senses as he looked forward to stare at her with a blush covering his cheeks as he closed his journal bashfully.

"Hi." he said weirdly, the girl smiled.

"Hi!" She said back and then tapped the cover of his journal. "Are you a pokemon researcher or something?"

"A researcher?" He glanced down at his notebook as he retracted it back to his chest and laughed nervously. "Ah, no. I'm just looking for some pokemon."

"Specific pokemon? Are you one of those elite trainers that only want certain types?" her eyes spun to togepi and pikachu, who felt their meal had been interrupted and shared a look with Ash.

"No, just certain pokemon." Ash reiterated, smiling warmly. The heat of his face faded as the girl sat back.

"Well, you look well traveled, that's for sure." she gestured to Ash's worn clothes. He grimaced, feeling the building hole in his right knee, and the tear on the collar of his shirt. Instinctively, he covered them with his hands.

The woman continued, "We don't see many travelers anymore. Especially not this time of the year. Don't you get cold?"

A little slow to notice, Ash watched her nose scrunch up, the way her hazel eyes winked at him. Her bubble gum pink hair became very apparent, her curls bobbed as she moved her head to gesture at him with a curt, diligent nod. Her arms were crossed just below her chest, pushing on her assets, though Ash hardly noticed as he sucked in air and then offered a smile, a brighter one. He knew this woman.

"What's your name?" Ash muttered quickly. "I'm Ash." He added, goading himself for not including his last name.

The woman smiled cheerfully. "Oh, dear me. How rude." She said, rubbing her head. "I'm Ursula."

Called it. He thought to himself with a grin, sitting back in his chair and rubbing the under part of his nose.

Ash knew her, of course he knew her—she was one of Dawn's greatest rivals—and she had stumbled upon him sitting in the cafe. For awhile after he woke up, faces seemed to blend together, but now that he was actively trying to recall his dreams, he was recognizing more and more. This included seeing old trainers he knew.

"It's nice to meet you." he grumbled honestly, trying to sound less tired than his body was.

"Well, Mr. Ash, is there a pokemon I can help you find?" She winked at him, sliding her body forward more. Ash sat backwards, a bit stunned by her coercive nature. Unlike Misty, who was rather conservative, Ursula was there and Ash rubbed his face to hide his embarrassment.

"A buizel, or a chimchar? Preferably ones that are known to be good battlers... Have you heard anything about that." Ash asked, keeping his anywhere but on her. Togepi chirped beside him, insinuating that he was being rude, but pikachu was chuckling like a mad pokemon, enjoying the strange situation.

Ash Ketchum, though over the last three months had his share of fawning women, did not handle being 'hit on' well. It was awkward, and nerve wracking; and simply weird, he didn't understand girls in his dreams—and that hadn't lessened since his time being awake. Growing accustom to it was something he would doubtfully ever enjoy or understand. Sure, he had been told he was 'easy on the eyes' by Misty's sisters before, but never had he imagined it to resonant to the real world. He was messy, and dirty, and typically covered in bruises and torn clothes—how was that attractive? His face twitched, listening to the chime of his pokemon laughing once again.

She tapped her long fingers on the table, and pursed her lips, clucking her tongue at him. "A buizel, huh?" she tucked a strand of pink hair behind her ear, and apparently getting the sign that Ash was uninterested, she sat back thoughtfully.

"You know, I heard of there being one by Sandgem town, near Twinleaf Town; do you know that area?"

Ash's ears perked up. "Yeah I do." He smiled, and she seemed to brighten upon seeing the tongue of his lips.

"Well, if you head that way there was a swarm of buizel there—supposedly strong one, but that was a couple of months ago. I think a group passed through Pastoria City a few few weeks ago..." She started and Ash nodded his thanks.

"That's what the waitress said. Thank you." he grinned, digging in his pocket for some change. He dropped it onto the table, and like clock work, pikachu and togepi were on his shoulders in seconds.

She looked astonished. "you're leaving already?" She mused, blinking wildly.

"I have a lot of catching up to do. Thanks though, Urusla!" He offered chipper, slinging his back pack on while simultaneously slipping his journal back into his pack.

XOXs

With yet another goal in mind, he set out for Pastoria after stopping near the post office to drop in over-due letters to the Cerulean City gym. Some were directed to Brock, and others to Cole—Misty was always really good about getting them to their proper destination, since Ash had little ability to do that on his own.

It had been a month since he last spoke with the red-head; off and on he had called Gary to check on his license, but did so rarely, as to not drive the professor insane. Gary was still getting used to the idea that Ash wasn't dead. That didn't excuse calling him at 2am, though.

Ash was still struggling with time zones.

And... feelings. He knew her number. He had it memorized, but when he went to dial it; he panicked—a simple "Hi, how are you doing?" Didn't seem to suffice in his mind. He had been gone for a little under three months, and he had nothing to show for it. It was silly, at least that's what pikachu and togepi told him, but he didn't want to call her unless he had good news, and it was becoming a reoccurring feeling—wanting to call her at every city, but convincing himself not to.

With his train of thought obscured, he almost missed her; the flash of blue hair tied back into a high ponytail, a pair of pink high-waist shorts over black tights matched with a red, snow jacket and pink scarf. Key word; almost.

He hadn't expected to see Dawn here, he had hoped he would see her outside of the television, but he never thought he really would. She was incognito, blending into the crowd to avoid stares—but he would notice those blue eyes anywhere, across any distance.

His body stiffened greatly, pikachu's did as well as trainer and pokemon walked with the same conclusion in their minds. Slowly, her body turned, as if noticing his piercing gaze, and for a moment, a brief, passing moment; she almost seemed to recognize him—a small smile curling on her lips before dropping off.

It was only for a split second, maybe not even for that long, but he made eye contact with her from across the street before she returned to her business, minding the bag she carried in front of her person.

"Pikaka!" The pokemon cried, yelling after the blue haired coordinator before Ash could snag the pokemon from his shoulder and muzzle the pikachu with the palm of his hand, embarrassed that the small pokemon would call after her like that. Caught up in defending his pride, unable to deal with another let down like Brock; Ash hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, and walked flat into the back of another male.

A much taller male, with cold, dark eyes, and dusty purple hair.

"Watch where you're going." The the abrasive trainer pushed Ash away from him roughly, as the latter hadn't fallen over comically. Ash staggered back, rubbing his chest where pikachu hoped down. Eyes bouncing in his skull for a moment, he took some time to focus, and when he finally saw the scowling man before him, his jaw locked and his lips flattened.

"Sorry." Ash murmured, watching his gaze for a moment. It came as no surprise that the purple haired man was sizing Ash up. His onyx eyes looked over togepi, over pikachu and finally, on Ash before he snorted in retort.

"Pfth, worthless." Without a second thought, the man turned away, his hair flipping as he marched from Ash. However, Ash's blood was boiling already, insulted.

"Worthless!?" Ash hissed. "Who are you calling worthless?" He shouted after the man who twisted back around at Ash's rise—as if questioning with his mind if Ash was stupid.

"That's no way to talk to an Elite Four member." He paused. "Do you know who I am?" He asked, almost sardonically, unable to understand why he was bothering with such a runt of a trainer. Ash didn't back down though, instead a mischievous grin played on his lips.

"Yeah, Paul." The words rolled off his tongue like venom, and Paul reeled back.

"So you know who I am and you still act like this in public, are you damaged?"

Red flashed in Ash's eyes, and he had to breath to let the air out of his lungs slowly. His fists clenched and togepi and pikachu were no stranger to the rise of anger; both were ready to battle... but that wouldn't be necessary. Really, he had no reason to hold a grudge over this world's Paul. Infact, running into him couldn't have been better. Ash exhaled calmly.

"It's actually a good thing I found you. Did you ever own a chimchar?" The raven-haired boy asked softly.

Paul snorted once more, "Why is that any of your concern."

Ash backed off while raising his hands to deter his anger, to sedate it. "It's just a question. I'll leave once you answer it." Ash mused tiredly, their spat having drawn the attention of some passersby.

Paul rolled his eyes effortlessly. "I had one, once. The thing was so weak I got rid of it years ago."

Ash's rage, which had been calm until that pointed turned monstrous. It didn't matter if Paul was an Elite Four member. "Got rid of it? And you're an Elite Four member? It's no wonder everything in the world is messed up if you're what they let in!" Ash barked, stomping his foot into the ground, beside him, pikachu let out a squeak of agreement.

"Excuse me?" Paul hissed, eyes narrowed from anger. Somehow, the unknown trainer in front of him managed to get under his skin.

"You heard me. It's good to know that no matter where I go, you still treat pokemon like shit." Ash swore venomously, clicking his tongue in anger. Quickly, Paul reached forward, as if prepared to grab Ash, or punch him. Ash wasn't sure, but he moved back accordingly to avoid the strike, only to find it never landed.

"I think that's enough." Another, smooth male voice boomed between them. Ash saw strands of green hair below a black toque, as another figure moved forward to separate Ash and Paul.

"Yeah Paul, calm down. You're not god just because you're an Elite Four member now." her voice hit Ash like a wrecking ball as his senses came tumbling back to him; staring at the back of Dawn who mockingly crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at Paul's back as he cursed below his breath and promptly turned away—a battle averted.

Ash blinked innocently, unsure of what had just happened—he was sure that he would have gotten punched had it not been for Dawn and the green haired man in front of him. To be frank, for having such a reaction to someone he technically didn't know; he probably deserved it.

"You have an knack for speaking out where ever you go, don't you?" The green haired man chuckled, flipping the strands of his hair enough for Ash to recognize the lime-green eyes and matching hair; Drew. From Hoenn. He thought the boy from the pokemon center had been familiar, only now did he remember why. He blinked several times, looking between Dawn and Drew who made faces at one another temporarily.

"Oh relax, we both know Paul has a stick up his ass anyways. He probably said something to egg you on, no?" Dawn's words slowly fell to Ash, who inhaled and nodded.

"...yeah." He started weakly. "Something like that." he added bashfully, since he couldn't very well admit what Paul really was to him. A former rival, a coma-patient dream; then again, he was speaking to the all-famous Dawn and former rival of May, Drew.

What was his luck today?

"It's a good thing we decided to stop in Sunnyshore on our way to the league meeting after all, eh, Drew?" Dawn asked, disregarding Ash's comment. Drew shrugged, having no removed his eyes from Ash. "Saving peoples lives."

"I suppose." Drew clucked his tongue at Ash. "What brings you all the way to Sinnoh?"

Ash stammered momentarily, habitually taking togpei into his arms, just as something to entertain his hands so he wouldn't fumble. "Ah, I'm just looking around."

"I heard you ask about Paul's chimchar." Drew cut shrewdly in, and Ash recoiled.

"Ooooh. His chimchar. How did you know about him?" Dawn questioned with a smile and under both of their overly-kind, charismatic personalities, Ash almost shattered.

"...I...was just curious." he coughed, while pikachu face palmed at his weak delivery.

"If you're going to lie, do it better than that." Drew mocked, smirking. "The last time I saw you, you were traveling with that red-head gym leader from Kanto, and now you're fighting with an Elite Four member in Sinnoh?"

Dawn's pure joy and entertainment seemed to simmer down, and she scowled. "Red head? You mean Misty?" She questioned unimpressed, her entire mood having switched. "Are you in cohorts with Misty Waterflower?"

"Ahh.." Ash started, taking a step back, suddenly feeling like he traded Paul for pokemon investigators. He didn't know which was worse."Uhmm.."

"You're scaring him." Drew mocked, watching Dawn's temperament lower slowly as he scowled. For a moment, his mind stopped; stunned at the absolute disbelief that his dreams were stretching to fit so far north. He inhaled, and steadied his feet calmly.

"My name is Ash Ketchum, and yes, I'm friends with Misty, the Cerulean City gym leader. I'm traveling to new regions to find some old pokemon that I knew, and Paul's chimchar is a relative of the chimchar I had many years ago." A lie, sort of.

His calm, collected, almost confident voice drew both of the coordinators attention; Dawn's jaw locked visibly, as if unable to collect the correct words to appreciate what he had just said, while Drew seemed to relax.

"You're not here to start up drama between coordinators and battlers?"
"No. But you didn't seem to have a problem doing that in Pewter City." Ash countered a bit hastily, Drew put up his hands in defense.

"I apologize." he rushed with a brief sigh. "I'm Drew Shuu, a top coordinator from Hoenn. I was passing by at the time and over stepped my boundaries." he then looked at Dawn, who rolled her eyes.

"I'm Dawn, but you probably already knew that." she scoffed. "For one reason or another."

Immediately after, she glared between the two males. "You two know each other?"

Ash rubbed his neck nervously, and smiled at them. "...so, do either of you know where Paul's chimchar is?" he asked, desperate to change the conversation. Dawn pursed her lips.

"Well, sort of. There's a pokemon pound just at the edge of town, if you're lucky, it might be there."

Ash tried not to let the joy fill his eyes, to get his hopes up; but the shared inhale of appreciate between him and his pokemon was enough to bring a smile to Dawn's face.

"Can I get that address from you, and I'll just be on my way?" He asked quickly, shocking the two coordinators.

"That's it?" they spoke in unison.

Confused, Ash rubbed his neck. "What's it?"

"Most people who meet Dawn want an autograph... or something." Drew murmured while crossing his arms skeptically at Ash's behavior.

"And most people who are saved from being pummeled say thank you."

Ash's face turned red and he laughed nervously. "oh, right. Thank you."

Still, the coordinators looked at Ash as if he had grown horns from his forehead, he could feel the build up of sweat on his neck and he shuddered. "I just...you know. I'm not interested in autographs—I mean, cool congratulations on being top coordinators, but that's..." He started off, looking at Dawn who seemed confused the most by his response.

"And what about Misty?"

"What about Misty?" Ash asked quickly, a little to quickly. Dawn licked her lips.

"She didn't say anything to you?"
"...Not really. Why would she?" Ash asked, blinking. "But now that you mention it, would you care to explain what happened between the two of you?"

The blush that covered Dawn's face was impeccable, and she crossed her arms over her chest protectively. "It's nothing. Never mind." She said quickly, glancing away from Ash who appeared as confused as he was when the conversation had started.

"The top coordinator and Gym leader rivalries, you don't know anything about that?" Drew asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Ash shook his head.

"Very little, if I'm honest." Ash said quickly. "Misty didn't see the point in speaking about the situation since she thought it would be best to move forward from it...or something like that." He glanced down to togepi, who had been present for many of Ash's conversations with Misty about the topic during his stay in the gym, and the pokemon purred its agreement.

A small smile tucked onto Dawn's lips. "She did, huh?" she said under her breath so quietly, Ash almost didn't hear it. Seconds later, she slapped him on the arm and wrapped another one around Drew's shoulder in such a way a sister would.

"I like you, kid. So we're going to take you to that pound."

Sparkles formed in Ash's eyes. "Really?"

"We don't have time for that." Drew hissed, but Dawn cheerfully pushed the boys forward.

"Nonsense, we will make time!"

XOXS

On their way to the pound, Dawn explained 'humbly' how she and her mother reshaped the Sinnoh regions view of pokemon coordinators. Unlike other regions, Sinnoh had a near equal level of power granted to both their top coordinators and their Elite Four members. Sinnoh, as Ash had assumed earlier, was a safe haven for neutral trainers. Drew was there to talk about new contests in Hoenn, which was a struggling island to the far south. They told Ash about the Elite Four, how they still call most of the shots, set most of the rules just like in Kanto, the only difference is that the top coordinators of Sinnoh have to agree and sign off on the changes, that way, contests get equal funding as tournaments.

"Why can't other regions follow that?"

"Because they're too backwards, most of the Elite Four refuse to admit change is needed." Dawn sung cheerfully, her sing-song voice carrying pikachu like a rag doll was enough to send Ash into his own make-believe past. "So while Paul can be a righteous asshole, he did believe in assisting with the process of creating equality for all trainers—he was the only new Elite Four member willing to bend the rules."

"He still treats his pokemon terrible..." Ash muttered, unimpressed at hearing praise for the trainer. Drew shrugged.

"That's just how it goes. Not everyone believes that pokemon should be companions as much as they need to be effective in battle." Drew commented, tapping his toes against the ground as they came to a stop.

Ash stared at the large building, almost the size of a normal prison. Or, at least the prisons he saw on television.

"...what is this place?" He hissed, watching the lumbering building. Dawn and Drew made a noise behind him.

"A pokemon pound. Haven't you seen one before?"

"...Never." Ash mused weakly.

"It's where pokemon unwanted by gym leaders, trainers, and others go. Defective pokemon if you will. They were made mandatory after all of that nonsense with Giovanni stealing his students pokemon."

"Can't they just release them back into the wild..?" Ash asked, staring at the large, metal fences. In his arms, he felt togepi coil back into his egg due to frustration, and pikachu squirmed out of Dawn's arms.

"They could, but that can lead to over population—it's easier if they charge trainers." Drew said and Ash shuddered.

"...charge?"

"This is a pokemon pound, you have to pay for the pokemon you want here." Dawn quipped negatively, as if it were the simplest of news. Ash's stomach churned at the thought, trying to hide his disgust with a forced smile.

"I see..." He grunted painfully, eyes turning back to the tall structure. "Why would anyone send a pokemon here..."

"It's not usually by choice." Dawn assured him, clapping him on the shoulder to straighten his back. For a moment, he looked back at her as if he had known her forever, though the same look did not resonance in her eyes.

"Anyways, we need to get to our meeting, so it was nice meeting you. I hope you find the pokemon you're looking for." Dawn said while dusting off her hands. Drew gave him a weak smile.

"It was nice meeting you again. On better terms." he said and Ash nodded slowly.

"You guys are leaving so quickly." he muttered pathetically, getting a look from the two few them.

"A fan already?" Dawn taunted, and Ash pursed his lips.

"No, just... it seems like I-" He stopped himself, blushing awkwardly. "Never mind." he added, scratching his cheek. In return, Dawn and Drew waved. Do you know who I am? He wanted to ask Dawn and Drew, but if they had known—they would have said something, wouldn't they? Better to not make himself look crazy in a new region. His face soured as he looked down pathetically and sighed.

"Take care, Ash." Dawn muttered, and he watched them descend the hill they had just climbed with a sort of pained look.

"Toge, briii." The egg emerged, looking at the fading bodies of Drew and Dawn while Pikachu sighed pathetically beside Ash. "Pika." it added it's sentiments, together telling Ash that maybe he should have told Dawn about his dreams the same way that he told Brock.

"...No, it's okay." Ash said while glancing down at the two of them. "I've already gotten Brock and Misty in trouble for sharing my dreams. I think it would be best that we don't tell anyone right away." Ash hummed as he turned slowly back to the pound where the steel gates mocked him effortlessly.

XOXS

The place was huge, holding well over three hundred different pokemon. The staff looked and acted like prison employees, and they were about as nice to talk to as a cactus was to hug. He clung to togepi, assuring the baby pokemon that it was fine, while pikachu, as well, huddled near Ash's neck as closely as possible.

Whether this place was the 'better' alternative or not, it gave Ash the chills.

"We have thirty one chimcharrs in stock. Would you like to pick by level or age?" Ash's face scrunched up at the dull man's question. He looked at Ash from across a clipboard, and apparently missed Ash's clear disgust from beneath his glasses because he started to repeat the question when Ash shook his head.

"Neither. I want to see them." Ash muttered angrily, causing the man to shrug.

They walked down a few paths that lead into a grayer cell, a darker cell where he could hear the sound of whining pokemon—more than that, he could understand them. His heart ached tremendously, listening to their moans of agony, their want to be free. His shoulders stiffened, unable to believe such a place existed—seven months awake, and Misty never told him about this. Did Kanto have these things as well? Was this the reason Misty was adamant that Ash only send her pokemon that were water types, otherwise, the league 'takes' the rest?

He felt sick, as he marched to the pin where a house of chimchar sat huddled together in a cell hardly big enough for ten of them, let a lone thirty. They didn't seem so kind when they saw Ash, and his heart nearly snapped as he put his fingers up to the cage.

"Don't get so close. I am not liable for any injuries you sustain." The man mocked as another group of people walked behind Ash, a small girl talking about getting a 'pet'. This was normal. Impounding pokemon and selling them like cattle was normal.

"Chimchar? Is there a chimchar here who knows an Ash?" He asked abruptly, getting a look from the man who was showing him around. He obviously thought Ash was crazy until the monkey pokemon in the corner sat up—a raged, torn chimchar that slowly moved from the corner of the cell, away from younger pokemon of the same kind, and towards Ash.

No words were passed when the pokemon's black hand was pressed against Ash's fingers which reached through the bars, and it let its head rest against his finger tips, where Ash scowled bitterly, watching the all but defeated pokemon.

"I'll get you outta here, buddy." Ash said silently to the pokemon which slowly had tears form in its eyes as Ash rose to his feet and exhaled loudly.

"Did you decide then?" The man asked hoarsely, and Ash sighed, his fists trembling.

"Do you have a buizel here? A staraptor, or tuterra? Maybe a gliscor?"

The man seemed stunned by the dark tone Ash displayed with his questions, and flipped through the electronic touch-screen clipboard.

At least the discover of 'pounds' would make it easier to search areas. How disgusting.

XOXS

In the end, Ash's buizel wasn't there, neither were his other three pokemon. More than likely, buizel, who had a devoted passion for battles had already found another trainer—and if that was the case, Ash would be more than happy for the poekmon. However, he needed to focus on getting chimchar out of that pound, and he wasn't exactly carrying around five hundred dollars.

So, as he did in any and all situations where he ran into a brick wall; he tried to reach Misty.

"Hey, Misty." He said bitterly as she answered the phone—his nervous were shot.

"Ash! Hey! It's been a long time! How are you?" She hummed chipper from her side of the line, and Ash swallowed hard. Her cheerful voice wasn't enough to pull the chill from his soul after walking into a pound.

"...I'm ah..." He started and shivered. "I need a favor."

She paused for a brief moment, questioning the sound of his voice. "Are you okay? Did something happen?" She asked quickly, concern lacing her words.

"No." he lied, "I just..." he stopped. "I found a pokemon pound today."

A long pause from her end had Ash checking if she had disconnected, and she shuffled to hold the phone to her ear. "I'm sorry you had to see that." Misty mumbled, and Ash could feel the pain in her voice.

"Yeah. Me, too."

"Are one of your pokemon there?"

"...Yeah."

"They're not horrible, Ash. They're...a little over ran, and a little dark, but the pokemon aren't injured..." She tried to justify them and something in Ash snapped.

"It's not okay, Misty! They're terrible!" He shouted, and Misty coiled.

"...I know. I'm sorry." She muttered solemnly, and Ash inhaled, and exhaled.

"Can I borrow five hundred dollars from you?"

"Yes." She said instantly, much to Ash's surprise—is sour mood jarred quickly by her willingness.

"Really?"

"Do you need more? Is it just the one pokemon? Should I wire you more just in case you find others in other pounds?" he could hear her opening the tab of her bank information on her phone as she spoke, and Ash grasped for the correct words to say.

"N-no, that's okay." he stammered, awestruck by her kind gesture.

"I'll send extra just in case." She offered, catching his hesitation. Ash cracked a smile and pinched the bridge of his nose gratefully.

"Thank you." he hummed, and then suddenly, Misty's gentler voice graced his ears.

"No," She stopped him, humming on her end calmly. "Thank you, Ash. Seriously. For everything."

While his mind was elsewhere, namely on getting chimchar out of that facility, he was sucker punched in the stomach at her words, and felt a wave of embarrassment on his face as he grinned slightly.

"What did I do?" He asked anxiously, hearing a chuckle from her side.

"I'll tell you later. In the mean time, go get your pokemon. Have you found any outside of the ones you told me about last time?" She asked suddenly and Ash felt a bit of relief as he rocked togepi on his lap and smiled at the pokemon.

"No..." he said sadly. "but I'm not giving up yet."

"Good." She said quickly. "just be careful."

"I will be."

Suddenly, her demeanor changed, into more of a frivolous tone as she shuffled through some documents. "Also," she added, getting Ash's attentions and dragging his thoughts away from his astonishment.

"Gary called. He said that he is now able to license you." She said honestly and Ash grinned,

"Really?" He half shouted, jumping in the phone booth.

"Yeah, he also informed me that you call him much more than you call me." She mocked him, getting a nervous rise from Ash. "It's not like I fed or clothed you or anything."

Ash snorted in response, his mood lightened. "Jeeze, Mist. You're not my mom."

"At this rate I should be." She added snappily back.

"Ahh, don't say that. That makes this weird."

A pause.

"Makes what weird?" She asked suddenly, cutting the silence. Ash's face fell, turning red form his head to his toes.

"Ah—uh, I don't know?" He grunted, confused by his own selection of words, his heart reminded him that he was living by the constant ramming it made against his chest. Misty hummed in delight.

"Really?"

"I...I need to go!" He said quickly, and then not so gently slammed the phone on the receiver with wide eyes and a jump.

He huffed from outside of the phone booth, clasping his heart. In his jump, togepi had rolled off of his lap and onto the floor with a thump while pikachu offered a very knowing 'cha' while crossing it's small arms.

Without speaking about the incident, Ash ran his hands down his face and shook his head violently.

"Let's just go get chimchar." he said, while digging through his pockets for his gym card, his feathers obviously ruffled.

XOXS

Obtaining chimchar wasn't the problem that Ash was met with next, the man was accommodating enough; he was able to collect chimchar for a small fee of five hundred dollars. Ash was even able to leave the pound without feeling like the world was ending. Chimchar explained that Paul, as he did in Ash's dream, abandoned him—but the pokemon had no place to go outside of the pound, so it was there, waiting for Ash—because deep down, he knew the trainer had to be real.

And Ash was.

...And in the same way that Ash was real, he was really reckless and stupid sometimes, too.

At the top of the hill where he pulled off a black ski mask and stared in awe at his handiwork, Ash could feel his face twitching—begging him, asking him, what in the world he had just allowed his pokemon to do. The fires burned high, higher than that of route eight, he was sure, sitting at the edge of Sunnyshore, along the side of the ocean; the compound which held pokemon that should be wild was burning to the ground in one giant blaze.

Not only that, he knew that even though he was no where near the scene of the crime; it wouldn't take long for Misty to deduce the culprit... Considering there was a stampede of pokemon currently fighting their way into the forests, ocean, and where ever else they could go. Ash might have allowed pikachu to fry the generators after closing... and he might have allowed charizard to rain fire down on top of the high, gray walls. Said disruption might have even caused a mass hysteria and disruption of an official league meeting. He might not have even thought about what would happen to him if Drew and Dawn managed to put two and two together to realize that he was the one who decided that complete annihilation of the dark impound was the correct solution for such a place.

...but he wouldn't have a problem explaining all of that to Misty, right? She would understand.

Brushing his hand against his face where a bit of soot had collected, he took off into the forest with pikachu and togepi and a rather joyous chimchar at his feet.

Maybe it would be safer to avoid Misty for the next century; considering that she would hear about this.

And she would know.

He was probably safer if he stayed to talk with the cops. Regardless, Ash didn't regret his decision. He just saved over three hundred pokemon who were being held in absolute captivity. Pokemon weren't like normal animals, they managed just fine on their own without people—Ash knew that even before he was in a coma. Pokemon did not need to be held captive, it was cruel.

...Oh man, he hoped he wouldn't have to explain that to Misty.

XOXS

The teal haired woman watched the news from her office in the assisted living home with a gaping mouth, shoulders slumped forward as she watched the headline "the destruction of the Sunnyshore pokemon compound". Speculation pointed to 'freedom fighters' though she thought she had an idea who it was. Only sixty of the freed pokemon had been captured once again, but the rest returned peacefully to their natural homes.

When her phone rang, she swore to herself as she rolled to the land line and inhaled.

"Hello?"

"Abby." The shrewd voice of Dr. Sebastian answered her, and she inhaled.

"What can I do for you?" she answered calmly, licking her lips generously and biting them.

"That incident in Sinnoh. Was that boy involved? The boss isn't going to be happy to hear an entire compound was burned to ashes."

"Ah, I don't believe so."
"Well you better be sure. And soon. I want this taken care of." he paused. "NOW."

She shuddered. "Yes, sir." She grunted, slumping in her chair as the click of the call ended waved from the other side. With a sigh, she rolled and ran her hand through her hair where she saw beady black eyes staring at her in the hallway. Dr. Abby watched the lumbering old woman, who gave the young therapist a long, wired look, before slipping away.

Agatha retracted from her position in the hallway, and Dr. Abby inhaled like a fish out of water before pinning for her phone once more to call the next best solution for Ash;

Misty.

Author's note:

Quickly, I don't doubt that unwanted pokemon would be sent to a place like a pound. Secondly, I know that Dawn and Ash's reunion wasn't very...emotional, but I think Ash wouldn't want to freak her out; like he said. Secondly, Paul. Ahh, Paul. Ash's world just got so much bigger.

I'm thinking that once (if) this reaches 300 reviews I'll do like a tribute chapter or something, to show my appreciation? If so, what would you guys want to see? Pertaining to Locked Away, of course; given it doesn't have spoilers as well. If you guys think that's a good idea, let me know. Otherwise, I'll just keep updating as normal.

NINT