Locked Away, Chapter 28
With what money he could manage, he took a boat from the shore of Petalburg City, and head east to the Orange Islands which were located beneath Kanto and Johto. The boat ride had taken all of the evening, and through the early morning of the next day. It was noon when Valencia island came into view, but it was well after 1:00pm by the time they docked.
Ash spent most of his time on the boat speaking to several guest passengers about the Orange Islands, though he discovered shortly after bombarding a few people with questions that most of the passengers stuck their nose at him, though he couldn't imagine why—he was showered!
"The seven grapefruit islands?" Some guy Ash had been speaking with muttered while they both shuttled off their boat. By the tone of his voice, Ash could tell that he was only being friendly because he had to. Each individual showed off their passports or pokedex as they exited the vessel as a form of identification and Ash budged the man once more.
"Don't bother me with stupid questions!" the man finally snorted with an eye roll. While scooping up his vacationing bags, he skipped through the dock, ignoring any further questions from Ash who was left to wander.
"Well at least give me a chance to explain..." Ash mumble disheartened as the wave of people rushing past him nearly toppled him over the edge of the boardwalk and into the water.
"Togeee." The egg squealed in fear from within Ash's backpack, looking onward at the bustling crowd of people as Ash forced his way through the crowd, getting jerked around at each corner. Pikachu walked at Ash's feet, getting kicked around as well several times before a shoved Ash finally managed to wrangle the pokemon into his arms, and escape to a bench at the side of the dock, away from passengers.
Valencia Island was full of tourists! But not only that, they all wore shorts, hawaiian t-shirts, flip flops and large, floppy hats. They were vacationing, and unless his mind was playing tricks on him, most of them consisted of the upper-class citizens. They wore gold necklaces, designer swimsuits and diamond earrings with their tacky apparel, and everyone had someplace more important to be than the shore, but that didn't mean they had to push him! Ash wasn't invisible.
Sparking electricity from his red cheeks while pawing at his face where a shoe had promptly kicked him, pikachu snarled.
"Pikapika." the mouse mused angrily while Ash nodded. The mouse suggested leaving before he lost his temper, and Ash was well on his way there.
"We will just go out this way. Hold on guys." Ash offered while pointing over the railing where he promptly began to climb over the metal walls and into the city located behind it.
Once over and on his feet, it felt as if he left the ocean, and stepped right back into Saffron City. Large buildings loomed over him in every direction, blocking the sun, and trees, and everything, mostly. Cars whizzed in front of where he landed, blowing his hat off of his head where he began the chase. A short dash later, he snagged the hat directly out of on coming traffic, where he lurched backwards to avoid being hit himself—the driver then honked at him, screaming unpleasant words at the pokemon trainer.
"Gee, thanks. I'm okay." Ash grumbled to himself while brushing off said hat, which had only been cleaned a few days ago before he left Petalburg City. Since he hadn't trekked through any forests, and he had a own room on the shuttle boat, he managed to keep clean—but now, he wondered if that was worth it. Maybe the stench of wilderness would have fended so many people off. Grumbling, he shifted the backpack on his back, and started forward through the island.
"Well, we'll just look around... Maybe find a map of the area." Ash grimaced while dashing across a street quickly when he was given the walking signal. Drivers all seemed so angry, he didn't want to give them a reason to simply run him over. Instead, he hurried forward, following the signs to "down town" Valencia, which cordially brought him to billboards which reflected a famous artist he knew well.
"Pikapi!" The pokemon on his shoulder exclaimed, pointing his small paw to a rather familiar image plastered over a billboard. When Ash looked up, he saw that across the billboard was a golden, shadowed flying pokemon, with a bright rainbow painted behind it. His mouth fell agape as he looked forward.
"That's Tracey's work. I remember that from the hospital." Ash grimaced, making a note of the address located at the bottom right corner of the painting. Pikachu squealed in response, alerting togepi who had popped its head out of Ash's backpack to view the area that they walked through.
"Pika!" Ash looked at the yellow rodent and stuffed his hands into his pocket as they started toward the direction the signs plastered on the walls led him.
"I didn't know that you remembered that rainbow pokemon as well, pikachu..." Ash hummed, and then smiled as he walked forward, letting his spirits rise as they moved further away from the crowd of angry island dwellers. "Maybe Tracey can tell us more about it, huh, buddy?"
XOXs
As he walked the two blocks north, turning when signs told him to until he stared at a large, expansive manor, guarded with large, royal-looking gates, and men in dark suits. Ash tugged on his collar, feeling a bit put out by the appearance of the building and made his way forward slowly. Maybe they were friendly?
At the closed gates, two large men stood with shaded sunglasses on, and dull expressions over their faces. They remained stoic even as Ash waved at them for their attention, and he rubbed his arms nervously. Ash rubbed his neck and cleared his throat before providing the duo with his best smile.
"Hello." Ash started, receiving no immediate reply. He scoffed. "Is this where I can meet Tracey?" He tried, but again, no one answered him—only the sound of fluttering wind and brustling trees in the distance.
Patience lost, Ash threw his fists down. "Hello!?" he shouted, to which one of the guards pointed at a sign to the left of him that distinctly read: "Sketchit studio".
Blowing out air of frustration Ash narrowed his eyes. "Thanks." he tossed before walking to the sign, accidentally interfering with several photos that were being taken by girl tourists around his age, maybe younger. His face scrunched up, though not bitterly. If he couldn't get answers from the guards, maybe these girls would know. He gave them a charming smile and titled his head in the direction of the manor.
"What's so special about him?" Ash asked the females.
"Like, everything! He's a great artist who has scene the most rare pokemon!"
"He's a pokemon annalyst!"
"It's his job to watch pokemon!" Behind the loudest girl, the others joined in like a chant, and Ash took a firm step backwards and then retreated quickly away from the fan girls.
On his retreat, Ash decided that he should sneak around the corner and get a look inside. If he's lucky, maybe he could talk with Tracey, avoid the guards, and the girls outside.
Pikachu is his scout as he jumped the south wall into the manor's fortress. There were no guards around that either could see, so with some forced stealth, and rolling behind a few bushes to avoid being seen, Ash moved forward to look into the buildings windows—maybe check to see if one was open. His heart pounded at the his ribs while he manuevered the latch of the window.
"Bingo." He mumbled while lifting the door very slightly, though he froze the moment he felt a large, heavy hand on on his shoulder. Ash looked up to see the face of a burly guard looking down at him unimpressed, and he offered his best smile.
"...Hi?" he tried, but the guard picked him up by the scruff of his jacket, and dragged him back to the main gates with only little effort.
"If we catch you snooping around again, we will inform the police. That's your first warning kid!" The guard bellowed, throwing him with one lunge.
Ash landed hard against the concrete and rolled over to look at pikachu who had crawled onto his chest apologetically—obviously, the mouse was not a good look out. He should have asked togepi instead.
"Thanks for that pikachu." Ash grunted while sitting up. "You alright togepi?" He asked, referring to the egg that had most likely been squished in his backpack.
"Bri..." the egg groaned from within and Ash let out a weak laugh as he rose, dusted off his jeans and looked once more at the guard who seemed a little happier now that they had the opportunity to throw someone out.
Nice guys. Ash thought bitterly while rolling his eyes and smirking at his own inability to be stealthy. Oh well, he didn't come to Valencia island to find Tracey—though that would have been a nice cherry on top of his ice ream. No, his next destination was The Seven Grapefruit island to look for Snorlax, a small group of islands far to the east of Valencia.
XOXs
Ash didn't investigate once he was flying on top of charizard, but he was able to see a scar left on the island where he distinctly remembered Professor Ivy's lab. Her laboratory sat at the tip of the island, dark and abandoned. The building was a shell, but it was also warded off by caution tape and police barricades; as curious as he was, he wasn't ready to break the law.
Shortly after, he was headed east, but found the further he flew the less he saw—the islands were few and far in between. If he remembered correctly, there were many more islands, and he had checked on his pokedex previously—they weren't supposed to be too far apart, nothing that charizard couldn't handle.
...yet, he seemed to fly forever with no end in sight.
"Hang a right here, lets go towards Mandarin island to the south—we don't want to get lost out here." Ash hummed, feeling the sun on his back as charizard roared in response, and turned elegantly mid-flight, spreading his wings out.
Ash couldn't have been sure, but since he started riding on charizard frequently, he felt the pokemon's muscles building under his weight, the dragons wings seems to stretch just a little farther, and his head seemed to grow the slightest bit taller with each passing day. Needless to say, their journey had been kind to many of them—but none as much as Charizard. He was becoming a beast.
By twilight, he landed on the northern side of Mandarin island, onto a small boardwalk that wasn't full of rude, hustling people. Once landed, he returned charizard to rest, and found his way to a pokemon center to rejuvenate the dragon. Ash hums cheerfully as he shoulders pikachu and togepi, taking in the salty smell of the ocean as he trekked along the beach front town and toward the large pokemon center sign.
Once there, he waved to the nurse who had been reading a book behind the counter, and smiled widely at Ash.
"Hello, how can we help you?" Ash hummed in response, and removed charizard's pokeball.
"I need to heal him, and get some information"
"Sure! Let's just get him set up first, okay?" The green-haired nurse took charizard's ball, and turned back to a machine where she placed the ball down onto a bowl shaped platter, and watched as it began to glow. She turned to Ash, and smiled.
"What can I help you with?" She asked sweetly while Ash leaned over the counter and smacked his lips.
"Ahh, I was just wondering if you could give me a rough estimate of where the Seven Grapefruit Islands were?" he asked while giving her an earnest smile. However, her smile faded quickly and she placed her hands over her chest.
"Oh dear...What did you need to see those islands for?" She asked gently while Ash blinked, glancing at pikachu and then to togepi who both shrugged.
"I'm looking for my lost snorlax...did something happen?" He muttered quietly, and the nurse exhaled.
"A few years ago—well, nine years ago now, a massive tsunami ruptured from shamuti island and flooded many of those islands..." She paused. "That's when the Orange islands revoked it's privilege an official region." She smiled at Ash weakly and shook her head as charizard's ball beeped at her to alert that it was finished.
"We don't get a lot of trainers in here that don't know that." The nurse added bitterly, staring at Ash's awestruck face as he took charizard's pokeball and looked out into the ocean.
"I haven't been around much..." Ash grumbled while giving his thanks to the nurse, paying his fee, and leaving the pokemon center.
For awhile, he walked the path around the island, keeping his eyes trained on one island in the distance that seemed to remain tall. Moro island, Ash guessed, as he tossed charizard's pokeball up and down. If he left now, he would make it to the island by nightfall, which meant he would be sleeping on the soil—but, that could give him more time to find snorlax as well.
...it was a long shot, but Ash had done more with less.
XOXS
When he arrived on the small island, he circled around a few times as the sun set in the distance, and found perch when charizard landed gracefully into an open field. Ash decided to set up camp, including a large fire so wild pokemon would flee, and fed togepi, pikachu, and charizard. While waiting to see if they would be approached by snorlax, Ash spoke to his companions about their journey so far. They joked, and laughed and before long, they had fallen asleep around the fire, the tropical weather warm enough so that Ash did not have to use a sleeping bag. Togepi curled under his right arm, and pikachu took the familiar perch on Ash's chest while charizard wrapped a protective wing over Ash, and drifted into sleep.
Ash fell asleep first, which wasn't often, his pokemon would occasionally stay up—talk about their travels before; share stories with the baby togepi of grand tales of adventure. Charizard liked to share the ones about squirtle the most, both real and dream land. Their chatter never seemed to affect Ash, who slept quietly on the dirt. But they could never express in words how wonderful it was to be together again after so many years.
Morning arrived early the next day, startling the travelers with a large snore that ruptured any chance the pokemon or trainer had of sleeping. Ash looked up, his tired eyes squinting to see slanted eyes staring down at him from the form of a large, plushy pokemon and Ash's stomach lurched as he shambled to his feet. His mouth was dry when he spoke.
"Snorlax?" Ash tried, swallowing hard against the lump in his throat, it almost seemed like the pokemon would eat him. "It's me, Ash. Do you remember me?" He tried, owrried that for a moment it wasn't his snorlax, at least until he saw the snorlax fall backwards beside the camp fire, and sprawl out, passing out once more.
Ash grinned. "You don't change do you?" He asked the pokemon which was larger than two charizard's side by side.
XOXs
A week after his time at the Orange islands, Ash's next goal was north east, to Unova.
However, to get there, he was going to need to catch a ride from Pastoria City in Sinnoh, which required that Ash spend the better part of the week hopping ships to Sinnoh since he did not feel comfortable flying with charizard anywhere near the north country.
Once there, he had few problems going from the dock to the next boat which was stationed where the ship leading to Unova used to be. He paid for his tickets without looking, since he wanted to be in and out of Sinnoh as quickly as possible, and found shuttle onto the docked ship.
When Ash was seated on the small boat, sharing the large passenger area with several other residents of the ship, he found many angry trainers and non-trainers. The news was showing once again the large Sunnyshore City pokemon compound burning, as a news anchor phrased the damaged.
Citizens were mad for a reason—the act of arson was treated as a terroist attach by radicals, and taxes were going up to implement higher security at all pounds, not just the rebuilding of the Sunnyshore compound.
His good deed ended up causing more problems for citizens and pokemon alike. They were no 'reinforcing' the compounds so that another gruesome, 'terroist' attack wouldn't happen. What a way to make him feel like he did a wonderful thing—only to learn his goodness was destroyed by the cruel nature of politics.
"They couldn't just leave it alone! They should have known something like this would happen!" A girl muttered from her seat at the boat before walking away in a huff. Ash watched her sadly, and then hung his head while he stroke pikachu, who felt equally as guilty for allowing his trainer to go through with such a poorly thought out plan.
There would be consequences for his action—but he was thinking that those consequences would be better for the pokemon, not worse. He could only imagine what chimchar felt like while he was sitting at Gary's laboratory. Hopefully, Gary wasn't giving him too hard of a time.
Unable to sit still as the boat left harbor, Ash rose to his feet, and promptly followed after the woman with purple hair, who let everyone else know her opinion on the matter.
"What do you mean they should have known this would happen?" Ash asked her as he moved to the railing where she was looking over. Her pale skin reflected the water against her face, and her hair fell into her eyes as she sighed.
"They always do this, take something small and turn it into another reason to control us all..." The woman muttered as her eyes filled with mirth. Ash sighed in agreement.
"Why does this happen?"
"Hell if I know." The woman added while standing up right. "Sorry, I'm being rude... My name is Burgundy." She said, offering her hand to Ash. He took it happily and smiled up at her. This was another woman he knew, more importantly, a woman from Unova.
"My name is Ash." he smiles in return, watching her face light up.
"Well it's nice to meet you, Ash! What brings you to this side of the world with a pikachu?"
Ash looked down at his friend, the number one tell of his home region, Kanto. "I'm going to Unova, to look for some missing pokemon. What about you, Burgundy?" He asked in a chiper tone, but his voice did not carry to the woman whose face was full of shock.
"...Is.. is that a joke?" She asked, to which Ash watched her with surprise, his shoulders ruffling.
"...no?" Ash paused. "What do you mean?"
"You can't go to Unova." Burgundy informed him flatly while he narrowd his eyes in response, obviously confused.
"...uh..." He started, "Why not?"
She shook her head, raising her eyebrows. "Have you been living under a rock? Unova has been quantined since the war. No one is allowed on shore."
Ash's mouth fell open in disbelief as he scoffed. "That hasn't been mentioned anywhere. Why aren't other leagues told this?"
Burgundy shrugged. "It's a need to know basis, I suppose?" She muttered, looking longingly at the large island that they could see from the distance. Ash's face scrunched up as he twisted his arms around his chest and glowered. He remembered very clearly what Dr. Abby had told him about Iris and Cilan, about the damage caused to Unova during the worst part of the war with Team Rocket, but he had no idea people weren't allowed to enter anymore.
"So, then, where is this boat going?"
"Paris, I believe." She muttered.
"But the sign said..."
"I know, they never bothered to change it. Some people view it as a tribute..." She looked down sadly once more. "I look at it is a terrible memory..."
"You're from there, aren't you?" Ash tried, leaning on his palm while the woman nodded.
"Yeah." was all she added, Ash looked onward at the island, staring longingly at the shadow.
"Do you know why...?"
"There's lots of rumors." Burgundy muttered pathetically before shaking her head. "But it doesn't matter. It's not home anymore." She said quietly, leaving Ash staring into the distance.
Misty mentioned Unova once or twice, but she never mentioned that people were not allowed there—that the league had been disbanded, that the champion was gone; but never that it was closed off to the rest of the world.
His finger itched, it sounded suspicious, and he was going in the wrong direction if he wanted to reach Unova. Checking over his shoulder, Ash gripping the railing tight, and inhaled.
"Hang on guys..." He grumbled. "We're going overboard."
Against his better judgment, Ash shifted togepi into his arms, zipped up the water proof backpack that Misty purchased for him at the start of his journey, and stuffed his hat into his back pocket once again. He placed togepi into his jacket before zipping his hoodie, and then looked at pikachu with determined eyes. The pokemon always matched Ash's bravery—or stupidity.
"Hang on pikachu." Ash told the pokemon as he took one large breath, and plunged himself over the railing.
Ash hit the blue water with a crash, his arms spreading the water gently as he maneuvered to the surface, his clothes felt heavy, but he was able to float to the top, even against the pressure of the boats rapids.
He shook his head once, the waves splashing into his face as he unzipped his jacket to allow togepi to float to the surface. The small pokemon coughed several times while he smiled down at it with chattering teeth.
"No problem, huh?" he mumbled, shivering at the temperature of the water—it was much colder than he remembered it.
"pikapika." his friend pointed to the boat as it left and Ash gave a brief yawn, before nodding himself.
"We'll wait until they're out of view to summon charizard. After that, we'll check out what's so scary about Unova." He grinned, impressed with his plan, though togepi and pikachu both seemed unimpressed with his decision to swim in the middle few the ocean.
Catching on, he rolled his eyes and stroked a few times toward the island in the distance. "Oh, c'mon, a swim will be good for us." He tried in his most confident voice, in an attempt to cheer his pokemon up—but one was an electric type, and the other an egg. They weren't exactly the best companions to take into the water.
XOXs
Ash summoned charizard around early evening to fly them close to the region in question. To be honest though, the island was much further than Ash remembered it. Where it was only a speck on the boat before, it was a huge continent now, the region was attached to a larger piece of land, and while Ash was amazed—the night sky didn't offer him enough light to see the objects at shore. Unlike the other regions, when at nighttime all few the cities seemed like fireflies in the distance, Unova was dark. Isolated. The entire region was on lock down, and not a single light twinkled back at him as charizard swooped closer to the surface.
"I can't see anything..." Ash grunted. "Do you think you should use flame thrower?" He asked while looking down. In the distance, he could see the shape of buildings, even more towers—but they were all concealed beneath the dark blankets of night.
In response, charizard roared, and his tail flame grew brighter while togepi and pikachu in Ash's backpack spoke quietly amongst themselves. The bright flame illuminated some of the distant objects—but they looked strange almost like weapons.
When he heard the whiz of an object fly past his head, his fears became a reality.
They didn't just look like weapons, the entire shore was lined with whale guns.
"Charizard fly up into the air, get out of their reach!" Ash screamed, wrapping his arms around the pokemon's neck, but as charizard went to narrow his wing span to fly upward once more, another harpoon flew directly at them, hooking past Ash, and directly into Charizard's right wing.
The pokemon lurched, letting out a cry of intense pain as Ash, togepi and pikachu were thrown off with a loud scream when the pokemon jerked in attempt to free himself. Ash had been falling with his arms spread out to grab at togepi and pikachu who fell from his backpack from the velocity of the spin. He swung his arms out to grab them, pikachu ducked and grabbed onto his collar while he snatched charizard's pokeball and pointed the item, towards him, the red beam hitting him the very moment another harpoon would have punctured charizard.
When his head spun back around to look at the surface below, sheer panic filled his chest when he realized they weren't over the gentle protection of water anymore, and land was coming fast.
"Hold on guys!" Ash screamed, though it was togepi who wailed in Ash's arms, letting out a soft, scream before a bright light illuminated the night sky, and they were teleported a few miles out once more, above water where they landed with a loud splash.
"Cha!" The rodent whined as it threw its ears back upon reaching the surface, he swam around slowly, looking for Ash or togepi—the egg rose to the top first, using the natural boyant force of its body ro float as it chirped childishly for Ash, who hadn't resufaced. Togepi could not swim, as it's anatomy prevented it from doing so, but that did not stop it from trying as both pokemon scowered the area.
"Pika!" the mouse called for his trainer, swimming back and forth desperately as bubbles rose to the surface shortly after, Ash's dark, damp hair poking from the water seconds later, followed by a loud gasp of air.
"Brrii!" the egg cried to Ash, waving its arms in relief as pikachu raced to his trainer.
"That was a close one." Ash mumbled, hacking on the salt water he accidentally swallowed. In the middle of the ocean, he looked to his right, and to his left, seeing nothing but darkness on either side—and one very large angry island that was off limits.
What the hell had just happened?
XOXS
Returning to Unova was not going to happen, since neither he, or his pokemon felt like becoming living kabobs, but they were suffering a whole different problem outside of nearly being harpooned.
Ash felt the pain in his side long before pikachu pointed out the trail of blood that was leaking from his abdomen. When that bolt crossed with charizard, a portion of it nicked Ash, though he struggled to think of a way to dress the wound in the middle of the ocean. The dark, thoughtless ocean, at that.
"Pikaa." Pikachu moaned from his place beside Ash's head as the raven-haired boy floated on his back, staring blankly into the clouded skies. Togepi was standing on his chest since the pokemon was light enough to prevent him from sinking below water, but it struggled to stay on without help from Ash's jacket.
"I know." Ash hummed mutely in response, a wave rushing against his face, keeping him awake. The cold had all but robbed him of the feeling in most of his limbs, but he was lucky the water was so calm. If those clouds above turned into storm clouds, he would surely drown.
...That was something to think about.
Drowning. After so many hours recovering, trying to recollect the pieces of his lost life—to die here, in the middle of the ocean because of his own reckless behavior was almost poetic. He smirked in spite of himself, his left eye twitching. It was ironic in the worst of ways, he always thought he would die in a fire, or an explosion. Another brush of the waves rocked against his flesh, and Ash let out a frustrated breath that made togepi fall on his back of his shell.
"Toge bri?" The egg muttered quietly, asking if Ash was alright while rolling back onto his feet. Ash inhaled once more. He didn't have an answer for that.
Misty's words echoed in his mind like daggers.
"You could die". She wasn't wrong, he could die.
He had come so far, and was probably going to drown because of curiosity.
Ash inhaled, wincing at the pity he felt for himself—how pathetic it sounded. Until now, his way of coping was to keep moving forward at a constant, never slowing pace, and for once, that thought process hit him in the face with a full fist of karma. If he had waited, researched a little bit about Unova before deciding to jump off of a ship, he wouldn't be here.
"Bri..." The pokemon on his chest cooed to him, reminding him that the egg and pikachu were still here, waiting on his reply to his question. Ash's brown eyes turned to said pokemon one at a time.
"Are you okay?"
The egg was shadowed, barely visible, but he could make out the dark eyes of the pokemon, as if it had read his thoughts and Ash's breath hitched in his throat. Extending his hand from the water beside him, he maneuvered his fingers to brush to egg pokemon's face affectionately, and heaved a sigh. Droplets of water ran into togepi's eggshell, causing a brief shudder and whine while pikachu gasped, keeping his head above water. Ash pinched the bridge of his nose, tasting the salty water against his lips.
When he went out on a limb like this, he wasn't just screwing with his own life anymore—he wasn't some lost ten year old boy wandering through the world without a goal anymore, he was Ash Ketchum. He had friends in this world that would weep to see him leave it. More importantly, as small, and insignificant as it seemed in comparison to his great imaginative world, he had a life here.
Ash swallowed, closed his eyes and then exhaled, chuckling at himself. 2What a time to be philosophical. When he should have been thinking of a way to survive, he couldn't stop thinking about the life he lacked.
He never thought about it, not really. When he had to think, he was always thinking about his next destination, his next goal with no end in sight. It was easier that way, moving forward, pretending his issues weren't as grand as they seemed. Naturally, Ash had never thought about what came next. He flirted with the idea on several occasions—Misty brought it up herself before he left on his journey, but even then, he didn't have to decide, the decision was always made for him.
What would he do after he recovered? He worked for Misty. After that? He found his mom. What would he do after he found his mom? That question was answered by the call of his pokemon. Up until now, he never truly had to think about what the next step was; where he would go from here.
Well, Ash rolled his eyes sarcastically, from here his best option seemed like doing everything possible to avoid a watery grave.
...but, what was he supposed to do after this? Stop Team Rocket?
He wasn't even sure there was a Team Rocket—for all he knew, he was just trying to find another simple solution, another way to run from his outstanding problems. Ash's face scrunched up, his thoughts jarring feeling into his otherwise numbing body.
This world was complicated and cold and gray. Nothing like he remembered it, but it was the world he belonged to. It was as much a part of him now as he was of it—to suddenly leave would be heartbreaking.
Air filled Ash's lungs, remembering everything he had done since leaving the assisted living home. His reckless behavior which resulted in massive bruises, two major fires, a few minor ones in Johto, a riot in Hoenn and most recently his lifeless body floating endlessly in the vast nothingness of a cold, unkind ocean. His body twisted. Brock was convinced Team Rocket was involved in Kanto, and since this was the world Ash belonged to, he wanted to help. He wanted to have his own life, even outside of that, maybe his own pokemon journey in this new world, or the chance to make new friends. Maybe the chance to make amends with his mother and work out their problems. See parts of the world he hadn't gotten the chance to see before... Meet pikachu's family, teach Cole to battle. Figure out what the hell these weird feelings were for the redhead.
He wanted to live! There may have always been another mountain to climb, but that was apart of living. And if living without his friends killed him inside, he could only imagine what such a thing would do to the friends he made now. So he couldn't stop, he couldn't drift, and he couldn't give up. Not yet, not after so much!
His heart pounded rapidly in his chest, though not from a surge of emotion, rather from adrenaline pushing through his veins once more as his eyes turned to focus on the the task of swimming.
Misty worried enough about him as it was, he didn't want to think what dying would do to her; what that would do to him if the situation were reversed. What would pikachu and togepi do? They were with him right now, suffering along side him every step of the way—and he never even had to ask. His face flushed as he spread out his arms and kicked his feet out to adjust his back to a position he could reach his pokeball belt.
On his person, he had charizard, a pokeball for togepi and another for pikachu, totdoile, and snorlax. Most were non-swimmers, and charizard was more than just injured, he needed to get the dragon to a pokemon center as soon as possible. Pokeballs might have slowed the decay rate, but he was sure that if left unattended, charizard would be another name crossed off his list.
Ash couldn't let that happen.
Bravely, Ash twisted his fingers behind him, grabbed a small red and white ball, and silently prayed that this would work. He raised his hand to the sky, grabbed a hold of pikachu and togepi who had been relatively quiet since he began sulking, and the red beam of the pokeball releasing ignited the area around them with a glorious blaze of red. From the pokeball, snorlax emerged, causing a splash that drove Ash's head below water. He didn't think to breath before sinking, so he took in a mouthful of salt water that he promptly spit back out upon reaching the surface.
In front of him, however, snorlax had fallen into a sort of panic—wondering how it was that he was in the middle of a dark ocean when Ash called out to him.
"Relax! We need to float on you so we can find land and not freeze to death." Ash hissed, knowing well that totodile simply didn't have the size to carry Ash now. The large pokemon glanced over to Ash, watching through his slanted, beady eyes, and gave a soft growl of approval before laying back, puffing out his belly, and floating.
With a sigh of relief, Ash tossed pikachu up first, followed by togepi so that the mouse could catch him, and then slowly climbed up himself, until he was seated at the center of snorlax's large belly. Ash took up the majority, but it was enough to clear his head. He rested his hand on the pokemon's chest, who didn't seem to mind Ash's weight.
"Thank's buddy. I owe you after this." He grumbled while hanging his head. Shortly after, he pat togepi's head and smiled softly. "And thanks to you, too. That was quick thinking to use metronome like that." He assured the pokemon as pikachu squeaked his agreement. Togepi smiled as well, and chirped excitedly for the first time since leaving route eight.
For a moment, he stared at the two pokemon who had followed him without complaint through five regions, and his lip quivered. Exhaling, he grabbed the two of them, ignoring the shooting pain from his side and squeezed the two of them.
"Thank you both, so much."
"Chhaaa~" The mouse gasped as togepi happily buried his head into Ash's welcoming chest. They remained like that for a moment, enjoying the warm, thanking the heavens they survived one more time before Ash set them back down with a sigh.
"Now..." Ash muttered as he looked down at the cut embedded into his right torso.
Red lines oozed from where his shirt had done little to protect him, and he pressed his fingers against the wound to address the depth of the injury. Wincing as he traced the crescent shaped injury, he sighed in relief to discover that it was no more than a scratch—a scratch that hurt like hell.
"Pikapika." The pokemon directed while tugging on Ash's backpack.
Ash nodded, following pikachu's instruction and pulled out the red scarf that togepi had used since it was an egg, and sighed.
"Sorry, Mist." He muttered bitterly while lifting his shirt, and then using the length of the scarf to wrap his waist twice, tightly. He couldn't see the real extent of the damage—but stitches were no doubt something that he needed.
"Toge." the pokemon said while crawling into Ash's lap as he used the flat of his palm to apply pressue. He slumped over, narrowing his eyes to see any form of life, and then gave a brief exhale.
"That will just have to do for now, we need to figure out a way out of here." He fished for his pokedex from his back pocket, only to find that the object in question was no longer there and gave a loud, pessimistic growl.
"Great."
Misty and Gary would be thrilled to hear that he already lost that.
XOXs
Brock rambled on the phone while Misty looked over her notes from her most recent exam. He talked about conspiracies, more more importantly, he complained about the new tax rate that would be effecting trainers in order to reinforce the pokemon compounds. She hadn't told a soul that this was thanks to Ash, she was too scared that she would be linked to the incident, so instead; she listened to Brock spin tells about pokemon rioters, and how they probably hired an expert to destroy the facility when everyone else was asleep.
Right, Ash was an expert and she was his accomplice. She rolled her eyes once more. It wasn't an expert job, far from it, he got lucky. Again.
Sighing as she hummed her goodbyes to the busy gym leader, she rested her phone on the desk beside her in the small, dainty dorm room she was forced to live in while attending class, and leaned back in her chair.
She hadn't heard from Ash since a week ago, when a blurb of emoticons and gibberish came her way—it wasn't hard for her to discern that it was pikachu or togepi who had attempted to use his phone, and while that was enough to sate her worry about the boy, it still frustrated her. He wouldn't call her. He called Cole and Gary to check on them—the later mostly to check on his pokemon—but that wasn't the point.
He didn't call her. Ash always had a reason for everything though, so she was sure he would have on for his improper negligence of their friendship, he did, after all, send a copious amount of letters; the most recent being post marked in the Orange Islands, but none came after that.
She fumbled with her phone, playing with the screen for a moment, and as she had gotten into the habit, started to flip through her pictures. It was full of time spent with Ash at the gym, and time spent with her sisters. Pictures that reflected her home away from the small dormitory, where her pokemon could swim freely, and she could relax.
After being accepted into the league as an Elite Four member, the last thing she could do was relax. Since her last meeting with Brock and Agatha, she was paranoid to the point that sleeping was a challenge on most occasions. Misty was worried that they would try to brainwash her while she was asleep, or worse, kidnap her and throw her into the waste side with the rest of the popular trainers of today's world.
As she reached the end of her gallery, she flipped back to the image of Ash a few days before his journey, where he was standing beside Daisy, holding togepi, and sticking his tongue out at her unapologetic. He had grown so much since then—and even more since she first met him almost a year ago, and her heart ached at his absence.
It didn't hurt at first, she knew that this was something that he had to do, but the longer he was away, the more letters he sent, the more she struggled to focus. Minimal tasks were growing difficult and she lost to a poliwag yesterday. Her mind, whether she wanted it to or not, was stuck on Ash—more importantly, worried about Ash.
Grabbing her phone once more, she swiped open her messages, and left a hearty reply consisting of few words. "Alright. I cave." She sent first, her face scrunching up. "I miss you. I hope you're doing okay. Call soon." The moment the message was sent, she dropped the phone like it had caught fire, and jumped backwards onto her bed to drive her head into her pillows.
What was wrong with her? There had to have been something. She turned over, staring up at her ceiling where even the stucco reminded her of Ash and togepi and she let out a loud, frustrated groan while thrusting her pillow into her face.
After a moment, the jingle of her phone tore her body awake, and she lunged at the device, and brought it to her ear in the same movement.
"Hello?" She gasped into the phone, though the voice that replied wasn't what she expected.
"Hello, is this Misty Waterflower's number?" The female asked in return. Misty's face scrunched up in thought—wondering who would be calling her at such an hour.
"This is Misty, to whom am I speaking?"
A chuckle framed the conversation, "It's Dawn Matthews."
Misty's throat grew instantly tighter, her knuckles turning white on her grip of the phone. She swallowed. "To what do I owe the pl easure?"
"I met your friend a few weeks ago...well, a few months ago now." Dawn admit. "The one with the pikachu and the egg." for affect, she paused once more. "He isn't the smartest tool in the toolbox, is he?"
Misty gnawed on her cheek, trying to decipher Dawn's words. "Not usually. Why?"
"Well, you've read about what happened with the compounds, right? How they're raising taxes now..."
"What does that have to do with Ash?" Misty grunted into the phone, knowing now how this conversation was going to go.
Dawn scoffed. "My colleague and I were the ones that showed him to the Sunnyshore compound only a few hours before it went up in flames..." she muttered. "it's not hard to put two and two together, Misty."
A brief panic filled Misty's chest, but with one calming breath, she squeezed her eyes shut; playing it safe. "Then why are you calling me? Go report him."
"I was about to ask you why you never did." Dawn added quickly, and Misty made a strangled noise.
"I wasn't a witness, I wasn't even there. What would I say?"
"Misty. I'm not stupid." Dawn barked. "I know you know, and that's why I'm calling you not the police."
A silence fell between them while Dawn gathered her thoughts. "We haven't always gotten along, that much I know, and we have quite a colorful past, thanks to the huge rivalry between coordinators and battlers but...if you are really working to make everything better. I want to help." The earnest tone of her voice caused Misty's mouth to fall agape.
"I don't agree with the pounds, and when Drew and I discovered that it had burned to the ground, we were elated...and then, well now this is happening. You've seen them for yourself, when they take pokemon from trainers. It's inhumane."
"I know." Misty found herself agreeing. "But why should I trust you?"
"You don't have to. I want to find a peaceful solution as much as you, and so long as we can agree on that, our personal goals don't matter."
Misty paused for a long time. "How did you get my number?"
"I called your sisters at the gym." She said automatically, eliciting a loud sigh from Misty who smacked her forehead.
"Well, what did you have in mind? I'm not even an official Elite Four member until July."
"We'll stay in contact. I just wanted to be sure that we were really on the same boat."
Misty gasped. "What? This was all you wanted?"
"Having an ally is sometimes more important than having a plan. We'll keep in touch." Dawn mused gleefully from her end of the phone while Misty took at hers, in complete disbelief.
"Is this really Dawn?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing. Only a year ago, if you had even heard my name you would have threw your phone across the room." Dawn muttered, chuckling on her end. Misty's cheeks blushed as she coiled her knees to her chest.
"True..." Misty started, though Dawn was quick to interrupt—a loud clanking noise erupted from Dawn's end.
"I have to go now, but I'll call you again soon! Stay safe Misty!" And then she hung up.
Stay safe echoed in Misty's mind as she blinked down at her phone in a mixture of disbelief and horror. What in the world was Ash doing out there? Quickly, Misty found Brock's name on her list of contacts, and sent off a quick message; informing him that she found another 'conspiracy theorist' before setting her phone down like it caught fire.
Everyone seemed to be telling her to 'stay safe', did Dawn know something more about the Elite Four than Misty did? Was that the reason she was so eager to call her—they weren't exactly mortal enemies.
...but they were far from friends.
Misty laid back against the comforter of her bed, and pursed her lips worriedly at the ceiling—what in the world had Ash been doing since he was gone?
XOXS
It was too dark to see. In either direction, all Ash could see was blackness. The stars were all but hidden behind a thick luster of clouds, and the moon was devoid of imagination. He and his pokemon were completely isolated. Tentatively, he coddled the dressing on his side as he swayed back and forth on top of snorlax.
In his current predicament, he felt bad that he thought about Misty. If there was one thing he felt marginally guilty about, it was how he decided not to call her while he was on his adventures—it wouldn't have been very hard, and what was he so scared of, anyways?
So he liked Misty, what was the big deal? She was his best friend in this world, maybe even in his dream world, it was completely normal to like her. It wasn't like he was in love with her or anything. They rose with an oncoming wave in the water, and Ash felt the pit in his stomach grow larger.
"Pikapika." the yellow mouse murmured while patting his trainer on the back. In response, Ash's head hung and he felt his black strands fall into his face. Why was he thinking about Misty in a time like this, anyways? He needed to get out of this mess first. The time for thinking had passed—he needed to act! He had no clue how far form shore he was now, and thanks to the lack of sunlight, no idea which way was north or south, so he had no idea which way to move so that he could find his way back to land.
Once or twice since releasing snorlax, Ash tried to have totodile survey the area—but the water pokemon was more of a marsh and swamp animal, and less of an ocean pokemon. It could swim decently enough, but it prefered water where his feet touched the ground. Needless to say, the pokemon ended up sitting on top snorlax with his trainer, and Ash was forced to return it. Time seemed endless while he shared what little food he had left over with his pokemon and snorlax. A lot of his rations were lost during the first fall when he had his bag open with togepi inside of it, so they were making due with sharing human food, since the can of pokemon food was sitting at the bottom of the ocean somewhere.
Regardless, his situation did not seem to improve; he could only wait until morning, and decide from their. Until then, they were drifting, lost in their own thoughts.
Pikachu tried to break the silence, talking about his family back in Viridian City. Ash knew that the mouse missed his family, though he didn't talk about it often. Whenever Cole called, pikachu would bother Ash for thirty minutes to poke-speak with his family back home. A small part of Ash felt bad for taking pikachu away from them—but it had been pikachu's decision to travel the same as Ash's. Togepi was the quiet type. He didn't yammer on like pikachu, instead he had a quiet collectivity about him, a silent reminder and brain of their small group—when they had decided that burning down the pound was an ultimate decision, togepi had been the only pokemon to insist it was a terrible idea.
In the end, the baby egg had been correct. Ash glanced at togepi, who was dozing off beside Ash's knee as he laid flat on his back on snorlax's stomach. He couldn't really call togepi a baby anymore. In a short few months, he would be a year old—in less than that, Ash would have been awake for little under a year. Togepi had made the most progress of them all, coming from a crying, clingy pokemon, to one that tried its hardest to always manage on its own. To be useful, helpful.
Ash thought a lot about that, usefulness. About his own short-comings, and faults. Where he improved and where he needed improvement. More aggressively though, as exhaustion pushed against his eyelids, he thought of Misty, of Cerulean City, and the gym. It wasn't the home he remembered, far from, but it was a home. He missed it.
That was a strange feeling in of itself, a earning he hadn't yet become self aware of. He missed not only Misty, but he missed the gym, the life he had there. While his time there was spent healing, and thinking about his mother, he genuinely felt comfortable, at peace with his life for the first time since waking up, now he was grasping for straws. Grasping for purpose in his life, and yet everything still revolved around his dreams.
He hadn't moved on. Not really.
A bump in the water lulled his senses once more, opening his eyes from their tired state, he sat up. Pikachu had dozed off along side togepi, and snorlax was doing what he did best—sleeping. Another bump, and Ash felt the cold water sting his drying clothes once more. He twisted once, reopening the wound that had stopped bleeding profusely since his blood congealed at the entrance so he could look over into the darkness.
He wasn't sure how far he moved, or even if they had been moving but he felt that.
Again, the hump of the water alerted his attention, and this time, both togepi and pikachu awoke to look with Ash. Pikachu perched himself up onto snorlax's chest to look into the ocean ahead, but togepi was scooped into Ash's arms so it wouldn't roll away into the water.
"Pika, pikachu!" The pokemon yelped, alerting the trainer.
In front of snorlax, he saw the water rise almost instantly, though in the darkness it looked much like a tidal wave, what he was faced with when the water separated made his head spin. Looking back at him with large, tenacious red eyes was the massive dragon of the sea, gyarados, and he felt his stomach plummet to the ground. Unlike Misty's, this one looked vicious, underfed, and violent. It's eyes were narrowed into slits, and they reflected back at him death.
Ash swallowed hard, and then reached around to thumb totodile's ball and exhale.
"Looks like we're gonna fight a gyarados guys..." He inhaled, believed right away he had no other option—and simply giving up was out of the question. "Are you ready?" Ash asked his companions, earning a youthful growl in return.
Gyarados lunged first, not allowing Ash time to think, so he would have to do so on his feet.
"Pikachu, use thundershock!" Ash snapped, dipping low onto snorlax so he wouldn't fall off. "Snorlax if you can swim, now would be the time to do so!" Ash mused, listening to snorlax return back to him that he needed to turn over. Ash tucked togepi into the fold of his arm, much to the pokemons displeasure, and hopped off of snorlax right as pikachu's bright lightning erupted in a blast of electricity that sent gyarados revolting backwards into the water. Few sparks connected with the water, but the squeal of displeasure from pikachu's own wet body reminded Ash that he was fighting in a turf that was not safe for any of his pokemon.
Once snorlax had rolled over, Ash climbed on top of the pokemon's back once more, watching as pikachu landed neatly on its head, and looked back to Ash. Its cheeks were still sparking, but he could see the damage such an attack made, and Ash knew he had limited options.
While gyarados was still collecting himself, Ash tossed out is next pokeball to release totodile into the water.
"We're just going to have to work together." Ash mused determinedly, pumping up his fists as snorlax moved his arms in attempt to swim, giving them some momentum. There was no way that snorlax had the speed to flee, but they could at least dodge if gyarados got frisky.
As they moved, the large dragon recoiled, facing Ash and his group, and then roared accordingly, stunning the pokemon and trainer. Pikachu flinched, but totodile had dove under water while Ash put his arms out.
"Pikachu, get on totodile's back!" Ash commanded while exhaling, trying to recover from the massive roar. His ears rang and he struggled to see straight.
Pikachu hopped from snorlax to totodile as Ash commanded, and instantly the crocodile pokemon lunged forward through the water, using its tails and arms to swiftly move through the waves, dividing the gyarardos' attention.
"Pikachu, get his attention by charging thunder!" but don't release it. He added thoughtfully, knowing that pikachu would know better than to release an attack so powerful while they were all wet—they got lucky with thunder shock, but thunder would decimate the group. Ash shouted, before he climbed up to the scruff of snorlax's neck, and hunched down. "Get in close, and then charge mega punch." Ash hummed to the snorlax who replied mid stroke.
"Toge, bri!" The pokemon in his arm cried, and Ash frowned.
"Next time, togepi. Metronome is to risky to use, and I don't think charms are going to be very effective." Ash mumbled thoughtlessly, glaring daggers at the dragon.
As pikachu and totodile moved south around the monster, its red eyes were drawn immediately to the spark of the yellow electric pokemon, and at that moment, his body rose high, straightening to better prepare for the impact of lightning, but also to prepare a counter attack that looked like the start of hyper beam, to Ash.
Once he was high enough, leaving the bare of his stomach exposed, Ash jumped from snorlax, letting the water splash against his back. "Now!" Ash shouted, kicking off and diving into the darkness as snorlax used his momentum to projectile violently from the water, and land a direct hit onto the distracted dragon.
With a roar of utmost terror that Ash barely heard as his body connected with the icy water in a tremendous splash, gyarados lunged backwards into the depths of the ocean. Monster splashes erupted from the water as the pokemon fell backwards simultaneous to Ash's break to the surface.
He gasped loudly, holding togepi up first before himself as totodile circled back slowly to meet with the trainer, and snorlax rested back into the water, prepared for another attack.
After a moment of silence, Ash found himself grinning and sticking out his arm.
"We did it!" Ash yelped to his small team of misfits, and the pokemon cheered in glee along side him.
However, their happiness was short lived as Ash climbed back on top of snorlax's back, once again soaked head to toe. The moment his knee made contact with the pokemon's flesh, beneath him, he felt another rumble, and he was flying through the air with such force that togepi had slipped from his arms.
"Agh!" Ash yelped, falling back into the water while the cries of pikachu sounded about him. He couldn't see for a time, the waves blinded him as he twisted to find the surface of the water. Once he reached the top, he swung out his arms to look around and what was there wasn't pretty.
Not one, but two gyarados roared at the surface of the water, and the new one had neatly wrapped its tail around snorlax after knocking the trainer off. Ash cursed mentally, and ripped through his pokeballs to return snorlax before it could be injured, and then swore to himself as totdile rushed over with pikachu, who was holding togepi in his arms.
Great, one pokemon down, and they had only managed to scuff the outer layer of the dragon's scales—what was he thinking that he won? Now he was really was a sitting duck, staring down the dragons. He could have tried to capture them to buy himself time if he hadn't lost his bag somewhere, but he was out of pokeballs, and out of time as they twisted amongst one another and made the plunge.
Really, he only had one choice.
"Pikachu, use thunder, NOW!" He cried, grabbing togepi and covering himself as totodile prepared to dip under the surface of water. The frightened pikachu hesitated for only a moment. Pikachu bound into the air, kicking off of totodile to hopefully put some distance between his friends and his attack, but he drew the same conclusion as Ash—fry everything, or be eaten.
Luckily, the attack never went off before the wonderful sound of an ice beam shot off from the right of them, followed by another, and another.
Soon enough, six or seven were fired, hitting the gyarados' in several weak spots, and knocking them down into the water. When they rose, the beams shot through the darkness once again like a beacon, and pikachu settled back down into Ash's arms, who was cradling totodile and glaring awestruck into the darkness.
A pleasant sound followed—a song, as he glanced in the distance to see the source of his protection—in the clearing, he could see several large water pokemon with huge shells on their back and his heart skipped several beats. For all he knew, it stopped working for a moment as glee and fortune spun through his chest and he threw his arms up in victory and glee.
"Thank you!" He shouted, ignoring for a moment that he had almost been eaten by a gyarados, and focused primarily on the horde of lapras' that came to his aid at his final hour.
With one final roar, the imposing, ruthless gyarados turned and left, and Ash floated beside totodile, waiting for the group to approach him. They swam gracefully, as if they hadn't just deflected and defeated a terrifying monster, and formed a circle around Ash as one in particular came forward to investigate.
It was older, much older, but the sea-turtlesque pokemon's red eyes gleamed in the darkness, reflected with a sheer might of happiness upon spying the pikachu, and trainer floating in the water.
"Lapras? The same one from Orange islands?" Ash grinned, but was answered by Lapras lowering his had for Ash to stroke the pokemon. Relief flooded into Ash's heart as he not only pet the monster, he lunged forward the best of his ability, and hugged the neck of the large pokemon.
"You have no idea how perfect that timing was! Thank you!" He shouted cheerfully, his glee being shared amongst totodile, pikachu and togepi. Totodile even did a short kick of his legs beneath the water, much like he did as a young pokemon.
"Pikapi!" The pokemon cried, jumping forward himself to sit upon lapras' head with a short embrace. Shortly after, the long neck craned downward, biting onto the scruff of Ash's shirt, and pulling him from the water and onto his gray-purple shell. Ash thumped against the dull shell, and rubbed his neck from where his shirt had pulled and stared up at lapras who did the same to togepi, whilst leaving totodile in the water.
It sung to him deeply, closing its eyes as it looked forward, and Ash was to his feet, balancing. His side ached, but he didn't care as he put his hand on top of the lapras head. The pokemon was at least Ash's height in water, he couldn't have imaged its size outside of it.
"You'll take us to land?" Ash gasped gratefully, feeling warmth form at the center of his stomach as the other water pokemon moved forward as well, beginning their slow swim through the water.
"How did you even find me?" Ash hummed into the darkness as they moved forward. The pokemon sung once more, flapping its fins below water.
As ice pokemon, they did not favor the tropical climate of the orange islands, so they pressed north past Sinnoh. Ash leaned back, resting his head against the pokemon's neck as it explained that it did not expect to find Ash, they were merely helping a trainer lost a sea.
"Does that happen often? Trainers getting lost?" Ash asked skeptically as he saw the sun rising in the distance. Pikachu and togepi had long since passed out in his arms, and totodile had been returned to his pokeball.
"No." Was the simple reply from lapras, and Ash found himself grinning, thanking his lucky stars. He had the luck of a god, or some kind of angel watching over him—if he had doubted that before, he was sure of it now.
"So which direction are we going?" Ash asked, and lapras hummed once more, reiterating their position as north east of Sinnoh. Ash closed his eyes lazily, having not slept in well over twenty four hours. The current had taken them far in the hours they drifted, but it certainly hadn't felt that way.
If they were where lapras said they were, his destination was below the Unova region; Kalos, or known in this world as France.
As the sun sparkled and they moved with a bit more vigor, he could see the gleam of the Eiffel tower in the distance, and he exhaled, thinking of sleep.
This entire ordeal, this journey, as fun as it had been—he was tired. Tired of seeing joy turned into sadness, and tired of sleeping on the ground.
Kalos was his last stop.
After that, he was going home.
"Thank you, lapras." He muttered, feeling his head bob for the last time as sleep washed over his aching body, filling his mind with new determination.
Author's Note:
So... I played a pokemon game and taught my snorlax to surf, that's where -that- idea came from. Also, a battle on the water, I couldn't resist.
A lot happened this chapter... but really, the main point I wanted to convey this chapter is that at -some point- he has to move on and it has to be his choice.
As always, thanks for leaving reviews; they're great motivation, and a lot of your theories and speculation brings a smile to my face! I hope that whatever happens doesn't disappoint anyone, but I appreciate all of the feedback. :)
NINT