Locked Away Chapter 42:
It was a long time coming: a kiss between the two of them. It wasn't quite as romantic as Misty had imagined it would be. She never imagined being kissed while staring down the possible end of her life, but it happened.
His hands clutched her upper arms, keeping her still and the sensation of being held was more terrifying than the situation they found themselves in. The kiss wasn't even good, or at least Ash didn't think so; the two of them were high on adrenaline, and their nerves were shot. When their lips touched, Ash's were a little too dry, and her face was a little too hot. He pushed too hard, she, who was awestruck, hardly pushed at all. Their lips were unevenly pressed, and their eyes refused to break contact, so they stared at each other awkwardly until the realization of what was happening reached their brains. Among the tension pulling at each of them, they eased into the moment.
Padded by the sound of their racing hearts, Ash inhaled, and finally managed a much calmer approach. His hands cupped her face while she leaned into him and their bodies fell in line, ignoring the rest of the chaos. Eagerly, their eyes closed, and her lips parted once her hands latched around his torso. The blaring alarm, and pure chaos fell into unwarranted back ground noise when they connected and his arms slipped to her waist. When she didn't pull away, he knew he did something right.
Somewhere in the distance, while their mouths moved unwarranted against one another, a team rocket member continued yelling at the two of them; but fell onto deaf ears. When their inexperienced lungs demanded air, Ash pulled away.
Even as they begrudgingly parted, he looked down at her blinking, half-shut eyes, and a grin tugged at his lips. Timidly, Misty licked her lips, and her cheeks were no doubt as flushed as his own, yet, in spite of the situation, he felt giddy—too happy to be normal.
"I thought you said no confessions in a life threatening situation?" He mocked her, lips only a breath away. A smirk pulled at the corner of her lips, and she might have replied with her own jubilee, had she been given the chance.
"I said move!" The Rocket member to left of them shouted, finally bursting the bubble that formed around them with his impenetrable yell.
Flinching, Misty sprung from Ash's arms, suddenly winded and looking at the red faced man. He watched the two of them with a heated expression then turned unpleasantly with the flick of his wrist and urged Ash and Misty forward.
Without a passing glance, or a shared word, Ash and Misty fell back into line, following the man while he locked down the area they were standing in prior. Soon enough, from the remaining hallways, the last of the Team Rocket grunts filled into the space around them as they maneuvered to the elevator that would lower them into the warehouse unit. Legs moving mindlessly, Ash swallowed against the forming lump in his throat and glanced at Misty beside him. Her face was turned away from him, focused instead on the area below, with its large cranes, and even larger tanks and military items.
Right, they were still in danger, and while it took Ash's brain a few minutes to catch up, several emotions hit him at once: he kissed Misty, doltish, Ash Ketchum made the first move. His fingers twitched, brushing subconsciously against her arm to assure himself that she was real. Secondly, she kissed him back, which meant all those awkward moments of flustered feelings wondering if she felt the same were unnecessary after all. Then finally, the crawling, knee shaking, mind numbing fear associated with their march to their uncertain destiny following that very moment.
Ash wasn't known to show fear, in fact, he more often than not caused a great deal of his ludicrous, dangerous situations; only now, he didn't feel fear just for himself; but for Misty as well. An odd, terrifying sensation that forced his feet to stop immediately. Grunts groaned as they passed him, muttering about false alarms while Ash snagged her fingers and kept the pretty raven-haired woman rooted.
"What are you doing?" She hissed low, glaring back at him with confusion in her sea-green eyes. Ash inhaled then closed his mouth slowly.
Words didn't follow, apparently, that part of his mind was still playing catch up, so when she jerked him forward after clasping his hand tightly, he let her. After all, they didn't want to appear suspicious. If they still had a chance to get out of here unnoticed, it would be with the hopes of remaining under cover as long as possible.
Still, her nonchalant reflection of the situation was frustrating! More than that, Ash was frustrated that he couldn't focus on more than her underwhelming reaction. They just kissed! That meant something, didn't it?
"Mist.." Ash started only inches away from her cheek as the burrowed into the crowded elevator, only to be silenced by a sharp 'shh!' from the former gym leader, and his shoulders wilted.
"We will talk about it when we get out of here, okay?" She mused quietly, looking ahead of herself, eyes wildly darting in all directions, taking in each item on each members belts, and how many people were in the elevator with them. At her response, Ash's relaxed when she squeezed his hand in confidence, looking through the metal grates of the elevator as it fell into a slow descent.
Around them, voices boomed about unnecessary tactics and protocol; so Ash used the blaring sound to his advantage.
"There's an open shutter just to the right of the elevator."
"I saw." Misty hummed quietly, Ash's eyebrows knit together.
Shutter or not, there was no humanly possible way to escape without appearing suspicious, and to make matters worse, they were not only surrounded by experiences hand-to-hand combatants, they were also donning weapons; some with guard sticks, others with guns, and tazers. Trained soldiers. They were far from the rookies that Jessie and James promised there would be, and so his eyes snaked over the situation once more. His mind raced; he must have been missing something. A way out of here that wouldn't land them in a morgue, or worse a Team Rocket prison some where.
From where he was standing, he could see the upper rinks of the facility, decorated with several sectors of cells and former patrol units and he wondered to himself how they were going to get out of this. With each second the elevator fell, the chance to escape grew thinner, and their time to think of a plan grew smaller.
Misty's voice found her throat again when she looked over her shoulder at Ash as they neared the bottom of the elevator. It wouldn't take them long to root out the infiltrators. Ash and Misty, while trained to look the part, knew next to nothing about the facility or about Team Rocket procedure. Now that they knew the facility wasn't what they prepared for, they knew even less than they should have.
"Hold onto me." Misty whispered bravely into Ash's ear, earning a concerned glance as her hand wrapped around her back, and clasped a pokeball. Her breath stilled as she inhaled, and her focus fell on the man at the front of the elevator, just before them who was dressed in medals and cords. Unlike Jessie and James, these members of Team Rocket were lethal, and prepared; so what ever plan they had, it needed to be fast, and shocking.
Like Ash, she observed her surroundings a million times, skipping over Ash, who made her head fuzzy, and glared into the open shutter. She had no clue as to what waited for them on the other side, but right now, she couldn't care. Anywhere else would be better than being shot at by a hundred troops.
With silent reservation, Misty closed her eyes and inhaled sharply.
"Hey—these grunts have pokemo-" A grunt behind them started, but was quickly, and rapidly silenced when the elevator doors opened, providing Misty and Ash with the exact moment to spring forward following the appearance of a suddenly enraged gyarados, who snapped the rest of the cables and metal frame from inside.
The duo landed on top of the leader with a loud thud, digging their knees into his back by accident and scrambling back to their feet while gyarados thrashed through the metal wiring, and crushed and mangled what ever was left inside. Ash watched in discrete horror; mouth ajar and face pale while Misty yanked him up, and then away from the sudden panic that erupted into the room. What was noisy, playful banter moments ago, was now an all out war as members drew their guns to rectify the situation by ending the monstrous pokemon with flying bullets. Though, the very moment the first bullet landed, then fell to the ground, leaving only a dent in the pseudo-dragon's scales, Misty shoved Ash toward the shutter and watched as gyarados let out a terrifying roar, followed by an intense fire.
"What in the h-!" Ash started watching the mayhem unfold, though he was answered with a kick to the shin to roll beneath the shutter that was followed quickly by Misty, who poked out her arm before anymore shots were fired in the midst of the situation and called to the frantically confused gyarados.
"Return!" She shouted, pulling the pokemon back into the safety of its pokeball only seconds before the real arsenal rained down on him. A few bullets here and there the pokemon could handle, but if they hit his stomach rather than his scales; it was as fatal as any normal gunshot.
All eyes fell on Misty who was still ducked below the shutter in the darkness of the next room when Ash sprung to his feet. Where he wasn't used to Misty acting dangerously, his natural survival instincts kicked in, and he jumped for the switch and forced the shutter closed. Banging, followed by heavy ringing and pitched noises followed immediately after—the sound of bullets hitting, then reflecting off the metal shutter.
Quietly, Ash looked at Misty who exhaled, placed her head on the metal floor and stared up at Ash, who used the silent opportunity to rip the wires out of the panel to give them a few more minutes; hopefully.
His heart was racing when he watched her: what did he just witness? Gyarados didn't just injure those people, he... "Misty what were you thinking?"
"Survival?" She breathed, taking a moment to cover her face with her hands. She didn't have time for a plan, and she was not going to risk standing in a line, being questioned. They wouldn't last—and what she said at the first step of entering this facility stood true. They would shoot on sight.
"Okay," Ash pressed his lips together, observing the dark warehouse. Like the old facility, it was adorned with heavy, large crates, and his noise scrunched up, emphasizing: "But what were you thinking?"
"I was thinking about what the easiest way to get out of there was—we were going to get caught regardless, it's better if we have to upper hand for a little while.
"But now they know what we look like, we couldn't have tried a stealthy escape?"
"This coming from you? You're the master of destruction!" She exclaimed, throwing her hand up to gesture at him while she curled up to her knees to catch her breath. Ash pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at her baffling, alarming accusation and rolled his eyes. It was true, only, he never imagined Misty would take a page out of Ash's destruction booklet.
"Let's get out of here." She said as a loud boom echoed from the other side of the shutters. In disbelief, Misty scoffed and held her head back with her hands.
"Man, we weren't even in here five minutes before being discovered!" Misty expressed with a heavy sigh. Ash pulled her to her feet while brushing off her shoulder; discreetly checking for injury.
"Well...it's been longer than that, technically.." He mumbled, flinching at a rather piercing shot against the metal door.
"No, Ash, we were literally caught five minutes in here; from that duo—remember? We were set up to fail. There is no way this is a training ground for rookies—it's more like..." While she spoke, Ash's head turned from her to the area past them, where the distant sound of wailing caught his firm attention.
Her eyes followed Ash's who fell onto the massive crates in the room, situated like large prison cells for even larger pokemon. Most of them looked fearful, and war ridden: tired. Ash's mouth opened, watching each expression on the silent dragons' faces, and then he started in. The best way to avoid team rocket members with guns? Surround Misty and himself with dragons... his eyes narrowed while stepping beyond a lip on the ground and tugging Misty with him.
"...Maybe we were supposed to fail?" Ash suggested darting forward having forgotten their predicament in the moment.
"Ash, where are you going?" Misty yelped, following after him; "And what does that mean: we were supposed to fail?"
"I don't know!" Ash snapped, curving around a large crate where the contents behind steel frames peered down at him from ten feet above. "I just don't think Jessie and James would intentionally want to harm us."
"They're bad people!" Misty shrieked quietly, "Why wouldn't they want to harm us?"
"Misty!" Ash bellowed accidentally, turning around to face her in the darkness. His mouth opened, then closed, and then he grabbed her shoulders and squeezed. "They were with me from the beginning. While they were always there, they never succeeded, and when they did they helped me out in the end. They can't be bad people."
"But that was just in your-" Ash cut in without hesitation, eyes on fire.
"You're the one who said my dreams have been accurate. Do you really think I'm wrong now?" the question poised in the air, dangling in front of her while her eyes shifted from him to the sealed pokemon around them. His voice echoed a fair distance, and she finally huffed.
"...No." She muttered quietly urging him to be quiet as well, it was just easier to blame someone. "But that doesn't give them an excuse not to tell us what was really here—if they weren't intentionally trying to screw us over."
Ash grinned at her edged response and turned from her once more, following a feeling. "No, it doesn't. But we need to focus on other things..." With that, he took her hand and lead her forward through a series of closely knit metal boxes.
The wailing of the dragons was only the beginning, however; soon, the sound of a loud creaking formed, and the pit at the center of Misty's stomach grew. They had no idea where the exit was, and Ash was leading them through a maze of pokemon!
"Where are we going?" She finally whispered while Ash squeezed her hand, then turned abruptly with squared shoulders.
"...here." Ash stopped, looking up at a large crate that practically called to him.
"What's...here?" Misty paused, looking up at the monster inside of the crate. Four sizes larger than Ash, a tearful giant with milky white and lavender skin cried behind the metal bars of the the cage it was in. Staring up at the creature, Ash's mouth fell ajar in surprise, and his brown eyes filled with bittersweet joy.
"...Goodra?" Ash called to the pokemon, earning an exasperated look from Misty. He knew pokemon even here! More than that, they seemed to call from him from the abyss of darkness, and Ash heard them.
"It's me, do you remember?" He questioned, though the dragon's defeated expression only darkened, and it exhaled bitterly. As could hardly believe his eyes. Goodra, here; they must have taken him with the other dragon pokemon.
Tiredly, the monster sniveled while turning large, lime eyes down at Ash through the bars, and hung its head. Its claws were ripped from its paws, tucked bitterly into its sides. The long horns which at one time stood proudly were lowered, and most, if not all of its tail was trimmed down to prevent external damages to those who had control of it. Ash's hands shook as he raced to the metal bars, touching one only for his hand to fly off from static electricity.
"What did they do to you?" His voice cracked while he whined, trying to touch the bars once more, only to have his hand reefed back by Misty.
"Ash, is this one of your pokemon?"
"Yes! From Kalos." Ash explained. "I couldn't find any of my—They were—we need to get her out!" Ash bellowed, taking a few steps back in determination. The dragon didn't answer to Ash's call; it only sniveled more, its slim shoulders rising, then falling with each weep.
Though, the very moment he took his stance to smash the crate, behind them, the shutters swung open.
Misty inhaled, her voice sharp, her lungs tightening. "Ash." She called to him, but his mind was already made up—he removed snorlax's ball from his belt, and threw it forward, creating a light that indicated exactly where they were.
"We don't have-"
"I'll make time!" Ash shouted and threw up his hand. "Snorlax, use mega punch on that lock!"
The large pokemon, while shy in comparison to the dragons around him, lunged forward at the massive crate, following Ash's orders, and slammed a glowing fist into the lock. Sparks flew, and its fist bounced off. The first blow did nothing, and while the ascending footsteps approached them; Misty weighed her options. Gyarados was only bullet-proof so long as his stomach wasn't targeted. She and Ash were sitting ducks; and they were stationary. Sure, she couldn't blame Ash for wanting to save his pokemon—she would, too, but if it was that easy to break a dragon out of its masterfully created cages, they would have done so ages ago, wouldn't they? Misty's shoulders dropped, and she latched onto Ash's arm.
"Ash, these pokemon probably aren't stable. They look like they've been tortured for-"
"Again!" Ash shouted interrupting her—he knew that. Which was only more of a reason to get them out of here! How could he live with himself knowing he left goodra in the hands of Team Rocket; in fact, how could he leave any of these pokemon here?! They hadn't done anything wrong.
There they are! Echoed from across the room and Misty's guts hit the floor while she spun around, thumbing gyarados' pokeball while snorlax landed another painlessly fruitless punch to the lock. Around them, as members of team rocket filled the room and the once peaceful silence and moans was heavily disrupted by the cries of pokemon; the dragons began to thrash in their cages, one at a time.
All except for goodra.
"C'mon buddy!" Ash yelled, watching as snorlax wailed against the crate. "Don't just give up!" He cried to the pokemon, though by the time he spoke, it was already too late.
"Hands up!" one of the members called to the duo, forcing snorlax to freeze alongside Ash and Misty.
"That was a lot faster than I thought they would..." Ash mumbled below his breath, but as Misty's hand rose, before the gun could cock, she dropped gyarados' pokeball, and once more, the pseudo dragon shot forward from its pokeball like a breath of white lightning, and the shock wave threw the three of them back, including snorlax who hit the cage and was fully electrified by the static field protecting goodra.
"That trick won't work twice!" The grunt screamed clamoring back to his feet in preparation to take them out. Before the gun rose, gyarados' natural battle cry was suddenly rivaled by the screech and hum of several hundred dragons in the room. Ash covered his ears, but they were ringing, and his head split down the center in pain. Before the ringing stopped, in the cage beside the two of them, where a defeated goodra once sat, bile, a clear secretion foamed from the dragon's leathery skin that leaked down into the cages, onto the floor and burned through the metal, followed by the ground itself.
Steam rolled from the cage, and while Ash could barely hear; the vibrations in his body threw him forward to grab Misty.
"Call back gyarados!" Ash screamed while returning the electrified snorlax, though Misty missed the chance because when she dropped gyarados's ball, it was a few feet away from her, and they were still technically being held at gun point! The option to grab the ball didn't arrive and unfortunately, she didn't move fast enough.
From behind the caged dragon's cell, a mixture of red and white blasted from goodra's mouth; ripping through the cage like a knife through butter, the very fabric of the cell corroded from the toxic dragon's breath. From the ground below, with the sudden rage increase along side his fellow dragons; the lime-green eyes turned blood-red as a tremendous, deafening roar silenced and stilled the grunts on their way to apprehend Ash and Misty.
Around them, goodra's clear secretion burned acidic holes into the fabric of their clothes, through the metal ground, and most importantly, weakened the cages of the dragons around them.
"Oh-oh god!" The Team Rocket member screamed the fluid from below the cage hitting his arm. Whereas during the excitement he didn't notice, the sudden burning sensation was immense, and he panicked, flinging off his gloves and shirt to protect his skin. Ash felt the same burning sensation decorate his own flesh, and he tore his sleeve off completely, followed by his right glove where he was splashed within proximity. Misty, who was right beside him and clearly under the same effect didn't care; what she did care about was the attack that landed against gyarados' back scales and her fingers dug into the metal ground.
"Gyarados use hydropump!" She screamed, watching as the injured, burning pokemon shrieked then with one pained turret, shot a weak hydro pump that nullified the acid around them, and the splash back cleared their skin while also knocking Ash and Misty back into the Team Rocket grunt.
Seeing gyarados' attack as a challenge, an awakened goodra screeched and ripped open its cage while Misty crawled forward to grab the pokeball that washed beside them. Above them, the two large creatures were about to attack; gyarados' back still smoked from the dragon's breath, and so when Misty recalled him, the grunt beside them stammered.
"What—what did you do?" he screeched, returning Ash's attention to the man. He was short, dressed in military fatigues; but still a Team Rocket member. When Ash punched him and then grabbed Misty; he felt a little guilty.
With gyarados gone, goodra's attention was split, and it let out another dragon's breath, spraying its hatred through the top of the room; desecrating the remaining cages.
"We need to get out of here!" Misty screamed to Ash, who violently shook his head.
"I can't leave without goodra!" He shouted, shaking his sore hand. "She needs help!"
As the words left his mouth, angry, betrayed, red eyes faced Ash and Misty. Goodra watched them with hateful, dark eyes, full of anger. Unlike charizard, there was no hope, no light in the pokemon's eyes. No reason. Just darkness, followed by a terrifying growl.
Ash's shoulders slumped at goodra's reaction, temporarily folding his need to escape by utter defeat and desperation. What was wrong? Why wouldn't it let Ash help her? It was not only left alone, it was tortured and kept in a cage—what did they.. Ash felt sick, but luckily, Misty was beside him to reel him back into reality by grabbing his arm and jerking him away from the creature before it lunged forward. Crushing the space where they once stood.
"Goodra, it's me!" Ash bellowed. "Don't you recognize me?!" he whined, but his questions were only met with a longer hiss, a louder cry, and it lunged at them once more.
For once, if bullets didn't whiz past them, they could have been dead. Misty's heart stopped and her feet rooted to the ground when she watched the terrifying dragon fall to the ground following a loud crack from above. At first, she was convinced she was dead; goodra was only a foot away from crushing them when Team Rocket shot through its scalp. Misty couldn't hear their commands anymore; the warehouse echoed with battle cries of the contained, possibly burned dragons, and her ears were permanently ringing.
"No!" Ash's voice broke her sudden shock and her breath caught back up with her while she looked at the limp body of the dragon.
"What did you do!?" Ash screamed, turning angrily at the soldiers, there were dozens of them; worst of all, they hadn't put their weapons down yet.
Instinctively, Ash wanted to throw out a pokemon; protect his friends and Misty—but with that arsenal, he would only be killing his pokemon. Misty reflected the sentiments—her greatest ally already injured twice in a great escape—their only option was to pray they could run faster than a bullet.
In the stillness of the moment, sweat rolled down the back of Ash's neck, down his back; Misty's pulse in his right hand suddenly felt too fast, too heavy to carry, and he wondered how exactly they got into this mess after all.
They say the moment before someone dies, their life is supposed to flash before their eyes; but Ash could only see and hear the gun cock backwards, the shell of the bullet that shot goodra hit the floor, and the sudden urge to throw himself and Misty out of danger. Yet, his feet wouldn't move; his heart barely beat, and in seconds, it wouldn't matter.
Calmly, he swallowed, thinking of any solution to get out of here; but was faced with nothing but acceptance.
This was it.
XOX
From the complex resting at the edge of Unova, the lights were blinding. Brock couldn't have missed them if he was submerged hundreds of feet under water. The turning red beams, the bright, yellow spot lights, and of course the arming balistas sitting at the coast, prepared to attack anyone and anything approaching. At the start of it, when the blaring alarms echoed from the seashore to the oceans where they drifted haplessly, Brock wasn't sure what to do. Or think. Ash and Misty were both inside of that facility, still, and here he was, unable to help them.
"Pika pi! Pikachu!" The mouse tried urging Brock from his stupor, shaking his arm violently along side togepi who flailed his small arms out to the ocean and hoped upside down.
Do something, do something! Brock didn't have to understand them to know what they wanted. Unfortunately, they were helpless. The moment they neared that island, the same balistas that shot Ash out of the sky would sink their boat in seconds; then they would be worse off than they were already!
Gritting his teeth, Brock turned to face the trio who stood in relative silence behind him.
"We have to do something!" Brock cried, throwing his arms up.
"Don't worry. If they stick to the plan, they should be okay." Jessie managed weakly looking at the island, away from Brock.
"Okay!? The entire island is lit up like a fire; how are they supposed to get out of there undetected!?" Brock whined, while pikachu sprung from his arms, fighting with meowth who dodged the mouse by stepping around James legs.
It took Brock a minute, but while he watched the trio, their underwhelming reaction, lack of shock, their justifiable response that it would be okay even though they knew how horrible a situation like this would turn. Jessie refused to look at Brock, meowth wouldn't speak even though he was usually constantly mewling; James was the break Brock needed. His expression was calculated at first, then worried, then buried under a gusto memorabilia; unsure of himself, he looked to Jessie who looked onward confidently, and then finally gulped and stared back down at his feet.
Something was off, their reactions were all wrong. A light popped on in Brock's head. It made sense, after all. How prepared they were, with uniforms, and scuba sets; they were probably preparing for this for months...
"Wait a second..." Brock paused, taking a full step back, then away from the trio as realization washed over his face. "They...weren't..." as the stumbling words fell from his lips, a sympathetic Jessie finally looked at Brock with a scowl, and James looked shamefully to his feet.
"Meoowth-" The pokemon at their feet started, but rage boiled deep down into Brock's chest, and he lunged forward, grabbing at James collar.
"You planned this, didn't you!?" Brock screamed into his face. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you! This was a trap!"
"Now wait a minut-" James attempted with a stutter, raising his arms to grab Brock's large hands. On most occasions, Brock was calm, the most collected of the three of his friends, and valued patience and respect over reaction and anger; however, his blood boiled when he violently shook James like a rag doll and bellowed.
"Their lives are in danger!"
"We gave them everything they need to survive." Jessie mused, glaring at Brock and forcing his hands away from James' collar with surprising strength. "Besides, you wouldn't have gone if we suggested sabotage."
"So the plan was to have them get caught from the very beginning!? They could die!" Brock screamed, reaching instinctively for his pokemon at his belt while togepi and pikachu jumped to his feet; propped in front. Togepi's eyes were dark, void trespasses into the anger buried deep into its core; but it was pikachu whose fur rose in all directions, cheeks sparked with terrifying electrical current, and eyes narrowed dangerously. The rodents small, sharp nails dug into the metal deck of the boat while Jessie, James and meowth took one step backwards, with their hands up.
"Pika!" The mouse screamed, listening to the alarm sound off once more.
"We had a reason!" James broke, looking to each pokemon and at Brock.
Luckily, he was the most reasonable, as well. Had Misty or Ash been there to decide, an all out battle would have already sufficed. Of course, if they were here, they wouldn't be in this situation; and the realization only made the gym leader angrier, yet, he paused.
"Well?" Brock's ton was edgy: if he didn't like the answer; he would end them by any means possible.
"We did it because Giovanni won't make a move until he's forced to. Right now he's off at some unknown prison, untouchable; when he finds out his precious facility has fallen under attack by none other than Ash, he will come out of hiding and we can beat him at his own game!" James urged, getting a sharp nudge from Jessie to remain quiet.
James shook his head, negating her wishes. Now wasn't the time to keep secrets.
"Why would you lie about that?" Brock questioned, glaring at James who nodded willingly, and took an inching step closer, arms out in defense.
"We were a pawn before." He urged, voice cracking. "That's why we had to do this. If Jessie and I went in there, Giovanni would have known what we were up to; but if Ash did it, than it's different."
Brock's nose scrunched up, and he shook his head aggressively. "What's so different?"
Seeing Brock's willingness to listen, Jessie butt in. "We already told you, after we left the organization, that twerp was supposed to be Giovanni's back up plan—only, things haven't been going the way he's wanted them to. The heist placed on the league was his most recent attempt; that's way they're chasing you. He wants the rest of the legendaries and that twerp knows where to find them; he's more easily malleable than us-" She paused, glanced at James, then slowly smacked her lips. "Well, as we said; he'll be forced to make a move now."
The urge to call them out on their stupidity stung him in his chest; he hunched forward, pinched the bridge of his nose and threw his arms up. The rest of the legendaries. Meaning they already had some.
"You're going to tell me that there are living, breathing legendaries inside that facility with them?" Brock asked, earning a nod from the three of them. Togepi and pikachu relaxed at Brock's feet, still glaring at the trio before them.
Brock turned away from them, stared up at the glaring facility. From all angles, the facility was alive, a glowing scar in the middle of an endless darkness, calling out them as a frustrated reminder that his friends were in danger; regardless of the reason.
"You were never stuck on route twenty-five, were you?" Brock questioned, turning at them with a terrifying glare.
"No." James said cordially, inhaling bravely. "We've been trying to track down which legendary pokemon he has captured already thanks to us...and..." James stammered, then after releasing the breath he was holding, regained his confidence. "We made a quick decision; it was only a matter of time before he was able to gain control of the three of you. We did what we needed to do."
"You could have told us the truth!" Brock yelled, throwing his arms up in frustration, demanding the harrowing silence that followed. The ocean's waves lapped against the boats, filling the night air with nothing more than the reminder of their failures.
"...we didn't..." James started, choking back his words, though meowth and Jessie had both cocked their heads to one side. "We're sorry." James urged.
"We did what we thought we had to do, and if we told you what was really there...then."
"They wouldn't have gone!?" Brock barked. "You don't know that! We want to save the world, too, you know!" He added spitefully.
Discontentment was written across James' face, as well as an overwhelming urgency of guilt plastered in his green eyes; Jessie wouldn't show it, but her shoulders slumped tiredly, and mewoth's tail tucked tightly around his body.
Infiltration, thievery, lying. These were the principles that Team Rocket raised; they were the only ones Jessie and James knew. Of course they didn't trust them; they did what they thought would get the results they wanted. Tiredly, Brock inhaled, and pointed up at the top of the ship. For now details didn't matter; the situation could be handled later.
"If there is any ounce of decency left in you; you're going to help me save my friends." Brock barked at them, earning a determined nod from James, who bound after Brock as they climbed the stairs to the wheel of the boat.
"There's another blind spot just east of here; if we can get close enough perhaps we can take out one of those balistas." James said while following closely behind Brock; while he rose up the stairs an eager pikachu jumped up onto his shoulders while Brock handled togepi.
"Pika." The mouse warned James while the lavender haired man spared a glance back to meowth at Jessie.
"I know."
"What kind of place is this really?" Brock asked, storming into the captains quarters to set new coordinates. It obviously wasn't just a new place for recruits. That idea seemed too good to be true, after all.
James swallowed against a lump in his throat and exhaled. "A prison."
XOX
Ash squeezed Misty's hand, not surprised to feel the circulation in his fingers had already been cut off by her firm grip when he winced; waiting to die.
Only, the bullets never came, and as fate would have him, he slowly peeled open one eye to see the leader of the platoon speaking into microphone, verifying information; and then raising the gun once more—only not at him.
"Wait!" Ash started, but is voice was cut off by a terrifying yowl to the left of him, followed by earth vibrating motions that forced Ash and Misty to their knees. Their entire bodies shook when goodra leaped forward from where he was collapsed previously, bleeding from the scalp, and ripping into the members that stood above Ash and Misty. Hey should have figured a single shot wasn't enough to take out a dragon pokemon.
While the duo recovered from the first shock wave, they didn't see the carnage—didn't want to. The smell of iron fitted their noies and Misty felt sick, holding her stomach while Ash grabbed her and yanked her to her feet.
"Now we run." urged Ash, pushing her forward, but her brain was still catching up with her feet; her body was in shock, and so was his. They stumbled through the section of crates, listening to the cries of Team Rocket soldiers behind them, to the deafening sound of bullets whizzing through the air, and pressed forward; gaining confidence with each step.
Ash never thought his stomach could churn so much, his heart could twist in so many ways until he listened to the sound behind him. He grabbed Misty for support, and for direction; unfortunately, they couldn't see anything, and thanks to their escapade, they had a very angry and violent dragon released, causing mayhem.
"I can't leave her, Misty." Ash muttered under his breath, though his confidence in his words simply wasn't there. Staring into goodra's eyes was like staring into the abyss. It was terrifying. Misty shook her head determinedly.
"Not right now." she demanded. "Not for awhile." She added again, pulling him behind her.
Shambling like drunkards in the middle of the night, they thought they finally caught a break when they saw a door at the end of the warehouse, decorated by a small light. Finally, they could leave the roaring dragons, blaring alarms, and complete and utter chaos where it belonged: behind them.
"Mist..." Ash tried to argue, thinking of goodra. Maybe he could help her? She just lost her way is all. Pokemon do that sometimes...
The universe loved to prove Ash wrong, this was his thoughts when goodra landed in a heap of heavy limbs in front of them, cutting off direct access to the exit. It might have been crazed, but at least it had a connection to Ash. Just not the right one. It's skin was covered in rustic browns, its secreting fluid deepened to a dark yellow and it snarled with large jowls.
Naturally, Ash tugged Misty backwards since she was leading, and stood his ground. Battling it was out of the question; there wasn't enough room; they didn't have the time that platoon was only one group, there was bound to be more. Ash swallowed hard, prepared to make a speech anything to reach into the pokemon's darkness and rescue her, but before words left his mouth; it shrieked and lunged at the both of them once more.
"Why is it so pissed off!?" Misty screamed, shoving Ash to the ground to avoid the first attack. It smashed through a set of bars upon landing, cracking a portion of the floor when it turned back at them.
Instincts leading, Misty grabbed Ash and ran for the door at the end of the hall while he tossed a mindless glance over his shoulder. They wouldn't make it to the door, so using the leverage of their heavy steps, he jerked Misty right, and tumbled backwards onto the floor while the insane dragon stomped and yelled angrily. Unlike normal pokemon; he couldn't understand anything goodra was saying; it was like some kind of terrifying white noise, masked by absolute pain and it ripped at Ash's stomach.
"Stop!" Ash finally yelled, rolling over to sit beside Misty and face the approaching pokemon—to think his own pokemon would be more trouble than team rocket was horrifying, more so because Team Rocket were the ones that did this to her.
From one of the nearby cages, another dragon erupted a fire blast, separating Ash and Misty from goodra with dancing flames. From the darkness, a smaller dragon jumped from a ruptured cage in the darkness and stood at Ash's feet proudly.
His head was still spinning from the ringing in his ears and the noise; but he focused just long enough to see a lumbering, angry garchomp standing bravely before the psuedo-legendary.
"...Gible?" Ash voiced, though it didn't carry loud enough for the dragon to hear. Misty yanked him to his feet, stumbling to her own while grasping at his arm to draw him near the door for escape. His head hurt, his vision was cloudy, but he saw the shark-like dragon's jaw unhinge to face goodra and Ash felt sick to his stomach.
They had both of his pokemon here.
"Gible! Come with me!" He whined while Misty thoughtfully pulled him forward, away from the attack and terror. Above them, at the balcony of the shutter entrance, Team Rocket silenced the alarms and frantically tried to reestablish control of the situation while shutters went up, and the evolution of gible wrangled goodra to the floor when it leaped at him.
While Ash paused, the Sinnoh pokemon whined, glowering at Ash with positive, grateful, and thoughtful eyes, leaving Ash with a nod before the real battle started. Get out, run away. It urged Ash through a glance, and he would have shook his head, refused to leave the two of them there if Misty hadn't man-handled him into the door.
"You're not good to either of them dead!" Misty screamed, throwing Ash inside of the small, square room.
An elevator.
Before the doors shut, Ash saw garchomp fire off one last blast, forcing open several other containers and he swallowed nervously. Misty slammed the only button available while Ash leaned against the back wall, pressing his hands onto his chest to contain his excitement. An unearthed silence filtered between the two of them while his heart raced and his breath fell out in raged lapse. He had no idea how much his hands were shaking until now and his entire body felt wrong. The ringing in his ears subsided very little while the elevator moved downward.
"Are you alright?" Misty finally managed through a cracked, shaking voice while placing a strong hand on his bare arm. No acid had touched his skin at the time, but he still managed to nod, collecting his disorganized thoughts.
"Yeah..." he offered, swallowing against the lump in his throat. "Are you..?" He breathed looking at her torn uniform. Gyarados' spray of water diluted the concentrated acid, but not before it sunk into her sleeve and shirt. Ash's face scrunched up uncomfortably upon realization and she huffed.
"Yes. I'm fine." She assured him, gently slapping his hand away from her arm so he wouldn't touch the sore tissue. "I'll be better once I can get gyarados to a pokemon center and we get out of this place." She complained, sounding more like herself.
Ash smiled weakly at her, trying to wrap his head around what they saw while the single unit elevator craned on.
"What was that place?" his voice was weak, and his eyes were nearly defeated when he looked into her exhausted green ones. Why dragon pokemon made sense; unlike normal pokemon, they grew stronger with age; and army of dragons would be nearly impossible to stop.
"...Some kind of facility or prison for pokemon? The missiles are probably if they get out of hand... like now... Did you see how many-" Misty looked up as the sound of the running elevator came to a boiling stop, and the red emergency light flicked on. Ash groaned outwardly, his first physical reaction to the terrible situations they were placed under, and Misty swallowed hard.
"That wasn't the power, was it?" She questioned, and Ash sighed. Of course it was the power, he wanted to tell her; but her voice was shrouded in disbelief; she didn't want an actual answer.
"What are we going to do now?" She pressed her hands together worriedly, though Ash had no immediate answer for her while he looked around his surroundings.
They were in the middle of no where in an elevator that they had no idea where it was going, and now it wasn't working. The only thing left was for Team Rocket to snap the cables and they would fall to a very sudden and tragic death!
She didn't voice any of these concerns because she didn't have to. Ash pointed up.
"The elevator shaft. We can just...climb the rest of the way, or something." Ash mumbled worriedly while she groaned.
"Of all the places..." She hummed, watching Ash squat down to give her a boost like he had in the tunnel.
She came to him automatically, placing her boot in his hands, her knee on his shoulder and pushed her arms up to remove the grate. Whereas before when the sudden closeness of her body pressed against his flesh sent flutters of butterfree into his stomach; now he had zubats, and a bunch of them. The situation kept getting worse. Not only were they being chased by Team Rocket, but he managed to not only release all the dragon pokemon, but now the power was out. If nothing, it served as a great distraction; but how many bad scenarios were there supposed to be for one good scenario?
"When we get out of here, I suggest a vacation to some tropical island far, far, far away." Misty whined finally getting a crack from Ash, who grinned in response to her criticism. She punched out the grate at the top of the elevator, and then grabbed the sides before hoisting herself up with Ash's help.
"You and me both." He chuckled, watching her while she pulled herself through the hole, and sat at the top of the metal elevator.
Immediately, Misty laid with her belly against the metallic rungs of the roof and extended her reach to Ash. He grabbed a hold of her wrists, to where she tried her best to pull him up, but the angle was wrong, and she didn't have the upper body strength to wrangle the aged Ash to the top.
"I miss when you were small; and frail...and...ten." She groaned, dropping him.
"Sorry, I'll keep that in mind if I almost die again any time soon." He joked, though his lips pursed in frustration while she disappeared from sight.
When she returned she was only wearing the midriff top, having removed the gray, long sleeved under shirt, and gestured for Ash's.
"Give me your over shirt." She demanded with grabby hands. He flinched away from her, awkwardly rolled his eyes, then peeled off his black over shirt, leaving him in a gray tank top that was beneath his uniform. He handed the black top up to Misty who tied the two of them together, and then knotted it around the elevator cables.
"Smart." he complimented awkwardly while grabbing the the fabric and pulling himself up the distance that Misty couldn't before. Once his hands reached the top of the roof; he pulled himself forward and exhaled, leaving his feet dangling inside the elevator. He tried not to look at her; and luckily, his good Samaritan senses over-took his hormones, and he saw the burns on her arm long before her revealing abdomen.
"Thanks; Brock said you did something along the lines at the party." She sighed, untying her shirt so she could throw it back over herself. Ash didn't bother with his, it was already ruined, however, thinking it may be of use again later, he stuffed the torn fabric into his back pocket and smiled at Misty. If she wouldn't mention the burns, he wasn't going to.
"And you said I wouldn't rub off on you." Ash chuckled, wiping his nose while she shook her head stoically and struggled to her feet. Every muscle in her body ached.
Still the silence above was worrisome. They stood for awhile, gathering their thoughts in an attempt to find a solution. They thought that if Team Rocket was the culprit of the power outage, then they would have already snapped the cables; since such an event didn't occur—the only other option was that the dragons were making more confusion than Ash and Misty could have imagined: Maybe, their escape would work out for them in the end.
"Wherever this elevator leads; it has to be down." Misty pointed below them, and Ash blinked and titled his head.
"But how are we going to get down?" He questioned while watching her stand. She helped him to his feet, then eagerly trudged to the metal slits of the wall and wedged herself and Ash against them.
"We'll cut the cable, then climb the rest of the way down."
Ash blinked once, then twice and finally tilted his head. "What if there's nothing down there?"
"Then we have to climb up anyways, so we might as well..." Misty drew a pokeball out of her belt, but Ash raised his hand.
"I got it." Ash said while clicking a button. Red light engulfed the shaft, and standing before him was monferno, holding his fists up in preparation.
"Hey." Ash greeted. In return, monferno looked around him, then at Ash and Misty whose appearances screamed they both had seen better days, and it exhaled. The mission must have gone all wrong! The pokemon was about to make a case when Ash put his hands up.
"It's okay. We just need you to burn up this cable here; can you do that?" Ash asked, pointing to one of the two cables. Without complaint, monferno nodded to Ash, then while the duo stepped back to watch the ape blast the cable with a concentrated fire; Ash exhaled.
"So we're going deeper underground. What if there's not a way out down there?" Ash questioned while Misty exhaled.
"Then we will find one." She urged digging her nails into the metal walls in preparation. Once the cable snapped, it wouldn't take long for the elevator to fall. Ash eyed her suspiciously.
"You're oddly optimistic." He accused her, eyebrows raised while she glared back at him and smacked her lips.
"Is that a problem?" She questioned with an odd blush covering her cheeks and Ash smiled at her gleefully. He might have even pressed the issue had the creaking elevator not fallen abruptly. Monferno was quick to jump from the platform, latching onto the shaft walls and gleamed proudly up at Ash, who would have clapped if he wasn't holding on tightly.
"You'll just have to stay out of your ball until we get down there, 'kay, buddy?" Ash spoke while twisting a few unsteady steps. The elevator definitely landed, but it was still far enough down that they couldn't see.
Making himself useful, monferno squeaked at his companions, then darted down with athletic, inhuman skill to the bottom of the shaft where his flame grew brighter, illuminating the path for Ash and Misty.
"Thank you!" Misty called down to the pokemon happily, releasing a pleasant sigh while they climbed down much easier with light than they would have in the dark.
Thankfully both trainers were active in most cases of the word; otherwise, they both would have been stuck. Holding onto elevator shaft walls wasn't their idea of fun, but they completed the task without complaint, and found their way to the rubble at the bottom. Ash landed first, dusting his sore hands against his pants, before assisting Misty with her landing—not that she needed it, but touching her was reassuring.
Pointing at the closed doors, monferno jumped onto the scaffolding of the vertical tunnel, and squawked at the two of them.
"We should be able to pry it open between the two of us, right?" Misty questioned while stepping over a few metal pieces. Ash followed her movements.
"If not, we have greninja, poliwrath and monferno who can help, right?" Ash grinned up at the ape who shot him a classy thumbs up while Misty took point at the right of the door, and Ash took the left side.
"On three." Misty inhaled, tucking her fingers into the door. Ash nodded.
One. Her sore muscles craned around the door; pulling on it with her strength. Two Ash held his breath and while monferno jumped below, between their feet to help both sides; Misty breathed.
"Three!" She shouted, pulling on the doors hard enough that a crack formed.
"One more time!" Ash hissed, and they repeated the process until eventually, a crack wide enough for them to slip through one at a time was created. Monferno slipped between the doors first, scouting the exit out before Misty and Ash ducked into the room.
Even in the darkness thanks to the power outage, the white; perfectly pristine walls were still maintained and recognizable. While the upper floor was a gritty, metal cage and warehouse—steel, gray hallways and walls, cages and crates—This are was pure, untouched.
"...What is this place.." Misty muttered, pointing at the large capsules lining the walls. Ash's face scrunched up while monferno's tail light increased, bringing light to the otherwise dark room.
The room was expansive and enormous. From where they stood, they could see they were on the ground level of something very large, and up above behind large windows. She could see the observation deck. The other half of the facility—she assumed. Luckily, most areas were likely still abandoned, which finally gave them some time to find a way out.
"Look," Misty pointed to an exit sign. The glowing red light across the floor was out because of the power outage, but she would take it. "There's a door. That might take us to some underground passage." She urged, tagging Ash's hand; but he stalled under some form of nostalgia.
"Do you feel that?"
"Feel what?" Misty asked, her heart elating. "because if you're referring to the soul crushing fear; then yes, I feel that." She joked in spite of their situation; but Ash put on the brakes, his chest tightening.
"No...I mean..." Ash released her hand, staring up at one of the massive capsules—whatever was inside them was hidden behind metal frames; no cracks, no way to breath—it was a clean, professional capture; unlike the dragons.
"Eek." The ape at his side pointed to a plaque at the bottom of the capsule and Ash approached it, much to Misty's disagreement. While Ash was otherwise distracted, she could still hear the excitement of the warehouse pounding above their heads. It was faint, and weak, but their roars were still terrifying, and she wanted to be no where near this place when they started wrapping up their vengeance clause.
Yet, Ash pressed forward until he was kneeling, reading the words inscribed while Misty paced with her hands on her hips nervously.
There was something here, something important, he knew it; somehow, he felt it without any explanation, and monferno could as well. Ash recalled meowth's words on the boat. Humans detach themselves from the world, which prevents them from truly understanding.
When the words Ash was reading finally made connection to his brain; he jolted backwards. His fingers burned from the touch and Misty stared at him wide eyed, prepared to attack once more.
"What's wrong?" She gasped, watching as his face paled.
The engraving Moltress read back to him from the plaque, and he exhaled slowly.
"...We can't leave yet." He muttered, finally understanding why Jessie and James sent him here.
Author's Note:
Kissing scenes and, well, intimate scenes, in general, are really awkward for me to write (I have no idea why) So they may seem a bit detached. I need to do research, and I'll try to do better. ;w;
Goodra is a pseudo-legendary. It is also a dragon pokemon. It also has this weird fluid always hanging off of it; and in my brain I rationalized that each 'pseudo-legendary' pokemon would have a tick, and I thought that fluid had to mean something; what better than some kind of corrosive acid when the pokemon is pissed off? -throws up arms-
Don't worry. We'll see them again! :D