Locked Away, Chapter 50
Traveling by himself again was a foreign feeling. The wind rushing against his hair while he flew over the Kanto region right before night fall was refreshing, and overly freeing. Apart of him, buried deep in his chest, wondered what would happen if he never came back. If he suddenly disappeared. Not that he wanted to, but the hanging dread over his shoulders was unfortunately a bit damning, and now that pikachu had done little but sulk in his jacket, he was feeling less like this was an exciting adventure, and more for what it was. Him, and a few of his friends, against the world.
He thought that he might have seen Saffron City in the distance, but he kept away from large city centers—even if the idea of swooping down for a few seconds, just to see if he could see them, was tempting. He had a goal, a mission to tend to, and only had a week to complete it. Time was of the essence, which meant short hellos with his friends was out of the question.
"How are you doing, charizard?" Ash asked, brushing his hands over some of the darkened scales, and the fire dragon roared in anticipation, keeping his flame low so that they couldn't be spotted past the clouds. Even in the dark, miles away, he could see dark clouds hovering dangerously over Sinnoh in the distance.
Darkness shrouded the region—the citizens must have been terrified. Which only made his impulsive behavior worse. Misty and Brock were the ones who planned out every step. Ash acted—the same way he torched the pound, jumped from the train, infiltrated Unova. He knew that thinking was important, but sometimes, gut instincts were just as important—and he knew he was right in following his instincts to Valencia island. It had been so long since Ho-oh was a prominent figure in Ecruteak City, so much so he was nothing more than a myth. What little information that could be found was more than likely outdated, worth nothing more than the paper it was written on, or the wires it was connected to. Ash had real intelligence on the matter, someone who has seen Ho-oh, and if Team Rocket was as smart as he thought they were, they wouldn't be letting Tracey slide out from under their radar, either. Especially not so close to Shamouti Island. Assuming Shamouti island still had anything to do with this. He didn't exactly wait around to ask questions; somehow, the implication made him feel gutless and sick.
A whole island gone. What else would happen before they saw the end of Team Rocket? Because there was no way Team Rocket didn't have some hand in that. Was Lugia captured like Palkia and the legendary birds? If Ash wasn't here to save them...
He recalled what the nurse told him so many months ago, about a horrible flood and his head swooped quietly against the wind. What little time he had dedicated to finding the legendary pokemon seemed so empty now. How were they to know that any of them were left? It wasn't like they had a list.
No, they needed the upper hand.
Ho-oh was the only pokemon Ash knew they couldn't find right away. And he would be damned if they did.
XOX
Arriving on Valencia island in the dark was different than when he arrived by boat. Tourists were no where to be seen, the bustling city was full of drunkards and late-night party goers heading home, and he questioned the time it took him to get here. He left Team Rocket shortly after his revelation, and the flight took no more than twelve hours.
It would be day break soon, and he and his party were exhausted. He couldn't remember the last time he had a full night of rest—not true, he remembered the last night well enough, Misty was there—but the few weeks she was gone felt like years and he only now realized the weight of his own feet.
Ash was tired. Togepi long gave up the conscious fight, and pikachu as quiet as he had been, was now the most vocal of the group—arguing that they find a place to sleep and rejuvenate, or they wouldn't be any good talking with Tracey.
Ash peeked over the horizon line, past the city, and over the glowing sea—the morning sun peeked strands of daylight over the horizon, and he rubbed his face and sighed. It would be best to wait until nightfall to meet with Tracey, especially after his last attempt at doing so. Plus, he wasn't planning on walking in there, infiltration seemed to be the only smart move he had left—after all, Ash was still a wanted man. He hadn't the time to check if Misty cleared his name or not.
"Pikapi." The mouse croaked, pulling on his pants leg to keep him away from the trail he was nearing. Cluing back into the moment, he heard the sound of distant footfalls and rushed the remaining pokemon back into the forest. They walked for a ways, pasted tangled vines and pebbles before reaching a small enough clearing that they wouldn't have to worry about charizard's flames.
"Alright, we'll stay here until night fall." he urged the pokemon, thought he did not particularly like waiting, he wasn't willing to risk the chance at being seen this close to Tracey. Charizard fell into a slump beside them, head low and body submerging into the earth. His scales were charred down his back, over his small claws, and gentle eyes watched Ash kick around dirt to lay out his sleeping gear beneath a tree. They didn't have a lot, a few blankets, a mat to sleep on, and a change of socks—but he made due with it as he laid the mat down beside charizard and flopped down onto it with thud.
Silence filled the space between them, complimented with the sound of chirping birds and forest creatures, Ash's head rose to see pikachu once again. The mouse had simply been standing at attention, watching the forest for intruders when Ash stuck out his hand.
"Pikachu, c'mere." he mumbled quietly, watching as the mouse slowly turned. He wiggled his fingers, gesturing for the pokemon to come forward to him, and with slight hesitation, the pokemon gave in and stumbled slowly to Ash. Without warning, Ash swooped the rodent happily into his arms, bundling pikachu up beside togepi and rolling onto his side to squish them together happily.
"Get some sleep."
"Pika pika chu." The mouse argued.
"I'm sure if someone sees me sleeping out here, they won't bother me with charizard beside us."
The dragon grunted in agreement.
"Now get some rest. We'll all need to be ready for tonight."
XOX
Misty tried to put the images of the happy, Oak home laying in destruction out of her mind. They were only a few minutes out from Pallet Town, arriving by train, and she had no time to wallow in what little she could do for the family. She, Brock, and Drew had to find out what was on those discs that Clemont so happily gave them. Thinking of Clemont only made her feel twice as sick; how brave had he been to give them this information, even with his family on the line. She wished she could help him more—but to do that, they needed to cut off the head of the snake—Giovanni.
Then the rest would fall.
"We're almost there." Brock announced, pulling on his coat as Drew stood to examine the hallway of the half-empty train cart. Not a lot of people traveling to Pallet Town anymore, it seemed.
"Have we thought about what we're going to tell Gary? We haven't even called to officially let him know we're back." Misty spoke authoritatively while collecting her vest in preparation to depart from the train.
"We will figure it out when we get there. Maybe he already knows?" Brock guessed while Drew lead them down the hallway to the exit doors and watched the quiet town fly past them as they drew to a stop. Misty hadn't considered that Gary already knew, and if he did—why wouldn't he inform them of it previously?
Gary would have known better than anyone that Ash would want to know, the same way that Ash wanted to know where his mother was—and Misty kept it from him. Only now, she didn't know where they were, and if Misty remembered how that news went through Ash the first time, she wasn't so certain she wanted to tell him or anyone. Ever. And yet,
"We need to tell Ash, too."
"Let's just focus on one thing at a time." Misty deduced, scratching at her arms while they stepped through the opening doors and into the train station. Her stomach had not felt the same since they boarded the train. She was nauseous all the time, and contemplating throwing up. Nerves were an unfamiliar feeling for the redhead, long ago she swore off her anxious ways, and yet here she was.
Without speaking or stamping their tickets, Misty lead them away from the quiet station and down the sidewalk until coming to a halt at the foot of a hill. Standing at the top was a dimly lit laboratory, gray bricks, and low cut trees that reflected in the daylight. The last time Misty had saw such a thing, it was at night time—and looked twice as menacing the first time she had to walk those stairs. Back when everything was peaceful, and simple. Why couldn't it have stayed that way?
For a fleeting moment as they traversed the stairs, she thought of the family that moved into Delia's old home, did they know of Delia's disappearance? Did anyone know? More importantly, did anyone care? Cole's school had to have known he was missing, and yet she walked into that house under the pretense that the police didn't even bother to check—and there was clearly a struggle there.
When the group arrived at the top of the stairs, Misty inhaled quietly, and looked forward to see that the door had a proper imprint of a foot near the handle, the window at the right was cracked, and the flowers that were so neatly tended to were smashed.
"They don't take very good care of this place, do they?" Brock muttered under his breath, and Misty shot him a quiet glare that he missed. No, Gary took amazing care of this place, so when she knocked and no answer came, she backed up.
"Gary, it's us, open up!" Misty called in, cupping her mouth and looking around. Catching on now, the boys immediately fell to her side, and Drew tried to peek in through the window blinds.
"I can't see any movement."
"Try the door." Brock offered, reaching for the doorknob and jingling the handle. Locked, as they all should have suspected.
"Maybe no one is home?" Brock said quietly, wondering if they picked a bad time—or should have called first. Misty was the only one in disbelief as she hoped from the main entrance trail, and to the pathway located to the left of a set of bushes that would wrap around to the back of the lab.
"Misty, where are you going?" Drew hissed quietly, looking around, especially down to the street, if anyone could see them. Actually, they were on a hill—probably the tallest hill in Pallet Town, everyone could see them.
"Gonna see if he's okay, you comin' Brock?" Misty asked while tracing around the back way with Brock shortly on her heels, followed by an estranged Drew. He couldn't get used to this. Breaking so many rules for the greater good.
As they group ventured around the house, they could see that they clearly were not mistaken. Something happened here, otherwise, so many windows wouldn't be broken. Misty counted five, at least one of them needed to be fully changed as she wrapped around to the backyard and came to a complete stop.
The grass—what was left of it—was charred and black. Like Route Twenty-five had been before she and Ash came tromping through it. Eyes darting around the area, taking in the sent of soot and ash, she rushed forward, up the creaky, wooden steps, and past the empty fields of pokemon where amber eyes pierced her at the back entrance.
"Gary-" Misty exhaled, nearly toppling over in fright.
"Why didn't you say anything when we called out for you?" She breathed, lucky that Brock was behind her to keep her standing.
"Wasn't sure it was really you." he replied with no lack of discourse. He threw away the bit of wood he clung to, and then melted back into his house, where he stuffed his hands into his pockets and returned to the counter top, holding his head.
Only once he was out of the way, and the dim light flashed through what was left of his curtains could they see the damage; like Delia's home, the lab was destroyed, tables were smashed, picture frames were torn off of the wall, and what she could assume was his research was torn up, and strewn around the building. A scent of musk stronger than she could recall, replaced the former cinnamon and apple flavored scents, and she refrained from holding her nose as she approached the beaten man. His face was several shades of purple; his right eye practically swollen shut and partially covered by his auburn hair. He looked weak, and fragile, and torn between confusion and anger. When he licked his dry lips, the moisture didn't help the dehydration he was currently under. His sleeve was bloodied at the elbow, sprayed with some kind of black ink, and his outfit was torn and untidied. Like he had been in some kind of bar fight. He smelled like it, too.
"When was the last time you showered?" Misty asked, concerned while Gary threwin back another tan colored drink, and poured himself another without reply.
"Arceus." Drew muttered, the last to enter the war zone. "What happened here?"
"Well, let me tell you!" Gary snapped, snarling. "See it all starts with a little boy name Ash!"
"Hey." Misty growled in Ash's defense, but Gary didn't hear her, or simply didn't care.
"I helped him, and look what it got me! Just look at this place—it's ruined!" Gary threw his arms up for emphasis, while Brock and Misty chanced a look at one another.
"Did...did something happen?" The look he gave her in reply was something akin to an evil eye. Lids half closed over his eyes and eyebrow twitching angrily.
"Take a wild guess!"
"Team Rocket?" Brock asked.
"Bingo! An award for the gym leader!" Gary shouted, and Misty had enough.
"Shut up, Gary! If you don't tell us what happened, we can't help!"
Suddenly, what was left of the house grew quiet, and before he managed another snark reply, he shuffled back into his bar stool, and swished another drink down to numb the pain. He looked miserable, and hurt. It wasn't even the physical damages that made him appear soft, but the mental.
"They took Leaf." he finally coughed up, making no eye contact whatsoever. "I don't know where May and Max went, and according to Team jack-asses, I'm being watched now." He inhaled to clear his head, then exhaled when he looked at their aghast faces.
"You need to go before they come back."
"No way. We aren't leaving you here alone."
"I'm not going without Leaf." Gary hummed, sitting back but before he could take another swig of his beverage, Misty snatched the bottle, and handed it off to Brock.
"Why would they do this to you? If you stay here like this, we'll have no chance of finding Leaf. How long ago were they here?"
"Few days ago." Gary mumbled, slurring his words slightly as he rested his chin on his folded arms.
"Well that's a start." Misty looked over her shoulder at Brock. "Will you go grab him some extra clothes? We'll need to find somewhere else to use those discs."
"You got it." Brock hummed, grabbing Drew as they moved into the bedroom area to fetch a new wardrobe for the new professor.
"I'm not going." Gary urged while slinking away from her grasp. Misty hung back.
"And you're going to stay here? And do what?"
"Don't know." He mused, keeping his head on the counter. She released a sigh. He was so frustrating.
"They took Delia and Cole, too." She said, her words immediately catching his attention. He sat up to look at her with sober eyes—scared eyes.
"And they're going to take more, or do more, unless we act. Cle-"
"Don't say anymore here." Gary warned her, standing up to wave her forward. She followed closely after him right as Brock and Drew emerged with a handful of clothes. It wasn't safe to speak here, she figured, based on the way that Gary pushed them through the living spaces, to the side entrance, where Gary grabbed a fresh lab coat.
They made it so far as opening the door when they were stopped by unwanted visitors dressed all in black. Arms folded and smug expressions over their pale faces, Misty fought back the urge to gag at their appearances and Brock and Drew froze on the spot. She was all too familiar with the all black outfits, donning a small red insignia over the left breast. Their faces were covered with large hats, and dark sunglasses where they stood only inches away from the group at the connected back road into the deep country side of Pallet Town.
They should have taken the front door, Misty thought while forcing her eyes not to roll.
"Well, well," one of the men spoke in a deep voice. "Look what we've found here, Ms. Waterflower, Professor Oak." the grunt nodded to them, as if he weren't pointing a lethal weapon at them, concealed under the folds of his jacket.
Gary was the most angered by his appearance, but Brock and Misty remained stoic. Drew seemed to shrink behind them, observing the situation as it unfolded.
"We're here for pick up. That's you two." He grinned an all-knowing, disgusting grin.
"Well, we're not too interested in going with you, so why don't you just go back to where ever it is you came from?" Misty countered, while Gary sobered up real quick.
"Doesn't sound like they're going to come easy..." the one partner said to the other, while the one with the gun smirked. "Guess we'll have to make them." And like white lightning, the gun pointed past Misty and Gary, to Brock who stood unknowingly behind them. At the back of her head, Misty's instincts screamed at her to move, throw out a pokeball, suddenly become bullet proof because what she feared was all too correct. Even if she wasn't touchable, her friends were. Damn it.
"Mightyena use take down!"
"Glaceon, ice fang!"
A sudden blur of white light enveloping the man's arm in front of them and complete blindsiding the Team Rocket members, ice formed, and then burst into a thousand tiny pieces when a gray and black wolf-pokemon jumped perpendicular from the side of the trail, and shoved the members into the ground.
"We need to do this quickly, Max!" May's voice pierced their ears while she emerged from the green brush beside the lab with Max on her heels. Misty wasn't sure if what she was seeing was correct when the pokemon jumped and snapped at the Team Rocket members before her. In the back of her head, she could only scream that pokemon attacking humans was a class one violation, but the rest of her body thanked the heavens above for their arrival, and she could tell by the expression of the rest of her companions faces that they agreed.
Acting without their trainers command at first, both pokemon prepared a follow-up attack before the rejected grunt members could find their footing, they were left unconscious after another take-down, and froen to the ground with one of glaceon's ice attacks.
"C'mon, we need to go!" May shouted after them, especially grabbing Gary by his arm and jerking him up, and away from the door step. The rest followed after a brief bout of confusion.
"but—we can..." Misty muttered, pointing back at the members. "Interrogation."
"There's more coming!" Max called while following up at the rear with mightyena at his side, almost as large as Max was; standing close to six feet with a growl that made Misty turn around to face Brock and Drew who shrugged and ran after May.
With the grace of a dancer, and the force of a wrestler, May jogged through the forest leading south to the dock, while still dragging Gary behind her. They made no stops, and spoke little as they ventured past rock and tree, and felt lost. Misty had lost all track of where they entered the forest, and where the exit was—and found herself swallowed up in the serenity of it all before coming to a rough stop, in a patch where they found folded sleeping bags, and a dusted fire.
May released Gary, and spun around to look at the four of them while Max came through at another point.
"I don't think we were followed, but it might be safer to leave here."
"Done." May nodded to her brother while Max moved to pack up their belongings. Misty glowered at the scene.
"You've been staying here?"
"Oak's place was being watched—you would have seen that if you paid any attention."
Misty scowled. "Since when were you an army girl?"
May blinked at the accusation, then with a familiar motion, she flashed Misty a badge, and tucked it away into her back pocket. "I've been with the rangers since I was fifteen. Poachers and those weird guys aren't very different—they're just waiting for people instead of pokemon." She clarified while turning with a flick of her wrist. Her hair was tied up into braids to keep it out of her face, and a red bandanna wrapped up, and around her head and Misty slowly clued in.
"You must be May-" She barely got out before Gary stood up.
"What happened?"
"Well, they tried to take us—we got away. We've been trying to find where they took Leaf ever since." May hummed, "And, watching the lab, of course. When we saw you guys come into town we were concerned though." May offered her condolences with a look of her deep blue eyes, and then returned to her business. Once their bags were packed, in a record setting time, the questions started once again.
"How did you know we came to town? Or who we are." Pointing upward, May answered Misty's question as a flying pokemon circled the sky and squawked at them from up above.
"Red hair, bossy attitude—you're hard to miss, Misty." May stuck out her tongue. "Honestly though, after what Ash told us about you, I thought you'd be taller—or scarier."
Misty's face paled, then as she turned a shade of red and covered her face Brock chuckled finally, breaking the tension.
"Thank you." he offered up while Gary threw up, literally. The world around him was spinning, but he couldn't admit that freely. No one else seemed to notice his agony.
"Why is all of this happening? I mean, we were having a normal day and then out of no where these guys come and kick open the doors of the lab, asking about Ash, and threatening Gary—What's happening?" Right, Ash never told May and Max about their little outing; this was all new to them.
Misty eyed Brock, wondering herself when things got so bad. After all, they spent months living safely while they prepared for this—now it seemed like everything was falling apart. What was the tipping point? Unova? The party?
"They must feel threatened." Brock suggested. "It means we're gonna win." He added smugly.
Still confused, and clearly left out of the loop, May raised her eyebrows, and then twisted her head around to see a not-so-graceful, covered in mud, green-haired contest-dweller cleaning the mud off of his shoes and pursed her lips in anticipation of a snark comment, but Gary interfered.
"Enough about that." he coughed, wiping his chin. "Where did they take Leaf?" he asked, looking sicker than he did before.
Now it was May's turn to look toward her brother, who frowned. "Well, it's about half day away. I tracked them from the forest entrance to the docks but her scent dropped off after that."
"Her scent?" Drew finally thought to chime in, and Max gave him a strong look of disapproval—of course he was talking about mightyena.
"Then let's go." Gary said stubbornly, squeezing his knees while he rose.
"I don't think you should-" May tried honestly, but Misty kept her hand down for her, and shook her head to the brunette as if saying 'don't'. Hell would sooner freeze over before Gary didn't take the first leap to find his wife. Understanding the look, May removed a bottle of water from her pack, and followed Gary to hand him off the bottle.
"So we're playing search and rescue now? We need to read what is on those discs that Clemont gave us." Drew barked, once again the voice of reason in the distance.
"Yeah, but I'm not sure they're up for it." Misty hissed quietly back at Drew.
"Then we go without them. We were only there to use his facility, not watch after him."
"Hey." Misty shot at him, "They just saved our lives."
Right, but they wouldn't have needed saving if they didn't see Oak in the first place. Drew bit his tongue. He was no stranger to the realization they were presented with earlier: he and Brock were expendable. That man wasn't going to shoot Misty or Gary, he was going to shoot Brock, or Drew; or anyone else, anything else that stood in the way, and he wasn't exactly keen to figure out when his luck would run out—especially running with these two.
"Besides, we're gonna want Gary with us—he understands these chips, too, since he's a researcher." Brock clarified, and with two votes against him. Drew nodded and tried to hide his fear with his resolve.
Maybe it was because Brock and Misty were no longer strangers to it, or maybe they were too tired to feel the sting of panic at the back of their mind—but they weren't scared. Long ago, their fears were replaced with anger, and drive. They were tired of being afraid, and so they let frustration drive, and anger in the passenger seat.
XOX
The hike seemed to drag on forever, spanning between Gary slipping over his own feet, insisting he was okay, and May losing the trail more as daylight fell behind the horizon. Max was far more helpful that she imagined him to be. Mightyena practically held the new professor on his feet when May found him too distracting. And yet, they kept going. Pure adrenaline kept Misty's legs pumping and her mind focused. When she would waiver, she liked to think that Ash was having an easier go at this than they were. That he was off finding legendary pokemon left and right; and maybe staying in some grand hotel with Jessie and James—far from a dimly lit forest with death lurking around the corner.
She could at least hope, right?
"We're almost there." May called while stepping over a fallen tree. The rest of them shambled over it, especially Drew, who was displaying his dismal ability to maneuver in the forest. Misty also used the thought of Ash to keep her mouth shut about the many hundred of bug pokemon that circled them—while she saw truly scary, and mortifying things since meeting him, the jolt of panic she felt when a caterpie wriggled down a tree was a habit she had yet to kick.
Brock was no help, either. Distracted by his own thoughts, whatever they might have been, he kept to himself. Thus leaving them quietly trekking through the forest, in hope that they would find their destination.
At May's recent announcement, Gary, who was struggling through the onslaught of an early hangover managed to keep up with her pace as they swerved through the last of the forest, and found themselves staring at an empty dock—with one boat in the distance. Max pointed.
"My guess is that she's on the boat—but I can't be sure."
"Then we'll check!" Gary exclaimed, jumping from the tree line and toward the ocean. He was already removing his jacket and partially his shoes when Misty grabbed him by the collar and stopped him.
"Let go of me!" He shouted, sounding more like Ash than he probably meant to. "What would you do if it were Ash!?" he really looked at Misty to see that she wasn't full of disagreement with his plan, but holding up a pokeball instead and slowly releasing him so he could calm himself down.
"Remember, I'm a water pokemon trainer. We don't have to swim there."
"I think we should wait until morning. Rescue missions can go wrong if we can't see what we're doing." May suggested, hands on her hips.
"No, we can't leave her there any longer than we have to." Gary mused in a short panic, worried that no one else would side with him. He must have felt guilty for waiting this long to go after her. Misty could relate to that, and show him a weak smile.
"He's right. And if we go at night, we can surprise them." Brock reassured Gary with a pat on the shoulder.
"Great, then let's go." Misty zipped her pokeball through the air as it cracked open with red lightning, and a large, shelled pokemon emerged from the ball, practically singing as it formed. A large lapras stared back at them, bowing her head to Misty who pat her forehead and then looked to the group.
"Only three of us can go. Any more and it weighs her down too much." Immediately all hands but Drew's went up to volunteer for the crazy boat ride, but Misty cracked a smile. "...and by three, I mean May, Gary and I."
"What-?" Brock gasped and Misty shrugged.
"It's Gary's wife, and May has done this before." May nodded to Misty's reply.
"Besides, you have those discs, if something happens—not that it will, you can still sort this out."
Brock didn't look as confident as Misty did, however, and crossed his arms in disagreement with her plan, but said nothing. She was as stubborn as Ash was, she wouldn't change her mind. Behind them, Gary was already halfway on lapras when Misty and May both jumped onto the pokemon's back and smiled at the group.
"Max, keep everyone at the tree line, just in case they saw us. I'll throw up a flare if we're in trouble." She waved a red cylinder at her brother who smiled weakly at her as lapras departed, leaving the rest of them behind.
"We'll see you soon." Misty smiled and Brock waved quietly. He said he wouldn't leave her side, she knew that. Two weeks in, and they were already breaking their promises to one another. She eased the thought by reminding herself that they had to. If Leaf could be saved, they had to try.
"We should keep an eye out for traps, or if anyone is on board." May hummed, and Misty thought that beneath her serious tone—she might have been having fun. Rangers were declassified as a necessary member of society and the pokemon league a few years ago—she couldn't have been one for longer than a few years before her license was ruined by what Giovanni had planned for them all. Gary no longer looked sick, or disturbed—or angry. His surprising calm made her question what he was going to do once they reached the boat; and the way he held onto the pokeballs he stashed in his pocket worried the redhead.
"Remember, we want to get the jump on them." Misty said quietly, keeping her voice down as lapras cut the hour it would have taken them to swim down to minutes. They could go up the side, check on the deck and circle back around to-
A sudden click filled her ears, May heard it too because they shared the same, brief look of concern. Then, a tremor beneath the surface of the water burbled beneath lapras, and the boat only yards away from them cracked at the bolts, revealing light and smoke—all blinding and deafening before they were sent flying backwards at the mighty explosion.
XOX
Ash woke with a start, wild eyes looking into the dark forest and chest heavy. Beside him, togepi looked about the same. Tears welled at the side of the pokemon's dark eyes, and before Ash could grab him, he started to cry.
That was okay, Ash felt like crying himself, and had no way of discerning why. "H-hey." Ash stammered, picking up togepi and rocking the egg while it wailed into the darkness, waking pikachu and charizard. The mouse was at their side instantly, but charizard was slow to rise from the ground—looking a bit green around the eyes he huffed into the darkness and illuminated the scene with his tail.
"It's okay togepi." Ash soothed, rubbing the pokemon's shell and humming to himself. Keeping his mind occupied with thoughts of what he was going to do next. He didn't have nightmares—he didn't dream—so waking up so horribly was like being thrown into a icy bath in the middle of winter without warning. Maybe he was too stressed out? The last few days were full of sleepless nights, after all. Before resting here—he hadn't slept in three days, maybe four. His body, even after sleeping through the day felt sore and tired. The last few days catching up to him, he assumed. If only that philosophy Misty was concerned about applied to sore muscles. He would love if those healed a bit faster than normal.
Once togepi had drifted into a slow whimper, and then eventually into quiet sniffles, Ash looked to his companions.
"Well, guys. It looks like it's time to roll." he told them with a sigh. Using the palms of his hands, he rose with a few cracks, and a quiet groan until he was standing straight, and looking at the city lights that gleamed over the tree line.
"You think you'll be okay out here charizard?" the pokemon nodded, then placed his head back down while Ash gave him a brief pat and pikachu crawled up onto his shoulder. Togepi wouldn't let go of his arm, so it looked like he would be lugging the egg around. He didn't mind, he just wished he could shake the daunting, horrified feeling in his gut—maybe he was just hungry. It had been awhile since he last ate.
That should be his first stop.
"Actually, why don't we grab something to eat?" Ash suggested to his pokemon, only to find that unlike him, none of them were hungry. In fact, pikachu looked like he might be sick at the idea of eating, and charizard was far too tired to care either way. Again, togepi wouldn't let go of his arm.
"...never mind, let's just go see Tracey."
By the time they found themselves a block away from the large gate that protected Tracey's manor, Ash could hardly walk he was so starved. His knees were weak, and on top of a lurching feeling, his arms were heavier than togepi and he wished for once that the pokemon would carry himself for the first time since leaving the nursing home.
"Pika chuuu." The mouse pulled on Ash's hair to point him towards an open diner to the left of them. He drooled, or at least it felt like drool when he marched to the diner and stuck his face to the nose. Inside, only a few people were eating—mostly natives of the island since they were normal clothes and didn't seem effected by Ash's appearance at the window.
After an amusing time stumbling over his own feet, he found his way to the entrance, and let himself inside. Only to be stopped by a very large waiter.
"Do you have money?"
"Excuse me?" Ash gasped, blinking at the man.
"Money? Do you have any? Entrance is for paying customers only." His voice sounded three octaves too low, and Ash brushed his hands against his pockets only to realize he was, indeed, out of money.
"Uhh, well."
"No money, no entry." Then the guy grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, and redirected him to the door.
"What's the big deal!" Ash shouted, trying to twist his way out of the large man's grasp before he went flying from the doors, and onto his butt outside. Pikachu turned around rapidly upon hitting the ground lighting up his cheeks, but was stopped by Ash.
"Don't worry about it, bud." Ash grumbled, taking a few minutes to assess his situation. At least they didn't recognize him—but how could they—his reflection screamed homeless. He didn't look like a weary traveler anymore, instead, his questionable musk and charming smile were covered in dirt, stained clothes, and unkempt hair. His hair poked out in every direction without his trademark hat, and he brushed ratty gloves over his head to mat it down slightly.
"Chuu." The mouse mumbled, assuring Ash that he looked fine—a kind lie.
"It's fine. Let's just do what we came here to do and be gone." but he was so hungry. Ash stumbled across the street once more, noticing for the first time that his stumbling could have been confused with being a drunkard and straightened up to keep attention off of him—because there was a lot more than he anticipated.
What, had they never seen a homeless person before!? Not that he was homeless...well, technically... he was only couch surfing last he checked and...
"Watch it!" Snapped a lady he almost ran into, and Ash flipped around tossing out a crappy apology. He had to pay attention!
Yet his mind was frazzled and he felt disjointed as he made his way to the manor he knew so well. Well, from the outside, he barely made it to the fence line before being escorted off the premises last time. Focus he chanted at himself; things would be different. He was different, and better prepared.
Keeping to the shadows, like Jessie and James taught him, Ash swerved into a shrubbery located south of the main entrance, and ducked away from view of the entrance guards. He would have to go up, then over the fence and up again quickly. That, or he would need to find a place to hide away from the noise he might create. Humming quietly to himself, he peeled back a bundle of twigs to see his target, an ajar window on the second floor. Ash would have to climb to the top, no problem, Ash was an amazing climber, but it was getting there.
"Cha." the mouse poked his head in the direction of the large security men, and Ash nodded.
"That's not a bad idea." he said, looking to his long-time companion. "You be a distraction, and I'll run for the window. Meet us up there?"
"Pika-chuu." The mouse purred, bounding away from his trainer and hopping into the open. Once he passed the guards, Ash sprung forward, watching lightning spark where pikachu left a bright, distracting trail.
"Get outta here, you stupid rat!" One of the guards shouted, covering his eyes. Ash took this as his moment to sprint, then leap, and twist himself over the tall metal fence. His feet hit the ground with a thud, followed by an exasperated grunt from one of the guards. Ash peered over his shoulder to check if the guards had heard him or not, and verifying quickly that they didn't, he bolted up the side of the wall, clinging to the stray bricks that poked out, and fought and pulled himself up through the dimly lit window.
Ash tumbled inside, grace and cunning skills put aside as his legs slipped, and his nose felt the hard wooden floor beneath the window sill.
Ow. He groaned internally, followed by a quiet moan as he flipped himself over to look up at the ceiling. Moments later, pikachu pounced onto him through the window, landing with a heavy breath and Ash holding his stomach in resolve.
"Thanks." he mouthed sarcastically to pikachu who hopped elegantly onto the wood floor to examine their surroundings. Ash turned onto his side and unzipped his coat for togepi to roll out of. The egg bumbled ahead, prepared for action, but upon seeing that they were located in what looked like an empty study, whined to his trainer. At the corner of the room laid a a large brown easel, and a million different canvas', hundreds of different colored paints coated several sheets of paper, paint brushes, pencils, and pastels were strewn across a sea of jars, and Ash found himself questioning how anyone could work in this—where they would start.
Paintings of pokemon, of people, of nature were hung in every direction, and while Ash struggled to his feet to observe the objects closer, a cough from the corner of the room brought him back to his senses—only to be dulled immediately by the intense gaze of dark eyes.
Tracey stared back at him, arms crossed awkwardly, and mouth formed into a scowl. Ash gulped.
"...Hey."
"You have one minute to give me a good reason while you're here." Tracey eased to his pocket, where Ash knew there was a cellphone—or a weapon, he never knew what to expect anymore.
Frozen, Ash struggled to form a second as Tracey counted down maniacally.
"Ho-oh." Ash blurted out. "I need to find Ho-oh."
Suddenly, Tracey's hard gaze evaporated, and a large, undying smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.
"What do you need to know about that pokemon?"
Ash hesitated as Tracey approached, only now did he notice that the artist was wearing a tan colored apron covered in a full color wheel of paint splatters. More importantly, he didn't seem to mind Ash at all.
"Everything...anything, really." He stopped to collect his thoughts. What could it hurt to tell Tracey what he was doing. "I'm trying to find him, actually."
At that, Tracey gave him a crooked look, followed by an expression of puzzlement.
"Find him, huh? But he's not real, you know." Tracey almost sounded sarcastic.
"He is, too. I've seen him." A determined Ash replied.
"Really?" Tracey's voice pitched coyly. "You've seen him?"
"Haven't you?" Ash gasped, only to be answered with a casual shrug as he slid a few strokes of his paint brush against a new canvas.
"Are you sure you've seen him?" He asked wearily, and Ash found both is patience, and his temper suddenly very short.
"Yes, ten years ago in all of the legendary pokemon's rainbow and golden glory—now can you help me find it or not?"
A pause, followed by the slick noise of wet paint dripping down the canvas, and then Tracey turned to him, staring blankly.
"I've never seen him." He said reassuringly. "But I've read about him. I've read about all of the legendary pokemon, actually."
Ash didn't move while Tracey tossed aside his paintbrush in favor of rummaging through a list of unorganized canvas, and Ash swallowed hard. His palms were sweaty, and a part of him wanted to tell Tracey what he had told everyone else about his past, but the words wouldn't come. Tracey wouldn't remember, no one did.
"I read about Ho-oh while I was trying to find out more information about the guardian of the ocean, Lugia." Ash's ears twitched at the name, and his eyes glued to Tracey's back.
"...A few years ago, Lugia supposedly flood several islands than disappeared. From all of the legendary pokemon, he was one of the most well-known. It turned out that he and Ho-oh had a connection." As he spoke, he removed an unframed canvas painting of the two birds depicted with the beasts below and the three birds in the distant background. Lugia was drawn to great detail, where Ho-oh was painted in golden rainbows.
"Legend says they balance one another. I always hoped if I found Ho-oh, we could bring back the islands that we lost so many years ago, you know?"
Ash didn't know, in fact, it sounded crazy. Even if they did, everyone on them was dead, anyways, weren't they? Alarmed at his own thoughts, Ash cleared his throat.
"Why?" Ash questioned, and Tracey shrugged while setting the painting down.
"Research, money, fame—my family." He breathed. "It's a bit unnerving, my family, they took a trip that same week when the weather went cold—no one else seems to remember it. When snow came down in the middle of summer, and the waters spun violently and froze over, taking away everything." He breathed a quiet, shaky breath. "But I do. I can't forget."
Exhaling, Tracey looked at Ash.
"So why do you want to find him?"
"I wanna save the world." it didn't seem fitting, after Tracey's confession, but the words fell from his lips without hesitation, without remorse. Honesty was Ash's second nature, and as it appeared, so was it Tracey's.
"Great, let me write down a location for you."
Ash beamed. "Really?"
A scoff followed, "Pfft, no, I've been looking for him the last five years—if he's even really real—you think if I knew where to find him I would be here?"
Ash looked around, remembering the lavish setting. Well, yeah. Ash wanted to say, but refrained from that, and instead looked to Tracey with warm eyes. Ash wasn't kidding.
"There was a myth, a long time ago—something about Mount Silver, but it's crazy. Normal people can't survive up there."
"What do you mean normal people can't survive up there?" Ash hummed, blinking innocently at Tracey who looked at Ash as if he grew another head.
"I mean, it's worse than arctic levels of freezing. Thousands of people have tried to the top but froze or failed. So, hey, unless you're some chosen person or a super hero, there's no way you can survive the cold." After a pause, Tracey continued his rant. "Ho-oh is supposed to be a phoenix, of course he can, his blood is more than likely fire. But Lugia? Oh man, there was no telling where he went. Flood the world, kill thousands of people then disappear—yeah, some guardian. See, not everyone thinks it was because of a pokemon—some natural events, but I know. I've read all the text books, there's no way this was..." Tracey mumbled offhandedly, no idea the information he provided for Ash.
Staring wide eyed, Ash and his pokemon, who stood behind him until now were shocked. Some chosen person. Ash was chosen at some point, wasn't he? Grumbling and grunting under his breath, Tracey returned to his painting,
"You know, actually, you look kind of familiar, you know? Have you ever been here-?" He stopped realizing that he was standing alone in the large room, Ash was no where to be seen, but he noticed at the window's curtains were pulled back further.
"...Weird guy." Tracey muttered, but then turned back to his business.
XOX
Ash rushed into this. On top of charizard's back, who fought with the whipping wind and icy gusts flinging snow into their eyes, he started to reconsider his options. At first, he thought Tracey might have been exaggerating, no, he convinced himself that Tracey was exaggerating. Mount Silver couldn't be so bad. There were no articles written about it, and hundreds of people fancied the landmark—but the further Ash flew up, the further away the top seemed.
The harder it was to breath.
There was no way anyone lived up here, pokemon or not. If it wasn't the freezing cold; the inability to breath or grow food would be a close second reason. Plus, the feeling that his blood was turning to ice beneath his skin might have eliminated any right or reason. He lost the ability to hear long ago, lost to the whistle of the wind and the focus on charizard's flame. He never saw the dragon's flames burn so bright; a mixture of bright oranges and blues guarding him.
Still, he felt consciousness slipping with each feet they traveled up.
"Keep your eyes open." he said to his pokemon, though he knew that both togepi and pikachu retreated into the safety and confines of his jacket hours go; and only charizard seemed to be seeing straight. Ash hadn't opened his eyes in the last hour—convinced they would freeze without warning; and it was only when the flight upward slowed to a measly crawl, and icicles formed on charizard's scale, did he consider this a bad idea.
Chosen, was a very particular phrase that Tracey picked—it couldn't have been by coincidence. Ash was dubbed the chosen one in his dreams—more than a superiority complex, maybe it meant something? Now, he thought he was being crazy, and should have consulted Jessie and James about this decision, but somewhere between excitement and a time crunch, he left rational thought at home.
Home, it seemed so far away now, where ever it was. Oddly enough, as his body felt frozen—and he was sure that charizard had finally stopped and his breath hitched permanently in his chest; he thought of home.
Home was a young woman with red hair throwing out insults while working on battle techniques. Home was an older gentlemen complaining about a lack of proper cookware. Home was a bundle of yellow mice running circles around him, and a young boy staring up at him in amazement. Home, was an elderly woman knitting outside while Ash threw rocks into the stream outside their house. More than a place, it was the people around him—the ones he couldn't live without—good or evil. He wanted to see them again more than he wanted to breath.
His eyes drifted, and he barely felt the chill of his arms falling from charizard's neck, or the thump of the frozen ground below as his body fell catatonic. This wasn't a good idea, none of this was. He was so desperate the find an answer that he threw caution to the wind, gave up his outstanding morals, put his pokemon and his friends and himself in mortal danger—and now.
Well, he couldn't really think about now. Thought was hard and the light of the snow around him dimmed darker, and darker until his noisy thoughts were his only beckon—and then...
Chuuuu! And spark soared through his body, connected to each nerve as his eyes peeled open one at a time to see nothing but the blue sky above him, and a swirling storm of clouds around him. Somewhere off to the side—Ash wasn't sure—he heard pikachu preparing another shock, desperately calling to his trainer while Ash finally gathered the rest of his strength to sit up on his elbows.
The eye of the storm—the top of the mountain. Or at least what looked like the top of the mountain. Ash strained to sit up further, but his head was spinning and his body was still numb—not numb, covered. Charizard had taken to resting his long neck over his legs to keep him warm, with his tail curled up and around, hovering over Ash's head. At first, the prickle of grass against his bare arms was unbelievable—grace on top of Mount Silver—now he knew he was delirious.
Until he saw piercing, yellow eyes staring down at him from a perch only meters away.
Ho-oh.
Author's Note:
THE LAST LINE IS A PUN, GET IT? "Uh-oh, equals ho-oh?! ha..hahha... ehem.
To anyone who has made it to chapter 50, new and old readers. You all... just. Wow. Thank you. 420K plus words, 300 plus favorites and follows, and almost 700 reviews. Thank you. Thank you all so much. We're are drawing near the 1 year mark (Jan 30) and while I wanted, and planned for this story to be finished way before that, I'm full of nostalgia about how far we've come, and how far the story has come. The end is almost here guys, I've been writing non-stop between work and school, and after making a few adjustments, we're almost there. I can't help but feel the reason I've been so antsy to write is because finishing a large story is hard, rewarding, and so very nerve-wracking. I'm not ready for this story to end, but all good things have to.
NINT