Locked Away, Chapter 55

You won't win.

That voice was so familiar, Ash thought, that tone of misfortune, mixed in strength and confusion—but he struggled to find a match. It wasn't the great beast of a bird above him, for his head did not feel like splitting open, but it belonged to someone else. Someone far away, and yet so familiar. Where did he know this voice from? The way it damned him, and promised he would lose this fight in the end. A man, perhaps—someone he knew long ago, defying his victory.

You'll never win. It hissed, twisting over Ash's insides. It pulled him, made his mind heavy and disheartened. Ash ached, writhing under the pressure as the darkness yanked on the thin threads of his mind, begging for control.

Still, Ash fought, forcing his mind on the task, and not what could have happened. He had been trapped in his own mind for ten years, any other substance trying to keep him there would fail. Ash swore on it.

Rocks tore into his shirt, and his back was cold, and face flushed with heat—he focused on the sensations of life around him, the presence of the real world; as painful as it was, and with his eyes still shut, jerked himself forward.

"We will win." Ash grunted, inhaling as his eyes snapped open to a cloud of smoke.

His senses went absolutely nuts; first, the forest was on fire, his eyes burned and he was sore from every muscle. When he finally sat up, he heard beside him the whimper of an injured comrade—Charizard was crashed in the small stream beside him weeping into the water. His eyes were darkening and he blew smoke at Ash.

"Buddy-" Ash winced, crawling to the dragon in his best attempt to help him. The pokemon was greatly injured, the last blast he took from gyarados resulted in several sharp rocks lodging themselves beneath the underside of his belly, and wedged themselves between his scales. He huffed once more, blinking and informing Ash that he broke his trainers fall.

"Oh, charizard...you didn't have to do that." Ash grimaced.

Placing his hand over one of the worse wounds, he turned to see that the two of them rolled down a hill—but the rest was a blur. A few branches were destroyed and the ground was wedged up on two sides. Pikachu and togepi were no where to be seen.

"Piakchu, Togepi?!" Ash yelled, his voice cracking, and his brain wracking every possible outcome—what had happened? Misty attacked him, the feeling of being emotionally impaled was very familiar, but how had he ended up here? With a huff, charizard brought Ash's attention back to him, in the glow of the fire, he could see the black rings around the dragon worse now than ever before, and Ash dropped back to his knees to nurse the pokemon.

"You should go into your ball, before this gets worse..."

Adamantly, he refused the offer, determined to stay with Ash until help arrived—though his bulky frame lying in the water wasn't much help.

"Anyone?!" A long breath followed, hoarse from breathing in the smoke, he slouched over the dragon and covered his mouth with his sleeve.

No answer but the crackle of fire, and the distant sound of angry legendary birds attacking one another.

No one was coming, and this time, there was definitely no flock of lapras prepared to save him from drowning—though this time, the options were burning alive and suffocating. The latter felt much worse. All his life, Ash had been lucky. He survived being electrocuted, he survived ten years of a coma, he survived the hell out of way worse than this!

Hunching over, gasps for air took over him, and he was dry heaving while attempting to stand. People were counting on him—Misty was counting on him. He had to find her. As Ash rose from the ground beside him, Charizard also rose, his slightly gimped wings stretching out to help lift him from the ground.

"We can do this!" Ash chanted, leaning against the dragon for support. His legs felt weak, and now that he could concentration, he felt his ears bleeding—no doubt thanks to the battle above their heads.

Charizard roared in support, and together, they took one step forward before another sound brought instant gratification to their ears.

"Ash!"

The voice belonged to his dear friend Brock, who Ash could kiss right now. At the sound, Ash literally fell onto his hands and knees, now knowing that he did not have to stand entirely on his own. Charizard, too fell, and accepted Ash's kind words to return him to his ball.

"Pika pi!" The mouse yelled, dipping and weaving through rocks and fire to collide accidentally with Ash, who was nearly knocked over from force.

"Careful-" He warned the pokemon, only to have Brock and a small white object crash into him next.

"You're okay! We need to leave!"

"Really?" Ash wanted to sound sarcastic, but he was mostly surprised to feel a thump against his head that was unfamiliar outside of the fire, and craziness. Ash's eyes made contact quickly with a small, floating creature with large flapping wings, and smooth body. Instead of scales, a very light fur covered the flying pokemon until reaching his head, where spikes poked out slightly from the curve of a very sweet face.

"Togetic?" Ash muttered, surprise and gratitude taking over him.

"So that's his name?" Brock muttered. "We thought it was togepi—he lead us to you out here."

"Is that so?" Ash grinned. "I knew you could find me."

Which meant that the light before had to have been togepi finally evolving into this—an elegant fairy that Misty would be-

"Misty!" Ash snapped, looking at Brock as he started to pull Ash up the trail they came. Pikachu ran ahead, mapping out the safest route.

"Did you find her? Was she out here?" Ash asked and Brock shook his head.

"No, I haven't seen her..."

"To-chu!" The fairy danced, trying to describe to Ash the events that followed his evolution. Apparently, he was still a shitty performer of metronome, and wound up zapping Ash and charizard away from the battle. Gyarados tried to knock togetic away, but the fairy got away.

"Great job—but what happened to Misty."

"Maybe she's still out there—why was she attacking you?"

Ash shook his head as they reached the top of the hill. His arm was drapped over Brock's shoulders, and Ash hadn't realized how much work the older man was doing until he concentrated on moving his legs. He was shaking from head to toe, every nerve was on fire as if he nearly lost complete control of himself. Then, he remembered the voice trying to claw its way into his mind and he looked at Brock worriedly. The fire reflected the deep worry in his eyes, a look Brock echoed.

"I think she was being controlled by something—She wouldn't...Misty wouldn't.."

"Then she's probably still looking for you—we have to get back to Jessie and James..."

"They're here, too?"

"Yeah, they're the ones that brought me here. It's hard to miss two giant legendary pokemon fighting each other. We knew it had to be you." Brock quickly clarified while running beneath a branch that fell from the fire right after. Still, pikachu pranced and pawed away at the destruction to lead them to safety, and togetic took up the rear, constantly filling them in on the small details they missed.

Ash's lungs hurt, and the air around them was so thin, he wondered how Brock could manage to pull himself and Ash long the path—so Ash forced his feet to work, and tried to walk. The rest of their jolt was in silence, as the smoke robbed them of their voices, and all air was precious. Behind the lead of togetic and pikachu, they weaved through the forest expertly, and eventually—the image of a small air balloon came to view away from the fire, and Ash had never felt more relieved until-

"Hydropump!"

"Shit-!" Brock screamed watching water fly directly at the air balloon. For a moment, they all watched in silence, their escape about to be ruined until a little ball flew out in front of the jets, and a large blue aura flashed, and subdued the attack.

At first, they stared in awe at shield togetic created to deflect the blast; Ash was stunned, since he hadn't even considered the defence an option. Before either Brock or Ash could act, pikachu was already bounding ahead to protect Jessie and James who were holding their own without pokemon against the rapid red hair in the distance—this time, Ash saw an even more familiar pokemon than gyarados. Misty's poliwrath was her star battler, and he looked as torn and confused as gyarados had prior.

"S-stop!" Ash screamed, his voice caught in his throat. He pushed away from Brock who stumbled to follow as Ash head directly into the battle with pikachu and togetic hovering.

Jessie seethed.

"it took you long enough to find him!"

"Tu-co!" The egg snapped back, eyes angry before facing Misty again. Her composure was scarily calm, but her laugh was disgustingly evil.

"Back for round two? I thought you ran away."

Poliwrath tossed a concerned look behind him at his trainer, and Ash knew that while he couldn't get through to gyarados, poliwrath was another story.

"Poliwrath, use water gun!"

"Wait poliwrath! Misty's not herself! Don't listen to her!" Ash yelled immediately and found himself surprised that the pokemon actually froze, unsure in his actions. His large, cartoony eyes turned once more at Misty, who chipped away slightly under realization that poliwrath was no listening.

"Do it now or it will be the last thing you ever defy!" With fear, poliwrath looked to Ash for help, but he could offer very little.

Behind him, James stood.

"Keep her distracted." He urged before pointing at Brock and walking around the one side.

"I know this looks back, but your trainer is sick! She's hurting people! She would never let you attack people poliwrath!"

"ouu.." The pokemon grimaced, taking a few steps back.

"We don't have time to play around." Jessie growled, Ash saw that the stitches she had re-opened, based on the blood on her side. They were also soaking wet, which meant that Misty hit that at least once. Around them, the fire robbed them of outside sound, and the birds raised hell.

"I'm not leaving without you, Misty—but you need to snap out of this! You're hurting people!"

"She can't hear you kid—this is what Giovanni does to people." meowth whispered, sharpening his claws—blood decorated them from where he attacked poliwrath before Ash and Brock's arrive—but Ash could tell she clearly had tunnel vision.

"Don't let her make you do this poliwrath—go back to your ball, you know this is wrong!"

For a split second, ally and pokemon met eyes, dark pools staring into one another, and then absolute understanding, though Misty was spouting more nonsense behind them—if he didn't listen she would-! A red light flashed, and poliwrath was gone, and Misty was literally screaming and preparing to take out the pokeball and smash it; her hand was above her head when around the corner, Brock and James came in, grabbing her arms and holding her down.

"Let go of me!" She screamed loudly and the venom in her voice forced Ash to flinch. His mouth was dry and his heart hurt and stomach was prepared to leap out of his throat.

"Settle down Misty!" Brock yelped, trying to bring her down. The ringing in his ears grew more intense, listening to his companions yell around him—of Jessie preparing for take off and his friends try to get her to settle down. The fire was spreading quickly, and air was cut off around them. Pikachu looked to him for answers, but Ash had none.

None that wouldn't...

"You two, let go of her! Now!" Ash yelled, and maybe it was blind trust in him that made them think to do it, but the very second their arms disconnected, Ash pointed and pikachu knew the momentum without words—he raced to Misty within a spark of a second, attached to her stomach, and a small spark spread from himself, and throughout Misty's body.

Sound rushed back instantly, and Ash was running before his brain realized it.

"Holy shit-" Brock swore, eyes bugging out. James' mouth was agape.

Ash didn't catch her before she hit the ground, but he held her a moment after. She was limp—but alive and pikachu pranced around to make sure.

"Did pikachu just shock her?" Brock asked, wiping at the sweat over his brow.

"Yeah."

"Is she okay?" Brock whined in fear and Ash looked at him as if he were stupid enough to actually hurt Misty. Pikachu would never.

"Yes, she will be. But it's enough to knock her out—Let's get her in the balloon and get out of here."

They agreed silently, though Ash, who could barely pick up his feet a second ago, made a note to carry her by himself. Hopefully, she wouldn't hate him for acting in such a way.

XOX

The sky above the fire was no more safe than the ground. The first opportunity they had, they tied Misty up to prevent her from having anymore violent outbursts—Brock later mentioned that maybe they could have used a pokemon with sleep powder so they wouldn't have had to hurt Misty, but Ash questioned which pokemon they had that knew that. Jessie and James commended him for his quick thinking.

"Damn, two hours alone and you two burnt half the forest."

"Must be an omen." Ash grumbled, his eyes looking duller by the second. James nudged him while Jessie tried to control the direction of the balloon.

"Don't beat yourself up, kid. She had us by the ropes before you two got back."

"Is that what he plans to do to everyone?" Ash asked suddenly, his tone overly serious when he made eye contact with James. "Why did he pick now of all times?"

James cast his eyes to the floor of the wooden balloon basket, then looked to Brock and Jessie for support. Meowth rose to the occasion after securing the ropes and pranced around pikachu and togetic to get a good look at the group, then spoke.

He must have known you had the legendary bird, Ho-oh in your possession.

"How would he know that?"

Good question; better question, why didn't you tell us?

Brock looked at them back and forth, as the only person who couldn't understand poke-speak, he relied on pikachu's dramatic hand gestures to keep up.

"I guess... I just—with everything I heard I panicked. Didn't mention it."

"Or maybe you didn't trust us? Look at what you started!" Jessie snapped abrasively, though Ash could see the fear and panic in her eyes. The fire was so wide-spread, it would be a miracle if it didn't wipe out the whole Viridian Forest.

"It wasn't that I-"

"How did you even catch that pokemon!?"

"Jessie, give him some air." James demanded, pulling on her shoulders. She held her side achingly, and 'tsk'd' with her lips before looking over the side of the balloon. Ash shrugged for a moment, and then shook his head for an answer.

"I guess... I had a master ball with me, and for a long time it didn't work—so I tried it when I didn't have anything else and it just...It just sort of worked."

Very still, James licked his lips and asked: "And did the beast agree to be captured by you?"
"Yeah, I mean... Does that matter?"

The long pause that followed made them sigh.

"We should have told him, James."

"I didn't know he had a master ball..." James groaned and even Brock looked oddly mortified.

"I thought master balls were never completed?" he asked as they made their way to the city. James sighed again.

"They...weren't, not really anyways." Pausing, James closed his eyes, and folded his arms. "Did we ever tell you what happened with Lugia?"

With that, Ash blinked. For awhile, he had wondered what happened to the bird, as well as the rest of Shamuti Island, but in the grand scheme of things, the question never really posed as a meaningful question.

"A master ball can only capture a legendary pokemon with that pokemon's consent—otherwise, how else could so much power ever be contained? Ten years ago, the creation of the master ball was one of the first products by Silph Co that could contain these creatures—but Team Rocket also wanted a cut of that."

"It was awful. They burned down several Silph Co companies shortly after the initial release information. I remember that—sort of." Brock grumbled.

"Not all of it, unfortunately. After Team Rocket took over Silph Co, they privatized the creation of master balls, and their creation was devoted solely for capturing and controlling legendary pokemon. We were the first test subjects, when we tried to use the pokeballs on Lugia—they failed. We..." James cleared his throat.

"We used his memory of you to convince him to join us. Lugia was the first beast we ever caught for Giovanni." Jessie explained without looking at them. "Though...after that, we were unable to catch the other legendary pokemon the same way—it was as if they knew."

Ash was horrified. "Why didn't you tell me this!?"

James smiled sadly, "As if we want to relive our mistakes. We had no idea that this..." together they looked at the horror around them. The fight had escalated to a point that the birds were squawking and circling above the forest. Jessie's shoulders quivered, and Ash thought she might have started crying, but she would never show it to them.

They really did start this. Ash felt his stomach churning and then exhaled. "That's how Giovanni knew to find us then?"

"Probably." James scoffed. "To think we thought we had the upper hand..."

Ash looked down, his face sullen and dark until Brock snapped his finger.

"Well, no!" He said quickly. "Who gave you that ball, Ash?"

If possible, the sullen look only grew worse when his lips drew to a line and he stared at Brock blankly.

XOX

They landed the balloon south of the city. Like infernape outside of the lab, Viridian City was seeing its share of violent pokemon attacks. Only, the police officers present were able to keep it mostly under wraps, they had called for martial law, and soldiers marched the street. Ash didn't think any other city would look much different right now if the trigger for the towers was finally pulled, he only hoped that they weren't too late to save all these pokemon.

Their destination: the nursing home where Ash spend a large chunk of his time recovering from his coma.

Slipping out of the balloon one by one, Ash looked on at the facility tucked into the crook of the forest that wasn't on fire. His entire stomach felt like it was on fire, and his head was swarming with bats. Togetic perched on his shoulder timidly, having no recollection of the nursing home that carried his egg for months.

"Are you sure about this, Ash?"

"Yeah...I'm pretty sure." Ash quietly muttered, then turned around to look at his companions. He was still bruised, but he had plenty of time to heal when he was finished with trying to save the world. His eyes fell on Misty, who was slumped on the inside of the balloon again, and he felt sick knowing that she wasn't here with them.

"Brock and I will talk with her—Jessie and James, stay out here and watch Misty, okay?

"Yeah no problem." James offered a small smile, but no optimism was going to help fill the void in Ash's chest as he turned to face the facility once again.

Agatha, you old bat. Please have an alibi Ash mentally prepared himself, and then started the trek. Brock was on his heels, trying to rehash every detail they told Agatha, mortified to know that they, at some point, told her everything. At least everything leading up to the pokemon league party—now, that seemed like ages ago.

Brock knew that Ash desperately wanted to believe otherwise. Agatha was a rock, a founding member of Ash's confidence that lead to his arrival at his gym that fateful day—she was a guiding hand for months to come, and a mentor to Misty and Ash.

To think she could have... Brock put it out of his mind. He knew that while Ash was tunnel visioned at Agatha, he could search once and for all Abigail's office—have a few words with the therapist that released Ash.

"What if we're wrong?"

"We're not." Ash said, the feeling in his gut hadn't lead him astray yet, why would they now?

"But even you said Agatha was a great person in your dreams—she was at the Viridian City pokemon gym-"

"Which is the gym that Giovanni owned, Brock." Ash snapped, not meaning to. He muttered a weak apology, and slipped down the hill. Naturally, Brock tried to help the raven-haired man, but Ash swat his hands away and carried his shoulders with pride.

"I just don't think that you're thinking clearly, man. You're under a lot of pressure, and that thing with Misty—you have to feel like crap-"

"Brock!" Ash growled, unable to look at his old friend. His hands were shaking, and Brock took the cue. Now wasn't the time for moral compasses and judgment. Ash had every right to follow this thought through.

Master balls were not in normal people's position, and there is no way that Agatha would have one without... It did seem fishy—but she helped so much. She wrote the reference for Misty, warned her to be careful and...

Oh god, she was at the perfect position of power.

Stepping into the front doors of the nursing home after a year made Ash's feet wobble. He never suspected coming back so soon, and he never thought he would under the circumstances that he now found himself in. The offices were closed due to the time, and the front doors should have been locked, but the night staff forgot more often than not. A factor Ash relied heavily on as he strolled in.

Eyes were on him immediately, and some people reached for their phones—unfortunately for them, this was the only time the police line would probably be busy with calls of panicked pokemon trainers. He had at least an hour to sort everything.

Brock knew the glances weren't for their attire. Though they were both covered in mud and bruises, they smelled like soot and Ash, it wasn't the damage they were watching, but Ash's face. He was the crazed kidnapper and alleged murderer of Misty Waterflower—suddenly coming home again to exact his revenge.

Ash turned the corners he walked everyday. Pikachu and togetic glared at anyone that dared to approach them, and Brock followed closely until they arrived at the activity wing, where the frail old woman sat clutching her game cards, and a smug expression. She was winning. When Ash's feet touched the surface of wooden floor, her gray eyes danced from her game to his brown ones, and then she offered a smile that made Ash sick.

"Aww, if it isn't my old friend—what are you doing here?"

Ash gestured to the other places when he pulled up a chair, if it wasn't his sudden and hostile move that scared Scott and the other players away, it was the electrical spark frothing at pikachu's cheeks. Brock gulped, remembering the concern Gary had about Ash, and clutched the back of the chair that Ash was sitting on.

Agatha didn't flinch, actually, she found his disposition humorous.

"Is that any way to greet your elders?"

"Why did you give me the master ball?" Ash cut immediately to the chase, and Agatha slouched and whistled.

"Because I wanted you to succeed."

"Some friends of mine said only members of Team Rocket had access to them"

"And old members of the Elite Four—I got it before they were taken off the market."

Brock sighed, it was a really plausible answer, but Ash's lip quivered at the way Agatha brushed her hair from her face, and leaned on the wrists of her limbs.

"You're lying." he said brokenly. He could hear in her voice. Before, he confused it with snide confidence, what it really was, however, was her taking advantage of him in every way possible.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because master balls were never on the market."

"Not for young trainers. Elite Four members were considered above that—we all got one when-"

"When Team Rocket took over?" Ash groaned, slamming his hands on the table. This time, Agatha flinched.

"You lied to me?!" Ash screamed at the tops of his lungs, silencing the whole facility. Aside from the blurp of a distant fish tank, the staff started to tap their phones and approach. Ash threw up his arms.

"How could you lie to me!?"

"You're sure getting worked up over something you have no proof of—how did you get this information?" Agatha asked, her eyes narrowed and her brows knitted tightly together. Her back was flush against the seat when Ash stood.

"Agatha, I'm sorry, Ash is just under a lot of pressure—Misty was mind con-"

"Don't tell her anything, Brock!" Ash bellowed, then took a seat to try to contain his anger. He counted back from one thousand, then said.

"I assure you, if I knew it was being traced I would have never given it to you, Ash. You're my friend." When she reached for Brock for support this time, he jerked away, horrified. Agatha didn't seem to notice her slip—it must have been because Ash was shouting and having fit seconds prior; maybe it was finally her old age, but the two males stared very quietly at her as pikachu growled from the ground beside them.

She blinked a few times, and then realized her mistake by tucking her hands under the table. Her face was emotionless, completely unreadable when Ash finally breathed again.

"We never told you it was being traced."

"I assumed."

"Big assumption." Brock jumped in, eyeing her mercilessly.

"...Were you and Abigail working together?" Ash asked, uncertain of everything about his life. "Did Misty know you were crooked? Were you hired to keep an eye on me?"

Still no emotion as far as the eye could see, she finally broke slightly when her eyes twitched and she looked away. She threw up her hand, tried to clear the air.

"You're delusional. It's all that heat from the fire south."

Ash had to contain himself from screaming. He wanted to so badly it crawled up his chest and danced in his throat. He didn't want to yell or throw a fit, only scream and shout and throw his fists around. How could this have happened? How could he have never known—if he had only spoken up about the master ball a year ago when she gave it to him. If he hadn't trusted her so much.

"Yo-"

"Ash, you need to step away from her." At the corner of their eyes, they saw teal hair hanging in front of pale face: Abigail watched with a clutched clipboard. She was out of breath, having ran over from the other side of the building. Brock swallowed, noticing the security guards around them. The ones they used to restrain unruly patients. Agatha didn't move.

"Yes, remember. Abigail is-"

Ash interrupted Agatha before she could spout her nonsense. "Dr. Abby, did you take my journal?"

"...Yes."

Ash looked to her, with large, brown eyes. "And what did you do with it?"

She inhaled proudly, and yet also terrified. "I tore out the pages about the legendary pokemon, and any mention of your former companions."

Ash looked back at Agatha, and Brock stared at her, agape. Dr. Abby didn't seem to mind the confession, if anything, saying so made the guilt rise from her shoulders. Made her taller. Ash's eyes honed on the old lady.

"I always liked Abby. You said we couldn't trust her."

"I never said such a thing."

"Told me to watch my back—but that I could trust you, right?"

"Well..."

"You betrayed me."

Agatha snarled now, "Don't be so dramatic." Then, as if her mood switched, she smiled. "I was never on your side."

Ash she spoke these words, she put up her hands and clapped them, then waitd. When nothing happened, she clapped them again, and garnered a strange look from her visitors. Ash was prepared for a battle, but he looked awkwardly at Brock instead.

"If you were trying to bring your ghost pokemon here, I got rid of them ages ago." Dr. Abby spoke from the side, approaching Ash, and waving for the men who were approaching to come closer.

"Lock up Miss Agatha, would you? She's threatened these boys here."

"But miss-that one is-"

"I know who he is. Please do as I say. Twenty four hours should do."

"You-!" Agatha growled, and Dr. Abby hardly spared a glance at her before she was dragged away. Abigail set her charts down on the table and leaned over to get a better look at Ash, who was a sight for terribly sore eyes. For a moment, no one said a thing.

"Will you tell us what's going on?" Brock finally asked, desperately and Dr. Abby inhaled, then gave her sweetest smile.

"I think it's best if we talk in my office."

XOX

Her head didn't just hurt, it ached. It burned like her hair was on fire, and yet she felt nothing. When she grunted and spoke, it wasn't her voice, when she moved, it wasn't her body. Her thoughts were slippery slopes down a mountain in the middle of rain fall, and she was suffocating under the weight of the rest of her empty thoughts; and she had no control.

She was drowning, sinking to the bottom of the ocean floor that exploded. The pain felt like she never left that place—nothing but suffocating, endless.

What was going on?

"I hope he knows what he's doing... we're running out of time."

She knew that voice, it belonged to a lavender haired man. She licked her lips that were not her own lips. They felt so dry, in fact, her body felt cold, her throat was scratchy and numb. Had she been screaming recently? She couldn't remember screaming.

"Yeah, but how else are we going to find Giovanni?"

She also knew that voice, a woman's frustrated tone was very familiar. She too, carried that voice endlessly. However, her eyelids wouldn't lift on their own freewill. Sensations came back one by one, starting with the restraints on her wrists that her muscles slowly fought against.

"We're stuck here babysitting. We should be in there!"

"Meooowth!"

"Jessie, you've seen what he can do... You have to let him figure it out sometimes. His instincts are rarely wrong."

"You have too much faith in the boy, James. I'm starting to think finding him wasn't...We shouldn't have involved a bunch of kids."

"They're not kids." the man, James, yes, she knew that man. He argued back. "We went to him because we knew he could fix this."

"Maybe we were wrong...that's all I'm saying."

She started to chuckle, but it didn't belong to her. It fell from her lungs and parted her lips, but the sound was unfamiliar.

"You were."

She hadn't realized that her arms were free. Someone without thumbs might have tied the rope. That upset her, but she couldn't understand why she was tied up to begin with, or why she was pushing the two individuals, Jessie and James down the large hill, and watching them tumble head first.

She saw through eyes that weren't her eyes. Everything was so dark. Even the lights were quietly dimmed as the two humans swore at her. The pokemon beside her—the cat, she thought, was hissing violently, but again, the unfamiliar slip of laughter forced the pokemon into hiding.

Inwardly, she wanted to scream at herself to stop, but found her body's motions were not her own, her actions were no subject to her will. She was a puppet to a greater power, and all around her, she felt the weight of the world crippling her. When Jessie and James hit the bottom, she turned and looked up at the sky, then back to the building down below.

She knew that building. Once upon a time ago, she spent a lot of time there; it was almost like a home...but not her home. Someone very important to her; it was their home. It was a shame she couldn't remember. Instead, she turned and slowly made her way down the mountain, and her aching bones that weren't her aching bones carried her over a small bend, and down a beaten path. The smell of smoke infiltrated her senses, and she started to recall.

Attacking people—someone, forcing her pokemon to fight. She would have felt sick, but her stomach was not her own. The same way her lungs and voice were not her own.

"Really, those idiots were never worth the effort. I'm surprised they've made it this far." she said, but the disdain was not her own.

Someone else. Someone...

"Oh dear, you are terribly confused, aren't you? Don't worry. It'll be over soon."

It would be over soon. She felt so tired, like her eyelids were being pulled down low, yet her body kept moving. She had no more energy left to give, and yet she walked with grace and effort. She knew that she was being bad. Hurting her friends, but she couldn't stop.

She was drowning, stuck at the bottom of the ocean. The pressure in her chest was starting to suffocate her.

With hands that weren't her hands, that weren't her actions, she dug through the bottom of a tree, and removed a flare gun no larger than her hand, and loaded a flare into the barrel. She hummed in a tune that she was unfamiliar with, and her heart raced uncontrollably as she pulled the gun back, and fired it off.

"It'll be over soon..." her words fall out, and it's getting dark outside again. She's too weak to fight it now, and she felt the cold embrace, and the fuzziness finally faded away.

XOX

Once they arrived in Dr. Abby's office, with her uncomfortably bright colored sofa and chair and wallpaper that Ash remembered enjoying, but now thought was childish and uncomfortable, she sat them down, and shut the door quickly. For a time, she paced back and forth, searching for the answers to say, before finally stepping to her desk, and removing the journal she gave to Ash a year ago, and handed it to him.

"Agatha wasn't lying. I did work for Team Rocket. I gave them the information about you."

"You what-"

"Let me finish." She urged and gestured to her once pregnant stomach. "I gave them your notebook, and they returned it to me because it didn't have the information they wanted. They thought I messed up on purpose, they... I can't see my family. For so long, I hoped that it would just be over, and we could move on—but I was wrong. Pokemon started ripping down people's doors this morning, there's a fire in the forest that could consume the entirety of Viridian City, and—I'm so sorry."

Ash and Brock didn't know what to day.

"I want to help. What can I do?"

"I need to find Sebastian... he might know where Giovanni is, right?"

"Yes. He still has an apartment here. I don't know if he's still there, but he used to be very diligent on returning. Being away too long killed the flowers, he would say."

He even sounded like a nutcase, but neither of the boys made a comment, infact, Brock and Ash exchanged worried glances before looked at her abrasively. "...no offence, but why should we trust you?"

"You shouldn't." She answered immediately, her bright eyes watering. "But I need you to. My husband... Dr. Moss, he worked with Professor Birch when Team Rocket took them. We were running our own clinic back then, but Team Rocket didn't allow that—so they blackmailed us to work for them, and for awhile, it was...almost normal. Last year after I was assigned to you, they took him and...I...I thought it would be okay..." her face twitched uncomfortably, and Ash felt rocks hit his stomach. Brock reached forward to grab her hand apologetically, but she flinched away.

"They're horrible people, Ash. They can't win, and I see that now."

"Why now?"

"Look at you." She breathed, her voice hitching. "Look around you. This is a nightmare."

Ash felt his blood run cold at the confession. Yes. This was a nightmare. Even in his worst dreams within his dreams if he ever had any at all, he never imagined a world where his home was being destroyed by the very people he viewed as clowns in his dreams. They took it too far. The genuine fear in her eyes, the shaking in her tone, and the fact that her hair was tied up in two braids and looked to be unwashed told him that she hadn't returned home for some time. She was unravelling herself in the midst of the hell that was their lives, and so Ash inhaled, and nodded.

"Alright, what's the address?"

She leaned forward, and took the book from Ash's hands to scribble in the notes a hand-drawn map, and an actually address before staring at them both.

"You have to be care-"

"We have a problem!" James kicked down the door, Jessie in tow. They were both covered in dirt, and their faces were scratched up.

"Misty got the jump on us—she woke up and ran off somewhere. I think she's trying to alert the other Team Rocket members that we're here."

Instantly, they threw the sofa back with the force of their stand, and shared shocked expressions that togetic would have covered his ears for at one point. Dr. Abby, who gasped looked at Ash for an explanation, but he didn't offer one, instead, they shared a look.

"If we make it through this. We'll probably need to talk again." Ash addressed jokingly, earning an honest smile from Dr. Abby, where the whites of her eyes were bright pink.

"I think we'll both need it."

"Is this Agatha?" James asked, pointing to the teal-haired therapist as Ash gathered his few items and thoughts.

"No, we got what we needed though, let's get out of here before the police show up and throw me in jail."

One by one, they rushed out of the facility; the nurses who watched in awe and confusion, some of them in terror, all moved aside for the foursome as they made their way around the facility, dodging supply carts and racing through the front door. With some edge, they raced with renewed speed and optimism, and also a feeling of absolute dread.

"She signalled a flare from over there." James pointed once they were out of the building, and facing the fire. The flare had clearly burned out now, but hasty decisions were needed to be made. Ash clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, and then a red light flashed and charizard was standing next to him with a great roar.

"What are you doing?" Brock asked, looking flabbergasted at Ash.

"If she really did warn them, I have to get to the address Abby gave me before he leaves. If we wait, we could lose this chance forever."

"You're not going alone!" Jessie urged, trying to cut him off, but charizard's great wing separated them.

"You have to let me do this, and we don't have time to argue."

"Ash." Brock swore. "Don't you dare do anything stupid."

Ash's face turned dark, knowing exactly what Brock meant by the words; by the way his fingers dug into his shoulder blades, and his face stayed inches away from his. Naturally, Ash removed the bulge that had been resting against his back and creating a bruise and flipped the butt of the gun out to James, who blinked in concern.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"I'm not going to be stupid, Brock. Togetic, stay with Brock—I'll find you after."

James took the gun, but immediately tucked it away and stayed concerned at Brock, then at Ash who looked at the injured charizard. A fire burned behind his eyes and he nodded his assurance as Ash climbed on top of his back, using the flying gear he had readied for the dragon before he left professor Oak's house. It was slightly damaged from the fire, and he was still bleeding—but the damages were healing, and now, standing in the light of the moon, each of them could see the orange scales flicking the into the very color of Ash.

"I need you to go look for Misty—if she really is being controlled she's in danger, and so are the people around her and..." Ash trailed off, his shoulders slumped, but Brock nodded knowingly.

"I know. We'll look around."

"I'll be back. I promise."

Without another word, charizard kicked off the ground, and they were up, flying toward the downtown district through the thick haze that was beginning to cover the city.

Author's Note:

I was going to delve into more thought, but there's time for that after. I wanted to keep the pace fast and running, like split-second decisions—how the characters are feeling. It's a time crunch and time is thin so there isn't a lot of in-depth thought, just actions and moving. Sorry, guys, this had been planned for Agatha from the very beginning (Though originally she didn't 'gift' Ash the ball, she just left it with him without telling him, but I changed that, clearly) In defense of Dr. Abby, she never seemed malicious, and even tore out the pages in the journal, and seemed to always be 'watching' and hovering. It's a shame they sided with the wrong person. FYI, that's how TR was kept up to date.