Locked Away, Chapter 64
"Pikachu, stop!"
Screaming, Ash ran for Misty, but it was too late. Misty touched gyarados, conducting the electrical current through her own body.
Aside from the light peering through the ajar entrance, darkness swallowed them as the lightning dissipated with the collapse of gyarados. With no hesitation, Ash jolted forward, sliding over on his knees; he caught Misty before she hit the ground. A horrified pikachu followed, while psyduck and togetic stared without words. Both pokemon had nearly taken the hit from gyarados, but it wasn't the dragon they watched. Even gyarados, who was previously raging during the battle, cried out for his defeated trainer before slowly slipping into unconsciousness.
Ash felt sick.
Rotting away from the inside was fear. Ash felt it every time pikachu matched one of gyarados' blows, or togetic reflected an attack from one of her pokemon. Fear ate at him, it's why he held back, why he ran circles around her and tried to convince her pokemon to settle down.
Fear this would happen.
Eventually, when pikachu tearfully yelled at him, Ash found movement again. He shook her, softly at first, but then more aggressively. She was limp, but her body was hot and fevered. When he pulled her into his arms, he felt her head loll backwards, and her muscles contort weakly under his grasp. His foggy mind couldn't comprehend what he was seeing or feeling, or what to do next.
What did I do?! Pikachu cried as togetic flew down bravely to encourage Ash to speak.
"Misty wake up." he urged her, shaking her again. Tears burned at his eyes while togetic tried to keep him calm. His attempts were fruitless however, because Ash was panicking.
"Misty wake up!" he tried once more, but she only slumped further into his arms. Togetic wailed, demanding that Ash recall the first aid used when someone is electrocuted, but as the tears burst from his eyes, he could only think back to the doctor in the hospital.
Usually, the difference between shock and electrocution, is that people don't get back up after the latter.
Ash had to believe it wasn't that bad.
Pikachu chanted that he held back, that he stopped the moment she touched the current, and that Ash had to do something. Ash could barely think himself, let alone what he had to do for Misty. He squeezed her tightly, tears streaming down his face.
It felt like a century, but was certainly only a few seconds. Every moment her eyes were closed he felt dead inside.
He promised Brock. He promised Misty's sisters. He promised her. After all, as she liked to remind him so much in the beginning, it was Ash who dragged her into this mess. Surely, if Ash hadn't been around, Misty would have found a more civil way to handle the threat provided by Team Rocket. She had a good head on her shoulders in that regard. But then Ash showed up, with grand tales of adventure, and a destructive past and future.
Please wake up. He chanted mentally, biting down on the inside of his cheek until it bled. She was breathing light enough that he could feel it on his neck, but so lightly, he worried it wouldn't last. It was then that togetic's insistence weighed on his mind, and he exhaled.
Ash had to concentrate.
Accidents like this usually called for CPR. His hands shook violently as he tried to lay her on her back, terrified of letting her go. However, when his warmth left her body, she also had a reaction: her eyes blinked open, removing the dread in Ash's heart... until she looked at him.
Sea-green iris' swirled with agony as she realized what happened.
"Mis-" Ash tried but she flailed her arms forward, hitting his chest multiple times, wailing, eventually clawing at his chest until his arms draped around her once more, quietly rocking her back and forth while she cried.
"Just make it stop..." her voice cracked and hiccuped, not realizing that it was over.
Misty Waterflower didn't cry. She told him once offhandedly, the complete opposite of the woman bawling against his chest. Still, he squeezed her tighter, held her closer, until her sorrows drowned out.
Ash didn't trust his voice; not after the brief scare that Misty was done for. Not after the battle, and certainly not after everything he saw in the last year. So, his voice trembled as he managed to say: "...It's okay."
"It's not okay." She whined, wetness soaking through his shirt. "It's not..." She hissed, and Ash knew her pain all too well.
He felt it when Lugia died. Dread like nothing would ever be the same. The void where hope used to be. Guilt, that maybe he didn't care so much anymore, and anger, that he gave up so much to get to this point.
A few minutes passed, and Misty still vibrated beneath him, tearful, and a mess. Ash had no interest in moving. Holding her felt right. And in time, her sobs slowly turned into heavy breathing, and while he squeezed her, he could feel that she was broken up far more than he could ever understand. But at least now she could heal.
It wasn't until rumbling of the building roared above them that they remembered where they were. Outside of his racing heartbeat, the rest of the room was silent. She didn't want to move—but she had to. Misty coughed tiredly, but slowly pushed herself away. Leaving her hands on his shoulders, fingers still dug into his shirt, she stared at Ash.
"I...I didn't know what else to do." She whined while Ash touched her face gingerly, brushing his finger along her jawline and her lips. Her face was paler than usual, and while her eyes were puffy and red now, she looked timid. Terrified. "I couldn't control what I was saying, or doing...I..."
She flinched briefly, as if feeling the pain of the shock through her body once again. Her voice didn't waiver when she spoke again: "I had to make it stop."
"It's alright, Mist." Ash smiled, leaning forward to gently kiss her forehead. "I'm just glad that you're okay."
They sat like that for a while. Whether it was because they weren't sure what to do next, or because they were stunned. Pikachu slowly made his way over, setting himself between Ash and Misty, and slowly nuzzled into her chest, where she hugged him affectionately, with togetic and psyduck to follow. The three pokemon relaxed into her arms and Misty sighed gratefully.
"I'm so... so sorry guys." She whispered, loud enough that all of the pokemon could hear her. After all, she was the one that lead them here, for a battle she had no control over. Somehow, she still felt responsible. The bits and pieces that were fragmented from her shared time with Mewtwo poured into her mind as she tried to shake the headache.
"They said they're sorry." Ash grumbled quietly, reiterating what Misty already figured out from the affectionate gestures the pokemon provided.
"It's alright." She breathed quietly, stroking pikachu's yellow fur. Watching her felt surreal, as if the last hour hadn't happened. Except that...
"I thought you were really gone this time." Ash admitted honestly, his eyes threatening to tear over again, though she caught him off-guard with a sinister glare, and slight smirk.
"Did you check for a pulse, first?"
His face flushed, then she immediately asked: "Or consider CPR?"
"I..." He scratched his cheek, "...was about to start..."
Togetic muttered something about insisting on it, but the fairy-type pokemon allowed the comment to roll over their heads. Misty winked at togetic.
"Guess that means we're even." Smiling, she leaned forward, and planted a chaste kiss on Ash's lips, which was immediately met with retaliation from Ash, who grabbed her shoulders with the full intention to solidify the motion until she grunted in pain.
Ash veered back when she grasped at her shoulder where his fingers gently grazed her. Painstakingly, Misty gritted her teeth and chewed on her words for a minute, leaving Ash mortified that he hurt her anymore than he already had.
"Are you okay...?"
"Just a little more scratched up than I thought." She answered quickly trying to brush off the sudden stinging in her shoulder. She had a terrible poker face, however, because Ash's face fell.
Quickly, Ash demanded: "Let me see."
"Later...Ash..." Gasping, she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to smile. For now, she was simply glad to be awake, and herself. Not some psycho maniac. "Jessie and James still need our help, right?"
"Not if you're injured."
Misty grumbled, giving him a stern look. "It doesn't work like that, Ash. We still have to keep going."
Despite what she asked, his fingers still traced the outside of her arm and then curled around her back until she flinched uncomfortably as his fingers found the burnt wound seared into her upper left shoulder. She tried to take his hand away, but it lingered softly, and found her face again. He shook his head as he watched her eyes shift tiredly; how lucky they were after all.
Ash never had an exit wound, though he understood the importance of them. It's where the electricity leaves the body, if it goes through a major artery, a person could die—in Misty's case, it barely missed the most important one: her heart.
"...Chu..." The mouse quietly apologized again, though the redhead remedied his guilt by stroking his fur.
"You did nothing wrong." She promised. "None of you did." She assured Ash with a smile.
Even gyarados groaned, and somewhere in the distance, she knew that kingdra and starmie would, too. They were more at peace now that they were exhausted and broken, than they were battling. To make everyone feel better, Misty wanted to wave them off, tell them all she was perfectly fine and her head wasn't aching and her body wasn't vibrating, but she couldn't lie to them.
She hurt. Everywhere, and by watching Ash she knew that if she felt all of those things, his expression read them all, and reflected unfathomable guilt.
Overwhelmed, her lower lip quivered, and then despite the pain, she threw her arms up over his neck and squeezed him until he grunted into submission. Clearly, Ash didn't want to hurt her, so he kept his arms lose around her waist, but put his head in the crook of her neck. With the electricity turned off, sounds carried. Sounds of the fight still going on around them.
"Brii..." The floating egg asked again, nudging his nose against her arm gently.
"I'm okay. Honest." Misty smiled.
Ash exhaled quietly when she spoke. He wanted to call her a liar, but instead he pulled away, and pecked her cheek, and then her lips, and pressed his forehead against hers once more.
I thought you were gone didn't seem appropriate in the context, and so he kept it to himself, even though he knew that she was already aware of the problem. Ash needed this quick moment to recuperate, to breath once more. Then, he removed his light jacket and ripped it down the center, creating a crude bandage.
She didn't say anything as he draped the ruined clothing around her shoulders, and fastened it around her back, over the exit wound, and back around her chest. It was a little short, but he did with it what he could. At the very least, the wound wasn't as exposed.
"I don't think it's supposed to go over clothing."
"Well, I'm not a doctor, and I'm not going to try to remove your shirt from that wound—are you?"
Misty lowered her head and shook it. Truthfully, she wasn't even sure how bad it really was. It burned and stung, and felt a little numb all at once. Even so, she wiggled her shoulders trying to find a comfort zone, then thanked Ash, and used his shoulder to pull herself up. She gathered her pokeballs, and returned gyarados, starmie, and kingdra to their balls—and after patting psyduck's head, returned him as well. There wasn't much else to say. 'Thank you' wasn't appropriate, and 'I'm sorry' wouldn't change the last battle. In the end, she was glad they remained at her side.
Misty tried to play off the ache in her bones by exhaling and swinging her arms. While she parted ways with her own tired pokemon, Ash was brushing his hands over charizard several times whispering that the dragon would be okay, before red light flashed.
Slowly turning at Misty, Ash watched her wobble on her feet as she stared curiously at him, eyebrows knitted.
"What's wrong with charizard? I mean, besides the battle." She asked, once the room was dark again.
"...He..." Ash wanted to say that charizard was sick, but he honestly wasn't sure. He seemed stronger than ever, but tired even faster. It wasn't normal for any pokemon to go as long, or as hard as the demi-dragon had the last couple of weeks, and he owed a lot to charizard. Ash smiled at Misty deciding it was a conversation for another day.
"C'mon. Let's get you out of here."
"Excuse me?" She asked, jerking away from his touch.
Ash didn't budge, expression stern. "Jessie and James can take care of it until I get you to safety, and then I'll come back."
"Ash." She groaned, stubbornness and finality filling her eyes. "I'm not leaving. I'm going to see this through. You can't shoulder all of this on your own."
In response, Ash poked her in the shoulder, watching her writhe in temporary pain. "You're injured, Misty."
Ash's face was puffy from crying, escalated how brown his eyes were when he pouted. He was trying to be stern—but mostly, he frustrated her immensely. Ignoring his shrewd tactics, she brushed her thumb over his cheeks with the same kindness she had the week after he woke up in the Viridian City Hospital, the same kindness she carried everywhere with her.
"I'm not going anywhere. Injury or no injury. We do this together, or not at all." She winked playfully, and Ash's heart threatened to jump out of his chest in glee.
Obviously, he wanted to argue with her, but there was no point. They were both stubborn, neither of them were going anywhere—and besides, it wasn't fair. She had as much betting on this as he did. So, Ash couldn't help himself when he hugged her again. Tightly squeezing her, it probably hurt, but he held her there. Despite the rattling upstairs, and the building shaking, he didn't want to move, not yet.
"Still really sore, Ash. I didn't run around hugging you when you were broken." She reminded him as he released her, and his concern was replaced with sorrow.
"I'm sorry... For... everything."
Misty shook her head, clearly frustrated and waved her hand. Silencing him.
"If you apologize again, you're going to be sorry." With a gentle shove, she pressed Ash forward, holding his shoulder to keep her balance while she tried to get her movement under control.
"I got as far as the control room last time—that's where he's keeping Mewtwo. We should hurry before the trio screws it up again."
Ash opened his mouth to retaliate, maybe defend them—but it was true. Instead, Ash smiled and wrapped his left around around her back, strategically placed below the exit wound that they would need a doctor to look at, and helped her forward.
"Great. I love stairs."
Misty groaned bitterly in response.
XOX
The prison was much bigger than it looked from the outside. The many rocks surrounding the place dampened the cobwebbed belly. James was sure that at one point, this facility was some lifeless, terrifying place. Held over peoples heads as a reminder to stay diligently in the lines, or end up here.
It was wicked, is what it was. No doubt the rickety assessment of stone chambers and metal, medieval bars are the reason the Kanto region updated their prisons. Criminals were still people, after all. They spent years outlawing the use of the Sevii Island prison, and yet—James tried not to scoff, the pounds they threw pokemon in were the metal variation of this. Dark, decrepit, and somewhere down the dark hallways was always a water leak. Drip. Drip. Drip.
If James wasn't focused on finding Giovanni and reading signs, the setting may have taken its toll on him. He wasn't a fan of the dark, but he lived in it for the last ten years.
Veering right at a sign reading "operations" James jogged slowly, hoping that he could clear this side out, and meet back up with Jessie. Unless Giovanni was hiding in a literal jail cell, he had to be in one of the offices—James only hoped that Jessie wouldn't run into both their former boss and Mewtwo. The mere thought of it sent shudders down his spine, and quickened his pace. Gone were the remarks about the surroundings, and quickly his thoughts tunneled to one step forward, and searching for Givoanni's ugly, smug face, and red suit.
Slowly, James jog came to a crawl as he neared a room with a dim light—emergency power. Not a lot of the lights were still in working order, but every now and again, the darkness would light up with an exit sign. Giovanni, the lavish mob-boss was living like a mole-man, hiding away in dusty old caverns...why.
James stooped, keeping out of view of the room while he watched from the crack in the door as Giovanni smashed his hands against some computers, and took a momentary sigh of relief. At least, Jessie wouldn't have to face Giovanni—he worried over nothing.
"Come out James, I can see you hiding in there." Giovanni grumbled, fumbling over some switches.
James froze. Blinking once and looking around him. He was totally concealed in the darkness, there was no way that he should have been able to see him, and yet...
"Don't make me come out there and get you myself!"
Jumping to his feet, a startled James approached the door, and swung it open with an ear wrenching creak. Giovanni never once turned to look at him.
"Have you come here to stop me?" And finally, the man turned, hesitating when he saw what James had removed from the back of his belt.
He was staring down the barrel of a gun, with James holding it.
"No more games." James inhaled, willing his hand not to shake. "You're done."
XOX
Jessie carried meowth in her arms as they walked to the control room. James' distant footfalls disappeared shortly after he left, leaving her and the cat pokemon in the silence of their own thoughts. Both were glad that James took the cells, leaving them to the offices and control rooms. Jessie couldn't be certain, but the longer they walked, the more paranoid meowth became.
It's up here. I can smell it. The cat hissed, wriggling out of Jessie's arms, to scope the area out ahead. Jessie followed close behind, one hand clenched over her stomach in sickening anticipation.
Years, since they saw the creation for the first time. The abomination created by man playing god. A failed science experiment that should have never happened, and was the hidden weapon behind this entire ordeal.
As the duo neared the room, they hesitated for only a moment, then opened the creaking, metal door into the control room where the creature laid quietly in stasis. The tank he floated in was darkened, but undamaged. Misty's work prior was quickly noticeable, given the destroyed computer equipment, as well as broken power boxes. Sparks flicked across the room, bringing Jessie to the conclusion that the tank was running solely on auxiliary power... which judging by the condition of the prison. There wasn't a lot of that left, either.
Seeing Mewtwo in this state was odd. The last time she witnessed the pokemon, he was still hooked to wires and technology she couldn't begin to understand. His condition was far worse; a sickly creature, hunched over. Looking at him now, he seemed... almost healthy, in a disgusting way. Hopefully, disconnecting him from the last of the power source would do the trick, and slowly kill the monster, as they all hoped.
Because honestly, none of them considered getting this far. Once they were facing Mewtwo—how were they expected to stop it? Jessie didn't have any pokemon, and meowth was more of a talker, not a fighter.
"What do we do now that we're here?" Jessie asked aloud, a simple question. One would think, that without power, the pokemon inside would die.
However, he appeared to still be functioning. Breathing at the very least, if the bubbles gave any indication. Diligently, meowth jumped onto the switch board, and with a couple of claws, ripped away at the final cords connected to Mewtwo's tank, and jumped away before it could react. Although they came here to end this, the completion was literally to find a way to kill the creature. While it made both of them greatly uncomfortable, they acted without thinking too much about it.
Guess we should break it. Meowth grunted, though Jessie was way ahead of him, grabbing a metal bar from the ground, and swung at the tank.
The bar never reached the glass; instead it flew from Jessie's hands, and directly into meowth who shot backwards into the hallway. Before she could blink, Jessie's entire body slammed into the concrete wall behind them, and without Mewtwo needing to move a limb, she fell unconscious.
Stupid humans, Mewtwo's unsettling voice hung in her mind as she curled up, thinking that perhaps, she could have planned this out a bit better.
XOX
Without the light, Ash and Misty struggled to see down the hallways and up the staircases Misty climbed earlier. Togetic mostly lead the way, as he and pikachu could see in the dark, and save for a few flashes from pikachu and the occasional emergency exit sign, they were walking blind and stumbling every few steps. The struggle made a hard journey even longer.
Misty wincing with each step didn't help either. Truthfully, Ash could have probably already been up the stairs and fighting Mewtwo if he wasn't trying to help her. Still, Ash kept his hand firmly on her waist, and with each step they gained some momentum. After her explanation of her early memories of the island, Ash was seething inside. She tried her best to explain where they were going, but it looked so different in total darkness. In hindsight, perhaps she should have destroyed the whole control panel.
Meanwhile, Ash grumbled that if it was him, he would have started throwing lightning bolts and fire in every corner the second he stepped into this place.
"We can't all solve our problems with violence and destruction, Ash." The way her voice strained, he knew that she originally planned to take care of everything quietly. Avoid anymore fights or blood shed. It was a shame that Mewtwo had a twisted since of humor, and no value for the creatures around them.
"Yeah, well." He mumbled but she pinched his shoulder, so he bit the rest of his comments down onto his tongue.
Eager to end the silence, and place her mind on something other than the pain running through her back, Misty exhaled: "How is everything else? Everyone else?"
Surprised by the question, Ash stumbled over his own feet, but quickly corrected his footing.
"...I honestly don't know." he grumbled. "...Brock came back after the fire started in Viridian Forest, and we left him at Celadon Bay when we came after you."
A familiar pain ran up his back recalling the memories. Ash slowly added: "...and it was Agatha that betrayed us."
Silence over took them, the mood shifted quickly at the revelation. Apparently it wasn't the distraction Misty was looking for, and she grew uncomfortable.
"...Bitch." Misty grumbled in quick retort that summarized how Ash felt about it. It was so on point, in fact, a laugh started at the core of his stomach and rolled out of his mouth until he was shaking. Misty didn't add to the noise, as it hurt to laugh, but she did smile.
"I vaguely remember..." Her nose scrunched in thought, lifting her foot, wondering when the stairs would end. "Sebastian... what happened to him?"
Instantly, the laughter died, and Ash swallowed hard against the lump in his throat.
"Dead." Was all Ash managed to say.
Misty gasped, eyes furrowed-worry slipping in. She hadn't her full memories and she remembered vaguely giving him a signal. Her voice cracked.
"...Dead? How?"
Ash opened his mouth, but no words escaped. Togetic swooped in to give him the words, whispering kindly into his ear as he struggled to reiterate.
"...he...I...on the boat here..." licking his lips, struggling, Misty finally rubbed his back. Mercy.
"S'alright. Tell me later. It doesn't matter right now."
It did matter right now. It all mattered right now because it added the fuel to Ash's fire to huff up the stairs a bit faster, to pump adrenaline into his bones, to remind him that nearly two-days awake was going to be worth the end result. Misty had to know who else...
"Lugia, too." Ash added, his fingers gripped her sides painfully, then released.
"...oh..."
Words could not express the emotion that washed over her face, and for once he was glad he couldn't see it. Misty was already dizzy, injuries and such-the added revelations made it worse. Had Ash not been her anchor, she would have collapsed. Luckily, Ash noticed and held her waist a little tighter, and held her upright.
"How?"
"Ho-oh went ballistic. Snapped his neck—or something worse. It was terrible." Stammering and exhaling, Ash's voice hitched and cracked.
"When? At the forest...?" Misty swayed, startled by the comments.
"No." Ash laughed in spite of himself, and shook his head. How bitter this all was. "Right before we walked in here."
Again, in the tiniest voice imaginable, she whispered: "...Oh..."
In painful agony, silence folded between them, lost in their own thoughts as they grunted and shuffled down the hall. Talking was bad. It didn't take away the thoughts of pain, but added to them. A surprise bonus, was that because of the rage, Misty grew stronger with each step from there on. Ash may have been holding her up, but it was her presence that was keeping him steady. They were both spent, but the rumbling above them only added to the terror and their drive. Now, more than ever.
"Only a few more steps to go." She pointed to the darkened sign that read "administration" and pointed up. It was a damn shame the elevators didn't work. Though, Ash looked around curiously, he wasn't sure such a run-down place would have some. This place had to have been designed in the stone age.
Waiting a few beats until he heard her labored breathing, Ash finally spoke to take her mind off the infinite steps that she leaped over only a few hours ago.
"You remember how we talked about vacations?"
"This again, Ash? Right now?" Misty laughed ironically, shaking her head.
"Yeah, right now." Ash said stubbornly. "After the island trip with Brock, I want to go to Paris, or Kalos, or whatever it calls itself. Assuming there is one left to go to—just the two of us. Maybe go see some plays, take a stroll around the old boardwalks..."
Chuckling, Misty squeezed his shoulder affectionately and shook her head.
"Whatever you want, Ash."
Ash frowned. "Guess that's the age old question, huh?"
"I guess it really depends on how long we spend in the hospital this time." She tried to chuckle, make light of the situation but Ash didn't find her remark the least bit funny. Misty continued regardless.
"At this rate, I'm going to be spending time with a sociopath at an assisted living home, going to physical therapy. I swear I haven't had this much trouble with stairs since I broke my ankle when I was twelve."
Ash couldn't help himself. He laughed. "You could always let me carry you."
"My pride, Ash. It would never recover from that." Misty scoffed as she rolled her eyes.
Then, as if the stairs were never going to end, they saw the final break above them, and the energy returned to Misty. She practically left Ash behind to reach that final step. At the top, the hallway seemed darker than it ever had been before, but far less creepy now that the lights weren't flickering above her. It was no wonder this prison was supposed to be obsolete. It felt like a horror house.
Misty eagerly lead him forward.
"It's just a little more, I remembe-"
Bang. A crack of gunfire rang through the hallway to their right. Misty had already stepped one foot in the direction of the control room, which howled at them now. Drawing their attention to the direction of the control room, a harsh gust of wind swooped through the hallway, knocking them both down. Ash caught Misty before falling onto his knees himself. A second later, the force was gone, and they were left in complete silence.
"Guess we're destined to be separated." Misty chuckled ironically.
"No way." Ash firmly stated, helping her back to her feet. She wouldn't face him when she walked a couple steps forward, waving her hand in the direction of the gust of wind.
"Mewtwo is that way." The way she said his name brought attention to the way her body shook after the wind pierced their skin. She almost seemed okay before then, but now, she was low-key hyperventilating. Shaking like a leaf in autumn. Despite her reservations, he believed she was much safer with him, than without.
"And there's gunfire that way." Ash gestured worriedly though Misty sighed, her eyes drifted away from him, down the hallway to the cells. She hugged herself tightly, her nails digging into her arms until she was white-knuckled.
"I...I don't think.." She inhaled shakily. "I'm not ready to face Mewtwo again. I can't." Misty grimaced, finally catching his eyes as she spun back around to face him. Her face pale in the darkness. Quietly, she added: "With what has happened, I think you would be better off if I wasn't there."
"But Misty, I..." Ash started, but watching her expression, he knew better. He, as well as togetic and pikachu, lowered their shoulders and nodded.
"If you think that's best." he resolved.
Lying to herself, Misty winked at Ash. "It won't be for long. For all we know that bang was just a noise and I'll be back to help in no time."
Ash heard the dishonest optimism, but decided against calling her out on it. She was resigning to her fears. Unsure if she would be used by Mewtwo again or not, unwilling to find out. Admitting her own weakness was hard enough, Ash wouldn't press the issue. After all, he understood why. She threw herself into a bolt of lightning, just to be free. Ash hadn't the same experience, but even the brief moment he heard Mewtwo in the forest, Ash felt what kind of power the creature manifested, and how frustrating it must have been for Misty.
"Every time we separate, something bad happens." Ash offered, taking a step closer to her, arms out stretched.
"We cover more ground this way." Misty offered in return, some courage returning to her glare.
"And if something happens?" Ash asked, nearing her as she took the last step forward, hugging him fiercely.
"Nothing will happen. It'll be alright." She was lying. She didn't know that, but it didn't stop him from appreciating the effort as he wrapped his arms around her upper body.
When another howl blew past them; a shudder ran down Misty's spine, though Ash hardly felt the same intimidation, he did feel anger... or a connection of some sort. His eyes glued to the corridor ahead of them. Maybe Misty wasn't all wrong, he was probably better off alone. Two familiar nudges hit him in the leg at the thought, and he grinned, nuzzling Misty's red hair quietly. Right, he was never alone. He had pikachu, and togetic, and charizard, and the rest of his pokemon. Jessie, meowth and James were here, too.
Before he could pry himself away, Misty kissed his forehead, squeezed his face between her hands, then kissed him one last time.
"I love you." She said affectionately, and narrowed her eyes, trying to see his face. "And thank you."
Ash's heart skipped once, and he lunged down to hug her, but stopped short of squeezing her in memory of her wounds. Part of him, again, wasn't sure if he wanted to let her go, or stay here and suffer the consequences.
"I love you, too." Before he could add to it, confess his inner-most fears and revelations by speaking about how much he needed to hear those words, or how terrified he was; Misty pressed a finger against his lips.
"No more goodbyes, I'll see you soon." With that, Misty shoved away from him, placing one hand against the left wall to keep her balance. She winked. "Be careful."
"When am I not?" He asked, unable to hide the sheepish, red blush from crawling over his features. Misty smiled, giving him that look, knowing that Ash was a walking time-bomb.
When he wasn't sure what else to do, because she was right—this wasn't a goodbye. He backed away one step at a time with togetic and pikachu taking their final bows, then ran down the opposite corridor, leaving Misty alone.
She waited until he disappeared in the darkness to slouch against the wall, and let the coughing consume her. Even her limbs felt too heavy to be hers, but she pressed herself against the wall, and counted back from one-hundred to get her barrings. Her mind and body ached like someone drug her through a ponyta race, growing worse and more panicked when she felt Mewtwo's presence again. She had to keep going, but the tears that stung her eyes once more forced her legs to shake. Be careful, Ash. Please be careful...
Slowly, she kicked away from the wall, using her hand to support her as she started her own descent into the darkness. For better or worse, this would be their last goodbye.
Meanwhile, Ash was on a different wavelength. His new found courage brought him barreling through the hallways until he could run no further. Inside the room marked formerly 'control room', he saw meowth outside of a busted door, and inside, an unearthly glow.
Welcome, Ash.
Ash knew he wouldn't need an introduction. This monster already knew him—so as he turned away from meowth to face down the creature peering at him with glowing blue eyes, Ash knew one idea was for certain: this was the end.
Author's Note:
I REALLY didn't want to do long author notes, but I always feel the need to explain myself. Just shoot me.
Real quick regarding gyarados: I know that he isn't a dragon and he is only flying/water, but charizard is also only flying/fire, but I stated early on in the story that I was going to refer to them as dragon simply because it's easier to describe them (maybe it was a bad call, but it's too late to change that!). As far as gyarados 'dying' from the shock-I assume that because gyarados is a pokemon, he has some resistance to electricity despite being super weak to it, otherwise, battling pokemon would be considered criminal, right? Electric pokemon would never be allowed to fight water pokemon if it meant they would absolutely die every time a pokemon used thunder. I have more on this, but I'm not writing it all out.
I kept saying I was going to include this, then deciding it wasn't worth it, but then, I don't want to come off as SUPER unrealistic, so... As for how Misty survived when I said formerly that pikachu's shocks kill humans. When you touch an electrical current (pikachu) directly, you transfer that electrical current through your body at the maximum voltage, usually resulting in major injury or death. When that electrical current passes through another object first, that voltage is reduced by 'half' (technically, oversimplifying) especially if the current of electricity has multiple places of exit, and isn't a continuous source (power supply vs battery with limited supply). In the case of low voltage/high voltage, both can be as equally dangerous depending on how long a person is in contact with the voltage, in Misty's case, it had to be a fraction of a second because unless you are GRABBING an object delivering an electrical current, then your body will naturally jolt away from the offending object. Important to note: if doing this to a live wire at the SOURCE of a current, you will still likely die-as in the case of falling powerlines. In that scenario, the current is also CONSTANT which means your body would be fed a continuous flow of electricity until the power is shut off. However, if that current is already running through an object (another human or fake pokemon, for example) the chances of receiving a full shock is cut by however much of the current is currently tracking another source out of the body/object PLUS if the flow of electricity is CONSTANT or not. In MOST scenario's where a flow of electricity is not constant, shocks are not lethal (shocked by battery vs shocked by outlet) Constant flow removes the opportunity to remove yourself from the object, or for the current to completely end. WHEN a current ENTERS your body, it wants to LEAVE as quickly as possible (entrance wounds and exit wounds) so if you are touching a CONSTANT your body will burn from the inside out, however, if the current is NOT constant (as in, turning off the power/pikachu ending the attack) then once the electricity leaves your body, it's gone (reasons why more people survive lightning strikes than power lines). Finally, since humans are complicated creatures, who have multiple ways inside of their body to obstruct the flow of electricity; assuming pokemon also have this, the ratio at which they conduct electricity is compromised thus leading to a lower dose of electricity at the transfer point from person to person, or object to object. Misty survived because of science, and because I'm not a dick.
I actually sat in an electrical engineering seminar and asked the fucking teacher a million and one questions just to make sure that my original idea could still be viable in this writing, but nonlethal. Couldn't add it into the story because if it's from either Ash or Misty's POV, this isn't knowledge they would know/care about at the moment. So...
NINT