Welcome to Chapter 2! Sorry for the title change! Anyway, thanks for giving this a chance! Now, on with this story!
Ash: The Rising of a Hero Chapter 2: The Sacrifice
"Rai-Rai-chu!" Raichu exclaimed, electricity forming on his cheeks for about the fifth time this week. May was having more and more of issue in calming down. A dish of food didn't even work anymore. It was obvious what was wrong. It missed its trainer. He felt so alone, felt guilty for not coming along. He just couldn't bring himself to stay in a Pokeball for an undetermined amount of time. It was too much of a challenge for him.
He wasn't worried like all the others. He knew his trainer could handle himself, he just felt bad for letting him go without him at his side, like he had always been. He felt like he had abandoned his best friend to face the most horrible things of the world by his lonesome, which was pretty much what happened.
"Come on Raichu!" May cooed with her best "sweet and charming" voice she could muster, which would have worked on just about anything. But not Raichu, unfortunately. He was determined. And when he was, nothing could stop him. A trait he retrieved from his trainer, obviously. "He is coming back soon, I promise."
"Rai!" Raichu stomped its foot on the ground, leaving a dent on the metal table he was currently inhabiting. He didn't care, he needed to see him. Now, to be in fact. His cheeks still charged, he stood on all fours, growling at her. She was simply in the way, he didn't want to hurt her. But if he felt he had to, he wouldn't hesitate one bit.
"I know. I understand. I hate it when someone you care about is gone for such a long time. Its unbearable. It feels like you can't just stand around and do nothing." May looked at Raichu, noticing that he posture relaxed a bit, his eyes showing sadness and pain, the same she felt.
"Well, not exactly," she thought to herself. But she did understand where he was coming from.
A person you spend half of your life with eventually comes to take a special place inside you. One that seemed to never be complete without them. May knew this feeling all to well. She placed her hand on her heart like she did so many times when thinking of him.
He was charismatic, brave, he never let anything get him down in the dumps, at least not for long. He was a great leader as well. The best one possible in the times they currently lived in. Although not the brightest, he still came up with things that no one else could, and he always had a plan. He was just that unique, apparently.
"Too bad he is so dense!" She shook her head in frustration, not noticing Raichu tilting his head in confusion. "After all the hints I have given!" She remembered all the times she 'tried to attempt' to admit her feelings, although she usually failed. She still couldn't get over her shyness when it came to him. It wasn't in her personality to be shy, at least that what she said. But whenever she managed to actually imply she did, he was always too busy with something else to register what she thought was a clear indication. It ticked her off, a little too much.
"Chu!" She looked down, just now realizing Raichu was shaking her arm, trying to straighten her out of the trance she had been in. She mentally jumped for joy, Raichu wasn't PO'ed anymore, but she thought she did her best to contain her feelings, which didn't work so well for her, apparently.
She sighed, looking at the time on her PokeDex. " ...what did he get himself into this time?" She groaned as she thought of what could have possibly gone wrong.
"Pidgeot, we need to hurry it up!" Michael looked back behind them, noticing some Philet soldiers on their own flying Pokemon. A Salamence and Flygon to be exact, but he could care less about the details. They were getting chased, and they were to close to home. They would have to lose them THEN go back to base.
"Michael, we need to think of something!" Ash continued to hang on to Pikachu. Even though now awake, he still wasn't in the right health to protect them.
"I've noticed, sir!" He said this with bitter sarcasm, Ash just shook his head, trying to think of something. Another Ice Beam shot by them, even though it missed, they could feel the chill. Pidgeot continued its evasive maneuvers to dodge the attacks, and it was working. For now...
"Okay Ash, I have a plan! Take this!" Michael handed Ash a default Pokeball, and nodded at him. Ash tossed it to there right. A red, dragon-like Pokemon emerged from the white energy, giving it's trainer a loud roar, immediately understanding the situation.
"Ash, get on him. He will fly you to safety." Ash looked at his friend, although they had only been friends for a year, he couldn't imagine himself leaving Michael like this.
"I can't do that." Ash looked at the Pokemon that flying perfectly beside them, a simple distance away to where Ash could easily jump to him without problem. The only problem was that he refused to do so.
"Ash." Michael started, earning him the attention from the Resistance leader. "They need you. If you want to help thousands of people be able to live their lives to the fullest, you must understand you WILL sacrifice others to achieve this goal. It's unavoidable."
Ash moaned, still in denial. Michael's two Pokemon continued to fly at a constant speed, still dodging the attacks that were being launched at them.
"We fight to make the impossible possible, Ash! That is our focus!" Ash looked at his friend, then gave him a short nod, full of sadness and regret.
"I am sorry, Michael." Ash felt the tears about to come. He still couldn't take the responsibility of risking a friend's life.
"Don't be. I have no regrets. Besides, who said this was the end." Ash was still surprised to see the ex-soldier have a smile in these dire moments. These moments could be his last, yet he continued to fight for his friends. Ash admired him for this, and decided to jump to the awaiting Pokemon to be able to say that Michael did not make his sacrifice in vain.
"Okay Ash! See ya on the other side!" Michael and Pidgeot made a U-turn into the Philet soldiers, an attempt to get Ash the available distraction he needed to escape. "Come get me suckers!" Pidgeot shouted its own taunt as well as they zoomed by the soldiers, earning their attention. Ash laughed at how easily they got side-tracked.
Ash let a single tear fall as he saw a Hyper Beam finally hit Pidgeot, making him and Michael spiral down into the emptiness of the forest. "There is no time, Pikachu." He said, as Pikachu started to pout in protest, wanting to save Michael from his fate. "We are no good to him dead."
As Ash and Pikachu flew away on Michael's Charizarrd, he thought of what he was going to tell the others. "We need to tell them, Pikachu. They deserve to know." Pikachu uttered a noise signifying his agreement, although he still felt bad about abandoning Michael. Ash felt the same way, but he flew on anyway.
"May he go down fighting if he must go down at all..."
"Get your hands off me!" The young man got his request, only to be shoved on the ground, which wasn't a new feeling to him. The only problem was the bruises he had already received from his punishment.
"So, are you gonna tell us." The soldier in black,the armor and color showing his rank and personality at the same, laughed. He stopped, and held his finger to his left ear before speaking.
"No sir. I only got the one who has managed to sneak his way into our ranks. The other got away..." The man looked at the young man as he got his new orders. He chuckled very lightly, but enough to let the ex-soldier hear him.
"You got it. I will get the information." The Colonel grabbed the boy by the neck of his shirt, lifting him in the air a good twelve inches. "You will tell me what I want to know."
The prisoner spit on the Colonel's helmet. The commanding officer threw him at the wall. Michael managed to slow himself down enough not to run into it. The officer punched him int mouth, causing the Resistance member to fall to the ground.
"You are gonna to have to do better than that. I went through tougher crap than this in basic training."
The colonel laughed at his remark before starting to talk toward the prisoner.
"You are gonna regret saying that, sonnie."
"What do you mean he's gone!" Ash yanked the ice pack from the girl's hand, his was in no mood to be questioned right now. Unfortunately, he had no choice in the matter.
"Ash, you have done some stupid stuff before...but leaving a friend to die! Are you insane!" The girl put her hands on her hips in frustration from his actions. "I mean, come on! You couldn't convince him to-"
"No I couldn't Misty! Everyone knows how stubborn he is!" Misty stepped back from the sheer force he spoke with. She had never seen Ash like this. She then realized what she had done. Her face softened into one of compassion.
"I am so sorry Ash. I should of known you would have stopped him if you could." Ash looked at ground, Misty noticing a tear fall from his eyes. Before she had the chance to comfort him, another one of his friends walked in. Misty nodded at her, said her good byes to Ash, then left it all to her.
"Hey Ash..." He looked into her eyes, allowing her to see how broken he was from the experience. He looked back to the ground, and started sobbing. She took her place next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He seemed to relax from her touch, which found a little surprising. Too bad there was no time for those thought. He needed to be comforted, ASAP.
"I wish I could say I know how it feels, but I can't." Ash nodded from her comment, not doing much else other than wiping the ever-coming tears from his eyes. "All I can know for sure is that I can say, he did it for the right reason."
Ash rubbed his nose, looking into her sapphire eyes. "How so?"
She put her forefinger on her chin in contemplation. "He knew you were too important to risk, and saw that you should go instead of him. He knew, Ash, that we couldn't risk losing you. He did it for us, not himself. And that is why he shall be remembered in our fight. We shall shout his name when we deliver the final blow to this evil empire."
Ash stood up, looking down her with the confidence back in his eyes, a smile on his face. Not a fake one, but a legit one, one she hadn't seen in a while.
"You're right,May!" Ash offered her his hand, pulling her up off the couch they had been sitting on. May took his hand and was pulled, a little too closely for comfort. She felt his breath on her neck, a tingling feeling she had never felt before. There was almost no space left between them. As a blush crept its way onto both their faces, they jumped away from each other in embarrassment.
"Okay." Ash started, the red tint leaving his face. " We need to make a plan. Michael must be avenged in anyway we can."
May nodded, still not being able to speak from their close proximity moments before, nodded in agreement. Ash tilted his hat at her, then left the room to tell the others about what happened, and what they were going to do about it.
"Whew. That was close." May followed after him, returning back to her normal self again. A smile on her face, she greeted her friends and partners with her usual cheerfulness.
"The boy has very impressive willpower." The Colonel's hologram projection stood before the General, giving him an update from their recent capture of a very important Resistance soldier.
"I would be surprised if he didn't." The General looked at his data pad, which contained a load of information on their new prisoner. "He is just like his father. It would be a shame he ended up the same way as him."
"Why is that sir?" The Colonel had his head slightly tilted in question, why was this kid so important. Why didn't they just execute him?"
"Let's just say he has a...unique gift that we need. It will help us more than you imagine." The General put down his data pad and crossed his legs. "Anything else to report, Officer?"
"That is all, sir." The soldier saluted the General, earning him one back.
"Dismissed!"
Michael looked at his cell, doing his best to relax his mind and body from today's session. He looked at the ceiling n contemplation. They were either going to find out what about him, or they were going to kill him. Neither option seemed that pleasing in his mind. But then again, he knew that it would be tough when he sacrificed himself for his commander and friend.
And he still didn't regret it. Not a bit. Even though he analyzed it many time by now, he still found no fault in his actions. He felt accomplished, and he would rather die like that then leaving in a God forsaken hole ine the ground. Ironically, he was in one right now.
Another reason why he didn't' feel worried or panicked was because he had a plan. It was a long shot, but if it worked. He would be able to see her again.
And that was the only thing he could hope for at the time. The thought of being able to see her face again was what kept him going. Her and only her. And don't forget Raichu.
He was almost tired of waiting. He wanted to act, to break out and see them all. But he needed to have patient, over eagerness could get him killed. He needed to act like he had no where to go in front of these guys.
But he couldn't wait to long. It could cost him his life.
"Yes, Ash? Need another update?" The soldier looked to his left and right, making sure no one saw him. This get could him killed for sure. H looked back at the small screen on his wrist-watch.
"Is he there?" The soldier saw the despair in his leader's eyes. Luckily, he had good new this time.
"I believe so." Ash sighed in relief, wiping the sweat off his forehead. This had been bothering him for the last couple hours. The soldier coughed though, which got Ash's attention.
"But I think they know..."
Ash looked at him, that same look coming back to his face. "You mean...?"
"I am afraid so. You need to act now." The soldier turned his head sharply to his right, but saw nothing. Not even a shadow. He made sure that nothing bad was happening as he turned back to his watch.
"I can't, Seth."
Seth looked at him with worry and shock. Why? How can he not? So many thoughts came into his head, why couldn't Ash Ketchum, the proud and confident Resistance leader not be able to do this.
"Michael told me I had to able to sacrifice one for many. I can't do it the other way around. I am so sorry, Seth." Seth looked to his feet, but a smile appeared on his face, which startled the living daylights out of Ash.
"Somehow I knew there would be complication...so I made a Plan B." Ash's eyes brightened at the sound of that.
"How can I help?"
Seth chuckled, amazed at how the mood of their predicament could change so rapidly."Sorry, Ash. You can't this time. I got this one." He turned off his watch and started walking to te right wing of the base.
"This time... I will save him!"
"Looks like his is safe everybody!" The whole room erupted in cheers and shouts of joy, and some fist pumps were included. The Resistance was not going to lose a proud member today, at least. They continued to howl and hoot there heads off. Although this wasn't exactly the best news, it was the only decent news they have heard in months.
"Everyone, get some shut eye, I think we all deserve it." Ash received very few refusals and complaints about it as they all head to their quarters. Well, most, anyway.
"Looks like you needed the good news, huh?" Ash turned around to see May walking up to him. She leaned her back against the wall, her arms folded across her chest. Ash sighed, rubbing his eyes. "...and a good sleep, too."
Ash looked at her, then snickered at her comment. "I have no time for beauty rest, May."
May huffed at that. "Arceus knows you need it." She looked at him with her usuay perky smile. Ash couldn't help but return it, it was an old habit of his that he never noticed he had before.
"Very funny. The way you look, May, you look like you get too much." Ash's eyes widened as he realized what he had just said. May looked at him, and eyebrow raised, but found a blush bruning its way across her face. "Ash...was that a compliment?"
Ash looked at her, eying the smirk she had on her face. He allowed one to form on his face as well. "Take 'em when you get 'em, May." As he walked away, May found herself almost jumping for joy at what he said.
"He called me beautiful. Didn't he? Yeah! Of course he did!" She jumped for joy, and found herself skipping down the hall. She couldn't help it. Ash has never called anyone pretty before. It was something to be proud of, in her opinion.
My longest chapter ever! Written in one day too! Hope you enjoyed it!