Ash ran as fast as he could.
He needed to inform Professor Sycamore right then and there about the impending doom.
"Ash, hold on a second!" Misty panted as she finally stopped and bent over to catch her breath. Brock eventually joining her who decided to sit on the ground entirely.
Ash stopped and looked over. He knew he shouldn't push them to their limit and that they needed an explanation bigger than just "Greninja has been captured by Team Flare along with Zygrade's core. We need to inform this to the Professor and Kalosian Authorities". His rotom-phone wasn't connecting to any network which restricted him from not only using the GPS map to get to Lumiose City but also not allowing him to call any of his friends from the region.
He also knew he was running out of time. Lysandre being alive or not (which he isn't), he knew even one Zygrade core at Team Flare's hand could mean huge trouble for the whole region and the world.
Both of his friends walk up to him slowly and then suddenly Misty bursts in anger who grabs Ash by his collar "Hey what's the big idea?! You suddenly feel all well, get up and say something along the lines of Greninja and a Zygrade Core being captured by this Team Flare and then start running!!! Care to explain before planning to run another marathon?!?!" Ash was startled but said nothing in reply meanwhile Pikachu climbed down his shoulders and on the ground trying calm the red-haired girl down.
Brock immediately grabs her shoulders in an attempt to pull her away "Calm down Misty! Let's just talk through this first okay?" as Misty almost kicks Ash who dodges at the last moment.
Brock looks at Ash directly, "She's right though, Ash. Please explain what you said back at the camp before running."
Ash casts his eyes down and then takes a deep breath and lets it out. He knew he needed to confess sooner or later anyway.
"Okay. But let's talk while walking; that way we will cover the distance while also you get your answers" Ash says neutrally, his face devoid of emotion. He starts to walk forward while the others a little surprised at his stance.
It was very unusual to see him act without showing any type of emotion.
Misty and Brock looked at carefully and started to walk along. They kept quiet however waited for Ash's explanation intently. Pikachu's ears were slightly drooped down since it could sense Ash's growing uneasiness.
Ash could almost feel their stares and sighed quietly as he began, "Back when I was traveling in the Kalos region, I caught a Froakie-"
As he said this, coincidentally, an in-forest lake could be seen where a lot of water pokemon specifically Froakie and evolution forms could be seen playing.
As he looked over it and continued, "-and after a lot of training and time together, we bonded and overtime, it evolved into a Greninja. When we got fired up in battling…" He looked over the blue, cloudless sky as he continued, "It was like I became Greninja and Greninja became me. We battled together in the Kalos League…"
Ash turned to look back at his friends and asked, "Have you heard of the Kalos Crisis?"
Surprised at the question, Misty and Brock remained quiet for a few seconds before answering.
"Yeah…It was all over the news that some plants caused outrage in the region" Misty admitted.
"Some weird species of plants started to grow and caused chaos over the whole city of Lumiose…thats what the news coverage said pretty much; nothing more nothing less" Brock replied.
To say Ash felt very surprised and shocked would be an understatement. Even Pikachu was a little shocked.
"Seriously? They censored Team Flare out of the whole news??" Ash thought as he tried his best to subdue his emotions from bursting out.
He was almost impressed at how the Kalosian Authorities managed to cover-up perhaps the biggest attempt of genocide on humanity or at the very least, an International emergency which was supposedly broadcasted worldwide.
"...Was 'Team Flare' even mentioned?" Ash asked baffled.
"...No- But a few trainers who came from Kalos region into my gym seem to compare my Gyarados with a 'crazy' guy from the team you mentioned" Misty replied after thinking for a bit.
"I heard about Team Flare when I visited Kalos myself. Outside of that, absolutely nothing" Brock gravely supplied.
Ash sighed, he really didn't like the information he learnt right now.
"How can they keep such an atrocious act towards humanity under wraps?!"
He didn't understand govermental politics behind the 'censorship' but knew this wasn't right.
People should know about the devastating mistakes done by other people which are bound to leave a mark in history and so that in the future, no one tries the same stunt.
He continued on the forest path, others walking side by side, waiting for a reply from his side.
He looked down and then up in the sky and then started, "...Just moments after the league concluded, Team Flare showed up…Lead by a crazy maniac who wanted nothing but to destroy this world and create a new one using the Zygrade Core they captured…" Misty's eyes widen as she puts the pieces together. Brock felt the growing unease Ash was exhibiting but let the other boy continue.
"That Zygrade core was enough to bring those frenzy plants to life and wrecked destruction all over the region, in which Lumiose City ended up getting the most damage and harm done to it."
He looked at Pikachu whose grip on his shoulder seemed to increase. Ash knew what his partner was remembering. He knew all too well what it was thinking and he felt the same.
"Fortunately, we somehow stopped the fight but the plants still were a huge problem in the region so the Zygrade Cores asked Greninja to stay back and protect the region" Ash concluded.
The Kanto gym leaders were quiet out of sheer shock, not knowing what to say.
Misty was the one who broke the silence.
"But how do you know that Greninja and the Zygrade core are captured…?"
"Because he showed me the whole thing" Ash's eyes harden as he accidentally slips up.
Misty looks at him concerned yet with skepticism.
"No matter how far we are, I can always feel Greninja. Its almost a special bon-"
"It could just have been a bad dream, you know." She interrupts trying to rationalize.
"Misty-" Brock tries to stop her after observing everything.
"You can think of me as a liar if you want. But I know what I know" Ash said in a low voice before he increased his speed of walking, getting further and further away from his companions, clearly not wanting to talk anymore.
"Pika! Pikapi!!" Pikachu cried out as it rushed to his trainer.
It didn't take Misty much time to understand how dismissive and rude she possibly could have sounded to his worries, she runs after him "Ash! wait that's not what I-"
Brock shakes his head before running to catch up with the two.
Ash started running, completely ignoring Misty's calls.
"How could she act like that? Do I look like a liar to her?"
Suddenly he feels a weight jump onto his right shoulder, where he finds his partner, who grabbed his shoulder tightly, giving it a worried look.
Ash decided to ignore that. The sooner he got into the city, the better. He would get some answers to his load of questions.
"Pika!!" Pikachu exclaimed, pointing its paws to the side. Ash stops and looks at the side and immediately his eyes widen in shock and alarm as he gasps.
This part of the forest's grass, plants and trees were turning completely black and crumbled away into dust at the faintest wind. The plants dying and looking withered, some looking outright burnt. The trees looked like they could fall at any minute. Worst part was, this wave of destruction seemed to spread further and contaminate the nearing grounds, killing the natural life along with it.
"It looks very much the same like when Yveltal attacked-" Ash thought to himself as he remembered the painful scene seemed to coincide with what he was seeing today.
Misty and Brock catch up to him and witness the destructive scenes themselves. Their reaction similar to Ash's. "Wh- What is happening to the forest?" Misty asked fearfully.
Brock bent down wearing a white glove in one of his hands and tried to picked one of the 'contaminated' plant only for it to crumble into nothing just upon touch.
Before he could say anything else, a huge red-black vine bursted out of the ground, followed by three more growing from the sides and aimed straight for Ash and Pikachu's direction in almost lightning speed. The said trainer was too much caught up in the moment's shock to utter a command or do something to defend himself.
However a certain mouse pokemon reacted immediately. Pikachu jumped and released a powerful thunderbolt, pushing away the vine as far as it could.
Finally snapping back to reality, Ash shook his head and concentrated. "Thanks buddy" he remarked.
"Pika Pikachu!"
"Starmie, use water gun on it!" Misty cried out as she threw her pokeball which made the water type pokemon free and spring into action and charging the move.
"Crobat go!" Brock lets the bat pokemon join the battle. "Use Whirlwind on the vine!"
Both Starmie and Crobat charge their attacks at the same time, creating a powerful fusion of a move which pushed the vine further back. However much to their surprise, the Vine retaliates immediately and harshly slaps Crobat and Starmie back together making them hit against each other until getting slammed into a nearing tree making both of them faint immediately. This makes Misty and Brock sweat a bit but they immediately return their mons into their pokeballs. Before they could draw out another pokemon, the vine aims directly at them.
"Pikachu, iron tail!" Ash commands.
Pikachu charged with the attack, effectively pushing the vine back while also slashing through the upper part of it. But the vines didn't stop and lashed out at their direction again.
"Steelix, defend with dragon breath!" Brock says as he throws another pokeball revealing the giant steel pokemon who charged up the move and fired, showing a little struggle to keep the vines at bay which despite the direct hit continued to push forward.
"Pikachu use thunderbolt to strengthen the move!"
Pikachu immediately nods and releases a powerful wave of thunderbolt, pushing the vines, making them slowly curl backwards but still remarkably pushing against it and retaliating some of it back to the pokemon who have to move away at the last minute to dodge it.
"Gyarados, come on out!" Misty says as she opens her pokeball, revealing the giant creature who was residing inside.
"Use Flame Thrower near the roots of the to burn them off!" She commands immediately.
The Pokémon obeys and does so however just like Pikachu and Steelix's move, it throws it back only for the water type to dodge at the last second.
"They weren't this resilient back when I battled it with Greninja and Lucario.." Ash remembers as he plans on his next move, his attention diverting as he analyzes the situation in front of him.
"We need a plan!!" She yells.
"How is that so powerful? How could the moves do so little damage to it?!" Brock shouts as yet one more dragon breath was shrugged off completely.
He notices how exhausted Pikachu looks after using that many thunderbolts in a row as well as the others who were showing signs of tiredness after being brutally slapped by the wicked plants while also using their attacks.
And that's when Ash suddenly remembers.
"Of Course! They are strong against special attacks but not that great against physical ones…that's why Pikachu's iron tail did damage…so for getting rid of them they need to cut right through it in one go! Just like Greninja's cut"
"Guys! Attack with all the physical moves you got!" Ash cries out.
The others, though a little surprised at the specific request, listened anyway.
"Gyarados, use Crunch!"
"Steelix, Iron tail!"
"Pikachu, you too!"
Together, the three attacks completely ripped off one of the vines, which fell lifelessly on the ground. However, the other three vines were much more flexible, and moved out of the way.
"Misty, you take the vine at the left from its roots. Its the one connecting the other two. Brock take the one at the right, it's the one lashing out the most! I will take the middle and distract it" Ash said declaring his plan.
The others wasted no time and commanded their pokemon as such.
Just as said by the young champion, the vines was soon almost incapacitated as Misty's Gyarados used a combination of Crunch and Hyper Beam at its very stem while Brock's Steelix wasting no time immediately cut of a huge part of the vines by using its iron tail move while Pikachu neatly cut off the vines from the center. This effectively killed the Vine into nothing which started after dying immediately starts turning into a deep red dust blown away by the wind.
"That was scary" Misty said to no one in particular.
"These are even scarier in real life…" Brock absent mindedly said as he took out Steelix's pokeball and returned it in. "You did an amazing job." He said to the pokeball which moved slightly.
"Thank you for helping us Gyarados, you deserve some rest" Misty said as she recalled her Gyarados.
Ash silently watched them as Pikachu returned back on his shoulder, looking at its trainer worriedly.
"Hey Brock, how far are we from reaching Lumiose City?" He asked, getting slightly surprised looks at his unphased behavior.
"Um let's see.." Brock quickly drew put his old trusty map and read through it carefully while Misty tried to peak into it from the sides, standing on her toes.
"There's a pokemon center after 5 miles and 20 miles after that… We should the city reach by tomorrow afternoon" Brock said as he folded his Map.
"Then let's get started" Ash said with a small smile as he started to walk further.
However as he did, he felt a slight pain at the side of his head. Involuntarily, he massaged it with his hand. Pikachu let out a worried cry from his shoulders to which Ash just let out a soft smile, the type of smile one gives to tell "I am fine".
Since the other two companions knew him for a while, they didn't fail to notice the situation. They quickly increased their pace and walked by his side, earning themselves a look of surprise from Ash who chose to say nothing and continue walking.
Unbeknownst to them, a small spider like machine with a camera watched them. It started to become transparent and eventually completely invisible to normal vision. It moved along the branch of a dead tree. Using its lenses, it zoomed in on the group, and then specifically the boy with a Pikachu.
A red light blinked at the side of its machinery and it slowly moved back until it could be seen no more.
A/N: Do you guys remember the flying robot/gadget camera thing which stalked on Latias and Ash back in the "Pokémon Movie: 4 Heroes"? The spider like machine is an inspiration from it!
As for the turning transparent and then invisible, imagine it getting invisible like Latias does in this series "Aim To Be A Pokémon Master" or well the 4 Heroes movie.
Anyway, I hope this chapter was an interesting and entertaining read! :D You could say it was like a filler- but trust me, I am trying to push a certain narrative through this lol
I will update soon!! :) See yall in the next chapter!~
P.S: Fanfic Net yet again removed all my italics and line spacings while I transfered my doc...Had to redo them all back haha
I hope they fix this issue soon. It takes an awful lot of time to fix all the stuff here-