Chapter 7: Friend or Foe?

– Gary's POV –

Once Paul had finished explaining what happened in the meeting with Lance earlier Gary felt his knees buckle. He sat on the ground and ran his hand through his hair, glancing wearily at Ash who was now sleeping peacefully, Pikachu curled up under his chin for comfort.

"So you're telling me, that you all think Ash is some supernatural being who can use some ancient power called aura and during the tournament he used it to defend himself which not only hurt him anyway but he can't even remember it?" Gary asked still trying to wrap his head around it.

"Yeah that about sums it up" Paul replied indifferently.

"Right" Gary took a deep breath and frowned at Ash. "I guess it does explain some stuff though" he mused.

Brock looked at him confusedly "What do you mean?" he asked.

Gary lifted himself up off the floor and moved to lean against the desk, crossing his arms and closing his eyes as he thought. "Don't you think it's weird that Ash gets attacked by pokémon all the time but until now he's never been seriously hurt?"

"You want him to get hurt?" Dawn looked appalled.

Gary shook his head "No! What I mean is I've known Ash for a long time, he's pretty resilient but ever since he set out on his journey he's been in more life threatening positions than I'd like to count. He always brushes off Pikachu's electric attacks and other attacks like they're nothing. I know he says he's just used to it but Pikachu's thunderbolt isn't anything to sneeze at, it could easily knock a person out. Charizard used to fry him all the time too, and not always in that affectionate way where your pokémon holds back its power. Charizard was going all out sometimes which would cause serious burns on a normal person. But this guy?" he used his thumb to point at their sleeping friend "he'll just cough up a puff of smoke and start telling Charizard off. That's not normal."

He could see Dawn and Brock seriously considering his theory by their expressions, they travelled with Ash so they knew exactly how often an occurrence this was. Paul's face remained impassive on the subject. "So what does that have to do with Ash's aura?" Dawn wondered aloud.

"Well, his aura came out to protect him when that Salamance attacked right? What if it's been doing that all along? Just more subtle, kind of like an internal shield. Just enough so the attacks don't seriously hurt him and when Salamance attacked, the power was just too great that he needed a bigger shield so his aura was forced out to make an external shield" he speculated.

Brock and Dawn looked down at Ash, eyes widening in shock while Paul let out an apprehensive "hn".

"So everything Ash is doing is subconscious?" Brock asked trying to gather their thoughts together.

Gary nodded, "at least that's what appears to be the case".

Ash stirred in his sleep and the others froze. He mumbled something inaudible but didn't wake up and Gary let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Maybe its best we continue this conversation later" he said his voice dropping to a whisper. "I think someone should stay with Ash at all times to make sure this doesn't happen again, we should set up shifts so someone is awake at night to watch him too. We should also inform Lance of what happened". Dawn and Brock quickly agreed but Paul simply scowled.

"You expect me to babysit that idiot?" he sneered.

"You don't have to do anything." Gary growled. He was fed up with Paul's attitude. What was that jerk's problem anyway? "We'll take care of Ash ourselves".

"Hn. See if I care." Paul began to walk out the room but paused at the door, now broken thanks to Pikachu's haste in finding someone to help its trainer. "But if I were you, I wouldn't be running to Lance so quickly" he exited the room without another glance and left Gary wondering what exactly he meant. He did have a point though. From now on they'd need to be extra careful who they could trust.

Gary turned his attention to Brock and Dawn who were still standing in the corner watching the door. "You guys go ahead and meet up with gramps and Mrs. K for dinner. They'll be wondering where we all are. Make sure you don't say anything about what happened. I'll take the first watch".

Brock and Dawn exchanged glances but nodded and headed for the door. Now alone with Ash, Gary kneeled down beside the bed, studying his best friend's face. "What trouble have you gotten yourself in now Ashy boy?" he whispered, his hands tightening into fists as he clutched the blanket like his life, or rather Ash's, depended on it.

– Paul's POV –

Paul walked down the many corridors with no real destination in mind. His mind was filled with thoughts of the events that had transpired over the past couple days. Who knew that loser was something so… so weird? Now Paul could understand why he was able to bring out so much power in his pokémon, he even unlocked Chimchar's real strength which Paul admitted that he himself could not do.

Still. That didn't mean Paul was under any obligation to look after the dimwit. The only reason he was even here was because Cynthia asked and said he'd be able to meet Lance. Those losers were starting to mistake him to be part of their group and he wanted nothing to do with it.

"Tch. I have no reason to stay. Everyone knows I don't travel around with that loser so there's no harm in leaving. I'm outta here." Paul spoke aloud to himself and started to turn around to find an exit when he heard voices coming from within one of the nearby rooms.

He paused and was about to continue on his way when one of them said Ash's name, catching his attention. He snuck closer to the door, which was slightly open and decided to listen in a little. Maybe he'd find out how long they expected them all to be here.

"Are you sure?" a voice asked in a harsh whisper.

"Undoubtedly" the other replied. "The boy is the one."

Are they talking about Ash? Paul thought to himself. He's the one? The one for what? He narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he waited for them to continue.

"Look at these records. His file was sealed, quite unusual for your average trainer don't you think?" The second voice continued.

"His trainer file? Why would his records be sealed? What is Lance hiding from me?" the first voice spoke again. Paul's eyes widened in realization as he recognized the voice belonged to the older man from the council meeting, the one who spoke out against Lance.

"Well the boy is quite the trainer, a variety of powerful pokémon, a few major accomplishments in league tournaments, and it seems he often finds himself in the middle of many… incidents involving some rare and powerful pokémon. Not to mention he's been involved in stopping numerous criminal activities. The boy is quite the trouble maker" Mifune noted.

"What shall we do sir?" the second voice asked.

"We can't let him leave. I need to get Lance out of the way first and that annoying Sinnoh champion too. As long as they're around they won't let us touch the boy." Mifune grunted.

"And his friends?" the second voice asked again.

"They're not needed. Get rid of them." Mifune replied. Paul heard footsteps heading towards the door and quickly ducked behind a large potted plant in the hallway. Mifune stepped out the room and a small, skinny man with a clipboard followed after him.

"Get rid of them sir?" The small man with the clipboard asked timidly.

Mifune's face turned into an evil sneer as he spoke. "Accidents are oh so unfortunate aren't they? Young people should be more careful" his words hung in the air, his message clear. The smaller man gulped and nodded.

"Of course sir I'll see the arrangements are made", he quickly sprinted down the hall. Mifune watched him go then swept his eyes over the plant in suspicion. Paul ducked even lower, holding his breath and hoping the plant was thick enough to hide him. After a few moments he could hear Mifune leaving as well. He silently counted to thirty before moving from his hiding place. The door to the room they were just in was still open so Paul decided to take a quick look at what they were so concerned about.

The room was dark, he couldn't see anything. Paul searched for a light switch, turning it on and the room suddenly became illuminated. It was small, with only a desk with a computer on top to furnish it. Paul sat down at the desk and clicked on a tab at the bottom of the page. This must be what they were looking at Paul thought.

The file he opened turned out to indeed be Ash's trainer file. The first page was filled with basic information, such as his personal records and trainer information.

Name: Ash Ketchum

D.O.B: 1 April, 1996

Hometown: Pallet Town, Kanto

Occupation: Trainer

Paul scrolled down until he found Ash's pokédex information showing all his owned pokémon and history. He clicked on a link which led him to a new page which was filled with pictures of pokémon. He recognized a few as the ones Ash currently had. They were lit up with the word 'ACTIVE', the rest were unlit with the word 'INACTIVE' or in a few cases, black and white with the words 'RELEASED'. If he clicked on a picture, information regarding that particular pokémon such as height, weight, gender, level and circumstances caught would appear. Paul was surprised by the amount of pokémon Ash owned. He had some really high leveled pokémon! Why didn't he use them? If he had, Ash could have defeated him long ago. He knew Ash wasn't a new trainer when they'd first met but he'd been travelling for this long? Paul continued to look at his pokémon list, noting all the more powerful ones and the notes written underneath.

Pokémon owned:

Pikachu (starter: ACTIVE)

Caterpie → Metapod → Butterfree (RELEASED)

Raticate (Traded away)

Pidgeotto → Pidgiot (RELEASED)

Charmander → Charmeleon → Charizard (training at Charicific Valley)

Bulbasaur

Squirtle (joined firefighting service)

Krabby → Kingler

Snorlax

Lapras (RELEASED)

Beedrill (RELEASED)

Muk

Treeko → Grovyle → Sceptile

Corphish

Taillow → Swellow

Snorunt → Glalie

Tauros (X30)

Cyndaquil

Chickorita → Bayleef

Heracross

Noctowl (shiny)

Todadile

Phanpy → Donphan

Torkoal

Starly → Staravia → Staraptor (ACTIVE)

Turtwig → Grotle →Torterra (ACTIVE)

Chimchar → Monferno → Infernape (ACTIVE)

Buizel (ACTIVE)

Gligar → Gliscor (ACTIVE)

Gible

Primape (In training elsewhere)

Aipom (traded away)

Haunter (unofficial capture)

Larvitar (unofficial capture)

Holy crap. Ash had a lot of pokémon. Paul grit his teeth at the knowledge that Ash could have used any of these pokémon at any time to beat him yet still preferred to start over in each region. How weak. He then clicked on another link which listed all of the accomplishments Ash had attained over his years as a trainer.

Accomplishments:

Kanto Badges

Boulder Badge

Cascade Badge

Thunder Badge

Marsh Badge

Rainbow Badge

Soul Badge

Volcano Badge

Earth Badge

Orange Archipelago Badges

Coral-Eye Badge

Sea Ruby Badge

Spike Shell Badge

Jade Star Badge

Johto Badges

Zephyr Badge

Hive Badge

Plain Badge

Fog Badge

Storm Badge

Mineral Badge

Glacier Badge

Rising Badge

Hoenn Badges

Stone Badge

Knuckle Badge

Dynamo Badge

Heat Badge

Balance Badge

Feather Badge

Mind Badge

Rain Badge

Frontier Symbols

Knowledge Symbol

Guts Symbol

Tactics Symbol

Luck Symbol

Spirit Symbol

Ability Symbol

Brave Symbol

Sinnoh Badges

Coal Badge

Forest Badge

Cobble Badge

Fen Badge

Relic Badge

Mine Badge

Icicle Badge

Beacon Badge

Pokémon League ranking

Indigo Plateau Conference - Top 16

Orange League - Champion

Silver Conference - Top 8

Ever Grande Conference - Top 8

Frontier Challenge - Complete (Offered position of frontier brain – denied)

Lily of the Valley Conference – INCOMPLETE

There were some links underneath a few of the accomplishments and upon clicking them Paul was able to watch videos of some of the battles Ash had been in to win these badges and earn those top places in the different leagues. Paul was now sweating. The way Ash looked when he battled was totally different. He looked strong. He pulled off maneuvers Paul never would have thought possible. Ash was a way more accomplished trainer than Paul originally thought. Could he really have won their match in the Sinnoh league? He was confident back then but now a bit of doubt crept its way inside him. If Ash ever decided to use his more experienced pokémon, he'd win for sure.

"Dammit!" Paul slammed his fist on the desk in frustration. How could that fool be a better trainer than him? That guy, who preached about the importance of friendship with pokémon, who was an idiot when it came to basic strategic knowledge, whose training methods were nowhere near intense or serious enough. How could he ever lose to him?

Something tugged at the back of Paul's mind. He thought back to the conversation between the old man and the wimp. Something about rare and powerful pokémon? And criminal activities? Paul continued searching through Ash's profile and came across a blacked out section. "What's this?" he asked aloud. He tried clicking on several links but every time he did a pop up would appear saying 'Restricted Access' and asking for a password. "What the heck? Why would a trainer profile need a password? This is supposed to be completely accessible if I'm using a council member's login. They have access to everything!" or do they? Paul thought suddenly. The guy said 'what is Lance hiding from me?' so does this mean Lance made Ash's trainer profile inaccessible to anyone else? Paul's mind ran a mile a minute as he thought of all the possibilities that Lance could have done such a thing. But the old guy was able to get in. That's why he said Ash had done those things. So he found the password somehow?

Paul was mulling this over when another thought came to him. Get rid of them. That's what he said. "Oh crap" he jumped out the chair and ran from the room. Sprinting back towards the direction he came.

– Dawn's POV –

Dawn was relieved Gary had volunteered to take the first watch. As much as she cared and was concerned about her friend, she wasn't keen on being in a room alone with him after the phenomenon she just witnessed. Like seriously the guy turned blue.

"Hellooo Dawn?" Brock waved a hand in front of her face.

"Huh?" Dawn looked up in surprise.

"Did you hear me? I said I'm going to go find Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum and help them cook" Brock said slightly annoyed.

'Oh sorry. I was just thinking" Dawn apologized. She looked up at the older boy who was still waiting by her side despite his claims of leaving. "…what do you think Paul meant by not telling Lance?" she asked hesitantly.

Brock stretched his mouth into a thin line "Paul is not what you call a people person. He's obviously got some trust issues and doesn't want to include Lance in that small group he does trust. But… I think he has a point".

"You agree with him?" Dawn was shocked. She thought surely that Brock, being the eldest and most responsible of the group, would want to let Lance and the League know about Ash.

Brock shook his head "Not entirely. I think Lance does need to know, but not straight away. We need to figure out who we can trust here. I don't know if you noticed but it seems that not everyone is on Lance's, and consequently our, side"

Dawn nodded. She remembered the man who shouted in the meeting. She definitely didn't want him finding out about Ash. "So what do we do?" She asked.

"We wait. We'll tell Lance when the time is right" Brock said firmly. "I'm gonna go find Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum now. Get some rest, you're tired too". He said now switching into a more gentle tone that Dawn was familiar with. Brock was always caring for the two of them, it made Dawn happy that she had such a good friend.

"Alright. Wake me when the food is ready" Brock nodded and waved as he walked away. Dawn sighed and began to set off for her own room when she heard loud footsteps down the hall like someone was running. "What the – OOF!" Dawn was knocked to the ground hard. "Hey watch where you're going!" she began when she noticed who it was that ran into her. "Paul? Why are you running? You better apologize right now!" She huffed.

"Shut up!" the boy snapped as he stepped around her and started towards Ash's room.

Dawn grabbed his arm and held it firmly, stopping him in his tracks. "Hey! That was really rude! What's your problem?!" she asked angrily.

Paul glared at her and she glared right back. "Let go we don't have time for this we need to leave right now" he growled lowly.

Dawn's eyebrow's creased in confusion however she made no move to let go of his arm. "What do you mean? We have to stay here we're under league protection remember?" she reminded him.

"It's not safe here we need to go" he tried pulling his arm away but Dawn had a tight grip.

"Why? Lance said-"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT LANCE SAID! WE HAVE TO GO NOW!" Paul shouted, cutting her off.

Gary then stepped through the broken door, interrupting the two. "What the hell is going on out here? You're gonna wake Ash up" he whispered harshly.

Paul immediately spun and faced him "we need to go now" he repeated seriously.

"Why? What's happened?" Gary asked picking up that something was wrong straight away.

"I overheard one of the council members, an old fat looking guy who yelled in the middle of our meeting before, he said he 'needed' Ash and was going to get rid of Lance, Cynthia and all of us to get to him"

All the colour drained from Gary's face and Dawn looked horror stricken. "Get… rid… of us?" she mouthed the words slowly and quietly so the boys were barely able to hear her.

Paul nodded and turned to Gary again "we need to get out of here now".

Now it was Gary's turn to nod, then he faced Dawn and asked "where's Brock?"

"h-he went to find Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum" she answered shakily.

"Go get him back. Don't tell my gramps or Mrs. K what's going on yet, I'll leave a message for him myself explaining everything. We're leaving. NOW" Gary raced back into the room, presumably to go wake Ash. Dawn had no idea what he planned on telling him but she didn't get to find out because Paul was suddenly in her face and pushing her towards the elevator.

"What are you just standing there for? Go! And look out for that guy from the meeting!" Without so much as a protest Dawn was shoved inside the elevator, the last thing she saw before the doors closed was Paul's back, walking away from her.

– Ash's POV –

He was in the dark again. Rationally, he knew he was just dreaming and that he would wake up soon enough. There was a part of him though that was frightened, frightened that he never would wake up and that he'd be stuck alone in this darkness forever.

He'd been in the dark for a while now actually and frankly, Ash was bored. Did time always move this slowly in dreams? Surely not. Usually he'd dream about catching a new and rare pokémon or becoming a pokémon master. Sometimes he'd dream about old adventures, he liked those ones; or adventures that seemed familiar but he could never quite remember. Those dreams scared him. The worst one was when he had to watch pokémon fight each other, not in a regular pokémon battle but to the death. Two pokémon in particular, whose shapes he can't quite make out, are fighting the hardest. He screams at them to stop, running right into the middle of the battle field, but then… he can't remember the end of the dream.

Still. Even that would be better than this darkness. Who knew you could miss nightmares?

"Ash wake up!"

Slowly Ash opened his eyes and peered through his eyelashes, trying to adjust to the light. "Ughh my head" he moaned as he tried to shake the drowsiness. Though he'd thought he'd slept for a decent amount of time he felt more worn out than when he went to bed in the first place. He whole body felt stiff like he'd been shocked by one of Pikachu's thunderbolts. As he finally blinked the blurriness from his eyes he was able to make out an image of the person standing over him. "Gary?"

His longtime friend turned the corners of his mouth into a smirk "'bout time you woke up Ashy boy".

Ash scowled, "you're the one who told me to go to bed!" he retorted, sticking out his tongue.

Gary simply rolled his eyes and tugged on his arm "Get up we have to get going".

Ash, who'd now woken up Pikachu (all the while giving his most 'trusted' pokémon suspicious looks wondering whether he'd been shocked in his sleep again which had happened on more than one occasion) and was thinking about going to ask his mother about getting something to eat, looked up at his old time rival in puzzlement. "Get going? Where? I thought we were staying here the night?"

Gary shrugged, "Lance said we could go since he was done asking questions. None of us are keen on staying here anyway, I have to get back to the lab and finish some research and I figured you'd want to see your pokémon as soon as possible" he reasoned however Ash noticed Gary avoided eye contact.

"Uhh ok… where are the others?" Ash asked.

"Dawn's getting Brock and Paul's waiting in the hall. He wants to get out of here quickly too. You know he's not exactly people friendly" Gary explained as he gestured to the door. Too late he realized Ash would note something amiss.

"What the hell happened to the door?!" Ash exclaimed upon noticing the destroyed entrance. Bits and pieces were still stuck to the frame but most of it was in splinters on the floor.

Gary notably winced "uhh…. Pikachu was playing around with Piplup while you were asleep and they broke the door?"

Ash studied his friend for a moment before shrugging and accepting the explanation. Gary sighed in relief. Ash picked up Pikachu and held him in front of his face. "You and Piplup need to be more careful Pikachu that's gonna be expensive to fix!" he scolded.

Pikachu lowered his ears and let out a small "pika" in protest, but upon seeing Gary wave his arms behind Ash's back to indicate to just go with it Pikachu gave in and nodded. Seeing that Pikachu had understood his chastisement Ash smiled and allowed him to climb onto his shoulder.

"Ok let's go then!" He grabbed the rest of his clothes and his backpack, stumbling slightly. Gary held out a hand to steady him but Ash waved it away. "I'm fine, I'm just not as well rested as I thought I'd be" he assured. Gary made no reply and pursed his lips instead.

"Ok I'll just go say goodbye to Lance and Cynthia and we can meet up with Professor Oak and Mom and-" Ash began before he was swiftly cut off.

"No!" Gary grabbed his shoulder and then flinched and quickly drew his hand back. "I mean, Lance already said goodbye to the rest of us while you were sleeping and now he's gone to do some important stuff for the league, you know to sort out the whole attack on the Lily of the Valley conference. Professor Oak is staying for a while to help and your Mom said she'd stay behind too" the words spilled out his mouth quickly.

"Oh. Ok, I guess we can just go then" Ash said disappointedly. He was looking forward to speaking with Lance properly and to travelling with the professor and his mom. Gary sighed in relief and Ash looked at him strangely but then shrugged and kept moving, Gary right behind him. Literally right behind him, he was practically stepping on Ash's heels. "Hey quit it Gary haven't you ever heard of personal space?" Ash elbowed his friend so he'd be forced to step back. Gary didn't say anything but kept his distance, albeit only about two steps worth.

Stepping over the broken remains of the door Ash made his way into the hall and looked around. "I thought you said Paul was waiting for us out here?" he asked Gary who was also looking around. Gary's head moved left to right like he was watching a tennis match. "He must've gone on ahead?" the brunette answered nervously.

Ash narrowed his eyes "Are you ok? You're acting really weird" he noted.

Gary sweat dropped and raised his hands in defense "No! I mean of course I am! I just really want to get home quickly to finish that research". Ash and Pikachu exchanged disbelieving looks but instead of pushing the subject Ash made his way toward the elevator thinking that if his friend had something to tell him, he eventually would.

The ride in the elevator was quiet minus the music playing overhead. Once they'd reached the first floor though Gary pulled Ash out and behind a wall. "Gary?! What the heck are you doing?" Ash shrugged off his arm annoyed, straightening his hat and checking that Pikachu remained clung to his shoulder.

"Uhh… I'm… uhh training! Yeah training!" Gary hastily replied.

"Training?" Asked Ash, intrigued by what was surely a new and genius tactic by his researcher friend.

Gary smiled, mention anything about pokémon training and Ash was hooked, line and sinker. "That's right! It's a new training technique I learned while I was uhh studying some ancient ruins! Yeah this is an old technique that the very first pokémon trainers used!"

Ash looked at him with eyes shining in excitement "really?! That's awesome can I train too?!" he exclaimed eagerly.

"Shhh!" Gary put a finger on his mouth "Yes! But uhh this training is secret! You have to be quiet" Ash nodded enthusiastically and remained silent with a steely look in his as well as Pikachu's eyes. "Ok this training is about umm stealth!"

"Stealth?" Ash whispered quizzically.

Gary nodded "Yep! Ancient civilizations found stealth to be a critical part of training! They trained with their pokémon so they could learn to move quietly and sneak up on their opponents and avoid attacks without command!" the lies poured out Gary's mouth naturally.

"That makes total sense!" Ash whispered excitedly, pumping his fist in the air. He suspected absolutely nothing and was instead concentrating on the new 'training method'.

"haha sure does…" Gary sweat dropped in disbelief. Who else but Ash would buy this stuff?

"Let's do our best ok Pikachu?" Ash whispered determinedly to his partner.

"Pika!"

"So what do we do?" Ash asked turning his attention back to Gary.

"uhhh well… lets train while we find the others! Yeah let's find Dawn, Brock and Paul without anyone noticing us and then we have to sneak out of here" Gary explained, this was the perfect way to sneak Ash out without him getting suspicious.

"Sneak out the most protected building in all of Kanto? THIS IS GREAT FOR TRAINING!" Ash was already in stealth mode, crouched down and peeking around the corner in search for anyone who might have spotted them. "Let's go Pikachu! Super spy Ash is ready for his mission to go underway!" he crept along the floor, careful not to make a noise.

Gary watched him from behind and sighed in amusement then mimicked Ash's movements, despite feeling quite stupid as he did so. He couldn't forget that this was no game; they seriously had to avoid everyone and get out before they were found and Ash was… he shuddered at the possibilities.

– Lance's POV –

Once Paul had stormed out the room with Brock and Dawn trailing after him upon learning that they were under 'league protection' and hence forth could not leave, Lance sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair, "well that certainly could have gone better" he commented lightly.

Cynthia threw him a sharp glare. "Did you really need to snap like that? He's still just a kid you know" she reprimanded.

Lance scratched the back of his head with a sheepish expression. "Well that kid was starting to tick me off. Besides no matter how we told him he wasn't going to like it" he rebutted ruefully. "At least here we can protect them from Teams Rocket and Galactic. The only issue is…" he trailed off.

"The council members who backed Mifune" Cynthia finished. The two champions shared dismayed expressions at the thought of the political battle that would eventually ensue. "Will you be alright?" Cynthia asked worriedly. As the Sinnoh champion, she was technically only here as a witness to the incident and as a Sinnoh representative. She had no place in any decision making amongst a different league. Lance was on his own.

"I can take care of Mifune. That pretentious fool will never win the president's position while I'm around. Besides Goodshow is no pushover he can take care of himself. All we need to do is convince the other council members to see things our way. Of course that's excluding the members that Mifune has already probably bribed and blackmailed" Lance said the last sentence with disgust.

"And Ash?"

"You and I both know that kid is way too stubborn to be taken down by the likes of someone like Mifune" Lance brushed her off.

"That's not what I meant" the blonde said coldly. Lance raised an eyebrow in questioning. Cynthia sighed. Lance reminded her of Ash in this sort of aspect. They could both be so dense. "How do you think Ash is feeling right now?" she pushed but was only met with silence. Lance had no answer. "in the last week he's been in several intense matches in order to win the Sinnoh league only to have his most important match interrupted and get attacked by two of the most dangerous criminal organisations in the world. He's in a coma for three days and as soon as he wakes up we drag him here and question him. Agatha said that emotional stress could activate his aura right? So what do you think is going to happen when Ash reaches his breaking point?" she waited for an answer while the impact of what she said left Lance stunned.

" You think he's gonna crack?" Lance said weakly, the weight of this new development making him even more tired than he already was.

"I think he's a sixteen year old boy who's gone through a lot and hasn't had a chance to properly confront it yet" Cynthia replied.

Crap. She had a point. This whole time Lance was so concerned about learning what happened and protecting Ash from outside threats that he hadn't even thought Ash could be a threat to himself.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Lance asked, now honestly seeking her advice.

"Ash needs to come to terms with everything that's happened"

"But we've already told him everything aside from his connection to aura" Lance said confused.

Cynthia shook her head. "He knows what happened but he needs to acknowledge it. He needs to talk to someone" she explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"you want me to have a heart to heart with him?'' Lance said unenthusiastically.

Again the Sinnoh champion shook her head and sighed. "Not you. He needs someone who knows him well. Who understands him completely and that he can open up to".

"So one of his friends then? His mother perhaps?" Lance sighed with relief, glad he was not the one who would be tasked with trying to understand the teen's feelings.

"Perhaps" Cynthia said bemused. "but I think a friend is what he needs and that boy has got some good friends".

…

After their brief talk about how Ash needed to talk out his feelings Lance excused himself from Cynthia's company and took to wandering around the hallways. Lance liked the kid sure, but he was never quite sure how to actually be around them. He had a lot of young fans, he gave speeches about how the will to never give up and proper training could make anyone a great trainer, but to have an actual conversation with one of them was a different story. He was never sure what was the right thing to say. He thought he'd actually been doing pretty well so far until Cynthia had basically told him that he totally failed just then. Ok maybe that was being a little dramatic but it really got to him.

He was just thinking about popping over to Ash's room to give him a bit of a pep talk and maybe encourage the others to talk things out with him when something flew around the corner and crashed into him. Being as tall and strong as he was he barely stumbled while the thing crashed down onto the floor.

"Dawn?" Lance was surprised. "What are you doing here?" he asked as offered a hand to help her up "this is a restricted area you kids are supposed to stay on the first and tenth floors".

The tiny bluenette shyly accepted his hand and he easily pulled her up. "Sorry I was looking for Brock but I wasn't sure where the kitchens were…"

"The kitchens are on the second floor but we have chefs who will cook for you there's no need for any of you to go to any trouble" he assured her.

The girl's eyes lit up "Oh but Brock enjoys cooking and his food is really great! You should-" she cut herself off as her eyes widened and she looked as nervous as when they first ran into each other.

"Dawn? Is everything alright?"

"Sorry I got off track I have to go find Brock" she lowered her head to avoid eye contact and quickly tried to dodge around him but Lance narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Wait Dawn what's going on?"

"Nothing no need to worry!" She put on a pathetic attempt of a smile.

"That's when people worry most" he shot back and the fake smile dropped.

"I…" she trailed off and Lance waited while she found her words.

Little did he know Dawn was having an internal struggle in her mind. She felt like she should tell Lance what happened with Ash earlier in his sleep and what Paul had found out but Paul also said not to trust Lance. Could he be right?

Finally Dawn looked up "Who was that man? The one who talked in the meeting before?"

Her sudden question surprised Lance. Could her worry have something to do with him? "You mean Mifune? Why?"

"Well… what kind of person is he?" another unusual question popped from her mouth.

Lance thought carefully before answering. "Mifune has been on the council for a long time now. He worked his way up from the bottom and carries a lot of favour amongst the board. He's rich and powerful and not a man you want to get on the bad side of but he has the best interests of the league in mind".

Dawn simply nodded in return.

"Why do you ask?" Lance pried.

"Paul heard… never mind" Dawn hastily changed her mind about telling him whatever she was about to say. Dammit. If Mifune was questioning or frightening these kids then Lance would need to talk to him and put him in his place.

"Dawn if he speaks to you or you see or hear anything out of the ordinary you should tell me ok?" he grabbed her shoulders and looked into her scared, blue eyes.

"yes" she whispered although Lance did not notice her fingers crossed behind her back.

He nodded satisfied "I'll escort you to the kitchens then" he offered his arm, this time however she did not take it and instead chose to walk on her own. Together they awkwardly got into the elevator and pressed the button for floor 2. Not a word passed between them during the ride and as soon as the doors opened she flew out the doors, following the sign that pointed toward the kitchens.

'Do I really make kids that nervous? Good thing I'm not having that heart to heart with Ash' Lance thought to himself and went to follow her.

"Ahh Lance!" a voice called out to him, stopping his pursuit of the girl. Turning around Lance saw with disdain that Mifune was walking up to him, his hand in the air and his pot belly jiggling under his expensive looking shirt.

"Mifune… what brings you to the kitchens?" Lance asked politely though in his head he thought that Mifune was probably interested in eating all the snacks again as he had done on more than one occasion.

"I heard dinner was being prepared and came down to help!" Mifune grinned but Lance saw straight through his lie. But for the sake of the league he couldn't risk being on further bad terms with Mifune.

"Ahh Lance I actually wanted to speak to you too" Mifune said humbly, raising Lance's suspicion further.

"What about?" he asked the older man.

"About before, in the meeting, I wanted to apologise for my… discourtesy" Mifune put on an insincere sorry expression which made Lance gag on the inside. "I want to apologise to those kids too, I must have scared the poor boy with my rambling! Where is he?" Mifune looked around as if Ash would appear out of thin air.

"Resting most likely. The children had a long journey and he's still recovering from his injuries, I think it'd be best to leave him be" Lance emphasized the last three words. Mifune's eyes flashed for a moment before returning to his phony caring face.

"Of course. I shall wait for him to recover then. I do look forward to talking with him" Mifune went to push past him but Lance gripped the man's heavy arm.

"I think it would be in everyone's best interest to not involve the children any further, especially Ash" Lance spoke through gritted teeth, his hatred toward Mifune seething within him.

"I believe you are mistaken my dear champion. I think it is in everyone's best interest that we keep these children as close as possible until the matter is resolved. They are in our protective custody after all. What could be safer than being right within our reach?" Ripping his arm out of Lance's grip, Mifune smirked and began to walk away.

Lance's hand twitched toward one of his pokéballs, prepared to set Dragonite on the arrogant bastard, but then remembered he was supposed to be following Dawn and left to find her again.

He made it to the kitchen just in time to see Dawn whispering hurriedly to Brock who immediately ripped off his apron and apologized to Mrs. Ketchum, asking her to finish off the cooking. He then quickly ran past him with Dawn right at his heels.

"Hey guys wait up!" He called after them and went to follow but Mrs. Ketchum had come up beside him and grabbed his arm.

"Perhaps it's best to leave them alone for now. These kids can take care of themselves you know" she said calmly. Her eyes twinkled like she knew something that he didn't and he gave her an inquisitive look. In the end her words go to him and he relaxed, choosing to let them go on ahead.

Lance watched them speed around the corner but in the pit of his stomach he had a feeling that he'd regret letting them go.

– Ash's POV –

Ash and co had successfully managed to sneak past the front receptionist without being exposed and was currently heading for the stairs, the kitchen being their goal as that's where Brock and the others were supposed to be.

"Let's go Pikachu!" he whispered encouragingly to his partner who was beside him on all fours, practicing moving without making a sound. Together they did an army roll across the hallway and ducked into an empty room. He made the signal for Gary to follow and was disappointed when Gary did not mimic his 'spy techniques' and instead chose to quietly walk in with his head lowered.

"What's the point of doing this training if you're not gonna take it seriously Gary?!" Ash whispered annoyed.

"The point is to not be discovered not to look like an idiot while doing it" the brunette rebuked.

Ash scowled. "You won't be so smug when you get caught and I don't" he huffed.

Gary shrugged, not to be the one dragged into arguments but rather start them as he did so often with his younger friend (although their birthdays were only a few months apart).

Getting back to the matter at hand Ash tiptoed out the room and peeked around the corner of the staircase to check if it was clear. Seeing that it was empty he sent a thumbs up to his 'partner' and began to climb. This was harder than he thought as the stairs sometimes creaked and he had to carefully shift his weight so as to not make a noise.

He felt something bump into him from behind and a muffled voice harshly whispered "move your butt slowpoke!" He turned around to see Gary rubbing his nose. Evidently he hadn't been paying enough attention and run into Ash's backpack.

Ash grinned "betcha wish you were being serious now don't cha Gary?" he teased.

Gary smirked "Please this is a result of your carelessness as a trainer". Ash rolled his eyes and kept going, his training more important that winning an argument with Gary (although the way he saw it he won anyway). They'd almost made it to the second floor when the door leading toward it burst open and Dawn and Brock appeared, running down the stairs and finally reuniting the group.

"Guys? Why are you running?" Ash asked in surprise.

"Ash?!" the two also cried out in surprise.

"What are you doing up here? I thought we were leaving!" Dawn asked, looking behind her nervously.

"We were looking for you guys. Gary taught me this cool new training technique and we were trying it out while we looked!" the raven haired boy said proudly.

Brock raised an eyebrow "new training technique?"

Ash nodded enthusiastically while Gary averted his eyes and turned slightly pink, an unusual but welcome sight. "Yeah Gary told me he found out about it when he was doing all that research! It's all about bonding with your pokémon while keeping your opponent guessing!"

Ash then went on to spiel about how he and Gary had snuck around the receptionist and, he swore in all honesty, twenty league agents to get there (although Gary was shaking his head in the background and making motions indicating that it was only the receptionist).

"Sounds great Ash! How about we put that training on hold while we get out of here?" Brock suggested.

"Wait what about Paul?" Dawn then looked around confused as if Paul would appear if she looked hard enough. "I thought he was with you?"

"He was but after you left and I went to wake Ash he disappeared" Gary spoke up in a worried tone that he hoped Ash wouldn't notice.

"Ahh Paul will be fine. He doesn't travel with us anyway I'm sure he'd much rather be on his own! Let's just go, mom and Professor Oak will meet us at home later right? If we go now we can go to the ranch and see the pokémon before it really gets dark!" Ash waved off their concern and motioned for Pikachu to jump on his shoulder again.

The others looked at each other in worry but they needed to get Ash out as soon as possible and Paul could take care of himself. He never said he'd go with them either.

"Ok let's go then" Gary seconded Ash's suggestion earning him an 'alright!' from his fellow Pallet town local.

Together the group set off, deciding that Gary's new 'training method' would be of good use they used it to sneak past the receptionist and out an emergency exit on the side of the building.

"Ok first stop Pallet Town!" Ash excitedly led the way down the path, Pikachu echoing his excitement with a few cries of his own name.

As dense as he was though, he could feel the anxiety coming off his friends, which only made him move faster. He felt that he really needed to get home. And soon.

I'M REALLY SORRY! I had a severe case of writers block and to be honest I'm not totally sure where this story is going because I haven't planned it out properly so I was trying to make sure there wouldn't be any plot holes but there definitely will be so we're all just gonna have to live with that unfortunately. Thank you for all the new followers and reviews! I always love your feedback and it really encourages me! I AM NOT GIVING UP ON THIS STORY! I just take a while to write things that satisfy me so I can't guarantee when I'll update but I'll try to do it every fortnight from now on especially since Uni is over. NEXT CHAPTER: What happened to Paul? What is Mifune planning? What will the league do when they find out they're gone? And how long can the others keep this a secret from Ash? Find out next time! Thanks again and hopefully another update soon!