Re-published on 20/01/2013

The vault

Chapter 03

Harry, Ash and most of the population of pallet town were all together at the edge of Pallet town itself. The border of Pallet town was surrounded by a high fortified wall that had seen better times. Plant life were constantly being removed to prevent it from weakening or suffocating the only obstacle between blood thirsty pokémon and easy prey. But even doing this was nothing to what maintenance should be. At its strongest point it would have been able to take a tackle from a medium sized (Raticate) several times. And now it seemed that its little brother would be able to take the wall down with only a few tries.

All around the walls were fortified towers that had been updated to be lit with torches and electrified lights. Those same towers also were equipped with special holders designed or Pokéball. Now these holders were empty of anything. Trainers were expected to keep their pokémon with them. In times long since past the even the walls of a small village like pallet town were being regularly patrolled by professional trainers with a minimum of six badges each.

Now... The wall was patrolled by a single trainer once a day at random times. The other four 'official' trainers didn't bother. The only reason this single trainer did anything was because he only had three badges. His pokémon needed the experience and he was bored.

Since the Kanto region was on the edge of civil unrest and possibly with civil war shortly after, it was Ash's dream to become a pokémon master and to unite the Kanto region. The leader of 'his' elite four would be Harry of course. Ash dreamt to not only unite Kanto but to hire as many trainers as was needed to update every little town so that they had sufficient defence should they ever be attacked by pokémon... Or rogue pokémon trainers. Ash wanted the resources that even eight badges would bring to either take down team rocket or to take control over it as long as it could further his goals.

Harry 'joined' Ash as his first 'minion' because he was fascinated by pokémon and wanted to know as much as he could about them. Aside from that he wanted to gather the strongest team of pokémon as he could. His library and Hermione had taught him a lot. But real experience always had theoretical knowledge beaten.

Ash and Harry were expecting a few gifts to make their journey easier. A tent, a blanket, a few potions or even some money. Anything was appreciated.

The people of Pallet town had all come together to give them not 'many' useless things but 'only' a few that were actually useful. They were given a good tent that was big enough for four people. They were given a decent amount of money (credits) and a decent amount of supplies.

First, the two boys had to travel through the 'light' forest that surrounded pallet itself. Their goal was a small outpost a few hours outside the first part of Viridian forest. The first part was the most 'peaceful.' The second part was far more dangerous. Past the first part of Viridian forest was Viridian city. Viridian city was followed by the second part of the forest and then pewter city. So technically the second part of the Viridian forest could be called Pewter forest instead.

Both boys intended to try and capture another pokémon as soon as they could hunt one down. Unfortunately their luck seemed to be down considerably.

Once the gifts received along with a promise of regular reports, Harry and Ash walked on the main road out of Pallet town. Ten minutes later they were entirely alone except for each other, Pikachu and Hedwig.

"Are you sure we can't just ask Hedwig to convince a pokémon to join us?" Ash asked again.

"Yes Ash." Harry said quietly.

"I'm sure. Hedwig refuses to take advantage of her 'royal' influence. Besides it doesn't work like that. Just because she is considered to be royalty doesn't mean that pokémon will obey her wishes right away. Would you listen if some 'heir' of the dead royal line would pop up and tried to order you around?" Harry asked him.

Harry didn't give ash time to respond. "Besides, even if it WOULD work which it won't, we need to battle a pokémon before capturing it. Not doing so will insult its pride and that liable to get you killed in the middle of the night."

"What about using... You know. That. To get us through this forest? Ash asked after a moment.

'Ash...' Harry growled.

"Are you trying to find the end of my patience?" He demanded.

"You know just as well as I do that I can't risk using that unless it is an emergency that risks my or your life. Having Hedwig as a partner will call too much attention to me too my liking already. What do you think will happen if people knew I could do that as well?" The former wizard remind him yet again.

"Don't get me wrong. If we get in a sticky situation I will use it to get us out. If I can get away with it unseen. Otherwise I'll just kill anyone that knows about it or if they are useful, I'll change them into your servants." The boy continued.

"Nonetheless, the longer we keep my birthright a secret the more use I can get out of it. But I suppose that I will most likely be forced to use parts of it it anyway while we are in the forest. We don't have a fire pokémon and those can kill bug pokémon very easily."

"I know that already!" Ash retorted. "But you know... I'm proud of you that you can do all that stuff. I don't want to hide you. I don't want to act like you are a freak of nature. Because you are not!"The trainer continued.

"But I suppose that I can understand the advantages of keeping it private. If you are going to be my advisor slash bodyguard slash second in command you need as much advantages as you can." The boy reasoned.

'Oh?' Harry asked. "And since when did you decide I would take all of those positions?" He asked with a smirk.

Ash stopped walking to stare at his brother. Adopted or not. "You mean that you won't?" And even though he didn't want too, tears appeared in the corners of his eyes. Even the thought that Harry would refuse that position hurt like hell.

"Of course not." Harry snorted. "I would be glad to do all of that for you." He continued. "But maybe I wanted to be in command of your future army? Or maybe I wanted to be in command of the pokémon themselves?" Harry pointed out logically.

Ash frowned in thought when he realized that Harry was struggling to keep his laughter under control.

"You are teasing me!" Ash realized. "Come here you-" And Ash expressed some words he would never have dared to utter in the vicinity of the village let alone his mum(my). As Ash called her when he was sick a few months ago. A fact that Harry wouldn't let him forget about.

Ash tackled Harry playfully. Harry on the other hand knew that -now- wasn't the time for it. So for once he made use of some old instincts and reversed the grip to get Ash stuck against the ground.

"Normally, I don't mind play fighting with you." Harry expressed his opinion. "But right now, in territory of pokémon it isn't the best idea to play fight another human." Harry told Ash seriously.

"Al right, aright already!" Ash said quickly. "We'll finish this later though." He promised.

Harry was silent and couldn't decide if he would be angry or just annoyed with the little man. "Let's put this on hold until we get into Viridian city itself. Don't think you are of the hook. We just can't afford to get into a shouting match in the middle of pokémon territory.

Ash decided that he would try and catch a Pidgey to distract himself a little. Harry was right. If they were too casual about being here they would be dead very quickly. Even Hedwig couldn't kill a dozen insulted pokémon. Not without going all out and not without basically saying 'here I am, come and get me' to the more... Bloodthirsty pokémon deeper into the forest.

First night...

Harry and Ash were camping out for the first time. They had set traps around their tent and Pikachu was was alert for any pokémon that would try to attack them. Hedwig was invisible and invisible in a corner of their tent. Her senses spread widely enough so she would know the moment something happened.

They were about one third on the way to the outpost. Two more days and they would be there.

Two days later..

Ash and Harry were coming near the outpost and were completely on edge. The forest was silent and you could nearly taste the tension in the air. Something had happened and it had put the local pokémon completely on edge.

Hedwig had come out of her Pokéball shortly after they had cleaned up their camp. It meant that Hedwig thought they could use the extra fire power. Neither boys had a change to catch a new pokémon so they only had two between the two of them.

"Now I wish we had a flying pokémon." Harry complained to himself. He sensed Hedwig was about to offer that she change into a flying pokémon herself. He stopped her because she wasn't strong enough yet to defend herself against the bigger flying pokémon. They would recognize Hedwig as a tamed pokémon and 'royalty' or not that wouldn't matter much to them.

Harry could see that Hedwig didn't like it but at least she didn't argue. Her ability to shift into other pokémon forms was something that she could do but only for a short while. And she had to focus really hard while doing so. Harry suspected that it was because she was so young. Pokémon tended to age rather slowly. There were rumours that the older pokémon could become centuries years old and be barely middle aged if you compared them to human terms.

The point was that between Ash and himself they only had two pokémon at their disposal. Too few even if you stayed close to a human settlement.

Harry and Ash continued walking. Harry could sense the tension from various pokémon that were watching them. None of them dared to attack. It meant that whoever had done... Whatever had done something to cause the 'weaker' pokémon to fear them.

"I think something might have happened to the people of the outpost." Harry said after a few minutes. "We should have encountered at least one trainer already." Harry continued.

"You know what the police does to people suspected being connected with team rocket." Harry told Ash.

"We can either continue and risk ruining our name and reputation, probably causing your dream and my own dream to be an impossibility or I can teleport us home." He finished.

Both boys stopped walking.

"Could we continue and when we get more evidence return to Pallet?" Ash asked eventually.

'No.' Harry answered immediately. "Hedwig needs time and concentration to take even one of us. Transporting us both is going to cause even more strain and possibly more energy than she has. It will cause her to faint from exhaustion... If I'm right."

"If you are right?" Ask repeated in confusion.

Harry just shrugged.

"It might be that I'm seeing things that aren't there. And if that is the case we'll lose a few weeks at minimum because any news will take time to get public. If it gets public at all." Harry finished.

"This is a damn if you do and damn if you don't situation." Ash said eventually. "Let's continue to the outpost. If we are careful we can turn back and still get out of here. Can Hedwig teleport on the move? I mean, begin concentrating, gathering the energy and then store it to use later?"

'No.' Harry replied immediately.

"Fine then." Harry added. "Let's continue and see if we can catch a pokémon -any pokémon but preferably a flying type- and continue to the outpost then Viridian forest and then the city. And Ash?"

'What?'

"Be prepared to tell Pikachu to kill anyone that acts suspiciously or doesn't have identification. Anyone can be a Rocket. We can't afford to be seen with them. And..."

'And?'

"Be ready to kill some yourself. Be ready to kill the trainers and forcefully recall their pokémon. In short: be ready for anything." Harry finished grimly.

"I will be using my tricks to make us unimportant." Harry added. "I don't like doing even that but I just realized that our lives are obviously more important than keeping my tricks a secret."

Having said that, Harry and Ash both upped the pace a great deal. Hedwig had retreated into her Pokéball and Pikachu was resting on Ash's shoulder. She would need all the energy she could get.

For the next few hours Ash and Harry continued to walk or rather it was a very fast walk. Faster than a casual jog but not actually running full out. It was very tiring and both were sweating a lot but they wanted to get to the outpost as soon as the could. They had been training for their journey for years. Ever since the time that Ash had decided he wanted to become a pokémon master Harry had been pushing Ash and himself to the limit. The people from Pallet town had helped them as well. Knowing on some level that they might never see either child ever again.

The Kanto region was dangerous and child or not did not make a difference for a hungry pokémon.

Finally, FINALLY they managed to reach the outpost in record time. Neither boy realized that they had travelled that much distance. Either that or they had overestimated the distance between Pallet and outpost Pallet.

Both trainers approached the property cautiously. It was never a good idea to enter like a rampaging Machoke. But the outpost was utterly silent. Not a single trace of a sleeping or patrolling pokémon.

"Can you hear anything Pikachu?" Ash asked. The Pikachu shook her head in the negative.

Harry put his hand on the ground and focussed his magic into the ground. It was a very low level 'ground' type magic. A dozen small figurines actually appeared to grow from the ground. They had just enough intelligence to obey simple commands.

"Explore that structure, search for traps and look for anything suspicious." Harry commanded.

The figurines based on the 'toy soldier' he had played with when he was a child actually saluted and ran into the property.

To say that Harry could talk to the toy soldiers -the simplest way to call them- would be wrong. He could 'see' and 'feel' what they were feeling. They couldn't talk but they did have a small ability to see and remember what they see. Once they accomplished what they saw they would transfer their memories into one 'toy soldier' and then merge together into one larger figurine.

When Harry realized that the house was full of corpses, with no pokémon in sight Harry realized that they were in trouble. Harry had counted on an experienced trainer to get them through the forest. He had counted on the fact to have -if only temporarily- a senior trainer as an ally to help them catch a pokémon. It was something that they did.

Harry realized that the road for stronger pokémon to attack Pallet was now open. He didn't know if there were any survivors.

There were no traps except for a vault of some sort that had been attempted to open but had failed. Scorch marks and such were proof that pokémon had attacked it. Maybe they had run out of time?

"Ash, stay here." Harry ordered briskly.

Harry took the Pokéball of Hedwig and send her out. "Hedwig, cover me while I enter the house. Ash, Pikachu secure this area as best you can."

Ash and Pikachu instantly obeyed Harry's orders. Harry had two sorts of 'voices'. The first was his casual voice. When he was being nice and friendly. That voice was used for casual pokémon battles between himself and Ash and the occasional visiting trainer. It was used to joke around but also to express his annoyance.

His other voice was his command voice. His scary voice. In other words: when he used that voice you better did as he said or you were in big trouble.

Ash looked outside the property to check on the small walls that kept the smaller pokémon out. They were trashed. Ash tried to use branches to block the openings somewhat but knew that it would barely slow even a Rattata down.

-With Harry-

Harry entered the house cautiously. The toy soldiers had explored the first level already and had deemed it safe. The 'vault' was below ground so they had covered the cellar as well. The only thing that was left was the second and third floor.

Ten minutes later Harry felt that the toy soldiers had merged into one and that the one soldier was making his way to himself. The soldier had grown a lot because of its merged status. It was the size of a teddy bear and roughly thirty centimetres long.

Harry focussed on the memory of the toy soldier and while it couldn't be expressed as thoughts, the toy soldier still communicated its experience.

'Upper floor is clear.'

'No living beings.'

'Technological devices still remain'

'Do not know if broken'

The toy soldier fell 'silent.' Harry nodded to himself and put his hand onto the toy soldier. He fed the soldier his magic until it signalled him that the price had been paid.

As soon as it was paid he received another memory.

'Call on 'me' when needed summoner. I will answer your call along with my fellow 'soldiers'

If Harry didn't know any better than the 'voice? 'the memory' It had actually sounded amused. He shrugged those thoughts away and explored the rest of the house. He found what must be the supply depot for visiting trainers. A hundred or so empty Pokéballs were divided into groups of six each group having a number that was connected with a corresponding pokébelt that hung up on the walls.

It was odd that those remained. They could be sold on the black market for a lot of money.

'The attackers killed the defenders and the defenders killed the attackers. They killed each other.' Harry concluded after a moment.

All the trainers that were supposed to be there were there. They were dead but they were there. The only survivor might be a trainer that was escorting another through the forest.

'What happened to the pokémon then?'

Of course.

Pokémon of killed trainers tended to flee. And flee as fast as they could.

Harry gathered his resolve and carefully examined the corpses one by one. Practically stripping them for anything useful.

'Hedwig, once I'm done with them on this floor, could you create a fire hot enough to turn them to dust instantly?'

Harry's friend seemed to consider if she could or couldn't. After a moment she shook her head and send a short message to him.

'I can burn the bodies but not inside. If I try to burn them inside I might take the house with me. It's better to burn them outside or just bury them or something.'

"Al right then." Harry said shortly. "I'll drag them outside and you can sink them into the earth. You can do that right?" Harry asked Hedwig.

'I can.' Hedwig agreed.

"Good."

When Harry had stripped the corpses of anything useful he returned to where the vault was. It was unopened and still completely sealed. Harry took a look at the key card he had found. "It couldn't be THAT easy right?"

Harry looked for a slot and slid it through. After a moment the light blinked green and the vault door released its lock and unsealed itself.

The contents were amazing. It was a fully stocked... Everything! Weapons, food and other supplies were stored there.

"This is freaking amazing!" Harry thought to himself. Harry opened his connection to his vault and with just a few muttered commands all the contents of the Pallet outpost vault was moved into his vault instead.

Ten minutes later the vault was empty of supplies. All of it was moved into a large room that was an identical copy of the vault he was standing in. Harry left the vault sealed the door again and destroyed the mechanism. Anyone wanting to enter would need to do it the hard way. While Harry was busy in the cellar, the corpses had already been moved outside and sunk into the ground, leaving Ash none the wiser.

Now that the cellar was empty, Harry once more checked the house and gathered anything useful. When Harry was done, he told Hedwig to burn the house down and then they would leave.

Neither the attackers or the defenders wore any prove that could connect them with Team Rocket. That didn't mean much though. Not all team rocket members would flaunt their allegiance like that. If there were still any attackers alive they were long gone by now.

Now that Harry came to think of it, the vault was very suspicious. Why would a small outpost of all places be stocked like that? It had enough weapons and supplies to arm a small army! But that very notion was ridiculous so he dismissed it.

The fact remained that the contents of the vault made it worthwhile to attack the outpost. The technology in the vault alone would make anyone a very wealthy person.

The vault had contained what seemed to be the newest Pokédex's as well. But Harry realized he couldn't use them. Neither Ash or Harry had a badge. And owning a badge was required to own a Pokédex. Period.

'Since the vault had contained anything you could think of, could it still contain pokémon?'

Harry stopped in mid step and teleported into the room. Since he had been there he could always return. He checked the vault one more time and wasn't surprised that he had looked them over.

Harry examined the rack on which the Pokéballs were resting. Each ball had a number that corresponded with a file. After examining it Harry came to the conclusion that the trainers of these pokémon had either died of old age -a rare occurrence- or died in battle. The fact that these pokémon hadn't fled told him that they were loyal pokémon. Pokémon tended to flee if their trainers were killed. The fact that they hadn't fled made their character trustworthy. It meant they were raise properly and felt loyalty to their previous trainers.

"It is a cheap way to expand my and Ash his team. But I'm sure that once I explain the situation to them. I'm hoping that they might escort us through the forest at the least." Harry reasoned.

After making sure the vault was empty he teleported back outside and activated the timer of the fire runes he had carved everywhere. The runes would activate once they were far enough. If the runes detected human life they would activate early. Harry hoped sincerely that it wouldn't take the wrong person with them.

End Chapter

Harry's pokémon team

Hedwig, mew, female, level twelve

Ash's pokémon team

x, Pikachu, female, level fourteen

'Kingdark'