Revival Chapter 15: Broken Roses

The fragrant scent of roses filled the air as Delia worked in the garden of her home, tugging out the weeds that had decided to put up residence at her garden. Dirt covered her lower forearms as she pulled at one uncooperative weed. She shot the weed a glare as she reached for her trowel. Her roses were her pride and joy, other than her son of course. According to Professor Oak, they could be award winning flowers, something she strived to achieve. Mr. Mime was sweeping the steps leading up to her house, cheerfully humming a tune under his breath. It was a beautiful summer day, one she didn't intend to waste away.

It was in these moments of bliss that her thoughts turned to her son. She hadn't heard from him in nearly two weeks, since they arrived in Pewter City. Blaidd did say that they would be traveling in a remote area for a while, but it still couldn't keep her from worrying about her only child. She smile at the ludicrousness of the thought. He was 18, he didn't need her to hover over him protectively, but she still did it anyway.

Something overhead obscured the light above her and she looked up, seeing if it was an errant cloud, blocking the sun. Instead, she saw a man, clad in black clothes. "It must be absolutely roasting in the outfit," she thought.

"Excuse me," he introduced himself politely. "But are you Ms. Delia Ketchum?"

"Why yes, I am," she answered, worry gnawing at her. These questions almost never ended good.

The man dressed in black nodded curtly and she noticed a sudden shift in wind, ruffling the leaves of her rose bushes. It was then she noticed that he wasn't alone. About fifteen men were stationed around her abode. "Good." he turned to the others. "Get her."

Delia barely had time to cry out before the man who had spoken to her grabbed her by the waist, knife to her throat. The others tried to dispatch Mr. Mime, but soon staggered away when the pokemon used 'confusion'. One of the kidnappers managed to avoid the attack and pull out a long thin tube. He blew into one end of it, launching a dart into Mr. Mime's throat. The tranquilizer took effect and the pokemon toppled over, fast asleep.

Dragging Delia to a van, one of the men pulled out a communicator as they scurried away from the scene. "Tell Archer we got the third one."

The communicator was fuzzy, but the message was clear. "Good. Head to the shoreline. We'll send a boat to you."

"Okay. Do you mind if we invaded the lab? They got some good pokemon."

"No, you may not raid the lab. I forgot about how you Rocket idiots have to steal anything that has multiple limbs and supernatural powers. Avoid the lab at all cost. The last thing we need is for alarms to go off."

The Rocket grunt pulled a face at the communicator. "Fine. What about the Mr. Mime? We'll be at the dock."

"As long as they' aren't any witnesses. Bring it along, but if I get wind of selling it on the black market, so help me I'll make you wish you didn't."

"Whatever."

"Don't pull that tone you insignificant piece of..."The communicator cut himself off before he could elaborate. "Just make sure the woman isn't hurt."

"She isn't."

"We'll meet you there." The other line cut off.

The man with Delia piled into the van along with a handful of others. The others, in possession of the unconscious Mr. Mime, went into a second van, parked a close distance away. The vans drove away, their only trace the plumes of dust the tires kicked up. The wind blew through the garden, revealing the roses that were crushed and broken in the melee, their petals falling away with the breeze, into the sky above.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Gary stirred from a fitful sleep, his dreams plagued with beasts, fire and deserts. His eyes tried to adjust to the murky darkness and slowly shapes started to form. A weak torch light was lit across the way, partly obscured by iron bars, a weak light that provided not much for warmth and comfort. That was when he noticed the iron bars. "Wait, iron bars? Where are we?" He tried to stand, but he found his legs too weak to do anything and he sank to his knees. He peered into the gloom, trying to find where exactly he was. As he moved, he heard a jangle and with a start, he found that his legs were in manacles. A chain was mounted in the stone wall. "Well, this is great." he shook his leg again, and the chains clanked and clattered as they collided. "Great."

His hands went immediately to his belt, where he kept his pokemon. All of his pokeballs were gone, along with his pack. His Umbreon was gone too, the only indication that Umbreon was even alive was the pokemon's plaintive calls down the way. "They must have imprisoned him too." He then heard a sharp and angry trill. Piplup must be with Umbreon and the diminutive bird pokemon sounded highly agitated and upset.

He heard something stir and he froze, tense. He could barely make out a blue shadow and a weak voice called out. "Hello, is anybody there?"

It was Dawn. "Dawn? It's me Gary."

He watched in the weak light as Dawn moved closer. She looked absolutely wretched. Her clothes were damp and her face looked pale and sallow. "Gary?" she asked softly. "Where are we?" Gary's eyes caught the manacles on her feet as well. They both were enchained. A wave of anger swept over him. How could they do that to a girl like her, whoever 'they' were? What did she ever do to them to deserve this?

Unfortunately, he didn't have any answers for her at the moment. He could only shrug hopelessly. "I don't know Dawn. I wish I did though."

She nodded imperceptibly. "I know." She moved closer to him, seeking comfort in this nightmare. "I just wish that it didn't happen."

"Me too, me too." Gary was shocked to find that Dawn had moved next to him, her head on his shoulder, trembling, but whether it was from cold or fear, he didn't know. At least he could offer some modicum of comfort. He shifted his torso and wrapped his arms around her, the pair of them seeking something, anything to divert from this place. He wished he had his jacket at the moment, for the prison was damp and bitterly cold, soaking into his clothing, even though there wasn't any moisture.

Gary's train of thought was broken as an angry voice barked "Keep moving! Archer wants you in good condition, so you better be grateful that I can't hit you!" Gary looked up, curious. As he recognized the person that the guard was yelling at, bile rose in his throat. As if these people couldn't go any lower. The prisoner, looking dejected and defeated was Ash's mother. He roughly pushed her in the prison across the way and slammed the door.

Gary felt violently ill. Everything felt so wrong, the world felt so fundamentally wrong, like everything was placed in a box, then was shaken about, and promptly dumped when they heard something break. Despite the rivalry they had as children, Ash's mother acted as a second mother to him, especially after his parent's bitter divorce and Gary being dropped off at his grandfather's, in order to be caught in the middle of a custody battle. He wanted to call out to her, to get her attention, but one of the guards cut him off before he could even utter a word.

"Well, this is the first batch of prisoners since the incident a year ago." The guard began, appraising the trio with squinty, piggish eyes hidden within the jowls of his face , his massive bulk empathized by the leather armor, old and dirty. Gary gave the guard a dirty glance when he leered at Dawn. "What exactly does Captain Archer want with them?"

The other guard, dressed in black with a red 'R' emblazoned on the torso, let out a derisive laugh. "Archer's going to use them as bait or hostages, whichever happens first. They'll be shipped out in two weeks."

"Don't treat me like I'm stupid," the piggish guard rumbled. "And it's Captain Archer to you."

The Team Rocket tossed his head to the side dismissively. "Whatever, just keep them alive and in relatively good condition, okay?"

"What makes you think that I won't?"

"Well, as long as you don't eat their rations, we'll be alright."

The piggy guard let out a cry and lunged at the Rocket. The Rocket dodged the blow nimbly, and he jammed an elbow in the other's gut. The other guard gasped and staggered backwards, flopping into a chair, which groaned under the soldier's weight. The Rocket laughed again, a grating sound. "Wow, Archer," he sneered. "Has pathetic soldiers."

The rotund guard, who finally caught his breath, guffawed. "Well, then your mocking yourself too. You're one of us now."

The Rocket started to leave until the guard pointed that out. "I'm only here because your leader decided to eliminate my boss. Trust me, I'm not one of 'you'."

Gary watched the exchange with perceptive eyes. There was a clear enmity between the two, and possibly between the two organizations, if this was a mirror of current situations. Maybe he could find a way to take advantage of it. His eyes went to Ms. Ketchum across the way, then back to Dawn, who fell asleep on his chest. He had to escape, for their sakes. He couldn't attempt any escape right away; one, he had no idea of their systems and two, their security will be really tight in the beginning and he could get a layout of the place. As the guards got used to the prisoners and their habits, that was when he would strike. He absently thumbed the pendent he wore. Shortly after the Silver Conference, Gary had the pendent specially modified for emergencies and at the moment, he was very grateful for the fact that the guards only saw it as a pendent, nothing more. He hunkered down and closed his eyes, waiting.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The first sensation that Ash had the next morning was that he could no longer feel his left arm. It felt numb and the occasional prickles ran up and down hie forearm annoying him and disrupting his rest. He slowly peeked open one eye, to figure out the source of his discomfort. His whole body was sore, the combination of the rocky ground and the exertion form yesterday wreaked havoc on his muscles. He then noticed that he was underneath a blanket, something he wasn't quite aware of until he realized what was under the blanket with him and thus, the source of his discomfort.

Misty had claimed Ash's arm as his pillow. He winced, imagining the pain inflicted upon him if she found the position she had ended up in. Her head rested on his bicep while her left hand rested lightly on his forearm. Her warm breath tickled his skin and his mind worked rapidly as to how to dissipate the situation. He tried to wriggle his arm out from under, but she only shifted and he realized that he was effectively trapped. He pondered the idea of waking her up, but that to would result in swift and painful injury. So he just closed his eyes once more, pretending to be asleep. He was quite good at pretending to sleep too, a skill he picked up while traveling, especially on days when he had no intention of crawling out of his warm sleeping bag and get ready for the day.

Misty finally woke, her eyes bleary with sleep. She had to admit, except for the few twinges in her healed calf, she had a fairly restful night's sleep. Until she realized that she made Ash her pillow. She quickly moved herself away, taking half of the shared blanket with her as it tangled around her feet. Ash jolted upright as the blanket flew off of him. "Wha-what happened?" He squeaked in surprise, eyes wild.

Misty flushed as she saw Ash awake. "Nothing," she quickly bluffed. "I thought I saw something. You know, a bug." she added.

Ash's face was screwed in mild confusion and Misty wondered if Ash noticed her bluff, but gratefully, he didn't question it. Or if he knew that she was bluffing, he wasn't pointing it out. "Oh. Well, we better get breakfast and try to find a way out of here."

Misty nodded and busied herself with grabbing a couple of granola bars for her and Ash. The food, despite the fact that it went through river rapids, they were still intact. She handed one of them to Ash, who took it with relish. "He must have not eaten last night," She thought. "But I didn't eat either." She unwrapped her breakfast, and bit into it. A granola bar had never tasted so good in her life.

They ate breakfast in silence, too focused on food to make conversation. Ash took a swig from the water bottle from his pack and spoke. "Do you have any ideas on how to get out of here?"

"No, I was unconscious for most of last night, remember?"

"Oh right." Ash concentrated for a few heartbeats and he stood up and took a peek outside the cave. He glanced upwards and ducked his head back in. "Shame we aren't mountain climbers," he joked lamely. "The cliff above the cave has no handholds making it all but impossible to climb. Hmm, what if we used our pokemon?"

"Our pokemon?" Misty's curiosity was piqued.

"Yeah. I have Staraptor and he's pretty strong. We could have him hold a rope and he pulls us up. We'll also have him check above us, to make sure that there's a place to land."

"I think that was the most intelligent thing to come out of your mouth in a long time."

Ash shot her a glower as he harrumphed. "Ha ha Misty." He pulled out a pokeball. "Come on out Staraptor!" The black and storm grey plumed bird appeared, ruffling its feathers and shaking his head as he shook of the vestiges of sleep. Ash rummaged in his bag, pulling out a coil of rope. It was still mildly damp from the night before, but it otherwise looked sturdy. He knelt down to Staraptor's height. "Alright, here's the plan buddy. I want you to go outside and check the area above the cave to find a trail or something we can land on. Then once you find one, come back to us. I'll hand you this rope and as we hold on to one end and you pull us up. Got it?"

"Star star!" the great bird chirruped. In a flurry of sand and wind, Staraptor launched out the cave, zooming upwards. Ash waited patiently and a few minutes later, Staraptor returned, hopping and bobbing in excitement.

"Did you find something?" Ash inquired. Staraptor nodded vigorously and he indicated the rope with his pointed beak. "You found a spot for us to go?"

"Star, star-raptor!" He chirped and he started to grab one end up with his wicked talons. Ash looked over to Misty.

"You ready?" he asked.

Not quite yet," she responded. In truth she was nervous about dangling in the air, only held up by a bird, if a very hefty one, pokemon.

"Well, I can go first," Ash offered. "I'm heavier anyways."

"Quilava?" Ash's fire pokemon woke up finally. She looked very tired too as she queried, curious as to what was going on. Ash gave Quilava a scratch on her head.

"Don't worry about it Quilava, okay?" He returned Quilava to her ball and he picked up his pack. "Ready Staraptor?"

"Star!" Staraptor started to slowly glide out of the cave. Staraptor stopped and he started to rise upwards, coming to a stop when the rope was just barely touching the cave ledge. He hovered as Ash clung onto the rope , the stiff braided fibers digging into his hands. Staraptor started to pull Ash into the air, the great bird's wings striving to keep his trainer into the air. Ash gulped as his eyes went down to the river below him. He paled and he clung even tighter to the rope, uncaring that his hands were starting to throb. A gust of wind whipped through the river canyon and Ash swung and spun on the rope.

"Whoa!" He called out. "Careful Staraptor!" the rope slowly stopped spinning, but his stomach didn't. He caught a glimpse of the trail that Staraptor spotted in his earlier foray and Ash thanked anybody he could as Staraptor slowly went down and Ash's tennis shoes touched down onto solid ground. "Maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all," he thought as he tried to get his inner balance back to normal. "I hope Misty can handle it alright. And now I remember why I don't just fly around on my flying pokemon that often."

He then heard Misty's shout from below, echoing off the river canyon's walls. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay!" Ash replied. "It's not that far actually!"

"Alright," she muttered softly to herself. She caught a flash of grey and black as Staraptor came by the cave, rope dangling in his talons. For a minute, Misty wondered if this was the best idea after all and if there was a better solution, but none came forward. She cautiously grasped the rope, feeling the rough fibers under her skin. Unlike Ash, she didn't have any gloves, so it was much more difficult to hold on too; it didn't help that her hands were starting to sweat from nervousness.

"It's just like when you were a kid, when you played on the rope swing. Hang on with both your hands and feet," she mentally chanted. She wrapped her legs around the rope and she squeezed her eyes tightly, to keep from looking below. Staraptor slowly lifted up with the thermal, taking Misty with him. It was much easier this time then it was with Ash; there were no sudden gusts of wind to lurch her about. Her tennis shoes touched the ground and she released the rope gratefully; this was something that she didn't want to experience again.

"Okay, now what?"

Ash shrugged. "I'm not sure. Should we get going?"

"And get lost even more? I think that would be a bad idea, since we have no idea where we are." Misty noticed Staraptor as she got an idea. "What about Staraptor? We can send him out to look for the others, then lead them to us."

"That's a good idea. Staraptor, can you find the others for us, then bring them back here?"

"Starrrr!" The pokemon soared in the air, taking the nearest thermal to veer westward, following the river. Ash slid down against a rock face, resting his chin on his hands, waiting. Misty sat down next to him, fiddling with her pack. They had no idea how long Staraptor would take or if he could find them, but their hope rested on the bird's shoulders.