Aha! Ummm, hi.

It's been so long I probably have to introduce myself all over again.

Anyways, if you're reading this after sticking with it for so long, thanks. Really. That's all I can say. You're amazing.

Sorry for being away. I have my reasons, but really they're excuses.

ENJOY!

Chapter 20

Pounding. That's all I knew. Pounding in my head. I didn't know anything else. I couldn't see, hear, feel, or smell. All I knew was that my head was pounding. I had no memory of what just happened, what time it was, where I was. Nothing. My head just kept on pounding. I tried my hardest to open my eyes. A slight crack opened. I still couldn't see anything. I had no senses. The only thing I knew was this pounding sensation.

Suddenly, my senses kick-started. A flash of light peered through the small opening of my eyelids. It was too bright to tell anything. Loud noises shouted in the distance. And the pounding continued.

My vision cleared. Where was I? The walls were very high, and there was a hole where the ceiling should have been. I could see the sky above me. Did I fall from there?

"ASH! GET UP! KEEP FIGHTING!"

I heard this in my head, and I was pretty freaked out until I realised that I was in a cave and it was just an echo. It was a familiar woman's voice. I began to remember everything.

And this was where it all started. Right here. Right now.

After getting off the train, there was still a ways to walk before we got to the training centre. Luckily Yellow knew her stuff. In fact, the first thing Yellow did was bring us to a barbershop. I laughed pretty hard when I saw this, and soon enough Yellow joined in. Dawn was relieved, but didn't find this funny.

We walked for about an hour after that, Dawn's hair now back to normal. It passed by pretty quickly, which was surprising given the fact that no one said a word. It was awkwardly quiet. I mean AWKWARD.

When we finally arrived, all I could do was stare in awe. Firstly, we had to cross a very tight bridge over an extremely long drop. It was as if we were in a cartoon. You know, those bridges that are tied to two wooden stakes at both sides? The ones that sway back and forth and seem to be ready to collapse at any given moment? Yeah, those exactly.

Then there was the gate. The gate was disgustingly huge, and well armed. Four guards on the bottom, two on top. Each muscular in their own respect. Each with a knife. Each with a gun. Intimidation at its finest. Just what was I getting myself into?

When we finally got in, I realised that I would soon come to love this place. I mean, the first thing I saw were beach volleyball courts. C'mon. Isn't that a good sign?

Yellow showed us our rooms. They were high-class. Strange, why would someone need marble sinks, a 40-inch TV, and a queen-sized bed at a training camp? No matter, I'm not complaining. Dawn and I both gave each other looks of despair when Yellow told us that we weren't allowed to stay more than one person in a room. We both frowned, but Yellow giggled, seemingly satisfied with our reactions.

We ate a fantastic dinner together. We were introduced to the president of the organization, the chief officer, and many more important people.

At the end of the day, I finally got to meet my partner who I would come to call Pikachu. We weren't allowed to give our pokemon special names under the command of the organization. I don't know why.

But I loved every second of it. It seemed so natural to meet him. He propped up onto my shoulder, just like in the dreams. I felt like I had owned him for a while, and I assumed he felt the same based on his actions.

He headed back to the pokemon centre, and I headed back to my room. I was going to get a good night's rest before my first official day of training.

But this is where the story gets complicated.

The rest of my stay at the camp was a complete blur. We were given performance-enhancing drugs every morning from the first day. One of the side effects of the drug was altered short-term memory. Basically, as long as you kept taking the drug, you would become strong and smarter, but you would have trouble remembering things unrelated to your performance as a trainer, such as what you had eaten for breakfast, what time you went to bed, etc.

But did we ever learn a lot. I we stay for about two or three weeks; I'm not 100% sure. But I learned more in that time than 17 years as a student. It was amazing. I'm not sure if it was due to the drugs, or simply the amazing staff and trainers. From what I can remember, I loved that place.

The last two days were when we stopped taking the drugs. It was because we no longer trained or learned, we simply prepared. My memory was much better then.

The plan was simple. We were going to infiltrate the enemy's HQ the next day, before they have the chance to carry out their plans. Find out whatever information we need, and finish them off. It sounds like a blind attack to any bystander, but it was very well organized.

I remember meeting Dawn first at breakfast in the morning. She had her Piplup with her. It was the pokemon that was chosen for her. I thought it suited her well. He had her enthusiasm.

"Eggs again?" She teased.

"I love eggs. So? Kill me." I joked.

"Ah." She pouted and looked upwards. "You have eggs every morning. Don't you wanna change it up?" She said this while stuffing french toast in my face.

"H-hey! Haha! Stop! Mmmmfff!"

"Isn't it good? Mmmm!"

"Good morning"

Yellow said this emotionlessly. She had just woken up, and wanted nothing to do with our early morning shenanigans.

This made me wonder whether she had attended high school or not, like Dawn and me. I mean, I only knew her as a professional. She had a certain serious side to her almost constantly. But she also showed me that other side of her, too. A side that I, for one, really enjoyed. But it was only to me. She was as professional as ever with everyone else.

She walked off to eat with some other people.

Dawn turned and smiled. "Ash, let's go for a walk after this!"

Piplup and Pikachu were already good friends. Dawn and I were together all the time, so they must have taken a liking to each other quickly. We walked around the campus. It was actually quite scenic. A lot of trees, paths, all that beautiful nature.

"So Ash, what are your orders for tomorrow?" Dawn asked.

"Well, I'm going in through the Cave Entrance. How about you?"

"I'm going through the 'West Wall'. I dunno where that is."

"Aw, we're on opposite sides. Guess you can't win 'em all, huh?"

We both joked, but simply by listening to us you could tell we were nervous. There was no guarantee of coming back. You could easily be captured, interrogated, tortured, even killed (although the chances were unlikely). We were aware of the risks.

"Wow. It's a pretty scary thought, Ash."

I stopped.

"What's this all about now?"

"I was just thinking. It's pretty scary. I mean, people could get seriously hurt. And there's no knowing what they'll do to us!"

"W-well…"

"But that's just it." She interrupted. "We can't think too hard about these things. We just have to realize the sacrifice we're making. And we have to think of the greater good. ASH!" She called out loudly. "We're doing this for the greater good, aren't we?"

This totally wasn't like her. I stood there dumbfounded. She had quite a big smile on her face, but you could tell she was hiding back fear, anger, anxiety.

"Yes." It was all I could say.

As Dawn set off with her crew, I set off with mine. Dawn was off to the "West Wall", which was on the complete opposite side of where I was going. Our groups were huge, about thirty or more people per group. And there were a total of four groups. Everyone had their pokemon with them, so naturally Pikachu came with me. Unfortunately, the only person I knew was Yellow, but I was fine with that. She was probably the best person to help me.

The Cave Entrance was a hole in the rocks, nothing more, nothing less. It was so small, and it was a tight squeeze. We each had to go in one at a time. But once we got in, it was actually rather tall and spacious, but dark due to the small entrance. After walking for a short while, lights on the walls of the cave illuminated the walkway, reminding you that this was a man-made entrance to a top-secret headquarters, and anyone or anything could jump out at anytime.

Our first challenge was met early on, but it was nothing big. Two patrol officers were on duty, but they didn't have any pokemon. Nor did they have communication devices to warn HQ of anything. They were rather useless. It was 2 against 30. We easily took them over and tied them up.

There was a lot of walking. It was a long cave! Every time I caught a glimpse of Yellow's bouncing blonde hair, I tried to talk to her, but she would just walk faster. I didn't get her.

Our second challenge. Same situation, except there were four officers instead of two. Same story. We tied them up just the same. 4 against 30 is hardly better than 2 against 30.

I quickly walked up towards Yellow.

"Hey, what the hell's going on, Yellow?"

"Focus on the mission, Ash." She said, raising her nose in the air, not even looking in my direction.

I grabbed her shoulder.

"No! What the hell's going on? You promised! You said you'd make me… ah us… into the best possible trainers you could. But you haven't done a thing! I wanna know why!"

She slowly turned. I couldn't read the look in her eyes. It was the first time I'd seen them looking directly at me in a while.

"Ash, you would never…"

"YELLOW! LOOK OUT!" A voice called out from behind us.

As I turned my head to try and find the danger, I caught a glimpse of the tied-up officers. One of them had pressed a button. This was bad. I feared the worst.

Sure enough, my predictions were right. A HUGE bang came from the top of the cave. It was deafening. I grabbed Yellow and tried to run to a clearing, but another bang came from behind us. The only way to go was down.

I remember the drop. It felt like an eternity. I tried to let go of Yellow's hand, but she gripped my arm even tighter, causing me to pull her down with me. No matter. We were both falling, so whether she held me or not made no difference. My final thought was about Dawn. I wondered if she was going through such dangers as I was. I think my mind was preparing to go into worry mode, when blackness hit.

I had hit the bottom of something.

Pounding. That's all I knew. Pounding in my head.