Chapter 4: Conspiracy of Silence

A/N: kind of a long chapter but I like the way it turned out.

And then it was quiet. The silence is probably what had stirred him from his already uneasy sleep. The rain had finally stopped. The morning sun peered around the endless grey skies announcing its return to the world. The pink glow covered the water laden forest below as Brock observed the damage from the past few storms.

It was a mess. Tree branches had broken off many trees, and some trees had been knocked over. Their once proud branches that had once brushed the sky now laid buried in the thick muddy waters that now covered what seemed like the entire valley floor.

There was no doubt in Brock's mind, traveling the valley would be difficult, and finding Ash even more so. He scanned the valley floor below him wondering where they should even start when a noise broke his attention away.

Pikachu had waked and was making his way next to Brock. His heart heavy with worry as he too scanned the mess below. Thoughts of concern for his trainer flooded his mind as he looked up at Brock.

"Don't worry Pikachu." Brock began noticing the concern illustrated upon to mouse pokémon's face. "I'm sure he's alright."

Pikachu nodded at Brock's words, but Pikachu had a bad feeling he could not seem to shake. Something told him his friend was in more trouble than any of them were willing to believe.

"Pikapi." he whispered under his breath, not quite convinced by Brock's reassuring words.

Brock was about to comfort Pikachu some more when a voice from behind cut him off.

"Did it finally stop raining?" Dawn asked as she sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She watched the two figures standing in the cave entrance not really waiting for a response because she could clearly see the sunny shining in.

"Come see for yourself." Brock smiled at her scooting over as she came up beside him to peer out over the valley, Piplup following closely behind.

The four of them stood there a moment taking in the awesome power of Mother Nature until Brock finally broke the silence suggesting a quick breakfast so they could start their search for Ash as soon as possible.

After breakfast the four of them made their way down to the valley floor, their eyes and ears on alert for any sign of their missing friend, but their search turned up nothing as the daylight hours burned. Dawn had suggested that they make their along the cliff ledge thinking that Ash would travel along them looking for a away back up to them. They all agreed and continued the search in silence.

(A/N: it might slow down the pace of the story but now seems like as good as time as any, plus I am a sucker for back story)

"Listen" Brock said after a while as he paused looking around.

"I don't hear anything." Dawn replied as she looked back at Brock, wondering why he had stopped.

"Ever since that storm died down last night I haven't heard a single sound." Brock said as he scanned the eerie landscape. "No wind in the trees, no voices of the wild pokémon. nothing."

Dawn took his words into account as she realized he was right. Now that Brock had brought it up the silence was becoming extremely suffocating.

"Come on." Brock said again after a moment as he continued forward. Dawn paused a moment longer to take in their surroundings one more time. The silence pressed closer to her sending shivers up her spine. Shaking off the unsettling feeling she ran to catch up with Brock. They traveled on a little further until Dawn could not take any more.

"Brock?" Dawn asked aloud hoping to break the uncomfortable silence that had settled around them. "You've been travelling with Ash for a long time now right?"

Brock thought back to all of his adventures with a smile, "yeah about five years now." He replied. (A/N: I acknowledge that time passes, however I do not acknowledge the aging of the anime characters.)

"That's a long time," replied, "did you know Ash before hand?" She continued on curiously. Truth was she was always curious, she just never really had the chance to ask, and now seemed like as good as time as any.

"No" Brock laughed trying to imagine themselves being friends at a younger age.

"Then how does a gym leader come to travel with a pokémon trainer?" She asked even more intrigued as she hauled herself over another fallen tree.

"It's a long story." Brock replied, as he continued walking.

"Well we certainly have the time." Dawn began when it seemed like that was all she was going to get. "How did you guys meet?"

"Yeah time," Brock replied glancing around the wreckage they were currently walking in. "The first time I met Ash was when he came to challenge my gym. You see at the time Ash had only been traveling about two weeks and I was the first gym battle." Brock continued

Brock paused a moment lost in the memory of the young inexperienced trainer walking into his gym. "I remember thinking that it was going to be a waste of my time to battle him, and even told him so, but he was insistent, so I accepted his challenge."

"Really?" Dawn asked trying to imagine Ash as a novice trainer. "So did you change your mind about him after he beat you?" Dawn asked again curiously.

"Actually he didn't beat me." Brock answered much to Dawn's surprise. "He forfeit because Pikachu didn't stand a chance against my Onix." Brock said with a hint of pride.

"Pika" Pikachu replied in a bemused tone towards Brock at hearing his comment.

Dawn smiled at Pikachu's response and hugged Piplup a little closer. "So how did Ash's forfeit lead you to travel with him to Sinnoh?"

"Well if the story had ended there it wouldn't have." Brock replied. "I told him to go home and give up being a trainer."

"A little harsh don't you think?" Dawn asked rather surprised at Brock.

"If you had asked me that before, I never would have thought so but looking back I guess you are right. At the time I was the one taking care of my family. My father took off on a pokémon journey of his own, but had yet to return. My mother gave up all hope, and simply lost the will to carry on.(A/N: another confusing hurtle, in season one Brock's mother died according to Flint, but later on his mother is there, so lost the will to carry on seems safe enough to use.) The responsibilities of gym leader and caretaker of thirteen brothers and sisters fell on my shoulders."

"People who came to me gym with their futures burning brightly before them only angered me at my lost chance to pursue my own. As I watched him leave my gym that day I thought for sure I would never see him again. I never expected him to come back the very next day to challenge me again."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu added in excitedly from his perch upon Brock's shoulder.

Dawn paused a moment to take in what Brock had just told her. "So he beat you right?" Dawn asked wondering how things had turned around for Brock.

"No, he forfeited." Brock simply stated, much to Dawn's confusion. "Not because he was losing." Brock added at seeing Dawn's confusion but only succeeded in confusing her further. "Ash was winning the battle, but not in a way he had wanted to." he clarified

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked.

"You see." Brock began, "Pikachu's attacks were so powerful they set off the sprinklers in my gym. My Onix was weakened and all Ash had to do was call out one more attack to win the badge, but instead he called Pikachu back and said he would be back to challenge me again and win fair and square. After that he left my gym."

"After a time I took in what he had said and realized something that I will never forget. In my eyes Ash was more deserving of the badge then any trainer I had previously battled, so I chased after him determined to redeem myself. When I found him I could not stop myself from revealing to him my real dreams to travel and to pursue a career as a pokémon breeder, and asked him to fulfill my dreams through his."

Dawn nodded, motioning for him to continue.

"As it turned out, my father who had disappeared to become a trainer had helped Ash because he reminded him of himself. Through Ash's actions it had given him the courage to return home and resume his responsibilities of being a father, allowing me to travel and follow my own dreams."

Brock paused a moment, thinking back to how different his life would have been had he not met Ash. "It's all because of Ash that I am able to follow my dreams, and I never really thought about it until now." Brock said as he paused thinking about his friend, when he suddenly remembered that they were looking for him.

Dawn paused, her gaze drifted towards the ground realizing how close Ash and Brock must be when she caught a glimpse of something in the distance.

"Brock look!" Dawn cried out as she ran over towards whatever she had spotted. Brock curiously watched her as she wadded through muddy waters towards whatever had caught her eye.

Dawn bent down and picked up a very familiar item. "It's Ash's hat!" she exclaimed as she tried to wipe off some of the mud for him. Brock and Pikachu both glanced around desperately for any sign of the missing trainer but found nothing.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu cried out as he jumped down from his perch upon Brock's shoulder, straining his ears for the slightest noise, but was only met by his own echo.

"Where is he?" Brock asked worriedly as he scanned the area once more.

"Brock this doesn't make sense." Dawn said as she made her way back to Brock. "Why would Ash just leave his hat?"

"He wouldn't." Brock replied

"That's what I'm saying," Dawn continued, "even if the winds had blown off his hat last night, you and I both know that Ash would have done anything to get it back, so he should be around here somewhere and he is clearly not."

"Pikapi!" the little mouse pokémon tried again, but was once again only met by silence.

"Brock." Dawn asked hesitantly not wanting to voice her fears. "You don't think that Ash ran into some kind of trouble do you?"

Brock took her question into consideration, and truth be told he had been thinking that exact same thing. "Knowing Ash for so long, I don't think it, I know it." He finally responded.

"So what now?" Dawn asked, only to stump Brock. To be honest he had no idea. Obviously they had to find Ash, but Brock was hoping that Ash would be closer to the area he had fallen from, but this was not the case. Brock glanced up the long trek Ash had slide done the night before, and then back out at the tangled mess of fallen tree branches. It was a lot of area to cover between the four of them, and they really couldn't even use Staraptor, or Togekiss, the forest was just too dense still.

"Do you hear that?" Dawn asked breaking the Brock's train of thought.

But before Brock could say anything, Pikachu took off in the general direction of the noise.

"Pikachu!" both Brock and Dawn cried out in unison as they quickly followed behind the mouse pokémon as he sprint through the forest towards the source.

"Pikapi!" he cried out as he pushed himself a little harder as the sound grew louder and clearer.

"What is that?" Dawn managed to ask between breaths as the noise persisted, when suddenly realization hit Brock like a brick walls as he slide to a sudden stop.

"Pikachu wait!" He cried out as he stretched out his arm halting Dawn's progression. But Brock's warning fell upon deaf ears as Pikachu continued forward. When suddenly he came to a screeching halt as the trees before him barreled down as a familiar six wheeled vehicle drove on the scene.

"Pikachu!" Dawn cried out when she finally caught up, Brock closely behind. His eyes locked on the vehicle as another came barreling through. Pikachu growled as sparks began to emit from his cheeks. He knew Ash had run into trouble.

Brock gritted his teeth in anticipation as four men came piling out of the vehicle and made their way over towards where they stood. Brock carefully placed himself in front of the others wondering what exactly they were up to.

"Hunter J's goon Squad." Dawn whispered as she watched the four men come to a halt a few meters in front of them.

"The rest of the team." One of the men said as he stepped out, clearly distinguishing himself as the man in charge. He watched them in amusement as he thought about which tactic to use to contain them.

"The rest?" Dawn asked confused wondering what he could possibly mean by that, but Brock already knew the answer to that. Ash did run into some kind of trouble last night, and now they were staring right in the face of that same trouble.

"Where's Ash?" He yelled out to him in anger.

The lead huntsman smiled upon seeing their response. Clearly they were worried for their friend; perhaps he could use that to his advantage.

"You're coming with us." The lead huntsmen stated matter of factly after a moment. The others behind him smile at his comment as they casually crossed their arms, almost as if it was some kind of joke.

"Fat chance!" Dawn yelled back in defiance as she reached down for one of her pokéballs.

The lead hunter smiled at hearing her response as he edged a little closer towards them. "You might want to reconsider; it may be the only way for you to ever see your friend again." He sneered at them.

Dawn paled a little upon hearing the goon's response. What did they mean by that? Did they have Ash? Is that why they could not find him?

Brock gritted his teeth in frustration at the huntsman. They were bluffing, they had to be. Ash was too good to get caught by the likes of them. He was about to say so when the lead huntsman pulled out a familiar article of clothing.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu cried out as sparks stopped emitting from its cheeks, and a feeling of dread washed over him.

"Ash!" Dawn cried out upon recognizing it.

"Dawn." Brock called out warningly to her, "Pikachu, they don't have him." He said as he thought it through properly. "They need us to get to Ash."

Dawn looked at Brock her eyes filled with uncertainty. She wanted to believe him, but if they did not have him then how come they had his vest?

"Dawn, listen to me." He said as he placed his hands upon her shoulders turning her to look him directly in the eye as Pikachu listened intently to what Brock had to say. "Why would they be hunting us if they already had Ash? They do not have him." He said once again to reassure her and Pikachu then turned his attention back towards the men across from him. "And they won't get him through us!" He said as he threw up a pokéball releasing Crogunk.

"It was worth a try," The lead huntsman sighed to himself as he motioned the others behind him. "Get them!" he demanded as the others behind him responded by throwing up their pokéballs releasing a flock of Crobat.

Pikachu leapt forward next to Crogunk sparks still emitting warningly as the Crobat flew closer. "Dawn!" Brock cried out to her snapping her back to the present.

"Right" she responded as she threw her pokéball in the air releasing Buneary.

The crobat zoomed in all around them as the pokémon fought to defend them. Pikachu launched a massive thunderbolt, but the Crobat were too quick, not to mention the flood waters slowing down their own movement. They easily dodge every attack the trainers called out, and hit the pokémon with their own.

"Dawn we can't keep this up!" Brock yelled out over to her. He knew sooner or later the battle was going to turn in the huntsmen's favor, and they were wasting precious time battling these guys. They had to get back out there and find Ash.

Dawn nodded in agreement. She had been thinking along the same lines. They had to get out of there, but they couldn't just turn and run away. Hunter J's goon squad would chase them all through the forest. They had to lose them somehow, when suddenly Dawn was hit with an idea as she looked at the huntsmen standing ankle deep in the flood waters.

"Buneary!" she cried out to the ice type, "Ice beam at their feet!" She commanded pointing directly at the huntsmen. Buneary responded immediately as she unleashed her most powerful attack at the four men.

The huntsmen cried out in alarm as the water around them froze immediately locking them in place as well as the vehicles behind them. The crobat turned around in confusion to see what had caused their master's distress. (A/N: what can I say freezing things over seems like a common solution for this author!)

"Pikachu now!" Brock called out. Pikachu leaped high in the air above the crobat, and before they knew what was going on, unleashed a powerful thunderbolt taking them out for the count.

"Brock" Dawn exclaimed as she returned her pokémon dashing off in the opposite direction. Brock followed suit as Pikachu leapt back up on his shoulders as he took off after Dawn. The shouts and cries of the huntsmen rang loudly behind him, as he smiled in their small victory.

"That should hold them for awhile!" Dawn happily exclaimed when Brock caught up with her. Brock nodded his agreement returning the smile.

"Good." He said as they ran further and further away from the huntsmen. "Let's go find Ash!"