Chapter 17 – No Place for Water
"I think I always knew it was inevitable. It's one of those things, like trying to change the course of a river. You can't do it. It's impossible. I don't believe in impossible though." Misty
[07:54] – 26rd May – Route 19 – Cinnabar Island – Outside – Misty & Pokémon (Gyrados, Golduck, Pichu)
The red haired Cerulean gym leader had barely set one foot down on the stony shore of Cinnabar Island than she knew she was in the wrong place. The ground beneath her feet was sandy and stained with ash, the towering volcano trembling every now and then.
A fire mountain was no place for a water trainer.
She could feel the heat of the volcano from where she was, and in her arms the little Pichu squirmed. At her feet Golduck rubbed at his dry skin for a moment, before joining Gyrados back in the water. Misty took a few steps towards the volcano, trying to ignore the gritty ash already coating her skin. Turning to her two water types, she called out to them. "The pair of you stay here okay! It will be too hot for you in there."
Her Golduck protested violently at this, diving out of the water and hopping over to her, quacking loudly. Misty glanced at her sea monster, "Take a rest – you must be tired after all that surfing."
He bowed his head, before submerging himself into the water, letting the calm ocean wash over his scales. Misty smiled at him for a moment, before nodding to Golduck. "You ready to put out some fires?" she asked, and, after receiving an enthusiastic nod, turned towards the ruins of Blaine's gym.
[19:22PM] – Unknown Date – Approximately Five Years before – Pallet Ruins – About two months after the lab incident
"What happened?" the raven haired man asked her, gaze switching around from the ruined dust strewn rubble behind him and the smoking rock out to sea.
"You don't remember?" she asked, tersely, teal eyes staring at him, trying to work out where they stood.
Silently he shook his head, gaze switching to the Eevee and Pikachu playing in the dust.
"There was a bomb." Misty said, quietly, "Pallet was the home of Professor Oak, a renowned expert on… well… everything."
"Did they kill him?"
She flinched slightly, at the callous tone. "No. He was among one of the ones they evacuated to Hoenn. Gary, his grandson…"
"Blue."
"Yeah… him… he took over his grandfather's duties researching along with the running of the Viridian Gym."
The raven haired man turned to look out to sea once more. "What… why am I sad? When I'm here… it feels like I've lost something."
The red head tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, staring at some nondescript point on the horizon, "We couldn't get your mother out in time. I'm sorry. You found her later, and she died of her injuries. You… you'd been on a mission to intercept some executive in Viridian Forest with a shipment of weapons. We… we don't know what happened. But it was then that you agreed to turn over information in… in exchange…"
"In exchange for your life." His tone was flat, stating the facts with no emotion behind them.
She swallowed. "And Lance's. They'd just killed your mother and you were… you were so angry. You were out all the time, training, fighting… I… was so scared of losing you and… Lance was there… we were drunk…"
"Don't." his voice cracked slightly. "Don't."
"About three months later…" Misty continued, "There was another mission to Celadon, leading troops to the secret entrance to their base under the Game Corner. There… there wasn't one. It was a trap you'd led us into. We lost all of our troops to the rockets and injury bar me, Lance and three others. Five out of two score left alive. The rest were dead."
"And I ended up on that island." Ash stated, looking at the spiral of smoke. "With no memory."
"It will come back." Misty expressed, "It has to! We're all helping and…"
"Misty." His voice stopped her words. "Some of it… I don't think it ever will."
[08:24] – 26rd May – Route 19 – Cinnabar Island – Volcano Ground Floor – Gym Ruins – Misty & Pokémon (Gyrados, Golduck, Pichu)
She cursed as she burnt her hands shifting aside rubble for the fifth time. "This was a bad idea," she whispered to herself. "Blaine isn't here. He's gone. He's dead. The rockets killed him."
She sighed, gaze dropping to the ground, the rocks scarred black from fire and brown from the soil. "So why am I still looking?"
There was a loud crash that made her jump, and the blue feathered duck looked sheepishly towards her, a pile of rocks settling at his feet, a dim black entrance visible behind him. There was a shift of weight on her shoulder as Pichu leapt off, hopping forwards to explore the cave entrance.
"Pi?"
Misty followed the baby mouse. "Don't wander off!" she called, as the spiky eared Pichu hopped closer to the hidden cave.
The mouse grinned at her cheekily, "PiChu!"
The red head took three more steps towards the entrance, hopping over a couple of loose rocks and shifting gravel before the realisation came to her. By then, she was standing outside the dim entrance, frozen, unconsented. She'd been here before.
Flashes of memory sparked behind her eyes but she forced them back, swallowing as she stepped forwards, past the metal door that was twisted, blown into the rock, and trying so hard not to be sick at the grey stained white washed walls and burnt plastic smell that hung in the air.
"Ash!" she called, before she could stop herself.
But nobody answered.
[19:22PM] – Unknown Date – Approximately Five Years before – Pallet Ruins – About two months after the lab incident
"Ash?"
"What?"
The raven haired aura guardian snapped as he turned irritably to face the red headed champion. From where she was standing, Misty flinched.
Lance shifted uneasily, before speaking, "I'm sorry about before … okay? I just wanted to help you remember. You were acting so differently."
"I'm not the same person Lance," Ash said quietly, glancing away, "I might not ever be."
"I accept that. But you're still my friend and that's all that matters."
The raven glanced up, surprised, eyes a pale blue that even as Misty looked, they darkened slightly to a more neutral aqua. "So you don't care? That I'm not him?"
"You are him," Misty said, hesitantly. "Your memories might define how you act but your heart defines who you are. You are still the man I fell in love with, even if you don't remember being the stupid kid who wrecked my bike. You still have the same heart, the same compassion to take in a Pokémon," she gestured to the Eevee, "And treat it like a best friend. You're still the same teenager who beat Lance five on six with a Pikachu that somehow knows magnet rise and a Luxray that sits through earthquakes."
"I thought we agreed to never mentioning that," Lance flinched, "I swear, I don't know what I was thinking giving you that challenge."
"Maybe you weren't thinking," Ash shot back.
"Says the reckless teen who thought trying to wake up Lorelei at eight in the morning was a good idea and then got roped into what she calls a training session."
"You're just jealous you missed your opportunity to chase after me with a flaming sword."
"That was one time! One time! I was sick of having to dodge aura spheres ever two seconds."
"I didn't need you to teach me how to fight! Riley was a far better teacher than you were."
"Riley was your mentor. I was a friend trying to make sure you didn't get killed."
"What sort of friend attacks a guy with a freakin' flaming sword?"
"Pikachu," the yellow mouse sitting at Misty's heels gave a sigh. The Eevee next to him burst into laughter.
"He hasn't changed has he?" Misty smiled, as she glanced down at the mouse, "Look at the pair of them. Men. They go from arguing over something from one minute to friendly bickering the next."
The mouse followed her gaze. "Pi PiPika ka PikaPi. KaChuPi KaPChu?" (It's Lance and Ash. What do you expect?). He said, as if that explained it all.
And maybe it did.
[08:49] – 26rd May – Route 19 – Cinnabar Island – Volcano Ground Floor – Gym Ruins – Misty & Pokémon (Gyrados, Golduck, Pichu)
Misty stared around the destroyed lab. SECTION had pretty much raided the place… well … Lance and Brock had done most of the raiding and Misty and some troops had come as support. They'd found a half drugged up Ash who had no idea of … well … anything. That wasn't mentioning the dead scientists and the rocket executives who, unfortunately, had scattered as soon as they had shown up.
Her footsteps echoed on the cool tile, as she looked around, for something, some hint of… she didn't even know. Ash was dead and nothing in this lab could bring him up. He'd never told anybody what they had done to him and everybody assumed it hadn't gone much beyond treating his bullet wounds.
A stray sheet of paper caught her eyes, one missed by SECTION. She picked it up, studying the page.
DATE XX/XX/XX SUBJECT E#N131#VEE87G6H4DK
Spliced research XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX into the research into spliced XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. It involves removing the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX created an unstable mutation. The chaotic form XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
By using the equipment found on the island XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX to copy Subject E down to the genetic level. XXXXXXXXXXXXXX however there are major faults XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx not a perfect example of its species. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX it is a perfect copy XXXXXXXXXXXXXXx genetically XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx if not XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX and is named Subject E2.
Subject E2's genetic code is shown to react to the usual stimuli XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX evolve XXXXXXXXXXXXXX like others of its species XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX However E2 does not match to E XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXxxx and further experiements XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX x concluded whether this species can be mutated beyond normal XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx although it might be possible XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx not possible XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX
In conclusion XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX failed endeavour and subject E2 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X Immediate action to put down subject XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX resume with new test speciment.
It continued down the page, odd words and phrases, the rest blanked out. No help. The page totally unrelated to anything helpful.
What was she doing here again? Was she looking for closure? Or some piece of mind?
Because she wasn't going to find it here of all places.
She whirled around, heading for the exit, refusing to look back.
She paused once outside, her breathing heavy, and she realised she was shaking. Her legs felt like jelly and she allowed herself to sink to the floor wearily. She wanted nothing more than to be back at Cerulean, curled up with Azurmarill and Golduck, in her own bed. What was she doing out here, thinking she could save the world?
Something dug uncomfortably at her side and she shifted, on hand going to the two gears pressed against her ribs. One, icy white and cold to the touch, the other a clear, simmering dewdrop of aquamarine – two already found and one, somewhere, on this cold, long dead and abandoned mountain.
Where was she going to start searching for it?
"PiPiChu?" the little yellow mouse skipped towards her, bright eyes blinking curiously at her adopted trainer. "ChuPiChu?" (What are you doing? Misty?)
The red head smiled weakly at the mouse, pulling a rumpled piece of paper from the pocket of her red hoodie she had on. Smoothing it out, she stared at the star, resting just under the printed name of 'Cinnabar Island'. The familiar hand writing, scrawled in various places across the map was comforting, and she let herself, just for a second, think about what Ash would do, if he was here in her place.
Her eyes, which had drifted closed, opened widely. A gear of time, on a volcanic island – where else would it be hidden?
With a sigh she forced herself to her feet.
After all, where else to hide something you wanted to stay hidden than in plain sight?
[20:05PM] – Unknown Date – Approximately Four Years Before – Indigo League – Unknown Restaurant
"So what's the occasion?" Leaf asked, leaning into Gary's side as she eyed the dark haired man and red haired woman across from her.
Ash shrugged. "New mission. You know how it is. I thought it would be nice to have a happy memory all together."
"Haven't got enough already?" Gary asked, raising his eyebrows.
Even touching on the awkward subject, Ash merely shrugged it off, staring pointedly off into the distance, and for a moment his brown eyes flickered to molten gold. "Not really. Things are still blurry, and I still find myself knowing things, even if I don't know how." He paused, frowning, "It's like a puzzle and I can see the picture but not some of the pieces. I don't really notice it though."
Misty grabbed his hand reassuringly and he squeezed it gently. His eyes fell on a yellow mouse and he sighed. "Pikachu's raising the ketchup. I'm gonna' have to pay for that."
"What?" Gary gasped, exaggerated, "Champion's don't get discounts on the food?"
"Shut it, you." The aura guardian threatened, standing, "Excuse me a minute while I make sure Pi and Va are okay."
Leaf frowned after him. "Nicknames are a new thing, huh?" she said, although it was more of a statement than a question.
The red head nodded, smiling sadly. "Yeah. His whole team have them – Amps, Lux, Electra… mostly it's just shortening the name." Misty smiled, looking through the window to see Ash, with the yellow mouse and brown fox trotting around his heels.
"I'll go check he's okay," Gary said, gaze layered with concern. Ash was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, and Misty had seen for herself that his aura spheres could shatter bones, and ever since the Celadon Incident as it was known, and the labs afterwards, Ash had a startling lack of morality. Misty had managed to persuade him away from the more dangerous habits, but she knew that one part of the sweet innocent kid who started his journey so blasé and naïve was lost, never to come back.
She watched as the spiky haired Viridian leader approached Ash, the raven glancing at him before turning back to his two Pokémon. Gary's lips moved and Ash must have responded.
The dark haired man turned to face Gary, grabbing his wrist and putting something in it, and Misty could see his face, light angling off it, a deep frown set within it.
Gary unfolded something, looking at the object Ash had passed, before glancing up, mouth forming a question.
The aura guardian looked a bit lost, before whistling. There was a gust of wind as his orange Charizard landed, head cocked to the side, questioningly.
Whatever Ash had handed to Gary he snatched back and passed to Charizard who, with a quick sniff, took it in his great maw, snapping it up in a burst of flame.
The researcher asked Ash something again, but the other waved him off with a shrug. Misty frowned. That was odd.
She felt an indescribably sense of curiosity as to what Ash had shown Gary, but pushed it down, forcing herself to understand that he had his secrets, and she had hers.
And that was the way she was happy to keep it.
[09:28] – 26rd May – Route 19 – Cinnabar Island – Volcano Ground Floor – Gym Ruins – Misty & Pokémon (Gyrados, Golduck, Pichu)
Slowly, avoiding rubble and ruinous slabs of rock, Misty made her way to the gym. What Blaine was thinking locating the place in the volcano she had no idea, but then again the man was mad.
She instantly felt a shot of regret. Blaine had vanished not long after the Indigo Battle. Unlike Lorelei, he had left no trace behind, and it was unlikely he was hiding out on his ruined island. But then again, who would have suspected that Erika had made it through the war relatively unscathed?
She couldn't easily remember the route, and had taken several wrong turns before she discovered the passage leading to the gym door. The metal was charred, and half open, and she slid it back another inch to allow Golduck to squeeze through before following, footsteps echoing lightly on the ground.
A shock gasp escaped her mouth, at seeing the state of the gym field. The stands themselves were shattered, as if an Onix had fallen against them, while the field was covered in scorch marks. The pitch itself was a rubble field of cold magma and earthquake ripples. It looked like a war field. ChuChu gave a chirp of fright and scurried up to Misty's shoulder, black eyes fixed on something. Following the little mouse's gaze, Misty could see a large boulder, crushing down on another white rock. Ignoring the mouse's squeak of protest, Misty stepped closer curiously, but made it only a few steps before stopping, eyes taking in the white skull, crushed beneath the rock, one gangly boned leg protruding. Her eyes took in the bleached white bone, and the curling, twisting horn.
She no longer wanted to know what had happened to Blaine. His Rapidash lay here, long dead, crushed by a rock in what was unlikely to be an accident.
It could be. She reminded herself. The gym was in a volcano after all. It was a hazardous area.
Stumbling over a crack in the ground, Misty set her course for the office at the far end.
Sure, gyms were hazardous, but not this hazardous.
She had barely entered the room, pushing open a door that swung on loose hinges, leaning slightly as if someone had taken a battering ram to it, than she encountered inescapable proof that it was no accident.
Shutting her eyes and cradling ChuChu to her chest, Misty turned around and was promptly sick, turning her back on the Golem and Arcanine skeletons, locked in battle, fangs buried at the neck in a death grip while the rock monster wrapped rocky hands around the spine at the top of the neck. It was an almost poetic finish to what must have been an epic battle, the scars wrought within the structure of the gym itself.
Yet it was not the bodies of the Pokémon which had churned Misty's stomach. She had, after all, seen Brock's Kabutops as a skeletal fossil before being revived. Instead it was the humanoid figure at the far end, slumped against the wall, decaying fabric hanging over the body, skull shattered by a bullet and a crumpled piece of paper in the bony death grip.
Misty did not turn around to brave the death room for a long while. Instead she sat there, curled up outside in the ruined gym, thinking about what had lead her here, and how lucky she had been. This could have been her, had she remained at the Cerulean Gym, served under the Teams…
She didn't want to go back in there. She wanted to run away and never stop, never look behind her at the past. She didn't want to remember dammit!
"ChuPiChu?" the small mouse struggled for air, pressed against Misty's chest. She scrambled out, and nudged Misty's tear stained face sadly – had she been crying? – and squeaked reassuringly. The red head smiled, reminded of Pikachu.
Once again, the thought came into her head. What would Ash do?
He'd find a way to end it with a smile on his face. Blaine should not have had to die for nothing, and she would honour his death. Blinking away tears, Misty stood swallowing down a lump in her throat, along with a wave of despair because Ash wasn't here, and would never be here again because dammit he would not want to see her moping. She had fallen so far from the strong woman he had fallen in love with it was pathetic.
"ChuPiChu?" the mouse asked again.
For the first time since Ash's death Misty smiled fully, genuinely happy and at peace. "It's okay – I'm better now. You wait out here with Golduck and I'll be back in a moment okay? Then we'll find the gear and save the world, how does that sound?"
The spiky eared Pichu nodded emphatically.
Misty smiled, and feeling all that much better for speaking her plan out loud, spun around and headed back to the tomb, the eerie skeletons encased inside.
AN: I feel so bad, but having Blaine alive would just be a repeat of the Lorelei meeting and I didn't want that at all. Anyway, to help people out with the flashbacks, the first two were after Ash lost his memory, and him trying to regain it. The last one was after the previous two, and was about a month or two before the Indigo Battle. It was referenced at the start, and you all know that Ash passed Gary a scrunched up napkin with a creepy prediction on.
Next chapter you can expect nothing really happening, but the characters for the final stage are gathering in the town where it all began. The plot is beginning to twist together now.
Have fun reading!
~ Eclipse