Chapter 18 – A Revolution, I Suppose
"So I guess we're all that are left, standing against the tidal wave. Pretty pathetic revolution huh?" May
[12:08PM] – 26th May – Vermillion City – Vermillion Gym – Lt Surge, Ash, Sabrina, Lance, Erika
It had been a day, since the unlikely crew raided the wreckage of the SS Anne, in the bay. Much to Ash's dismay, Erika had her way, and he had spent the night camping on the floor of the gym. Janine had crept off in the early morning, her course bound for the northwest, to where the rebels lay, slipping into the shadows with her Ariados and Crobat vanishing after her. For a moment she paused, balanced on the rooftop looking over her shoulder. Then she winced with guilt and turned away, leaping lightly away with soft, ninja steps.
Maybe it was time she checked in with Koga. Things had obviously got far worse since the rebels had lost Fuchsia.
If there was a time to fight, she reckoned that time would be now.
It was morning, and after Sabrina of all people had woken them up with breakfast, they were gathered, in an awkward sort of silence which has descended over the Vermillion Gym. Anxious for something to do, Surge had stalked across to where his Raichu and Electabuzz were waiting, and Rai had followed with some sort of twisted glee as he bounded towards the larger Raichu. With a laugh Va had followed behind, morphing into a Jolteon as she trotted along.
"RaiAi! ChuKaaRaiAiRaiRa Rai Ai Ai Rai?) the mouse mocked his companion. (Hey! You're from Vermillion right? Does that make you a Vermin?)
Ash tried to ignore the pitying stares from Erika, the mildly speculative looks from the psychic and the searching dark eyes of Lance. Leaning against the wall, watching Surge talk to his Pokémon in a quiet voice, he idly tossed the green gear in the air, letting it spin before catching it.
"Watch it." Surge snapped, glancing around, "We wasted a lot of resources to get that!"
Ash narrowed his eyes, as the brown in them flickered to blue. "Sorry. Thanks for getting it. I am sorry about the Electrode."
Surge snorted, "I can raise another. They have a tendency to blow up. It's water under the bridge."
The raven haired man ignored the soldier's callousness. Instead, he asked "Where did Janine go?" looking around for the ninja, already knowing she was gone, but searching for a topic of conversation.
Sabrina exchanged a glance with her Mr. Mime. "She went looking for her father."
"Koga?" Ash queried. "Where is he? The Pewter base or…"
"Viridian. Karen and Bruno are at Pewter."
"So Karen and Will haven't eloped yet?"
Lance shot Ash a glare. "I thought I told you to drop that conversation."
The dead man grinned, and the black Lucario let out a barking laugh.
The Celadon Gym Leader kneeled, greeting Zorua who danced up to her, "Hey - Shads?" she asked, "You haven't seen that Pichu anywhere have you? After Lavender he vanished… the Chikorita's still here. I think I'll keep her."
"ChiKoor!" the Johto starter chirped.
Ash shook his head. "No. She must have escaped back to the wild. Or somebody else found her."
"Her?"
"Yeah – the Pichu was a girl."
Erika stared at him. "It was?"
"She was." Zo corrected, tail twitching from side to side. "So ... Apart from robbing the SS Anne wreckage, what else have you guys been up to?"
"Well Sabrina and I have finally worked out why there are so many rockets." Lance's smile was lopsided as he tried to lighten the mood. "Sabs worked out they have this secret breeding program."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "Very funny," he complimented, "How long did you spend coming up with that joke?" he teased.
"It's not possible." Zo complained, tail flicking angrily. "Hasn't anybody noticed?"
Sabrina nodded wordlessly.
"Noticed what?" Erika asked, mystified.
"Nothing can breed. There hasn't been any baby Pokémon or humans since the Indigo Battle when Giovanni stopped time."
Erika leaned back, crossing her legs, "You've been awfully vague on this famous battle of Indigo. What actually happened? How did the Team 'stop time'?"
From where he was stationed Surge turned, "That would be awful nice to know." he drawled.
"There isn't much to know." Ash said shortly.
Lance flinched slightly. "It's a sore point."
Surge didn't seem to know when to stop talking. "It seems to be like some event everyone treats as the end of the world. But nobody actually says what happened there."
"It was the League's fault." Sabrina spoke up quietly, "Five years ago, there were tensions as the criminal gangs began to work together. They all have a similar obsession with legendary Pokémon, and planned to harness their power. The League was scared and began to fight back. They formed SECTION, to work against the gangs. The war officially started in secret five, six years ago, but it was at Indigo, four years ago it became more of a reality."
Ash glanced up from where he had been silently talking with his Lucario. "There were small things before; like the Celadon Game Corner was involved in financing their misdeeds and Silph Co began inventing weapons instead of technology. SECTION was sent to deal with them, on order of the League. The officials began to get more and more scared until eventually we were ordered to infiltrate the rocket base itself. The group sent in however was discovered, and killed."
Erika's eyes widened at the implications, "I'm sorry," she whispered, and Ash gave her a small smile, the blue having faded out of his eyes when the conversation turned, leaving them grey, dull and horribly dead looking - a molten silver.
"And at the Plateau? What happened there then? People don't seem to want to chat 'bout it." Surge queried, treading more carefully now as the tension in the air became noticeable.
Sabrina spoke up again. "Giovanni had elected himself the head of criminal gangs. They had this plan to gather up the plates of Arceus, to allow them to control every time of Pokémon in existence. But our spies leaked the plan before it was completed and we managed to foil it. So he came up with another ploy, using the faeries."
"Faeries?" Erika blinked
"The legendary Pokémon are divided into three groups," Ash explained, "The deities, such as the Creation Trio and the Lake Trio of Sinnoh, the two birds of Johto and the Weather Trio of Hoenn. They in turn are served by the titans, the Golems, the Dogs, Birds, Lunar Duo… The Faeries refer to Mew, Celebi, Manaphy, Jirachi and Shaymin. The Team were dabbling in the faeries' power. None of them guarded anything, like the titans, nor were responsible for creation, like the deities. For Mew they were interested in its psychic powers, its powers of transformation, teleportation and genetics. They had already tried to clone her, but it failed. Shaymin was a Pokémon of purity, and of course the Team weren't interested in that. Manaphy was a sea companion to Kyogre, while Jirachi is a wish master."
"This is all very interesting," Surge rolled his eyes, "But can you get to the point already?"
Ash waved a hand dismissively. "You wouldn't understand without the background knowledge," he explained. "Giovanni used a mix of Celebi's time travel powers, and Dialga and Palkia's spatial and temporal gifts in an attempt to turn time back to the very beginning so mankind could start again, ruling the land as kings etc etc, cue the usual evil villain speech. Instead he managed to stop time entirely because he decided to carry out his grand plan on top of temporal tower."
"Indigo?" Erika asked.
Ash nodded.
"You told us you didn't know where Temporal Tower was!" Lance accused.
"I never said anything about Temporal Tower. May and Dawn were the ones who tried and failed to find it."
"Hmm – lying by omission is still the same as lying." The champion narrowed his eyes. "You like being purposely misdirecting don't you?"
Ash gave him a grin, "Sure. Whatever." he shrugged, before turning to the pair of Raichu whose chirps had progressed to antagonistic growls. "Will you two stop it?"
Surge's orange mouse leaned back on his haunches, as his trainer took a step forward, "It was your mouse that started it!"
Ash held up his hand defensively, "Whoa! I'm not starting anything here. Rai - leave it - I know… no… don't give me that look."
"RaiAi Kaa," the mouse grumbled under his breath as he hopped over to the Jolteon.
Zo smirked from where she was standing, "Ignore him. He got hit with Zapdos's thunder attack. It's making him grouchy."
"Rai!" the mouse protested.
"Jolt Teon TeHolt." (Don't protest. You know it's true.) Va flickered him gently with her tail.
"Chu." (Still).
"Zapdos?" Erika squeaked, and her Chikorita looked at the orange mouse with wide eyes before hiding behind her trainer's legs.
"Electric gear." Ash shrugged. "I've got nine of the blighters now, plus the three your viridian crew should have that makes twelve."
The red headed champion spoke up, "We've sent Mis…an agent to get the three around the coast. That makes fifteen leaving us with only two more."
Ash appeared not to notice the blunder, and Lance relaxed slightly. May had phoned in the news, and it seemed they were one big step closer to collecting these antique stones. Curiously, Lance examined the dead man, who seemed to be talking silently with his black Lucario, whose red eyes had a slight aura glow about them. Simultaneously, the now Vaporeon and Raichu stopped arguing, ears pricked to their trainer.
Ash uncurled from his position against the wall, straightening, purposely not meeting Lance's gaze. "Well it's been nice." He said, intermittently, "But I really should be off. I'm not likely to see you again."
With a falling heart, Lance stared at the elite. Their quest was ending, but so was Ash's precious time remaining on this earth. Soon he would die. How could Ash face that?
Life was so unfair sometimes.
"I'll go with you." He said, straightening as well.
"Me to!" Erika, of course, she seemed be determined to follow them to the very end on their quest. Sabrina remained silent, staring with all too knowing eyes at the dark haired aura guardian. As if sensing her psychic presence, Ash glared at her, but she met his gaze levelly for a moment, before the younger man tore his head away.
"No." he said, voice monotone. "Stay here. Stay alive. It's the most you can do for me."
"Don't be a moron about this Shads!" Erika snapped, stepping forwards, seeming to understand the issue in one. "I signed up for your crazy ass adventure, and you already left me once! You're not doing it again."
Ash's lips curled up in a mocking grin, bitter and resentful. "And what are going to do about it? Huh?"
"Let people in." Lance said, quietly, sensibly. "You tried doing this from the shadows but it didn't work. Step into the light for a little bit." He was met with a brown gaze that as he watched, flushed with crimson.
The elite's lips quirked. "Sorry." He shrugged, and Lance knew what he was going to do before he did. "I hate to leave it like this, but it's really the only way." And then he stepped backwards, vanishing from view, the air shattering and being rebuilt faster than they could see.
Lance had lunged for the elite, but missed, and was left, cursing, slamming his hands against the wall where the elite had previously stood, brimming with frustration. "Bloody, self-sacrificing idiot! Arceus! Can't you stay around your friends for more than a minute before running off?"
The champion couldn't help but wonder why the raven haired man had to isolate himself so.
Couldn't he see it would be the death of them?
Erika glanced up at him, her eyes resolute. "We are going after him, aren't we?" her tone that of one who was planning to do it regardless of what his view was.
Lance grimaced. "I'm the one with the Dragonite aren't I?"
[14:08PM] – 26th May – Pallet Town - Misty
Misty was relieved to set foot on the mainland again, after the days at sea. Pallet Town's air had always smelt so sweet, even if now, the town that lay ten miles or so up the road, no longer sat there. ChuChu was sleeping on her shoulder, and Gyrados was splashing up the river, along with Golduck who was relieved to be in the fresh water. In her hand, the dead man's note was held, warmed by her touch.
Written on the note was scribed only a few, hastily penned words. Blaine always did love his riddles and poems.
To see a world in black and white, we must first understand it in its full complexity. The artist is given a choice of colours, but it is his choice with what he does with them. To start at the beginning, one must look for the start, and pick up their brush.
It was a pretty quote, even if as a riddle it didn't actually work that well, but it served its purpose. An artist held a palette, a mix of colours to capture the world. As such, Misty had made quick haste from the underground gym, finding her snoozing Gyrados and leaping aboard, until she was settled comfortably, cruising south in the late afternoon up route 21.
Stretching, Misty gazed at the hilly route north. Hopefully the gear was in the old town, and hopefully she could find it without trouble finding her first.
She should have known it was never going to be that easy.
[14:08PM] – 26th May – Pallet Town - Ash
"You're a rubbish long range teleporter."
"Shut up Rai."
"It doesn't matter. You are!"
"And I said shut up."
"I agree," Zo joined in, "Have you forgotten where we're going or something. Because I thought we were going to Pallet."
"We are going to Pallet." Ash insisted, fighting his way through a persuasive bramble. "I just …"
"Got lost." Va and Rai synchronized.
"I am not lost! I took a detour since my memory is dodgy. Unless you like landing above Vermillion Docks after being almost ripped apart by space?"
The pair shut up, conceding to his point. Ash sighed in relief. "Anyway, I'm not lost. I grew up here, remember? It's that way!"
Rai frowned. "I thought it was that way," he motioned with his tail.
Va overruled him. "We are not following you. We are going south west, to Pallet, not North West, to Viridian, got it?"
Rai wisely shut up.
Zo scoffed at their antics. "Ya' know at this rate, Lance will have chased us down on that wee dragon of his and we'll be fresh meat."
"Leave Lance to me," Ash promised, before shimmering out, and fading back in a couple of metres away from the offending bramble. "Luca? How's it going?"
"Definitely warmer." The quiet jackal sent mentally. "I believe that there are two, to where we are heading."
"Where are we heading?"
"The ruins." Zo said, quietly, answering Va's question.
"The fire and the normal gear reside there, both with similar tales of destruction behind them. We will find them at the centre of the destruction."
Ash winced. "Well we better get started," he muttered, striding forwards, air shattering around him, a wound in the fabric of reality, left torn open behind him.
With a sigh, his Pokémon jumped in after him, as usual, without stopping to look before they leapt through the boundaries of space and time.
[14:08PM] – 26th May – Pallet Town – Lance, Erika
"I'm going to kill him." Erika told the dragon master.
He might have actually felt threatened by the jaded grass trainer, was she not clutching the back of his jacket tightly, eyes shut closed. Her Chikorita remained in her pack, similar to his Dratini curled around his neck. The orange dragon beneath them lurched slightly in the non-existent air currents, and a small whine escaped her lips.
Lance sighed internally. May much preferred riding on his dragon, whenever she could be persuaded away from her computer, and he found himself missing the chirpy technician. He enjoyed talking to her, even if she did call at the most awkward moments.
"Are we there yet?" Erika asked, shivering slightly.
"Almost." Lance said, glancing down at water. To the west, he could see the faint outline of the Pallet Coast. "Soon. Just hang on and don't look down."
"Never, ever again." The Celadon Gym Leader whimpered, "My feet are going to stick firmly on the ground from now on."
Erika was brave, Lance conceded, but she wasn't May.
Why was he so stuck up on the bandana wearing Hoenn coordinator anyway? It was odd, how almost every thought seemed to revolve around her.
He frowned, and shook his head, internally shrugging. Concentrate on May later. Ash first, then he could ask May on a date.
It didn't occur to him until later how that thought had turned out, and by then, there would be worse things to worry about.
[14:08PM] – 26th May – Pallet Town - Ash
He hated being back here. He might not remember much but the few, precious memories linked with this place, were all filled with childhood, his mother, and worst, or maybe best of all, Misty.
For the first time in a while he let his thoughts linger over the fiery water trainer. He missed her so much it was unbearable. That's why he kept moving, kept running. Maybe if he ran fast enough, far enough, he might forget about her for a bit.
Not that he ever wanted to forget about the girl who had stolen his soul.
Not that he ever could. They were linked, a faded handkerchief around his arm and a fishing lure, ensnaring his heart. Arceus he never used to be this poetic. It was definitely a side effect of hanging around her too much; the romantic had always been Misty. And it had always been Misty; he had most wanted to see when he returned to Kanto.
[16:04PM] – Unknown Date - Pre Memory Loss Incident – Cerulean City – Cerulean Gym
"Ash?" The red headed water trainer had to blink several times at the sheepish raven haired man standing in front of the cerulean gym. "Ash Ketchum?"
"I think I know my own name Mist." Ash grinned, rubbing the back of his head. On his shoulder Pikachu chirped happily.
The gym leader narrowed her eyes before reaching for a wooden mallet.
Ash yelped hands coming up in a surrender position. "Hey! Whoa! Please don't hit me! I swear! It was Riley's fault! He's the one who brought the explosives! I didn't know what he was going to do with them and I didn't really question it when he asked me to put them in the Eterna base! I swear it's all, his fault."
His babbling had the desired effect as Misty's arm dropped. "You what?" she asked, "Gee Ash it's been… months since I last saw you and you waltz in going on about explosives."
"It was Riley's fault." Ash said stubbornly, ignoring his yellow mouse's snickering. He was also trying not to stare at the red head - had Misty always had such pretty coloured eyes? Misty gazed at his for several more seconds before Ash found himself with an armful of Misty. "Uh Mist?"
"You couldn't even write a letter? I missed you. Git." she mumbled into his shoulder, blinking to stave off the tears.
The aura guardian awkwardly patted her back. "I missed you too. Never stopped thinking about you. Got you a present - hope you like it - it's nothing much but still… I know you deserve more and I'm sorry about the letters. I did send you a postcard but I think it got lost in the mail."
Misty stepped back, eyes watering but she determinedly blinked away the tears. "You might as well come on in. I've got a challenger later but you can stay and watch."
Ash followed her, subconsciously stepping past the dozy yellow duck by the umbrella stand. "You still enjoy running the gym?" he asked.
Misty nodded. "I wish sometimes my sisters would help but if I wasn't a gym leader I don't know what I would be."
"A water Pokémon master?"
"I'm quite happy being the best water Pokémon gym leader in Kanto." Misty smiled. "…but what about you … you were in Sinnoh for a bit right? I watched your battles for the conference. But where did you go afterwards? Brock thought you were going to Unova." the gym leader pushed open the door to the gym, holding it open for the dark haired teen to step through.
Ash gave a nervous laugh. "I - ah - missed the boat back to Kanto. So I decided to stay in Sinnoh and explore a bit. Mount Coronet mostly."
"Catch any new Pokémon?"
"Sure thing – It's like you don't know me at all Mist! I have got a new team built up and I trained up some older ones. Want to see?"
"Go on then." Misty gestured towards the gym and pool. She perched by the edge and Pikachu immediately hopped up towards her, chaa-ing softly. The red head scratched the electric rodent's ears gently, glancing around at the pool and her Pokémon.
The teen however had gotten distracted as he crouched beside her, gazing at the pool. "I see you got some new Pokémon too." he smiled, and the red head was struck with how dashing he looked with that lopsided grin.
A rumble from the pool could be heard as her sea dragon emerged. Ash glanced at Gyrados. "Well I've met you before big fellow. And I saw Psyduck on the way in. Starmie and Corsola too."
Said Pokémon let out chirps happily.
"Meet my Lapras and Quagsire." Misty smiled. "Oh, and you met Marill - but she was an Azurill back then."
"Marrilll!" the little aqua mouse squealed as she threw herself at Ash who caught her. (Daddy!) Pikachu snickered and Ash glared at him.
"QuagQuagsire." (Nice to meet you). The water and ground type waddled up.
The raven haired aura guardian sent Pikachu a glance. "Sorry buddy. Misty's got a ground type now to counter your electricity. She must be tired of all those kids with Pikachu's winning against her."
"You did not win." Misty stated adamantly.
"Of course not," Ash sighed, trying to avoid an argument, "We drew remember?"
"Pah!" Misty scoffed, "You wish."
"Want to meet the Totodile we were fighting over?"
"Is he going to do his crazy dance again?"
"Hah. Hardly."
The lure ball cracked open, as a large blue crocodile emerged, scales a glittering pale blue and jaws wide. "Galatr?" he tipped his head to one side questioningly.
"He evolved!" Misty squealed. "Wow - Feraligatr is so…" Cute wasn't really the word so Misty settled for hugging the amused croc.
"Gaa?" (Is this normal?)
"Yes." Ash and the various Pokémon chorused in unison.
Misty glared at them.
Ash, seeing the glare, changed the subject. He pulled out a white Pokéball banded red around the hinge and handed it to her. "Found this little gal in Mount Coronet. They have some pretty pools up the mountain. She's for you Mist, to raise and train, being a water type and all. Anyway, she's not much to look at now but I'm sure she'll evolve soon…" he trailed off as the premier ball broke open and a small brown fish fell out.
"Fee…"
The fish was saved from a near choking hug by the only fact that Ash had received it first. "Gah! Mist! I can't breathe!"
"Thank you." Misty stepped back, her voice sincere. "My sisters will tell you how long I've been looking for a Feebas. How did you know?"
"Know? I guessed." Ash shrugged. "Wallace of Hoenn, the coordinator, specialises in water Pokémon and I figured you'd probably idolise him. Luxray almost electrocuted her so I had to capture her to take her to a Pokémon centre. I thought you might like to train her."
"Like to? I'd love to. You hear that little girl? You're going to be a brilliant Milotic one day!"
The little fish agreed happily, clapping her fins together.
The red head paused. "Wait. Luxray? What Pokémon do you have?"
Fishing four red and white spheres from his belt, Ash released the rest of his current team. A gleaming eyed Luxray stalked forward, shaking his dark mane. In the pool a pale aqua scaled Lantern flickered with light, and next to it a strange dark blue eel danced, claws outstretched as it batted the water. Finally Ash's dark blue Swellow shuffled his feathers.
Misty's attention was drawn to the eel, staring at it. "What is that Pokémon?" she asked, reaching out her hand to let the eel sniff it cautiously.
"That's Eelektross. He's a Unova Pokémon, electric type. Someone gave me a Tynamo, his first evolution, and he then evolved into a Eelektrik. He found a thunder stone buried in some rocks on Iron Island and evolved into his final form."
"Four electric types?" Misty asked, counting them. "Pikachu, Luxray, Eelektross and Lantern."
"I decided to specialise after I realised I had four. Then Lance offered me a challenge for I picked electric. My challenge is in about two months. I still need to find two more but I reckon I could manage with just five provided I find the right one."
"Wait, wait, and wait? An elite challenge?" Misty stared at him.
Ash nodded. "I was thinking of maybe raising an Elekid but Paul already has one and it's not that appealing. I was going to go to Johto and look for a Mareep maybe… a Jolteon would do to but Eevee's are so rare it'd be hard to find one. I also wouldn't want to force it to evolve - it might prefer to be a Vaporeon or Espeon - Heck - even a Leafeon."
"An elite challenge?"
"Yes. Ampharos are quite powerful. There was this Flaafy I ran into a couple of months back. She might want to tag along with me…"
"An elite challenge against the Kanto elite? Against the champion? Against Lance?"
"Yes. The moron. You know he tried to go off on his own to take down these Hunter renegades and got into trouble. Me and Riley had to bail him out as usual. That's not counting the Mahogany Underground Rocket circle we broke into only to find Lance already there. I told him we were handling it!"
"Agatha, Lorelei, Bruno and Lance? Dragon Master Lance? Water Master Lorelei Prima? Lorelei?"
"Yes, her too. Haven't met her since the Orange Islands. Haven't been there in a while."
"Ash!"
"Yes? Misty?"
"You are going to explain to me right now what in Kyogre's name you are talking about! Got it! Right! Now start talking you prat!"
[14:14PM] – 26th May – Pallet Town – Lance, Erika
Zo's prediction proved true, as Lance and Erika landed down, the latter tumbling to the ground and curling up next to it, a step away from kissing it emphatically when Lance dragged her up. "Come on. You can worship the earth later, but first we have to find Ash."
It didn't take them long either, in fact they almost walked into him, as he teleported in front of them.
"Dammit Ash! Don't do that again!" Erika cried out in frustration, although whether it was from the sudden appearance, or the two hour flight of hell was hard to tell. Lance himself looked a second away from punching Ash but the aura guardian had the sense to back up, eyes blazing angrily.
"I did what I had to. I didn't ask you to follow me. I explicitly told you not to and if you continue to do so the consequences are your fault."
Whatever angry rant Lance had been preparing died, at seeing the defensive elite, eyes a burning gold, hands raised in a surrender sign, and shoulders tense, as if prepared to fight or flight at any moment.
"We just want to spend time with you before the end." He said, simply.
And, thankfully, Ash accepted that.
[15:14PM] – 26th May – Pallet Town – Lance, Erika, Ash (Chikorita, Dratini, Raichu, Eevee, Lucario, Zorua)
"I still don't get why you revealed yourself." Lance asked later, as the landscape around them finally settled down, as if they were approaching a town, even if they trio knew better. Dragonite and Dragonair had flown off again, and Rai and Va had persuaded Ash to stop teleporting, due to its increasingly erratic nature of the jumps.
"I not only needed your co-operation, but I needed you not to look into the identity issue. Didn't realise the scholar was hiding there though and that threw things out of perspective. The Meowth was out of the bag then."
Somewhere an anthropomorphised cat sneezed.
"So do you go around quoting your own gravestone a lot?" Lance quipped.
Ash glared at him. "It was my first time back in Kanto for four years and it was the place I died. It seemed appropriate. I can't help it if you have a bad taste in poetry."
Erika rolled her eyes, "Says the man who can't even quote it correctly." she muttered. "Imbeciles."
The two men ignored her.
The land below them became increasingly dusty, and Chikorita sneezed in surprise, after pausing to sniff a flower. Pale white ash floated into the air, like an ethereal ghost. Erika shivered. "It's worse than Lavender." She whispered. "Actually, no, screw that, nothing can be worse than Lavender but this… it's terrible because everything still looks so beautiful."
"Preserved in time." Ash said, quietly. "Like living in a photograph."
Then they rounded the corner.
What once, would have been a perfect, picturesque town, was simply not there. It was as if someone had plucked it out of the earth, leaving behind a large crater, filled with rocks and burnt out husks of buildings that hung there, fragile and suspended in time. Leaning walls and fallen beams propped up by the slightest of things, flowers creeping around the ruins and icy growing along the cracks in the ground. It was beautiful, as Erika had said, but it was terrible too.
"The ranch was up there." Ash gestured, seemingly indifferent to his hometown's burnt out shell, even if on the inside he was crying and screaming with rage and sorrow. His mother had died here, after all. "My mom's house was nearer the sea, and Mist and I rented a place nearer the lab to the north, near route one where the new trainers would start out."
Va pressed herself to Rai, her form settled into that of the defect Eevee, ears dropping. Lucario stood silently by his master, red eyes staring at the scene. His ear twitched, and his muzzle turned slightly, tasting the air.
"Cario Lu RoRio." (There is a human, near the south of the town.) He barked, and Ash stiffened, repeating the message.
"South?" Lance strained his eyes to the south, pacing slowly and silently towards it. Erika followed, and Ash trailed behind, their footsteps leaving no trace in the dry, hard dirt. It was easy to almost imagine the flames, as they consumed the village and its occupants, still screaming. The left over aura hung in the air, an oppressive plea for help which seemed to situate near the centre of the village, near where the Pokémon league memorial had stood. Ash's feet itched to head there, to find the gears he knew were hidden there, but he consented to following Lance for the moment.
"Who is that?" Erika squinted.
"Your eyesight is better than mine." Lance admitted, before cupping his hands to his mouths and shouting. "Ahoy! Who goes there? Rebel or Team?"
"Half the divide!" the call echoed back, and Lance could now make out the figure approaching through the ash stained air.
Dutifully, Lance responded to the code. "Join to the whole!" he stepped towards the figure, observing the grey Pokémon by their side and the small yellow on the shoulder of the figure. He moved forwards, Erika following like a lost little puppy.
"That's such a stupid code." Zo mumbled, peering off into the distance, trotting behind Rai and Va who had moved forwards to greet the stranger. Ash however had stopped, frozen in place. "Okay there Shads?" she asked, adopting Erika's nickname.
"Lance?" the person called out, stopping, "Is that you?"
"Misty?" Lance choked out, focussing in on the red hair and water type by her side, the Cerulean leader speeding into a jog towards them, shoulders slumped in relief.
Rai stopped, Va walking into the back of him and Zo tripping over the pair of them. He let out a squeak. "RaichuchuRai!"
("PikachuPi!")
"Mi-sty?" Ash asked, his eyes widening, as he took a step backwards. "Uhh… I'll see you in a bit Lance," he managed to speak before his form shimmered and he vanished, Rai and Va taking a more elegant route as the Eevee shimmered into an Espeon and glowing purple pulled Rai, Luca and Zo with her, out of existence.
Lance was left staring into nothing. "I hate it when you do that." He said, to thin air, before turning around to face the approaching gym leader. How he was going to spin this he was still working out.
Please let her not have that hammer of hers anywhere.
AN: Finally! All together at last, although Misty doesn't know who Ash is, she just sees a dark stranger in the distance who vanishes away. Next chapter things will start moving again, and hopefully speed up. Ash's teleporting isn't that good, which is why he never manages to get to the right place and still has to approach the place walking. I point this out multiple times to explain why he can't simply pop from place to place and be done with this whole gear quest in an hour or so. After all, if that were possible, there wouldn't be a gear quest - would there?
The flashback was before Ash had anything to do with SECTION or the war, or rockets. It follows after the Sinnoh Saga, he hung around with Riley for about six months and then returned to Kanto, and it is his meeting with Misty which is depicted here.
Enjoy the chapter and until next time ~ Eclipse