Chapter 19 – Back Where We Started
"Everything spins around in one big circle, turning endlessly. I sometimes wonder… don't you just get tired of it all, going on forever?" Lucario
[15:30PM] – 26th May – Pallet Town – Ash (Raichu, Eevee, Lucario, Zorua)
No. The air shattered around him as he teleported away, without even giving himself a chance to look at her, lest he change his mind.
No way. He followed Lucario towards where the gears were, somewhere in this ruined scene of destruction. He'd grab them and get out, or be too slow and have to face her after all this time.
Not now. Not when he'd got so far without seeing her, staying away, the amount of times he had wanted to run back to her…
He had to get away. He had to keep her safe. Not her, anybody but her.
Oh Misty, you never could stay out of trouble could you?
He shoved aside a large slab of rock, gaze searching for the rocky memorial he was looking for. His dark hood was pulled up, shadowing his face in case Lance was stupid enough to lead Misty here… cut that, of course Lance was stupid enough to lead her here. It was just a question of when and he needed to be out of here quickly, before she noted his presence, pieced together the pieces…
"Here!" Zo called, from where she was nosing around, a metal plate gleaming and hanging loosely off a large white pillar. She had wiped at the metal with her tail, trying to read the writing but it was indistinguishable, melted and blackened. The white pillar itself was only white because of the ash, staining the once marble rock.
"Ro." Lucario sighed, "You're going to make me hit it with an aura sphere, aren't you?"
"No." Ash admitted. "Raichu. Volt Tail."
The orange mouse gained what could be the mouse version of a smirk, hopping up along a rubble patch, and jumping to a higher spot, before flinging himself into the air, spinning silently, tail silver and electricity black.
The marble cracked, Raichu's tail slicing through it like a knife. Rai landed silently, dark eyes gleaming, as Ash moved forwards towards the marble, already spotting the hole within, hollowed into the pillar. Within, a blanket nestled.
Cautiously, Lucario pulled away the wrapping, his paw brushing against the material inside, and the jackal froze momentarily, eyes gazing into the distance before he snapped his paw back, eyes wide. "The last gear is at Indigo. This is it. We have them all. After all this time, we have all the gears."
Va pressed herself closer to Rai, as if she was scared he would vanish, if she strayed too far from his side. Ash's face was a carefully composed blank mask, as he slowly unwrapped the gears of fire and normality. The one was crimson red, and seemed to flicker like flames, while the other was a mix of all colours, like an artist's palette. He picked them up, weighing them in his hands.
"We still need SECTION to send their five over." Zo grumbled, as she licked ash from her coat.
The black Lucario shrugged. "It saves us the bother of braving Ash's teleporting." His voice was deadpan, and Ash shot him an annoyed look.
"My teleporting isn't that bad…"
"Shadow!"
His head snapped up at Erika's call, cursing, and seconds from teleporting away when Lance shouted out to him. "If you vanish you'll be dying quicker that you previously intended."
Wincing, Ash remained where he was, only shifting away from the marble and half turning to face the approaching humans and Pokémon. He had abandoned Lance too many times in the past few days. He couldn't do it again, but even this… Lance was pushing it now, with Misty now in the picture. What was she even doing here, away from Cerulean? Lance had said he had an agent collecting the seaward gears – was it Misty he had been referring to? He could run now, but in his conflict of desperate longing to see his girlfriend's face, hear her voice, and the noble part of him trying to save her the pain, trying to hide his own as he headed towards his impending doom, it was likely any phase he made would be several miles of target. He wasn't going to risk it, so close to journey's end but with so many things which could go wrong.
Not to mention he needed the two gears that the Cerulean Gym leader had with her.
"This is Leaf's mystery man?" he heard Misty's voice ask. It was so painful, being so near, yet so far. He wished he could hear her voice filled with her usual warmth, instead of the wary, haunted tone.
Erika hummed. "Yup. He's been collecting the gears to save the world and shit. Hey! Shads! You weren't going to run off without Misty's gears now, were you Shadow?" Erika chirped, eyes gleaming with mischievousness. "Didn't think it through, did ya?"
"Which is why," Ash spoke evenly, calmly, "I have you running after me to remind me."
"I'm not your personal lapdog!" Erika snapped.
"No? Could have fooled me."
Erika swore at him, and Misty looked shocked that fair, little Erika had used such language.
Ash titled his head to one side, a lopsided grin on his face, even if the others couldn't see it. "You flatter me love," he drawled, "But another time, hey? Got to save the world first."
Erika consented to him, sighing. "So you got them then?" she motioned to the gears in his hand.
Lance ran a hand through his hair, "Misty, meet Shadow, Shadow, meet Misty." He pretended to introduce the pair, although his tone was laced with hidden irony, "Aura guardian, and Cerulean gym leader."
Ash merely nodded, and Misty just eyed him warily, before speaking. "Hello. I'd say nice to meet you, except in these times it isn't, and I'd say thanks for helping us and hand over the gears, except I don't trust you."
Wow. So blunt. The war and years of hiding in Cerulean Caves had made her wary of strangers. Then again, she had never been that friendly in their journey when they met, although since he had destroyed her bike it might have just been him on the receiving end of the
"Help you?" Ash laughed, bitterly. "What makes you think I'm helping you? I'm doing this for myself."
Lance spoke up, eyes blazing gold. "And we're going with you to temporal tower whether you like it or not. We've been over this already Shadow." The emphasis on the name was clear. He didn't like keeping his identity hidden, and was all too willing to use it as blackmail material.
"Zo, scout the route north and west." He told the fox, who shivered slightly at the tension in the air before bounding away like a puppy on crack. "Fine," He nodded in agreement with Lance. "We'll do things your way. For now."
[15:35PM] – 26th May – Pallet Town – Lance, Erika, Ash, Misty (Chikorita, Dratini, Raichu, Eevee, Lucario, Zorua, Golduck, Pichu)
Misty moved over towards Erika, wanting to put as much distance between herself and the strange aura guardian as possible. There was something about his voice that sent shivers up her spine, and she didn't know yet whether it was bad or good. It scared her.
Erika was staring curiously at the Pichu on her shoulder. "Hey girl!" she greeted the mouse, who waved at her happily. "Found yourself a trainer?"
"She was with you?" Misty asked, "I picked her up, lost on Silent Bridge."
"That was where you wandered off to, huh?" Erika mused, before answering the question, "Lance managed to nick some Pokéballs from the Saffron HQ and crack them open. Being the expert that he is, he picked the Pichu, the Chikorita and a dud. Hey! Lance! Don't go into Pokéball manufacturing!"
The champion was conversing in low tones with Shadow, and Misty got the feeling that they were talking about her. He waved in response to Erika's comment, but didn't turn around.
"Have you met him then?" Misty asked, "Shadow I mean?"
The dark haired girl nodded. "He rescued me from Celadon, and then helped us break into Saffron HQ. He got on quite well with Sabrina." Misty wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not, and judging by Erika's tone she was also undecided, "I followed him to Lavender too – that place was a nightmare – then he headed up to the Power Station and I went to Vermillion. Being the sort of guy he is, he turned up there several days later – late, as usual, missing our ship raiding."
"I wasn't late." Misty didn't turn to look at the hooded man, with the Raichu stalking behind him, "I arrived exactly when and where I wanted to."
A Vaporeon skipped forwards, purring at something.
"Okay, so the coordinates were slightly off." Shadow admitted, "But it was still pretty close."
Now it was the mouse's turn to chirp at his trainer, but the dark man silenced him with a glare. The orange Raichu flicked his ears in amusement, before bouncing off to meet the incoming red and black fox. The fox – a Zorua – skidded to a halt, "Road looks clear."
Misty blinked. Did the purple fox just talk?"
"Ta Zo. How far did you go?" Shadow asked, as if it was an everyday thing.
"Shifted to a Pidgeot and flew up to Viridian and back. Five. Minutes. Flat. I'd like to see your Dragonite do better." She directed towards Lance.
"Keep dreaming." Lance responded. Oh good. She wasn't hearing things.
"The Zorua talks?" she had to clarify though.
The fox glanced at her. "Zo? Rua Zo, Zorua." (Talk? I'm not talking. You must be hearing things.)
Misty blinked.
Erika giggled slightly, "Yes, she can speak the human language. She's just messing with you – don't worry."
The fox had the dignity to look mareepish. "Sorry. Yes, I shift to a human sometimes, and I need to learn how to talk properly. I had to rely on telepathy when I was young but A- Shadow taught me to speak. He tried to teach those three…" he tail flickered towards the Raichu and Vaporeon, and the black Lucario that had been skulking quietly in the shadows. "But only Luca learned, and he sticks to telepathy anyway. Rai and Va never managed to pronounce the letters."
The mouse let out an annoyed, "RaiiiChuuu…" (Don't you dare…)
The Zorua ducked her head apologetically. "Ignore Rai." She told Misty cheerfully. "He's stilled pissed he got zapped by Zapdos's thunder – no pun intended. And that was yesterday. Or the day before…" Zo paused, frowning, "Recently…" she corrected, as if her short term memory problem didn't worry her at all.
"We're heading north then?" Lance directed towards the group, "Because I don't think any of us want to hang around here for too long." The red head looked stressed, running a hand through his messy spiky hair.
"North west." Shadow corrected, "If you want to wander along the Rocket infested Route 1 though then feel free. They'll have your head on a pike positioned at their headquarters in centre city. It would be Saffron but I heard the three elites quit their post."
Lance gaped at him, and so it was left to Erika to respond. "Sounds good," She nodded, and Misty felt oddly out of place in the group. Why was it her friend and fellow gym leader got along better with a strange foreign aura guardian with a decidedly Sinnoh drawl, than she did?
Yet she kept silent, observing the trio, who despite only having met a week or two ago, seemed far better acquainted with each other than they probably should be.
[16:45PM] – 26th May – North of Pallet Town – Slightly West of Route 1 - Lance, Erika, Ash, Misty (Chikorita, Dratini, Raichu, Eevee, Lucario, Zorua, Golduck, Pichu)
Ten miles down the road and night was fast approaching. "I thought Viridian was closer than this." Erika grumbled, slowing to a halt, and pausing to tie up a loose shoelace.
Lance ran a hand through his hair, tiredly. He seemed to be the only one who could feel the undercurrent of tension, in keeping Ash away from Misty, Misty from being too curious about the issue, and Erika acted as a suitable barricade, setting the grass type gym leader next to Misty with the instruction to 'reacquaint yourself'. Erika had taken this to heart, and after a rocky patch in which the two were arguing about the small yellow Pichu who swapped between their shoulders every half hour, they were talking together as they once would have done, back in the gym meetings.
Misty had shared the news about Blaine's death, and Erika had, after the Lavender Explosion, acted shocked, but thrown it off soon enough. Ash was his usual, introverted self, which considering the kid's once naïve, open and honest personality was a complete turnabout. But for this war struck, memory addled aura guardian who was very, very dead, it seemed all too normal. Lance himself had taken the news in, but not the reality of it, which was his usual coping mechanism. Later it would hit him, the fact that Blaine – riddle master, lab technician, fire user – was dead and gone, killed in his own gym by rockets.
A fate that awaited any of them if they got caught.
Lance would later regret that thought, but he had, for the moment, distracted himself with various ways he could engineer a date with May. He recalled Pikachu…Raichu now – the way the mouse and the Pewter gym leader had managed to manipulate the stubbornly dense elite who refused to admit his feelings under the noble and honourable guise of 'I wouldn't want to ruin our friendship' (which true to his words, had come back to haunt him later, during the war, and after Ash's case of amnesia). The pair had eventually been successfully set up together, and the matchmaking Brock and Rai called it a good day's work.
Maybe he'd ask the mouse's assistance, get Zo as a translator. Although judging by the chiding Vaporeon, it appeared she might be a better option.
His train of thought mentally derailed. Was he honestly planning on asking a Pokémon for love advice? Was he really so infatuated with the computer coordinator that he would go to those extremes?
After a moment he realised his answer.
Yes. Yes he was.
He was dragged out of his thoughts by a cry, wrenching the air apart. Head snapped upwards, he observed a large Fearow, wheeling above them. Instinctively, his hand went for his belt, but the red and white spheres that had once lived there hadn't been there for four years. They were unnecessary baggage.
"Va!" Ash cautioned, "Get ready to hit it with a toxic."
The Vaporeon acknowledged his command with a flick of her tail. They had decided the fox should avoid morphing, lest it creep Misty out, or that she put the man and mouse and fox together to form the bigger picture.
"No!" Erika half shouted, blinking, "It's not looking for us. It's flying away – watch."
It was so hard not to try and order Dratini to hit it with a dragon rage, but Lance persisted, and indeed the large bird did pass over them, harmlessly. He frowned. What was it doing? The Spearow and Fearow that haunted route 22 were miles away, unless it wasn't looking for prey, but running from a predator…
Ash had realised it before he did, moving forward with alarm, "It's being chased." He realised out loud, and Misty and Erika looked warily towards him. "Move. Now. Get towards the tree cover."
They hastened to comply, moving away from the hills and to the forest to the left of their path. Lance made to follow, but froze, as sounds drifted towards him, shouts and cries and the shill whistle that punctuated Rocket commands.
Ash had heard it to, and he spun towards Lance. Even beneath the dark hood, Lance could see the brown eyes flare blue. "Get moving."
Lance broke into a run.
"Zo, I thought you said this route was clear." He heard Ash snap at his Zorua.
"It was an hour ago."
"Too late now." He shouted back, "Let's just get out of their way before…"
"Lance!" Erika screamed. Up ahead the girls had vanished through the trees, and he could no longer see them. To the side of him, the air rippled, the only sign of Ash's phasing out. The wind was ruffling his hair, blowing towards him…
Blowing the sound straight towards his ears.
They had run right into it.
He burst into the clearing, a show-off between the rockets, weapons raised and aimed at the three already present. Vaporeon was growling, body oozing a purple acid, and Lucario had dropped into a fighting stance. Ash himself had one hand raised, blue sphere shimmering on it, while a black aura engulfed his left hand, which hung by his side. Zorua and Rai were nowhere to be seen.
"Stop right there rebels!" one brave grunt called out. "Move and we'll shoot."
"Shoot and we'll kill." Ash shot back.
"You're under arrest for resisting the rule of the Team Council…"
"Yeah, yeah," Ash scoffed, "We know that. What else is new?"
"Don't anger them," Lance told him quietly, drawing the attention to him, guns switching targets. Slowly he let his breath out, in a low whistle, which echoed upwards. His large dragon would not be far behind, "Well hello. Now how about we talk nicely and put the weapons down…"
"Call your Pokémon off!" the seemingly leader of the grunts called. Lance decided, to save himself a headache that the brave female was going to be elevated the name Leader, to sort out comparisons. The short guy next to her could be Shorty, and then there was a Uniform white wearing dude, a Spotty looking gangly kid…
"Only if you call off yours," he responded, mildly, but the Arbok and Golbat didn't move.
"We will shoot."
Ash laughed. "Go ahead. I'd like to see you try."
It was a stalemate, neither side willing to give in. But his signal had gone out and his Dragonite was about to prove it could beat a measly Pidgeot any day of the week.
"Fire blast."
The grunts scattered, guns shooting at them, but from Ash's palm a blue-purple shield erupted, the bullets rebounding. Leader moved forwards, about to order her Arbok forward but she stopped, head twisting at an odd angle. Lance glanced upwards, devoid, for now, of the horror at seeing Rai's tail wrapped around her neck, a trap, just waiting to be sprung.
The long whip-like tail had broken her neck.
A hyper beam began forming in Dragonite's orange draconian mouth, while Raichu, perched above in the trees, leapt to a higher branch, the clouds above growling with weather, yet refusing to let go of their burden they had held for many, long years. Electricity crackled, black against the orange fur, as it danced down, striking the still standing rockets.
"Go!" Lance dragged himself into moving, pushing Misty forwards, and sending her stumbling into Ash. The raven automatically caught her, but the shield fell, and the four of them dropped as the noise of screams and Rai and Dragonite's attacks echoed over them. He pushed Misty again, "Get out of here!"
They moved away quickly, ducking as something exploded, sending torrents of flames towards them. "After them!" came the call, and it appeared as though they hadn't managed to kill all the rockets. Above them Rai hopped through the trees, and further above him Dragonite circled, guarding their backs. At some point in the chaos Ash appeared to have grabbed Misty's hand, and was dragging her along, but once he realised he let go, as if stung. The Cerulean leader didn't notice, her Golduck psychically deflecting a shard of bullets.
Erika cursed, neatly fishing up her bow, stringing it with deft fingers and picking a poisoned arrow from her quiver. "Razor leaf." She told Chikorita, who hastened to comply, and the pursuing shadows were hit with the knife sharp leaves, and deadly fletches.
Considering the rockets put off for now, she rounded and began moving, ducking under undergrowth as they tacked north.
"They're still following!" Zo materialised, making Va jump. "What do we do?"
"Keep running," Ash said, "Follow their progress. Rai, try to deflect them. Lance, get your Dragonite to do the same. Misty, keep your Golduck with you, look after the Pichu. Erika, stop shooting and start running!"
Pursued by what now appeared to be a whole contingent of rockets and what looked like a mix of magma and galactic, the four rebels tacked north-west towards Victory Road, or what was left of it. Lance wished for once things had remained simple for a change, even if in his heart he knew it would not last.
The chase was on, even if the finishing line was not yet in sight, he knew it was looming around the corner, whether he liked it or not.
Time was running out.
AN: Lance is always so amusing to write. He's worried for Ash, infatuated with May, the general hero everyone expects the champion to be, yet calm and collected. Misty's harder, especially since I don't really think much about it – I just write the story. But with this approaching the finishing line I want to make sure everyone stays in character.
I'm not very good at writing battle scenes, which was why they had their little confrontation stand-off before getting out of there, pursued, of course, by a lot of grunts into the next chapter. Ash and Misty are together, even if Misty still is in the dark about his identity.
Also wanted to thank anybody who reviewed – your support is much appreciated and I'm glad you are enjoying the story!
~EclipseWing