Chapter 3: Headline & Highlight
A darkened room, illuminated by monitors showing plains, tress, sands, waters...it's like the world was in the six screen. On a big sofa chair, a young man in such a tacky bluish imperial outfit. His spiked hair and oversize shades, along with a raucous evil smirk, disguised intentions of any monarchy he had on the world in view. "The DigiWorld seems empty for some reason," he gulled. "I should throw up replacement control spires on Server. Those ruthless Digidestined keep knocking them down." Oh boo-hoo! Suddenly, a screen changed, catching his attention. It was that cave that Ash and the girls, and creatures crawled under...and there was Ash and Pikachu, walking back to the cavern. There was no audio, so he had no idea what they were talking about. "Who's this? Definitely no one I'm use to." Before long, the screen caught Yolei following Ash into the cavern. "Fascinating. That hotheaded girl made pursuit." Now, it showed Yolei convincing Kari and the Digimon to follow Ash into the hole, which they did. "Well, that new boy gave me an idea. And thanks to video editing, those guys will slaughter the new kid." His laughter was a plan to ploy a lynching on Ash. Would any males fall for this tactic by this yongster? Meanwhile, back at the deserted Town of Pallet...well, not too deserted, Ash, Kari, Yolei, Gatomon, Hawkmon, Caterpie and Pikachu were viewing the news about the disappearance of the townspeople.
"The disappearance of the entire population of 852 in Pallet Town have investigators baffled," the anchorman headlined. "No evidence to explain the sudden vanishing act has been found. While all possibilities for this widespread act are open, the strongest may be rather scientific, relating to the-" To the what? What? Yolei hit the "MUTE" button, silencing the TV. They had enough of the news, but it was about to reveal a possible scientific fact.
"Not the smallest town that I heard of," Gatomon huffed. "But they don't know that Ash is here in Pallet." All noted it, saying that these investigators came and left. Ash was wondering how they knew about the loss of the townsfolk so immediately.
"I want to know who tipped authorities here so fast," he threw up. Good point. "No one would just go and say, 'Pallet Town's citizens have vanished!' and run off." A really good point. Gatomon knew Ash was on some sort of trail. That's when she saw a man in a lab coat on TV.
"Looks like a scientist is engaging in an interview." All peered back to the screen, seeing a worried light-brunette short-haired man in the white coat. Right away, Ash recognized him.
"Prof. Elm?" Hearing the name, Yolei turned the volume back on.
"I was talking with Prof. Oak about the Munchlax dieting, where I debated the stomach acids dissolve more nutrients than its fully evolved form of Snorlax, when the lines went dead," he told a newsman. "The lines were down for an hour from over there, but when I tried to dial Oak's number, again, he wasn't there." Well, that couldn't be enough to call authorities. There had to be more.
"So, when failure to contact Samuel Oak was affirmed, you thought he may have gone elsewhere?" the newsman asked.
"That's right. I knew a few places that he would go to like the Xanadu Nursery and the Ketchum residence. I tried both places, even the other Oak household. When there was no answered, I sent a Pidgey to survey the issue, but when it came back with more worry than what I look like now, I sensed something amiss and called." He sent a Pidgey and knew something was wrong? Interesting use. The anchorman came back on the air...well, his voice, at least. There was a picture of Ash that came on.
"We can only hope for everyone's sake that Ash Ketchum, who finished in the Top Eight in the Hoenn League, is safe." That's a intriguing statistic. Top Eight...how many participants? Once again, Yolei muted the noise.
"Does that answer your question?" Kari asked.
"A good portion of it," Ash murmured. "But how could the phone lines go down and come up so slowly? It doesn't make any sense." It seemed that any explanation had doubts. Before anyone could come forth with an answer, the phone rang. The town was practically empty, so who thought that someone could still try to call this place? Ash got off the couch and walked over to the phone, picking the receiver up and to his ear. "Ketchum residence. Ash, speaking." This had better not be a prank call.
"Oh, thank goodness that you're there, Ash!" a woman spoke from the other side. For some reason, Ash felt nostalgic with this caller.
"Caroline? Let me guess, it's about Max, right?" Ash turned on a monitor attachment that came with the phone. There, a grown redhead woman was facing the monitor, as if Ash was there in person.
"Do you know if May's there? She left when she heard about Prof. Birch and Max taking off to see Prof. Oak, so I'm fearing for their safety." Her face exposed the same panic that she was illustrating.
"I can't really say that I've seen her, but since I was gone for the past few days, she may have stopped by here."
"Oh, no." Guess that was the wrong thing to say. So, three more people were possibly accounted for: Prof. Birch, Max and May. Ash realized that he and his four or five new friends needed to see for themselves on what happened here those 24 hours ago.
"Look, Caroline, I'm here and with help, we'll find out about what happened to everyone here." Caroline nodded, trusting Ash with this proposition.
"Make sure they're safe." The screens went black, ending the call. Ash had more on his plate than he ordered from the menu.
'That's 854 accounted for.' Right, you don't count since you're in your hometown. 'I shouldn't forget Misty. That's 855, but where do I start looking?' There were far too many places to investigate. Yolei came to Ash's side, wondering about his talk with Caroline.
"You knew her?" she questioned. Ash swung his to the tough teen, concern that something or another came up.
"Yeah, her husband is the Petalburg City Gym Leader, while her two children are good friends of mine when I traveled throughout Hoenn. She's worried that something may have happened to them to go along with this town." To Yolei's view, this whole scenario was eating him up more than tapeworms in an obese person's stomach. Pikachu was showing the same concern as Yolei was. Kari stood up, wanting to put a good spin on the problems with the trainer.
"I know we'll find them," she refined. Yolei, Ash and the creatures turned to the brunette, who seemed to desire a chance to loom to see clues in this sudden case. "I mean, they're out there, right? It's just a matter of time before something or another appears and guides us to the people." Renewed spirits, Pikachu and Caterpie acknowledged the confidence of the girl.
"I agree, Kari," Gatomon joined. "If authorities can't find a clue, then we'll look over the investigation." Even Hawkmon got rejuvenated from Kari's pep talk.
"Leave it up to the Holmes-style crack team to understand this mystery," he beaked. "Ash, Yolei, you involved too?" Like they needed to be motivated any more.
"And to think, Kari and I were doing surveillance over the DigiWorld," Yolei snickered. That's when something clicked in Ash's head. Something Yolei said made Ash think. Pikachu saw the snap reaction of his friend, worried that maybe he went to thinking mode and would probably make his head erupt.
("Ash?") it called out. ("Ash, speak to us.") Before anyone could figure out what Ash had in mind...BAM! Ash snagged Yolei's head, yanked her to him, and kissed her...on the lips! Yikes! That startled everyone, even Ash. They broke apart lips.
"Genius," he shot before bolting out the door. Yolei was awed. Was it the kiss? Was it what Ash called her? It had taken moments for everyone to straighten out, but when they broke from the stunning scene, they pursued Ash out the door, where Ash was staring at a telephone pole. So what now?
"Ash, what's the deal?" Hawkmon wondered. Ash turned to the rest while pointing a finger to the top of the pole.
"Look up, once." The rest listened, glaring to the top of the pole. There, a black orb was spotted, hanging over the side of the pole. Was there something there? "I remembered that Prof. Oak had installed eight surveillance cameras throughout the perimeter of Pallet Town as a means to counter burglary and kidnapping, while having a separate one to keep an eye on all the Pokémon in his ranch." So, Oak was not only a professor, but a watchman, too. Now, that's fascinating. "When Yolei mentioned surveillance, it made me think about the cameras and how they're all wired into Oak's supercomputer." It made complete sense. During the time that Ash was gone, the cameras would've caught something phenomenal that would explain why the townspeople of Pallet vanished.
"I get it," Yolei caught on. "CCTV!" Closed circuit television?
"Exactly. Even more, with 100 hours of video recording periodically, we'll see what took everyone from here." 100 hours? Plenty of time to see what transpired. "Let's get to the lab and check it out." The three paced off, running toward Oak's lab, possibly holding the truth to the disappearance of the townspeople. Their trip seemed to be straightforward. Well, Pallet Town was empty. Minutes in, and no one in sight. That's when, without as much as a "red flag," the ground under their feet collapsed. Yelps echoed as they plummeted into the round hole...well, all except for Hawkmon. Those who fell hit the bottom in bone-crunching thuds. Ash was quick to recover, only seething at this nuisance. Kari fell on Ash, while Yolei was on top of Ash's arm. Hole must have been narrow. Gatomon was on Pikachu's back, reeling from the pitfall. Scared that his human friends may have been injured, Hawkmon descended into the hole.
"Is everyone all right?" it beaked up. Groans bellowed out of everyone. They were in pretty bad pain. Before they could get a word in, three villainous laughters sounded. To Ash, it was trouble.
"Don't tell me." Suddenly, a woman with bloody red hair emerged.
"Prepare for trouble, you're all alone," she incorrectly bellowed. Then, a blue-haired man came out, revealing himself.
"Make it double, even within your own home-" he froze his words when he looked down, seeing the truth about Ash not alone.
"An evil as old as the galaxy!"
"Timeout, Jessie!" Thanks, it was being stupid. "Apparently, we miscounted." Jessie peered down, eying the females. Yolei and Kari were shaking heads, trying to loosen cobwebs of aches. Ash knew who they were.
"Not you, again, Team Rocket!" he growled. Team Rocket? What kind of name was that?
("You're not allowed to take me!") Pikachu protested. Jessie evilly smirked, not concern about the accidental additions.
"Of course it is, twerp," she sneered. "What, you didn't think that with the town being abandoned as it is, that we'd overlook you, less your girlfriends?" Ash's growl was more ferocious than a minute ago, until he noticed something in the air. An orange winged-dragon with a flame at the tip of his tail. "Besides, with our latest in electric-insulation technology, Pikachu is as good as ours for the taking."
"I'd like to see you shock us into blasting off," James dared. Seeing the airborne creature, Ash plotted one and only one move.
"Oh, I'll grant your wish," he snapped. "Charizard, Fire Spin!" Charizard? Jessie and James were a bit stunned with that reply. The orange lizard swooped down, as Jessie and James turned to the creature. That's when the lizard spewed out a massive amount of fire, striking the two. Then, the fire began to wrap itself around the two, trapping them in an infernal tornado. The two were burned and twisted before getting spat out at the top. Jessie and James were going far far away and, in the words of legendary baseball commentator Bob Uecker, they were getting up, getting up, getting outta there and gone!
"Team Rocket's blasting off without Meowth!" they yelled in unison as they vanished in the daylight sky. Who did they forget? Charizard landed adjacent to the hole, just as Kari and Yolei got back on their feet. Ash was proud to see someone or something help the three in their brief need.
"Thanks, Charizard. Perfect timing on your part." Charizard happily snarled, accepting the response of Ash. As if this was coming, the girls were puzzled with how this winged creature and Ash were good friends, but Yolei seemed to ponder an idea of the issue.
"So, this Charizard was once yours?" she guessed.
"Yep. I picked up Charizard as a Charmander during my first adventure and soon enough, Charmander evolved to Charmeleon and then Charizard. It was hanging out at the Charisific Valley ion the Johto region." Charizard nodded to confirm Ash's claims, prompting Kari to take a guess on his visit.
"It must have heard the news story on the Pallet Town's people's desertion, and came to see if it was true," she shot. Another nod bobbed from Charizard's head. So, a media voice told the dragon to go and make sure. Either way you look at it, Ash was just glad to see his partner, once more. "Say, can String Shot help get us out of here?" Caterpie's String Shot? Yolei believed it could.
"It was tough enough to hold Ash in place," Yolei pointed out. "I'm sure it can hold us out of this hole." Kari trusted Yolei on this, thus having her point Caterpie to the top of the hole.
"You heard us, Caterpie. Use String Shot." Caterpie spat the sticky String Shot up, out of the hole. Quick to react, Charizard snatched the String Shot and began to yank on it, allowing Yolei to escape, then Kari and the creatures, and lastly Ash.
"Thanks for your help, Charizard," he praised. "By the way, how's Charla doing?" Who's Charla? Charizard grumbled, acting as if it was none of Ash's business.
"I think Charizard wants to drop the subject," Yolei tried to simplify. Ash, now, believed that his Charizard and Charla got into a scuffle, and ain't talking to each other.
"Okay, I'll step away. Besides, it's great to know that you're doing well." Instead of a nod, Charizard eyed Ash with determination. Suddenly, Gatomon heard a rustle. Was someone else here? Meowth?
"Guys, don't relax yet," she warned. Everyone's head was focused on the moving branches of the close by tree. That's when a whitish ivory cat fell, smacking the gold coin that was embedded on its forehead and his face. His curled tail straightened momentarily before curling back up. Lifting its head, it faced the only protectors of Pallet Town before looking around.
"Meowth, you're late." That's Meowth?
"Don't bother," it murmured...in a Brooklyn tone? "I'll exit, stage left." He walked off, following where Jessie and James flew off to. Okay...
"Well, that was anticlimactic," Hawkmon monotoned.
("For sure,") Pikachu copied in tone. Before long, Ash was ready to go and seek information to this mystery.
"Let's get to Prof. Oak's lab, now that that's out of the way," he stated. Confirmations from all had them all racing for the lab. With the mystery digging a deeper hole, that youngster in the darkness could hinder the search for the townspeople. Could there also be a triangle with Ash, Kari and Yolei? Would it compromise the investigation?
TO BE CONTINUED...
