Chapter 5: The Kidnapping
"What? You're the man that's an expert on aura?"
"I don't mean to brag but, I'm not an expert, I'm a master."
"Right, Selia can I talk to you alone?"
Selia nodded, and as they went outside, Ash swore he heard Jerry mutter something that vaguely sounded like "Bye bi". Once Ash was sure that no one (especially Jerry) could
hear, he turned to Selia and said "What the hell Selia? This is the
aura expert?"
"I know he may not be what you expected..."
"Expected! He's a tramp! How could he teach me about aura? He's
immature, dirty, and he's insane!"
"He saved your life didn't he?"
"Yeah, well that was by luck!"
"You'd be surprised Ash. Get to know him a little, then you might like
him better."
"Alright then, but it'll be pretty hard with that beard of his. And
if he calls me queer kid one more time..."
Selia laughed, and as she walked with Ash back to the cave she kept
thinking "Oh Ash, if only you knew."
"So, you failed to retrieve the Ketchum boy." Back in the same dark
room as before, there were three agents who had just come back after
being blasted off once again. Giovanni was sitting in his armchair with
Persian on his lap his face too dark to show any emotion to the
agents. The three of them were kneeling down, but it was very obvious
that they were deeply frightened. One of the agents (James) started to
speak "But sir, you never told us he would explode."
"What? What do you mean he exploded?"
"Well sir, we captured him just fine, but then his Pikachu used
Thunderbolt on us, and next thing we knew he started to glow blue
again and our balloon explo-"
"Wait, again?"
"Yes, yesterday when we tried to steal his Pikachu he started to glow
blue too."
Giovanni was silent and deep in thought. Then he chuckled and said
"Well, I thank you for your work and for helping me prove something.
Now go and take a nap somewhere in the building. You three deserve it."
Grateful, the three agents immediately left the room to take a well
earned nap. Once he was alone, he turned to his Persian and said "Now
that we know that his power has been activated, let's test it out,
shall we?"
He pressed a speaker button on his chair and spoke into it "Send some
troops over to Cerulean city, order 1412-K. Oh, and make sure she is not harmed."
The sun was high in the sky and shining brightly. However, to Ash, it
seemed to mock him. He was inside the cliff, helping to set the table
so that they could eat lunch. However, Jerry kept standing over Ash,
talking to him in his crazy accent about the most insane things. The
worst part about it was that Jerry kept calling him queer kid. "So
anyways queer kid, I was in de forest, hunting fir shiny Pidgeys when suddenly!"
"...What happened?"
"I dunno, I forgots."
Ash would have screamed if it weren't for the fact that Brock had just finished dinner. While all the Pokémon were eating outside, everyone was eating inside. Jerry sat away from everyone (which is how Ash preferred it) still muttering to himself. "Soup, when I was younger we didn't have soup in a can. We had to grow our soup ourselves!"
Jerry was so focused in his muttering that no one with common sense would disrupt him. So, naturally, Dawn went up to him and started to speak to him nervously "Umm, excuse me Jerry..."
"You're excused."
"No, what I mean to say is that I don't think we properly introduced ourselves."
"Oh right! Where are my manners?"
"Probably in the same place where he lost his sanity" Ash whispered to Brock. Brock laughed nervously and said "Well I'm Brock."
"And I'm Dawn."
"And I'm-"
"Ashton!"
Everyone turned to look at Selia strangely. Selia looked slightly
nervous, and stared at them as if she was saying Go with it.
"So you're Down, Brick, and Ashitaka, is that right?"
"Umm, more or less" said Ash. "At least he stopped calling me queer
kid" he thought.
"So Selia, what brings you here?"
"Well, you see..." Selia told Jerry everything, from Ash's birthday
party, the dimensional scream, and when Jerry saved Ash. During the
whole time Selia was speaking, Jerry looked very serious. Ash wondered
if he was actually listening. When Selia stopped talking, Jerry kept
staring and looking serious. "So, what do you think Jerry?" Jerry kept
silent, and then a snoring sound came from him. "What the-?" Selia
went over to Jerry and tapped him. Another snore came, and Selia cried
out "Oh I don't believe this! He fell asleep with his eyes open!"
"Of course, why'd I expect anything different?"
"Now hold on there queer kid!"
"I'm not queer, and how are you awake?"
"Don't worry; I do that all the time. So, from what I hear you have
the dimensional scream ability, am I right?"
"Uh, yeah so can you teach me about it?"
"Of course I will!"
"Really?"
"After I drink my sake."
"...Your sake?"
"Yes! It's the most delicious drink on this planet!"
"Hey Brock, isn't sake a type of wine thing?" asked Dawn.
"Well that would explain a lot..."
Ash, however, was not amused.
"What the hell? You're supposed to teach me about Aura, not get
yourself drunk!"
"Nag nag nag, why must you talk so much queer kid?"
Ash was at his breaking point. He was so angry; his head was hurting
and forming a sort of migraine. He decided to calm down in order to
stop his headache, but it wouldn't go away. The headache got
worse, then Ash's vision got blurry and he himself was feeling sick.
Dawn and Brock noticed this and asked him what's wrong. Pikachu came
down and sensed that something was wrong with Ash.
"Nothing nothing, I just feel a little sick."
"Hey queer kid, you better sit down 'cause you look awful."
As Ash was about to sit down, he felt a sudden jolt in his chest, as if he was having a heart attack. Then, everything flashed white for a second, and then turned completely black…
Ash woke up slowly, and saw that he was floating in darkness again, just like when he had his dimensional scream vision. "This looks…a lot like last time. Am I having another vision?" He turned around in every direction, hoping to see anything. When he turned around, he saw a faint and small light that was building up and growing. As Ash was walking towards it, the light completely erased all traces of the darkness, and soon ground and shapes were beginning to form. The shapes turned into houses, and the ground was a clean concrete road. Ash figured he must be in a town or city of some sort and continued to walk along the road. Then, the road stopped in front of a pink and yellow domed, circular building. The walls were painted yellow and had two glass doors, with more windows at the side. On the edges of the dome were white waves and in the middle and right above the front entrance was a giant cutout of a Dewgong. Ash realized he was at the Cerulean City gym. "Huh, why am I at the Cerulean gym?" Then the glass doors opened and out came four girls. Three of them were of the same height and age and were incredibly beautiful. They had blonde, blue, or pink hair, and looked as if they were all in their early twenties. The other was shorter and younger than them, but she had orange-red hair, and was held up in a spiky ponytail and was holding in her arms a sleeping Azurill. "Misty…" It had been a long time since he had seen Misty and was very glad to see her again. "Hey Misty, it's me Ash!" He waved his arms and called out to her, but she made no reaction to him. "Oh yeah, I'm in a vision, so she's technically not real" he sighed half-heartedly. Misty then started to speak to the three woman (Ash remembered that they were her sisters) "All right then guys, I'll be back from the Cerulean Cape in a while, okay? Make sure you don't blow up the gym while I'm gone!"
"Geez Misty, the way you talk to us makes it, like, seem you're the older sister" said Violet.
"Yeah, Misty, what do you think we are, stupid?" asked Lily.
"Well…"
"Okay girls, no need to fight" said Daisy. "You go have fun Misty, you deserve a break."
"Thank you Daisy."
"Oh, I just wished your boyfriend was here to take you to the cape. It's so sad when a girl has to go alone."
"Violet! For the last time, he's not my boy friend! He's a boy and he's a friend, but he's not-"
"Your boyfriend, we know, we know. Just leave already!"
Misty stomped off fuming, and the three sisters chuckled and went back inside. Ash (who was just standing there) said to himself "Huh, so Misty has a crush on someone. Oh well, sucks for that guy. I can't imagine Misty in love." He was glad that no one could see him blushing. As Misty was walking further and further away, Ash felt some sort of pull on him that made him keep on following Misty. "I might not get this vision, but it's actually kind of fun. I wonder how Misty's boyfriend is like. Probably stupid, if he actually wants to be around Misty and her temper." There was a small hint of jealousy in his voice, and as he walked he couldn't help but admire the sunset. "It sure is pretty…"he thought to himself. Then a large black van rushed past his way. Ash yelled angrily to the van. "Retard, watch where you're going! …Oh yeah, I'm in a vision." The van continued and stopped a few feet in front of Misty. Three men stepped out of the van's side door and approached Misty. Misty, who was confused and worried, backed up a little and said "Yes, can I help you?" One of the men spoke in a harsh voice and said "Yes, are you by any chance Misty Williams of the Cerulean gym?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"Well ma'am, we just need you to come with us for a moment."
"Listen, I don't know who you are or what you want, but you better stay away from me, unless you want me to teach you a lesson!"
"That's right Misty; don't let them hurt you without a fight!"
"Now now, where has violence ever gotten us? Let's treat this like a civilized adult, ok kid? Hypno, go!"
The man released a Pokeball and out came a Hypno. Misty took out a Pokeball as well and threw it in the air, releasing her Staryu. "So if it's a battle you want, it's a battle you'll get! Staryu, use water gun!" Staryu released a powerful water gun that quickly knocked the men and Hypno off their feet. Misty recalled Staryu and used this time to escape, while Ash followed her, angry that he could not do anything to help her. Ash looked back and saw that the Hypno and its trainer had gotten back up and heard the man say "Use Hypnosis!"
Hypno started to move its pendant side-to-side, and let out a pink wave directly to Misty. Misty stopped in her tracks and fell unconsciously on the floor with Azurill as well. "Misty!"
"Hypno return. Now, go and take her to the van and tie her up well." The same man took out a small device that looked like a cell phone and spoke into it. "Sir, Order 1412-K is completed, and there is not a scratch on the target. We are now returning back to base." He closed the cell phone and returned to the van. Ash, seething, started to run up to him when suddenly the whole vision dissolved, and the darkness had come back again. "What the-? What happened? I've gotta know what happened to Misty!" Then, just like before, a light started to grow from behind him and quickly engulfed the darkness again. This time, the ground was grassy and there were trees everywhere. It looked just like the forest near the cliff. It was very quiet, but then Ash saw the black van come through the trees and directly his way. Not having enough time to dodge, the van went through Ash, literally. As if he was a ghost, the van simply passed through Ash. As the van continued to drive on, Ash kept running towards it, not feeling the least bit tired and was determined to find out about his friend. After a period of time, the van stopped in front of a small log cabin. It looked old and deserted, as if it hadn't been used in years. However, the odd thing was that its doors looked completely new and very well polished, which Ash wondered why. Then, the van's side doors opened and the same man who had the Hypno had come out. Behind him two other men in black uniforms were carrying a figure with a bag on its head. Then, the cabin doors opened and out came a man with an orange suit, with a Persian by his side. Ash couldn't help but wonder why the man felt familiar. Then, the man walked closer to the figure and took off the bag and Ash gasped when he realized it was Misty, who had a blank stare in her eyes, as though she was in a trance. The man chuckled, and faced the men holding Misty.
"Hmm, good work agents. I take it she's just hypnotized, right?"
"Yes sir."
"Alright then, let's wake her up, shall we?" The man snapped his fingers and immediately, Misty woke up.
"Huh, w-where am I?"
"Now now my dear, you have no reason to be afraid. That is, if you cooperate."
"Who are you, and why'd you kidnap me?"
"It's not kidnapping, we merely brought you here for you to help us with something, and then we'll let you go. That's not the sort of thing kidnappers would do now would they?"
"Well why do you need my help?"
"The truth is, we need you to help us 'communicate' with someone, someone you know."
"And what makes you think I'll help you?"
"Simple, help us or I'm afraid your Azurill won't be so cheerful anymore."
Misty turned around and was horrified to see a man holding Azurill with a knife pressed against its throat. Azurill was crying, and had a look on its face that said "help me mommy". Misty, unable to see her baby Pokémon like this, agreed to helping. The man smirked and said "Excellent, maybe you won't be as useless as I thought. Now, all I want you to do is cry out the name of your friend, Ash Ketchum." Now both Ash and Misty's eyes widened. Why would this crazy man want Misty to call out Ash's name?
"What? You kidnapped me all this way just to say his freaking name, I mean what the fuck?"
"I'm sorry, but my motives are highly classified. So will you please say his name?"
"No! Who the hell are you?"
The man chuckled, and said "Unfortunately for you, I am known around here by my agents as Giovanni, boss of the one and only Team Rocket." He opened his suit and revealed a badge with a shiny red R. Misty gasped, and Ash realized who he was. He was the man he had seen in his first vision. He was the man who murdered his father. Giovanni turned to Misty and said in a threatening voice, "Now for the last time, say his name!"
"Oh I'll say his name. Ash Ketchum, you better not come rescue me! Forget about me Ash, just don't come here!" She tried to run away, but the Hypno had come out and used Hypnosis on her again. "Tie her up and take her to her room, she's going to be more trouble than we realized." Two men came and took Misty away in the building. Everyone left as well, leaving Giovanni and Persian alone outside. Ash was seething in anger, and right now all he wanted to do was to get his revenge on Giovanni. But then, Giovanni started to speak. "So Ash, I hope you saw all that." Ash was confused, how could Giovanni talk to him? Wasn't this all a vision? Giovanni continued, "Well then Ash, I don't know if you know this already, but I was the one who pushed your father off the cliff. I f you want to save your friend and even take out your revenge on me, I'll be right here. I'll be waiting for you Ash…"
"Ash, Ash, Ash!"
"Wake up Ash!"
Ash was still unconscious, and was now lying on a pile of blankets, with everyone surrounding him. Pikachu was worried and angry, if he had used his thunder shock, Ash would be wide awake right now. But Jerry told him not, apparently because he was afraid that the jolt might interrupt the vision that Ash was having. No one else but Jerry cared about the sort of vision Ash was having, but decided it was best not to go against him. Ash was trying to wake up, but it was as though he wouldn't just yet.
"Oh let me try, queer kid, I'm harboring a secret gay crush on you!"
Not waiting a second, Ash immediately sat up straight looking bewildered.
"What?"
"Hahaha, I'm just kidding kid. Man, you're too gullible."
"No, not that, we have to leave now!" Ash stood up and grabbed his bag, hat, and Pokéballs but was stopped by Selia. "Ash wait, what are you doing?"
"He kidnapped her, that murderer kidnapped her!"
"Ash, what are you talking about?"
"Was it about your vision?"
Everyone turned to Jerry, surprised at his sudden seriousness.
"Why so serious Jerry?" asked Ash.
"I don't know what your vision was about, but I can tell it was very important, so unless you stay here and tell us what it was about, we may not be able to help you."
Ash hesitated, and decided that the quicker he told them the quicker he would go and save Misty. Ash told them everything in the vision (except the boyfriend part) and left them with a worried look. Brock was the first one to speak, "I can't believe that Misty got kidnapped…"
"Poor Misty, what should we do?"
"Well, we're gonna rescue her, right Pikachu?"
"Pika!"
"Hold on Ash." Selia motioned Ash to stop, and immediately Ash turned to her.
"But Selia, my best friend is in danger, I can't stay here!"
"Ash, as honorable and noble as your intentions are, you can't just go in Team Rocket's headquarters and expect it to turn out right."
"But…"
"Queer kid, Selia is right. Besides, we don't even know if your friend was kidnapped! It may very well be a trap."
"Wait, what do you mean we don't even know? I just had a vision about it!"
"Well Ash, the thing is that according to history, it is very hard to distinguish the Dimensional Scream visions from the past and the future."
"So wait, Misty might not have been kidnapped?"
"Maybe, but she might have been as well, there's no way of telling."
"If you want Ash, I could go to Cerulean City and ask her sisters. I'll go alone, since it's possible that Giovanni already knows about Brock and Dawn."
"Thank you Selia, but be careful."
"Don't worry, I will." Selia went out the hole and continued on to the forest. Having nothing else to do, Jerry immediately started to walk around the cave, searching for something. Annoyed, Ash asked him what the hell he was doing. Jerry replied with a big grin and said "I'm trying to see where Selia hid the sake, she's wanted me to quit for a while but I can't help it! I love it!" He maniacally laughed and started to take out an odd cup that looked as though it was made from a Shellder's shell. Ash was too afraid to ask how Jerry made it, so he decided to change the subject. "So Jerry, are you going to teach me about aura soon? 'Cause that would help me a lot when I go save Misty and-"
"For the last time, you are not going anywhere until Selia comes back!" Jerry had changed from happy maniac to angry maniac. Then, as quick as he had changed moods before, he turned happy again and said "Well since you're here, I might as well teach you about aura, right?"
"I guess…" said Ash, taken back by the sudden mood changes.
"So queer kid, what do ya wanna know?"
"Well, (stop calling me queer!) I wanna know what reincarnation is. How can I be me and another person at the same time?"
"You mean like the Crimson Guardian?"
"Well yeah."
"You see, when we die our aura and soul is released from our bodies and goes to this place called Wave Island."
"Wave Island?"
"Yes, it is a place where auras go to be reused for future life. Your aura might be passed down by someone in your family, like an offspring, but your soul will remain in another dimension. The reason why they call you are reincarnated from the Crimson Guardian is because you share the same aura, which is common among Aura Guardians. Do you get it now?"
"Barely…" Brock and Dawn were as lost as Ash was, while Pikachu had fallen asleep a while ago. Ash, however, was still determined to know more about aura. "So Jerry, can you teach me how to use my aura?"
"Huh? Oh no, I couldn't possibly do that. I just don't use aura anymore kid. It's a long story."
"Oh."
Selia kept walking down the path towards Cerulean, deep in thought. Even though she trusted Ash and he was like a brother to her, she couldn't help but hope he was wrong. His vision was obviously a trap, but despite that Ash would still go ahead and find Misty. Selia chuckled to herself, remembering a time when Ash would hate being with girls. "He's really grown up, hasn't he?" She looked towards the sunset with a sort of sad look on her eyes, but was snapped out of it when she heard a loud honking noise. Selia turned to see a black van coming towards her! She stepped out of the way quickly, and the van barely missed her. She sighed, but was then reminded that Misty was taken away in a black van around sunset. She chased after the van, but it was too late. It was gone.
The sun had gone down now, and Ash and Dawn were busy preparing the table while Brock made the food. Pikachu was helping putting some candles Jerry had so it wouldn't be too dark, while Piplup had come out to help Dawn. Jerry, on the other hand, was passed out from drinking his sake. All in all, it seemed pretty normal. Then Selia came in. She came running, so naturally, she bumped into Piplup who was sent flying through to Dawn, who landed on the table and spilled a pitcher of water. Ash went to help her up, but slipped on the water and fell on Jerry. Only Brock was standing up normal, but all his normality left as soon as he went to Selia.
"Selia my dear, what happ-argh!" Croagunk came out and gave him another Poison Jab.
"Oops, sorry everybody."
"Piplup get off of me!"
""Huh, hey queer kid, why are you on me? I'm not queer, but if you want…"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
After all the chaos, everyone finally calmed down to listen to what Selia had to say. After Selia had recounted her tale, Ash was seething inside. Team Rocket had just kidnapped his best friend while he had just sat there. "Ash…" Jerry reached out towards Ash and spoke in a tranquil voice. "Ash, I know you blame yourself for your friend's kidnapping, but you must not do anything rash. This could very well be a trap." Ash was still and silent. Then he looked up at Jerry with a small smile and said "You're right Jerry. Maybe we should come up with a plan to save her tomorrow. Right now, let's eat!" Dawn seemed to buy Ash's behavior, but Brock and the others were still suspicious. They continued with dinner, which was fairly silent, with the occasional quarrel between Jerry and Ash. After dinner, the gang changed into their pajamas and took out their sleeping bags. "Boy Pikachu, after a day like today I'm all tired out. I can't wait until tomorrow!"
"Pika!" (Me neither!)
"All right then guys, sleepy time! We have a long day ahead of us." Jerry took the candles and one by one blew them out. With only the moonlight coming in from the cave entrance, the cave was completely dark. It was so dark; anyone could have come in or out and not be noticed. Due to being so close to the ocean, the waves could be heard from the cave, sloshing and splashing against the cliff. After a while, it came to the point where Dawn just had to go to the bathroom. When she got up, she tried her best not to trip anyone, but that didn't last long. She tripped over something hard and fell over it. She realized she was where Ash was sleeping. "Sorry Ash" she whispered. Ash didn't reply. "Boy, he really is a hard sleeper." She tried to pick herself up from him, but the moment she touched him, she felt something weird. Instead of smooth skin, she felt something hard and uneven. "He really is a hard sleeper, literally. What's wrong with him?" She threw back the covers and screamed. Everyone woke up and asked her what was wrong. "I-it's A-ash! H-he t-t-turned into s-s-stone!" Everyone turned to Ash's sleeping bag, and there were his pajamas. But instead of having a human boy, there were piles of rock in them. "Selia, where did Ash go?" asked Brock
"My guess, he went to Team Rocket's headquarters."
"Oh no."
"So wait, Ash didn't turn into stone? Oh I'm so glad!"
"Sorry Dawn, but now that Ash is gone, he's gonna wish he was stone after I'm through with him!"