Thanks for the support guys, keep following and reviewing :) I'm not sure how the pacing is going to change as I progress with this story, as I said its at only partly planned, but hey, I'll just keep writing for now :)

That night was long and cold. For hours Ash just sat there in silence, staring hollowly at the graves. Pikachu tried to get his attention several times, even shocking him once, but barely got a response. He could see in Ash's eyes that he wasn't really there; he was inside his own head endlessly going through his memories of them.

Brock's home cooking.

Tracey's curiosity and detailed sketches.

Max's fighting spirit.

May's determination.

Dawn's artistic Pokemon displays.

Prof. Oak giving him Pikachu.

His mother, just everything about his mother.

Ash couldn't cry anymore, his tears had ran out.

It was only when rays on sunlight appeared over the hills that he finally stirred. Pikachu, who had been sitting quietly, jumped in surprise: he grieved too, but having Ash helped. Ash stood up slowly, his joints clicking from stiffness, and looked around. He had realised earlier that this hill was where his house should have been, he figured it had been destroyed in the attack and hadn't been rebuilt out of respect. Looking over Pallet Town he saw people just beginning to stir, getting ready for a normal day. Ash envied them. He leant against the tree and thought about what he should do. Deep down he knew he should go down there: Dialga had told him he needed to find his friends and, through his grief, he had noticed three people were missing from the graves - Gary, Paul and Misty. A tiny ember of hope burned within his chest that he could find them. He desperately wanted to see them but he was scared of what he might find. Then a worrying thought occurred to him: there was no grave for him, so people didn't think he was dead, but he had disappeared just before the... the event. Did people think he was involved somehow? Panic worked its way into the corners of his mind, but he calmed himself. They probably didn't even remember him. Taking a deep breath, he started walking down the hill.

"Let's go find Gary, Pikachu."

"Pikaa." Came a soft reply.

Nobody paid him any notice as he walked through the town. It was strange; to him he had only been here yesterday but everything seemed to have changed. Some of the houses were deserted, the quaint pubs had been replaced by bars, there was a lot more litter in the streets. The whole town seemed run down, he wondered what had changed it. Pikachu shared his mood, looking around gloomily.

"It's okay Pikachu, it's not like we have a home here anymore." Ash said bitterly. Pikachu didn't respond. Oak Laboratory loomed in the distance and Ash felt a pang of guilt. It was his fault. It was his fault that- no, he couldn't think that way or he would never have the courage to knock on the door. He reached the gate and paused, staring at the lab.

"I wonder how he will react, if he is even in." He said softly. "Still, what's the worst that can happen?" He replied to himself, only half joking. Taking a deep breath, he walked up the driveway and knocked on the door.

"Just a sec." Came a muffled voice from inside. Ash gulped, his stomach churning. Too late to go back now. He stood there as he heard footsteps grow near and the door rattled. Slowly it opened and Gary put his head round the door.

"If you're looking for..." He began, but tailed off as he saw who it was. He stared at Ash silently, speechless.

"Uh, hey Gary." Was all Ash could think to say as he smiled awkwardly. For a moment more Gary just gawked at him. "Ash?" He whispered, incredulous.

Ash chuckled slightly. "Yeah. Uh, how are you?"

Gary didn't seem to hear him. "Ash?"

"Yeah, it's me Gary. I-"

Ash's next sentence turned into a muffled yelp as Gary leapt forward and seized him in a bear hug, his hold stronger than a Pinsir's Vicegrip attack. Ash managed to slip his arms out and return the hug.

"Holy fucking Arceus, Ash, where have you been?" Gary mumbled over Ash's shoulder.

"It's a long story."

"It better be." Gary pulled away and Ash saw his eyes were wet. "Come in, you've got a lot of explaining to do."

"If I hadn't seen you literally disappear in your hallway three years ago." Gary said slowly, sitting in his desk chair. "I'd say you were feeding me total Tauros shit."

Ash chuckled. "I know, I'm surprised you accepted it so easily." Gary hadn't spoken as Ash told his story, he just sat there and listened, not giving anything away.

"Well, I did some research after you vanished. What happened to you has happened a few times in recorded history, but their wild explanations seem pretty mundane by comparison." For a moment neither of them spoke. "It's good to have you back, Ashy-boy."

Ash smiled at the old nickname. "Thanks. What have you been doing while I was gone?"

"I took over Gramp's work; someone had to look after all the Pokemon. Daisy helps as well when she is around, she's doing a lot of travelling. Other than that, just research - I've been looking into criminal activity across Kanto, trying to see if I can find anything concrete. Not much luck though, the Rockets are keeping themselves well hidden."

Ash nodded. "Listen, Gary, I know the basics, but could you tell me what happened after...after I left? I need to know what they did."

Gary's smile turned brittle. "You deserve to know I suppose." He looked away, pain clear in his eyes. He sat back in his chair, taking a swig of the coffee on his desk. "A couple hours after you vanished a group of men turned up, half dressed in Rocket outfits, half in Aqua. There were a couple of Jennys hanging around; they had turned up when we filed a Missing Persons case, but they were shot before they could even react. Then once of the Aqua guys, a big guy with a beard, started screaming, demanding we tell them where you were, but we couldn't answer. What explanation could we give that they would believe? Gramps tried to reason with them but they didn't care, it actually made them angrier, he even offered them his Pokemon collection to spare us but they still didn't care. Five of the grunts shot him. His blood went everywhere. I still remember the taste of it in my mouth. The man in charge said his name was Archie and he wasn't leaving until we gave you up. We didn't, couldn't answer. I was so scared I couldn't speak. Next he turned on May. Max. Tracey. Misty. Paul. Then me." Gary stopped, visibly shaking and breathing heavily. He had been staring at the floor as he spoke. Ash wanted to tell him to stop, but he couldn't bring himself to speak. "I was lucky; the bullet missed anything major but it lodged under my heart. The doctors said it was too dangerous to remove it. It still hurts sometimes. It gets hazy after that. I remember Dawn crying and then a gunshot. Then everything was quiet. The only person left was...was Delia. I could see he put of the corner of my eye; she stood there silently, staring the thugs down. She was crying, but she looked so strong. She didn't speak, or even cry out when they shot her. Everything started to go dark for me, and I heard that guy Archie tell the grunts to burn the house down. After that I woke up In Viridian General Hospital a few days later. That's all I remember, and I remember too much."

For a few minutes neither of them spoke, both just sat in silence, Gary slowly calming himself. Gary wiped the tears from his face and looked up. "That's what happened."

Ash continued to look at the floor. "I'm sorry." He said, his voice very quiet. "I shouldn't have asked you."

"If I hadn't told you then someone else would have."

Ash stood up, shaking. Gary paled at the look in his eyes. "They won't go unpunished, Gary, I promise you." In Ash's face Gary saw absolute, unbridled rage and a terrible sorrow. He knew the answer, but he asked. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to kill them."

Once upon a time Gary would have been appalled, but not any more. "Good. You should probably head to Indigo Plateau first; there have been rumours circling for a while about Rocket activity in that area."

"Thanks, but there's somewhere else I need to go first. Do you know where Paul and Misty are?"

Gary shrugged. "No-ones seen or heard from Paul since it happened; he left the hospital almost as soon as he came to, despite being heavily injured. As for Misty, last I heard he was back at Cerulean Gym, we haven't spoken much since then. I know you'll want to see her, Ash, but be careful - what happened hit her hard, and she never really got over it."

Ash nodded. "I understand. Thank you, Gary."

Gary smiled. "Anything for you, Ashy-boy." Ash grinned back as he turned towards the window. And looked out over the town. "What happened to this place anyway?"

Gary got up and joined him by the window. "Major gang attacks tend to give places a bad reputation. The nicer people left in fear and less...wholesome people were drawn to it. It's really gone downhill since then. I thought of leaving myself, but after I took over Gramp's work there didn't seem much point."

Ash nodded. "Gary, I'll understand either way, but when I get a lead I call you, if you want revenge."

Gary was silent for a moment. "I'll think about it. I'll look after your other Pokemon while you are gone, if you want to change them out just call me."

"Thanks." Ash headed for the door.

"It's getting late." Gary called after him. "You can stay the night if you want."

"Thanks, but I want to get to Cerulean as soon as possible."

Gary nodded and followed him outside. Ash stood in the garden and pulled out a pokeball. "Come on out Charizard." With a roar the enormous orange lizard emerged, letting off a gout of flame. Ash's eyes widened in surprise; Charizard had always been tough, but now his muscles bulged and his scales glimmered with power. Ash was almost unnerved when the Pokemon lowered his head and nuzzled him gently. "I missed you too buddy." Ash stroked his head. "Fancy a fly?" Charizard raised his head again and roared in approval. Ash climbed on his back and Pikachu settled just behind his head. Ash was about to take off when he turned to look at Gary again. "Gary, if you could have given me up back then, would you?"

Gary tensed, but then relaxed and sighed. "I would have, Ash, I'm sorry."

Ash nodded. "I don't blame you. If I were you I would have. Well, don't be a stranger." And with that Ash nudged Charizard with his foot and they took off, soaring up into the air.

"That's rich coming from you!" Ash heard from below, he looked back to see Gary waving, and couldn't help but smile. Enjoying the thrill of the height and the speed Ash settled into the great lizard's back. "To Cerulean, Charizard. We're going to see Misty."

Indigo Plateau was a logstical nightmare; a place constantly filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of people and countless shops and stalls created and endless amount of paperwork. Charles Goodshow sighed as yet another stack was planted on his desk, and he picked up his well-worn Mont Moone pen.

"Surely we could have found a way to streamline this by now?" He said to Lorelei as she turned to head back to her desk. The tall, serene lady pushed her glasses up her nose in response. "Well if you would ever transfer to computer-based technology we could. A site like this could easily support a vast databank system with enough ram to-."

"Yes, yes, alright." He interrupted, not wishing for her to continue. This was a common line of conversation, but Charles hated computers, so the cycle repeated itself ad infinitum. He knew that large portions of the workload was taken care of by Lorelei and her secretaries, but at his age he still felt overworked. Signing sheet after sheet, he resigned himself to a long evening.

"By the way." He said without looking up. "I'm still seeing those shady-looking characters on the security cameras around the plateau. I thought we upped security? I don't want potential Rockets lurking around our customers."

"We are doing what we can." Lorelei replied from her desk, resting her hands on its ancient mahogany. "But you can't arrest someone for looking shady. And that's if we can even find them; most of the time they disappear before we can get near them."

Charles clenched his first. "I'm not one for taking the law into my own hands but-" he stopped speaking when he heard commotion outside his office door. Both of them looked over, and Lorelei was halfway to standing when the door burst open and two men walked in. Both were dressed in black outfits with a large, red 'R' on their chest. Lorelei leapt to her feet, reaching for a pokeball but immediately she was staring down the barrel of a silenced pistol.

"Move and you die." Said the grunt in the harsh voice of a heavy smoker. "Sit." Lorelei sat back down and watched helplessly as she was relinquished of her pokeballs. The other grunt aimed an identical pistol and Charles, and he immediately felt a warmth spread between his legs.

"Oh my..." Was all he could manage.

The grunt near Lorelei turned his head towards the door. "Clear." He barked, and in walked two men. One of them was very tall, and was dressed in a bright red outfit, with both his hair and glasses matching the colour. He looked around the room imperiously. The other man was a little shorter, was dressed in a tan suit and looked far more meanacing. He never took his eyes of Charles as he sat down in front of his desk.

"Giovanni." Goodshow gasped. Giovanni gave a wicked smile in response. "It's good that you remember me, Charles." He said, his voice smooth and cultured. "This will make things a lot simpler." He leaned forward and looked into his eyes. "I have a business proposition for you. One that I seriously doubt you can refuse."

So, whaddya think? I'm really getting into this now so please keep letting me know how you think it's going. Thanks for reading, please review :)