Pikachu gasped and woke with a shock. Images of never-ending tunnels—the white tunnels beneath every city—faded from her mind, and her heart slowed. Ash's hand swatted towards her as he snored. It was still the middle of the night, though she couldn't tell what hour it was. Cracking her neck, she stretched, scratched her side, and tiptoed towards where the former members of Team Rocket slept.
James, dreaming, was mumbling something about Inkays and crime organizations from distant regions. Jessie was curled on her side, and she occasionally snored out a high pitched hum. Arbok's length circled the area, and Weezing was tipped over on its side. Meowth was there, too, resting to the side of James's head.
Her breath hitched as she waited for those familiar pin-pricks of electricity. They were there, and they were electricity, and maybe they were fainter than the first time she had felt his currents back in the summer. The signals in his heart were still sparking, though maybe a little uneven now. And his mind…there was electricity there, too. If only she could sense Aura like Ash—if only she could be able to feel more than just the presence of electricity. If only she could be able to just know that his soul was there just as his heartbeat was.
Meowth's face was blank, and his breath was shallow, but regular. Two months had passed since Mewtwo's visit. There were times that it seemed Meowth had drifted close to consciousness, only to sink back. Jessie and James dutifully monitored him, even as the others openly doubted if anything could be done. Time kept pushing forward, and everyone in Rock Tunnel had fallen into an uneasy routine of waiting. Pikachu led surveillance operations, gathering information on Bill's computer lab near Cerulean, finding out about Team Rocket's movements, trying to decipher what Mewtwo had meant about "when the moon is right."
She pushed herself off the ground and set off towards the entrance. Alakazam opened one eye as a greeting, and Psyduck tilted his head towards her. Wobbuffet sat against the wall of the cave, dozing. She walked out of the cave, and her fur bristled against the cold air. A few clouds obscured a portion of the stars, and Pikachu watched them drift in the sky, following the wind. Most of the trees were bare already—fall had flashed by. A cloud passed, and the moon emerged. It was almost-full, and it was yellow, and it appeared much larger than usual. She knew that tomorrow night it would be full, and her chest tightened as she realized that this is what Mewtwo was referring to.
Pikachu walked back, picking up an apple from Brock's stash of snacks as she walked by the Psychic-type guards. Plopping back down near Ash's sleeping back, she bit into it. There was no sense waking everyone up in the middle of the night, even if she was unable to sleep. Hours slipped by—she had tossed the core of the apple outside as Psyduck and Wobbuffet changed shifts. She could hear the rustling of Pokefeed bags as Brock prepared rations.
"Morning," Ash mumbled, waking up. "What's going on, Pikachu? You were getting up a lot last night."
Pikachu hesitated. "I'll talk about it at breakfast." And when everyone was sitting down at one of Steelix's tables, she formulated the words. "Everyone? Do you remember what Mewtwo said when he came by here?"
Charizard laughed. "The drama queen?"
"Yeah. The drama queen, Charizard." Pikachu rolled her eyes.
"He said something about the moon." James steepled his fingers.
Brock scratched his chin. "And the last harvest moon of the season is coming up tomorrow—"
"—You knew it was going to be a harvest moon and you didn't say anything!" Misty interrupted Brock. "You could have mentioned that earlier!"
"But every full moon in autumn is a 'harvest moon.'" Jessie frowned. "What makes this one so special?"
"It's yellow, almost like gold. It just looks—it looks different." Pikachu sighed. "It's hard to explain. But I know this is what he meant."
Wartortle stood up. "You mean we have to get ready to fight tonight?"
The Pokemon and humans erupted into sound. Pikachu kept trying to speak over the noise, but she couldn't be heard over all the panic.
Venusaur roared, "Quiet!" The echoes shook the cavern walls, and everyone stopped talking at once. "We'll do what we need to do."
"Thanks." Pikachu stood on the table to give her some extra height. "We'll have to divide ourselves up if we want to follow Mewtwo's plan."
"Can we really trust him though?" Lickitung asked.
A murmur spread as each Pokemon and human weighed this question for themselves.
"Hey—" Ash cleared his throat to gain attention. "Hey! Guys, calm down. Mewtwo's right. Pikachu's right. Think about it."
"What do you mean, Ash?" Brock looked at Misty, who shrugged in response.
"There are three places to target: the Lavender Town facility, Team Rocket Headquarters, and the lab at Bill's cottage. If we go to one, all together, sure, we could beat them. But then the other locations will be prepared for our arrival—they might even move the equipment we need to destroy. We'd end up defeated pretty quickly, and then we'd be on the run again."
Pikachu nodded. "We have to attack tonight, and we all have to attack at the same time. There can't be any lag."
"So how are we gonna split up?" Wartortle leaned back, arms crossed against his chest.
"There's going to be the most force at Lavender Town, because they've been expecting us to attack there again. So most of us need to go there. Wartortle, Venusaur, Charizard." Ash paused. "You need to lead the effort there."
"Got it." Charizard gave a salute with two fingers.
"And I need to go to Bill's cottage." Pikachu wondered what exactly Mewtwo wanted her to do there, but she did trust that he was right.
"I'll come with you, Pikachu." Ash smiled.
"And I'll help the efforts at Lavender Town." Misty added.
"Ditto." Brock smiled and then looked at the group of Ditto gathered around the table. "Speaking of which, they should go to Lavender Town too. They're pretty helpful in battle."
"So that just leaves the Team Rocket base…" Ash looked at Jessie and James.
"Normally I'd say it's crazy to expect us to take down the whole base ourselves." Jessie's brows furrowed. "But this is personal. We'll take them down. From the inside."
"What about Meowth? Who'll look after him?" James looked back at his team member.
"I know someone who'll be up to it!" Ash put his hands behind his head. "Don't worry. He'll be in good hands."
Pikachu felt her stomach drop. She spoke again, but her voice was quieter. "We'll teleport out with the Abra tonight at dusk. When the moon is completely out, we'll make our move."
/
The day seemed too short at times, and then were moments when it felt as if the passage of time was dragging. When the sun began to set, Pikachu paced around the Abra that would teleport her and Ash. She stopped as she felt a pair of eyes watching her. Wartortle.
"Hey."
"You're going to do great, Wartortle."
"Heh! I know!" He pumped a fist into the air.
Pikachu pulled her shoulders back and looked back at Wartortle, then Venusaur, then Charizard. "You're all going to do great."
Ash wiped tears from his face. "Take care of yourselves. We're gonna get back together as soon as we can. I believe in you!"
Venusaur stepped forward. "We're going to end all this, Pikachu. Good luck in Cerulean."
"You too."
The three of them, Psyduck, the Ditto, Alakazam, and all the other Pokemon recruits teleported with several Abra.
Misty threw her arms around Ash. "Be careful, okay!"
"You and Pikachu can accomplish anything. I know it."
Ash hugged them both. Misty and Brock waved as they teleported with another Abra.
Jessie watched their forms disappear. "That leaves us."
"Blasting off—" James gathered Arbok, Weezing, and Wobbuffet around an Abra. "We'll see you twerps later!"
Ash and Pikachu were left alone, with Meowth.
"Are you ready, Pikachu?"
"Yeah."