A/N -_- It's 2:05 . . . a.m. I work and have school tomorrow. I hope you all know how much you mean to me. ;}

Anywho, I actually finished this a while back, but as there are about three chapters left, I wanted to make sure that it all fit the plan. Don't let the 'three chapters' fool you. This chapter is part of the ending of this story. The next chapters will hopefully be uploaded quickly because they are all happening very close together. I will try to upload quickly.

I now have far less time for writing, so I figured that I should just post it. . . . I really don't have time to go over it. Hope it's alright.

If you've been with this story for a while, thank you so much for being a part of this.

Buh-Bye now :)

Chapter 23: When it All Falls Down

Previously:

Abruptly her arm was shoved away. Alexi blinked, looking to Skye in confusion and hurt. Skye motioned with his hand and she knew he was telling her to move (so they wouldn't see her when he opened the door); but the lack of words or eyes on her made her think that something in her lack of response had stung him. She wasn't sure what to think about that, but it wasn't the best feeling.

Obediently she moved to the side and stood against the wall. Skye opened the door without preamble.

Previously: "Wait. . . "

Mark paused. The voice had come from Eitan who had up to this point been silent. His posture was calm but his eyes flashed with something strange, hands twitching at his sides. "You're going to kill her?"

Mark took in Eitan's posture, his face, his eyes, all with a careful gaze. Slowly he replied, "it is a possibility." Eitan noticeably stiffened, but nodded and stepped back. Mark continued to watch him with interested eyes.

And then the door opened.

Currently:

Alexi quickly hid behind the door as Skye pulled it open fully. It was interesting how much his tone was not himself when he spoke. She heard his voice echo through the room beyond the door. "The group has been recaptured. We have them all."

She heard a man's voice reply back calmly. "How many?"

Skye paused this time. She could imagine him recounting them all in his head carefully. It would be just like him to forget a person he didn't pay much mind to. She tried not to roll her eyes.

"Eleven."

Another pause. "You may go." Alexi heard Skye shuffle back and then the man's voice again. "Wait . . . Take them to the test room."

". . . Yes, sir." Skye replied.

Skye backed up and then the door was shut in front of him. Alexi watched him carefully almost close it, leaving a sliver of an opening. He leaned down, pressing his ear beside the crack. Merely a few seconds later, he nodded, shut the door completely and grabbed Alexi's hand. "Time to go."

Ash watched with a careful gaze as Skye left. He had been calm. The perfect grunt persona. Ash was reminded that, that was exactly what Skye had been. Much more a grunt than Ash was. Willing and ready to do anything that they ordered him to do. It had been different for him. Why?

Mark turned from the door to Ash and watched him. Ash's brow was drawn together as he thought. concern in his features. Mark smiled. "You know the room?" He asked with false sympathy.

Ash froze and, shaking just a bit, looked up at him. His expression was one of carefully controlled emotions ready to boil over. Anger and fear.

Mark narrowed his eyes, his expression going calculating. He spoke slowly, "Maybe we should send your daughter there with them-"

"You can't!" Ash froze, looking shocked at the words that had come. Expression twisting, looking upset at himself, he clenched his teeth and dropped his head to his chest.

Mark turned to look at Casey, with a glance at Grant, then back to Ash. "Should I tell them to wait on the tests?"

Ash's entire body trembled with the words. He raised his head slowly, anger evident in his features, and glared with a look to kill.

Mark smiled and turned. "We can -"

"Pathetic," Ash hissed.

Mark paused, frowning.

"You're just being used again. Not a test subject but still a pawn. Throwing others back into the life you escaped and continuing to fuel the world of the people who controlled you. You're still theirs. . . . It's pathetic."

"Am I?" Mark continued to stare at the wall before him for a long moment, and then he turned to Grant, the anger portraying on his face and stated, "have them all killed." A small sound came from behind him. One of shock from Ash. "We can use it now."

Casey hesitated, nodded, and turned to leave. As he reached the door he passed the frozen form of Eitan. He frowned but continued. Eitan was not a problem, but Mark was a fool to bring him into the room.

As he opened the door, he frowned and strained his ears. He could have sworn he had heard feet. . .

Gary jumped as Skye came barreling through the door. Alexi ran past him quickly and paused before the computer to catch her breath.

"No time. Now." Skye wheezed as he caught his own breath.

Alexi nodded and pulled out the chair, sitting before the computer and quickly running her fingers over the keys as she breathed deeply.

"Hurry," Skye prodded.

Alexi paused suddenly, staring at the screen with a look of alarm.

"What is it?" Gary asked.

Alexi's mouth opened and closed again, her expression the same. "I . . . I'm sorry."

Skye stood, still breathing heavily, his eyes widening. "What are you talking about?"

Alexi swallowed. "I don't-I don't know what to do next."

Skye grit his teeth. "You can't stop Alexi. Everyone is depending on you."

She scoffed, though it was more panic than anything else. "I-I don't know how to do it. What am I supposed to do?"

Skye stalked to the computer and brought his fist down on the metal casing. Alexi jumped, closing her eyes as he spoke. "Figure. It. Out."

Trembling, she muttered, "I'm sorry. I don't know what to do. How am I suppose to figure it out when I've never seen it before?"

Skye's hands formed fists. "You can't do this now."

Her fearful eyes lifted to his. "What do you mean?

"You were one of them. A test subject."

Alexi's eyes came together in confusion. She tried to speak up against it mattering but he went on.

"You might not think that it makes a difference, but I know that it does!" He shut his eyes, hands shaking. "Sarah died, other's went crazy. I saw it. I saw it! I didn't think it would change me to be put there, but it did!" His eyes opened and he looked strait at her. "But you ran." Alexi stared back, suddenly feeling frozen. His face crumpled. "Don't-How can you not understand what that means? You ran!" His fist came down angrily on the metal again. She winced, then opened her eyes when nothing else was forthcoming. Carefully she looked up at him. His expression was almost open, for once, and showed emotion of wonder and loss. When he spoke, it was quiet. "Are you really completely unaware of what you did?"

Alexi blinked. She wanted to speak but couldn't.

"You couldn't have possibly known everything that you needed to. They kept those things from you for just that possibility. You did it with will and guts. Without knowing anything. . . . You figured it out." Alexi was staring numbly at the computer as he finished. With a palm to her shoulder, he said, "They need your help . . . . Do it again."

Gary watched in concern the next couple seconds of silence. Then relief came as Alexi gave a careful nod, and Skye nodded himself, patting her on the back, though still emotionally a wall away, and stepped back.

May leaned over and caught her breath. "How much time do we have?"

Drew lifted his sleeve. "Eight minutes."

May let out a breath of panic. "What if everyone's not out in eight minutes?"

Drew frowned as he watched her. "They'll have to be."

Looking up to him her eyes saddened, but she nodded and stood up strait, looking to the door. "How do we get in?"

"You don't."

Drew spun. A grunt stood behind them. Two more grunts behind him. All three with out held guns. May shivered at the sight, stepping closer to Drew without realizing it. Drew reached behind himself to grab her wrist and pull her a bit closer, panic starting in his gut.

The grunt in front motioned to the side with his gun. "Move over."

Swallowing, Drew moved slowly over, taking May with him (though she didn't seem to have any complaints). The grunt moved forward, dropping the gun and starting on the pin pad beside the door. The two who had been behind him kept their guns on Drew and May. "I really don't have time to take you where they want you. But I'm sure if we throw you in here they won't be too upset with us. After all, you'll be contained." He smirked a bit and turned to them. "Air should last long enough for them to arrive." Drew stiffened, glaring and moving even more before May.

The grunt smiled and turned back to the pin pad, then began to punch in the number. It was a long code. He did it quickly, and when they thought it couldn't be any longer of a code, he continued. Drew had to wonder why they would keep such a long lock on a storage closet. It couldn't be just that. And so tight to block out air? May frowned, wondering how they could ever remember it. Would there be any way to get out? And as these thoughts went, Drew's resounding thought was that May was not going to be in that room, and neither was he. As he began to frantically try to think of a way out, two thuds came from behind them. Drew turned, and his mouth dropped open.

His son stood behind the two fallen grunts, a calm look on his face as he continued to stare fixatedly on the grunt's fingers on the pad, not moving his hands from their position holding a strange gun out in front of him.

The light beside the code on the door flit from red to green just as the grunt heard the thuds and May's shock. He turned as well and had just enough time to gasp before he jumped and crumpled to the floor, hitting the door shut on his way down, the light clicking instantly from green to red once more.

"Drake . . . " May whispered, feeling shocked. To her surprise, Drake continued to stare at the door and ignored her and Drew completely. Stepping over the grunts he walked to the door, lifted his fingers to the pin-pad, paused momentarily with a quick breath, and then began to retype the ridiculously long number password.

Drew blinked in shock, furthering still when the door actually opened, confirming what Drake had done. He couldn't believe it. How could Drake have possibly remembered that? He knew that his son was good with numbers, and with his condition . . . But that good?

May was the first to move forward when the door creaked and Drake pulled it out, reaching in and coming out with a bag in hand, the bag in which they had so recently left their pokemon and weapons. He held it up as May reached him and smiled a bit. "I'm ready."

"Drake . . . " Drew started.

Not giving his father time to answer, Drew spun past him with the bag. "Later, dad?"

Drew blinked again. May grabbed his hand as she past, "He's right Drew. Let's go." Drew nodded, shook his head, and ran with them.

Misty gasped and jumped into an alcove, relieved that out of all of the halls, this actually had one. A power box opposite her told her why they had this one. She breathed out in relief as the grunts she had seen ran past her. But then they were followed by another group. Misty frowned and pushed herself farther into the corner. Why now? Was she trapped? She couldn't be. What to do?

Mark paused with the orb in the air above his head. sending light reflecting strangely around the room as it reflected from the ceiling. Ash stiffened, watching with fear and a silent prayer that came without his consideration. It seemed to work. Mark dropped the orb down on the table, centering it carefully, and pressed a green button. Ash watched a glass tube raise out of the sides of the table and continue to climb till it reached the ceiling around the large magnet-looking tool, fixated over head. The green button turned red. Mark nodded to himself and backed up. "Grant."

Grant straitened in recognition though Mark didn't look at him.

"Now."

Grant moved forward quickly and went to a nearby computer against the wall closest to the orb. Sitting before it he began to type in a series of commands.

Ash's heart began to flutter in his chest, eagerness and anxiety coupled as he realized what was actually coming. That this was going to work, but that he was going to have to be quick, and what if he couldn't . . . No. There was no question. He didn't have time to consider failure. He would win.

For everyone.

Setting his resolve, Ash calmed but still couldn't stop the way his body began to shake with the will to move. To be off the chair and acting. The knowledge that he really was going to have to be quick.

Still he watched with ill curiosity, as the metal slab above the orb began to sway and shake, the tubes above it taking on a strange gold sheen. Mark frowned and Grant pressed another button, but Ash's attention wasn't on them anymore. He had done what he needed to do. His hands began to feel at the cuff's, pulling experimentally for the hundredth time. There wasn't room enough to pull out and he was out of time. His thoughts were cut short when the orb began to glow, a line of concentrated gold appearing over one side. Ash moved his gaze to Mark, mentally begging Alexi to hurry. Mark's head tilted ever so slightly to the side. The glowing increased but Ash still watched, amazed at the power showing from it.

Suddenly Mark's arms dropped from across his chest. He blinked, looking confused, then his eyes widened in shock. He spun to face Ash. And Ash couldn't help it.

He nodded. 'Yes.'

Mark turned so fast that Ash nearly missed the motion as the orb began to glow behind him and demand attention. "Turn it off." He said the Grant.

Grant was smiling as he stared at it, but with Mark's words he looked up in surprise. "What? Why-"

"Turn it off!" Mark filled the space between them in short strides and pushed Grant's shoulder to the side, looking at the screen. Realizing that he had no idea what was on the screen he again rounded on Grant with a wild gaze. "Turn it off!"

Grant stared, then he clenched his teeth tight and pushed Mark off of the table beside him. "It's working! Why the hell should I turn it off?"

"Because it isn't working, you fool!" Taken over by desperation, Mark pushed Grant's chair to the side and pressed a few quick keys on the keyboard.

It was impossible to know if the following events were hurried by Mark's failed attempt.

A sharp sound cut the room, like the cutting of thick glass. The gold line expanded from one side of the orb to the other and widened the gap. Ash looked away, as did Mark and Grant, as the room was suddenly filled with bright, glowing light.

As the glow lessened back to what it had been, a dull light, Grant and Mark stared in shock. The orb looked the same, with a much deeper and longer crack. And then another sound of cracking echoed in the room. Grant was back before the screen faster than Ash had ever seen him move, quickly typing in keys. He seemed to slump in relief and then froze.

"What is it?" Mark came to the computer and stared in surprise at the red words reflecting back at them. 'Access Denied.'

Mark was, in no grunt comparison, computer knowledgeable, but he knew enough from training to know that 'access denied' never portrayed like this, across the screen blocking all commands. He looked to Grant, wondering if he would understand the new turn of events, but Grant only continued to stare in shock. Mark opened his mouth to speak, and then Grant's face went deadly with anger and he couldn't control the curiosity. Mark turned back to the screen and saw a new phrase reflecting beneath the old.

'Justice Served'

Mark's mouth fell open. Hands trembling at his sides, he looked over his shoulder and saw Ash looking at him strait on. Same expression from before. And then to his everlasting chagrin, Ash smirked. Not a grunt smirk. A smirk of accomplishment. Mark felt his blood boil.

Another crack and Mark raised a hand to block the possible light. When none was forthcoming, he turned to look at the orb. It was glowing, but the light was brighter all around it, like a strange halo of contained energy. A crack, but this time it was different. Louder, and deeper. Mark looked up and saw the metal slab break in half, it's sides falling in and supported only by the tubes. Tubes that were glowing gold and swelling much larger than they had been. Mark turned and ran.

Grant watched him in confusion, then glancing back to the machine, he stood up and rushed to follow. As they reached the door, Mark looked back to Ash. "Stay here with your success then."

Grant had the door open and exited. As Eitan went to follow, Mark quickly pulled in behind Grant and pulled the door almost completely closed behind him. Eitan froze, eyes opening in trepidation and confusion. Mark gave an apologetic look. "Sorry kid. I really do think that you could be helpful. But it seems you have a deeper problem then I originally thought." Eitan stiffened, eyes going blank. Mark shrugged, and shut the door completely. A faint clanking announced that the door had been locked from the outside. Eitan continued to stare for a long moment, then he collapsed to his knees, staring at the floor in shock.

"Hey!"

Eitan blinked, turning over his shoulder with a look so dead it surprised Ash.

"Get up!"

Eitan blinked and looked back to the door. "No point," he whispered.

Ash grit his teeth. "You have to get up, or you're going to die."

Eitan nodded but didn't move.

"You would rather die than move?"

Another loud crack lent the air and for a moment Ash had to close his eyes against the blinding light. When he could open them again, Eitan still sat on the floor.

With a note of desperation both for him and Eitan Ash pushed the words out. "I need your help."

Eitan looked over his shoulder, turned his body and leaned against the wall. "And if I do?" He asked. "We're still locked in here. What's the point?"

"I remember you." Ash spoke quickly, aware of their lack of time, of the machine getting ready to explode behind them. "You were in Makaila's class. You were there when your friend got beat up. You blamed her. Said she was crazy. It wasn't true was it?"

Eitan seemed annoyed, but maybe with the knowledge of what they were nearing he shrugged and sighed. "Yeah. . . . He was real."

The confirmation sent a strange feeling through Ash but he went on despite it. "I remember you."

Eitan smiled a crooked smile. "You would be the first."

Ash wasn't sure what to do with that. "I doubt that. Look, do you want to die?"

Eitan paused, considered, and shrugged. "Doesn't much matter what I want."

Pulling strings Ash asked. "And if I die? If I can find a way to get us out?" Eitan rolled his eyes. "That kid living and you dying?" Silence. "Makaila's probably waiting for me. She would die too."

Eitan blinked and twitched, an annoyed expression coming over his face. The reply was a stronger response than was logical. "So?" He asked angrily.

Ash blinked. "And if she did live, if she somehow got out, she would come looking for me."

Eitan pursed his lips and pulled his shoulders in on himself, shrugging quickly.

With emotion to something that was probably true Ash stated strongly, "she will die if I don't get out of here."

Eitan's face screwed up with emotion Ash couldn't decipher, looking angry and frustrated. Finally he groaned and stood, covering his eyes as he finally took in the rising glow. "You all suck," he muttered, making his way over to Ash's chair. Ash sighed in relief.

"Do you have a key?"

Eitan paused and glanced around the room. "No."

Ash groaned and dropped his head, wondering what to do. "There has to be something," he whispered to himself.

Eitan glanced around the room. He was beginning to come back to himself. Despite his near break-down, he was usually incredibly stubborn and headstrong. Now that he had decided to help Ash get out, he wasn't just going to drop it at the loss of one key. Besides . . . he didn't have as much choice in the matter as he would like. It wasn't really about Ash.

"I can melt it."

Ash's eyes widened. He raised his head to look Eitan in the eye in shock. "Melt it?" The words came out in shock before he could stop them. Then he was curious. "How could you melt it?"

Eitan looked to the machine and walked to it. The metal base was beginning to glow. Eitan looked at the metal slab that was turning red, then pulled off the white shirt over his outfit, leaving him in a long sleeved black tee. Wrapping the material around his wrist completely, he grabbed to a metal bar on the side for controls (this too was turning red), and pulled.

Ash stared in confusion. He was going to break it off. He couldn't possibly be strong enough to do that. But then Eitan paused, his forehead crinkling in concentration, and he pulled harder. Another crack lent the room, and Eitan held a bar that was pure red at the bottom, looking like a fire poker. Ash was amazed. The heat must have helped, but it still would have taken incredible strength. And though Eitan did look strong for his age, Ash wouldn't have guessed him to be strong.

Eitan turned and hurried behind Ash's chair, leaning down behind him. Ash winced, imagining the metal so close to his hands. A loud bang from his left made Ash turn. He gulped as a large portion of the metal slab balancing over the orb fell completely from the top to lie on the metal table. He was just about to ask if it was actually working when Eitan said, "this'll hurt." He was right. Ash felt his arms pulled completely back behind him as Eitan placed the middle of the red part of bar on the chain and placed his foot on the chair to help him pull. Ash winced, then blinked. Another crash, but this one sounded different. From somewhere else? Ash stiffened. Was everyone else really alright? Could Mark and Grant have caught up to them? Would they have stopped to fight? Ash's thoughts were cut off as the chain suddenly and surprisingly actually broke, and Ash felt the pull holding his hands together vanish. Stretching his fingers and pulling his hands around, he found the cuffs still around his wrists, but the connecting chain broken. It didn't look melted, merely a bit red on one of the links. He looked to Eitan again in slight confusion. Again, it shouldn't have been that easy.

Eitan avoided his eyes. "You said you could get us out?"

As if to make his point, the tubes above the machine began to pop. Ash stood quickly and ran to the door. He looked it over, finding a ring of black rubber coming barely through the cracks around the edge.

Flashback:

Ash pushed on the door, but it didn't budge. "Help me!"

"It's no use." Gary voiced all of their thoughts. "That door's not going to open."

"Try being a test subject sometime with a door like that keeping you in." Alexi whispered.

Michael nodded. "I was never a test subject, but they had a door like that on my room too. Didn't they have that on yours?"

Flashback:

"But then, if you had actually stuck by your friends, you would have been here a more often, and you might have figured out that this room was soundproofed, because they didn't want to have to hear children crying after their tests."

Ash ground his teeth. There had to be a way. There had to be.

Behind him, Eitan merely watched, eyes dull. "It's impossible."

Ash stiffened. "You'll never know if you just stand there."

"But if there's no way-"

Ash turned with fire in his eyes. "We don't have time for that kind of thinking. When you're in a tight spot you can't think like that. You have to act. If you think too much, you'll die trying. You have to do what you can, with what you know, right then."

Eitan blinked. "And if it doesn't work."

Ash resisted groaning. "Then it doesn't work."

Another blink, and to Ash's surprise, Eitan nodded slowly. "Okay," he muttered. "What if we need help?"

Ash turned back to the door. "Help doesn't always come in the way you expect. Sometimes you're your own help."

Eitan suddenly appeared to Ash's left. "We're running out of time," Ash said to himself.

Eitan titled his head, looking at the top of the door. "What if we punctured the rubber?"

Despite his relief at Eitan's sudden choice to action, Ash knew he didn't have time to condone it, "Won't work. It's all thick rubber. It doesn't have air to puncture."

Eitan frowned, lifting the rod. "Not even with this?"

Ash blinked, looking back to the rubber. It was thick. Really thick. "That might work. If we could melt it all, there should be enough room to open the door." He glanced behind him. "But it might take that blowing up to get it all hot enough."

Eitan frowned. "So we really are screwed."

Ash rolled his eyes. "No, we keep going. Let's try it." Pausing suddenly, Ash turned to Eitan. "Do you have any pokemon on you?"

"I'm only allowed to have one."

"Which one?" Ash pushed.

"A starting pokemon. Charmander."

Ash's eyes widened as they both came to the same conclusion. "Pull him out."

Eitan was quick to follow orders and Charmander was at their feet in a moment.

"He's a little thing." Ash muttered.

And indeed he was. He looked strangely small even for his type. Ash had to wonder if it was the result of some rocket test. Eitan sneered, but Charmander, to Ash surprise, turned to him with a glare and growled. Ash raised an eyebrow. "Though I'm sure your power more than makes up for it." With a small growl, Charmander nodded in confirmation and turned to Eitan, dismissing Ash completely. Ash couldn't help but be amused, even in their current predicament.

Eitan was strangely distant as he looked to the door and ordered, "inferno. On the crease of the door. "

Charmander nodded to him and turned to the door, raising his little body up to blast it.

Ash reached up to wipe sweat from his brow, only now realizing how hot the room was. It had already been hot, but now with inferno it was near dizzying. Still, Ash watched intently with Eitan. After a few moments, the rubber began to melt. "It's working," Ash muttered in awe.

Eitan smirked a bit and nodded. Charmander paused and glanced at him, getting a breath in. Eitan nodded back and Charmander seemed pleased, returning to his work. Finally, the rubber melted from around the door and laid in a sizzling puddle on the floor, getting closer to them as it spread.

Eitan pulled out his pokemon, but one more look from Charmander made his sigh. "Good job." Charmander smiled with an extension of his name and disappeared with the light from Eitan's poke ball. Then he looked at the door. There was now a crack, about an inch thick, all the way around the door. Eitan again wrapped his shirt around his hand and reached for the handle. The heat still felt through the cloth.

Ash's emotions rose as Eitan continued to tug on it. "It won't open."

Ash was by him in a second, looking over the gab. "Why is it-" He stopped suddenly seeing a small bar on the outside through the hole in the door. He groaned in frustration and went to put his hands on the door before Eitan knocked them away because of the heat. "He locked it! The-urgh!"

Eitan pursed his lips. "Action fails this time? So much for help."

Ash stiffened, and as if on cue, heard a small scrape of metal. Ash rose his head. "What was that?"

Eitan frowned. "What was what?"

Ash stood perfectly still. "That scrape. It sounded like metal . . . in the hall."

Proof to Ash's words came only a second later as the door opened in front of them. Ash and Eitan jumped back as it opened fully.

Standing in front of the door, was the boy, his daughter, and a nervous looking grunt. "Makaila," Ash muttered. Makaila barely had time to reply before she was wrapped in Ash's arms, surprising even the boy who restrained himself against his still racing instinct.

"Dad?" Makaila asked.

Seeing the boy's attention on Makaila, and her distracted, the grunt turned tail and ran down the hall. The boy turned, took a step, and then shrugged. Eitan watched him go with a strange expression on his face and turned to the boy. The question was on the tip of his tongue, why the boy was letting him go, but the glare he received made him quiet. Makaila jumped as she noticed Eitan but Ash pulled away before she could comment. Grabbing her wrist he turned the same direction that the grunt had run, and began to run himself. "Wait- Dad! What-"

Eitan and the boy continued a short glare contest until Ash called out. "You both better come too if you want to live!"

Glaring still as he turned, the boy took off behind them. After short deliberation, Eitan followed.

"Both?" Makaila asked, already beginning to breath heavy from the speed in which they were running.

"He's fine. Later." Ash responded.

Makaila wanted to reply, but could only work to keep up. Pulling her hand from Ash's, she began to run beside him.

Eitan frowned as Ash took a right turn at the end of a hall instead of a left. "Where are you going?"

"Misty was coming for me! She didn't get there! She would have come this way!"

Eitan ground his teeth. "We can't all die for one person!"

Ash resisted a scathing retort, or turning to hit him. "We'll all be fine. Otherwise Makaila wouldn't be here."

Eitan had trouble understanding the sentence, but he didn't have time to ask about it as Ash suddenly made a sharp turn into the only alcove in the hall.

Alexi smiled in success, her words flashing back at her on the screen. The words every grunt would now see, should they try to access their own system.

"Bit corny, don't you think?" Gary asked, as she stood.

"Maybe. But they deserve it. It's exactly what they need to hear."

Skye couldn't help the smile that tried to come as he looked at the words. 'Justice served' indeed. For the first time he began to feel lighter. They had done it.

Now they had to get out. They weren't set yet.

Misty's heart beat like a drum as another group of grunts ran past her alcove. The distant explosion from barely a couple of minutes before had caused quite a stir. She knew now that the bomb in the weapons room had exploded. It had been followed by a round of strange sounds as some of the weapons began to react against each other. But if that bomb had exploded, then that meant that the others were close to going off as well. And four of them were right under their feet.

Another grunt passed by her and she pulled back a bit more. They were rushing. They wouldn't see her. She didn't have time to hide. Taking a breath to steel herself, she closed her eyes in preparation to run out.

Closing her eyes seemed like a very bad plan two seconds later, when a hand closed around hers and spun her out. Misty opened her eyes as the world spun before them and was opening her mouth to speak when lips descended on hers.

Gasping in surprise, Misty stiffened, her body freezing in confusion but quickly melting under the very familiar presence. Pulling back gently, she blinked and looked up into brown eyes. "Ash."

A smile was her reply. The hand still holding hers changed grip as he moved past her. "We have to hurry."

Misty nodded. " There are bombs under the floor. They'll be going off any second."

Ash paused, then as what she had said sunk in, he hurried to run. The others followed. While he still had air to speak he began. "Misty . . . " he started, sounding scolding. "Why are there bombs under the floor?"

"Well, we found them in a weapons room and we used them to destroy the files." When no answer was returned, Misty frowned. "Don't even think of scolding me, Ash Ketchum! You needed to bring them down and this was the fastest way to do it. . . . I did what I had to do."

Ash sighed. "If we didn't have to run I'd stop and kiss you again."

Despite herself, Misty blushed at the unexpected words.

"Ugh, Dad."

Looking behind her, Misty finally took in the other three forms. "Are you okay?" She asked Makaila.

Makaila nodded, beginning to breath harder. "I'm-alright."

Misty nodded, relieved, then looked back to Ash and asked in a quieter tone, "Ash . . . why is he here?"

Ash took "he" to mean "Eitan." He sighed. "He helped me get out. He's fine."

Misty nodded at the same time that Eitan came to a stop on the floor behind them. "You're going the wrong way."

Ash glanced over his shoulder. "Are we?"

Eitan nodded, fading a bit as the group still continued to run. "You're going the wrong way!" The group started to slow, but Eitan still felt frustration and a growing sense of urgency. "We need to turn back!"

"Go ahead and try it."

Eitan jumped, his eyes going wide with panic. He spun on his heel to come face to face with Grant. Body freezing, he looked back at him. But Grant wasn't looking at him, he was looking past him, to the group down the hall who had finally stopped. His face set in a mask of anger, Grant glanced once at Eitan. Eitan paled and stepped back. It didn't seem to be needed as Grant turned and disregarded him completely, walking right past him and to the others.

Ash watched calmly and moved from behind the group to stand before his family with a glare in return. Grant didn't stop walking forward. Ash only watched him come. Eitan looked at them all with a torn expression and glanced down the hall behind him.

Ash stiffened as Grant continued to come. "What?" Ash asked finally.

Grant's hands were shaking as he came to stop mere feet away (Ash pulled Misty behind him). "You're out?" He ground out.

Ash smirked. "Yep. Home free."

Grant's shaking increased. "Not yet."

Misty pulled on Ash's arm. "We have to leave," she said to him, looking at Grant in concern.

"I know," Ash muttered. He looked at Makaila and the boy and nodded to himself. Grant cut into his thoughts with a phrase that made him question his sanity.

"Home free?" Still the same subject then. But Grant went on. "Home free?" The hate visibly rising in Grant he spat out. "You'll never be free. I'll make sure of it. Even when you leave here, I'll follow you. I'll report you. I'll make your children's lives hell. I'll make them all miserable." Fire and emotion in his eyes, he stated, "there is no home or home free after Team Rocket."

Misty was the only one to notice the slight shaking of Ash's hands at his sides. "You're wrong." Ash smiled a pained smile. "Even if you did follow, I've had a family. I've been loved. I've been home free." Frowning he finished, "It's real, and it's you who can't stand that fact. . . . You're jealous. That's all it is."

Grant froze, eyes widening, and the anger reached uncontrollable heights.

"Mom!"

Ash didn't have time to take in the fact that his daughter had correctly assumed who Grant wanted to attack, when most people wouldn't see anything but him suddenly running. Grant found himself on his back, on the ground, Ash glaring above him.

Grant blinked, staring up in shock. As the shock dissipated, he growled and tried to rise, but Ash brought him back down with a quick kick to his stomach. "Despite your words, I won't let you even consider touching my family." The words were more growl than speech. Grant grimaced and grabbed at his stomach, clenching teeth against the annoyance of Ash's words. Ash gave him a strange look. "Sorry about this," he continued. Grant wasn't able to wonder what Ash was sorry about before he was unconscious, his head hit into the ground below him.

Misty sighed in relief, "let's go." Then she looked to Ash. He had never had a reason to use his training in front of her. She had known about the few times that he had when they were younger, but it was never for her to see. Other than the few times Ash had miraculously caught something she had dropped or something of the like during their marriage, she had never seen something to this degree.

She caught Makaila's gaze out of the corner of her eye and turned to see her standing still, mouth open in shock and smiled a bit, unable to restrain it.

"How did you do that?" Makaila asked.

Ash turned at the question and only stared for a moment before he smiled. "Surprised?"

Blinking in annoyance at the statement she stated the obvious. "Well, yeah!"

Eitan ran beside them, glancing at Grant on the floor behind the group nervously. "Um, bombs?"

Ash blinked. "Crap. Time to go."

"For what it's worth . . . that was really cool." Makaila muttered.

Ash looked at her in surprise. No shock or fear. She wasn't traumatized that he had just knocked out a grunt. She thought it was cool? This thought, though funny, brought a strange smile to his face that he tried and failed to stop. "Well, that's because I am cool," he stated with a smile.

Makaila smirked. "And you lost it."

Ash frowned. "That's not fair."

Misty looked to the boy beside Ash and crinkled her brow as he stiffened, looking confused and glancing around the hall. She was more surprised than anyone when Eitan suddenly dove, landing behind the boy and yelping in pain.

Ash stared after him, perplexed, and then the boy and Makaila moved to look as well and they all stared, shocked.

Eitan's eyes were wide despite his own voluntary action. The only word for his expression was, 'betrayed.'

There was, quite literally, a knife in his back.

"Eitan!" Makaila yelled. She knelt down to him but was pulled back with fierce strength by the boy, who pushed her to her mother and, with almost no regard to Eitan, pulled the man behind him from the floor.

Grant stared in shock at the knife in his hand, covered in Eitan's blood, a knife that had been meant for Makaila. Turning slowly to the boy, he froze. And then, eyes dimming, his shoulders relaxed.

He knew it was over.

The boy frowned at his relaxed state, and then from on the floor Eitan hissed, "kill him."

The boy's hand tightened in the grunts shirt to make up for turning away to view Eitan. Eitan's breathing was irregular, but he looked at the boy with more fire than Ash had yet to see in his eyes, a strange sheen covering them. "He tried to kill her," he growled

With a glare, the boy turned back to Grant. Grant gulped despite himself at the inhuman stare he received. Hands shaking, he was spurred to action, suddenly remembering that he held a knife in his hand. The jab forward with the knife was inexplicably caught. Driving on instinct, the blow was returned.

Grant's eyes faded, one last look to Ash and he crumpled to the floor, knife in the middle of his chest.

The boy stepped back, his eyes flickering with his emotions and the leftover anger of The Instinct. He looked down to one palm, covered with the blood that had been on Grant's hand from Eitan, and then he looked to the blade protruding from Grant.

Makaila broke from her mother and ran to him, grabbing the wrist covered in blood and wrapping her other arm around his side. Quickly she stated, "it's okay. It's okay. I'm alright. Everyone is good now."

The literal moment that 'The Instinct's' influence faded from the boy's eyes and he began to come back to himself, Eitan let out a pained yell.

Makaila spun with them all, falling down to him. He was wincing, suddenly breathing much harder than he had been moments before. Eyes closed he muttered, "sorry, s-sorry."

Makaila stared with worry and then looked to Ash. "Dad," she started, and was cut off when the hand on the floor reached for hers. Surprised, she looked down to Eitan.

"Not fair," he wheezed.

Above them all, Misty watched with wide eyes, still in a state of shock and beginning to bring things together that the others apparently hadn't yet considered. Her thoughts were all confirmed when Eitan looked at the ceiling and whispered words that shocked them all.

"It's not fair. Choosing the person I had to betray."

It all came together for Ash. Eitan's annoyance at the mentioning of Makaila. Only moving when her death was mentioned. His nervousness when Mark or the others would mention Makaila's death. Looking betrayed-not at Grant-but at himself.

Mark locking him in a room . . . to die.

They had wanted to kill the Instinct with him.