A/N: Thanks for the review Julie Togepi. For now though we're going to go to see what's happening with Ash, and that's kind of going to be a thing throughout this arc with us skipping viewpoints so just bear with me on that.
Ash groaned. Problems were just piling up one after the other. For one, Selena had decided to cut down all communication lines that she had established in the territory that he controlled and so the monumental task of trying to control everything was now made even worse by the fact that now they had to rely on methods of mail delivery which included Pidgey services instead of a simple phone call.
Ash had discovered this all a bit too late though, as he had wanted to speak to one of the researchers who studied the Barrier. Selena had told him that it was possible to go back to Kanto, but he wanted to hear it from someone on his side.
Only problem was that he had relocated himself along with his friends and Pokemon to Linnea's earlier capital and now they had to find an expert and then bring him back and long story short it was taking too long for Ash's liking, though given that he was only ten years old it didn't take a very long time for him to get bored.
"We've been waiting forever," Ash said. More accurately, it had been three hours.
"Pika pii," Pikachu said.
Brock yawned. "You should go and get some sleep Ash." Both Misty and Gulliver were resting- all of them had moved non-stop towards the place to reach it as quickly as possible.
"I can't sleep," Ash admitted. Every time that he was left alone, his mind would invariably wander off towards what he had to do about Galea. Ash had felt overwhelmed regarding his responsibilities before- but back then he had help from people like Mr. Jennings who were experienced regarding what needed to be done. Right now though, no one knew what was going to happen.
"Ash, you're going to need some rest," Brock said. "See? Even your Pokemon've dozed off. The scientists aren't going to get here for some time, and everything seems to be alright for now. You never know when you'll have a stressful day again if things get bad."
"Yeah," Ash said, but didn't make any motion to actually go to sleep.
Brock opened his mouth but found himself lost for words.
It had been quite a long time since Brock, Misty, and Ash had separated. It was probably even longer for Ash given that there seemed to be some sort of time lag between Galea and the rest of the world. But that wasn't enough to account for the rift that seemed to exist between them now- both Brock and Misty could tell that Ash had changed a lot. Sure, he still talked to them and joked around with them like old times, but at the same time it felt as if he was never really there with them.
For that matter, Ash didn't seem to be open with anyone anymore. Not even Gulliver- but from what Brock could tell Gulliver seemed to think that it was normal, but Misty and Brock knew that that wasn't how Ash was. As a matter of fact, Brock doubted that even Ash was able to see how different he was acting and the kind of rift that had opened up between the three of them.
Brock couldn't think of anything to say though no matter how much he thought about getting Ash to just talk normally again.
Brock rubbed his forehead- he was getting tired. Maybe he'd try to talk to Ash when they were both rested- so he left.
Ash on the other hand spent a lot of time staring at the ceiling. He could feel Pikachu's breathing become slower and rhythmic besides him- but he couldn't fall asleep. Not, at least, for several hours before he finally dozed off, right there on the floor.
The commander of the coast guard at Linnea's former capital Ponyta City, was busy ticking off some paperwork as he sipped some tea. It wasn't much more than a usual boring day at this point- despite with what seemed like an apocalypse looming over all of Galea. He wasn't one to sit around and worry when he knew that there was nothing that he could do.
It was as he was writing through that someone burst into the door.
The commander spilled his tea all over his document, cursing as it now meant that he would have to redo everything once again.
"What happened?" the commander hissed, boiling with rage. He glared at the intruder- a cadet whose name he didn't even know who was sweating profusely and heaving.
"Sir, you have issued orders stating that in event of any complication we are to-"
"I know my own orders fool! There's no need to repeat them to me!" the commander snarled. "Just who are you? Are you new here?"
"Sir, there are two huge ships- we don't know who made them approaching the harbor rapidly," the cadet said, ignoring the question, which probably meant that he was.
"Our communications are all down," the commander said. "Probably some vessels that-"
"Sir, there's something wrong with these vessels," the cadet said. "They're larger than any commercial crafts- and there are Pokemon spotted flying over them- Pokemon like Charizard and Altaria…"
Now that gave the commander pause. "Pokemon like that?"
"We think that the ship is Selena's, sir," the cadet added. "We me-"
The cadet didn't get any further as he was knocked aside as the commander left his office and took the five minute walk towards the shore where he could see the two ships. They looked like huge black Waillords on the horizon and there were specks no larger than coins flitting above them.
The shipworkers and merchants were beginning to notice too.
A runner came up to him. "Just giving classified information sir, that Lord Ash Ketchum has come to Ponyta City. He doesn't want any panic so he has mainly snuck in quietly but the commanders of the important garrisons are being informed."
"Is that all?" the commander asked. The news was pretty big- there would be talk all over Ponyta City if it was known publicly that he was here, but for the commander it meant that there was a possibility that he may have overlooked.
"Yes," the runner said.
"Well, carry a message back and say that there are two unknown ships rapidly approaching the harbor," the commander said. "I need confirmation regarding whether or not Lord Ketchum has sent them himself or they really are unknown ships."
The commander then called every single member on duty and started giving out orders, "Well lads, we have two unknown ships fast approaching the shore. Now, I don't want any alarm, and it remains the possibility that this is actually one of our ships and information regarding it has just been due to the current chaos that has messed up our communication networks."
"And in case it is hostile, what do we do sir?" one of them asked him.
The commander sighed. He knew what every single other one of them did- that there was bloody little that they could do if this turned out to be a threat. A Charizard and Altaria were both high-level Pokemon and Linnea had not seen fit to give any of them Pokemon- a decision that had not been reversed swiftly by Lord Ash's rule.
"First we should send a motorboat with a messenger and confirm who's on that ship and if they're ours- Duke Hamnet is known to have an Altaria," the commander said, not mentioning that Duke Hamnet was as far as he knew, to the south of Galea.
"Should we evacuate the coastline just in case?" another one them piped up.
The commander was divided on that front. On the one hand he didn't want to casue panic for no reason, and on the other hand he was pretty much darn sure that there was a cause for panic. "For now just send a motorboat as a messenger."
One of his officers turned towards the ships and said, "I don't think that'll be necessary sir."
One of the flying Pokemon which had been hovering over the ship- but didn't dare go too far away from it had suddenly left it behind and was racing towards them. It was a Charizard- and the commander didn't know anyone within Galea who owned a Pokemon like that. He briefly considered that it might be Sir Ash's- but then he had already received word that Sir Ash was already within the city.
The commander found out that he needn't have worried so much as the Charizard was now directly over them.
"Who are you?" the commander called out, using his parade ground voice.
As a reply, the Charizard let out a torrent of red-hot flames at the harbor.
Life is full of irony. Take sleeping for example. On the days when you just know that you have to get up as early as possible you'll find that you've always overslept. On the other hand when you know that it's a day when you have no work to do and there's no reason for you to wake up before sunrise you'll find yourself waking up two hours earlier than usual.
In much the same vein, Ash Ketchum had found it extremely hard to fall asleep, and yet now that someone was trying to wake him up, he found it impossible to rouse himself. Sure, he was lying right there one the floor, but come on now, it was a comfy floor and he was just so sleepy…
But the thing is that whatever or whoever it was wasn't stopping. There was a loud noise coming from somewhere, but Ash just shrugged it off. He was sure that it wasn't very important.
But then just a few minutes later he started feeling very uncomfortable… he wiped something off of his face. It was sweat. He was sweating. Come to think of it, it was pretty hot for some reason. Come to think of it, the floor was now getting unbearably hot.
Now, as you can imagine, this was enough to get the drowsiest person out of his slumber, and then Ash hastily shook Pikachu awake, and after that sent out his Greninja and Arcanine. He inhaled- he could smell smoke now and that could only mean one thing. He rushed out of his room to see a hallway that was being consumed by flames.
"Greninja! Take out the fire!" Ash said.
Greninja used Water Shuriken- and when he did, Ash felt a familiar sensation in his gut- as he was seeing the world through Greninja's eyes instead of his own. It was a welcome feeling- but Greninja didn't exactly transform and the sensation was gone pretty fast. It would take some time, Ash realized, before he and his Greninja could get back in sync enough to cause it to transform into Ash-Greninja.
But Ash didn't worry about that for too long- his first priority was to find Brock and Misty. Wherever he went though, he saw frightened servants and so he found himself delayed as he helped establish a path to get them to safety.
He had regretted having too many Badges many times before- but never as much as this current time. Their power would have been extremely useful in getting rid of the conflagration.
His search was made even more difficult by the fact that he didn't know where the two of them were.
"Sir Ketchum!" a familiar voice said and Ash turned around to see Gulliver who was trying to douse the flames with the help of is Psyduck. Only thing was that Psyduck could only keep up a weak stream of water and so it wasn't much of help.
"Where're Brock and Misty?" Ash asked. "And why's everything burning?"
"There was a Pokemon," Gulliver said. "We're under attack- but I don't know all the details. I wouldn't worry 'bout Brock an' Misty though, they look like they can take care o' themselves."
"Yeah," Ash said- it was true that with Rock and Water type Pokemon, Brock and Misty were unlikely to run into any kind of trouble. But he was worried about them nonetheless.
"But it ain't safe to stay here," Gulliver said. "There's too much smoke- let's get into the gardens or somewhere."
With most of the exits blocked, they decided to take a direct route through a window which landed them into a small enclave about the size of a house which was filled with tulips.
And then they heard an ear-splitting roar from above.
"What was that?" Gulliver asked.
"I think I know," Ash said. Oh, he had heard that kind of roar many, many times before. But he had usually been elated when he heard it- not filled with dread as he was now.
Ash withdrew his Pokemon and sent out his Fearow. "Gulliver, uh, on second thought come one and let's go see what this is together."
Gulliver got on after putting his Psyduck back in its Poke Ball and then Ash felt a rush of air past his ears as they left the ground and hovered above the Imperial Palace- which was still half in flames and the screams of trapped people reached them even at that height.
Ash was torn between saving whoever was down there and between facing the threat- a large Charizard with someone he didn't recognize riding it. He sent out his Greninja and Arcanine again and told them to save whoever they could, and with his Pikachu they approached the Charizard which was still adding to the sea of flames below them.
"Hey!" Ash shouted. They were close enough to see that the rider was a purple-haired woman wearing a white lab coat. "Who are you? Where're you from?"
The woman turned towards Ash, surprised. "What's a child doing up here?"
Ash didn't ask any more questions- the Charizard wasn't ceasing its barrage of flames and he had lost all of his patience. "Pikachu! Thunderbotl!"
Pikachu leaped up from the Fearow and unleashed a high-voltage current that was strong enough to send the Charizard teetering back towards the ground- or in this case through the wooden roof of the Imperial Palace. The rider seemed to be mostly uninjured, but the Charizard glared at Ash and prepared to take flight again when something burst from under the ground and wrapped itself around it- an Onix!
After that, the Charizard was hit with a Water Gun from a Starmie.
Brock and Misty popped up soon enough after and Ash swooped down to meet them. The Charizard, for now, was totally immobilized by Onix's Bind. The rider was also squeezed but was trying to take out what looked like a Walkie-Talkie and pressed a button on it to say, "Everyone run-"
She didn't get further as Brock snatched it away from her. Starmie and Geodude were busy putting out the fire elsewhere. "Who are you?"
Ash held up on of his Badges. Sure, he was hesitant to use them… but it wasn't like everyone else knew that.
The rider seemed to realize who she was dealing with and stopped struggling. "It's… you? But you were back in Platina City still…"
"Yeah well, spying only works as long as we didn't go and destroy all our machinery," Misty said. It was only now that Ash noticed that she had a large burn on her left arm and was holding it tenderly.
"Well, it doesn't matter, I suppose?" the rider said. "I'm merely following Lady Selena's orders."
"Why attack me though? I thought she was going after His Majesty," Ash said. "And does that mean that she's here too?"
"We're just here to keep you busy, child," the rider said. "Kill me if you want to- I was prepared for it the moment I left. But Lady Selena will get you in the end boy."
Ash got on his Fearow again and soared higher this time- high enough to notice that it wasn't just the Imperial Palace- but the whole city that was currently being ransacked. He touched down lightly.
"Give me the Walkie-Talkie," Ash barked to Misty. Inwardly he flinched- he wouldn't normally have talked to one of his friends like that, but this was an emergency so he quashed his guilt for the time being. But he made a mental note that he couldn't keep this up or else he'd probably end up like the other Gym Leaders.
Misty seemed confused and hurt by Ash's tone but didn't say anything else as Ash took the device in his hands and pushed the red button to say, "Listen up! This is Ash Ketchum here and I've already knocked down one of your Pokemon! All of you better get out of Ponyta City before I start getting really mad and throw you out!"
The rider then turned to Ash and looked bored. "Thanks for telling us your position genius. Now all of our forces will know where you really are and will hit the rest of your domain. There's no way you can win against us- we will strike where you're weak and flee where you're strong. My comrades will be hightailing it out of this city and going somewhere else now."
Ash clenched his fists. Never before di he feel like hitting someone so badly. He knew that it wouldn't help at all but boy would it feel good to just beat the pulp out of this idiot- he might even have her tortured just for the sake of it or-
Ash snapped out of it as he saw his Pikachu stare at him oddly.
"Okay, I think this means that we'll have to go ahead with my plan a bit earlier than I would've liked," Ash said as he thought of various tactics for getting rid of the huge numbers of invaders that were storming over his territory at the moment- but all of them were dependent on him either somehow learning how to teleport or having a lot more Trainers at his disposal than he really did. But then he realized that the original plan he had had would be good enough if modified for this sort of situation.
"What plan?" Brock asked.
"Let's go fix up the city first, and then we'll find the scientist guy I wanted to talk to," Ash said.
A/N: Thanks for reading.
