From the gates of the city, Gary watched as ten guards walked out in two columns of five people each, and in the middle was a boy who was about Ash's and Gary's age, and was dressed in some odd orange robe on which was pinned some object that was only about as big as a button but shone very brightly.
The boy looked at the crowd gathered before him curiously. "Ah, hello, m'name's Gulliver, and Sir Ash Ketchum left me in charge with one of his Badges. I think y'all are the reinforcements he was sending?"
"Yes," Gary said. "My name is Gary Oak."
Gulliver's eyes widened. Apparently that name meant something to him. "Really? You're Gary? Ash talks a whole lot 'bout you… is it true that you once swallowed a whole bottle of soap as a part of a dare?"
Gary turned bright red as the Trainers behind him snickered. "That- that was back when we were five! And you're telling me that he told you that?"
"Oh, I'm really sorry and all- but I just kinda wanted to make sure it was really you," Gulliver said. "I mean, anyway there are way more serious things that we need to worry about. This ain't the time for joking. Anyway, how much do y'all know about what's going on?" He then paused. "Anywho, you guys shouldn't be standing outside her like this, let's get back to HQ, Misty an' Brock are there, and after I ah- debrief y'all about what's happenin' we can go and fix all of it."
"Sounds good," Gary said.
The rather odd procession than started walking into the city. All around them, people gathered to take in what must have been a very weird sight to them. Heck, Gary was sure that if all of them had walked into any city in Kanto they would've gotten a large number of funny looks. Most of the watchers were adults, but the moment that Gary, Gulliver, or another one member or their expedition looked back at them, they averted their gazes.
The kids on the other hand, were far more curious. Most of them hadn't withdrawn their Pokemon and were walking besides them, and the kids seemed to be very interested in them. Some of the people, like Lance and Cynthia, waved at the spectators, but the spectators seemed to melt away when this happened.
Gary noticed several things though. For one, he had almost seen not a single obese person in the city. Not even someone who he would consider 'just fat.' On the contrary many of the people seemed to look highly malnourished with sunken cheeks, and almost all of them had minor injuries of some sort which looked like they hadn't been treated very well. Many buildings were in ruins- and he saw one or two corpses on the streets.
It was then that he remembered all of what Ash had told him- that this place wasn't like any other in the world. And he had to agree. This looked like a picture straight out of a war zone- because, after all, he supposed that in a way, it was.
HQ was a building that was made of wood much like a traditional home you might find in Ecruteak City. It was very large and there were guards who had fanned out all over the place. Gulliver took them to a courtyard where Gary saw both Brock and Misty.
Both of them smiled upon seeing him.
But, it was then that Gulliver suddenly stopped and turned around. "I was going to wait a while to ask about this- but, where's Ash?"
"Uh, we don't know," Gary said.
Misty and Brock were both shocked. "What do you mean, you don't know?" they both chimed in.
Gary explained- in about as few words as possible, how Ash had come back to Kanto and how he'd managed to contact them and organize this expedition, and told them how they had lost all contact with him.
"Do you have any idea where he is?" Misty asked, sounding very worried.
"I'm sorry, I don't know," Gary said.
"I'm sure he'll be alright," Gulliver said, though he sounded a bit unsure. "With all of his Badges, he's practically invulnerable. He'll be fine, and I'm sure he'll catch up to us. But, the main thing that we have to do is control Selena's forces. They're goin' round the countryside terrorizing everyone. Now, we didn't have enough forces yet to stop 'em, but with you guys here it should be a peace 'o cake." He then paused. "That's how you guys say it right- piece of cake? I'm not sure if I said that correctly."
"Yeah, that's right," Gary said.
Gulliver snapped his fingers, and a few servants brought out a huge map of Galea- so large they could've wrapped Gary in it. Gary had never seen this before- only a crude drawing that Ash had made once- and the workers began placing dark blue models of soldiers at various points.
"So, the thing is, right here is where a good bulk of her forces are at," Gulliver said, pointing to a group of islands. Gary still hadn't oriented himself completely to the map and took several minutes to find where Ponyta City was. "There Wade's tryin' to hold them off, but they're getting overwhelmed pretty fast. We're going to need to send a good amount of people there if we want him to be able to defend his people right. Thing is though that at the very least he's able to do somethin' about all of this, but the rest of the map, as you can see, is just too darned big for us to do much about. There are soldiers currently camped a few miles outside of Hawthorne City, Platina City, as well as ships on our southern costs which are gonna threaten Deluge City too. Then there are some of them camping out right on the plains right there, and a small number near Sakhmet. Now thing is- all of these are reports comin' in from some time ago so they might not even be accurate- it kills that Selena went ahead and sent down our communication system. But anyways that's the deal here, so if you guys are ready, we can all split up and try to take 'em on."
Gary turned to the other members. "Hmm… how should we split up them?"
The room erupted into chaos as practically everyone began saying things about what the best course of action would be.
Gulliver looked hesitant to say anything- and it was Brock who ended up getting everyone to keep quiet for five minutes.
"Look- let's try to split all of you into groups," Brock said. Brock then began the painstaking task of listing everyone in their group, and based on what he thought their skill levels were he distributed the people there into six groups of roughly equal power. Two groups would head out to help Wade. One group would go south towards Deluge City. Another would go east to deal with some of Selena's soldiers who were camped out near the eastern coast. Another group was to head south of the city towards the fields, while the last one was going to stay in the city with Gulliver.
Misty and Brock began kitting up too. "We'll be going to look for Ash then," Brock said.
"You sure that's such a good idea?" Gulliver asked. "Where're ya gonna look anyway, for starters?"
"Near the Barrier, I guess," Misty said. "It would make sense that the transporter messed up somehow he'd end up near there. Or if he's somewhere else anyway I guess he'll find you guys or you'll find him."
"Be careful though then," Gulliver said. "There's only two of you and a… bunch of them I guess…"
"We'll be careful," Brock said. "But do send us a message, you know, somehow- by Pidgey or whatever if he does show up."
"Right," Gulliver said. "Oh- wait, I almost forgot, let me draw up the paperwork and sign it so that people know that y'all are workin' for us and not Selena. And those of you who're goin' after Wade, be careful, he seemed pretty put off by the whole situation and I'd hate it if he'd accidentally zapped you with lightning."
Interestingly, Gary noticed that Gulliver didn't write the letters of introduction himself, but were rather drawn up by scribes. Meaning either he didn't know how to write, or maybe just didn't have the time to. After they were done writing, instead of signing, Gulliver removed his Badge and pressed it against each of the papers. Where it touched them, the mark of its outline remained and shimmered with a light all on its own. Apparently this was good enough and he then handed one to each of the teams.
"So take these," Gulliver said. "Good luck- and it'd be good if you do send me reports on what's happening and all. But it might be really slow with everything down though."
The last time Ash had been transported somewhere, it had been quick and that was when His Majesty had done it.
This time though, it took about five minutes of moving through an empty void before they reached their destination.
Or, at the very least, Ash assumed that they were moving. There was absolutely nothing there- not even air as far as he could tell and so while he sort of felt he was moving in some direction there was no way to know. He knew that that was impossibly of course else he'd either asphyxiate or burst up due to the difference in pressure, but he had kind of given up trying to make sense of these things quite some time ago.
There was no light save for the soft glow that his Badges gave out which illuminated, well, essentially nothing for barely two feet all around him.
He was acutely aware of Pikachu and Hoopa right next to him, but neither of them talked throughout the brief period and it made Ash wonder if it was even possible for them to make a noise given this seemed like a vacuum much like space.
There was no warning when the journey ended- all Ash felt was hard ground as they landed somewhere where the smell of seawater immediately hit him. He rubbed his feet- he was standing on dirt somewhere, and yes- there was the coastline that he saw.
I think we're really far, Hoopa said. I think at least a few miles away from where we should be. Those ships are over there… way over there."
"Should we try flying then?" Ash asked. Arthur had said not to risk it back there- but the thing was that it appeared that they were kind of running out of time.
Ash was actually expecting Arthur to respond- but nothing came. Ash guessed that Arthur was probably too far away to contact him regularly- or maybe he just didn't know where they were.
"What do you think?" Ash asked.
Geez, Ash, really- I don't know, Hoopa replied. I don't understand how that guy's psychic powers. But I don't think I can teleport us any closer- I could succeed or we could accidentally end up ten miles further from where we are now. If we fly close to the ground though, and His Majesty isn't looking for us anyway because I don't think he expects us to be here, I think the chances are low.
That was all that Ash needed given that it occurred to him that very little would matter if all of them were dead.
Charizard restricted its flight close to the ground and decided to skirt near the trees just in case it would help camouflage them better.
Ash didn't see any people in the forests- which was strange. If there weren't any people where he had been, and they weren't here either, just where were the people of this place hidden?
Pretty soon they neared the ships, and thankfully without having been warped somewhere else. There were a large number of people whom Ash recognized as Selena's soldiers gathered on the coastline. He braced himself for battle- it was unlikely that any of them could beat him, especially given that he had his Charizard and a legendary with him now, but they could stall for time.
But then Ash realized that he didn't know which ship Selena was on or where this supposed weapon was supposed to be when one of Selena's soldiers detached from their main group and ran at Ash as fast as his legs could carry him.
His uniform was a bit different from the others- meaning he was probably someone higher up than them and Ash's first reaction was to reach for a Poke Ball.
Strangely enough though, this man seemed to be happy to see Ash.
"Oh, thank Arceus you're here," the man said.
Ash then took a closer look at the other soldiers and noticed that many of them were sobbing- or were hanging their heads.
"Who're you?" Ash asked.
"You can call me Jenkins, but that's not really important," the man said. "What you need to know is that our Lady Selena has gone completely mad and is planning to destroy all of us. There's some sort of nuclear reactor that she built and using that energy she'll-"
"Yeah, I know already," Ash said. "Why are all of you standing like this?"
"Selena ordered us to stay outside and delay anyone who tried and interfered with her plan," Jenkins said.
"And you're just going to defy those orders?" Ash asked.
Jenkins looked at Ash incredulously. "Boy, do you think that any of us want to die? We all have families. Do we look like a bunch of religious fanatics to you?"
"You could've fooled me," Ash said coldly. He still remembered the events of Ponyta City and knew that even now, Selena's forces were ravaging his territories.
Jenkins took two steps back. "I, ah, apologize, uh, Lord Ash. I merely mean to say that…"
Jenkins' shoulders sagged. "We're done for. The plan is over- all of our scheming was for nothing." He then looked straight into Ash's eyes and pulled out a card from his jacket. "This is my security card and will let you get inside the ship easily. It's that one over there, and Selena will be on the lowest floor trying to set up the reactor. I don't think there's even the slightest chance you could beat her normally… which is why what you need to do is steal the rods. Selena designed the reactor herself, but I have seen the blueprints. She'll need to fit in four plutonium rods into the reactor. Go and try to steal one."
"Won't it be radioactive?" Ash asked. "How am I supposed to touch it then?"
Jenkins looked annoyed. "You have your Badges, no? They should protect you from the adverse effects of the radiation."
"Yeah, well, 'should' kind of isn't very convincing," Ash said.
"Selena herself has been handling them without protection of any sort, so I can assume that you can too," Jenkins said. "And if you choose to do not, well then, you will have bigger problems on your hands than some radiation. Like I said, take the rods, and try to flee with even one of them. Even if you cannot succeed in running away, force Selena to fight you against your special rules. You may have a chance at winning then. But I would advise flight. If she does manage to get to you though and force you into battle… well, you have my sympathies."
Jenkins looked like he was expecting Ash to just zoom off, and it was on Ash's mind as well.
But there was a part of him, a dark, nasty part, which still lingered on all that he had seen in Ponyta City. He knew that many of these men and women were responsible for that which was happening. And that small, malevolent, part of his mind didn't want to just leave them like this. It wanted to punish them- to make them suffer just as his people had suffered.
Ash took a calm, deep breath, and told himself that he'd deal with these people later. There was work to do.
The ship in question was abandoned completely, and there was nothing to stop Ash from getting in the elevator and pushing the button for what he assumed was the bottom floor.
The interior of the ship sort of reminded him of one of Team Flare's hideouts- it seemed like something that belonged in a science-fiction movie and also that most of it seemed to be just for show.
The elevator opened up to the lowermost floor. Ash could hear footsteps ring against the ground and moved as silently as was possible towards them. Hoopa and Pikachu likewise followed him.
Round a corner, he saw someone who he guessed was Selena bent over some port and fiddling with it- and she was carrying a rod about two feet in length.
Now the question was as to how Ash was going to try and retrieve it. Before he could set a plan into motion however, the figure spoke up, "I can see you. I know that you are there. Come out now and stop trying to play games with me."
Ash took a step forward and the figure turned around. Yup, it was Selena, but she was almost unrecognizable. It wasn't just that her clothes looked torn as if she had been lost in the wilderness for several weeks, it wasn't just that her hands were trembling for some reason as if she was freezing, no, the real thing that was off-putting was the expression on her face. She looked like a wild animal- ready to strike out at anything that she felt was a threat to her.
"You are very far too late," Selena said. "Goodbye, child. There is nothing you can do to stop me now." She took the rod and moved to place it into a slot which looked like it had been made specifically for it.
In a moment of desperation, Ash shot a bolt of energy at Selena using his Badges, but she deflected that. Hoopa tried to move towards Selena, but even the legendary Pokemon seemed unable to do anything against Selena.
It was as Ash had ran out of ideas that the lights dimmed and Selena's shadow shimmered and moved until it detached itself from her, and from it rose the top half of a Gengar. Before Selena knew what was happening, the Gengar grabbed the rod and took it away from her, and in a flash appeared behind Ash.
"You!" Selena screamed at the Gengar. She seemed to realize something and said, "Gregor! So this was his ultimate move?" She pointed a shaking finger at the Gengar. "So many years… they thought me mad… they all thought I was going insane… but I knew, there was something, someone, watching me all that time so very closely… there was something giving me those nightmares…."
Gengar laughed. Ash wasn't sure what to do now, but he remembered what Jenkins had told him and decided to make a beeline for the exit when Selena hit a button and the door to the elevator closed.
"That isn't going to stop me for long," Ash said and began drawing on the power of his Badges.
"I challenge you to a battle," Selena screeched behind him.
Ash frowned. There was no way he could technically deny a challenge, but the thing was that he could sure delay it for several weeks. So he drew on the power of his Badges only to feel Selena's power working against his.
"What happened boy?" Selena asked. "I thought you were brave. What kind of hero tries running away?"
Exasperated, Ash decided to turn around. It seemed that fighting his way out was his only option left.
Well, at the very least, this meant that Ash would, for the first time, be fighting with an advantage.
He ran through each of the leader's special rules through his head.
Marley's rule? That was practically useless in this situation.
Thombdolt's rule? Okay, that would be useful in that each of Selena's Pokemon would be Poisoned or given another status condition as they were sent out.
Freyja's rule? Okay, so if he lost, he could ask for a triple battle? Not very useful, but it was good to know that he'd be getting another shot at this.
Linnea's rule? He could have eight Pokemon- meaning that including his six he could add on Hoopa and Charizard to them. Or, he could take out his Roserade and replace her with Gengar. He didn't know how strong Gengar was, but he was assuming that if it belonged to an Elite Four member, than it must have been strong enough.
Wade's rule? He could negate the abilities of his Pokemon and maybe Selena's. This could be useful.
Vanessa's rule? Nope, no time for a contest. But it could be a good stalling tactic.
Thing was, that Ash wasn't sure that stalling was such a good idea. He only had one rod right now, and maybe Selena would eventually find a way to make the machine work with what she had.
So, it looked like there was no other choice but to fight her.
A/N: Sorry for not updating earlier- it's been over a month. And I've said this before but I think I now have begun to seriously regret actually bringing in characters from the outside. Not just Gary, but maybe also Brock and Misty. They were sort of just stuffed in because they fit in with Ash, otherwise they have little bearing on the story.
That said, I'm excited that we've finally managed to reach this point in the story. We'll be wrapping up things very soon, and as always, thanks to all of you for reading!
