Hello readers! Phew! This chapter was long! By the way, TTT means that there has been a time lapse or scene change. Hop you enjoy it!

Tears of the Damned

Ash walked slowly down to the waiting crowd, full of happy people waiting to congratulate him. Ash did not feel happy at all. His whirring mind drowned out the cheers of the people below.

Why did the Prof absolutely refuse to give me Pikachu before and then come back and insist I take it? Did it have something to do with the phone call? And why did he keep saying he didn't have much time? He wondered to himself. And what's this whole deal with the secret information on my Pokedex? And what the hell is wrong with this Pikachu? Ash had too many questions and not nearly enough answers. I just wanted to become a trainer! With a normal Pokemon! Is that really too much to ask? The more he thought about it, the angrier he became with Professor Oak and his vagueness. The thought of Oak's face now, his eyes so dark they looked black and his nose forever crooked when he had broken it researching, Ash felt like somebody had slapped him. He had half a mind to march back up the hill and demand answers- but he was already within arm's reach of the crowd, if he turned back now he would look like a fool. And he had to catch up to Gary.

"Ash, dear, I did you a favor and packed all of your things in here for you." Said his mom, startling him out of his thoughts. She was holding his green backpack in her hands and wore the I-couldn't-be-happier-with-you smile only a mother could pull off. "But you left in such a rush I couldn't give it to you." She continued. "There's food and cloths and- Oh! Is that your Pokemon? It's so cute!" And before he could stop her, before he could say a word of warning, she reached out her hand and grabbed the Pikachu's cheek.

For a moment, nothing happened. Pikachu went almost limp, apparently stunned at having his personal bubble popped so quickly and completely. Then he growled and said "Pika-PI!" letting loose an electric shock throughout the crowd. Though it was considerably weaker than the one Ash had received, just enough to stun and not to actually hurt, it had done its damage. Pikachu had just used a battling move without a command.

The faces in the crowd transformed from happy expressions to ones of confusion and disbelief, except for some of the younger children who laughed, thinking it was all a joke. This gave Ash an idea.

Ash laughed louder than the children combined.

"Haha! I told my Pikachu to do that when we got down here, now you all know how strong he is!" He said. Hopefully everyone would just let it off as a bad joke, and not think that something was wrong with his first Pokemon.

"Ash Ketchum that was a very bad joke and someone as irresponsible as that should not be given a Pokemon!" It was Gary's mom, using the same lecture voice as when she found out he and Gary had snuck out to spend the night at the abandoned farm. The abandoned farm. Where a message was supposedly waiting for him.

Mrs. Oak launched into a long lecture about maturity and responsibility with Pokemon. Normally he would have felt bad about making Mrs. Oak mad, but he couldn't help but be relieved. Though he did not t know why he didn't want people finding out about Pikachu, something made him laugh, made him lie to these people to keep it a secret.

And since when had it become a secret? He asked himself. Since Oak had tried to keep it a secret from you? Maybe some of his damn vagueness is rubbing off on me. He thought bitterly. He was beginning to recall some of his anger at the Professor again. When Mrs. Oak had finally said her piece (by which time most of the crowd had gone home), she left, promising him that if he ever did anything so thoughtless again she would make the professor take his Pokemon away. Soon the only people left were him and his mom.

Noticing that she was still holding his backpack, he set Pikachu on the ground and reached out for it.

"Thanks for packing my bag." He said, his hand closing around the strap. But as he did so, his mother grabbed his wrist. Startled, he tried to pull back, but she wouldn't let go.

"Ash," she said, tears forming in her eyes. "I love you. And I always will, no matter what. You know that, right?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess. I love you too." He said awkwardly, not being good with over emotional situations. Ash guessed this was just his mom being too passionate since he was leaving for a while, but then she continued.

"But I can't be a part of this." she said, letting go of his wrist. "I'm sorry, but I had thought" she paused, tears now clearly visible in her voice. "I had thought that maybe your father had loved you a little more than he had loved me." Tears were streaming from her dark, brown eyes and flowing down her cheeks. "But I guess I was wrong." These last words were barely audible, her tears choking her voice.

"What do you-" Ash said, caught completely off guard at the mention of his father, but his mom interrupted him.

"Don't. Don't speak." The words were barely more than a whisper, but they were enough to stop him cold. "Just go and… and do what you need to do. But please, please leave me out of it. And be careful." She said, her eyes downcast. "And remember that I love you." His mother turned and ran. Down the path, farther and farther from Ash until the folds of the hills embraced her, blocking her from his sight. He stood there, stunned.

He had thought several times his day couldn't have gone any more wrong, and he was wrong on all occasions, but suddenly it had become a thousand times worse. His mother had said him she loved him and then told him to get out of her life as if she was the victim. This was supposed to be a happy day, the day he began the road to his dream: becoming a Pokemon Master and winning their small town some fame. Last night he would've given anything to speed up time and come to this place, and now he would give double just to turn back the clock and go back to where he was. Excited and his mother excited for him too, not sad because of him.

The day was too warm, too bright for these things to be happening. Nothing like that day. The day his father had disappeared. Ash started walking aimlessly up the path, but he didn't see the ground beneath his feet. He was lost in his memories, relieving that night…

TTT

Enough crying. Oak thought to himself. Get up. But his body would not obey. No matter how many times you go through it, you were never prepared. Never prepared to lose someone you love.

"Your grandson, he looks so much like his father. Be a shame for him to have the same fate." Said a cool, female voice right into his ear, as if she wasn't threatening to kill his grandson.

The call replayed in his mind. Gary, unsuspecting, used as a mere tool to against his grandfather. This wasn't what should have happened. Oak had made his choice, had kept Gary ignorant to protect him. But his life was still being tossed around however they liked it. The injustice of it all angered Oak enough to let him pick himself up off the floor. But that anger was quickly smothered by despair.

"But he won't, because you can stop it. Just cooperate with us. Surrender all your research and quit the project. That's all. You can save him. Only you."

Oak knew the offer was false. They would never be satisfied with just his research and a promise to be good, because no matter what papers they burned he still knew. It was not something you easily forgot.

Yet he was tempted, sorely tempted to just let them take his research and his life in the hope that maybe, maybe he could keep his grandson safe. And not all of it would be destroyed. What was important would remain, because there was still the Pikachu and the Pokedex. So maybe… no.

Oak forced himself to stop this wishful thinking. If they looked through his research, if they found how much he really knew, beyond their darkest suspicions, nobody would be safe. The whole town would be in jeopardy. And both Gary and Ash and many others would be eliminated, just for having a connection with him. No. The only way was to make them think he destroyed his research, and let Ash escape with Pikachu and the Pokedex. Everything important was there, secret, safe. Hopefully.

They would never find out how much he really knew. Oak had prepared for this long ago. He walked through his stacks of paper and into another room. He didn't care that his life's research was about to perish, but he wished he could save the photographs. He walked over the dresser that held them. Him and his wife as they got married. Gary as a young boy, holding an injured Pidgey Oak was caring for at the time. A sketch that Kenny, Oak's son, drew years ago when he was still young. Gary had sloppily colored it in with marker when he was a toddler. At the time Oak was very mad at him, for he cherished the drawing, but now it seemed to enhance the picture. Then there was Gary as a baby, his father holding him in his arms like he was the most precious thing in the world.

"You have half an hour to decide. And if you withhold anything, even the smallest, piece of information that every child knows, we will shoot your grandson. Half an hour." The call had ended there with a small click from the other side of the line. He looked at his watch. Three minutes left. He fingered the small black box in his pocket.

Funny how I had never noticed before just how blue the sky was. He thought to himself as he looked out one of his windows. He was noticing a lot of things he had ignored before. The smell of coffee which he loved so much. The feel of his feet in his leather shoes. The sound of his clock counting the seconds pass slowly, and yet too fast. The way his tears ran like a river down the lines of his wrinkled face. They tasted like salt. He smiled. He heard footsteps now, faint but growing louder. He would wait. Wait until they were right upon him and take some of the damn bastards down with him.

The sky was blue. A ring at the door. The seconds ticked away. Knocking, insistent now. The leather of his shoes. Wood, cracking as it was forced open. His tears tasted like salt. Footsteps, running now. Oak closed his eyes. Darkness.

"I love you, Gary." Oak said, thinking of his grandson's face, bright with the excitement of a new adventure. "I love you, Kenny." And there was Oak's own son, his hands on Gary's shoulders, smiling as he got to see how Gary had aged in Oak's mind's eye. How big he had become. He fingered the black box in his pocket. The footsteps got ever closer, finding their way through the maze of paper to him. Oak pressed the button in the center of the box. "See you soon."

There was a noise like thunder as the world exploded all around him.

Two things:

1. My chapter posting will be very spontaneous from now on; it comes out when it comes out- there's no set date.

2. I appreciate all your reviews, so please tell me what you think! Even if it's you telling me you hate me for killing off Oak... I hate myself right now too! T.T