Chapter 6

As the screaming and panic continued, Ash continued to stare in horror at the destruction taking place, frozen with shock. He suddenly felt a pull around his waist: "Come on Ash, we've got to go" it was Brock. They went and quickly rounded up the others, except for May.

"Where is she?" Ash cried out.

"I saw her with Drew" Misty answered, they were here on the second floor, but I don't know where they went."

They tried downstairs where they found the rooms almost empty except for a small few in the front loungeroom, who were hiding under chairs and tables, "get up" Brock said to them, that's not going to make any difference if it comes here."

They continued to search before hearing a call from Clement, "I've found them, they're at the front gate." Ash breathed the hugest sigh of relief of his entire life at that moment. They came through a few seconds later: "Sorry you guys, I told Drew I wasn't leaving my friends behind."

"Yeah, yeah Miss goody" he mocked her. "I saw the way you bolted."

"Yeah, no slower than you."

"Both of you stop it!" Brock screamed. "I'm trying to save us and anyone else I can. If we're going to do that, we need to function together as a team and as a unit."

"So where do we go Brock?" Ash asked. He thought about it briefly before answering: "we take my car, I know it will be a really tight squeeze but it's an emergency situation and I won't drive too fast. We need to go and get as many pokemon as possible from the pokemon centre. There weren't any nurse Joy working there tonight, so all those that survived the building crash should still be there in their pokeballs. We'll also need to get upstairs and get supplies if the staircase is stable enough."

"Why?" May asked. "Won't it take too much time, I thought we needed to escape."

"You won't survive in the wild in a dress and heals May" Drew mocked her again. "Unless you're planning on being topless and barefoot for the next year."

"We need food and water as well" Brock added. "Also, any weapons they keep in storage might be handy, as will the pokemon. Okay you guys, hurry up and let's get out of here!" Ash could see Brock making a good general.

The nine of them in the car together was an almost impossible squeeze, it was Brock driving, with Clement in the passenger's seat with Bonny on his lap, while the other six: Ash, Sara, May, Drew, Misty and Serena, all cramped against one another in the back three seats, but the one good thing about that was that each one of the people seated had only one person sitting on their laps. Serena was on Ash's lap, May on Drew's, and Misty on Sara's. Furthermore, the journey to the pokemon centre only took a few minutes in Brock's car.

When they arrived, they saw the huge tripod wreaking havoc further down the road, perhaps two hundred yards from their current position. They all sprinted into the pokemon centre, where they found a huge amount of damage: the power was out, wires were cut; almost all the tables and chairs were split into large chunks and there were poke balls scattered all over the room. Ash picked up as many as possible as did the others. They did not want to steal other people's pokemon but they had no way of contacting the owners, and the tripod was still laying waste to the town. Ash picked up around a dozen and placed each in his pockets, along with the GS ball. But some would fall out if he had to run: he needed his bag, and he promptly began to make for the staircase which was broken about half way up, but the gap between the two halves was quite small. He knew he could make it across. Brock followed him up: "hang on Ash, let me go first." Brock made the jump comfortably; Ash had a bit more trouble but was still able to make it to the other side, with Brock reaching out to make sure he didn't fall through the hole.

Once upstairs, they found part of the ceiling had collapsed and was now scattered throughout the hallway. The rest looked like it wouldn't last much longer either. They went to their rooms and picked up their bags along with the others'. Brock then made a brief detour looking for any weapons that might be kept in storage. He found a storage room but very little in the way of armour. There was only one gun, but Brock decided to take it anyway. They then returned downstairs. The jump was easier going down. Serena breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Ash return safely to the bottom of the staircase. They noticed Sara, Misty, May and Drew collecting supplies from the medicine cabinet, while Clement was keeping a close eye on Bonny near the front entrance, as well as keeping watch to make sure the tripod didn't return. "Come on guys, it's starting to get closer.

"Just one minute Clement" Brock answered. "We're almost ready."

A few minutes later, as Clement continued to give them the hurry up, they raced out of the damaged pokemon centre and back into Brock's car. The tripod has now within about 50 yards of them, continue to stomp on the surrounding buildings thoroughly, as to make sure that no one could escape. Brock did a quick U-turn back in the direction they had come from, then turned to the right, taking them in a Northerly direction and they were on their way.

The ride was quite uncomfortable, especially now that everyone had their bags with them, which were placed on the floor of the car, in front of them. There was almost total silence for the first ten minutes; then Brock, who was driving, finally spoke, "You guys, I should warn you, it's quite a long way to the next town and even if we get there, I'm not sure we're going to find any service stations, so there's a good chance we'll be walking sooner or later." Ash had not even thought of that possibility, he was not the best at thinking ahead, and given the current state of events and what he had been told by Kurt, he was not sure we wanted to.

"But where will we go Brock?" Misty asked anxiously.

"To silver City."

"But I don't think they're going to be having that tournament now Brock."

"Maybe not, but it's high in the mountains and near a large military base, so theoretically we'll be quite safe there."

"I'm not so sure." Misty responded. "But I guess it's our safest option at the moment."

"I hope this isn't happening in any of the other regions" Serena said anxiously. "it's so weird how just today you and Clement were talking about Kurt mentioning a war and now all this is starting. Speaking of which, did Kurt tell you anything else about this war?" Ash and Clement were anxious about revealing any more information, but eventually Ash couldn't hold it in any longer: "Yes, as a matter of fact he did." Ash went on to tell the others the full story, the response was predictable: "Oh no, no, no, no" Serena began to panic, what are we going to do, what are we going to do?" "Serena please!" Ash grabbed a hold of her. Drew had to do the same with May.

"Just relax. Remember the last things I said to you: Kanto will be safe for longer, which is where we're going, and in the end we're going to win."

"But at what cost? What about my Mom, she isn't there."

"Oh no!" Bonny cried, "Clement, what about our dad?"

"We can contact them on our phones whenever we like, and let them know what's happening" Clement answered. "If Kalos becomes unsafe, we should be able to get them to safety in time."

After she had calmed down, Serena spoke again, "Ash, you said Kurt gave you that pokeball. Why did he give it to you? Are you going to have something to do with helping us win the war?"

"I don't think I'm that special, but I believe the GS ball is calling out to someone special and I believe that person was at Brock's party tonight."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because it started to glow a bright white colour, that's never been reported before."

"It could also be" Clement began "because the tripods were near. It could have been warning you about the danger. That would explain why the light got brighter closer to the event." The explanation was perfectly plausible, but Ash still wasn't sure. "Maybe Clement, oh well, hopefully we'll know soon enough. But regardless of which theory is correct, there's a king out there and we've got to get this ball to them before it's too late. That, along with ensuring our own safety and that of others, is now our main mission."

Most of them began to fall asleep soon afterwards, including Ash. Soon, only Brock and Sara were still awake. "They're all asleep now I think" Sara said. "It's hard for them, they're still young and they've had a really long day. This is terrifying for everyone, but they're still just kids. Do you think there's any way we can get news on what's happening everywhere else?"

"I'll turn the radio on low, but not for long, I don't want to wake the others if I can help it."

"Ok." Brock turned the radio on, right away there was news. Apparently most of Southern Johto had come under attack, including all the major cities and many towns and villages. But so far, only Johto had been targeted. There were also reports of so-called 'alien' pokemon coming out of the tripods but they were only early reports. At the conclusion of the report, Brock turned the radio off. "I guess that means we've still got some way to go before we get out of the immediate danger zone" Sara noted.

"I'm afraid there's a good chance the attacks will have spread further north in the next twenty four hours, so we're really up against it."

"Well how much fuel have we got left?"

"Half a tank, so if I keep driving at a good speed, two hundred, maybe two hundred and fifty miles."

"Will that get us to a safe town or city?"

"It would have comfortably gotten us to Violet City, but now that's been attacked, the short answer is no. Hypothetically, we could try for Cherrygrove City on the coast, but that's not very far North, so I think it's only a matter of time before it's attacked, and the nearer we get to Silver City without running into any more of those things, the better as far as I'm concerned. I also think we will be safer in the rural areas. There are some hills to the North-East of route 32, on the way to Silver City. I know it's a risk if we run into trouble, but the cities just don't seem safe."

"I'm wondering: if these things come from space, like the people on the radio seem to think, then why does it matter how far north or south we are? Couldn't they just wherever they like?"

"In theory yes, but my theory is the ones who have attacked so far probably landed as a group within a certain, relatively small radius. And that's why it's important if we can to get to Silver City before another group lands further North."

"So you think they spread all throughout Southern Johto in just a matter of hours. They didn't look like they could move that fast to me."

"Their speed is deceptive because they're so large, but believe me, the one we saw was moving pretty quick when it wanted to. And they may have landed as early as this time yesterday for all we know, maybe even earlier."

"Be honest Brock" She pressed anxiously, "What are our chances?"

"To be honest Sara, I have no idea. We just have to see how it plays out."

"I love you Brock."

"I love you too, and I always will."

Later that evening, they turned off route 32, not that far South of Violet City and began to head North-East. The roads weren't as wide or smooth now, but they were still made of asphalt and accessible. They noticed a few other cars along this road, most heading in the same direction as them, but there was not nearly as much traffic as there had been on route 32. This meant they could now travel faster.

After a few hours the terrain began to get steeper as they began to climb into the hills. It was now dusk, and the sun was about to rise. "How much fuel left?" Sara asked nervously.

"80 maybe 90 miles worth, on smooth terrain, so in reality we'll be lucky to get another 50 miles before we run out, but that should put us in some pretty isolated but hospitable countryside. We're where we need to be for the time being."

"You know all of Johto pretty well don't you?"

"Absolutely. Not only did I travel through much of Johto with Ash and Misty, but I've seen a lot of it since I started living here, so I'm pretty much an expert. Actually, the area we're coming into now is probably the part of Johto I know the least well."

"Great" She responded sarcastically.

Soon after, the others started to wake up. By the time the sun appeared in front of them, which began to make it more difficult for Brock to drive, all of them, save Bonny, had awoken. "Where are we?" Clement asked Brock.

"We're some distance East of Violet City, we're heading into the hills."

"Did you stop over and get more gas in Violet City?"

"No, I'm afraid not Clement. All of the Southern part of Johto has come under attack now, but thankfully Johto is the only region affected so far." Those in the back seats drew a big, collective sigh of relief upon hearing that news, especially May and Serena.

"So now I'm taking us into the hills, where hopefully we'll be safe. From there we'll continue our journey to Silver City on foot."

"Sounds rational to me", Clement answered.

"Shouldn't we ring our families to let them know we're ok?" May asked.

"Yes", Brock answered. "But it would be best if you wait until we've stopped, I need to concentrate on the road and this sun is getting in my eyes."

"Oh, sorry Brock."

The terrain got progressively steeper as the morning went on, even though the roads remained quite straight. They were not into the mountains yet. Rather, the countryside consisted mostly of rolling plains. However, that soon changed as the countryside on either side of them became more forested and minutes later they saw a respectable sized mountain ahead of them. "how high is that?" Clement asked Brock. "About four thousand feet, and I think we're already about two thousand feet above sea level so we'll be pretty high up."

"Why are we going there?" Misty inquired.

"Because I happen to know there's a very pleasant valley around the other side. It's got a river which flows down from the mountain top, a large pond, and a large number of trees. The walls of the valley are quite steep as well, so it should be a good spot to conceal ourselves and get some rest until we hear more news."

The climb up was quite steep. Ash felt like they were going to fall off the mountain itself a number of times. But after maybe ten minutes, just before Brock's tank emptied, they reached the top. It was stunning: on the right hand side was the valley, just as Brock had described it, except the river and pond were closer to the other end of the valley below them; on the left it was much steeper; and where they were standing, the path was relatively narrow, maybe 40 feet across and consisted largely of bushes, but there was a small clearing of grass on the valley side. This is where they decided to stop and eat some lunch, not far from where Brock's car was parked.

"Well, Mr Ferrari, you served me well. Hopefully we'll meet again", he said sadly, patting the bonnet, as he began to get teary eyed. Sara went over and consoled him.

During the middle of lunch they heard a noise in the bushes, and everyone was on edge. "Hang on" Brock shouted, no one move until I tell you to." The noise was getting closer, and Ash's heart was beating a mile a minute as the noise got closer. When the creature popped out they all gave a scream, but it was only a Chikorita. "Oh, Hello little guy" Ash said pleasantly, while holding one hand over his chest, "you have us a fright."

"Would you like to come have lunch with us?" Serena asked pleasantly. Pikachu went over to talk to it and they started a conversation in pokemon language. Pikachu started to get anxious and it began talking to Ash. He appeared quite frantic but Ash couldn't understand what he was saying, "I don't understand buddy, what's wrong?" Pikachu started pointing at the Chikorita, he then began a stomping motion: Ash had a feeling he knew what that meant, and all of a sudden he had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Not a minute later there was a huge noise over on the other side of the valley. Moments later an object rose up from behind the rim of the valley wall, directly opposite from them. They were back.