Chapter 7

There was suddenly much commotion as another one of the three-legged tripods appeared again on the other side of the valley, almost exactly opposite from where they were standing. Soon they all looked at Brock and asked what they should do. "Everyone get into the bushes, but not too far in just yet."

"Can it get across the valley?" Serena asked.

"I don't know but it might be able to hit us a different way?"

"Like how?" Misty asked. Brock began to point in its direction, with a terrified expression, "like that!" All of a sudden it began to glow and a red laser shot out of its chest region. It hit right on the rim of the mountain top, not thirty yards from their current position, taking a large piece out of the mountain: they felt the Earth shake beneath them. The shots kept on coming for the next few minutes, and they were now within a few feet of them. "Okay, we have to run to get to the other end of the valley now!" Sara shouted.

"But don't get any closer to the clearing" Brock added. "Just move in a straight line. They all obeyed their orders and ran fast in a straight line, Clement carried Bonny, and Drew, Ash noticed, kept a close eye on May. Two – maybe three minutes – later they had almost reached the other end of the mountain valley, as they came to the starting point of the river which flowed down into the valley. It was surrounded by a number of rocks, small trees and bushes, which they used as cover. The tripod had moved along the other side of the valley rim, in pursuit of its opponents, matching them opponents stride for stride with its enormous legs, but Brock suspected it was capable of moving faster if need be. He made sure he and the others were well hidden amongst the bushes, which were shielded by the surrounding plants and trees. The machine continued to fire but after a few minutes, it appeared to finally run out of ammunition after taking another dent out of the rim of the valley and setting fire to a number of trees. After that, is disappeared again over the other side of the valley wall and its footsteps gradually became more faint. After a couple of minutes it could no longer be heard.

"Do you think it will come back?" Ash asked Brock.

"Your guess is as good as mine. I think we should go into the valley and stay the night there. After that, if the coast is clear, we need to make for Silver City as quickly as possible. It's what I feared, it appears the tripods are moving North at a rapid rate."

"But are they the same ones from the South or are they new ones?" Ash asked.

"I don't know, but there could be plenty more of them, so early tomorrow I might bring a couple of you back up here and check out the terrain so to speak, we should be able to see up to 100 miles to the North and East from up here. If anyone has a pair of binoculars I think they will come in handy. If it's clear then I think we'll chance it."

"Sounds like a plan Brock. Also, I think we should our phones for any news updates."

"Naturally, but it's very unlikely it will be completely safe, no matter how long we wait. But yes, we'll take that into account as well. As for now, let's get down into that valley, and make for the clearing near that pond you can see down there" he finished, pointing about twelve hundred feet below them, towards the pond, which was situated in the East end of the valley. Past the pool, the river flowed to the other side of the valley; from there it flowed through a clearing at the bottom of the rock wall, and out through the South face of the mountain, and from there on it meandered in a Southerly direction towards the coast.

It was a fairly steep and difficult climb down into the valley, more so than it looked. Clement and Serena both had to keep hold of Bonny, one on either side, as they trekked down the hillside at a snail's pace. Eventually they all made it and set up camp in a sandy area on the hillside of the pond. This was located very close to the trees, which would provide good cover for them if they required it. There were also a number of logs for them to sit on in the sandy area, just in front of the trees. Brock ordered them to not make any fires in case anyone or anything entered the valley and they saw the light.

By mid-afternoon they had eaten some snacks and had their sleeping bags set up for the night ahead. They agreed Ash, Brock, Clement and Serena would keep watch that night, while May, Misty Sara and Drew would do it if they needed to stay another night. After their afternoon tea, they decided to take a dip in the generous sized pond; the water was a very pure, clear blue, and the surrounding trees were a bright, Grass green colour. They were mostly pine needle, which May noted were one of her favourite because they were "Such a pretty colour." It was clear the mountain valley had been largely untouched by man, and that those who had visited had generally treated it well. The logs were on a few signs of human influence and one that they, at that time, were grateful for. The temperature was comfortable that afternoon, and although the water was slightly cold, after a few minutes, they were sitting comfortably in the water. Ash was floating on his back, trying to relax while taking in the beautiful scenery. So much had happened the last day or so, but now he needed this time to himself to reflect. He was hoping for some kind of epiphany concerning this destiny, but deep in his mind, the part of him which was trying to relax wrestled ferociously with the crippling anxiety concerning their current situation and the prophecy given to him by Kurt just a day earlier. His mind kept telling him: 'It doesn't matter how hard anyone tries, there's no way of avoiding fate.' But in his mind, Ash held onto that hope that now appeared to defy not only fate, but logic as well. He concluded it was just human nature, 'but what about spiritual nature'? He pondered. 'What part could that have to play in the events still to unfold, as well as in helping me to find my destiny'? But his musings were soon ruined by a splash: it was Misty, who had taken it upon herself to dunk Ash into the water, "Uhhh, hey Misty what you doing? I was trying to think."

"I think you've been doing that for long enough now."

"But it's been so hard to just rest for two seconds, we've all been stressed you know" he continued to whine in an agitated manner.

"Sometimes there's a difference between what we'd like to do and what's good for us Ash."

"So you're telling me" he began, looking bewildered and agitated "that a short time of peaceful reflection after the events of the last day or so aren't good for me, is that seriously what you're trying to say?"

"You do realise you've been here for quite a while now, almost an hour in fact."

"I guess time flies when you're having fun."

"Oh yes, it does Ash. But we've got to stay alert you know." Her voice started to go soft all of a sudden and she began to move even closer to Ash, "we need to stay alive, I need to stay alive, I don't want to go yet, when there's still so much to live for" She leaned in and gave Ash a big pash. He always knew Misty could be a loose cannon but he was not expecting that, he figured strange times made people do strange things. For a moment he kind of enjoyed it, but he soon resisted, "what do you think you're doing Misty? You know how things are with me and Serena."

"I'm sorry" she said with tears streaming down her face, "I just had to try, just once, to know what it felt like you know. I wanted to do it for so long. It's a bit like that game where the wheel spins and you don't know what number it will land on. What I mean is, if I had been the one you met last instead of Serena, you would've been more mature, maybe we could've been the ones who ended up together you know?"

"It's all about you isn't it Misty? You and May are just the same, you just let your feelings dominate and cripple you to the point where you can't connect with those of other people. Did Serena's feelings ever occur to you huh?" he was shouting now, "or mine?" She looked guilty now. "No, I bet they didn't did they. Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get nasty about it and I'm sorry you're hurting but Serena and I are fine together, and I think it's time people just left us alone."

"Misty splashed him in the face, quite hard, and walked back to camp. When Ash looked over in that direction he saw Serena, Brock and Sara staring right back at him and Misty. The others had gone into the forest to get more wood for the fire. He felt embarrassed but he knew Misty would be feeling much worse. He believed what he said, but he wished he could tell Misty all the good things he thought of her; he felt she had taken his criticism the wrong way, as if he didn't like her at all. But that was so far from the truth, and he did have some feelings for her, just not in the same way. The stare Serena gave her when she came back to shore was so piercing it would have scared the tripods.

As evening neared, Brock and Clement began to cook dinner together, but even there, there was conflict over who was the better cook. After just 24 hours the harmony of the group was already being ripped apart. A group which, in its various incarnations, could travel together for months at a time and hardly have a conflict of any real note. And even when there had been, Ash could not remember a time where there had been this much tension. He knew what they were enduring was incredible, but he still had always believed their bonds of friendship were stronger than they appeared to be at this moment. He figured maybe too many people travelling together added to the tension, and as for the girl thing, Ash decided perhaps he was just naïve, but he had never thought the other girls' feelings for him were that strong. He hated that he was hurting them, and that his love for Serena was ruining their friendships. 'Why couldn't I have read the signs better?' he shouted inwardly. He concluded that perhaps Misty was right, once they survived this, if they did, then things could go back to normal. But his ponderings were once again ruined, this time by something far more dangerous than Misty: it was back, right where they had first seen it earlier that day. "Come on everyone, hide" Sara hissed.

"No!" Drew shouted, refusing to retreat.

"What are you doing?" May cried nervously.

"I'm not running away, these things are going to win if we don't fight back. This problem can't be ignored, either we stand or we get wiped out."

"But if we can hide" May pleaded with him, "if we can get through till tomorrow."

"I'm not waiting for that thing to kill me in my sleep. And did it occur to you maybe if we fight it with all our pokemon, that we might be able to win?" They all began to turn to Brock, "Agreed, it's still a long way to Silver City, and these things are getting the upper hand. If humanity and pokemon are going to win, we have so start standing up to them. Sara, go with Bonny and put her somewhere safe. The rest of you, bring all your pokeballs and walk out with me."

"No!" Bonny whined, I'm not leaving Clement to go out on his own."

"I'm sorry" Sara said sincerely, "we'll go somewhere where we can keep an eye on him ok. Besides, it'll be the pokemon doing the fighting remember."

Ash was trembling as he walked out into the twilight. Ash figured he should make the first move: "Hawlucha, high jump kick" it was a direct hit." The tripod did not even notice them until that, but the hit to its right leg certainly grabbed its attention: it trembled slightly, as if it were in discomfort. "Ok, let's see how it likes this: Pikachu, thunderbolt", "Pika-Chuuuuuu!" Ash's little buddy gave it all he had and the thunderbolt reverberated all throughout the grotesque creature's small head and body, right down into its massive limbs. It was the most powerful thunderbolt Ash had ever seen Pikachu perform. Ash began to realise the advantage of fighting something with disproportionately large legs: if it loses its balance, it can go down very easily, and after Pikachu's massive thunderbolt , it looked wobbly and in a lot of discomfort. They now had the upper hand, all they had to watch out for were the lasers being fired at them, which the pokemon were avoiding quite easily. However, Ash got so excited watching the pokemon do their work that he forgot to keep his eye on the tripod and he barely had time to move by the time he saw the red laser coming his way: Brock dived in front of him, saving him from a full blow. Brock was fine, but Ash felt a sharp burn down the side of his left leg.

"Ash!" Serena ran to him frantically, but Clement made sure she did not get in its line of fire.

"I'm ok Serena" Ash assured her. Just a little bit of a burn to my leg. We'll worry about it after the battle ok."

The others began to feel more confident in putting their pokemon into the battle, and they were able to inflict severe damage. In particular, a couple of powerful moves from May settled the battle: first her Blaziken executed a risky high jump kick, before finishing with a fire punch; then here Beautifly paralysed the target with a stun spore: this brought it to the ground. It seemed so obvious now: how could something with only one real weapon that had such a disproportionate body possibly win against a group of powerful pokemon. It seemed all the tripods were good for was stomping buildings. 'Much ado about nothing' Ash thought to himself.

He was about to go and get some treatment for his wounds when he heard a noise. It sounded almost like a bunch of rodents. All of a sudden, out of the body of the collapsed tripod, a group of mouse-like pokemon came rushing towards them. Ash was not sure, but he counted either six or seven. It was hard to describe them precisely because of the fading light, but they looked around two feet tall and had yellow and brown bodies, with grey around the torso. Ash had never seen such pokemon before. Initially, this surge caught them unawares, and a number of pokemon, including Pikachu, were attacked. But they soon regained their composure, and they started to gain the upper hand. The alien pokemons' moves were unfamiliar also: one was a kind of scratch; another was a punching type move; while another involved a sommersault followed by a high kick; and finally, they had some kind of pschic ability which allowed them to levitate their opponent, but it seemed they could not maintain it if they took their eyes off their target to focus on another pokemon.

Eventually Ash, Brock and the others made pretty light work of their opponents, along with Serena's Braixen and Panchem , Drew's Butterfree and Absol, Misty's Psyduck, and May's Beautifly and Blaziken. Clement's Chespin finishing off the last opponent with a barrage of pin missiles. They breathed a huge collective sigh of relief, but not all came out of the battle completely unscathed: "Oh no" May squealed, "Beautifly, no!"

"What happened May?" Serena asked.

"One of Beautifly's wings is torn, up near the top you see?"

"It'll be ok" she reassured her. "We'll stitch it back together, you know how to do that don't you Brock?"

"Yes I do, but it's quite a bad tear. It will be in quite a lot of pain for a few days or so." It wimpered in discomfort as May, still distressed herself, tried to console it, rubbing its wing gently.

"We've got to get Ash checked out as well" Serena reminded them.

"I know" Brock answered, a few of us have wounds to tend to. Everyone come over to the fire and get something to eat and drink while I go and get my medical kit. Great job everybody, I think we're going to be alright."

Serena tended to Ash's wound, using some sort of dressing Brock had given her. The burn was quite large, just below his left knee on the side of his leg. But it started to hurt somewhat less as the dressing began to take effect. Brock was taking care of Beautifly, which still appeared to be in a lot of pain. After a while it appeared to be more comfortable. Drew came over to the log where May and Beautifly were sitting. "This guy doing ok?" he asked May, whilst rubbing Beautifly's good wing.

"I think so" May answered. "I hate seeing it suffer like this though."

"Like its owner, it's probably more of a vanity thing" he joked.

"What! That's a horrible thing to say" She snapped.

"Relax, it's just a joke. It knows I was joking, don't you little fella" it withdrew from him and made some kind of buzzing sound to signal its disapproval. "I guess it gets its oversensitive nature form its trainer as well."

"Why are you even here, if you're just going to torture me?"

"Because you make it so easy." May sighed, "what is it with you and me Drew? Why do we squabble so often?"

"Because you're so oversensitive, you can't take a joke."

"Well I'm sorry, sometimes it's hard to tell whether you're joking or not."

"Ok, maybe I get off on teasing you sometimes, but I never mean to be nasty ok. I like you May, I really like you but it's in my nature to joke around sometimes, you know? I'm sorry if I've really hurt you, ok."

"Ok, Ok Drew. That was very sweet and yes Beautifly and I accept your apology, don't we Beautifly?" The creature nodded its small head in agreement.

"Great, now is there anything else I can get you two?"

"Don't beg for approval Drew, it doesn't suit you."

"Don't get smart, it doesn't suit you." Her split second reaction was to take offense, but she quickly realised this was one of those jokes Drew was referring to, "Wait, that was a joke right?"

"Uh huh, well…kinda" She got the joke straight away that time, and they both laughed together. They then stared into each other's eyes, and May smiled at him with her kind, warm smile, lit up by her bright blue eyes. Drew could not resist it, he smirked at her, feeling slightly embarrassed. She drew nearer to him. Drew figured this was as good an opportunity as any, so he plucked up the courge, and gave her a small kiss on the lips. He then held his breath, before she gave him a bigger kiss in return. "Aww, isn't that so sweet" Sara said warmly, looking at Brock.

"Finally" he responded, "I was waiting for these two to get their act together."

"You're funny" she responded.

Later that night they used their phone radios to listen for updates. The news was more positive this time around: "We are now hearing reports that most of the machines have been destroyed by a combined army of military personnel and specially trained pokemon, as well as pokemon on the ground. Estimates concerning the number of these machines which are yet to be destroyed range between 10 and 15, but just this morning the estimate was placed at somewhere between 50-70. As for the number of foreign pokemon, the majority of them have either been destroyed or contained. Estimates concerning their numbers range from a little over 100 to as many as 200 still remaining. We should also point out to listeners that no reports of any machines or foreign pokemon have been recorded outside of the Johto region, so these developments are very encouraging indeed. And experts see this crisis soon coming to an end. A wave of relief swept through the group. Ash felt somewhat relieved himself although he still couldn't put his meeting with Kurt out of his head completely. He looked towards Clement and suspected he felt the same way. Brock also looked somewhat cautious, but the others were already celebrating and chatting cheerfully to one another. There was definitely a certain 'winning feeling' amongst the group as a whole.

The mood was now much calmer and it began to clear Ash's mind. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him: "Hey" he said to no one in particular, "what do you think happened to ream rocket?" They all looked a little surprised by the question as they shook their heads: "I don't know Ash" Misty answered. "I hadn't even thought about them since we escaped."

"I just thought they would've survived, that's just what team rocket do. I had this feeling that…"

"What Ash?"

"Never mind, it's nothing. It's a funny thing though. You hate them, but once they're gone, you miss them. They weren't really your typical bad guys were they, like they always had a good side. I think deep down they were just a bunch of big kids, who didn't find their purpose in life."

"I wouldn't count team rocket out just yet" Brock assured him. "A lot of the people from that party probably survived the attacks, and once they do come back you'll probably wish they hadn't."

"Yeah, probably."

"You're right Brock" Clement answered. "They probably got away on that balloon of theirs."

"Whether they did or not, we've still got far bigger things to worry about. The first one is all you guys getting a good rest. We'll keep watch as scheduled and in the morning we'll make a decision about whether or not it's safe to leave. Ok, good night everyone."

"Good night Brock" they all answered. And within a matter of minutes all of them had fallen asleep.