This is the longest chapter of Servant of the Pokémon thus far, and it was a fun one to write. I still don't think I'll have a particular schedule for posting these chapters, for what it's worth; I'll write and post when I want to, and people can read when THEY want to. Everyone wins.
For those of you who have read this story, know that it means the world to me. We're almost at 1K views, which is nothing to sneeze at. A lot happens in this chapter, so I'd love to know at least something you thought of it. It could be just a few words, just let me know your thoughts. With that out of the way, enjoy!
Current music: Lash Out - Alice Merton
"Don't shoot me!" the woman all but shrieked. "I swear to Arceus, it's not what it looks like!"
The guard next to Ash raised his weapon, which made a sound Ash thought was pulling a trigger. In reality, that was likely merely loading the gun, because no bullets came out of its chamber.
"I'd have to be pretty delusional," Ash's bodyguard muttered amidst his huffing and puffing, "to think it's anything else!"
"Well, you're wrong," the woman replied forcefully, adjusting her glasses and staring down at Ash and his guard.
"I was born at night, but I wasn't born last night" the Secret Service agent muttered, pointing his weapon right at the woman's heart.
Ash couldn't move, his feet welded to the floor as though they'd been encased in iron. He glanced from the security guard to the woman who'd just shot a police officer, and needless to say, no further clarity was achieved.
"You could shoot me right now - ".
"I could, in fact" the bodyguard responded. "That is an option."
"- but you'd waste valuable time in doing so, and time is one thing you don't have a lot of. They are coming, and they aren't going to discriminate between President Ash Ketchum and those who protect him."
"Spoken like a traitor to the Constitution of Kanto!" the Secret Service guy bellowed. Why he hadn't fired the weapon yet was a mystery to Ash - his actions demonstrated far more self-restraint than were betrayed by his words.
"Look!" Ash blurted out. "There's no time to argue about this! She's right!"
The guard cocked his head toward the President. "You've got no Rapidash in this race, Mr. President. I saw this woman shoot a Capitol police officer, dead to the ground, and now you're saying I should show her mercy?"
"At least hear her out" Ash insisted, hardly able to believe his own words. "But she's right about one thing: Time's not on our side. Let's run!"
The woman held her gun up in front of her, as if poised to fire at any moment, and gave a sad smile. "Run like you've just been shot out of a cannon!"
What a fine analogy!
And so they began sprinting down the corridor, the female officer leading the way at an all-out sprint. Even with all that gear on, she could probably have won a 200-meter dash at the Olympics.
"So why did you shoot him?" Ash gasped, struggling to keep up with the officer.
"Save your breath for running, Mr. President!" she barked. "If they catch up to you, you'll breathe no more!"
Why do they want me so badly? I don't get it!
"I'm Officer Lauren," the woman continued. "And I can run pretty fast, whereas being an athlete isn't one of the qualifications for the Presidency - just look at the guy before Fiddlesticks!"
"Heyyyyy" Ash complained. He might not have been a track star, but it still took a lot of energy to be a Pokémon trainer, let alone one as successful as he.
Officer Lauren smirked. "Again, don't waste your breath. Please, Mr. President; there's a time to ask questions, and there's a time to run for your life; can you guess which one this is?"
The halls were lined with police officers stationed at each door, and each cop was dressed in the same riot gear that had adorned the man Officer Lauren had shot. (For obvious reasons, the bulletproof vests didn't seem to have been very effective.)
"If you're on my side," Ash panted, "why did you shoot that cop?"
"You're just too curious, aren't you?" Officer Lauren barked. "Curiosity killed the Meowth, and it may well kill you!"
"I'm not backing down," the President stated. "Please just tell me. Why should I trust you?"
"Shoot first, ask questions later," Officer Lauren responded. "It wasn't worth the risk - if he'd been a rioter, he was right next to you!"
Those words, for lack of a better term, shut Ash up rather quickly. There was no point in asking Officer Lauren any more questions, at least not yet, because she just wouldn't answer.
More than once, Officer Lauren gestured for the President to follow her into some nook or cranny just off the hallway - whether it be a single-stall restroom, a closet, or whatever else, she didn't seem to care. Invariably, she would clamp a hand over Ash's mouth to make sure he made no sound.
Serena is going to be horrified by this, Ash thought. She's going to wonder why I ever signed up for a job so dangerous. And then I'll have to remind her that I didn't sign up for it.
"The coast is clear," Officer Lauren whispered. "I'll send out a Houndoom to chase off any further rioters."
Ash couldn't speak thanks to the officer's gag, but he nonetheless gave her a look that probably made it clear what he was thinking.
"No, we still have to find a secure location," Officer Lauren insisted. "You're not safe yet. But there aren't any rioters in the hallway - let's make sure!"
Using her free hand, the officer pulled a Pokéball out of her pocket and threw it on the ground. With the familiar flash of blue-green light, a creature appeared on the floor.
"Okay, Houndoom, you know what to do!"
The horned, canine Pokémon nodded at his master (mistress? No, that sounds wrong) and began scampering off to parts unknown. Houndoom did not look back.
"Okay, now we've got to run for it!" Officer Lauren bellowed. "All the way to the top floor of the dome, let's go!"
Since when does Officer Lauren sound like a personal trainer?
In any case, Ash followed the woman down the corridor, through a series of twists and turns, and then up a spiral staircase that not only made him feel dizzy, but also meant that his legs became something akin to gelatin.
After numerous flights of stairs, Ash was nursing a stitch in his side as he arrived next to Officer Lauren. He took deep breaths, trying to push through the pain.
"Look out there" she mouthed, gesturing toward a window on the other side of the stairwell.
Judging by the woman's tone of voice, the President wasn't exactly eager to see what Officer Lauren was pointing out. But he also knew that reality wouldn't always conform to what he wanted it to be, and acknowledging that was what set the mature apart from the immature.
On the other side of the glass, a giant crowd had assembled, marching towards the Capitol. Indeed, it was more of a mob than a crowd, given the sheer chaos that lurked outside the window. And it wasn't just the crowd outside the Capitol - there were also sounds of something bashing against the walls.
A siren went off again - this one wasn't quite as shrill as the first alarm had been, but it still blared intensely for about ten seconds, followed by the sound of something splashing or trickling.
"The Capitol police must be using their water cannons," Officer Lauren whispered loudly. "It'll hold them off - ".
"For how long?" Ash wondered aloud, hoping his voice wasn't audible enough for the wrong person to hear it.
"That's the thing. They don't have the numbers to deal with this crowd. If it were a Pokémon rights protest - something you're probably familiar with - then it would be over in ten minutes if they wanted it to be."
"But it's not that, is it?" the President enquired morosely. "They're coming for me, aren't they?"
"Indeed" Officer Lauren muttered softly. "Which is why we need to get you to the safe room."
The woman led Ash across a bridge that spanned the interior of the Capitol's dome. "Stay low so they don't see you!" she barked.
Ash did as he was told; indeed, "staying low" would have been tempting no matter what, since the floor was a long way down. He wasn't so much afraid of heights as he was afraid of falling from a high place.
"Could they see me?" Ash enquired.
"Yes, they could, but be quieter!" Officer Lauren insisted. "Your life's the one on the line here!"
In a flash of morbid curiosity, Ash peered over the walkway's rail. In just two seconds, or however long it was, he saw all he needed to see.
A mob of angry-looking individuals, some of them shirtless, marched through the first floor of the atrium. One of them, a buff shirtless dude with a coonskin cap, carried a seven-foot flagpole with him; as for the flag on said pole, it was a white banner with a giant red circle in the center.
"Hang Ash Ketchum!" came a general outcry from that floor.
Ash's stomach dropped more rapidly than a freight elevator whose chains had been cut. He seized the railing with his wrists as he fell to his knees.
They wanted to hang him. They wanted to march him up to a gallows, string him up by the neck, and literally take his head as a trophy.
"Hang Ash Ketchum! Hang Ash Ketchum!"
Officer Lauren yanked the President back to his feet. "They'll get you if you're not quick out of here. Come with me, and you'll survive the day!"
That was all the incentive Ash needed. Even amidst all the noise, he could envision Serena back at the Presidential Palace, probably scared out of her mind at the news.
I can't prove her right. I can't die today.
Serena, meanwhile, had been viewing Vulpix News' coverage of the confirmation hearings from the comfort of a sofa in the Presidential Palace. Unbeknownst to her, the scene was almost exactly how Ash had been picturing it.
"I might need more wine for this," the First Lady mumbled. "I mean, I can't get drunk like Ash - the President - does. But this is so boring. Isn't it, Pikachu?"
"Pika pika" ("I just want something to happen.")
Little did either of them know, "something" would happen indeed. It's just that this "something" wouldn't be what Serena expected.
There was the sound of an alarm. It was rather akin to a fire alarm, though much louder. Serena sprang to her feet.
"Oh my Arceus, Pikachu! We've gotta evacuate!"
"Pika pika?" ("Is it coming from here?")
"I dunno! There must be smoke somewhere!"
But somehow, Serena doubted her own words. It didn't sound like a smoke alarm, or even one of those carbon monoxide alarms that goes off when its battery power is running low. Despite its extreme decibel level, it seemed distant somehow.
"Pika pika" ("It's coming from the TV, Serena. It's not here.")
"That's not much of a relief" the First Lady replied hurriedly. "Ash is in that building!"
"Pika pika!" ("Oh no!")
"Trust me, I'm worried about him too! Holy shit! We might need to rescue him!"
That's ridiculous, she told herself. The Secret Service will take care of it - you might only add yourself to the rescue if you go out all willy-nilly.
One of the anchors on Vulpix News, a blonde woman with sharp blue eyes, hung her mouth agape. Clearly, this wasn't part of their scheduled programming.
"And we have an alarm going off inside the Capitol, fueling speculation that a fire broke out. However, my sources tell me that it's something else - there is a…crowd out there?"
The anchor took some time to converse with another media person just off camera, then turned back towards her audience in order to deliver them the latest.
"Yes, it appears that a mob of angry citizens is storming the Capitol. We'll cut away from the committee room to the front lawn of the Capitol, because that's where the action is occurring."
The use of the word action here made Serena feel sick to her stomach. It seemed to imply that this was something exciting, something that should be celebrated. But it wasn't, not when Ash was in there.
Serena and Pikachu could only watch as, on the TV, the camera panned out to show the area in front of the legislative complex. Like Beedrill swarming around the hive, there was an endless buzz of people. It was like a sea of people; or maybe, river would be a better word, because the mob was steadily making its way inside!
"The crowd seems to be chanting something as well. I can't quite make it out - we'll talk to someone on the ground to ascertain what is being chanted. That being said, it can hardly be anything positive - are they saying something about hanging ketchup?"
That might have made Serena laugh if not for how offensive that joke sounded. Admittedly, it likely wasn't a joke - the anchor had probably genuinely misheard. Still, it was far from funny.
"Pikachu!" Serena gasped. "They're chanting 'Hang Ash Ketchum'!"
"Pika pika?" ("What does that mean?")
"It means they want to execute him! But why would they want to do that?"
In her twenty-five years, Serena had lived through several Presidential administrations. However, she could never remember the political discourse having been so toxic as to lead to such rhetoric. No matter your disagreements with someone, you should always maintain a minimum level of respect - that was how she'd been raised.
Just then, a Secret Service agent walked through the hallway adjacent to the TV room. Serena waved him over.
"You're Leatherman, right?" the First Lady asked. (Technically, she wasn't the official First Lady, since they weren't married, but who cares?)
Leatherman nodded curtly. "I'm sorry, I don't have time to talk. I have to head to the Capitol and rescue the President!"
"No shit!" Serena barked, but then she realized: Maybe the rioters are holding Ash! In that case, he's at their mercy, and I doubt they've got much of that!
Leatherman cringed at Serena's profanity, but he gave a quick bow and raced off, presumably towards the garage to start his car.
"Pika pika." ("This seems pretty serious.")
Serena nodded, narrowing her eyes. "I'm going to have a word with Ash when he gets back." Hopefully it was a matter of when and not if.
"Pika pika?" ("Why?")
"Because," the First Lady continued, "he didn't refuse the offer to be President. He insisted on taking office, even though being President means you'll get some death threats."
For reasons stated above, Serena didn't exactly feel good about admitting the inherent danger that came with the Presidency. She'd just waved it off as "the way things are", when nothing about it should be seen as normal.
And then she felt sick again - only with herself. Exactly why she felt this way was difficult to pin down, but as she propped her legs up on the coffee table, she had to hold back vomit.
"This isn't good," she said simply, a gross understatement.
Pikachu did not reply. Instead, the yellow mouse curled up on the sofa, staring bleary-eyed at the TV, totally entranced by the news. It didn't matter that the 24-hour news cycle was so frightening - you just couldn't look away from it.
Officer Lauren all but shoved Ash into a small, dusty room that might have been a coat room in the past. It was akin to what you'd find at Pallet Town's country club, not the Kantoese Capitol…then again, the legislature was an exclusive club, was it not?
"Wait here until they give the all-clear" Officer Lauren ordered the President. "The Senators have been taken to a different location - you're alone here with me."
Well, that's reassuring. And I don't even know if that's sarcasm or not.
Just outside the door, Ash thought he heard someone bellowing, "Where is he?"
The President's stomach dropped - unlike a roller coaster, though, this was not a feeling of pleasure. Rather, Ash couldn't stop himself from picturing the scene outside. Maybe it went something like this:
Reporter: "Hello, who are you?"
Rioter: "I'm Rebecca; I'm from Cerulean City, Kanto".
Reporter: "What happened to you?"
Rioter: "I just made it a foot inside, and they pushed me out and maced me!"
Reporter: "Why did you enter the building?"
Rioter: "Because we're storming the Capitol! It's a revolution!"
Ash chuckled. Not at the situation, because that was no laughing matter, but at his own mental image of it.
Officer Lauren gave Ash a dirty look, but didn't say anything. That's when the President remembered that he had to remain quiet and calm, even when everything else told him to do otherwise.
Oh my Arceus - think of Serena.
As Ash sat in that former coat room with crossed legs, his mind kept wandering to places he hadn't expected it to go. Not for the first time, he pictured the scene back home - although it would take some time to see the Presidential Palace as home.
No - if he thought about home, he started picturing his mother, Delia Ketchum. She'd raised him as a single mom for most of his childhood, and despite Ash's journey having taken up much of his youth, they were still pretty close.
Delia had made sure Ash knew he was always welcome back at his childhood home, even if it was just for a visit. He hadn't taken his mother up on this offer, partly because she'd likely be ashamed to see what her son had become.
Still, she was almost assuredly watching the hearings on their small, janky old box called a TV set. Indeed, it wasn't hard to picture her holding a watch party with some of the neighbors, since Pallet Town was the sort of community where everyone knew everyone else.
One thing was for sure, though: It wouldn't be a celebration for very long.
And Ash's stomach churned, because he hadn't bothered to give his mom so much as a call ever since he'd been elevated to the Presidency. It might have been so recent, and he might have been incredibly busy, but there was still no excuse, not when he'd made room for Mayor Almaty in his schedule.
If I survive this, she's going to be the first person I call…or will she? If all the phone lines in or out of the palace are monitored, I can't do it. She'll probably remind me to…nah, let's not go there. The point is, she'll say something that I'd rather the whole world not know about.
Tears formed in the President's eyes. The bond between parent and child was supposedly one of the strongest possible from the parent's perspective, and it didn't end when the child came of age. Ash could envision his mother going to the phone every few minutes, calling some number, and asking for updates even though there weren't any.
"Okay, I think we're all clear," Officer Lauren muttered, snapping Ash out of his reverie.
"Really?" Ash enquired. "How would they have gotten all the rioters out of the building that quickly?"
"Hey, don't underestimate the Capitol police" she replied with a wink.
"You're one of the police…and you killed one of your own!" Ash yelped, forgetting his earlier determination to keep quiet.
Officer Lauren stepped back, clutching at her chest as though a wound was there. Perhaps it was one of those - after all, not all wounds are visible to the naked eye.
There was a staring contest between the policewoman and the President, but the latter won it. Officer Lauren took her glasses off, wiping them on her shirt, and responded softly.
"Yeah, I did. But I thought we were past this."
"You were so quick to kill, Lauren," Ash muttered.
"That's Officer Lauren, Mr. President."
"Okay, sorry. But if you shot a fellow Capitol police officer dead without thinking about it, why should I trust that you won't do the same to me?"
Officer Lauren glanced down at her feet. That's when Ash realized that she was fighting back tears as well - in fact, she appeared to be losing that battle.
"I can't make you trust me, can I?"
"Just give me a reason" Ash snapped. "It could be a bad reason, it could be one that doesn't make any sense, but I still want a reason!"
"Fine" Officer Lauren replied as forcefully as she could, though still in a tearful tone. "This might be a reason, but it's not an excuse: While we're normally supposed to protect our own, that obligation only extends so far."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, Mr. President, that our number one objective is to protect you. You're the President, after all. We're all expected to lay down our lives for you if necessary. We always hope we don't have to, of course, but sometimes that's what happens."
"That's just not right," Ash replied, putting his head in his hands.
"Why are you complaining about it?" Officer Lauren muttered. "You're one of the most important people in the world, of course you'll have some of the best security known to mankind - or Pokékind."
"But…" Ash complained.
"No ifs, ands, or buts, Mr. President. "You might not like it, but as some people would say, them's the rules. It does not matter what you want, it matters what the Kantoese people want. And they don't want a series of Presidents getting assassinated."
Assassination. That's a rather fancy word, and it doesn't deserve to be. After all, it just describes when a famous person gets murdered. Quite a simple concept, if an alarming one.
Wait a minute…I was almost assassinated today. I would have been dead, flat-out dead, if Officer Lauren hadn't rushed me out of that corridor when she did.
The President shivered, which was rather ironic at first glance, since the coatroom was pretty stuffy. However, it was not cold weather that induced this sensation.
At some point, after the all-clear had been given by the Secret Service and the Capitol police, the proceedings continued. Ash did not witness them; rather, as he and Officer Lauren huddled in the coatroom, she fed the President updates via her news feed.
"They're voting right now!" Officer Lauren announced, as though this was a truly momentous occasion.
"How long…how long does that take?"
"Well, there are a hundred members of the Kantoese Senate, so it's usually about five or ten minutes if each person takes three to six seconds to vote," the officer responded simply, seemingly doing all the math automatically.
"Very well. Excuse me; I'll just wait here for it to be over."
A few minutes later, Officer Lauren sprang to her feet, grinning and showing her pearly whites. "He's confirmed!"
"C-confirmed?"
She nodded. "Yes, Mr. President. Confirmed. That means Michael Banditt is now your Secretary of State. The attack on the Capitol failed to prevent the confirmation of your first Cabinet member."
"You say it failed as though that's a bad thing."
Officer Lauren shook her head. "That's just the way it is. Anyway, you should head back to the Presidential Palace. I'm sure the First Lady would like to see you."
Ash's face suddenly felt hot, like superheated steam had been blown on it. "She's not…we're not married. She's not the First Lady."
"Well, it's pretty clear you two are meant for one another" Officer Lauren said matter-of-factly. "In any case, who says you need to be married to consider one another partners? That mindset is too traditional."
"Call me traditional," Ash replied, "but I want to make sure Serena knows I'm safe. That's what partners do. Can I call her right now?"
"That has to wait until you're back at the Presidential Palace. That's because…".
"Yeah, stupid question. I guess you're right. Can't compromise the security situation."
Officer Lauren smiled. (In Ash's mind, it was too great a smile to be appropriate, given the circumstances. Still, Officer Lauren had kept him safe, so he wasn't going to bash her for this.)
Back at the Presidential Palace, Serena was waiting in the main atrium. Ash didn't know what he'd been expecting; maybe the "First Lady" would wrap him in an Ursaring hug and express her love for him once again. Maybe they'd talk incessantly about the lovey-dovey bullshit reserved for soap operas. Hell, maybe one of them would even propose to the other, saying that if they could survive the Capitol being stormed, they could get through anything together.
None of this happened. Serena Courtland had a fist raised high above her head like one of those hammers at a carnival game. Judging by the murderous expression in her eyes, she might well have been ready to finish the job the rioters had attempted.
"You can't do things like that again, Ash," she said, stone-faced. "You just can't."
"What did I do?" the President complained. "All I did was hide from a mob that wanted to kill me!"
"That's exactly what you did. You didn't even send me a text to tell me you were okay. Now, if I were your mother, how do you think I'd feel?"
Ash blushed yet again. "You're not my mother, Serena! We're a couple, and…".
"Well, I'm not sure we'll be able to remain a couple much longer" Serena spoke up sharply. "It's nothing personal, Ash, you've just broken my trust."
"But I didn't cheat - ".
"This is worse than cheating, Ash. This is the ultimate betrayal, couldn't you at least have sent me an update? I thought you were dead today - until you showed up at the door, begging for me to take you in…".
"This is my house now" Ash mumbled softly. "I'm the President. I'm a tenant, at least."
"Pardon me. The point is, we'll have to communicate more if our relationship is to survive."
That was when Ash noticed just how glassy Serena's eyes were. Obviously, she wasn't dead, but it was then that the President knew that, had the mob been successful in their efforts, Serena's life would have come to an end as well.
Because she did care about Ash, even if she had an odd way of showing it.
"I'm sorry" the President told the First Lady. "I'll do better in the future. I'm still getting used to this whole being-President thing."
"Well, you'd better be a fast learner. I'm sure Pikachu felt worse than me. Poor guy hasn't gotten up off the sofa for over an hour, just staring at the TV like he's catatonic. You owe him an explanation, Ash."
"Maybe I do."
Serena seemed ready to slap Ash upside the cheek. "Of course you owe him an explanation. He's your lifelong companion - go over to the couch and tell him you're sorry."
Once both Serena and Ash were in the TV room, the President saw that the electric mouse was indeed seated on the sofa, bleary-eyed and with his mouth wide open as though he'd been petrified.
"I'm sorry, Pikachu," Ash said softly, because he couldn't think of anything else to say.
No response was forthcoming.
"I said I'm sorry, Pikachu!"
The Electric-type sprang off the couch; okay, it was more like he toppled off the couch. Pikachu then turned his face toward Ash, literal lightning in his eyes.
But Pikachu still didn't say anything. Instead, the yellow mouse retreated back into the corridor, and Ash was left standing next to Serena.
"I've got to head out," the First Lady muttered. "I'll need some afternoon tea to relax."
Afternoon tea? Where are we, Galar?
Something told Ash he wouldn't be invited to share tea and crumpets with Serena. She needed time alone after today's events.
That's rather odd. She was alone with Pikachu all day, was fearing for my life for part of it, and now she wants nothing to do with me. Funny how that works.