Ash dashed through another alley, his feet splashing in the rain, Pikachu on his shoulder and the sounds of Misty and Brock fighting the two tyranitars behind him. He could hear the bellowing of pokémon, the sounds of rock smashing into rock, ice cracking and snapping and the rush of water.
The pokéraised boy could also hear the sound of human footsteps as he burst out onto the street. They were coming from a different direction than the battle, so Ash figured that they probably weren't with the tyranitars or their trainers. But they were still probably with Team Rocket, so he'd have to avoid them.
He looked around, torn between the need to hide and the need to find a route to the Silph building. Lightning flashed and something caught his eye; a building with a partially completed extension of some sort reaching out to the Silph building and an answering extension from Silph.
Ash hoped that it would prove to be a way in. He sprinted towards the building as fast as he could, not bothering with stealth.
"Primeape, open the doors!" Ash said, throwing a pokéball as he got next to the building. White light blazed and Primeape leapt forward. A pair of glass doors blocked the entrance, swiftly and noisily removed by Primeape's fists. Ash and Pikachu dashed through the wreckage while Primeape scratched the top of his head and looked at the rubble.
Did ya even see if they were locked first? The fighting-type asked.
No, Ash said, recalling Primeape without breaking stride. He dashed through a fancy looking lobby, ignoring the rows of elevators, and ran into a hallway by the corner of the building. Looking around Ash found a staircase by the side of the building where he had seen the bridge. Yanking the door open, he sprinted up the stairs, his legs burning.
Rapidly he ascended several flights before he developed a stitch in his side. Legs burning, Ash slumped down in a corner, gulping down lungfuls of air. Pikachu jumped off of his shoulder and peered downstairs, cheeks sparking as he prepared to shock any potential pursuers.
Ash had to stay like that for a full minute, the knowledge that there might be a squad of Rocket trainers bothering him like a sharp pebble in his shoe. Once he was able to calm his breathing and his heart rate, he began to climb the stairs again, quietly this time.
A faint sound caught his attention and he leaned over the staircase and peered up. His eyes caught the slightest hint of movement from much further up.
Pikachu, Ash whispered out of the corner of his mouth. There's someone already here.
Team Rocket? The electric type whispered back.
Probably, Ash replied. Just get ready. He also grabbed two pokéballs from his belt and then continued to creep up the stairs.
Several stories later he suddenly peeked out and saw the bluish wing of a golbat swiftly withdrawing over the railing. Remembering how Brock's zubat was able to scout with its echolocation, Ash was sure that the golbat and its trainer had to know he was coming.
Ash let out a breath, realizing that there was no more call for stealth, and began to sprint up the stairs.
They're running up! A familiar sounding pokémon shouted from above, probably the golbat… Which meant….
Golbat? Ash cried out, sticking his head over the stair railing.
Wait… How do they know my name? Golbat said and then peaked out of the railing himself.
It's me, that's how! Ash said.
Oh. Oh! That's great! Golbat said. I'll just go let Leaf know that it's you…. wait a minute… SINCE WHEN CAN YOU SPEAK PROPERLY!
Do you have to do this with every pokémon you meet? Pikachu asked, jumping on the railing next to Ash.
I guess, Ash shrugged.
Ignore him for now! Pikachu shouted up.
"I recognize that pikachu," Leaf said and then stuck her head out over the railing. "Aaron!"
"It's Aaron?" Gary stuck his head over the railing too and Ash's vision suddenly became blurry.
You have Gary! Ash cried out and then began to run up the stairs once more, continuing on all fours once he stumbled. He dashed up several flights, rounded a corner and then nearly tackled Gary.
"You're code-switching again," Leaf remarked, while Ash swept Gary up in a bear hug.
"It's good to see you too buddy," Gary wheezed while Ash inadvertently squeezed the air out of him.
"You're okay!" Ash said, resting his chin on Gary's shoulder. "I was so worried about you!"
"I was worried about me too," Gary said. "Can you loosen up a bit? I kinda need to breathe."
"Sorry," Ash said sheepishly, letting him go and taking a step back. Gary then held his arms out.
"I heard about your bet with Leaf," Gary explained when Ash gave him a quizzical look. "She already got the first hug."
"Oh!" Ash said and then exchanged a mutual hug with Gary instead of the one-sided embrace he had originally engulfed the other boy in.
"You know, several times during this ordeal I was thinking that this is the sort of mess that you tend to get into," Gary said once they were done hugging. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you in the middle of this."
"Hey!" Ash protested. "This time it was you who got in the mess, I'm part of the cleaners like Leaf!"
"I mean, the two of us sort of abandoned our unit so that we could sneak into the center of enemy territory," Leaf replied, giving an unsure hand wiggle. "I think that qualifies as a separate mess."
"Well, it's still not the mess Gary was in," Ash said, turning back to the other boy. "Even if we only got into our mess 'cause of Gary talking on the radio."
"I'm glad that had some positive dividends for me," Gary sighed. "I had a place to hide until I decided to be noble and stupid like you, Aaron."
"Awww, you called him noble," Leaf cooed.
"And stupid!" Gary said quickly, flushing. "Stupid was the important part of that sentence."
"I don't think it was..." Leaf said in a sing-song voice.
"Quiet, you," Gary's cheeks were scarlet.
"How did you get a radio?" Ash asked. "Did you steal one from Team Rocket?"
"What, no," Gary shook his head. "It was all I could do just to eavesdrop on them. There's no way I could've brought myself to steal a radio from them. There was just a radio station in the building, a local branch of the Pokémon Talk Radio company."
"Really? But wasn't that the Silph building?" Ash tilted his head. "What's another company doing there?"
"Silph doesn't use all of the skyscraper," Leaf explained. "They're the owners, that's why it's named after them, but they rent out floors and offices to a number of other companies. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a few more radio stations or some television stations that rent space in that building; they can broadcast by attaching antennas to the tower on top of the building."
Ash frowned as she spoke, his brow furrowed.
"Gary, you said that whatever they were doing to the gym leader, they were doing it from there, right?" Ash asked.
"They mentioned something about controlling her, yes," Gary replied. "And they were moving psychic pokémon into the building, so yeah, it seems like they're doing something to her from there."
"Do you think they have an antenna on the tower too?" Ash asked.
Leaf and Gary looked at each other.
"Now that I think of it, they might," Leaf said. "It could be the reason they set up their headquarters there."
"It makes sense," Gary mused, "but we can't know for sure. I didn't have a chance to see what's going on with whatever they're using to control Sabrina. They could've chosen the Silph building for other purposes."
"But it fits what we know about the building's infrastructure and the resources you reported being moved there," Leaf replied. "It's also a building that everyone has significant interest in, sooner or later our forces would've investigated it. The fact that Team Rocket would've known it means that whatever they're gaining by having their headquarters and their control apparatus in the building outweighs what they would've gained by hiding their headquarters in another location-"
"That still applies even if they aren't using the building's antenna to broadcast whatever they're using to control Sabrina!" Gary retorted. "There could be multiple other reasons, such as easy access to immobile equipment-"
"Not sure you two should be doing this now," Ash interrupted, stepping between the two. "Besides, we can always check by seeing how mad Team Rocket gets by destroying the tower thing."
Leaf gave him a strange look while Gary put his face in his palm, pinched his nose, and groaned, "Oh no."
"Oh, right," Ash said, looking between the two of them. "I've been thinking, why didn't you declare Leaf your rival too, Gary? You two like to compete a lot too!"
"Uh…" Gary looked over at Leaf, blushed, and then looked away. Leaf just looked away, her own face flushed.
"Not right now, Aaron," Gary said, not looking at Leaf.
"Yeah, as you said, we've got other things to worry about," Leaf added, not looking at Gary.
"Oh, yeah," Ash nodded. "They're probably in the building now."
"Who is?" Gary asked.
"The Rockets who were on the street," Ash said matter-of-factly. "I think they were chasing me… or going to attack Brock and Misty. One of the two."
Oh, fuck, Pikachu slapped himself in the forehead. How did I forget about them? Am I as much of an idiot as he is?"
Given that he can talk properly are you sure you should be calling him an idiot? Golbat asked.
Why stop now? Pikachu shrugged.
Since when can he speak properly? Eevee asked. He never showed any signs of that when I met him.
He keeps it hidden until he decides to torment some poor innocent pokémon with his 'talent', Pikachu said, complete with air quotes.
"Brock and Misty… wait, no," Leaf shook her head. "They weren't after you, they're after us. It's pretty obvious that I came from this building when I rescued Gary. They'll be searching for us. Golbat, can you see if they're already in the building?"
Golbat nodded and then flew off to do reconnaissance. He returned almost immediately, nodding.
"Which floor?" Leaf asked. Golbat squeaked once and Leaf nodded. "Are they heading for this stairwell?" She asked next.
Golbat shook his head.
"Are they heading for a different stairwell?"
Golbat shook his head again.
"Does it look like they're investigating to see where Aaron went?"
This time Golbat nodded.
"Then we've got time," Ash said, pounding his fist into his palm. "We can plan!"
"I've only got Eevee and Squirtle with me," Gary said. "I can't contribute much."
"Two pokémon can do a lot!" Ash exclaimed. "And you can give them all your focus instead of splitting it up!"
"Yes, but what should he do with that attention?" Leaf asked. "Should we try to fight them in the stairwell? We'd have the high ground."
"Maybe," Ash said, looking around, rubbing his chin in thought. He was absolutely sure it didn't help by now, but other humans did it a lot so maybe it was something cultural that he missed growing up in the wild. "But, isn't that too obvious?"
"Well, what would you do instead?" Gary asked. "Wait… I think I know where you're going…"
"I'm thinking ambush," Ash said. "What if… what if we pretended to run into a hall and fight them there, so they can't all come at once? But we leave some pokémon hiding further up and they can attack them while they're fighting us!"
"That's not a bad idea," Leaf said. "We can use your pidgeot to fly them down so that they don't have to run."
"Pikachu," Ash turned to address his pokémon. "I want you to go with Pidgeot. I want you to hit them all with a Thunder Wave when it's time."
Well, you'll only be out of sight for a couple of minutes…. Pikachu sighed. Oh wait, that's more than enough time for you to do something stupid.
"I'll send Impact," Leaf said, grabbing a pokéball. "He can deal with any rearguard."
"Eevee, you go with them too," Gary said to the normal type. "Do your best to protect their pokémon."
If anyone hurts you again while I'm gone, I'll rip them to shreds, Eevee said, nodding.
White light blazed as Ash and Leaf sent out Pidgeot and Impact. Pikachu and Eevee jumped on Pidgeot's back and the flying-type grabbed Impact by the shoulders and then hoisted them all up several flights of stairs so that they could lay in wait.
"Okay, if we're going to lure them into this ambush, then we're going to need to let them know where we are," Leaf said. "And what pokémon are we going to use to fight them in the hallway?"
"Squirtle obviously," Gary rolled his eyes.
"Yes, I know you'll use Squirtle," Leaf shot him a glare. "I was talking to Aaron."
"I'll use Charmander 'cause of his type, since Gary's using Squirtle," Ash said, grabbing Charmander's pokéball.
"Then I'll use Vines to complete the type triangle," Leaf nodded, grabbing Vines's pokéball.
"We should drop something when Team Rocket's near the stairwell entrance," Gary said. "Something loud, but something that would make sense for us to drop."
"Let's see," Leaf's tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth as she rummaged through her bag. "I've got a potion that's mostly empty. Would that work?"
"I think so," Gary nodded.
"Golbat, can you warn us when they're near the entrance?" Leaf asked. "Even if it doesn't seem like they intend to come in."
Golbat nodded and then flew off to monitor the bottom of the stairwell with his echolocation. More white light blazed as Vines and Charmander were sent out. Everyone stood around, waiting for Golbat's signal. When a minute of waiting had passed the humans all took a seat.
"Are you going to be okay?" Leaf asked Gary. The other boy had huddled up, his knees to his chest, his head hanging down. From what Ash could see, Gary's face had gone very pale.
"Yeah," Gary said faintly. "I'll be fine once the fighting starts. Just give me a minute."
Leaf and Ash scooted over to either side of him.
"Can I hug you?" They both said at the same time. Gary let out a helpless giggle from inside his huddle.
"Sure," he said. Ash and Leaf both slung an arm around his shoulders and leaned against him.
"Thanks guys," Gary said. "But really, just keep talking to me. I didn't talk to anyone until Eevee and Squirtle broke me out of there."
"Can you tell us how you got out?" Ash asked. Leaf shot him a sharp look and he quickly added, "If you're okay I mean."
"There's not much to say," Gary said and then quickly explained his escape and his adventures in the Silph Tower.
"And then Leaf swung by and pulled me out of there," Gary finished. "And that's all there is to it."
"Hmm…" Ash's brow was furrowed. "It doesn't sound like there are too many of them in there."
"Are you kidding me?" Gary's eyebrows shot up. "There are tons of them inside the building. "I saw loads of squads and technicians, and I didn't even catch a glimpse of their command center, so who knows how many people they've got in there."
"Yeah, but they weren't in all the floors you ran through," Ash said. "It's mostly empty in there."
"It's a huge building," Leaf cut in. "They could have hundreds of members in there and most floors would still be empty."
"I guess," Ash shrugged. "But it means they probably don't have anyone on the top floors."
"Why does it matter?" Leaf asked.
"'Cause I'm thinking of a way to get at that antenna, after we deal with the Rockets here," Ash told her. "If I do that we can win sooner and people will stop getting hurt."
"I know we were talking about them having an antenna on the tower on the roof of the building, but I didn't think you would be planning on taking care of that yourself," Leaf said, wincing. "Trying to destroy that by yourself would be suicide. They will probably have anti-air teams on the roof-"
"But they don't have anyone on the top floors below them," Ash said. "If I'm quick I can blow it up before they can stop me, if I get under them."
"Aaron, that's…" Gary raised his head out of his huddle so he could massage his temple. "That's… I don't want to have to go rescue you too."
"Yeah, I don't want to need rescue," Ash said. "Anyway, you can get Brock and Misty to help me. And maybe that Karen they were talking about too."
"Wait, Karen? As in the last remaining member of the Johto Elite Four, the dark-type specialist Karen?" Leaf asked, leaning past Gary. "She's here?"
"I don't know," Ash shrugged. "Brock just said something about having Karen's people pick me up."
"I guess that explains why it wasn't harder to get through the city," Leaf said, leaning back. "Her people must have been disrupting Team Rocket's operations."
"Wait, isn't there another member of the Johto Elite Four who survived?" Gary asked.
"You mean Will?" Leaf said. "No, he was next in line to join them, but hadn't quite qualified."
"How much longer until they find us?" Ash asked, looking down the stairs. "Are they taking the elevators instead?"
"That's not a bad question," Leaf said. "Golbat!" She called out and then the bat-like pokémon fluttered up to them. "Is Team Rocket trying to take the elevators?"
Golbat shook his head.
"What are they doing then?" Leaf groaned. "Why can't they ever be lazy when it's convenient for us?"
They were talking on their radios, Golbat said, landing on the railing and holding a wing up to the side of his head like it was an arm holding a phone.
"Maybe they're on their radios?" Ash pretended to guess with a shrug.
"Is that what you were trying to communicate?" Leaf asked and Golbat nodded. "Good job, Aaron," she said to Ash.
Hey! He can speak properly! That's cheating! Golbat protested.
"If they're talking to their bosses, we won't know what they'll do next," Ash groaned, ignoring the pokémon.
"Or if they're calling in reinforcements," Leaf frowned. "We need some way to draw them into our ambush before they can bring in more people."
"We're going to need some bait then," Gary said, pale and trembling. "I'll go down-"
"No!" Leaf and Ash exclaimed in unison.
"We're not putting you in harm's way without us again," Leaf said.
"Yes! And you'd get tired going down all those stairs and back," Ash pointed out.
"Let's do this instead," Leaf said, grabbing the mostly empty potion bottle. "Golbat, next time they're by the door, drop this. That should get them moving."
On it, Golbat said, grabbing the drained potion bottle with his foot and then flying back down. The three pre-teens huddled back up while they waited for Golbat to return. After a couple of minutes Golbat winged his way back up.
"They're coming?" Leaf asked.
They're on their way! Golbat said, nodding. Leaf nodded in return and then pointed up towards where Pidgeot was hiding. Golbat flew up to join the ambushers.
"Get ready," Ash hissed, getting into a crouch. Leaf shooed Gary back to by the hallway entrance where Squirtle was waiting and then took up a guard position in front of him, Vines's pokéball in hand.
It took another minute for the Rockets to be audible as they jogged up the stairs. There were about six of them with a collection of growlithes, sandshrews, tentacools, and machops. When they got close, Leaf tapped Ash on the shoulder, and jerked her head towards the hallway and then put a finger over her lips. Guessing her meaning Ash snuck back to the hallway.
After another few seconds Leaf shouted "Shit!" with a perfectly calm expression on her face and then ran back to the hallway with them.
"Just making sure they get the right floor," she told Ash and Gary. "Come on, let's go further back."
The sounds of Team Rocket running up the stairs grew louder as the trio dashed back. Ash saw a growlithe crest the stairs by the open door.
"Charmander!" He cried out, throwing a pokéball.
"Vines!" Leaf shouted.
"Now, Squirtle!" Gary yelled.
White light blazed as Vines and Charmander materialized next to Squirtle. Team Rocket burst onto the landing by the hallway entrance, their pokémon forming up in front of them. Before they could say anything, Ash, Gary and Leaf jumped into action.
"Ember!" Ash ordered, standing behind Charmander.
"Bubblebeam!" Gary commanded, pointing at the lead growlithe.
"Razor Leaf!" Leaf instructed.
Deadly greenery, blasting bubbles, and small flames filled the hall. Team Rocket's pokémon met it with flames and bubbles of their own and added blasts of sand into the mix. Two machops began to weave through the attacks, rushing in towards the children.
"Charmander, Fire Bloom!" Ash ordered.
"Squirtle, Floating Mines!" Gary declared.
"Dart Leaves!" Leaf shouted.
Razor Leaves curled and compressed into large needles that shot out from under Vines's bulb, while fat lazy bubbles floated through the air from Squirtle. Charmander sucked in a deep breath, exhaled a small part, took another breath to mix more oxygen in with the flames he was producing and then exhaled once more, releasing a plume of fire into the hallway.
One machop dodged the plant darts, but the motions carried him into one of the slow-moving bubbles from Squirtle. It exploded with surprising force, hurling the machop into the wall where Vines seized the opportunity to nail it with more deadly darts.
The other machop was caught by surprise in Charmander's plume of flame. He threw himself away from the fire and didn't notice another one of Squirtle's Floating Mines. It exploded in his face and sent him careening into another mine. He was sent flying back down the hall.
But Team Rocket had used the opportunity to seize the initiative. Now they were the ones whose pokémon were blasting attacks down the hall and Charmander, Vines, and Squirtle were the ones who were forced to meet it.
"Now!" Ash shouted, hoping that if Pidgeot wasn't already on her way then she or Golbat would hear him and get their tushes in gear.
His call turned out to be unnecessary as Pidgeot and her passengers arrived just before he managed to finish his shout. Pikachu led the way, cheeks blazing with galvanic power. Rings of electricity engulfed the Rocket squad, the people and pokémon's limbs locking in place as spark crackled around them. Every last member of the enemy squad was paralyzed, save the sandshrews.
They charged at Pikachu only for Impact to jump in front of them, a red fist blurring as they beat the sandshrews into and through the floor, plaster and plastic shattering as the ground types were pummeled down.
"Were there any others?" Leaf asked Golbat once Impact was done with his job. The bat-like pokémon shook his head.
"You two get out of here," Ash said, grabbing another pokéball off his belt. "Find Misty and Brock. If they're done fighting, tell them…" Ash paused, unsure what he should ask Misty and Brock via proxy. They could escort Leaf and Gary to safety, but Ash knew he might need their help. Leaf and Gary could go hide, but Brock and Misty might try to stop him from attacking the antenna.
"Tell them," Ash went on, "to call that Karen person to pick you two up and then come help me. I'll be trying to get to the roof of the Silph building."
"You can't be thinking of going there alone," Gary said, his face pale once more.
"That's stupid," Leaf protested. "Just wait for me to get Gary someplace safe or wait for Misty and Brock to back you up!"
"No," Ash shook his head. "You got to him first, you make sure he's safe. And if you hurry and tell Brock and Misty about this, then I won't be doing this alone. They're only a block west of here."
Leaf groaned.
"You two are absolutely stupid," she said. "What is with this sudden obsession with these sacrifice plays?"
"Hey!" Gary protested. "I didn't have much choice! I had to warn everyone about what was happening!"
"I was able to beat…. Uh… that woman," Ash said, realizing that he didn't know the name of the woman from the Viridian Forest that he had also fought in Saffron. "And I don't intend to get caught or hurt or anything."
You never do, Pikachu hissed.
"Look, Aaron," Gary said, "can't we just wait until Brock and Misty are ready instead?"
"We?" Ash shot Gary a sharp look. "You're not going too, no way!"
"If you just wait a few minutes then you'll have some backup in case something goes wrong," Gary responded.
"If I wait any longer more people could die!" Ash shouted back.
"If you go now, you could die, fail, and make it take longer to stop Team Rocket!" Gary snapped back. "If there's an Elite here, then the situation's as under control as it could get. You-"
"We don't have time for this," Leaf said, eyeing Charmander and Pikachu and then sighing. "And I don't think I can force you to drop this reckless endeavor either, so I guess I'll just have to tell Misty to get on with the necromancy."
"I'll be fine," Ash said. Team Rocket had already failed to kill him four or five time by now, if one counted the events of that day. He felt no reason to fear them.
"You better," Gary said darkly.
"One block west of here," Leaf nodded. "Come on Gary, let's get going."
AN: I'd like to thank Amationary for beta reading.
Always nice to write emotional moments. Deadly battles can be fun, but they're so much better when they serve to set up a hug and it's fun when a hug is used to setup a different sort of emotional moment that is used to set up a deadly battle. It's an endless cycle of drama.
Speaking of drama, the previous hiatus was due to family drama and now there's going to be another hiatus due to work drama! My work schedule is going to be different for the last few weeks of June and I don't know how that will be impacting my writing, so I'm going on another release hiatus. The next chapter of Symbiotic will come out on July 7th 2021
Anyway, don't forget to review. Concrit is welcome!