Cheers for the reviews. Means a lot. I really struggled with this chapter due to having to pad it out. Hopefully it reads Ok. I've decided to change a bit of Ash's anime route to fit what I need from my story. It should match back up later on but I've had to do a bit or research into the actual timelines for some of the events that happen and I've had to adjust.
I own nothing
Chapter 6
Walking back Into Pokémon centre Ash made his way up stairs and let his mum know just what the challenge was and how he did.
"Blastoise did really well" Ash said, "he was at a disadvantage for the first challenge and still nearly won."
"Well done, Ash" Delia said "Oh by the way I received a phone call from Sarah before. Apparently, Zoe has put her house up for sale in Saffron and is due to move into the guest house on Saturday, but she's made it clear she wants to move to Pallet Town as soon as the houses are built."
"Why is she selling it and not renting it out" Ash asked curiously "I mean she's not going to be paying rent on the new house so this could be a chance for her to make some money. Or a place for Ava to inherit when she's older."
"I don't think she's thinking about that Ash" Delia said sadly "I think she's thinking this could be an entirely fresh start for her away from the bad memories of Saffron. Don't forget she was a victim of the psychics too and Ava could have been drawn into it. Plus, her mum and dad died in that house within the space of a few months of each other, so it doesn't exactly give her happy thoughts. So moving into the guest house is simply a stop gap until the houses in Pallet are done which should be in a few weeks time given how good they are."
"I expected that to be honest" Ash said "she's a young mum who has been living on her own now for years. I don't know what the deal is with the dad, but I know he's not in the picture so to suddenly having to rely on someone again must be annoying her or scary. Plus, as much as I've tried to keep the area secure at home, she would be alone after 9pm and it can be a bit scary. Until I start sending more Pokémon there to protect the place she's vulnerable and that's got to be in her mind too."
"You're not wrong" Delia said "I've considered offering her your room and the guest room until the house is built. What do you think?"
"That's a great idea actually" Ash said after thinking about it "run it by her and see what she says. We've still not resolved the situation with the AONB yet, they're apparently being very stubborn on how much I need to buy the place for so I've no idea how she'd be able to start her job by creating relationships with people who might not be there soon."
"What do you mean" Delia asked confused "it's pretty clear to me that the going price was around £1.8 million wasn't it? That's the discount you received so what's going on?"
"They're trying to pull a fast one by saying they've had the land re-valued since I've done it up and are demanding around £4 million because the value has increased. So, they're trying to get 20% off what the value would be now rather than what it was." Ash said "which legally they can't do as we still have the forms we bought it for with the original price on it. So, they're going to lose that argument and then demand £1.8 however Trevor is also arguing that given I've spent £2.2 million renovating the area I've more than paid the excess and they actually owe me money."
"Ash" Delia said pinching the bridge of her nose "why?"
"Oh, it's all for show really" Ash said "as soon as they drop it to the original £1.8 I'll pay that and be done with them because despite me paying more I just can't be bothered with them anymore. This is basically to show them that I'm not the thick little naïve kid they believe me to be and that I've got a bloody good lawyer. The sad thing is they do great work and I was really excited about working alongside them. I just wanted to help as best I could, and they tried to take the piss. I'm glad in a way though that I got to see their true colours before I couldn't back out of a plan they had. It's a life lesson I've learned the hard way."
"It's all fun and games, isn't it?" Delia said wryly "Anyway, back onto Zoe. You sure you'd be ok with her and Ava moving in?"
"Yeah of course" Ash said "I mean by the time I'm back in Kanto the houses will have been built so it wouldn't impact me, would it? Just do me a favour if she says yes and pack up the things in the glass cabinets in my room please. I know Ava wouldn't mean to break things but kids are very rambunctious and accidents can happen."
"I will do" Delia said laughing remembering how boisterous Ash was as a child. He was barely in the house most times but when he was he couldn't sit still unless he was threatened with not being able to visit Sams ranch. "I'll go to your house tomorrow to see her and help her move in. Have fun wherever you're going Ashy."
"Love you lots and lots like jelly tots mum" Ash said hanging up and spending the night on his talk. He would have to let Silph know soon as no doubt they'd want to be a part of it, plus they could organise it for him better than he could and save him a lot of trouble. He was still getting requests for advertising items they were creating but as he'd already done his quota for the year they'd have to wait until next year before he did any more. Hopefully he could get them out of the way in March and have the rest of the year Silph free. He knew he should be grateful for how much they were paying him to do these commercials, the money was nothing to be sneezed at but he wasn't a social person and that one week of filming was more than enough to come to a decision that acting wasn't for him. He was a trainer and if he could establish himself as a recluse he'd happily live his life out of the spotlight.
The next day Ash left Mikan and headed Northeast towards Mandarin Island North releasing Charizard, Blastoise and Lapras as they headed out to sea. "Charizard, we won't be making land for at least six hours. We're heading Northeast so this is the perfect opportunity for you to master Solarbeam and Draco Meteor or at least get used to using them. We have likely a few months before the championship battle so I know you'll have it down by then. We'll meet you on Mandarin later on pal." Nodding Charizard flapped his wings and soared eastwards where there was a clear open expanse of water that he could train the two high-powered moves without a chance of hurting anyone.
"Ok Lapras, were going to carry on with your breathing exercises for the first hour we'll rest the second, we'll practice Hydro Pump the third, rest the fourth and for the fifth hour you can practice speed swimming. Eventually you'll be extremely fast on water hopefully by the time we get you back to your mother you'll be as fast as Blastoise." Nodding she travelled along with them about a hundred yards away, making sure to keep them in sight and practiced what Ash asked. And for every hour she rested she talked with Ash and Pikachu and learned more about his plans.
"You're creating a place Lapras could live?" Lapras asked hopefully.
"I'm not certain on that actually" Ash said "the cave system I've installed are artificial, but they're designed for Pokémon such as yourself to breed in safety. The issue is I don't know what your living habits are like, whether you need ice to feel comfortable, whether you sleep underwater, how you breed, how you live or even how many of you there are in your pod. So yes, my home is a place where you could live however I don't know if you could survive comfortably."
"Oh" Lapras said thinking deeply "I think there were around twenty of us in my pod, five are my age. We are mostly all females but there are two males both who are my age. From what my mother told me we don't have a home, we're always on the move and we sleep on top of the water in a group with two always on watch for predators. Mum always told me to make sure I stayed as near to the middle of the pod as possible when it was her turn to watch."
Ash was deeply worried by what Lapras had just said but didn't let on to Lapras just how worried he was. "What about your father?" Ash asked.
"Father was caught by a trainer before I was born" Lapras said sadly "we only just escaped with our lives according to mother."
"At what age do you normally leave your parents or become an adult?" Pikachu asked concerned.
"Usually our seventh winter from what mum told me. But because there are so few of us we don't feel safe leaving the pod" Lapras said "except the males. They leave as soon as they become adults."
It was during her speed training hour that Ash finally voiced his thoughts to Blastoise and Pikachu.
"Twenty percent of their worldwide population is her pod guys" he said shaking his head "That's shocking. And with no adult male in their pod, it's no wonder their population is so low."
"What can we do Ash?" Pikachu asked, "despite them being endangered they're still apparently being hunted."
"I'm going to offer them the chance of staying at my home" Ash said "at least until their numbers are up and their pod is bigger. There must be a place where their population is being monitored or at least a Lapras reserve somewhere."
"Doesn't Lorelei have a Lapras?" Blastoise asked "how did she manage to get one legally?"
"I believe it saved her life when she was a child about thirty years ago" Ash said "she's actually from somewhere in these Islands so the Lapras could have been a part of the same pod Lapras is part of. I believe it was somewhere in the Sevii Archipelago which is about two hundred miles East of here. They were a part of the Orange Islands until around a hundred and fifty years ago when they received independence from Kanto. Anyway, it refused to leave her side and as they weren't endangered then she kept it as her starter."
"Maybe she's someone you can ask about the Lapras situation?" Pikachu asked.
"I had thought of it" Ash said "and given the location she'd be the best person to speak to. I'll message her when we get to Mandarin to see what she says."
"It's a bad situation isn't it?" Blastoise asked looking over at Lapras who was doing swimming sprints around fifty meters away from them "I'm glad we're helping her to help herself at least. Maybe that's what we could do?"
"Go on" Ash said listening.
"Well, they may not want to be confined to one place so before they set out on their yearly migration our home could be their haven where we can help train them to look after themselves" Blastoise said "Pallet Town River runs directly into the sea, and if they head east from Pallet Town Harbour it's about three days travel to reach the south coast of Valencia and the start of their migration."
"How do you know that?" Ash asked incredulously.
"Well, the last few weeks I've asked to stay at home haven't I while you went and did your thing getting everything ready before we set out" Blastoise said "As soon as you told us what Sam had asked you to do, I became curious so I decided to explore while you were away and made the trip to Valencia and back inside a week."
"Oh, did you" Ash asked laughingly "well you're all able to do what you want within reason. And it is very good information to get. It all adds up Blastoise. But you made a good suggestion too, I think they'll be far more comfortable with that than being hunted all the time. I'll get more information from Professor Ivy and Lorelei first before asking her. I don't want to distract her from her training."
They all fell silent as Lapras came speeding back over and joined Blastoise's pace as they headed towards Mandarin Island North. Ash had no idea what was on this island, to him it was just a stop gap a place to rest up and heal before he carried on North on another errand for Sam, one he was actually excited about seeing himself to be honest. Before long the island came into view and hearing a roar behind him, he swivelled on the back of Blastoise and saw his big red dragon flying towards them. As soon as he was in range Ash called him back into his Pokeball before they reached the beach. Recalling Lapras and Blastoise he headed down the jetty and towards the Pokémon centre but no sooner had he stepped off the jetty than Pikachu grabbed his head. Deeply concerned Ash pulsed out his aura and covered both him and Pikachu which made the headache recede as fast as it came.
"What the hell was that?" Pikachu said shaking his head "and why did that feel familiar?"
"Psychic control" Ash said grimly "and given how much of a tolerance you've built up over the last two years I'd say this was a pretty strong Pokémon or at least a Pokémon that's being aided, perhaps by another psychic Pokémon. You ok now?"
"Yeah" Pikachu said as Ash gently released his protective shield. Pikachu shook his head and glared towards the east in anger "It's coming from over there, Ash."
"I know" he replied "but until we get more information we cant rush over there. We'll head towards the Pokémon centre and see what we can find out."
Walking off the jetty Ash witnessed several Pokémon actively attacking trainers who could be seen trying to reason with them. One man in particular was surrounded by his three Magnemite and shocked until he passed out before they headed east. Another had her gloom spray her with acid in the face causing her to scream in agony before it too headed east. Taking action Ash sprinted forwards releasing Blastoise who held his head for a few seconds before coming to "psychics again?" he asked looking at Ash
"Yeah, so it would seem, but we need to help this lady. Can you spray her face with Water Gun while I look through my bag for a cloth. Her Gloom attacked her with a Sludge attack before it ran away east." Ash replied "hopefully we can save her eyes." digging into his bag he brought out a cloth and a bottle of cleansing fluid that he used regularly on Pokémon that trained with his Venusaur. It was specially designed with Pecha and Lum berries to counteract any form of toxin. Seeing her face clear Ash gently held her head and wiped it across her eyes.
"Hold still" Ash commanded "this will sting but hopefully we can save your eyesight. That Sludge attack was very strong. Squeeze my knee if you understand" he finished placing her hand on his knee. Feeling a slight pressure on his leg, he continued wiping her eyes and applying the serum he had created and soon her eyelids cleared of the purple hue that had started to crust. "don't open your eyes just yet. I'm going to carry you to the nearest Pokémon Centre where hopefully Joy can call a doctor to come and see to you. Blastoise, can you carry that man over there please, his Magnemite attacked him." Packing up his things he placed the lady's bag over his head and scooped down to pick her up. She was surprisingly light and so it didn't take long for them to be making their way towards the building with the big red roof. Walking in he was surprised to see it full of people shouting at two officer Jennys.
"Pi" Ash said "use Thundershock on the ceiling. We don't have time for this." Pikachu nodded and did causing people to exclaim in surprise and turn around to the newcomer.
"All of you move" Ash said walking forwards and gently placing the lady on a couch, using her bag to prop her head up "now keep your eyes closed for a minute, I'm going to use the serum again to make sure we got rid of as much poison as possible." turning to Blastoise who had put the man down on another couch he pulled out the Pokeblocks he had used on Valencia Island and ordered a person to come forward "these are designed for Pokémon but they work just as well on humans he's been paralysed by his own Magnemite and needs healing. I didn't have time to attend to both as this lady urgently needs care." the man walked forward and took the box wondering what to do "take one out and crumble it in your hands and put it in his mouth, here's a bottle of water too. I need you to feed him all of it." Nodding the man rolled up his sleeves and did as he was asked. Seeing that the man was being attended to he shouted towards Joy "can you ring a human doctor to get here as soon as possible please? She was sprayed in the eyes with a Sludge attack from a Gloom."
"I'm a doctor" the man said who was attending to the paralysed man "the name's Bill. Tell me what happened."
Briefly Ash explained what happened at the Jetty and what he saw happen. "I'm assuming that's why all these people are shouting at Jennys, their Pokémon attacked or left them too?"
"You would be right Ash" one Jenny said walking through the crowd to him "i do wonder why yours aren't going crazy though" she finished looking warily at Pikachu and Blastoise.
"We've trained for nearly two years to resist psychic attacks" Ash said wryly as he gently opened the ladies' eyes and cleared the underside of her eyelids. "Hello, you have very pretty eyes. Now the serum shouldn't sting but it will make you slightly uncomfortable if you're not used to anything touching them."
"Psychic attack?" Jenny sked confused "that must be why Gastly hasn't been affected then."
"Yeah" Ash said "whoever is doing this tried to take control of both Pikachu and Blastoise at the Jetty but they failed. We've long since been able to resist them. The issue we've had though is that it was a close thing with Pikachu until I intervened, which is worrying. Whoever is doing this has help because there isn't a psychic in the world that is powerful enough to ensnare us which means several psychics in concert or a machine is being used with a transmitter."
"You seem to have a lot of knowledge about this considering you've been on the island less than an hour." the other Jenny said walking forward taking notes.
"We've experienced this before in Lavender Town in Kanto" Ash said wryly holding up his fingers for the woman to count them out loud to him "that time was a Spiritomb's psychic powers being enhanced by a transmitter on Lavender Tower. We captured the Spiritomb and destroyed the antenna in the process and released the people of Lavender in the process. And then we did the same again about a week later in Saffron where we cleared out the abomination Sabrina and her ilk which had taken control of the entire city. It's the main reason I'm sponsored by Silph as their CEO was under her control for years and she used that influence to control everyone's mind and thoughts."
"Can you sort this out?" the woman asked quietly looking at Ash pleadingly "please, I just want my Gloom back."
"I planned to" Ash said grimly squeezing her hand "I know roughly the direction but Mandarin is massive so it could take me days to find out where they're located. I have an idea on what to do but I'm not happy about it."
"What is it?" Jenny asked.
"We're going to need a volunteer to let their Pokémon get controlled and then we follow it" Ash said which immediately caused arguments. Having had enough Ash stood up and used an Aura Sphere on the ceiling causing silence.
"Ash can you please be careful?" Joy asked from behind the counter "We do need our roof after all"
"Sorry" Ash said contritely "but it's the best option we have. Gastly can follow it and we'll head to the rescue."
"Why don't you volunteer one of your Pokémon" A man asked belligerently.
"Are you wilfully deaf? Ash said staring the man down "I've literally just said my Pokémon have trained to resist psychic attacks you moron."
"Ok" Jenny said standing between them "calm down the both of you. Now, I'll volunteer Growlithe. Maggie, ask your Gastly to follow her and we'll wait for him to come back. The rest of you go home, and hopefully your Pokémon will be returned to you tomorrow morning" before anyone could argue again she continued "This is not up for debate folks. It's very late in the evening as it is and Nurse Joy needs to be able to do her job. We have no idea how long Gastly will be gone so all of you clear out. Walter and Leslie you and stay here to recover, Bill can you stay too to make sure they're ok?"
"Sure" Bill said standing up and helping Leslie to her feet "come on. You'll be ok. Walter can you walk? Good your room is next door to Leslies. Becca I'll see you later sweetheart" he finished to Officer Jenny who nodded and kissed him before Ash, Becca and Maggie walked outside. Releasing her Growlithe Maggie saw the happy slobbering face of her dog change into a feral malicious look before it bounded off towards the east. Gastly became invisible and followed causing them all to release the breaths they didn't know they were holding in. Walking back inside Ash handed his Pokémon over to Joy who handed them to Chansey who walked off with them.
"How come Chansey isn't affected?" Becca asked confused as she saw the nurse Pokémon walk away.
"Because of their nature" Ash said "even though they have the best HP of any known Pokémon they're not fantastic battlers and therefore have been bred to be healers. It's not something that's widely known to be honest as no doubt there would be some people outraged that their DNA has been altered intentionally. Whoever is doing this wants Pokémon to be able to battle with it seems hence why Chansey isn't affected. She literally has no desire to battle so in her mind helping other Pokémon get better and do her job has created a protection in her mind."
"How do you know this?" Maggie asked "and why don't we?"
"Did you ever think to ask before today?" Ash asked "most people don't want to know the dark secrets of Pokémon breeding until it affects them. For centuries Chansey have been bred to be healers and no one seems to have asked how or why. We just know that with every Nurse Joy there's either a Happiny, Chansey or Blissey because there just is. And we don't wonder about it. If it makes you feel any better they're more than happy to take care of Pokémon as it comes natural to them."
"I mean" Maggie started "It's not fantastic news but at least they're happy."
"I suggest we all get some sleep" Ash said standing up "we have no idea how long Gastly is going to be but more importantly we have no idea when the next opportunity for sleep will be. Goodnight ladies."
Standing up Ash took the key from Joy and walked up to his room where he let the rest of his Pokémon out and explained the situation. Nodding they let themselves be recalled and Ash went to sleep. Four hours later Ash received a phone call from the reception desk which woke him up. Getting dressed he walked downstairs to see a very groggy pair of Jennys nursing two cups of coffees and muttering about ungodly hours. Chuckling he walked over to Joy and took back his Pokémon and sat down as he listened to Gastly try and converse with Maggie.
"I have no idea what you're saying" Maggie said, "but I assume you know where Growlithe is?"
"He's saying that there's a building about an hour east of here that has a satellite dish on it." Ash said taking pity on her "the Pokémon are all in there."
"But that's the new radio building" Joy said coming over to join them "around a month ago two people appeared and told us that they'd received permission from the authorities to build a radio tower to help give the people in the Orange Islands help in receiving news from the mainland much easier. They said there's four of these buildings going up on the furthest Islands North, South, East and West in the Orange Islands. Whether that's true or not I don't know but since the building was finished a week ago we've heard nothing from them."
"Seems like you've been had" Ash said "It was clearly for this and maybe this is the first time they've tried this here and you've been unlucky enough to be the test subjects. Either way we now know where they are."
"So, what do we do?" Maggie asked, "we don't have the manpower to assault it and any Pokémon we use will be turned as soon as we release them."
"I'll do it" Ash said standing up "My Pokémon are more than strong enough to take whoever is doing this on. You and Gastly could help actually by taking out the radio tower. It may prove enough of a distraction so I can enter the building and take down the psychic involved."
"It's the only choice we have really isn't it" Becca asked "let's go then" she said standing up. Walking outside the two Jennys got into their car while Ash released Charizard. Taking flight, they headed east to where the problem was coming from and soon enough a building appeared with a huge satellite dish attached to the side of it. Whispering in Charizards ear what he had planned he jumped off in front of the gates and waited. Charizard took flight and circled the building waiting for the signal. Soon enough the two Jennys appeared and Ash stepped forward and released Machamp.
"We need this this gate removing pal" Ash said cheerfully "have at it."
Grinning almost as cheerfully Machamp stepped forward and flexed his arms before they started to glow and in one four-armed punch delivered a devastating Cross Chop sending the gate flying backwards with an almighty crash. Walking forwards Ash smiled at the camera over the door and waved.
"I don't know if you can hear me in there, but whoever is behind the theft of the Pokémon in the town you have a minute to walk out of here and give yourselves up. If not, we come in and forcefully get you out." Ash said smiling and sitting down cross legged.
Inside the building Butch and Cassidy awoke sharply as the screech of a gate crashed to the floor. Heading over to the computer they turned it on and accessed the camera feed and what they saw made Butch crap his pants.
"That's Ketchum" he said fearfully "why is he here?"
"I don't know" Cassidy said pulling her bandanna over the hole where her ruined eye was. "But we owe him for this." she said pointing at it.
"Are you forgetting that he's the current league champion?" Butch said looking at her in disbelief "not only that but he beat us last time and his Pokémon clearly aren't affected by Drowzee. And he didn't do that, Domino did"
"Irrelevant" Cassidy said sniffing disdainfully "we have every Pokémon here to attack him. I want the last thing he sees to be my high heel pierce his eye before it embeds in his brain." Turning around she ran off further into the building to the warehouse part where Drowzee was hooked up to the machine swaying his arms around. In front of the machine were around thirty Pokémon of all shapes and sizes.
"Drowzee" she shouted "in a few minutes a man is going to walk through that door. I want you to command everyone to attack not only him but his Pokémon too. Kill him." turning around she stood tall and waited for the inevitable to happen and was joined by a shaking Butch.
Outside Ash sighed and stood up. Nodding to Machamp he stepped out of the way and watched as his fighting Pokémon tore the doors off its hinges. Turning around to the two Jennys he shouted "do not come in here until that dish is down and i send one of my Pokémon out to get you. It's far too dangerous to enter without back up. Charizard is waiting for the dish to come down before he enters but I'd stay well back when he does." without waiting for a reply Ash walked slowly into the building releasing Venusaur and Blastoise. "Guys we're not holding back here. I suspect we're likely to be overwhelmed by many Pokémon but we're waiting on a signal from Charizard to let us know the tower is down. Once it is the Pokémon should return to normal and we can deal with whoever is behind this."
"What's the signal?" Machamp asked.
"You'll know" Ash said laughing "anyway let's go."
The next few minutes was quite nerve racking for Ash. He knew that all the rooms were emptied as there was a huge source of aura from the north-west of the building, but he had to make sure there was nothing in the rooms that would surprise them from behind. And slowly they continued on their march Ash taking up the lead with Pikachu on his shoulder, with the other three walking behind in single file. Soon enough they came to a set of double doors and Ash deciding to lighten the mood a little knocked on the door.
"Cassidy" Butch asked quietly "why did he knock?"
"Because he thinks it's funny" she snarled releasing her Raticate and Tentacruel with Butch mirroring her nervously and releasing his Primeape and Cloyster. "Anyone that comes through that door is an enemy. Kill them."
As the knocking continued Butch became more and more nervous until he was sweating. The knocking seemed to make Cassidy irater, and her face steadily became more purple until finally the knocking stopped and all the silence encompassed everyone.
"Hello" a voice came from the other side of the door "is anyone in? It's your friendly neighbourhood champion Ash Ketchum. Anyone in? I don't think anyone is in Pikachu or if they are they're being very rude."
"Enough of the games Ketchum" Butch screamed terrified.
"I recognise that voice Pi" Ash said "Is that Bitch? Pi, I think that's Bitch from Team Rocket."
"My name is Butch!" he screamed in response.
"His name's Butch? Who knew Pikachu, all this time I've been saying it wrong." Ash's voice said "Hey Potch, is Cassidy with you too? It'll be nice to look her in her pretty eyes again."
Cassidy just stood there seething with rage at not only the mockery but the reminder that she did used to have beautiful eyes. They were her favourite feature of herself her entire life and to lose one cost her more than people knew.
"Anyway, enough of this" Ash said as he opened the doors and walked in he and his Pokémon spread out as much as they could in the warehouse taking in how many opponents there were. He knew that his Pokémon were much more powerful than those assembled but looking around he knew it would be tough. Not many Pokémon could come away from a battling 24 Pokémon without taking a hit. "Domino you are there! How have you been? Never mind, I can see from your face that you're not happy to see me so I'll tell you what's going to happen. You're going to release those Pokémon you've stolen and then you're going to be taken to jail. If not, I can't guarantee you'll make it out of here in one piece. Something will get broken. So, what do you say?"
Domino walked a few steps forwards and glared at Ash "Drowzee" she said calmly "attack."
Immediately the Pokémon that were being controlled launched themselves forwards and started spewing out moves. Ash sprang into action giving his Pokémon commands "Pi, Venusaur take out the water types, Machamp take on the grass types, Blastoise deal with the water types. I'll take on Team Rocket." none of his Pokémon even acknowledged Ash's commands as they did exactly what he asked and soon the room was filled with pained shouts and screams as Ash and his Pokémon waded into battle. As much as Ash's Pokémon had trained they were still facing Pokémon that were under mind control and believed they were exceptional, so they were using moves they didn't even know they had.
Ash was very thankful that he trained his Pokémon like he did as he saw Blastoise get struck with a Jolteons Thunder attack which drove him to his knees. Quickly he escaped the attack with an Aqua Jet which took out a Flareon before the Jolteon had to jump out of the way of a Flamethrower from Machamp. He had just taken care of a Hitmonchan before he ran to take on an Electabuzz that was closing in on Ash. Ash could not have told you what was going on as he had jumped into the melee using liberal Aura Spheres and Protects as he tried to make his way to Cassidy and Butch who were barking out commands. The closer he got the more frantic those commands became, and every time Ash made to confront them a Pokémon would get in his way, and he'd be forced to abandon his attack.
After around five minutes of battling there was an almighty screech from above which caused everyone to pause as the air became hotter and the metal reinforced steel roof started to warp. Ash quickly commanded his Pokémon to move over to the door and he joined them before a huge blazing missile came sweeping through the ceiling and smashed into the machine that Drowzee was attached to sending it flying into the wall knocked out.
Cassidy and Butch could only look on in horror as all their plans came to a blazing, screeching halt right in front of them. Turning to face Ash Butch went flying backwards as an aura infused punch crumpled him knocking him out. Cassidy sneered at Ash in response "you wouldn't dare hit me" she said as she drew out a knife and tried to slash at Ash who moved to his left and gripped her arm and twisted it forcing her to drop the knife. Kicking the back of her knees he forced her to her knees and whispered something in her ear which made her blanche and turn white.
Looking over at his Pokémon who were stood beside the door he said "guys, can you escort the Pokémon outside to the Jennys. I told them not to come in until I came out. Pi, Charizard can you help me with these two. Pi in my bag there should be some rope. We'll tie these guys up." Nodding his Pokémon got to work until finally there were just five Pokémon left knocked out on the floor. Rummaging in Dominos pocket he returned her Pokémon before doing the same with Butch's. Butch was still knocked out but Cassidy insisted on wriggling so Ash drove her face into the floor causing her to gasp in pain and enabled Ash to tie her arms behind her back.
"Charizard, which way did you come in?" he asked.
"From the back of the building, why?" Charizard replied.
"Come over here, I've a question to ask you" he said as he walked over to the broken machine. Cassidy watched on as the blood streamed from her clearly broken nose very worried about what was going to happen. There was no way the boss would help them escape jail again, he had made it clear that this was their last opportunity to be useful to him and they had yet again come up against Ash and failed. They were as good as dead if they were handed over, they had nowhere to go if they escaped and they would be dead if they were sprung by the boss. No matter which way she looked at it they were doomed. Seeing Ash walk back over he stopped in front of her and kneeled down on his haunches.
"My friend and I disagree on what to do with you." Ash said nodding to his red dragon who snorted. "One of us wants to drop you into the middle of the ocean still tied up so you'll drown and no longer be a plague on the world and the other wants to hand you over to the police and have them deal with you. Sadly, I need Charizard to take you out to the ocean and he refuses to do so. And as I would never order him to do something he doesn't want to do I'm forced to hand you over to the police. However, he agrees with me that should you get mysteriously sprung and cause us issues again he will drop you into a volcano and I get to say 'I told you so' to him."
"The boss won't spring us" she said spitting out blood "he made it very clear that this was our last chance and yet again we failed. If we get sprung it would only be so that bitch Domino takes our other eyes."
"Domino is dead" Ash said shocking her "she unwisely chose to try and kill my uncle Giovanni. Now, I don't know for sure that she's dead but those that try and kill him usually end up conveniently missing. Not only that but at the minute my cousin only has a few executives he can rely on, so I highly doubt he'll kill you. The G-Men have cleaned out most of Rockets operations in Kanto and Johto. We found this one of yours by sheer chance."
"Your cousin? She asked trying to take it all in "the boss is your cousin?"
"Yup" Ash said "Silver is my cousin, in fact he's Giovannis son so as you can see it's gonna be one hell of a family reunion when I face him. But that's in the future. What I have to decide is what to do with you." a growl behind him made him turn around "Yes, I know you won't kill them. I could though and end all of our problems."
Charizard snorted before walking away "he doesn't want anything to do with this." Ash continued as if talking about killing was normal "we've seen far too much death already in the last two years."
"So, what's two more people" Butch's voice came from the floor followed by a painful moan as he sat up "after all we're as good as dead anyway."
"You think I would enjoy killing you two?" Ash asked shaking his head in disbelief "I am twelve years old and I've already been involved in close to twenty deaths. It shouldn't be like this. Killing you would not bring me any satisfaction."
Hearing some noise from behind him Ash stood up and turned around. The door opened and the two Jennys and his Pokémon entered, seeing Ash with two tied up people they began to walk over to him. Facing the two agents Ash said "looks like you're going to jail. I wish you luck."
Maggie took control of the situation and headed towards Ash "who are these two? I don't recognise them."
"They're from Team Rocket" Ash replied. Not seeing any recognition he continued "over the last two years they have been the main group in Kanto and Johto who have done despicable things concerning people and Pokémon. Around six months ago their bases were attacked by Champion Blue and Lance with their G-Men, and they destroyed them. The boss is still unknown by most people, only a handful of people know who he is and no I cannot tell you, but his agents were either captured, killed in action or imprisoned, his businesses were stopped, and he lost billions in revenue. He's currently holed up somewhere hiding from Blue and Lance as he is wanted in connection with the missing Pokémon Master Red Ketchum, my dad. There are only a handful of cells remaining, these two being one and I've made it my personal mission to eradicate them."
"We have only heard bits and pieces on this island" Maggie said "I have heard of them; I just didn't think they existed anymore. Anyway, thank you Ash for what you've done today. The missing Pokémon will make it safely back to their owners."
"No worries," Ash said recalling his Pokémon. Grabbing Butch from the floor and making him stand before leading him outside. The sun was just rising as they exited the building and Ash had to shield his eyes from the blinding light. As he turned around to make sure Cassidy was behaving a flash of blue came from the side forcing Ash to dive out of the way of the attack. Standing up he looked at where the attack came from before he dove sideways again and threw an Aura Sphere again in the direction it came from. Behind him Jenny was panicking as a flash of blue hit her in the shoulder sending her sprawling backwards, crying out in pain and before anyone could react there was a flash of purple and Butch, Cassidy and their Pokeballs disappeared. Cursing Ash stood up and surveyed the area making sure there was no one else hiding. Making his way over to Maggie he helped her up and helped her to the car where she slumped in the back seat.
A few minutes later Becca came out of the building and looked confused. Seeing her friend injured she looked at Ash questioningly. "We were ambushed as soon as we came out. The Rockets were rescued, and Maggie was injured."
"Let's get her some medical attention" Becca said sliding into the drivers seat. Ash got into the back seat next to Jenny and buckled her in safely as she was quite clearly in some pain. The drive back was very long and Ash did what he could to try and heal her injury but Ash could see she'd broken her collarbone, something he couldn't mend properly if it wasn't set. Getting back to town Ash saw there was a crowd already gathered around the front of the Pokemon centre but Becca ignored that and carried on for another few minutes to the hospital. Pulling up in front Ash unbuckled Maggie and gently carried her into the building. Quickly a doctor rushed over and took control of the situation and soon Maggie was on her way to be seen to. Speaking to Becca he let her know he was going to leave for the centre to pick up his gear before leaving.
"I'll send your chief my report for what happened today including what happened at the end" Ash said. "I'll let the trainers know that their Pokémon are safe and that you'll be back when you can."
"Thanks Ash" she said tiredly "can you let them know to come to the police station for noon. I want to make sure Maggie is ok first."
"Will do" Ash said heading back out towards the centre. As he got closer more people noticed him and soon the crowd tried to stop him entering the building, demanding their Pokémon back.
"Enough!" he said as Pikachu launched a Thunderbolt into the sky shocking them into silence "I don't have your Pokémon, Jenny does. Now I've already told you that you need to go to the police station for noon. Now get the hell out of my way before I start punching my way through." no sooner had he finished than a gap appeared as people fled. Shaking his head Ash took a deep breath and headed inside. Handing his Pokémon over to Joy he explained what had happened and the result before heading up to the room and collapsing asleep on his bed. He had been running on fumes for the last hour, he had expended a lot of energy fighting Team Rocket, and then healing Maggie so he was exhausted. It was a full seven hours later that Ash woke up needing to use the loo and eat. After doing both Ash got his Pokémon back and headed out of the centre to continue his journey.
"Do you think we'll enter one place in these islands and not have some nonsense fall on us?" Ash asked.
"I've been wishing for that for a while" A refreshed Pikachu said as they walked out of the town heading North. Laughing they carried on until the path stopped and taking out his GPS he headed as North as he could for around a quarter of a mile before blissfully, he left the forest and walked onto the beach. Releasing Blastoise and Lapras he told Lapras that the training would be the same as yesterday and they headed North. "Our next destination is about fifty miles North of us on Rind Island. There's an event I want to see because Sam wants information on it. It sounds quite interesting too actually."
A few hours later Ash saw Rind Island come into view and they looked off to the right as a noise could be heard and soon enough bubbles rose up and a periscope came up through the waves. Less than a minute later a submarine pulled alongside Ash and the hatch opened. A man with an extraordinarily bushy moustache and brown hair looked over at Ash riding Blastoise and shouted over "Hello, are you my company for today?"
"Are you the researcher Sam told me about?" Ash replied back. Seeing a nod, he continued "then yes, I'm Ash, your company for today" he finished laughing. Climbing back in the submarine the man continued on with Ash following behind until they reached Rind Island but suddenly there was movement from either side of Ash and the submarine as fins could be seen protruding from the sea. Soon enough those fins became Pokémon and hundreds of Magikarp headed Inland towards the river. Getting off Blastoise on the beach he was soon joined by the researcher he was meeting.
"Greetings young man" the bloke said "I'm Quincy Quackenpoker. You're Ash Ketchum correct?"
"I am yeah" Ash said "I've genuinely been looking forward to this and I was afraid I'd miss it to be honest."
"Not many people would be excited to see the Magikarp migration" Quincy said happily "it's very refreshing to see."
"I've always felt they were unfairly maligned" Ash said "just because they're not good at battling doesn't mean they're useless. And every Pokémon has value if you can see it."
"Indeed" Quincy said shouldering his backpack "shall we?"
"Yeah sure" Ash said as they walked along the river, deeper into the island watching the Magikarp head upstream "did you put the bands on them? I take it it's to take note of how many return here each year to see what they're survival rate is?"
"Partly" Quincy said "the different coloured bands indicate how many years ago I placed them on them. Red is a year; Blue is two years and Yellow is three years. As you can see there are many Red and Blue but not as many yellow. Now there could be several reasons for this, they're the most common fish caught for food for human and Pokémon alike, they could evolve, they could even get lost. There are a lot of variables, but they all have one thing in common."
"They still return here" Ash said looking at them swim past.
"That's right" Quincy said "this place seems to have special importance to the worlds Magikarp and no matter how many times I return here I've yet to figure out the reason why."
"Maybe it's one of those things you're not meant to find out" Ash said as they reached a waterfall "After all if you find out then it's not as special anymore. That's what I've found out when I've seen special places, maybe you've already discovered it and dismissed it because the answer is something as simple as they're born here so they feel safer here."
"I have thought of that" Quincy admitted "and that is a special reason."
After half an hour of talking they made it to a steep hill where a few vertical waterfalls could be seen ahead of them on their right. They took various notes of which Magikarp made it up the waterfalls and which ones didn't.
"It seems those with at least two years of living always make it up the waterfalls but only a quarter of the red banded Magikarp make it." Ash said, "experience tells."
"Yes" Quincy agreed "and those with the red bands that made it are significantly bigger than the rest of their year group."
"I'm leaving these here for the last part of our investigation" Quincy said pointing to the recording equipment "mainly for the Magikarp that leave during the night so I can get an idea of just how many leave the main lake up top."
Packing up most of their equipment they carried on until they made it to a huge lake that was easily the size of the one at home.
"Blastoise come on out" Ash said releasing his turtle causing Quincy to gasp.
"A Shiny?" Quincy said, "it's been a while since I've seen one of those."
"You know" Ash said thoughtfully watching his turtle lazily do some laps "I've become so used to it that I forget how special he is at times. Blastoise, can you do me a favour and let me know roughly how packed this lake is and how deep it is."
A few minutes later Blastoise surfaced and Ash took off his shoes before wading into the shallow water.
"There's not much room in here Ash" Blastoise said "and I was attacked by a few Magikarp who complained that this is their home. It took me ten seconds to reach the bottom"
"Interesting" Ash said relaying it back to Quincy who had set up his tent. Ash did the same and walked into the trees to get some firewood. An hour later Ash had set up his tent, gathered the firewood and put a chair by the water and started fishing. Giving Quincy a pole he shared his bait and sat back. Every Magikarp they caught was measured and then placed back into the lake. Just as the sun was setting Ash was about to pull his rod in when it gave an almighty tug nearly pulling him in. Ash walked into the water still with the fish on the hook to make it easier, but it was putting up a terrific fight.
"Quincy, can you get the net please, I've seen it surface a few times, but it has so much energy" Ash said. Nodding Quincy waded in behind Ash and waited for Ash to either win or lose the fight. Eventually after half an hour of fighting the fish gave up as it surfaced causing them both to gasp at not only the size but the colour.
"A shiny Magikarp" Ash said as he grabbed the net and landed it. Quickly they waded back to sure and weighed it. "1.5 metres, 48lbs. Female. She's a beast. And she doesn't have a band on her either."
"She certainly is" Quincy said eyes wide "I don't think I've ever seen a bigger Magikarp in my life. Are you going to keep her?"
"Yeah" Ash said after a minute of thinking "I think I will. She'll be amazing at keeping my home safe and trained right she'll be beautiful as a Gyarados." taking out a Pokeball Ash tapped it against the fish and the ball rocked violently for a good thirty seconds before dinging and going silent. Taking out Dexter, he scanned it "
"Magikarp, Pokedex number 129, the fish Pokémon. It is virtually useless in battle as it can only splash around. As a result, it is considered to be weak. However, it is actually a very hardy Pokémon that can survive in any body of water no matter how polluted it is. This Pokémon is female, has a Sassy nature and has the ability Swift Swim and the hidden ability Rattled. Its size indicates it has the Royal Gene and is the largest specimen ever recorded. It has the moves Splash, Tackle and Flail and has the egg move Bounce but it is yet to be unlocked."
"Wow" Ash said, "she's very special indeed. I'll take very good care of her."
Putting the fishing rod away he moved the chair over to the campfire and lit it before going off to the side and feeding his Pokémon. He left them out so they could see the event at night. Around midnight the clouds parted and the moon shone down onto the lake and seemed to set in motion activity. Quickly getting out his video camera Quincy set it to record and watched with excitement. Ash set his Pokegear on record and waited too and soon enough the Magikarp that were in the lake started jumping as high as they could, leaping across the lake and being hit by the moonlight before they fell back into the lake. For the next hour this process was repeated over and over with not much else happening until the clouds came back across the moon covering it. Ash could feel the build-up of energy happening in the lake but was very confused that nothing else happened. Quincy just turned to Ash and said "here we go."
Confused Ash turned back to the lake and waited. And then he felt it. The lake began to churn and boil as if it was being heated from beneath. And then it happened. The Magikarp that had been leaping into the air into the moonlight repeated the process and many of them started glowing and they started evolving en-mass. Ash sat back down heavily in his seat grateful that his Pokegear came with a stand to witness this. Leaning forwards he took notice of something very strange and not wanting to talk over their recordings he jotted down his thoughts and feelings on the occasion instead. Finally, after half an hour the lake settled down and became placid and they shut off the recordings.
"That was incredible" Ash said looking out over the lake "I noticed something peculiar though, not one of the red banded Magikarp evolved, at least not above the water anyway."
"That's very true" Quincy said eating an apple "and it's normal. It's incredibly rare for a Magikarp who's only been away for a year to evolve. I've come to the conclusion that they expend so much energy getting into this lake from the sea that they just don't have enough left to evolve."
"That makes sense to me" Ash said "we saw how few made it here to start with. So what are the cameras down the river for?"
"They're going to record how many Magikarp and Gyarados leave to the open sea and I'll compare it to how many I ringed over the last few years to get an idea of their lives. I've never seen a Gyarados come back here though."
"That's very interesting" Ash said "it's been a long day though. I was involved in a rescue early this morning and while I rested afterwards I'm still feeling a bit rough."
"No problem, Ash" Quincy said "thank you for joining me for this event. It means a lot to see someone as young as you give a Pokémon like Magikarp a chance."
"It was my pleasure" Ash said heading into his tent and falling asleep very quickly. The next morning, he helped Quincy pick up the cameras downriver and helped him load them into his submarine before seeing him sink beneath the waves and disappear. Letting out Blastoise and Lapras he told them which direction they were heading. "We're going straight South with a leaning towards East. An island called Sunburst. It's around a ten-hour trip so just take your time in practicing Lapras." seeing her move away Ash reflected on the last few days. "it's been a rough 24 hours guys, let's just take this time to relax before we're drawn into another load of nonsense."
"You know you've just jinxed us right?" Pikachu asked making them all laugh as they carried onto their next destination. "Hopefully you haven't."