Traveler

by The Straight Elf

Ash Ketchum has been determined to become the best since he was a toddler. He has his eyes set on a charmander, but a twist of fate led him to the humble Nidoran. Note: Mix between anime and the games.

4. Chapter 4: Celadon

A/N: Sorry for the wait, but I had two weeks of being unable to write. Anyways, I like this chapter well enough but I'm not quite sure about it. It's much more serious than the other chapters, but I plan for that to calm down starting next chapter. I started burning out at the end. Whatever, I hope everybody enjoys it and remembers to review.

A bright light woke him up. Ash was confused when he finally became aware again – he couldn't remember anything other than the jumbled feelings of fear, awe, and horror. Where was he and why was he put here?

He tried to remember the last few moments before he'd fallen asleep. Although he could remember the maelstrom of emotions, he couldn't remember the event that caused it. His mind suddenly snapped out of confusion and he remembered everything.

The destruction of the St. Anne, the heroics of his pokemon, the horrible burning that came when he was plunged underneath the surging waves – everything. Ash's eyes snapped open, ignoring the gunk that glued them shut. It stung for a moment, but he didn't care. He needed to make sure his friends were safe.

Ash pushed himself up with trembling arms and looked around. He was in a hospital. The room was stark white and bare aside for an IV connected into his arm. Nobody else was around.

He tried to pull himself out of his bed, but the action prompted an immediate wave of nausea. A small device connected to his body through several transparent wires began to beep, but Ash found himself feeling too sick to pay much attention.

As he waited for his dizziness to fade, a Nurse Joy slid into the room. Even in his sick state Ash had to raise an eyebrow at that. Most Nurse Joys opted to stay with the pokemon centers. Not many chose to heal humans as well.

She looked cheerful as she saw him, although she looked ready to put him back to sleep if he started acting up. Ash glanced at her as she sat down on a chair beside his bed.

"Good morning!" She said brightly. Ash just stared at her with bleary eyes. Nurse Joy wasn't fazed. "I guess you're wondering why you're here, huh?"

"Yeah." He coughed out. His throat wasn't dry or raspy, but it felt as though he hadn't used it in a while. "Where are my pokemon? What happened to the ship? How did I get here? How long –"

The Nurse Joy shushed him. "Calm down, Mr. Ketchum. I'll answer all of your questions. I just need you to stay calm."

Ash took a few deep breaths and looked at Nurse Joy. She nodded and smiled at him when he appeared ready.

"Good. Now," she said, glancing at a clipboard, "all of your pokemon were found on you. Your seadra managed to get you to the surface. We found you washed up on a beach a few miles from Vermillion thanks to your pidgeotto. All of the others were safely in their pokeballs."

He let out a sigh of relief. Nurse Joy scanned the clipboard again.

"They're currently in holding right now – when we tried to release them they were too wild for us to control. All of them tried to escape and get to you. We'll get them back to you as soon as we think you can safely be around them." She reassured the trainer when she saw Ash's worried face. "We just didn't want them hurting themselves."

The trainer nodded and waited for her to continue. Her face was grim and sorrowful as she told him the fate of the St. Anne.

"The St. Anne was sunk." She said with a bowed head. "It was somehow destroyed, but the police don't know what caused it. Did you see whatever did it?"

Ash's eyes stared off into space as he remembered the humanoid figure encased in the orb of energy. He didn't know what it was, but it had destroyed the ship in a single attack.

"Yeah." He choked out, overcome by the painful memory. "I saw it, but I don't know what it was."

Nurse Joy looked at him with regretful eyes. "I'm sorry we have to drag this up, but the League needs to know what happened. Whatever did this can't go unpunished."

He nodded and calmed down a little. "It's fine. But do you know what happened to my friends? They were on the ship with me but we got separated."

The Nurse read over her clipboard again before zeroing in on the relevant information. She glanced up at him.

"Information from your pokedex says that you were travelling with Amelia Franklin and Jonathan Lindon. Is that correct?" She asked. Ash nodded. He was a little surprised that his pokedex had survived the experience, but not amazed. It was built to be incredibly durable.

"They're safe." She said reassuringly. He let go of some of his tension and collapsed back onto his bed. "It says here that they were found at a small town in the Seafoam Islands. They were completely fine."

He nodded thankfully. Just as he was about to ask his next question, she answered it.

"You've been here for a day." She said calmly. Ash was relieved – he was afraid that he'd been unconscious for a week or more. He certainly felt like he had. "We hooked you up to an IV as soon as we got you in. You'll be free to go in a day or two, depending on your condition. You didn't suffer any major injuries aside from a minor concussion and bruised nose. It's a miracle, really."

Then something she'd said before dawned on him.

"You said a seadra pulled me to shore?" He asked slowly. Nurse Joy nodded. A wide grin split his face – Torrent had evolved! Even though he didn't like the horrible circumstances that had forced it, he was glad that he and Torrent were close enough for his friend to evolve to save him.

Nurse Joy must have understood his excitement. "I guess your horsea evolved, then?" She said drily as he continued grinning. Ash nodded, although he quickly stopped. His face and neck were sore.

"Alright then." She said when she looked over the rest of the clipboard. "That's it for the medical questions. Are you okay with seeing the police right now? We don't want you to have to go through anything you aren't ready for."

Ash shook his head determinedly. "I'm fine. They need to know."

She sighed and nodded before walking out the door. Before she left, though, she glanced back at him. "If you need me or anything else, just tap the buzzer next to your bed. Officer Jenny will be in shortly."

He nodded again and glanced over at the table. The buzzer was a small rod that had buttons in the side. It looked like it had bed controls as well. Maybe he would play with that later.

A few moments later an Officer Jenny walked into the room. She looked a little bit taller than her sisters and cousins that Ash had seen and seemed far sterner and colder. More professional.

Her face softened when she saw him, however. She adopted a kinder look and sat down next to him.

"Hello, Mr. Ketchum. I have some questions for you about the events two nights ago." Officer Jenny said gently. "Are you sure that you're up to answering them?"

He nodded. "I want to help set this right."

Officer Jenny smiled. "Good. Then let's get underway. It won't be very long, but I need you to do your best to remember what happened. You're our only conscious witness."

Ash tightly nodded his understanding. It felt like a lot more weight was just added to his shoulders. He slowly began to go over the worst night of his life in more detail, making sure that he didn't miss anything the police could use.

"Do you know who it was that boarded and destroyed the vessel?" She asked, staring into his eyes. Harry nodded.

"Team Rocket. One of them came into my room, but my pokemon…protected…me from him." Ash said. Officer Jenny didn't seem to miss the hesitation behind his words and he grew worried. What would she do if she realized that Nidorino killed someone? "And I took his pokeball. I didn't want it getting taken back by Team Rocket."

Officer Jenny nodded. "Yes, we realized that it didn't belong to you. The zubat inside is being rehabilitated. It will be given to you once it is deemed safe, if you want to take it."

He nodded, quickly analyzing some of the benefits a zubat could bring to his team. Aside from some of the obvious uses – a zubat could lead him out of caves and provide a training partner for Plume – he wanted to give it a good home. Ash wasn't sure what Team Rocket did to their pokemon, but considering that most of them were broken enough to hurt or kill humans, it couldn't be good.

The Officer smiled a bit and wrote something down on her clipboard. "Please continue."

Ash coughed. "Anyways, one of their executives, Pierce," Officer Jenny's eyes narrowed at the name and she quickly scribbled down a few notes, "got onto the intercom and told everyone that we had five minutes to escape before he blew the ship up."

Officer Jenny just nodded comfortingly at him as he stopped for a moment. He squeezed his eyes shut before continuing.

"The Rocket that went into my room slammed my head into a wall." He said with far away eyes. The memories were flashing before him. "That gave me a concussion, I think. I wasn't able to get out onto the deck until time was almost out. I was on the deck when the ship was destroyed."

The officer had a look of barely concealed excitement. Apparently she hadn't expected this much information from him. Ash swallowed as the images ran before his eyes.

"The Rockets all escaped in helicopters." Ash said. Officer Jenny wrote notes on that as well – he knew that helicopters were rare and mostly illegal for everyone but the League. They were too upsetting to pokemon and tended to cause an increase in attacks and accidents. "But they left something behind. I couldn't really see it, but it was more powerful than anything I've ever seen."

"Do you think it was a pokemon?" Officer Jenny asked eagerly. Ash shrugged, wincing as his broken down muscles surged with a dull pain.

"I couldn't really see it." He admitted. "It was in this orb of blue light – it was so bright that it lit up the entire ocean for as far as I could see. All I could see was something that looked like a human hovering in it."

The officer sighed. "I see. What did it do?"

"It just sent this tiny beam of light at the ship." Ash recalled. "Then the ship got cut in half and I started falling. My pidgeotto caught me and pulled me to a few feet above my water, but I fell in and got knocked out. After that I woke up in here."

"Thank you very much." Jenny said. "You've been a great help to us."

Ash nodded and laid his head down. He was starting to get tired. There was a sharp beeping sound in the room, but he just ignored it. All he wanted was to rest. It was probably just something for Officer Jenny.

"It looks like you have some very important people interested in you." Jenny said drily. "Lt. Surge and Steven Stone have just arrived at the hospital. They're coming to see you."

He blinked in surprise. Words couldn't describe the shock he felt. While he could understand why Surge was here – this was his city, and it was up to him to protect it from all threats, both internal and external – he wasn't sure why Steven was here. Maybe it was because of Pierce. Steven seemed to have a personal problem with the man.

Officer Jenny stood up. "Thank you again." She said. As she began to exit the room, Ash realized that he hadn't asked something very important.

"Err, Officer Jenny?" He called out hesitantly. She paused and glanced back at him. "How many other people got away from the wreck?"

She frowned and her face lost all warmth. An expression of sorrow and regret flashed over her features.

"Aside from you we've only discovered eighty survivors. Most of those escaped in lifeboats. Only a few managed to escape using pokemon or other methods."

Ash's eyes stared past her. Eighty survivors. The St. Anne was gigantic, one of the three largest ships in the entire world. According to one of the pamphlets about it, the ship could hold up to four thousand people counting the crew. And the ship was usually filled to the brim with passengers – that meant that only about a fortieth of the people on board survived the attack.

And that wasn't counting the thousands of pokemon that had been on board either – they either drowned, escaped, or were trapped underneath the wreckage. Many would probably never be recovered. So many people lost.

He was having trouble believing it – how could so many people, many of which he'd seen laughing and talking around the ship, just die? How could so many people just be snuffed out of existence in less than a day. Ash couldn't really wrap his mind around it. All he could really understand was the sheer horror of what had happened.

There was despair – more of it then he had ever felt. But anger was there as well, burning at the injustice of the situation and the monsters that had perpetrated it.

Officer Jenny's voice cut through his thoughts, dragging him away from his stunned realizations and jumbled emotions.

"They're almost here." Officer Jenny said, her own voice reflecting some of the maelstrom of emotions that he was feeling. "I need to go. Good luck, Ash. This must be difficult."

He just nodded and stared ahead, silently awaiting his guests. Maybe they could explain some of the details. Ash barely noticed Officer Jenny leaving the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

His attention was jolted back to the world when two familiar forms entered the room. One was a giant – bulky and powerful, with a personality to match. The other was shorter and slim, but possessed a sort of presence that couldn't be ignored.

"Hello, Ash." Steven greeted. His tone was grim, lacking most of its usual warmth. Ash could tell he was making an effort, however. Although his face could be mistaken for his namesake, it wasn't so hard as to be disturbing.

Surge was far less reserved. "How's it going, runt?" The giant asked boisterously. Despite his personality seeming the same, Ash could detect just a hint of the despair and rage that Surge must be feeling.

While the destruction of the St. Anne was a tragedy for everyone, it was personal offense for Surge. He was Vermillion City's gym leader – its protector and leader. This wasn't just an attack for him; it showed that he had failed in his duty. And if the tales and rumors he had heard about Surge's youth were true, then Team Rocket would have a hard time surviving anywhere in Surge's territory from here on out.

Ash winced as a very large Raichu jumped up onto his bed and sniffed him for a moment. He glanced at the curious mouse for a moment before Raichu jumped onto Surge's shoulder. When the pokemon was comfortable, Surge continued.

"Anyways, runt, we're here because the League doesn't understand a lot of what went on, regardless of what Officer Jenny just told you. We know it was Team Rocket, but we don't know who commanded it or how they managed to destroy a ship that large without a hundred hyper beams."

He nodded and pushed himself up on weak limbs, fighting the wave of nausea that washed over him. When he was sure he wasn't going to vomit, he started.

"I already told Officer Jenny what I remembered." Ash admitted. "But I can tell you again."

"Alright." Steven said. He didn't take a seat, but remained standing. It looked like this would be brief. "I want to know two things. Who commanded the raid and how was the ship destroyed?" The former Champion glanced at the same clipboard that Officer Jenny had brought in. "The report says that Pierce led it, but are you sure? How do you know?"

Ash quickly responded. Steven was actually frightening – he wasn't the friendly, joking man that had protected him and his friends from Rockets on the way to Cerulean City. This was the former Champion, someone who protected an entire region. And Steven was angry, even if he was good at hiding it – whatever anger at Pierce that Ash had detected previously was nothing compared to this.

"He said so over the intercom." Ash shrugged, wincing at the soreness in his shoulders. "I would recognize that voice anywhere."

Steven nodded in understanding. "And the thing that destroyed the ship? Officer Jenny didn't write much about it down. Just that it looked human and was surrounded by energy."

Ash winced. "I don't really know how to describe it. It looked humanoid – but it was floating and was surrounded by a ball of energy so bright that it lit up the entire sea. But it was just so powerful. It blew through the ship in just a few seconds."

He didn't miss the glance that Steven and Surge shared. "What is it?"

"Sounds Legendary." Surge said, ignoring Ash's question. Steven nodded, his eyes losing any hint of warmth. They were cold now – afraid. "Nothing else could have done something like that."

"Legendary?" Ash asked, a trace of panic entering his voice. Legendaries were legends for a reason – they weren't something that anyone wanted to have as an enemy.

Steven shook his head. "That doesn't get out of here, Ash. I doubt it's even true – there has to be another explanation."

He nodded resignedly. Ash wouldn't have spread anything like this around anyways. All he wanted was for this incident to be put behind him and his journey resume.

"I should go." Surge said suddenly, shifting his bulk towards the door. "There's a lot of stuff to clean up. Besides," he grinned horribly, exposing more teeth than usual, "Team Rocket is about to suffer quite a few casualties."

With that he left, leaving Ash and Steven alone. The former Champion glanced at Ash and some of the tension seemed to leave his face. Ash wondered just how much of it was a show.

"Thanks for your help. Hopefully it will help clear some things up when we get more information." Steven said. He looked at Ash for a long moment, considering him with sad eyes. "And Ash, I'm sorry you had to go through that. No one should have to face such an awful situation."

Ash just nodded uncomfortably. He didn't want to be reminded of it anymore. All he wanted to do was get on with his journey and never think about the St. Anne ever again. Not when so many horrible things had happened on it.

The former Champion suddenly seemed to remember something. Ash watched curiously as the slight man dug around in the pocket of his suit before he pulled out a small, compact device. It was a dull yellow and appeared to be able to open up.

"Here." He said, handing the small device to Ash. The younger trainer carefully took it, examining it further. It was made of a smooth material and had a large, light blue button in the center. Ash figured that it would make it open up or activate it. "This is a PokeNav. It's a product my father's company recently invented."

"What does it do?" He asked curiously. Ash had heard of something called a pokegear before, but that was supposed to still be in the testing phase.

The older man closed his eyes for a moment and began to recite something, something apparently repeatedly memorized. "The PokeNav was created in order to assist young and experienced trainers in keeping track of a pokemon's attributes and feelings. However, it also possesses a map of the region you are in and more detailed maps of your current location, although you can view other areas as well. It also serves as a miniature video phone and can keep track of up to three hundred different individuals and their numbers."

Steven opened his eyes. "Sorry about that, but my father was particularly enthusiastic about this invention. He's spent all of his time drilling that information into my head for the past few months. Anyways, this serves much the same function as the pokegear, if you've heard of those."

Ash nodded. Steven continued.

"But it also allows you to keep track of any awards or badges you've earned and can serve as a trainer I.D. Although," he said, "I don't suppose you need that feature, considering you have a pokedex. It's only just started to be distributed in Hoenn, although I have several with me."

"Why are you giving it to me?" Ash asked confusedly. "I mean, I'm grateful, but I don't see what I've done to earn it."

Steven smiled. "I'm giving it to you for several reasons. For one, you have potential. You're going to be a great trainer Ash, and soon. From what I've seen you'll be one of the lucky few that are naturals at training and battling – I want to help you along that path."

"You also seem to get into quite a bit of trouble." Steven said drily. "I know that you're pokedex has some of the same functions, but I figured that the maps would be helpful to you and the phone function is useful to everyone. Hopefully the PokeNav will help you out sometime in your journey."

Ash pondered this for a moment. "Thanks. This'll be really helpful."

The former Champion half-smiled. "I hope it will. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that I must go." His eyes narrowed and the stern Champion seemed to come back for a moment. "Our mutual friend needs to be brought to justice."

"Good luck." Ash said. He meant it – Pierce needed to be put back in prison. Although he didn't know how the man escaped custody, he needed to be put back in it.

Steven nodded a bit longer before standing up. Before he left, however, he left Ash with a few words.

"By the way, Ash, I'm looking forward to battling you one day."

Ash grinned widely, despite the pain that branched out through his face. That would be the greatest day of his life. He barely noticed when the former Champion silently slid out of his room, too enraptured in the thought of one day battling him to notice anything.

When he did realize that he was alone, Ash slowly collapsed into his soft bed, exhausted. His weight sank into the mattress, and he closed his eyes. He was asleep in no time at all.

XX

A tongue brushed across his cheek, and his eyes snapped open. It was only when the area that had been licked began to tingle from a dose of minor toxins that he realized Nidorino was in the room. Ash blinked a few times, only pushing himself up when Nidorino licked him again.

Wait. Nidorino was in here.

He grinned widely as he saw the large head of his friend looking at him, somewhat annoyed that the trainer had escaped his tongue.

"Hey, buddy!" Ash grinned. Nidorino grunted softly and butted his head against Ash's side. The trainer winced at the impact, but the exhilarating feeling of seeing his friend again blanked out the pain.

Ash scratched Nidorino's ears before looking around. He grinned when he realized that the rest of his pokemon were crowded into the small room as well. Plume was haphazardly perched on a thin metal bar which, judging from the slight bend it had, wasn't meant to hold a sixty pound bird.

Drowzee stood by his bed, staring at him with dull eyes. She glanced away when he looked at her, apparently ashamed of something. Ash couldn't figure out what – she saved his life.

The only one missing was Torrent. Ash missed his friend's absence, although he could understand why the nurses couldn't put him out – it was rather difficult to lug an aquarium large enough to hold a seadra into such a small room.

Still, he was resolved to see his friend and thank him the second he could. Torrent was the only reason he was still alive – as much as his other friends might have wanted to help him, they couldn't have pulled him to safety. Plume was too exhausted and wasn't strong enough to carry him, and the others would have killed themselves trying to swim to the shore.

In fact, he wasn't even sure the awkwardly shaped Drowzee could swim. He almost smiled at the thought, but then he realized he hadn't thanked any of them yet.

"Hey." He said softly, attracting their attention. "I just wanted to thank all of you. There was no way that I could have gotten out of that without you."

Plume preened at the praise, while Nidorino just butted his side again, softer this time. Ash smiled and scratched the large creature's sensitive ears again. Then he looked over at Drowzee – she was still glancing away from him.

Ash wanted to make sure to thank her specially – he knew she didn't like him, but she still saved his life. Maybe that spelled the end of her animosity towards him, or at least the beginning of it.

"Hey, Drowzee." He said slowly. She looked over at him, her dull eyes glazed with interest. "Thanks for protecting me from that golbat. I know you didn't have to."

She looked at him carefully, her face not revealing anything. Well, Ash didn't think it did, anyway. He couldn't claim to be an expert on the facial expressions of Drowzee.

"So," he began hesitantly, "do you want a nickname? All the others have one."

Drowzee considered it for a moment, the intelligence that Ash knew to be there working quickly behind her beady eyes. A bit later, she slowly nodded. Ash grinned widely, glad that she seemed to have gotten over her anger at being captured.

Giving her a name was a lengthy process. Drowzee was far pickier then any of his other pokemon and treated most of his offers with distaste. Some seemed somewhat acceptable, but she still didn't accept them. Nevertheless, he filed them away in case they couldn't agree on one.

"How about Dazed?" He ventured. Personally, he thought it was a stupid name. But Drowzee seemed to have a liking for names that he considered odd. Besides, even if he thought it was stupid, it still fit her. Her glazed, beady eyes and dull expression did nothing to dispel that assumption, even if he knew it to be false.

Strangely, however, she seemed to like it. Her trunk swayed slightly as she nodded almost imperceptibly, Drowzee's eyes losing some of their glaze. Ash smiled. Even if it wasn't his first choice, it seemed that she liked it well enough.

"Alright!" He said happily. "Dazed it is."

Dazed sleepily nodded before returning to staring at the wall. Ash shrugged, deciding that that was all he was going to get from her.

Instead, he returned to speaking to his other pokemon, lathering them with affection that both he and they had missed during his time away from them.

XX

Ash had a smile on his face as he left the hospital, feeling the hot sun on his face for the first time in four days. While the hospital wasn't the worst thing he'd ever experienced, it was certainly one of the most boring. Aside from a few long conversations with his mother, who had been understandably terrified, and his pokemon almost nothing happened.

He had been released just an hour ago. Although the doctors wanted him to stay an extra day, he had refused. Every one of their tests had said he was fine, and he wanted to get out and continue his journey. If he had to he would just take it easy for a few days.

His friends would definitely be glad to be venturing into the wilderness again. They had been getting antsy in the hospital – last night he had been forced to return them to their pokeballs after they'd gotten a little too rambunctious.

It didn't take him long to reach Vermillion's gates. The hospital was only about five minutes away – conveniently placed in case someone had gotten injured in the wilderness and needed immediate assistance. Vermillion was pretty small, anyways, so it wasn't an inconvenience to the populace.

Ash smiled as he stepped outside of the safe boundaries of the city. Even if he wasn't even close to being away from the urban area, it was still nice knowing that he was able to do this.

He had made a new plan during his stay in the hospital. While he had originally intended to challenge Koga after they docked at Fuschia City, that plan had fallen through. Now he was going to Celadon. Erica wasn't supposed to be very difficult, so it wouldn't be too stressful.

After that he was going to head to Saffron, and then to Fuschia. When he defeated Koga he would have to get to the Seafoam Islands if he hadn't caught another water pokemon before then. Although Torrent was much more powerful now, he still wouldn't be able to do much against Blaine in Cinnabar.

That was Torrent's only real drawback – he couldn't fight outside of water. Kingdra were capable of learning to levitate in the air – it was something to do with their dragon abilities – but Ash didn't see Torrent evolving again for a long time. So Ash would have to find another water pokemon if he wanted to stand a chance against the experienced Blaine.

But for now he needed to focus on his journey to Celadon. It was best to focus on the present, not the future.

Ash released Plume and Nidorino. Nidorino softly grunted and carefully butted his head against Ash's leg. He grinned and patted his friend's head. Plume screeched out her welcome and lightly pecked Ash's shoulder before taking to the skies.

He stood there for a moment, looking at his pokemon. It was great to be around them in the wild again. Another head butt from Nidorino brought him back to earth.

"Alright, guys, let's go."

Nidorino growled and followed Ash. Ash put one hand on the PokeNav, silently reminding himself to call his mom soon. She had been terrified of him going back out to the wilderness, but he promised her that he would call every other day. The PokeNav had played a good role in getting her to let him continue his journey.

Celadon awaited him.

XX

It was three days later when he ran into that Misty girl. Ash had battled countless trainers on the road – plenty of people were travelling between Vermillion and Celadon, after all – and had won most of them. There were quite a few experienced trainers, however, and he lost several times.

Overall, however, he was happy with his friends' success. He knew that there were lots of people better than him – he had only been a trainer for a few months, even if he was naturally talented at battling. Still, he was more than holding his own against the more experienced trainers. They might have won, but it made his pokemon grow more and more powerful from the experience.

So he almost didn't notice it was her at first. She was fishing at a small pond by the road in a way reminiscent of the first time he had encountered her. If it weren't for his habit of challenging everyone he came across he wouldn't have known it was her.

"What are you doing here?" He asked bemusedly, confused as to why he kept finding her in random places. Maybe she was following him.

"I could ask the same thing about you." She retorted. Ash saw her pull a pokeball off of her belt. He grinned and readied Nidorino's ball. Nidorino was probably tired from all of his battles, but he would be up for this. "Whatever. Let's battle."

He wasn't surprised when the familiar form of her Starmie appeared, gem glowing with anticipation. Ash silently tapped the button that would release Nidorino. Misty's eyes narrowed when she saw the large creature, but she didn't say anything.

There was a tense standoff for a moment as the trainers retreated to a safe distance. Misty made the first move.

"Psychic!" She cried. Ash frowned, but didn't need to tell Nidorino to dodge as Starmie glowed a bright blue. Nidorino easily jumped out of the way as a light wave of telekinetic force blasted towards him.

"Poison sting. Follow with horn attack." Ash muttered, too low for Misty to hear. Nidorino quickly moved to carry out the order, firing several of the thin, poison-secreting barbs at Starmie. When they stunned Starmie for a moment through their powerful venom, Nidorino charge at Starmie with his horn lowered.

Starmie had no chance to dodge, despite its trainer's frantic shouts to dodge. Nidorino slammed into the creature's gem, sending small cracks threading throughout it as his powerful attack met it. The Starmie seemed as though it would recover for a moment, but the bright light of its gem faded a bit.

Ash was actually disappointed as Starmie collapsed. While he knew he would win the battle – while he was sure Misty had trained quite a bit since her last defeat, he and his friends had become exponentially more powerful – he had expected it to take longer than a single attack.

And, if Misty's shocked face was any indication, she had as well. Ash frowned again before congratulating Nidorino, who seemed pleased with defeating the Starmie yet again. The display seemed to snap her out of her stunned state, but Ash rejected the proffered wad of money with a shake of his head.

"I only take money from actual battles." He said in annoyance, perhaps more harshly than he had intended. "Train more."

Misty's face morphed from shocked to angry. "I have!" She shouted. "But apparently I'm not a fanatic about it like you!"

Ash just glanced at her. "What're you talking about?"

"You must have been training all day for the last few weeks." She retorted bitterly. "Last time your pokemon weren't much more powerful than mine. Now your Nidorino knocked Starmie out with one hit."

"Eh. He evolved."

Misty just glared at him. "Evolving doesn't do that much. You have to have been doing nothing but training him."

Ash just sighed. "Not really. Anyways, I'm leaving. This wasn't much fun."

His opponent just glared at him. "Fine. I'm going to beat you next time."

He smiled, although he was feeling a bit annoyed at her. After this, he doubted that she would ever catch up. "Looking forward to it."

Nidorino growled at Misty as they walked by, continuing on their journey. Ash glanced at him disapprovingly but didn't say anything. He was more caught up in his thoughts than he was on the world.

He didn't understand why the battle was so easy. Although he had beaten her every time before, it had always been somewhat of a challenge. This couldn't even really be called a battle. Maybe it was just because he'd gotten to know Starmie's weak point, but had evolution really made Nidoran that powerful?

Only a few of the pokemon he'd faced on the journey so far had been knocked out by a single attack. He'd just considered them as weaker pokemon belonging to new trainers, although he might have to reexamine that theory. While Misty was hardly a Master or incredibly powerful, she wasn't weak. She was certainly better than most people their age.

This really wasn't a big deal, but he saw it as a sort of symbol – he was moving forward, growing more experienced and more powerful. He almost couldn't believe that it was just because he and his friends had grown in strength – he half-believed it was just to luck.

Regardless of the motivations underlying his thoughts, they stuck with him as he travelled down the road with Nidorino at his side.

Celadon awaited them.

XX

Ash was tired and dirty when he finally arrived at Celadon. The journey after he'd defeated Misty had been harsh and draining. Although it was short – the route between Vermillion and Celadon was one of the shortest in Kanto, at least between two major cities – the way around Saffron City was full of forests, which were in turn full of beedrill and other annoyances.

While he would have stopped in Saffron to challenge the gym leader there, Sabrina, he knew that he didn't stand a chance against Sabrina yet. She was one of the gym leaders that ensured that rookies and unprepared trainers didn't go to the Indigo Conference. Although not as brutal as Surge or the gym leader at Viridian, she was one of the most powerful trainers in Kanto.

He was advancing by leaps and bounds, but he knew that he wasn't ready for the kind of firepower that Sabrina had at her disposal. Even the thought of facing her famed Alakazam made him shudder. Ash had watched her fight a challenger with an umbreon one time on TV.

Even though the umbreon couldn't be directly harmed by its psychic attacks, the Alakazam and Sabrina had used a loophole: it picked up one of the large pillars that dotted the stadium and smacked the umbreon with it, knocking it unconscious. Despite the great power picking up the pillar must have taken, Alakazam didn't even appear drained.

But he could defeat Erica. She wasn't known for being a particularly powerful gym leader, although she was still competent. Still, she would be weak to Nidorino, Plume, and any of her poison-types could be taken care of handily by Dazed.

All in all, this would be like facing Misty again. Except easier.

Still, he was going to the Pokemon Center. It was too late to challenge Erica and he couldn't wait to get a hot shower and even hotter food. His friends would appreciate it as well. He hadn't packed a surplus of supplies like he usually did due to the comparatively shorter journey, so neither he nor his pokemon had been able to eat as much as they'd have liked.

It was a short trip to the Pokemon Center. He moved quickly through the empty streets, focused only on getting signed in. When he reached the Center, it only took a few minutes to get a room.

Ash went to the cafeteria first, getting food for both him and his pokemon. He didn't bother staying in the vacant cafeteria, instead taking the trays up to his room.

When he was in the room – he glanced around it, noting that it was exactly the same as the other rooms he'd gotten – he set down the trays and released his pokemon.

Nidorino snorted at Ash before he tore into the food Ash had placed on the floor. Plume chirped before carefully pecking at the small pellets. Dazed just looked at it for a moment before levitating a portion of the food to her.

Ash was conscious of the lone member of their group that wasn't out. He walked over to the aquarium that dominated an entire side of the room and tapped Torrent's pokeball, releasing the seadra.

He just stared at the larger, powerful form of his friend when it materialized. Torrent still looked a lot like he had as a horsea, only more mature and angrier looking, although the determined, dangerous look in his eyes was still there.

Torrent was several times larger than he had been as a horsea, and far bulkier. The small, thin scales on his chest had fully developed, leaving a jagged crest of armor over him. His small "wings" had grown into large, spiky appendages and his tiny, curled tail had grown larger and more powerful looking. Ash also noticed that the small nubs that grew on the side of his head had become angular, sharp looking fins.

All in all, Torrent's appearance now fit his personality: a dangerous fighter that loved nothing more than the thrill of battle. But it also showed the strength that he had developed just to save Ash.

The seadra glanced at him for a moment before butting his head against the aquarium. Ordinary glass would have broken from the force, but the Pokemon Center seemed to have anticipated the power some pokemon held – the glass didn't even have the hint of a crack.

"None of that." Ash chided gently. Torrent obeyed and sank back a bit. "And thanks a lot. You saved my life. There's no way we would have gotten to safety without you."

Torrent puffed his scaly chest out a bit, as though he were saying "I know." Ash laughed and poured some of the food specifically for water pokemon into the aquarium, which Torrent quickly gobbled up.

Ash spent a bit more time with all of his friends before taking a shower and then going to bed, exhausted but no longer dirty.

XX

The next morning, Ash found himself standing outside of the Celadon Gym. It was…unique. The gym had been designed to resemble the flower of a gloom, with the noxious scent to match. He assumed that it was produced by actual gloom, as he knew that it was the favored pokemon of Erika.

Ash quickly ascended the steps and walked into the gym proper. The atrium appeared to be a greenhouse, albeit a stylized one. He knew that the gym held several greenhouses as well as a perfume manufacturing plant, so this was just to solidify the atmosphere.

While it was certainly nice, he wanted to get out of it as soon as possible. It wasn't only due to his need to battle Erika either – the disgusting smell the gloom produced a foul mixture of rotting trash and decaying flesh, was even more prevalent inside the gym. He reminded himself to get nose plugs if he ever returned to the gym.

He quickly hurried to the receptionist, a teenage girl that was reading a magazine. She laughed at him when she noticed him – Ash had given into the stink and was doing his best to cover his nose with his hand.

"First time here, huh?" She asked. Ash nodded. "It'll get better in a few minutes. Anyways, I guess you're here to battle Erika."

Ash nodded again. She glanced down at a clipboard and picked up a pencil. He could see her cross a few things out before she looked up again.

"Looks like it's your lucky day. There aren't any other challengers scheduled yet. You can just go on through. She'll be waiting in the garden. Just go in the door to your left."

"Thanks." He coughed out before following her instructions. The door took him into a small hallway. Ash kept on walking and ended up in a large garden with all manner of grass-types. Most seemed to scurry away when he appeared, although a few of the more powerful or curious ones just stared at him.

He felt a little uncomfortable under their intense gazes and ignored it as best as he could. Ash walked a little bit deeper into the garden in order to try and find Erika. She wouldn't be too difficult to find.

Ash wandered around a bit before he finally found her in an area by the stadium. She was sitting by a small artificial pond, surrounded by oddish, a large gloom, and a bulbasaur. He was instantly reminded of Amelia's and winced, although he put it out of mind. Now wasn't the time for reminiscing.

"Oh, hello." She said calmly, carefully setting an oddish down before she stood up. Ash glanced at her for a moment, taking her in. The best word to describe was elegant – everything about her seemed dignified, from the careful, graceful way she moved to her aristocratic tones. "I suppose you're here to battle me?"

He nodded. She smiled and walked over to the battlefield. Ash followed and noticed that, contrary to what he had expected, the battlefield was completely plain. There were a few plants scattered about it and ordinarily hard, tightly packed dirt was replaced with dark, loamy soil, but that was the full extent of the modifications.

"This shall be a three-on-three battle." Erika called out when they had taken their positions. "The battle shall continue until one of us either surrenders or our pokemon are knocked unconscious or rendered unable to battle."

Ash nodded and placed a hand on Dazed's pokeball. While Nidorino would likely have just as easy a time defeating the grass-types, he suspected that Erika would start out with her powerful Gloom. Nidorino or Plume would still have been able to defeat it, but he wanted Dazed to get in some more experience.

He released Dazed when he saw the gym leader release a pokemon. When the red light coalesced into the form of their pokemon, his expectations were fulfilled. Erika's large, powerful Gloom was sleepily looking at Dazed, meeting the drowzee's dull gaze with its own.

Surprisingly enough, the appearance of the gloom didn't empower the noxious scent that pervaded the area. Ash was thankful for that – he was just beginning to get used to it.

Erika began the battle. "Stun spore. Continue with acid and sleep powder."

"Dodge, follow with confusion."

Despite Dazed's awkward shape, she was still able to avoid the attacks of the Gloom. Ash made a mental note to avoid that part of the battlefield – the stun spore and sleep powder was neutralized, but the acid would still be somewhat dangerous.

Ash grinned when Dazed stared at the Gloom's half-closed eyes. He doubted that the Gloom would be able to stay conscious after this powerful attack. If it did, it would be easy pickings for Dazed.

The attack went just as planned – Dazed raised a clawed hand at the Gloom and took control of it. Ash grinned as the Gloom was suffused by a large blue aura of light. A moment later the Gloom was yanked high into the air by psychic power and slammed into the ground.

He expected the battle to be over then – while the actual slam might not have done that much, being in touch with psychic power weakened and hurt poison-types.

But the attack didn't seem to do as much as he had hoped. Gloom pulled itself up quickly and stared at Dazed in annoyance. Its eyes were fully open now.

"I've trained my dear Gloom to be strong against such attacks." Erika shouted, her loud tone contrasting with the soft, quiet image she put up. "Now, petal dance!"

Ash didn't have to tell his pokemon to dodge as Gloom began to rapidly spin, firing out dozens of sharp, pink petals. Dazed was too slow to avoid many of the petals, however, and was hit by almost all of them. She put up a psychic barrier to protect her from some of the damage, but it still weakened her greatly. The trainer knew she wouldn't be able to take much more damage after being hit by such a powerful move.

"Hypnosis!" He cried. Dazed quickly followed his command, raising her arms into the air and staring at the Gloom. Pink energy floated off of her body and floated at the opponent, transforming into purple blobs as they hit Gloom.

Erika wouldn't let him win that easily. "Sunny beam!"

Despite the energy Dazed was focusing on subverting the Gloom's will and putting it to sleep, Gloom stayed strong and followed Erika's commands. Ash was impressed with its willpower – Dazed was pretty good with hypnosis, so it must have been incredibly strong to resist the psychic attack.

Unfortunately, he realized what was going on. Gloom was using Sunny Day, intensifying the sun's rays and making a particular, potent attack readily available.

"Hurry up, Dazed!" He shouted as cold realization swept over him. "It's about to use solar beam!"

Dazed certainly got the message. Ash watched with bated breath as the drowzee produced more energy, focused entirely on bending Gloom to her will before it could unleash the devastating attack. Eventually it seemed that she had succeeded – Gloom's eyes were beginning to close, although bright white energy continued to gather in its flower.

"Focus, Gloom." Erika said calmly. Despite the soft tone, Gloom was snapped back into reality by its trainer's words. Still, Ash could tell that it wasn't fully there, as it only seemed able to focus on gathering energy.

And then it released the power it had gathered. Ash shouted at Dazed to dodge as Gloom focused the energy into a powerful, blinding beam of energy. He had to focus on Dazed, but could still trace the bright beam at the sides of his vision.

It soon became clear that there was no need. Although Dazed hadn't succeeded in putting the powerful Gloom to sleep, she had succeeded in disorienting it. The Gloom still had the ability to use the devastating solar beam, but couldn't properly aim it.

Ash shrank back when the wildly aimed beam flashed towards him, but the barriers in front of him stopped the attack, albeit with a small degree of difficulty. He soon returned his focus to the battle and decided to take advantage of the Gloom's temporary distraction.

He figured that it was time to use an attack that he had been working on with Dazed during the journey to Celadon. They hadn't quite perfected it, but it was still more than powerful enough to knock out Gloom. Even if Gloom was resistant to psychic attacks, it was exhausted from the solar beam and the failed hypnosis.

"Psybeam!"

Dazed calmly gazed at the weakened Gloom as she focused her energy. Ash grinned at Erika's frantic pleas for Gloom to dodge it – that meant she was scared.

His grin widened as he saw a beam of multicolored energy blast from Dazed's eyes. It worked perfectly, and struck the Gloom with a great deal of psychic power. For a moment the Gloom remained standing, staying resolute in the face of its defeat. But then its strength failed and it collapsed to the ground unconscious.

"Good job, Dazed!" He called out. Dazed turned back and looked at him for a moment.

Erika took the time to send out her next choice, a large tangela. Ash studied it for a moment before returning Dazed. He saw her look back at him in relief before the energy suffused her and took her back into the pokeball.

Plume erupted onto the field a few moments later, announcing her arrival with a loud shriek. She flew around the confines of the field for a few moments before Ash gave her an order.

"Gust, follow with wing attack." He muttered. Plume quickly followed the quiet commands, blasting the Tangela with a gust of wing. The Tangela managed to keep itself upright and prepared a few of its vines.

As Plume dived towards the Tangela at a high speed, Erika made her own move.

"Vine whip, absorb, and bind." She said serenely. Tangela enacted the orders so quickly that Ash couldn't warn Plume. Its vines snapped out at unnaturally fast speeds and slammed into Plume with incredible force, slamming her into the ground.

It then waddled over to Plume and entangled it with its vines, leaving the bird immobile and helpless. Ash winced as the vines restricting Plume began to glow a bright white, digging into Plume and absorbing her energy. In just a few seconds she was exhausted, unable to do anything despite Ash's pleas.

"Slam." Erika said calmly, her tone belying the brutality of the order.

Plume was knocked unconscious when the Tangela brutally raised her and slammed her into the ground in a scene reminiscent of Dazed using confusion on the Gloom. Ash gritted his teeth and recalled his beaten pokemon, hoping she would be alright and angry that she hadn't been given a chance to really fight.

It was time to get serious.

Nidorino appeared on the field, powerful and strong. Ash grinned as he saw the barbs extend and drip clear venom.

"Nidorino." He called. His friend continued staring at the Tangela, but his large ears tensed and twitched. "Don't hold back. Focus attack."

The large creature growled and tensed up, focusing its strength temporarily to vastly increase its power. Nidorino then charged at the Tangela quickly, leaving none of its power in reserve as it slammed into the surprised Tangela with its horn, jabbing the Tangela painfully and throwing it several feet away.

Ash smiled. Focus attack was a new combo he'd made during their journey to Celadon. It was just a combination of focus energy and horn attack. Perhaps he wasn't the most creative when it came to naming his attacks, but the powerful combination worked well, so it didn't really matter.

Horn attack was powerful enough on its own, but when Nidorino's strength was amplified by focus energy…well, it could do quite a bit of damage.

Erika seemed stunned, perhaps expecting the rest of his pokemon to be a trivial matter to defeat. But she soon recovered and sent out a Weepinbell.

"Razor leaf." She commanded tersely, a bit of anger seeping into her tone. "Then use sleep powder and slam."

"Focus attack." He ordered again. There were plenty of other ways he could have proceeded, but he wanted to finish this up and get Plume to the Pokemon Center. She wouldn't be badly harmed by the brutal attack, but he wanted her to be out of pain as quickly as possible.

Although Erika tried to warn her Weepinbell, it was too slow to avoid the danger. Nidorino charged at it, slamming his horn into the firm flesh and throwing it several feet away. He slammed into it when it wasn't immediately knocked unconscious.

When the stunned Erika recalled her pokemon, Ash congratulated Nidorino. He didn't bother recalling his friend as he stepped out of the challenger's box and walked over to Erika. She seemed annoyed at her defeat, but it was quickly wiped away from her features.

"You did well." She said serenely as she withdrew the Rainbow Badge from a pocket. "You have proven your skill and have shown that you deserve this badge."

Ash carefully took it from her and examined it. The badge was more stylized and colorful than the others he had collected. It was shaped like a flower, showing grass, with rainbow colored petals. He looked at it for a few more seconds before withdrawing his badge case and carefully placing it into the fourth slot.

"By the way," Erika began, "return here one day. I would like a rematch. But for now, I suggest you return to the Pokemon Center. Your pidgeotto suffered quite a bit."

He nodded at the mention of the rematch and had to hold back a grimace and glare at the mention of Plume. Ash just said, "Alright." After that, he quickly left the gym and its disgusting scent. Ash wasn't exactly happy with it right now.

XX

Plume was currently in stasis. She had moderately severe injuries, although nothing that would permanently damage her. But she would be staying in the Pokemon Center for a day as the Nurse Joys did whatever it was they did. After that she wouldn't be able to battle for a week, since the damage she suffered bruised most of her body, which would be exhausted by the healing process anyways.

Ash was annoyed that Nurse Joy wouldn't let him see his friend, but could understand it somewhat. Plume needed to heal, and the excitement and worry that Ash would bring might pull her out of stasis and into consciousness. Still, that didn't mean he liked it. He wanted nothing more than to go and sit by her as she healed.

At least Dazed was fine. She wasn't badly hurt by the petal dance to begin with, so he just had to buy a weak potion to give her. After she'd drunk it she was perfectly fine, if a little tired. In a day or two she'd be back to normal.

Right now, though, he was wandering Celadon in an attempt to forget about his worries. He couldn't do anything about it right now, and sulking wouldn't help anything. Besides, maybe he would find something interesting.

Now that he thought of it, there was supposed to be a Game Corner in the city. It was also supposed to be pretty close to the Pokemon Center, less than half an hour away. While he wasn't supposed to go into places like that – his mom would kill him if she ever found out – it was perfectly legal.

If someone was old enough to wander the world and be around creatures capable of breathing fire and crushing stone, gambling wasn't a big deal.

Despite the silent voice of his mother chiding him for even thinking about gambling, he found himself in front of the Game Corner soon enough. He didn't go in for a while, instead opting to just look at it.

The Game Corner was different than any of the other buildings in the city. It wasn't quite as gaudy as he'd imagined, given the wild stories and descriptions of it he'd heard, but it was still bright and flashy – obnoxious, really.

Flashing lights displayed the names of businesses and people that Ash had never heard of. Bright colors and grinning faces covered the outside, along with the name of it, "The Game Corner".

All in all, Ash wasn't too impressed. It wasn't as though he was about to gamble in the first place – although he had quite a bit of money thanks to his numerous victories, he knew that if he started he would just keep on playing until he had nothing left.

Still, curiosity at what was so appealing about this place made him go inside. He felt a little awkward amongst all the adults venturing freely into the room, but there were quite a few trainers his own age and some a few years older. No one paid him a second glance.

Ash still couldn't see the big deal about this place. It was full of slot machines, which looked somewhat interesting, and tables for other games, but nothing really exciting. He would much rather be battling right now.

Nevertheless, he continued walking around. He recognized most of the games, although a few were unknown to him. Ash didn't bother going up to the front desk to get a Coin Case, instead opting to explore.

After a few more minutes of this, he grew bored. He had found himself in a mostly empty area of the Game Corner, far from the casino and seemingly only existing for employees. Ash was about to return to the outside and find something else to occupy his time when he saw a door, made to look unobtrusive and hidden in a shadowed corner.

His curiosity spiked, Ash checked to see if there was anything that told him not to go in. There was nothing.

Since it looked like he wouldn't get in trouble for entering, he pushed in. Although nothing prohibited him from going in, Ash didn't want anybody catching him. So he was careful when he walked through the door.

It opened into a long hallway that branched off into several others. Ash glanced around as he slowly made his way down the hall. The walls were bare and grey; a stark contrast to the ostentatious Game Corner. He almost wondered if he had gone into a different building.

Ash took the first turn that came up. It led to yet another long hallway. He continued walking down it, wondering where everybody was. Maybe this was just an abandoned section of the Game Corner, or maybe they had just built it. The trainer couldn't think of any other reason as to why it was so dull in regards to the rest of the Game Corner and seemingly empty.

Eventually the hallway reached a set of stairs. Ash hadn't taken any turns this time, realizing that it wouldn't be a good thing if he got lost in here. There wasn't a way to differentiate the areas and he wanted to be able to easily remember his way back.

He cautiously crept down the stairs. It was a rather long flight, but he could see a plain, unmarked door at the bottom. Since he knew exactly where he was, he decided to go down and see what was in the abandoned section.

Ash quietly pushed the doors open and stepped through. The room he entered was far different than the spartan design of the section that he had just left. It seemed more professional; more like an office than the grey walls of the abandoned section or the glitzy casino.

It was pristine. White walls, perfectly arranged potted plants, and an unnerving absence of dirt or grime perfected the image. He looked around curiously for a moment before going on. This must be where the administration was, although he wasn't sure why it was in such an out of the way place.

As he walked through, two men walked in through the only door in the room. They were laughing and talking as they entered, but that wasn't what attracted his attention. What attracted his attention was the black uniforms they wore and the crimson R emblazoned across their chests.

His blood froze. Memories of a pale, limp man huddled into the fetal position flashed through his mind. A sinking cruise ship, a cruel man with blue hair, and the stinking rot of a muk enveloping him took its place an instant later.

"…and then those idiots spend a hundred thousand on a bunch of balloons and really expensive machinery. Can't imagine why the boss granted it – that Michael guy is bad news. His pokemon are strong, but it isn't worth it when one could probably tear this facility down in a few minutes."

"Yeah." The other man said with a nod. "I get what you're saying. Maybe he has a plan for that kid. Or maybe he's just trying to keep those idiots and their talking cat busy and far away from here. It would be great if they all got killed. I mean, if he really wanted those pokemon he could send anyone but the idiots – they'd have a better chance."

The first man snorted. "Damn right. Anyways, have you heard what Proton's up to? He's supposed to be…wait, what the hell is that kid doing down here. We haven't gotten any new recruits."

Ash stared hatefully at the man, anger he had never known before bubbling up to the surface like magma. His fingers gripped tightly around Nidorino's ball.

The second man growled. "Look, kid, take your hand off that pokeball if you don't want to get hurt. Do you really think you can beat us?"

Two bursts of scarlet light was Ash's answer. Common sense was telling him to flee, but the memories of the St. Anne and the burning desire for justice overruled it. The grunts he'd met before weren't particularly impressive, so he figured he could at least overpower these before leaving and heading to the authorities.

"Well, looks like we've got ourselves a hero." The first man grinned. "Don't be easy on the brat, but don't kill him either. I want to know how he got in here. Victor and Hugo were supposed to be guarding the outer door."

Ash scowled at the putrid, oozing grimer that appeared from one of the grunt's pokeball's. A koffing joined it a few moments later, spitting its oily, stinking smoke out.

"Dazed, psybeam on grimer, repeat. Nidorino, protect her."

He'd been careful in choosing his pokemon. Grimer could badly poison anything that came in contact with them since they didn't have the fine control of their toxins like muk. Koffing weren't anywhere near as volatile, but he'd like to take it down from a distance.

Dazed had the psychic power that badly hurt poison-types and could safely disable the more dangerous ones. Nidorino would be completely immune to their toxins and dangerous presence – the chief danger in dealing with poison-types – and could protect Dazed if they got too close.

The Rockets clearly hadn't trained much with their pokemon. Their commands were long, overly complex, and slow to come out. By the time they'd finished telling their pokemon what to do – revealing their entire strategy to Ash in the process – Dazed had prepared her psybeam.

It flashed at the more dangerous grimer, quickly impacting it and blasting sludge all over the room. Ash noticed that it was markedly more powerful than when Dazed had used it on Erika's Gloom, although it wasn't lethal. He was glad – the Rocket's pokemon were broken and abused, he didn't want them to die. It wasn't their fault they were being used like that.

Still, grimer wouldn't be fighting any time soon. It was clearly unconscious, as it was no longer attempting to maintain a form. Instead it was just a large, toxic puddle on the floor.

"Use explosion!" The second one cried out in a panic. Ash froze when he heard the command and saw the koffing concentrate heavily as it prepared to release its energy.

He had nothing to worry about. Dazed had already unleashed another psybeam, which flashed through the air and slammed into the koffing. The small pokemon was deflated and unconscious.

"Hypnosis!" He ordered, the rage at Team Rocket subsiding into a more refined, cold anger. "Don't put them to sleep though, just keep them from doing anything. Nidorino, make sure they don't escape and watch out for the door."

Dazed quickly carried out his orders. Her hypnosis was nearly instant – she didn't have to put as much effort into doing it to humans, especially since Ash didn't want them fully asleep. One tried to run away, but Nidorino was too fast for him. The powerful pokemon charged at the fleeing man and slammed him to the side. He wouldn't be going anywhere for a while, especially since Dazed quickly put him under her hypnosis.

Ash walked over to the nearest Rocket, trusting in his pokemon to keep him safe. The Rocket was completely helpless – the hypnosis made him too exhausted to struggle or attempt to attack Ash, although he was still aware and able to answer any questions he had.

Although he was going to leave soon – he didn't want to be in a Team Rocket stronghold alone and with only two pokemon to use – he wanted to have some evidence to bring to the police. He couldn't let this operation go on.

"What do you do here?" He asked, trying to remember the questions people always asked on those shows his mom liked. Ash kept his voice as calm as possible, letting only a bit of his anger leak through.

The man sleepily looked up at him. He seemed to struggle for a moment, but Dazed raised one of her hands, apparently using some sort of persuasion on him. Ash was very glad that he had a psychic pokemon.

"This is a base that we use to supply our agents in Celadon." He said quickly, as though he had memorized it. "It is also a research facility, where we test experimental drugs and compounds in order to see their effects on pokemon."

Ash's interest was aroused, despite the fact that he knew that he would hate the answer he would be given.

"What kind of drugs?"

"Things that make the little monsters bloodthirsty and full of hate." The grunt said with a nasty grin. His professional, detached tone was gone. Now it was filled with malice. "Drugs that make the monsters go insane, but make them strong. Sometimes they backfire and warp it, but that's only when the spooks mess up. Or when they're bored."

Ash's vision flashed red. He fought back the urge to punch the man in the face. The trainer glanced over at Dazed.

"Put all of them to sleep. Nidorino, push them into that corner."

His commands were quickly followed. Dazed easily forced the grunts to sleep and prolonged the pokemon's unconsciousness. The bodies were quickly pushed into a corner of the room filled with plants.

Ash wasn't sure what to do next. He wanted to just run back to the police and tell them about this place, but he knew that they might not listen to him. Or worse, Team Rocket would just clear out in the time it took to mobilize any sort of force to invade the stronghold.

Still, while he was sure he could take on quite a few grunts with little to no trouble if they were all this weak, he didn't want to be going in without anyone knowing where he was. He was going to do the best he could to defeat the grunts, but he didn't want to just be locked up forever if he was beaten.

Then he remembered the PokeNav. He quickly yanked the useful tool off of his belt, incredibly grateful to Steven at that moment. Ash pressed the blue button and held the tool with nervous hands as the device smoothly unfolded, revealing a small black screen.

He punched in a few numbers and called the police. The PokeNav automatically sent the call to the nearest police force, so, in this case, Celadon City. As an afterthought, he lowered the volume. It was up pretty high so that he could hear his mom in the loud Pokemon Center.

"Hello, how can we help you?" A bored Officer Jenny said. Ash made sure to stand out of the camera's way – he didn't want to be seen by the police. They might ignore him just because of his age.

"There's a Team Rocket base hidden in the Games Corner." He said, doing his best to lower his voice. The result was closer to a comical attempt than a convincing display. That didn't matter though, since it still disguised his voice. "It's in the empty section. Go down the hallway, take the first right, and keep going straight until you reach stairs. Head down the stairs and you'll enter the compound."

Officer Jenny was paying attention now. "Is this some sort of sick joke?" She demanded.

Ash frowned. "No. Let me show you some proof."

He carefully picked up the device and walked over to the pile of bodies. Ash aimed the camera towards the distinctive uniforms. Officer Jenny gasped when she saw them.

"They're still alive." He said, his voice shifting into its natural range. "Just asleep."

"A team will be sent there immediately." Officer Jenny said. Her voice was stern and professional. "Get out of there."

His response was to cut the phone off. He didn't think that they could trace PokeNavs yet – they were new in Hoenn, and almost entirely unknown in Kanto – but he didn't want to take that much of a risk. All Ash wanted to do was do his best to damage Team Rocket and then escape before attracting more attention to him.

"Alright, buddies, let's go."

Nidorino grunted in response and walked in front of him. Dazed kept to his side, prepared to fight any sudden threats. Ash had a moment of uncertainty about this, but the anger at Team Rocket and the memories of their horrible deeds overwhelmed it.

The door opened up into a short hallway. It had the same perfectly clean and professional style of the previous room and had two doors on each side of it. Ash opened up the first door on his right and glanced in. A Rocket grunt was sitting down at a computer.

"Hypnosis." Ash whispered. Dazed quickly raised a clawed hand, focusing her psychic energy and sending out the pink energy. It latched onto the grunt quickly, the overwhelming power of the attack crushing his will and forcing him to sleep.

He stepped into the room cautiously, glancing around. Aside from a few computers, he didn't see anything. When he reached the grunt, he quickly removed the lone pokeball from the unconscious man's belt.

Ash looked for a place to hide it. Even though he didn't think the grunt would be waking up any time soon, he didn't want to be surprised.

Soon enough he found the perfect spot: one of the potted plants. Ash forced the ball down into the soft soil and smoothed it over. It would take a while for the grunt to find it.

When that was over with, he moved on. He quietly left the room and shut the door. The trainer glanced down the hall to make sure there weren't any grunts coming his way. After he was assured that there wasn't, he stepped to the room across from this one and silently creaked the door open.

Two grunts, both at computers. Ash pushed the door open some more and glanced at Dazed. She raised both of her hands and sent the pink energy at each of them. They were put to sleep almost instantly, although one tried to fight it.

When they were unconscious, Ash repeated the same process. Each had two pokeballs this time, so he had to be a bit more creative. Two went into the potted plants in the corner of the room, while he stuffed the others into the small gap between the beams supporting the large desks and the desk itself. When the last two were wedged in tightly, Ash moved on.

The other rooms were much the same – both had two grunts inside, which were easily dispatched. Ash repeated the process of hiding their pokeballs and moved on. He followed the right turn the hallway took, but ran into two more grunts walking towards him.

"What the hell?" One asked in confusion when he saw Ash. He just stared at him oddly until he saw Dazed and Nidorino. "We're under attack!"

Both sent out large, angry raticate. Ash was reminded of Amelia's raticate for a moment, but suppressed it. Now wasn't the time for that.

"Use hyper fang!" The second grunt shouted. His raticate quickly followed the order, skittering towards Nidorino with bared teeth.

"Hypnosis on the back one." Ash ordered. "Nidorino, horn attack."

Nidorino growled before charging the raticate. Although the raticate tried to use the powerful hyper fang attack on the larger pokemon, Nidorino sent it flying backwards with the force of his horn attack. Ash winced as the rat slammed into the ground. It wouldn't be battling for a while.

Meanwhile, Dazed had already put the second raticate to sleep. The grunts tried to pull out another pokeball, but Ash had Dazed use hypnosis. They collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Ash looked at them in disgust before walking past them. "Let's go. The police should be here soon and I want to beat as many as I can."

Nidorino grunted in agreement before racing a little bit ahead of Ash, prepared to guard the trainer against any threat. Dazed just quietly plodded along behind them.

They took many turns in the large compound, travelling deeper and deeper underneath Celadon. Quite a few Rockets were taken by surprise and disabled by Dazed, saving Ash the trouble of defeating their pokemon. Ash only had to battle five or six of the grunts, and all were easily defeated by Nidorino and dazed.

He was almost disappointed in how easy this was. Team Rocket was supposed to be the most dangerous criminal organization in Kanto, dwarfing and assimilating almost all others. Ash knew that they were dangerous and willing to commit horrible atrocities – his own experiences could attest to that – but on the individual level, they were quite weak.

Maybe these were just the throwaways, he mused as he travelled into yet another room. It seemed to be much larger than the others and much darker – only a few dim lights illuminated the room, and they were all too weak to let Ash see what was going on.

He had a bad feeling about this, and that feeling was realized when he stepped into it. The lights in the room flashed on, lighting the large room.

Ash wished he had never entered this place. He was in the laboratory, or wherever it was that the Rockets tested their horrifying drugs.

There were dozens of pokemon in small, cylindrical containers. The containers were roughly ten feet high – they went from floor to ceiling – and four feet around. They were made of a clear, glass-like material, although Ash knew that it had to be something much tougher.

Some of the pokemon imprisoned and subjected to the horror of this place were rather mundane – small, haggard rattata, pidgey that flapped their wings and attempted to fly through the glass, or pikachu that angrily released all of their power in attacks on the containers.

Others were more uncommon or rare: rhydon raging and thrashing, a lone magmar doing nothing at all, as though it were in stasis, and a single eevee pathetically curled up into a huddled ball.

All of the poor creatures looked as though they were insane or broken. Most of the raging ones had small tubes connected to their body, cleanly inserted. A clear substance was being fed into their bodies, likely giving them the drugs Ash had heard of. Ash gritted his teeth and clenched his hands tightly. This was an abomination.

Nidorino growled deeply at the spectacle, but did nothing. Dazed's eyes began to glow a bit, but she never used her power. Judging from how the other pokemon's attacks did nothing to the containers, Ash wasn't surprised that she didn't waste the energy on attacking the seemingly invulnerable material.

"Let's go." He growled, his cold anger flashing with waves of hatred again. "We can't do anything here. The police will free them."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." An amused voice spoke up from behind him. Ash quickly whirled around and groaned. Three grunts were behind him, all with their pokemon out. "You won't get out of here fast enough to warn them, brat. In fact, you're going to be down here for a very long time."

Ash scowled, but hid the glee that spiked through him. The Rockets didn't know that he'd phoned the police. They wouldn't be packing up any time soon. Certainly not fast enough to escape the wrath of the League.

"Of course, you seem to be a slippery little bastard." The grunt sneered. "So, I guess we'll just have to alert everyone else regardless."

He pulled out a small device and pressed a large red button. Ash inwardly groaned when alarms began to go off, causing a long blaring sound and making the alarm lights flash a bright red. It looked like he wouldn't be sneaking up on any grunts after this.

"And now, you can either give up peacefully or we will –"

The grunt had no time to finish. Dazed released a powerful psybeam that hit the lead grunt first, blasting him back and leaving him unconscious. Then she swung it towards the other grunts and their pokemon, knocking the grunts out but only weakening the pokemon. Only one was knocked out, a small grimer.

"Huh. Didn't know you could do that." He muttered. "Nidorino take care of that ekans and raticate. Dazed, psybeam."

The raticate growled and ran towards Dazed, apparently seeing her as an easier target. A psybeam directly to the face dissuaded it of that notion, hurling it back and slamming it into the wall. Dazed sent out a second psybeam afterwards, blasting the raticate once more and knocking it out.

Nidorino seemed to be having a bit of trouble with the ekans. Although they had fought the snake pokemon before – they were commonly used around Celadon, so he had battled many trainers with them – this one was particularly fierce and actually posed a challenge. Ash was surprised it hadn't evolved by now.

He didn't bother giving Nidorino commands – they were too close, and Nidorino knew what to do best when faced with close combat. All he would do was slow his friend down. It wasn't as though Nidorino knew many moves he could pull off instantly that would actually hit the fast, evasive ekans.

His friend grunted as the ekans bit him, but his tough hide kept the fangs from penetrating his skin. Nidorino ignored the pain and took the opportunity to jab the ekans with his horn. It didn't actually hurt the ekans – its scales were too hard for the horn to penetrate without momentum – but the force knocked it backwards and stunned it for a moment.

That moment was all Nidorino needed. His friend charged at the stunned snake and slammed into it, hurling the lighter pokemon backwards into the wall. Nidorino wasn't done, however. He quickly ran over to the ekans and reared up before stomping on it with incredible force.

The damage from the attack knocked the ekans out, although Ash could see that it wouldn't die or even be disabled from battling for more than a few days at the most. Still, all he needed was the ekans unconscious. As long as it didn't wake up for a while, everything would be fine.

"Let's get going." He said. "We need to get out of here before more arrive. The police will arrive soon, so let's do as much as much damage as we can."

His friends nodded in agreement. Ash took one last sorrowful look at the lab before moving on. He was getting vengeance on the Rockets – now he just had a few more victims to avenge.

XX

He noticed that it was getting much more difficult to fight through the Rockets when they knew he was there. They were staying in pairs and trios now, making every battle more difficult. The Rockets were also getting more powerful and more disciplined – whether that was because he wasn't surprising them or a real increase in their quality wasn't known to him.

Nevertheless, he continued tearing through them. Dazed and Nidorino were getting a little bit tired, but they were driven by their desire to hurt Team Rocket.

The only battle they really had trouble in was when four grunts ambushed them. All of their pokemon were more powerful than the norm for Rocket grunts, but they couldn't match the combined might of Dazed – whose psychic abilities gave her quite an advantage over the poison-types – and Nidorino, whose raw power and skill enabled him to crush the pokemon that tried to fight him.

Eventually, however, he found that there weren't any more of the grunts. Just a long stream of unconscious bodies and pokemon behind him. Ash was wary of any that were waiting in ambush, but he couldn't find any. Neither could Dazed or Nidorino.

He continued following the single hallway. Although it branched off into many rooms and had many turns, it had never branched off into another hallway aside from the first time. It made finding all the possible Rockets and anything important much easier.

Ash eventually ran into another pair of grunts. These seemed more important though – they didn't wear the masks that made the other grunts anonymous and faceless. They also wore different uniforms, grey instead of black.

And they each had a more powerful and evolved pokemon out, unlike the weak ones used by the grunts. Ash cautiously looked at them. Both were large and powerful looking – a gigantic, thick arbok and a hissing golbat. The grunts glared at him before giving orders to their pokemon.

"Arbok, fire fang." The one on the left ordered. His massive, powerful looking arbok gladly followed his order, quickly slithering to Nidorino with a maw filled with flame.

"Psybeam!" Ash shouted in a panic. "Nidorino, focus attack on arbok!"

Dazed seemed to focus all of her power into the psybeam. The beam was brighter and more intense than what he'd seen previously, and although smaller it was more focused. It slammed into arbok, suffusing the serpent with a multicolored aura.

Although arbok was weakened, it wasn't knocked out from the powerful attack. Nidorino took advantage of its temporary disadvantage to focus its energy before charging at the snake. He impacted the arbok with incredible force, further stunning it but still failing to knock it out.

The other grunt finally acted, apparently realizing the arbok wouldn't be able to win alone. "Hyper beam. Aim for that drowzee and then the brat."

Ash looked for something to hide behind when he heard the order. It wouldn't stop a fully powered hyper beam, but maybe he could make it not kill him. When he found nothing he clenched his fists and got ready to try to jump out of the way.

He shouldn't have bothered. Even as the golbat prepared the incredibly powerful blast of energy, Dazed moved to protect Ash. A psybeam just as powerful as the one that struck arbok slammed into golbat. The golbat screeched angrily as it was hurled backwards, but its attempt to use the hyper beam was cut off.

Ash nodded his thanks at Dazed, whose eyes were glowing brightly in anger. "Confusion on golbat."

Golbat had no chance to resist the psychic attack. Dazed easily took control of the golbat's mind with her mastery of the attack. The bat turned on its former master, hissing and flailing as Dazed awkwardly manipulated its body.

The Rocket had no chance to avoid the golbat's frantic attacks. A wing smacked him in the face with great force, sending him to his back and stunning him. Dazed seemed to lose control of the golbat after that, but knocked it out by forcing it to fly as high as it could and then into the ground.

Ash had kept an eye on Nidorino, but hadn't been paying as much attention to him. His friend was dominating the weakened arbok, jabbing it with his horn and dodging its fast, vicious strikes. By now the arbok was slowing as the numerous injuries inflicted upon it took their toll.

By the time he was able to pay full attention to his friend's fight, Nidorino was already about to knock the arbok unconscious. Ash glanced over at the last grunt, who refused to leave the battle and continued to shout out commands to the rapidly weakening arbok.

"Hypnosis."

Dazed performed her most useful ability quickly, causing the grunt to crumple to the ground in unconsciousness. Ash just glared at the body for a moment before returning his focus to the battle. Nidorino had taken advantage of the arbok's confusion at the lack of commands from its master to jab it painfully with his horn, finally knocking it out.

Ash looked at the bodies of the grunts in disgust before moving on. He wasn't sure how much more Nidorino could take. This was a hard battle for him if the small dents in his hide from the arbok's sharp fangs and the slight sluggishness with which he moved were any indication. Combined with the exhaustion he had to be feeling from fighting his way through legions of much weaker pokemon, his friend would probably be knocked out soon.

One more room, he promised himself. These Rockets were much more powerful than the others he had faced, so he had to either be reaching the end or reaching a very important place. Either one meant that he could strike a real blow against Team Rocket.

If he had successfully cleared an entire hideout by himself, then he could know that he was capable of doing real damage against them and that he had little to fear from the average member. If he managed to take something important or detain an important member, then he could strike a huge blow against them.

Ash gave him and his pokemon a few minutes to rest before entering the room. It looked like he was in an entirely different building. Instead of the clean, pristine design of the other rooms, this one reeked of luxury. He was reminded of the St. Anne.

Large, expensive carpets covered the floor of the room. Paintings and banners with Team Rocket's emblem on them filled the walls. A large, mahogany desk was in the center of the room. On the wall behind it, a small plaque held the Rocket motto.

"Steal pokemon for profit. Exploit pokemon for profit. All pokemon exist for the glory of Team Rocket."

He scowled and turned his attention to the inhabitant of the room. The man was tall, even if he was sitting down behind the desk, and stern looking. Something about the man seemed dark and cruel – his pale skin seemed to have a shadow cast over it and his eyes seemed fake somehow, too dispassionate and blank to be real.

And then everything about the man subtly shifted until it revealed an entirely different person. In the place of the tall, dark man a hunched man with a purple Mohawk appeared.

"Ah, so you're our little intruder!" He said jovially as he stood up. The man gave an awkward little bow. "Welcome to my base. Of course, it was quite rude of you to battle your way here, but I can forgive you. By the way, what did you think of that little trick? It takes quite a bit of practice to pull off that well."

Ash looked at him oddly and took a step back. This wasn't how he'd imagined a Team Rocket leader to be. He had thought that they would all be like Pierce: cold, threatening, and cruel beneath a thin shell of sanity.

The man seemed to pick up on his thoughts. He gave a wide grin. "Ah, I suppose I'm not what you expected, eh? Executive Petrel, Team Rocket's resident master of disguise and commander of the Celadon hideout at your service!"

He just stared at the Executive, taken aback. The Executive smiled again.

"Well, I'm obligated to inform you of a standing offer to join Team Rocket!" He said flamboyantly. "While I'm sure that you won't accept, it's still there. My boss wants skilled individuals such as yourself in our little organization. Age doesn't really matter, after all."

"No."

Petrel smiled and shrugged. "Oh well, I had to try. Anyways, I suppose this is the part where we battle?"

Ash couldn't say anything before the strange man threw out three pokeballs at once. A golbat, koffing, and raticate were revealed as the scarlet energy solidified.

The Executive gave a little sigh. "I'm afraid this group won't give such a powerful trainer much of a challenge. My real team hasn't been sent over from headquarters yet." A grin crossed over his face. "Of course, you could always accompany me there yourself. It would save me quite a bit of trouble."

He didn't have time for this. "Psybeam on the koffing. Focus horn on raticate. Follow with confusion on golbat."

The koffing was instantly knocked out by the psybeam, and raticate barely had time to hear Petrel's calm order to dodge before being hit by the full power of Nidorino's attack. Ash grinned when he saw the raticate slump over in unconsciousness. Golbat was quickly taken control of by confusion and forced to slam itself into the ground.

"Hypnosis." He ordered; glee at so easily defeating the Executive overtaking him. Ash frowned when he realized that the grinning Rocket Executive was still awake and none of the pink energy had been released.

He glanced over at Dazed to see what was wrong, but shrank back when he saw a large floating mass of purple shadow hovering over his friend's frozen body. Two clawed hands were holding his friend in place as a long, wide tongue licked Dazed.

Ash knew what that thing was. A haunter – a powerful, mischievous pokemon that did not mean good things for him. Haunter were susceptible to the emotions and mind of their trainers. If this one had become more like Petrel, well, it was dangerous.

Dazed had no chance against the surprise attack. The haunter's lick sapped her of all energy and almost instantly knocked the tired psychic unconscious. Ash watched with horror as it turned towards him and gave a wide, toothy grin before lazily floating over to Nidorino, who was finishing off the golbat.

"Nidorino, watch out!" He shouted. "It's a haunter."

Nidorino looked back at the haunter, but was suddenly distracted by a large blast of flame that barely missed him. Ash looked at the source of the fire – a small but powerful looking houndoom that had somehow remained hidden. It leapt at Nidorino with bared fangs and a flaming maw, but it couldn't do anything before Haunter had reached the distracted pokemon and grabbed it with its clawed, ethereal hands.

Ash was paralyzed with the fear Haunter brought in its wake. All he could do was watch as it casually restrained Nidorino and gave it a long lick, ignoring the long rows of poisonous barbs. Nidorino instantly froze, although Ash could see him shivering a bit.

Petrel seemed perfectly at home with the sudden chaos. He stepped forward with a silly grin on his face, although Ash couldn't consider him a harmless, awkward fool anymore. Although he didn't show any obvious malice, he was just as dangerous as Pierce. Ash grimaced as the Executive's grin widened.

"Sorry about the deception." He said sincerely. "But I saw some of the security footage with you battling. This was much cleaner than the alternative, as I'm sure you will agree."

He just growled, although his anger faded and twisted into terror as Haunter menacingly floated towards him. Its wide grin – reminiscent of Petrel's now that Ash saw them side-by-side – showed its sharp fangs and its dangerous tongue.

"None of that now." Petrel chided. Haunter shrank back but continued to bare its long, curved fangs at Ash. "Now, I suppose you just knocked out most of my men…and women, of course." He added. "Can't forget the women. Might make Ariana mad."

Ash slowly nodded, confused by whatever reference he was making. Surprisingly, Petrel frowned. Without the silly grin on his face, it was much easier to see him as a Team Rocket leader.

"You should have just killed them, you know." He said casually, scratching the houndoom's ears as it walked over. "Most of them are useless to begin with and now I have to keep on paying them. You'll be worth the whole damn group soon enough."

He scowled. The anger he felt at Petrel's confidence that he would join Team Rocket managed to push the fear Haunter inspired back. "I'll never join Team Rocket."

"Eh." Petrel shrugged, leaning back on his desk. Ash saw a sneasel jump up beside him from behind the desk. "I heard that my boss managed to procure a pretty powerful psychic. It's amazing what people will do after a psychic messes with their head. With how powerful you are, you'll definitely be seeing it. I give you a week, tops."

Ash's fists clenched and he looked down at his unconscious friends. He thought about trying to send out Torrent, but knew that it would be futile. Torrent was far too weak on land to have a chance against any of the pokemon individually, let alone when all three were working together.

Petrel glanced over at Haunter, his dopey grin returning. "Hey, use hypnosis on the kid. Give him a taste of his own medicine, eh?"

Haunter's grin was so wide that Ash thought it would burst outside the corporeal shadow. It raised its shadowy, clawed hands and began to wave them back and forth. The ghost's eyes began to glow a bright, bloody crimson.

Ash felt his eyes begin to droop as Haunter continued to wave its hands. The psychic power it exerted slowly shut down his mind, showing its inexperience with the move. A master of it like Dazed would have dropped him in an instant.

Just as his mind began to grow fuzzy and his vision dimmed, he became aware of a massive burst of heat near him. Suddenly the power of the hypnosis began to fade and his mind began to become more alert. Still, he could barely see anything as he was suddenly pushed out of the way and pulled to safety by a large creature with burning fur, although it wasn't very painful.

He finally regained full awareness as a pair of hands carefully guided him into the hallway he just cleared. Ash's eyes snapped fully open and he struggled to turn back to Petrel's room. All he could see was massive bursts of flame and the familiar blue and pink blasts of psychic energy.

"Wait," he shouted, straining to reach his pokeballs, "my pokemon are still in there! I have to get them."

"Calm down, kid." A stern, feminine voice said reassuringly. "They'll be fine. That Rocket is already beaten. I'm Officer Jenny, and I'm in charge of this force. Are you hurt?"

Ash calmed down a bit now that he knew it was the police, but still wanted to go and personally get his friends. But he supposed that the police would have everything wrapped up soon enough.

He pulled himself free from the Officer and looked at her. She was older than the average Jenny, and looked as though she had seen a lot of things. A massive, panting Arcanine was at her side and stood a foot taller than she did. Ash supposed that the Arcanine had pulled him out of the room. Now that he thought about it, his back did feel kind of wet, probably from the dog's saliva.

Once he reminded himself to wash the jacket at the first opportunity, he answered the Officer.

"I'm fine." He said as calmly as he could, although now the memory of the Haunter's disturbing grin was starting to come to the forefront of his mind. "He was just starting to hypnotize me when you arrived."

She seemed relieved by that, but suddenly grew angry. "What the hell were you doing in here to begin with?" The Officer demanded with a cold tone that reminded Ash far too much of when he got in trouble with his mother. "A Team Rocket hideout isn't a good place for a kid to be."

"I was attacking it." He admitted, aware that it probably sounded implausible to the Officer. Ash couldn't have blamed her either, although the stream of unconscious Rockets and pokemon should prove his claim unless she was completely unreasonable. Which she likely wasn't, since one didn't get to be the head of a team that attacked a Rocket hideout by being blind.

Officer Jenny got a strange glint in her eye that made Ash feel like hiding in a corner. "And why were you doing that instead of leaving it to professionals?"

"I did call you." He said in an attempt to defend himself. "I just wanted to get some of them myself first."

"You got a bit more than some of them." She said drily. "We counted forty-two unconscious Rockets on the way down here. Most didn't even have their pokemon out. Now, aside from the obvious stupidity of you attacking a Rocket stronghold on your own, why didn't you just leave after knocking a few of them out?"

He frowned. "Did you hear about the St. Anne?"

She frowned as well. "Yes. What does that have to – wait." Officer Jenny said, narrowing her eyes. "I thought you looked familiar. You're that kid that survived that damn wreck, aren't you? I get it now." She sighed. "Even if I don't think it was smart."

Ash had to admit that it wasn't the smartest thing that he'd done. He wasn't really thinking, though – he was too busy remembering the horrible things Team Rocket had done and the vengeance that their victims deserved.

A stout officer with a rather impressive beard left Petrel's room and walked up to Officer Jenny. "Captain, we're finished in there. The Rocket leader is unconscious. That nidorino and drowzee have already been teleported to the Center for treatment." He shook his head and sighed. "They'll be fine, but Haunter licks are tricky. If it wasn't taking it easy on them for some reason they probably would have already died."

His blood froze again at the news, although he was overjoyed by the fact that his friends were fine. Still, the thought of them dying was one of the worst things Ash had ever feared. If it weren't for Petrel's mercy – probably so that Ash wouldn't hate him and Team Rocket even more – his best friends would be dead.

He was in a slight daze after the news, but he was aware of Officer Jenny's words.

"Kid, you're coming with us. You have some information that could help us and we need to discuss whatever your award will be." Her lips pursed in annoyance. "What you did was one of the stupidest things I've ever heard of as well as the most unlikely success, but the fact remains that you saved us a lot of trouble and discovered a Team Rocket hideout in a major city."

Ash nodded and allowed himself to be led by Officer Jenny. Her Arcanine guarded both of them as they travelled up through the hideout, flanked by a small group of officers that weren't needed. He kept his head low and wondered what was about to happen. His tired mind idly thought that this seemed like the spot where a story would cut off – a time when everything else had come to a close and only the future awaited.

The rather odd and pointless thought was accompanied by various odd thoughts and fantasies as he was carefully lead to the nearby police station. Officer Jenny made a point of keeping him as out of sight as possible and whispered to him that she didn't want him being seen by anyone. Team Rocket had their ways of finding things out, and she didn't want a ten year old being targeted.

Eventually they reached the police station. It was a bare, practical building that looked more like a fortress than an actual police station. Officer Jenny quickly guided him through it before taking him to a silent, grey room that was empty save for two chairs and a small table.

"I have a few questions I have for you." Officer Jenny said wearily. "I'll make it fast. I'm tired and I have work to do. So sit down."

Ash quickly obeyed her and took a seat. She took the one opposite to his and looked at him.

"Let's get this over with." She sighed.

XX

He was out in two hours. The questioning itself was quick – he was asked for his name, how he had discovered the base, and anything odd he'd seen in the base. After he'd answered the basics, they just asked him what the Executive's name was. Everything else they already knew for sure.

The rest of the time was spent making sure that his identity was obscured. Officer Jenny certainly made it clear that she thought that he was one of the stupidest people she had ever met, but that didn't mean she would even think about letting him be put into any danger.

She had authorized the use of full restores on his pokemon – an expensive service that was one of the few things trainers had to actually pay for at Pokemon Centers – and got all three of them out in just a few minutes. They had already been sent to the station and picked up by him. Ash couldn't wait to let them out and congratulate them on their performance.

Despite the fact that he had his friends back, he would also be staying in Celadon for a few more days. Officer Jenny had to make sure all evidence of his presence was wiped out from all but the most secure documents before letting him go, and there was also whatever reward she would be giving him.

The Officer had already added a small bonus to his trainer card that would give him free access to full restores at any Pokemon Center and a few other minor rewards, but had also mentioned that he would be receiving one of the pokemon that had been rescued from the Rockets. They just had to find one that didn't need rehab and wasn't dangerous.

Ash looked forward to having a new member on his team, although he was nervous about having one that had been subjected to the Rockets' treatment. Still, he wasn't about to refuse it. At least he could give it a better home.

But for now he was just glad that he and his friends were safe and that the Rockets wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else in Celadon. Now he could just get on with his journey and stay far away from the Rockets and their plots.

A smile crossed his face. He would be getting a new member for his team, he had proved to himself that his team really was strong enough to fight, and he had his route planned out.

While waiting to be released from the station, he had decided to head over to Saffron. Ash wasn't sure whether he was anywhere near Sabrina's level yet, but he figured that he should at least try. After all, that was what being a trainer was all about. Finding challenges and pushing your limits until you were the very best.

So he wouldn't be skirting around Saffron anymore. It was time to face a real challenge. Sabrina was waiting for him.