Chapter 10

"Plan B," Giovanni began, "involves us selling hope to the masses. Basically, us and team Plasma tell the world that we're the ones who have the technology to keep them safe. We then persuade large companies and governments to invest in our technology and we make a big fat profit. Then, we execute more attacks, but not just in Johto this time, but all around the world, until there is nothing left but a trackless wasteland." James, Jesse and Meowth were in utter disbelief.

"But Why?" Jesse appealed, "if there's no world left, you won't be able to make money anymore, and think about all the good things about the world, like sipping a cocktail on a beautiful white beach; travelling and visiting all the wonders of the world; dining with a wealthy couple at their luxury estate."

"And being able to annoy us", Meowth added.

"Ok, so I'll have to sacrifice a few luxuries, but I've seen enough of those things anyway. I've always been an ambitious man, and I feel like I've been doing the same thing for too long now, it's time for a new challenge: to be one of the founding fathers of a new world, reborn from the ashes of the old one. Besides, once I've made my profits from this venture I'll have enough to cement my position as one of the most – if not the most – powerful men in the new world. I might even be king!" They were now hoping to tiptoe out quietly while he wasn't looking, they thought him completely mad, but he continued to look at them intently with a piercing stare which made them feel very uncomfortable.

"What about us?" Jesse asked. "What's our job in all of this?"

"To get out of the way." He responded harshly. "Now get out." They had never been so glad to hear those words.

Just after they took off in their hot air balloon once more, after James had told Jesse and Meowth the full story, Jesse began to speak: "Where to now?"

"I don't know," James responded morbidly. "Maybe we should go back to Pop-Pop and Nanny, live out our final weeks surrounded by the only people who ever loved me", Jesse and Meowth coughed, "…Oh, aside from you two," James replied with a guilty smirk. "Speaking of which, how do you two look at me the same way, even after what I've done?"

"It wasn't your fault," Jesse replied softly. "Ok, maybe you should've told someone, but no one's perfect, and everyone knows you wouldn't deliberately do anything to really hurt anyone. Besides, a lot more people are going to be gone soon, us among them, not because of you but because of crazy people like Giovanni."

"Eureka!" James shouted.

"Huh?"

"This is our chance for redemption for all the things we did to the twerps, and for me not speaking up when I had the chance. We're going to use our knowledge to help save the world."

"How on Earth are we going to stop the combined might of team rocket and team plasma's most high tech inventions, not to mention those pokemon they collected from outer space? Did you consider that genius?" Meowth asked in a harsh tone.

"Well I don't know yet," he struggled for ideas as Jesse and Meowth began to roll their eyes at him, "we'll think of something. Besides, do you really think that even if we survive that there'll be a place for us in team rocket's new world order? The world's already dog-eat-dog enough, can you imagine how we'd cope in a post-apocalyptic scenario? And if you can't do it for others, then do it for the good times we'll have, sipping cocktails together on a beautiful white beach," he joked.

"What do you mean together?" she asked suspiciously.

"I…I meant as friends," he answered nervously, "and with Meowth and Wobberfett."

"Wobber-Wobber."

"And I promise we will come up with at least a half decent plan," he continued, "but first I think we need to go somewhere to rest and contemplate."

"Back to your grandparents?" Jesse asked.

"No, I think somewhere a little bit closer to team rocket's headquarters for the time being." He continued to ponder, "hey Jesse?" He asked suddenly.

"Yes?" she answered.

"If any of the twerps survived, where do you think they would go?"

"I didn't hear any of them discussing travel arrangements, although now I think about it, there were a couple of trainers at that party who mentioned something about a gym leader's tournament, up in Silver City I believe."

"Yes!" James snapped his fingers. "A few of those twerps are gym leaders. So if they did survive, they could well be heading there. And seen as they would no longer be able to fly, in order to get back to Kanto, they would have to travel through that area anyway. So it is," he determined, "Jesse, Meowth, set a course for Silver City."

"Aye-aye Captain," Meowth responded sarcastically.

"Aye-aye Captain," Jesse added, but not in a sarcastic tone.

Ash and his friends had spent the last several days travelling through open fields, lined with trees of various sorts, as they continued their journey eastward. Now only two days walk from Silver City, they came to a point where a river meandered its way through the field. "If we follow it in this direction," said Brock, pointing to the river ahead, "it will take us in a north-easterly direction for some distance. But first I think we'll stop for some lunch, it's around midday anyway."

"Phew," May exclaimed, "my legs are so sore."

They set up two blankets on the grass near a small group of trees which stood alongside the river. They were now getting close to Silver City, but Brock was still strict about the rations rule, so they only got a couple of small sandwiches and a piece of bread and butter each for lunch. They had all let their pokemon out for a play, with the exception of those obtained from the pokemon centre in Azalea Town. But their pokemon alone were almost enough to make up a small army, and watching them interact with one another was almost reminiscent of watching kids play on the schoolyard: the bigger ones, like May's Blaziken, Ash's Charizard, and Brock's Geodude were leading the others in various hide and seek style games. Not long after, they began to play some kind of running game, where the flying pokemon were at an obvious advantage, much to the angst of a number of the non-flying pokemon.

When they had finished lunch, Ash and Serena stayed together, as Serena lay on Ash's legs while he stroked here honey coloured hair. They were both content in each other's company. Brock and Sara took a walk together along the river, while May and Drew went for a dip in the river. Finally, Misty joined Bonnie and Clement as they went down to the river and sat on the shore. "Hey Misty," Bonnie said."

"Yes Bonnie?" she answered kindly.

"I had been wanting to bring this up for some time now", Clement's cheeks began to glow red, he hoped this wasn't going where he thought it was, "I think I should recommend my big brother Clement to you, he's kind, clever, handsome and pretty funny too, so if…""What, Bonnie what are you doing?" he screamed, trying to clamp Bonnie's mouth shut, but it was no use, as she continued to outline Clement's good qualities. The more it went on the more Misty laughed. "That's so sweet! You know Clement?"

"Yeah?" He answered weakly.

"You're lucky to have such a kind sister who's always looking out for you. If that had been my sisters, they would probably be telling boys reasons why they shouldn't date me." He giggled nervously, 'yeah, she's pretty…special isn't she?"

"She is and you two are lucky to have each other to get through these terrible things. You know, for all my sisters' flaws, I wish so badly they were here with me right now."

"I'm sorry to hear that Misty," Clement answered.

There was an awkward silence for some time. Eventually, Misty and Bonnie removed their shoes and put their legs in the water. Clement decided to stay a little further back, as the two girls began chatting to one another about various topics. But every so often, Misty would turn over her shoulder and stare at Clement. Clement eventually smiled back nervously, and she returned the gesture. Then she and Bonnie began whispering to each other. Clement had no idea what they were doing, so instead of worrying about it he lay back on the grass, directly under one of the tall trees, and looked up at the leaves. It was a beautiful, mild summer's day and Clement could see patches of the striking blue sky through gaps in the tree. It helped him to relax to the point where he was close to dosing off but he soon had no problem staying awake: "Uh, wha, what are you doing? Put me down!" But they would not listen to him, but instead began giggling as they carried Clement down to the river and threw him into the water. It was a fair toss, as Misty was quite strong, and when Clement hit the water the impact was quite hard. Misty and Bonnie then dived in and went over to him. He tried to escape but it was to no prevail as the pair got on either side of him and dunked him into the water. After that the torture only consisted of some tugging of his shirt and some playful splashing. After a short period, he realised he was actually quite enjoying himself, and he began to join in.

After a while they got out. When they reached the shore, they removed their wet clothes and wrapped themselves in towels before changing into new clothing. Misty patted Clement on the back: "so you had fun Clement?"

"Well," he began, "eventually I got into the spirit of things, but I wasn't too happy at first."

"I think it's good to have fun sometimes. Everyone needs to have fun, even you Clement," she laughed.

"Ok, yes I know I'm not the life of the party, but that's just me. Take it or leave it."

"Hey, I'm not asking you to change; I just think you need to lighten up a little." She began to muse to herself, "I know I needed a bit of fun, as much as anybody."

"Why do you say that, do you mean because of everything that's going on?"

"Not just that. I…I had very strong feelings for someone, but they didn't feel the same way."

"Oh, you mean Ash?" She nodded. "I'm sorry, I really am. But don't feel too bad about it, Ash and Serena have always had a particularly strong chemistry, it's not your fault." She had tears welling in her eyes now, "I know, but it doesn't change how you feel, you know?"

"I've heard love is like that."

"Hey, you're a big brain, what do you think of it? Love I mean. Is it real, or am I depressed about nothing?"

"Well," he began to ponder it over in his head, "love does certainly have a chemical element to it. However, from my experience, it's my belief there are certain kinds of relationships that can't be explained by science alone, not just romantic, but all different kinds. Indeed love is a great mystery, but it's also a very powerful force for good."

"And do you think that when two people fall in love, that it's like love at first sight, or does it sometimes happen differently? And if so, when it does happen differently, can it be just as special as love at first sight?"

"Hmmm, interesting question. You see this tree?" Pointing to the tall pine needle next to them, Misty nodded. "When that started its life it was nothing more than a small seed, and now look at it. So I think sometimes love is a little bit like the beauty of nature, it starts out small but then it grows big and beautiful."

"Clement," she spoke softly, "that's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard someone say about love, thank you so much."

"You're welcome, I'm happy I could help."

"So," she continued, "would you like to take a walk through all this beautiful nature?"

"It would be my pleasure."

And so they did. Misty was particularly interested in his inventions which he discussed with her at length, including the long range heat motion detector he was currently working on. She also took an interest in his electric-type gym, while he was intrigued to develop his skills with water types. But eventually they found other things to talk about as well, with each finding it quite easy to talk to the other. It also made them both feel more relaxed.

By the time they returned to camp, Brock informed them it was time to hit the road once more. Along the way, Misty and Clement continued to bond, albeit with some interference from Bonnie, while the other couples also spent most of their time with one another. All of a sudden, what started out as one big group of friends and acquaintances had turned into a couple's club. In spite of this, their bonds of friendship were continuing to blossom: Clement and Brock were getting on fairly well with each other as they shared the cooking duties, while Misty continued to bond with Bonnie over water pokemon and the Cerulean gym – Bonnie decided that her next journey would be in Kanto -, and Serena, May and Drew had long discussions about the differences between - and respective merits of - contests and showcases, which almost bored Ash to death.

The next day, the land began to climb gradually as they found their way onto the victory road shortly before midday. It was not long before they ran into more gym leaders, trainers and general spectators who were heading into town for the gym leader's tournament. Those they talked to seemed to have no doubt the tournament would be going ahead. And as the day wore on, the number of people they encountered heading to Silver City increased.

Late that afternoon, May saw something out of the corner of her eye along the side of the road, partially hanging out of the bushes, "Ahh!" she screamed.

"What is it May?" The others responded.

"Look at that, that thing," she said with simultaneous horror and disgust, "I think it's one of them." Brock and Ash went to inspect the creature, which was in fact, the body of one of the alien pokemon. The lifeless body was almost completely intact, except for a large hole around its abdomen. He knew it was an evil creature, but in a certain respect, Ash felt sorry for the creature as he looked into its lifeless face. He felt a little sad as well. This one was a little different from the others, and had a rabbit like appearance, but the colouring and size were similar to the mouse-like ones they had encountered the previous week. Brock also noticed something else: "what is that?" He said, intrigued, as he pulled a small metallic device out of the creature's left ear. Ash and a number of the others stared closely at the device. After a short time Clement spoke: "I think this just about confirms my earlier theory."

"What theory Clement?" Ash asked.

"That those machines, they're not aliens, they're of Earth origin." The others reacted with shock. "Clearly," he continued, "this is some kind of device used to control these creatures' behaviour, in other words a mind control device, and if you look more closely at the structure of these devices, it's obvious that they're built with simple, contemporary Earth materials. Now I'm not saying it's a one hundred percent open and shut case, but certainly in all likelihood, this was built by some individual or organisation based here on Earth."

"But no one's seen these pokemon before Clement," Serena answered, "so how could they be from Earth?"

"I didn't say they were, I said the machines were and the people who implanted these devices in these unidentified pokemon."

"But Clement," Misty began, "how could that be? Are you implying that there's some sort of secret space program we don't know about?"

"Well that would certainly be one possibility."

"But how can that be?" Drew interjected, "there's no other planet in the solar system which can sustain life, and the next solar system is several light years away, so there's no conceivable way."

"Indeed Drew it is a puzzle, but I'm going on what I see in front of me. What we see is real, and therefore there must be some logical way of explaining it. Also, just because we're unaware of any space program being able to travel light years into space doesn't mean there isn't one. The people behind it may have a reason for wanting to keep it hidden."

"Maybe they came through a wormhole," May answered.

"Correct May," Clement answered, "wormholes are a real life phenomenon. It's also possible that they mastered the ability to bend space as well."

"Actually, I should fill you guys in on something," Sara began. "For some time now we've been monitoring unidentified rockets taking off in the northern region of Johto. I suppose it fits in pretty well with the timing of all of the things that are happening at the moment."

"Do you have any suspects?" Clement asked.

"No clear leads I'm afraid, but we're looking into a number of groups and organisations at the moment. The problem is, the launches are usually in different areas and not reported by our operatives until after the event, so by the time we get out there, it's almost impossible to identify the specific site the rocket would've taken off from. One time we thought we might have identified a launch site but even when we got out there we couldn't find any evidence to work with."

"At least this is all a step in the right direction," Ash declared. "It's just like the GS ball, the more we persist and the longer our journey goes on, the more answers we'll get."

"Agreed Ash," Brock responded, "speaking of which, we need to keep on moving if we're going to get to Silver City tomorrow, and I want to get several miles further before stopping for the night, so let's move."

They did just that and then some, nine miles in fact, before stopping for the night in a small forest clearing, not far from the road. As usual it was rations, but they knew this would probably be the last night they would have to endure this, at least for quite some time, so they ate their small dinner with happy hearts and didn't stay up for too long before heading to bed. They were eager to get to Silver City as early as possible the next day. Ash kept on imagining what it would be like when they reached the pokemon centre there, and all the food and drink he would consume. The others were in a similar frame of mind, but on this night, it didn't take any of them too long to get to sleep.

They started out early the next morning, with everyone eager to reach their destination. And early that afternoon, after a steep climb, the bright skyline of Silver City loomed before them. They wasted no time and ran through the gates with fervour. They felt like they had died and arrived in heaven.