So, there's a good reason why this is coming out on a Sunday, rather than a Friday. It's because life needs a laugh, and I'm usually the butt of its jokes. So, my laptop has decided it no longer wants to connect to the Internet. And I don't mean it's having difficulty doing so. I mean the laptop won't even give me the option TO connect to any form of Internet. And troubleshooting doesn't work because I need Internet to troubleshoot. Which means I'm stuck updating this from my phone for now. To make matters worse, I had the chapter halfway done before the glitch, and now I've lost it all. If anyone reading this has any knowledge on computers, and can explain what's going on and how to fix it, I'd be eternally grateful! Anyway, on with the story.
Chapter 76:
Battle of Pewter Gym
Ever since May, Dawn, and Serena's charity event that Team Terra interrupted, Ash has been going around to his friends and apologising to them for how he'd been acting. If they already knew about his Aura, he'd explain that that's why he was acting the way he was. If they didn't, he'd simply say that it was because he was coping with the fact that he'd accidentally killed someone. Like with Serena, everyone insisted to him that it wasn't his fault, and that he was just defending himself and Serena. In fact, Paul even commented that maybe the Sub-Admin deserved it. Ash shot that down, claiming that no one deserves to die.
But, throughout all of this, there's one person he's almost terrified to talk to. He was one of, if not the first person to witness these rages. He'd seen Ash tear his house apart, and helped him put it back together again. Even though the chances are that he'd forgive him for his behaviour, it still didn't make Ash any less terrified to go and speak to him. But, with some encouragement from his mum, Serena, and Pikachu, Ash heads off to Pewter City to speak to one of his first travelling partners, Brock.
When he gets to Pewter City, he takes a bit of time before heading to the Gym itself. When he gets to the gate, he stops and stares at the building in front of him. "Maybe he isn't here," he says to Pikachu. "After all, Forrest is the Gym Leader now, so maybe Brock won't be here." Pikachu zaps him at this. "No excuses!" he reprimands. "If you don't want to lose him as a friend, I'd say you'd better if you talked to him!" Ash sighs and nods his head. "I know what you mean buddy," he says. "I'm just worried about how this will go, that's all." Pikachu begins to push at the back of Ash's head at this. "Well, you're never going to find out unless you actually go and speak to him!" Ash nods, then approaches the door to the Gym.
He knocks on the door and waits to see who'll come to the door. While he waits, he looks around at the building. "Can't believe this was the first step in our journey." he comments. Pikachu nods. "And look at us now," he replies, his cheeks sparking a bit as he says this. Ash chuckles, then returns his attention to the door, because it opens at that moment, and Ash sees Forrest standing at the door. He's grown since Ash last saw him. Now at 14 years old, he's really become more confident in himself and his own strength. "Hey Forrest," says Ash. "Is Brock here?" He's expecting the answer to be no, but instead, Forrest nods. "He's in his old bedroom," he replies. "Apparently he was sent something that required his geographical knowledge, so he came here to analyse it." Ash thanks him, then heads inside.
He walks up to Brock's door and knocks. "Not now," Brock's voice calls from the room. "I'm just in the middle of something!" "Brock it's me!" Ash calls back. There's the sound of scrambling as Brock comes to the door. He opens it and grins as he sees his old friend. "Hey Ash," he says cheerily. "Serena told me to expect you at some point. Said you had something you wanted to tell me?" Ash nods, then Brock steps aside to let Ash into the room. Ash looks around, taking the chance to calm himself. As he does, he spots some paper on Brock's desk, as well as what seems to be a map of Hoenn. Ash wants to ask about that, but his apology comes first. So, he takes another breath, then turns back around to speak to Brock.
"Brock, I-" he begins, but Brock holds up his hand to silence him. "I know what you're going to say," he says. "You're here to apologise for how you've been since Kalos, aren't you?" Ash sighs and nods his head. Brock chuckles slightly. "Well, you don't have to, it wasn't your fault." "But it kind of was," Ash argues back. "If I had just listened to you all, none of that would've happened!" Brock sighs. "Ok, think about it like this," he tells him. "Did you deliberately kill that man?" "No!" Ash replies quickly. "And did you genuinely believe that you suppressing your Aura would be the right thing to do?" Ash doesn't reply at first. But then he says, "It wasn't that I thought it was the right thing to do. It was more that I felt like it was the way to make amends for what I'd done." "Well, either way, you felt that you were doing a good thing," Brock argues. "I'd say most of us would've probably done the same if we were in your shoes. Like May, if she accidentally kills someone with her power, she'd probably refuse to use it too."
Ash stops at this. "Wait, how do you know about her powers?" he asks. "She told me," he replies. "She also sent me something. Something that I think you should see actually." He leads Ash over to his desk with the paper and map. Upon closer inspection, he sees that it's also a map of Hoenn. However, this one has weird routes all over it, ones that don't match up with any of the paths. In fact, some of them go through the water, which doesn't make sense at all. "What is this?" he asks. Brock shrugs. "Something May sent me like a week ago," he replies. "She needed my help to figure it put, said it was something to do with Team Terra. But so far, I'm having trouble trying to work out what it is." Ash takes a look. "They look like tunnels," he says. Brock nods. "That's what I thought at first," he agrees. "Especially since all of them seem to lead to Larousse. But that doesn't account for all of the tunnels under the water. There's no way a human could tunnel all of that, not without a massive cave in."
Ash nods, then examines the map once more. As he does, he makes an offhanded comment. "Hmm, maybe a pokémon could though." Brock freezes at this. "Excuse me?" he asks. Ash repeats his question. Brock looks back at the map again. "May said that Team Terra called it their Geo Map," he comments. "So maybe..." He trails off and pulls up his laptop. He scans the screen for a few seconds. Looking at it from over Brock's shoulder, Ash can see that he's looking at a similar map to the Geo Map May asked him to analyse. Only this one was a map of Kanto. After staring at it for a few moments, Brock stands up, a triumphant grin on his face.
"I've got it!" he exclaims. "What is it?" Ash asks. "These are tunnels," Brock explains. "But not ones carved by humans. These are pokémon tunnels. Ones dug by Diglets and Dugtrios and whatnot." "So Team Terra is tracking pokémon tunnels?" Ash asks. "But why? That doesn't make any sense." Brock looks back at the Geo Map. "That's the thing," he replies. "It does." Then, he strides over to the map, picks it up, and shows it to Ash. "Look at the difference between the tunnels on this map, and the tunnels on the map of Kanto. Ash analyses it, and sees what he's pointing at. "There's a lot more tunnels on the Kanto Map," he realises. "Exactly," Brock replies. "But that's not all," he says, pointing to all of the tunnels. "They all seem to be focused on 2 different points. Larousse, and Mossdeep." Ash nods in understanding. "Which means they must be planning something for those cities." "We'd better tell May about this," Brock says. He goes to grab his phone, but before he can, the building starts to shake.
The pair look out the window, to find a small horde of Team Terra agents approaching them, along with a few armoured cars. "What are they doing here?!" Ash asks. "I think I might know," says Brock, looking at the Geo Map. "And they're not going to have it!" He grabs it, and his laptop and runs out of his room, just as Forrest and Brock's other siblings come up to his room. "Brock, what's going on?" Forrest asks. Instead of answering, Brock hands his laptop and the map to him. "Take these, take your siblings, and hide in the Gym itself," he says. "Don't let them find these, and don't let them hurt your brothers and sisters!" "What are you going to do?" asks Yolanda. "I'm going to keep them away from this Gym!" Then, he turns and heads towards the door. "Wait," says Ash, running up to him. "I'll help you." Brock smiles at him, then turns back to his siblings again. "Also, guys," he adds. "Don't look out the window." His siblings nod, then Forrest leads them to the Gym. Brock and Ash look at each other, then the two of them head out to face off against Team Terra.
When they step outside, Brock immediately summons Steelix and has him block the entrance to the Gym. While Brock stands in front of Steelix to parlay with the Admin, Ash hides behind Steelix and quickly calls Serena and Olivia, telling them what's happening and to come as quickly as possible to help out. Then, he stands out of sight, ready to leap out and help Brock should he need it. The Admin raises his hand to stop the Team's advance, then walks over to speak with Brock. "So, you must be Brock Stone," he says. "We've been wanting to speak with you." Brock crosses his arms. "To what do I owe the displeasure of having Team Terra coming to my family's door?" The Admin grunts out a minor laugh. "You know what we're here for," she says. Ash stands there, trying to place which Admin this was, but the mask makes it hard to identify. "We know that you have our Geo Map, and we'd like it back." Brock shrugs. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," he says. "Now, get away from my family's Gym, before I send you flying, Team Rocket style!"
The Admin looks visibly angered by this. "Do not compare us to the likes of them!" she snaps. "We are far superior to them! And, we're actually trying to save the world! Which we cannot do without our Geo Map! So, kindly hand it over to us, and we'll leave your Gym alone!" Brock lets out a small chuckle. "How can I give you something that I don't have?" he asks. "Besides, what makes you think I even have it?" At this, the Admin laughs. "Don't you see, Mr. Stone?" she says. "We have spies everywhere. When we found out that that Blaziken Mask had stolen our Geo Map, we kept an eye on all postal services and emails, hoping to find it again. We tracked the letter to this Gym. Which means it is here! And you will hand it over to me, Admin Angie, immediately! If you don't, well, 21 is far too young to be widowed."
Brock tenses at this. "What was that?" he asks. His voice suddenly shaking with anger. Angie laughs. "You got married recently, didn't you?" she asks. "To an island Kahuna from Alola. Olivia's her name, right?" Brock clenches his fist in fury. "Don't you dare hurt a hair on her head!" he says. "Oh we will do so much more than that!" Angie taunts. She raises her hand to reveal a gun. "I shoot this in the air, and those agents surrounding the Gym will rain bullets down on it! So, you can either hand the map over, or we level the house, your choice." Brock sees red and begins charging at Angie in a blind rage. "Don't you dare harm my family!" he bellows. "Wrong choice!" Angie replies, before raising the gun in the air. Before she can fire, Ash leaps out from behind Steelix and hurls an Aura Sphere at Angie's hand, smashing the gun to pieces. Ash lands next to Brock with 2 more Aura Spheres in his hands. Angie stares at the two of them. "So, do you really think you can beat us?" she asks. "It's 2 against 100! What chance do you have?" At this, Brock mega evolves Steelix, then snaps his fingers. Steelix throws up a lot of dust and burrows into the ground. The dust obscures Ash and Brock from view. "Spread out!" Angie orders. "Watch out for the Aura Guardian!"
Team Terra raise their guns and begin to approach the Gym. As they do, they're suddenly struck by glowing blue sticks. Ash has summoned Bone Rush, and dashes around through the ranks of Team Terra, knockingnout as many as he can. If they're too far away, he throws Aura Spheres at them. "I thought you wanted to keep Aura a secret!?" shouts an agent. "So, why show us this power?" Ash strikes this agent down. "Who would believe a bunch of criminals when they say that they were beaten up by the Monarch who threw glowing balls and sticks of energy?" he asks, before taking a few more out. But soon enough his luck runs out, and he's shot in the shoulder by an agent. He grunts with pain and falls to the ground, clutching his shoulder. He begins to heal it, but he's quickly surrounded by other agents. They point their guns at him, but before they can fire, Steelix bursts from the ground and throws them into the air. Brock steps down from Steelix's back and helps Ash to his feet. "Are you ok?" Ash nods, then allows Brock to pull him to his feet. Then, he summons another Bone Rush, while Brock gets ready to order Steelix to attack. But before either of them are able begin attacking, they're suddenly hit in the face with Sleep Powder, and quickly lose consciousness.
When Ash comes to, he finds himself with his hands tied behind his back. He sits up, and sees that he and Brock are in the back of one of the cars Team Terra brought to attack Pewter Gym. Ash shuffles forward and gives Brock a few kicks to wake him up. Brock shoots awake and immediately looks around the place. "Where are we?" he asks. "One of Team Terra's vehicles I think," Ash replies. Brock swears and tries to stand up, only to find that his hands are also tied up. However, his are tied in front of him, rather than behind him like Ash's. "Must've done yours behind your back to avoid you using Aura to break us out of here," Brock comments. Ash chuckles at this. "Well, if they think that'll stop me from using it," he says, "then they're sorely mistaken." "You mean you can break us out of here?" Brock asks. "Because we need to get back to Pewter City before those bastards hurt my family!" Ash nods, then closes his eyes. "I can shoot out a powerful burst of Aura," he explains. "This should break this car and free us. The only problem is it drains my energy for a while, so I'll need you to protect me for a bit." Brock nods. "I'll do it," he says. "If it means saving my siblings, I'll do anything!" "Good," Ash replies. Then he closes his eyes and strains.
He does this for a few seconds, and Brock watches as Ahs begins to glow blue. A few seconds later, a powerful blast shoots out of him. Brock feels this power wash over him, though it doesn't affect him. The hull of the car however receives the full brunt of the attack. It explodes outwards, and Brock and Ash tumble out of the vehicle. Brock hits the ground and feels the wind leave his lungs. Still, he scrambles around, and finds a sharp bit of metal from the car. He rubs his ropes against it and manages to free himself. Then, he scrambles over to Ash. Ash is lying face down on the ground, clearly too drained to stand up. Brock hastily cuts through Ash's ropes, then helps him to his feet. The two of them stand up and look around. It is only then that they notice the fact that all the cars have stopped. All of the agents escorting them are now surrounding them, guns pointed at them.
"Don't move!" one of them shouts. "Or we will open fi-!" Before he can finish his sentence, he suddenly lurches forward and hits the ground unconscious. Some people begin looking around, wondering what happened to him. Then, two more people drop to the ground. Now the agents start pointing their guns around them. "Who's there!" one of them shouts. "Show yourself!" Instead of doing that, the invisible force knocked that guy out. Agents start tripping up, and their guns fly out of their hands, before slamming down on their heads. Seeing this, Brock begins to help this invisible figure free them, while Ash struggles to help as well. After a few minutes of confused fighting, the Team Terra agents are defeated. Brock and Ash look around, hoping to catch whoever it is and thank them. "Who are you?" he asks.
At first, nothing happens. Then, the air seems to shift in front of him, as a masked figure before them, dressed in a grey suit. "You can call me Camo," they say. "I am fighting against Team Terra. I found out you were under attack so I came to help you." Ash approaches Camo and looks at them with a hint of suspicion. "If you're really fighting Team Terra," says Ash, "thrn show us your face." Camo shakes their head. "I cannot do that," they say. "I wish to protect my identity from Team Terra." Ash wants to argue that that's not an excuse, but then remembers thst May is doing the same thing in Hoenn, so he doesn't say anything. Instead, Brock asks, "How is my family?! Are they alright." Camo nods. "When I left them, they were doing fine," they say. "Your girlfriend and wife arrived to help, and your brother started defending the Gym himself." Brock nods, then looks around. "We aren't too far from the Gym," he says. "If we run, we should be able to make it in time to help," he says. The other two nod, then Brock grabs his belt of pokébalss from one of the agents, and the three of them take off running back to Pewter Gym.
The 3 of them arrive to find the place in chaos. True to Camo's word, Serena and Olivia are fighting at the entrance to the Gym, with Forrest standing behind them with his Rhyperior. To Ash's relief, Pikachu is with them, stsnding on Serena's back and zapping anyone who gets too close. Ash gathers Aura into his legs, then launches himself into the air, hurling three Aura Spheres at the agents approaching Serena. While he does this, Brock hops onto his Steelix and crashes straight through the remaining cars, before riding him to his brother's side. "Nice job defending the Gym!" he says to Forrest as he does. Forrest quickly hugs him with relief, before refocusing on the fight. While this happens, Camo goes invisible and starts sabotaging weapons and knocking agents out. Ash runs up to Serena and Pikachu swaps back on to his shoulder. Serena smiles at him, showing without words that she's glad he's safe. Then, everyone finishes off the agents. Soon, they're all either unconscious or running off with their tails between their legs.
Once the hubbub dies down, Serena and Olivia turn , their men and kiss them, while Forrest runs back inside to check on the others. Soon, all of the Stone siblings come out of the building to see what happened. Camo meanwhile examines the damage. "What were they after?" they ask. Salvadore holds out the Geo Map. "This," he says. Camo takes it. "What is it?" they ask. Brock explains his theory, then realises that he needs to inform May of this theory. So, he kisses Olivia again, then disappears inside. Camo bids them all farewell, then vanishes. Ash and Serena do the same, except they walk away instead. As they walk back to Ash's mum's house, Ash fills Serena in on what happened. Serena thinks about all of this, then asks, "Do you think they're planning something big?" Ash shrugs. "I don't know," he replies. "But they're getting bolder. Soon enough, who knows what they may try." Neither of them say anything for a bit. Then, Serena asks, "So, what are you thinking?" Ash says nothing for a bit, then says, "If they get any bolder, I think I'm going to have to start fighting back."
Sorry about how messy that ending got, but I was about ready to end it after Ash and Brock got knocked out, but then I realised that I'd need to change the chapter title. Not to mention I've been in a Pantonime for the past week, so I haven't had much brain power to write this chapter. Anyway, with that, we've finally had the long hyped Brock chapter. I hope it was worth the wait. Now, we're back to Max and Bonnie on either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how much time I have. See you then!