Wayward

“He knows.” Gary said over the roar of Ash’s charizard. His magmar dodged a slash attack, aiming a fire punch at his opponent. “He knows what we did last night.” He flicked the cigarette in his fingers before taking a long drag.

The only place in headquarters that had no cameras or bugs was the actual battle area of the gym. With the number of elemental attacks – especially electrical ones – that were used in it, the technology simply didn’t last long enough to be worth it. As such, it was the only place to go to hold a conversation that no one wanted Giovanni to hear.

After leaving the man’s office Ash had headed directly there, under the pretense of blowing off some steam with a battle.

“He doesn’t know,” he replied. “He suspects.”

Charizard took the fire punch to the stomach, roaring again and pumping his wings until he was in the air, where he released a massive flame thrower at Magmar. Ash and Gary weren’t directing their pokemon; they weren’t actually battling, just trying to look like they were.

“That’s not any better,” Gary said, exhaling a cloud of smoke.

Ash was quiet, watching as Magmar staggered after the flamethrower, then returned the favor with one of his own. Gary didn’t speak either, realizing how hard this was going to be for Ash.

“Fuck!” Ash suddenly cursed, surprising him. “He’s a sadistic bastard. How am I supposed to just reappear all fine and dandy? And I don’t care what he says, Gary, I can’t kill them. I can’t.”

Gary sighed, running a hand through his hair. He had no idea what to say. “I know, Ash, but… if we don’t…”

“I know!” Ash replied, well aware of the consequences of going against Giovanni. “Gods, I know! I … shit, Gary, what am I supposed to do here?”

Gary didn’t respond for a while, eventually dropping his cigarette butt to the floor and snuffing it with his shoe. It was disconcerting to see Ash like this. He hadn’t seen him this unsure since they were rookies. “We should go to Pewter.” Ash opened his mouth to say something, but Gary cut him off. “No, we’ll go, and we’ll take as long as possible to collect information. And we’ll think of something. Maybe we can convince him that they aren’t any threat and there’s no need to kill them.”

Ash closed his eyes. “All right. We’ll go.” He pulled out Charizard’s pokeball. “Thanks Charizard, that’s enough for now.” The pokemon stopped mid fire spin, landing down on the ground as Gary’s magmar teetered on his feet from the attack. Ash recalled his pokemon, and Gary did the same. “Now we just have to figure out where I’ve been if I haven’t been dead all these years.”

~*~*~

In the old battle arena of the Pewter City Gym a woman back flipped across the large empty floor, long red braid sailing through the air as she moved. Misty had thought that maybe a good night’s sleep would help her work off this frustration, but when she woke up just as annoyed as before, she put on a pair of loose fitting pants and a tight sport top and headed here.

Aside from Erika, she’d been avoiding the other rebel members, especially Brock. He of all people should know just why this was so important, but he simply didn’t seem to realize why she had had to go get those pokemon two days earlier.

When she reached the corner of the gym she didn’t even pause for breath before taking a running start and spinning into a cartwheel, followed by a round off and finished with a back handspring.

Misty had learned gymnastics when she was young. Since she was the least graceful of the family, they’d decided to put her into ballet, but she managed to convince her parents that gymnastics was a suitable alternative. She’d stopped around the age of ten, a few years before she left home. But when she returned to take over the gym after her sisters had run it into debt, she took the sport up again, and since then had gotten quite good at it.

It was, she found, a good way to vent some irritation, spinning through the air wildly, yet still having complete control.

Misty landed, panting, and was surprised to hear clapping. Brock stood at the edge of the arena, and she let out a sardonic little noise before wiping her sweaty brow with her arm and walking over to where she had set her bottle of water.

“It still amazes me every time you do that,” Brock said, walking over to her.

She didn’t respond right away, taking a long drink of water. “Need something?”

He sighed. “Look, Misty, I know you’re mad about the other night, but you have to understand, I’m just worried about you.”

“We needed pokemon, I got us some pokemon.” Misty bent down and picked up the small towel she’d brought with her, drying herself off. “I don’t regret what I did, Brock, I don’t care what you say.”

“I know that. That’s what worries me.” He ran a frustrated hand through his short brown hair. “Misty, I understand why you want to destroy them. I do. I want to kill all of those bastards, Giovanni especially, for what he’s done. But getting yourself killed in the process isn’t going to do anyone any good. And… you know that’s not what he would have wanted.”

Her blue eyes snapped to him, gaze icy. “It doesn’t matter what he would have wanted, though, does it? Because we’ll never really know what he would have wanted.”

She turned on her heel and stalked out of the gym, intending to go get a nice long shower.

“I thought all the old gyms were abandoned?”

Misty stopped dead as the whisper reached her ears. She turned to see Brock following her, mouth open as if to say something else, and made a gesture for him to be quiet. He too stopped and they both could hear the whispered response.

“Me too.” It was two males.

They were just around the corner – that much Misty could tell. Brock reached down to the holster at his hip, putting a finger to his lips and drawing his gun. He slowly and silently made his way closer, back against the wall.

“Well, somebody’s set up shop in this one. Let’s get the hell out before they realize we’re here.”

“Too late,” Brock said, swiftly turning the corner and aiming his gun at the two men. One had auburn hair and looked quite surprised. The other had the hood of a shabby brown traveling cloak up, shadowing his features. A wooden bo staff was strapped to his back.

Both of them put their hands up and the one who wasn’t hooded muttered a soft, “Shit.”

Misty, seeing Brock seemed to have the situation under control came to stand by his side, looking at the two curiously. They were both dressed in ratty cargos and t-shirts, and looked like they spent much time on the road.

“Who are you?” Brock asked.

“Who are you?” the auburn haired man returned, lifting his chin defiantly. That changed quickly when Brock removed the safety on his weapon. The stranger took a step back.

The hooded one spoke. “I apologize,” he said. “We didn’t mean any harm. We were just looking for a place to spend a few days. We didn’t know anyone was still living here.”

Misty looked at the hooded one, an odd sensation of recognition entering her.

“What’s going on here?” a deep voice asked from behind the two intruders. Lt. Surge stomped his way toward them.

“Found these two wandering around,” Brock responded, still not taking his gun off of them. In times like these there was no one who could be trusted.

“Take off your hood,” Misty suddenly said, staring at the stranger.

The mouthy one spoke up. “Why should he?” There was something else there though besides arrogance. Concern? For his friend?

“Because she told him to,” Surge said, crossing large, muscular arms over his chest.

“I’d prefer not to,” the other intruder said softly to Misty and when he looked in her direction she caught a glimpse of sad brown eyes.

“Take it off,” she repeated, heart pounding suddenly without really knowing why.

He simply shook his head and Surge, tired of the insubordination, reached forward and grabbed him, holding him by the arms.

“Hey, don’t touch him!” the auburn haired man said, moving as if to try and hit Surge, but Brock took a step forward, reminding him he was still holding a gun and he stilled once more.

“Don’t hurt him,” Misty said as the hooded one struggled, but Surge simply held him with one huge arm and used the other to yank his hood down.

It was a young man, probably the same age as his friend with dark black hair. He stopped struggling when he’d been revealed and Brock lowered his gun, jaw hanging open in surprise.

Misty took a shaky step forward. “Ash?” she said softly. His brown eyes met hers and he didn’t say anything.

“Shit,” his friend muttered again.

Surge let go of Ash and took a surprised step back.

“Hey, Misty,” Ash said, running a nervous hand through his hair.

~*~*~

Gary couldn’t believe this had worked. Not that he doubted his or Ash’s abilities, they were top ranked for a reason, but still, this particular assignment had all kinds of complications due to histories and the simple fact that Ash Ketchum was supposed to be dead.

Ash, despite his earlier reluctance, had played his part quite well, though Gary wondered if that was because he didn’t want the people who had once been his best friends to know just what he’d become in the years they had been apart.

Giovanni, as much as Gary hated to admit it, had been right. Ash had given the rebels their phony story about how Giovanni had tried to kill him. How he’d barely managed to escape Indigo Plateau, and had been on the run ever since, hiding from Team Rocket. They added that Ash and Gary had run into one another years ago, and had traveled together since, and not a single person thought to question him. They completely trusted him.

Gary pulled off the crappy traveling cloak he was wearing and tossed it on the floor. He and Ash weren’t stupid, and to go along with their story they’d “borrowed” some worn clothes from a couple travelers they’d encountered on the road from Vermillion to Pewter. They’d left them with their own nice things, however, including his favorite dark blue cloak, so Gary didn’t feel too bad about leaving them both unconscious.

“So how exactly do we do this?” Gary asked, glancing at his partner.

Ash was lying on his back on his bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling. He’d been that way since Brock and Misty had shown them to their room after explaining they would have to share since it was the only bedroom not in use. It had once been the room of two of Brock’s siblings and it was a decent size with two twin beds.

“Do what?” Ash asked, not looking at him.

“Pretend to be normal everyday people,” Gary said, turning his back to him and shoving his duffle bag underneath his bed.

Ash sighed, turning his head to look at his partner. “Maybe start by not walking around obviously armed.” Now that Gary had taken his cloak off, the two black Berettas holstered at the small of his back were clearly visible.

“Says the man who entered the building with a bo in plain sight,” Gary retorted.

“Well it’s not like I can just fold it up,” Ash replied, sitting up. “And I don’t plan to walk around the gym carrying it.”

“Well I don’t plan to walk around unarmed,” Gary replied. If the rebels somehow found out who they were things could go sour quickly. “It’s bad enough we had to stash our pokemon with our bikes.”

They knew that if the rebels had searched them when they first arrived and found them with pokemon, it would be pretty damn obvious just where they had really been for the past years, so they had left their pokeballs with their bikes in the woods outside of the city, guarded by Pikachu. Gary would be sneaking out later that night to retrieve them, since his absence was more likely to go unnoticed than Ash’s would be.

“I’m not saying go around unarmed,” Ash replied. “I’m saying go around a little less conspicuously armed.”

Gary grabbed the baggy sweatshirt he’d unpacked and tugged it on. It hung loosely and covered the two pistols from view. “Better?” he asked, pushing the hood down.

Ash rolled his eyes, but his lips tilted in amusement. “Do you think they’ll tell us anything?” he asked. “Nothing about a rebellion’s been mentioned yet. Maybe there isn’t one.”

“We’ve been here for less than a day,” Gary pointed out. He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one. “And I think they were all too busy freaking out about you being alive. If there’s anything to know I get the feeling they’ll tell you.”

“Funny how much I wish that wasn’t the truth.”

~*~*~

There hadn’t been time for Misty to talk to Ash alone. After he’d been revealed they had all moved to the conference room, where the rebel leaders had launched into questions about where he’d been and why no one had known he was still alive. He was much quieter than Misty remembered; he seemed tired and worn down. She supposed years of running from the man who controlled nearly everything would be exhausting.

It surprised her, though, that he’d run in the first place. The Ash she’d known had always stood his ground and fought. That was why she was so certain he’d died in the siege of Indigo Plateau.

Misty walked quietly through the dark hallways of the gym, heading toward the room that Ash and Gary were sharing. She was almost as surprised to learn who Ash’s companion was as she was to learn Ash was still alive. The last time she had seen Gary Oak was almost a decade ago, in the Pokemon League Tournament where Ash had finally achieved his dream of becoming a Pokemon Master.

It had come down to the two of them actually, and had been one of the fiercest battles Misty had ever witnessed. In the end though, after an amazing fight between Pikachu and Umbreon, Ash had become the youngest Pokemon Master ever at the age of fourteen.

Arriving at their door, Misty paused, suddenly unsure. It had been so long, and both she and Ash seemed to be different people. What if they couldn’t talk the way they used to? She’d left after all, and aside from a short moment with him after the tournament, they hadn’t actually had a conversation since they were thirteen.

She took a deep breath and knocked.

After a moment, the door opened, and there he was, in cargos and a fresh t-shirt. He wore his hair longer now than he used to, and it hung in his face until he brushed it from his eyes. He smiled down at her, and Misty realized for the first time that he had finally surpassed her in height. “Hey, Misty,” he said. “What’s up?”

It was like nothing had changed, and she couldn’t help the relief she felt. “Nothing, I just… wanted to make sure you two had everything you need. Where’s Gary?” she asked, peering past Ash and noticing that he wasn’t in the room.

“He said he wanted to wander the gym,” Ash told her. “But yes, we’re fine, thanks for asking.”

“I’m glad,” Misty said, pulling her braid over her shoulder and toying with the end of it. She hesitated then continued. “Would you like to go for a walk or something? Catch up?”

Ash smiled at her again, and her stomach did that once familiar jump that it used to every time he even looked at her.

“Sure,” he said, stepping out of the room. He was barefoot and didn’t bother with shoes. “Lead the way.”

Misty couldn’t help but return his smile, and they started to walk down the hall together. “So you and Gary have been traveling together all this time?” she asked.

“Yeah. We generally stay out of cities if we can, or at least stick to abandoned places like the gyms. Too many eyes and camera’s to spot us otherwise,” he replied.

“Right. It must be hard, Giovanni’s not an easy man to hide from.”

“You’re telling me,” Ash said, running his hand through his hair with a soft laugh. They fell quiet for a little while. “So what about you?” he asked. “What have you been doing all these years?”

Misty was didn’t respond right away, thinking. “For a few years after Giovanni took over and shut down the gym I worked as waitress in downtown Cerulean. Then Brock came to find me and – well, it’s not like I had anything to lose, so I moved to Pewter.”

Ash nodded, but Misty couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Ash had worn his heart on his sleeve as a kid, and it was disconcerting to see him this unreadable.

“I have to admit,” he said. “I was surprised to see you – everyone, here in a place that’s supposed to be abandoned.”

“We all seemed to find one another,” Misty said. “Or Brock found us.” She paused. The rebel leaders had had a long talk about telling Gary and Ash about the rebellion once the two had gone to their room. A decision hadn’t been reached, despite Misty and Brock’s protests that Ash could be trusted and would almost assuredly be willing to help. For now, no one was to say anything about the rebellion to either of them.

She wanted to tell him though, and was barely able to refrain.

“So what do you guys do now?” he asked.

“Whatever we can.”

Ash nodded. “I think that’s what everyone is doing nowadays.”

They made small talk a while longer, walking through most of the gym before Ash said that he should probably be getting to bed.

Misty nodded, slightly disappointed. “I’m surprised we never ran into Gary.”

“He doesn’t have much of an attention span,” Ash said with a shrug. “Probably got bored and went back to the room.” He smiled at her. “It was good talking to you, Misty.”

“I’ve missed you, Ash,” Misty replied, unable to help herself.

He was quiet a moment, still wearing that expression that she simply could not read. “I’ve missed you too. Sleep well.”

He turned and headed back to his room, and Misty watched him go, heart speeding up. He’d missed her.

~*~*~

Three days had passed without a single uttering about a rebellion and Ash was beginning to allow himself to hope that they didn’t trust him and wouldn’t tell them a thing. And then Misty walked up to them while he and Gary were eating in the kitchen.

“Ash, Gary, would you mind coming with me? We have something we need to talk to you two about.”

They exchanged a glance and followed her, leaving their dinners behind.

Ash’s heart sank as she led them into a room they’d never been in before. It was decorated like a small library or office - bookshelves lining the walls, full of different hardbacks, and a desk in the center. There was a door to the side that could have been a closet.

“What we’re going to tell you could get us all killed should Team Rocket find out about it,” she said when the door was closed behind them.

“We?” Gary said, looking pointedly around the room, which was empty save for the three of them.

“Misty, what’s going on?” Ash asked, playing his part of the clueless old friend.

Misty didn’t answer, instead simply smiling at them both and walking over to the other door. She pulled it open.

The two of them moved closer and peered in and were silent for a moment.

“Ash, we must carefully guard this secret,” Gary said. “If Team Rocket were to learn that there was a closet hidden right here in the old Pewter gym, they’ll hunt us down for sure.”

“Funny,” Misty deadpanned. She crouched down and pulled up a trap door that Ash had already noticed, thought it had blended into the floor quite well. Beneath the door was a concrete tunnel that led straight down, metal bars embedded in the wall to act as a ladder.

“Misty…” Ash said, sounding unsure.

“It’s all right,” she said. “The others are already down there.”

Gary shrugged and climbed in, and Ash followed, Misty entering after him and closing the door behind her. Fluorescent lighting kept the tunnel from being engulfed in darkness. They made the long climb down in silence.

They emerged in a large concrete room that appeared to have once been a bomb shelter. True to Misty’s word the rest of the rebel leaders were already there, sitting around a rectangular wooden table. The fluorescent lighting gave everything from the people to the surprising amount of advanced computer equipment a harsh overtone.

“Have a seat,” Brock said. “And we’ll fill you in.”

They sat and listened as Brock and the other rebels explained just what exactly their mission was. Start a rebellion, throw Giovanni from power – mostly what they expected to hear. Neither of them, however, had had any idea just how intricate this entire rebellion was. The leaders were all here, based out of Pewter, but the main operation, with several hundred rebels was centered out of the Safari Zone.

It was actually brilliant, Ash realized. The Safari Zone had been pillaged of pokemon years ago. It was a huge empty plain now, and Giovanni hadn’t looked at the place since. His forces were concentrated to cities, where he feared the most chance of an uprising could occur.

Even as they spoke, Brock said, several Officer Jennies were heading up the training of the forces.

This was huge. Right under Giovanni’s nose an army was training, bigger than the self appointed leader of Kanto had ever imagined, Ash was certain.

“How did you get the money?” Ash asked. Arming hundreds of people discreetly enough not to catch the attention of Team Rocket was not a cheap endeavor.

“Professor Oak is our main backer,” Misty replied. “He’s had a fortune tucked away – not that that’s really any surprise with how successful a researcher he was. At least before everyone outside of Team Rocket was banned from possessing pokemon.”

Ash cast a glance at Gary who hadn’t spoken since any of this began. If he was surprised to hear his grandfather was involved in the rebellion he certainly didn’t show it.

“This is all fine and dandy,” Gary said. “But everyone in Team Rocket has pokemon. You can have the best trained army in the world, but weapons will only get you so far.”

“We’re working on that,” Erika said.

“How?” Ash asked.

“The Elite Four,” she responded. “They all went into hiding when Giovanni got into power. All of them escaped with their pokemon. If we can find them and convince them to join us….”

“The Elite were the Elite for a reason,” Blaine said.

Erika nodded, grinning. “With them on our side…”

~*~*~

“They could actually do it,” Ash said later that evening, when he and Gary had returned to their room. He and Pikachu were sitting on the edge of his mattress, watching as Gary got ready for bed. His partner pulled off his sweatshirt, revealing his guns, then slipped off the holster and stuck both of them under his pillow.

“Maybe,” was the response. Gary flopped down onto his bed.

“He’s got no idea, Gary,” Ash said. “They have a whole army. And if they get the Elite to fight with them—”

“The Elite are just like anyone else,” Gary replied. “They only have six pokemon each that they could have escaped with, and anything else was confiscated. Which means the rebellion would have a total of twenty four – oh, sorry, thirty if you include the six you gave Misty – pokemon on their side. Elite or not, that’s thirty pokemon against hundreds of rockets with six pokemon each. Not to mention Suzie’s… things.” Gary sighed. “And, I hate to rain on the parade, Ash, but you could beat all four of the Elite on your own.”

Ash was silent a long moment, wondering if he dared voice what he was thinking.

“There would be forty two pokemon. If you and I joined them.”

Pikachu’s ears twitched and he straightened up, paying sudden attention to the conversation.

Gary’s head snapped over to stare at him and he sat up. “Do you have any idea what you’re saying?” he hissed. “The amount of fucked we would be if we betray him?”

“I’m so sick of this, Gary,” Ash replied. “If we joined them, and defeated him, we’d be free. Free from all of it.”

“Then what the hell was the point of any of it? If he even suspected we were talking about this—”

“Look at what we’ve become, Gary. Is this what you wanted to be?” Ash asked.

“Of course not, but it’s not like either of us had much of a choice.”

“We have one now. We have the chance to do something that we couldn’t all those years ago. We can end this, for good. We already know where Bruno is, I’m sure he could help us find the other three.”

“Pika!” Pikachu agreed softly, knowing he had to be quiet so none of the rebels heard him.

“And if Giovanni does what he threatened?” Gary snapped. “The whole reason we got sucked into this in the first place?”

Ash sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I… I don’t know.” He reached over and pet Pikachu before standing and heading for the door.

“Where are you going?” Gary asked.

“I just need to think awhile.”

Ash exited the room, making sure to close the door behind him so no one would wander by and spot Pikachu. He made his way to the old arena. He’d battled here before, a long time ago, when things were simple and the hardest choice he had to make was which pokemon to use against an opponent.

He stood there for a very long time, eyes closed, almost meditating, but not quite, unable to get his thoughts to stop streaming long enough to clear his mind.

“Ash?”

Turning, he saw Misty behind him, a water bottle in hand and a towel draped over an arm. “Hey, Misty. What are you up to this late?”

“I wanted a workout before bed,” she said with a smile, setting down her things. “What about you?”

“Just mulling things over,” he replied.

“Oh yeah? About what we told you today?”

“Yeah.”

She was quiet a moment, clearly trying to get an idea of what he was thinking. Finally she seemed to give up and just ask, “Are you going to join us?”

“I… don’t know,” he said, and the unsure tone to his voice was, for once, not faked.

“You don’t?” she repeated, sounding a bit surprised. She had the right to be, he reasoned. Once upon a time he wouldn’t have thought twice.

“It’s complicated,” he said, then realized he needed to stick with his lie or risk suspicion. “Staying in one place for too long is dangerous. And it would be dangerous for all of you.”

“Giovanni won’t find you. Not if you’re with us. And if it’s the fighting you’re worried about, we can train you. Ash, this is your chance to stop running. We can end this. Please,” she said softly. “Don’t disappear on us again.”

They stared at one another for a long time. “Misty…”

It was the click of a safety that alerted him, though he realized he should have sensed their presence much much sooner. He dove at Misty, pulling her down as a hail of automatic gunfire suddenly erupted in the gym. There was absolutely no cover in the large open arena. He held her close to him and they rolled, the floor they’d been laying on becoming riddled with bullets.

A male voice was suddenly heard over the weapons. “Cease fire!”

Ash had wound up on top of Misty, who was staring up at him with wide blue eyes and he lifted himself up so he was still keeping her from being a target but not crushing her with his weight. Turning his head, he glanced over his shoulder to take in the extent of the situation.

It was five men, big red R’s emblazoned across black uniforms, four carrying automatic weapons, while the fifth had a pistol aimed at him. The blonde with the handgun was familiar, a few ranks down from Ash and Gary, but rising fast if he recalled.

“Agent Satoshi, you are under arrest for high treason to Team Rocket,” he said.

Ash couldn’t help the look of surprise on his face. There was no possible way Giovanni could know about that. He and Gary had only discussed it a few hours before. Misty was staring at him in confusion and he realized it was only a matter of time before she put the pieces of what was being said together.

There was no point in trying to hide it.

“Pardon?” he said.

“Come quietly, sir,” the blonde said, recognizing that Ash had been his superior. “We have orders to take you dead or alive.”

“And your orders for the rest of the inhabitants of the gym?” Ash asked.

The man hesitated, then answered. “We’re to kill everyone and bring you and Agent Shigeru back to headquarters.”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Ash responded. If it was simply a matter of turning himself in and leaving the rest of the people here alive, he would have done it.

He looked down at Misty who was staring up at him in horror. She’d figured it out. “You son of a bitch!” she yelled. “You filthy, traitorous, Rocket scum!”

“Misty,” he said very softly so only she could hear him. “Hate me if you want, but right now you need to do what I say.”

“Fuck you!” she responded.

“Listen to me!” Ash hissed quietly. “Everyone in this gym is going to die tonight, everyone, unless we stop it. So hate me, fine, and after this is over you can kill me yourself, but right now you need to fucking do what I say.”

She glared at him, but appeared to be listening.

“Agent Satoshi,” the blonde said again. “You need to come with us now.”

“When I tell you, you run,” Ash said to her, slowly pushing himself to his feet and pulling her up as well. “I’ll distract them. Run, find Brock, get the other gym leaders and get the hell out of here.”

“There’s five of them,” she responded just as softly. “How are you going to distract them? With your dead body lying on the floor next to mine?”

“Trust me.”

“That’s a laugh.”

He glared at her and she glared right back.

“Agent Satoshi,” the leader said once more, clearly becoming impatient.

“Sorry,” Ash said, turning to face them. “Just saying a goodbye.” He started walking toward them, making sure Misty was still safely behind him.

In a flash he’d maximized a pokeball and tossed it before the Rockets could react. There was a crack and a large brown rock pokemon announced his presence with a, “Grav.”

“Fire!” the blonde said, realizing Ash wouldn’t be coming without a fight.

“Graveler, harden!” Ash commanded, grabbing Misty and twisting with her until they were both ducked down behind his pokemon, using him as a shield. Bullets bounced harmlessly from his hard rock skin.

“This is your ingenious distraction?” Misty said, seeming less than impressed.

“Phase one,” Ash said, reaching under his pant legs and extracting two mid-sized daggers from sheaths that he’d had strapped to his calves. Her eyes widened. “Just stay here until I tell you. Graveler, earthquake.”

Graveler raised his two hard fists, and at the same time Ash leapt up from where he’d been crouched, surprising the Rockets, who’d been focused on the pokemon. The fists collided with the floor as Ash was in midair. His boot found purchase on his pokemon’s hard back, using that to push himself further into the air as the Rocket’s all wavered on the shaking ground. Ash’s arms crossed over his chest before he straightened them to each side of him, letting the two daggers fly, one striking a Rocket in the neck, the second slicing easily into the other’s chest.

“Graveler, rock throw,” Ash commanded calmly as he landed in a crouch on the ground. “Those two.” He pointed out the other two Rockets with automatic weapons and sprung to his feet almost immediately, speeding toward the blonde leader. “Misty, go now!”

Misty stood from behind the graveler, eyes widening at the sight of the two dead men with Ash’s daggers in them, and watching as one of the other two was taken out by the pokemon’s rock throw. The other managed to dodge and threw a pokeball of his own, and with a flash of red light there was a poliwhirl.

“Water gun!” his trainer commanded, and the graveler growled in pain as it was hit.

“Misty!” Ash called as he ducked under a punch thrown by the leader. He’d managed to disarm him fairly quickly, and his pistol had skittered across the floor. “Get out of here!”

She hesitated, then ran for the door. Ash could take care of himself. And even if he couldn’t, who cared? He was a Rocket.

~*~*~

Gary had paused only to grab his pokebelt, and came flying into the hallway at the sound of machine guns, a pistol in each hand pointing steadily into thin air. Bright side: no one there. Dim side: That simply meant they were somewhere else. His arms lowered and he listened, but the gunfire had stopped.

“What the hell was that?” a voice asked, and Gary glanced up the hall to see Brock hurrying down it, Blaine and Erika at his heels.

“Someone just came in here, automatic weapons blazing,” Gary responded. He needed to find Ash.

“Gary?” Erika said, sounding unsure. He realized her eyes were on the twin guns in his hands, and supposed that was likely to cause some questions. He’d figure out a lie later, right now he had more important things to worry about.

“Agent Shigeru, please drop your weapons.”

Like that.

So fast it was hard to follow the movement, his pistols were trained on the person who had spoken, a woman in her early thirties, a rank or two below him. There were several clicks as three men behind her, dressed in Rocket uniforms, cocked their weapons.

What the hell were they doing here? Ash and Gary hadn’t even had a chance to report in yet.

“Please, sir, drop your weapons. We’re here for Agent Satoshi.”

Being ‘here for him’ with automatic weapons, did not bode well. “And if I don’t?” Gary asked, weapons still steadily trained.

“Sir, Agent Satoshi is wanted for treason to Team Rocket. Mr. Giovanni personally told us that you’re not involved,” she responded. “If you try to help him, however, our orders for you are the same for him. Dead or alive.”

In the distance, gunfire sounded again, and Gary realized it was coming from the gym, probably where Ash was.

“Sir,” the woman said. “Mr. Giovanni also asked me to express to you that because your loyalty has not wavered, his deal with you is still intact, despite Satoshi’s betrayal.”

“You lying Rocket asshole!” came Blaine’s voice from behind him, and he heard the click of a safety at his ear.

Gary’s grip on his guns tightened as he realized he was on his way up Shit’s Creek and heading fast towards a waterfall.

“Put your guns down and get out of here,” Brock said, drawing his own weapon and pointing it at Gary.

Gary didn’t lower his Berettas, and he kept all his senses alert in case someone went to fire.

“Tell me, sweetheart,” he said to the woman Rocket, who appeared to be in charge. “What are your orders for the rest of these people?” She didn’t respond, so he continued. “Kill them all?”

She raised an eyebrow, clearly wondering why he would even have to ask.

He set his jaw. How did someone weigh human life? If he put down his weapons his deal with Giovanni would remain unbroken. His grandfather and sister – the entire reason he’d been caught up in this insanity – would be safe.

If he put down his weapons he would be expected to help massacre the people in this gym. People he’d once known, once been friends with. People his partner loved.

If he put down his weapons he would have to give Giovanni the information that he’d learned, and hundreds of unsuspecting rebels in the Safari Zone would be killed.

If he put down his weapons and Ash couldn’t make it out of here alone, he’d be responsible for his only friend’s death.

His hands shook slightly, but he did not drop his guns. “The three of you, get out of here,” he said to the rebels, two of whom were still holding guns on him. “Get out of here now before you all end up dead.” In his peripheral vision he saw Brock seem to falter.

“Sir, I’m asking you one more time to drop your weapons,” the female Rocket said. “If you don’t, we’ll make you by force.”

Gary didn’t move. “Run,” he said to the rebels. “Go find the others and get the hell out of this gym.”

Brock lowered his gun.

The female Rocket spoke up, looking at Brock. “You all need to stay here.”

“So they can kill you,” Gary growled. “Go. Now. I’ll handle them.”

Blaine lowered his gun.

“All of them?” Erika asked.

“Yes,” Gary said. “There’s only four. Now get the hell out of here.”

The female Rocket’s eyes narrowed as the three rebel leaders finally turned and ran. “Forget it,” she said angrily. “Just kill them all.”

Gunfire filled the hall.

~*~*~

Misty kept running, looking for the others and berating herself for feeling guilty about leaving Ash. He was nothing but a liar.

“Misty!” she heard, and she pulled to a stop, looking down the hall she was passing to see Brock, Erika, and Blaine sprinting toward her. Heavy footfalls caused her to look in the other direction and there was Surge and Koga.

When they all converged both Misty and Brock spoke at the same time.

“Ash is a Rocket!”

“Gary is a Rocket!”

“They’re spies?” Koga asked.

“So they’re behind this attack!” Surge boomed.

“I don’t think so,” Erika responded. “The Rockets kept saying they were here for ‘Satoshi.’”

Misty paused, remembering just what the other Rocket had said to Ash. “That’s what they called Ash.”

“They kept referring to Gary as sir,” Brock said.

“But Gary just saved us,” Erika pointed out.

Surge snorted. “Maybe that’s just what they want you to think.”

“So, which side are they on?” Blaine asked.

Before anyone could answer, Gary came skidding around the corner at the end of the hall where Brock, Erika, and Blaine had appeared from. He'd managed to get back to his and Ash's room and grab his partner’s bo staff, which was now strapped to his back. He leaned up against the wall as a hail of bullets flew by.

Glancing down the hallway he caught sight of them all. “When I said get out of here, I didn’t mean ten feet away!” he exclaimed.

“Arcanine! Firespin, engulf that whole hall!” called the female Rocket from earlier.

“Oh shit,” Gary said, pivoting and sprinting down the hall toward them. “Go, go, go, go, go!”

The former gym leaders watched as the hallway behind Gary was suddenly filled with flames. Flames that were speeding toward them quite quickly. They scattered, and Gary took a running dive, fire licking at his boots as he made it to the end of the hall and rolled out of the way. He pushed himself to his feet before his momentum had even fully stopped, pulling a pokeball from the belt hidden beneath his sweatshirt. It opened with a crack and a black fox-like pokemon appeared next to his feet. Long ears with yellow rings around them twitched as he awaited his trainer's command.

"Umbreon," Gary said when the flames had finally stopped. He could hear the sound of heeled boots hitting the floor in a run, which meant the female Rocket was following after them. She was the only one he hadn't been able to kill, he'd underestimated her speed. "Flash."

The pokemon nodded its assent, running and leaping into the hallway, yellow rings on its fur shining as it used the attack, the area lighting up painfully bright, blinding both the Rocket and her pokemon. Using this to his advantage, Gary spun from the cover of the wall and took careful aim. One shot and she went down, and Gary's umbreon used a cut attack on the blinded arcanine, which fell with a howl.

Guns at his sides, he turned to face the rebels. Gary released both of the spent cartridges from his weapons, letting them clatter to the floor. They were staring at him, clearly unsure what to make of him. “You’ve been in touch with my grandfather, right?” he asked, pulling out two fresh clips.

He looked between them, clicking each cartridge into place with practiced ease as he awaited a response.

“Yes,” Erika finally said.

“All that equipment downstairs – it looked like you have a signal scrambler – can you make calls without them being tapped or traced?”

“We can,” Brock said, wondering just where this was going.

“Good,” Gary said, turning as if to head in that direction.

The bulky frame of Lt. Surge stepped into his way. “If you think we’re letting you anywhere near our equipment, you’re sorely mistaken.”

“There’s no time for this,” Gary said. “Wake up. By the time this is over, that equipment will be destroyed. This gym will be destroyed. And if you stay here, all of you will be destroyed along with it.”

“You could use that computer to get information on the rebellion,” Blaine snapped, hand sliding down toward the weapon at his hip, clearly prepared to try and stop Gary should he attempt to continue any further.

“I already have plenty information on it. You all gave it to me.” He looked calmly at Blaine. “You don’t want to do that.”

“Blaine…” Erika began, but was cut off by the sound of crashing glass and gunfire from the direction of the gym’s arena.

There wasn’t going to be any time, Gary realized. He couldn’t let Ash fight them off on his own. He turned to Erika. “You need to get in touch with my grandfather. Tell him to get May and Delia Ketchum and to get out. Get out and get to someplace safe – where your troops are training maybe. Giovanni will be coming for them.”

“What do you mean?” Brock said. “How do you know that?”

“Your deal with Giovanni,” Erika said, eyes widening in sudden realization. “You… both of you—”

"Let's go, Umbreon," Gary said, turning to leave.

"Not so fast," Surge's deep voice rumbled. The large man remained in Gary's path, arms crossed. "We can't just let you go running off. You're dangerous and you know too much."

"And you're a moron if you think you can stop me," Gary responded evenly.

"Surge," Brock said, sounding unsure. The implications of Erika’s words had hit him, and suddenly he realized there might have been far more to this than they originally assumed. No matter what, though, Gary, who stood holding two guns with confident ease, was not someone to take lightly. He glanced at the dead woman, whose blood was slowly pooling around her, staining her blonde hair red.

"We let them go now and Giovanni will know everything about the entire rebellion come morning," Surge responded.

"I don't have time for this," Gary said. "I need to find Ash. Now, move or I'll make you."

The large man didn't budge, however, and Surge and Gary stared one another down, the other rebel leaders watching tensely.

The entire building suddenly shook as if a bomb had gone off, and they all stumbled, Blaine and Erika actually falling to the floor.

"What was that?" Brock asked.

Gary was looking in the direction of the arena, where all the commotion seemed to be coming from. The fact that they had yet to run into any other Rocket’s told him that Ash had been keeping quite a lot of them busy. That sudden crash meant one of two things. They’d taken to using explosives, or…

"Big problems," he replied.