If I Could Change the World

It was dawn, and the first few rays of sunlight were peering over the horizon. In the dim light everything appeared to be a dull gray color.

A weary man sighed as he shuffled through papers in a brightly lit conference room. He set the papers down on the long mahogany table, then took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes. He made no sign of acknowledgment at the sound of the door behind him opening.

A short woman wearing a gray business suit strode in. Her hair fell down her back in beautiful brown waves and she regarded the man with her green eyes. \"Sir, don\'t tell me you are still up!\" she exclaimed.

He looked up at her, his expression one of a guilty child caught disobeying his parent. He ran a hand through his brown hair before gesturing at the papers and saying, \"I got caught up with this proposition.\" He grinned sheepishly.

\"Sir,\" she said frowning. \"You can\'t keep staying up all night.\"

\"May, you sound remarkably like my mother,\" the man said, his golden brown eyes sparkling merrily.

\"Someone has to make sure you take care of yourself, Master Hiroshi,\" May said, pulling off her glasses and cleaning them with a handkerchief.

The chair screeched as Richie slid his seat back and stood up, stretching. He adjusted his navy blue suit then walked over to the wall, which was made entirely of glass. He clasped his hands behind his back and silently watched the sun rise. The conference room was on the eighth floor of the Master\'s Mansion, and the view was spectacular. Unfortunately, most of the city was deserted. The only people that still lived in Indigo were people who didn\'t have enough money to move, and anyone who lived in the Master\'s Mansion. No one else stayed because of Team Rocket. They had blocked off Victory Road, making it incredibly difficult to receive supplies. Everyone packed up and left as quickly as they could.

Something wasn\'t right, Richie could feel it. A small nagging feeling in the back of his mind. He frowned.

May noticed his expression. \"What\'s the matter?\" she asked, walking to his side.

He continued to stare out the window. \"Today\'s not going to be an ordinary day,\" he said.

\"What do you mean?\" May asked, confused.

He tore his gaze from the window and looked down at her. \"Something is going to happen today.\"

\"What?\" she inquired, raising her eyebrows.

He shook his head. \"I don\'t know.\"

~*~*~

It was a cool night for the month of May, and flying made it colder. Misty and Brock were both shivering when Zapdos landed; neither of them were dressed very warmly. Ash, on the other hand was warm from his trench coat, and Pikachu was snuggled comfortably in his pack, asleep.

Misty slid off of Zapdos first. She had been forced to sit behind Ash and Brock because neither of the two men could stand her long red hair whipping in their faces.

\"Why did we stop here?\" Brock asked, looking at the entrance to Victory Road.

\"The Pokemon Master is well protected. We can\'t just go land on his roof,\" Ash explained. \"We\'d be dead before we hit the ground.\"

\"If you were so well protected, how did Team Rocket kidnap you?\" Misty muttered.

Ash glanced at her before saying, \"That\'s the point. I was well protected, and I\'m sure they really upped security once I disappeared.\"

Brock and Misty nodded, seeing his point. Brock looked around. No one was out, it was still early morning. A worn down sign read: ‘Subway’ and stood next to a set of stairs that led underground. A large gate, much like the gates protecting the cities, blocked the entrance to Victory Road. The gate wasn\'t the only thing that blocked Victory Road, though. Two large trucks were parked in front of the gate, and small black tents were scattered around them.

\"I heard that Team Rocket was barricading the entrance to Indigo Plateau, \" Misty said, smoothing out her windblown hair. \"Why do you think they are still here?\"

\"Gary probably told them to stay put no matter what,\" Ash explained. Although Misty and Ash hadn\'t talked about what had happened the previous night, both had been considerably warmer to one another.

\"So how are we supposed to get into the Plateau?\" Brock asked, looking between Ash and Misty.

Ash turned and his gaze settled on the subway entrance.

\"We\'re taking the subway?\" Misty asked in disbelief.

\"No. A tunnel leads to the Master\'s Mansion; no one knows about it but the master, his assistant, and the head of security,\" Ash explained.

\"How do you know?\" Misty asked.

Ash rolled his eyes saying, \"I was Master for five years, Misty. I know everything there is to know about the Master\'s Mansion.\" As an afterthought he added, \"Unless Richie changed something.\"

\"You know Richie is Master?\" Brock asked, surprised.

\"Of course I do. Contrary to popular belief, I wasn\'t dead these past three years.\" Ash glanced around. \"Ok be quiet, we\'ll sneak past the guards.\" No one was out of their tent so they were all most likely asleep. He walked slowly past the tents, then began to descend the stairs, Misty and Brock in tow.

They reached the bottom of the steps and found the station deserted. Graffiti decorated the walls and it appeared to have been out of commission for many years. Ash jumped over the turnstile and headed for the edge of the platform.

Misty glanced around the dark empty station before climbing over the turnstile herself. \"I don\'t suppose we\'re taking a train to the secret tunnel are we?\" she asked, her voice echoing off of the tiled walls.

In answer to the question Ash jumped down onto the tracks, his trench coat fluttering behind him. He looked up at Brock and Misty. \"Passenger trains don\'t run anymore, and even if they did, they didn\'t have a stop labeled, \'Secret Tunnel\'. That would have been a step back on the whole secret thing.\"

Brock leapt down onto the tracks and the two men looked up at Misty, who was staring down the dark tunnel uncertainly. \"Misty,\" Brock said. \"Ash said the trains don\'t run anymore.\"

Misty shot one more apprehensive glance down the tunnel before climbing down to join them. They began walking silently along the train tracks before Ash said, \"Actually, I said passenger trains don\'t run anymore. Cargo trains still go through here every once in a while.\"

Misty and Brock stopped short. \"So what do we do if a train comes?\" Misty asked, a hint of panic in her voice.

\"Run,\" Ash said shrugging.

Misty and Brock made no attempt to move, although Ash continued walking. They looked at each other worriedly before running to catch up with him.

A muffled \"Cha,\" from Ash\'s bag announced Pikachu\'s awakening. The yellow rodent poked his head out of the pack, looking around curiously. What a big surprise, he thought. We\'re somewhere dark and gloomy.

Ash smiled and thought, You are way too sarcastic.

Pikachu rolled his eyes before ducking back into the bag.

Misty suddenly stopped. \"Do you feel that?\" she asked.

Ash stopped and closed his eyes, listening. He knelt down and placed his hand on the cold metal tracks then quickly stood up, looking behind Misty and Brock. \"Run,\" he said.

Brock and Misty turned in time to see headlights turn a bend. All three of them whirled around and ran.

Now matter how fast they were, the train was faster. It was quickly gaining on them. The track shook from the force, and the closer the train got, the brighter the tunnel ahead of them became.

\"There!\" Ash cried, pointing at a tunnel on the left about ten feet ahead of them.

Before Misty knew what was happening she was falling forward. She landed hard on the tracks. The train was closing in on them and she tried to get up, but to her dismay, her foot was stuck.

\"Ash!\"

Ash turned to see Misty, struggling to free her foot, the train barreling towards her. He sprinted back to Misty thinking, Pikachu go with Brock. Ash felt his bag shift as Pikachu leapt out and bounded in the opposite direction.

Ash skidded to a stop next to Misty and worked to free her foot. The train drew closer as they frantically clawed at her stuck foot.

\"Just go, Ash!\" Misty cried over the rumbling of the train. Ash looked from Misty to the oncoming train, then back to Misty.

\"You\'re going to have to trust me,\" he said.

She looked into his sincere eyes before nodding. They lay down and tried to make themselves as flat as possible. Misty cringed, waiting for the train to run them over, but it never happened. The train rolled right over them, it\'s speed whipping her hair and his trench coat over their heads.

Brock made it to the tunnel before he realized that only Pikachu was with him. He looked at the little pokemon saying, \"Where are Ash and Misty?\"

\"Pikachu Pika,\" he said, pointing towards the train tracks with a little yellow paw.

Brock looked out of the tunnel to see the train rolling by, but no sign of Ash or Misty. He watched, panic rising as the train sped by. The last car finally passed and Brock rushed onto the tracks. Relief flooded through him when he saw their silhouettes walking towards him. One limping slightly.

\"What happened?\" he asked.

\"Misty\'s foot got caught,\" Ash explained. \"We had to let the train go over us.\"

Misty looked at him, apparently in still shock. \"H-how did you know it was high enough that it would miss us?\"

Ash shrugged. \"I didn\'t.\" He started walking down the tunnel, Pikachu scampering behind him.

Brock rushed over to Misty, who looked like she was going to faint.

The tunnel to the mansion was long and dark. Pikachu had taken his position on Ash\'s shoulder and was using flash to light their way. The walls were made of stone and the ceiling came to an arch about five feet above their heads. Their shadows bounced eerily off the walls as they walked.

Without warning Ash whirled around, startling Misty and Brock. Pikachu sat attentively, his ears twitching as he listened.

Did you hear it Pikachu? Ash asked as he looked around the dimly lit tunnel. Out of the corner of his eye Ash saw a flash of red; he whipped around again, his trench coat fluttering from the movement. It’s big.

It sounds like a charizard, Pikachu told Ash.

Misty and Brock watched him curiously, wondering what he was doing. Misty swore she heard him mutter, \"Richie always did trust Zippo with his life.\"

\"Ash,\" Brock whispered. \"What\'s going on?\"

\"Every Master picks a pokemon to guard this entrance,\" Ash explained, his back still to them. \"It looks like Richie used Zippo.\"

\"How do you-\" Misty began to ask, but was cut off by an earsplitting roar. A large burst of fire was shot at them and all three ducked to avoid the powerful flame-thrower. The attack stopped and a monstrously large charizard stomped out of the shadows, his pointed teeth bared. The pokemon\'s head was inches from the ceiling and it\'s immense body effectively blocked their path.

Zippo snorted and pawed the ground with his clawed foot as he glared at the intruders. He let out another roar that caused them all to cover their ears.

\"If he tries a fire spin in here we\'re all dead,\" Ash mumbled. \"Don\'t hurt him Pikachu, just use lightning sleep.\"

The little yellow pokemon nodded then leapt off of Ash\'s shoulder. He cried his name as two thin bolts of lightning emitted from his cheeks. Each lightning bolt struck the charizard on either side of his neck.

Zippo roared in rage, then began to teeter. He fell forward and hit the floor with a crash that shook the tunnel walls. His eyes closed and he began to snore, light gray smoke coming from his nostrils.

Misty and Brock were becoming used to the surprising things Ash would do, although this had them dumbfounded.

\"What just happened?\" Brock asked, staring at the sleeping charizard.

\"Lightning sleep. Two lightning bolts hit specific points on a pokemon\'s neck, causing it to fall asleep,\" Ash explained as he climbed over the sleeping pokemon.

Brock and Misty glanced warily at Zippo before following him. Ash stopped at what appeared to be a dead end. An electric keypad was mounted on the wall. He short circuited it saying, \"You would not believe how much this comes in handy.\"

What appeared to be solid rock slid away, revealing a brightly lit hallway. They blinked a few times, allowing their eyes to adjust to the light. The hallway was an amazing sight. The floor was made of marble and mirrors lined the walls.

Ash glanced around the empty hallway. \"Come on,\" he said. \"We have to find Richie.\"

~*~*~

Richie narrowed his eyes at the man who sat before him. \"Blaine, I will not remove Lorelei from her position as one of the Elite Four because she insulted your arcanine.\"

A bald man glared at him from across his desk. \"I\'m sick of her thinking she is better than everyone else.\"

Richie sighed. He was tired of having to deal with trivial problems and personal squabbles. He had more important things to do than to solve arguments between trainers. \"Blaine, you and Lorelei need to work this out on your own. Don\'t keep dragging the League into it.\"

Blaine stood up, and even through his dark glasses, Richie could see his eyes narrowed in anger. He began to walk to the door mumbling to himself. Unfortunately, Richie heard him say, \"Ash was a better Master than you even when he was fourteen.\"

Richie stood up, his fingertips pressed against his desk. \"Excuse me?\"

Blaine turned, his expression guilty, knowing he was in trouble.

But Richie never had a chance to chastise Blaine. A bright flash caused him to shield his eyes with his arm. When the light subsided, Richie saw a tall man standing in front of him, glaring down at him. \"Hello, Richie,\" he said, an evil grin spreading across his face.

Richie looked carefully at the man before recognizing him. \"Gary?\"

\"Ah, so you remember me,\" Gary said, his gray eyes flashing as he advanced on him.

Richie backed away; he was uncomfortable both by Gary\'s expression and his sudden appearance.

\"Hey!\" a voice cried, distracting Gary from Richie. Blaine was standing behind them, a pokeball in his hand.

Gary frowned. \"An unexpected guest. How unfortunate. I\'ll have to kill you both then.\"

Blaine threw his pokeball and in a flash an arcanine was growling visciously at Gary, it\'s teeth bared. Gary smirked as he raised his hand, which began to glow a bright silver. The arcanine suddenly turned and began to growl at Blaine. Blaine\'s eyes widened and he began to back away from the slowly advancing pokemon. The arcanine leapt at him and Blaine fled the room, his pokemon hot on his heels.

\"Confusion,\" Gary said, his eyes fixed on the doorway Blaine had just run through. \"What a great power.\" He turned his attention back to Richie and began to power up, but was once again interrupted.

\"Master Hiroshi? What\'s going on? Blaine just ran-\" May stopped when she saw Richie backing away from an unknown man.

\"Jesus Christ,\" Gary said, obviously annoyed. \"It\'s like a fucking circus in here.\" He turned to see the newcomer and faltered. \"May?\" he asked.

Her eyes widened when she saw his face. \"Gary?\" They regarded each other for a moment before May said, \"Where have you been?\"

He considered her before saying, \"We can have a family reunion in a minute, May. I have to kill your boss right now.\" With that he powered up. May watched, helpless and bewildered, as a silver glow formed around Gary.

Richie saw Gary\'s eyes snap open, but something else caught his eye. A blur of black had just flown into the room, and before anyone knew what was happening, Gary had been tackled to the floor. Richie realized the blur was actually a person, dressed in a black trench coat. He watched as Gary\'s eyes lit up in recognition and he screamed, \"Damn you!\"

Richie quickly moved over to where May stood in the doorway and was surprised to see two other people standing on either side of her. He recognized them instantly. \"Misty, Brock, what are you doing here?\" he asked, obviously confused.

\"We\'re with him,\" Misty said, pointing to the man in the trench coat, who had just done a roundhouse kick to Gary\'s stomach. Richie watched as Gary stumbled backward, then began to glow.

\"Watch out!\" Richie called. \"He has some sort of powers.\"

\"No kidding,\" the man grunted as he flipped away from a psybeam. He stood up and, to Richie\'s complete surprise, a golden glow began to form around him. Richie watched in fascination as the man raised his arms and the glow began to crackle with energy. Gary\'s eyes widened as the attack was released.

In a bright flash Gary teleported, causing the attack to miss it\'s target and hit the walls of Richie\'s office. The man looked around, obviously expecting Gary to reappear. When he was satisfied his enemy was gone, he shook his head.

\"What attack was that?\" Brock asked, looking around Richie\'s office, which was now charred on almost every surface.

The man walked over to the burnt remains of the office\'s satin blue curtains and blew out a small flame before replying, \"Thunder wave.\"

\"That was a thunder wave?\" Misty said. When he nodded she muttered, \"I\'d hate to see a powerful attack.\"

He looked around the office. \"Did Pikachu come back yet?\"

As if on cue, a pikachu scampered between May\'s legs. She gave a startled cry as the pikachu ran to his master\'s feet. \"Pika pikachu,\" he said looking around.

The man shook his head to answer the question only he understood. Richie walked over to the man, who was still looking down at his pokemon. He extended his hand saying, \"Thank you, you saved my life.\"

The man glanced up saying, \"What?\" After realizing what Richie had said, he distractedly answered, \"Oh, sure. No problem, Richie.\" He then returned his attention to his pikachu. \"Did you stop that arcanine?\"

Richie blinked then lowered his hand, which the man hadn\'t shook. He was completely caught off guard. Not only had the man basically ignored him, he had called him Richie. \"Do I know you?\" Richie asked.

The man didn\'t look up, but he said, \"Only since we were eleven.\"

Ash was trying to be polite, but listening to people inside and outside of your mind at the same time was very difficult and he needed to find out what had happened to Blaine. They had been taken by surprise when Blaine had come barreling down the hall, his own arcanine chasing him.

Sorry Pikachu, he thought. What happened?

The arcanine had just caught up to Blaine, so I did a thunderbolt. It was out cold, Pikachu informed him.

\"So where\'s Blaine right now?\" Ash asked aloud.

\"Right here,\" a voice answered. May moved aside from the doorway allowing Blaine to enter. He was pale from the recent events, but his expression remained stern. He looked Ash up and down before saying, \"It\'s good to see you alive, Ashton.\"

May\'s jaw dropped and Richie raised his eyebrows, his suspicions confirmed.

\"That was the quickest anyone recognized me,\" Ash said, impressed. \"How did you know?\"

\"Only your blasted pikachu could take out my arcanine with one thunderbolt,\" Blaine told him.

Ash looked down at his pokemon. “You’re always giving me away,” he said with a smile before turning back to Richie, who was staring at him intently.

\"You\'re alive,\" Richie said. It was more of a statement than a question.

\"So everyone keeps telling me,\" Ash said, sighing.

Richie smiled. Ash looked at May who was being unusually quiet. She stood next to Blaine, staring at the floor. \"May, are you okay?\" he asked.

May looked up slowly. \"Gary left home about six years ago,\" she explained sadly. \"I knew he had never been the same after he lost in the league, but I hadn\'t realized he had become so... evil.\" She looked at Richie. \"He was going to kill you.\"

Richie frowned. \"Why was he trying to kill me?\"

\"To eliminate the threat of you rallying other trainers against him,\" Ash explained.

May looked at Ash, Misty, and Brock as if she had only just noticed them. \"How did you get in here?\" she cried.

Ash cast a glance towards Blaine before saying to Richie, \"That reminds me, Zippo\'s going to need some potion.\"

Richie looked at him in disbelief. \"What did you do to him?\" he cried.

\"Relax,\" Ash said, raising his arms in defense. \"He\'s only asleep.\"

Richie furrowed his eyebrows as he said, \"What pokemon did you use to put Zippo to sleep?\"

\"Pikachu,\" Ash said matter-of-factly, gesturing at the yellow pokemon that stood at his feet.

\"Pikachu knows a sleep attack?\" Richie asked, a note of skepticism in his voice.

Brock snorted. \"Pikachu knows a lot of attacks.\"

\"Sir, you won\'t believe what has happened!\" A man no older than thirty five ran into the office. He was slightly soft around the middle and clad in a blue security uniform. His breath came in short gasps and he clutched a stitch in his side. All six of the people in the room turned to gape at him. He slowly regained his breath and looked around the blackened office in bewilderment.

\"Well, what is it?\" Richie asked the man, a hint of impatience in his voice.

The security guard straightened up and used his sleeve to wipe the beads of sweat off his forehead. \"Team Rocket has left the entrance of Victory Road, sir,\" he said excitedly.

Richie furrowed his eyebrows. \"Why would they suddenly leave after two years?\" he pondered aloud.

\"Gary\'s rounding up his forces,\" Ash said, his expression grim.

\"I thought Team Rocket was destroyed,\" Misty interjected.

\"He\'s looking for whoever is still loyal to him. He\'s going to try to build up an army,\" Ash explained. \"Just because they disbanded, doesn\'t mean that most of them wouldn\'t jump at the chance to rejoin him, especially now that he has powers.\"

\"Sir!\" another voice said, causing them all to look at the door. Another security guard entered, this one was in good shape, and he wasn\'t out of breath. \"We caught two intruders. They apparently got stuck trying to crawl through the air ducts.\"

At this, two more security guards entered, one restraining a very angry Jessie, the other holding onto a struggling James.

\"How dare you!\" Jessie cried, wriggling in an attempt to free herself from the grasp of a man twice her size. \"Do you have any idea who I am?\"

Richie narrowed his eyes at the pair. \"You two!\" he exclaimed. \"You were the idiots who kept trying to steal Ash\'s Pikachu when we were kids.\"

Jessie pursed her lips at this. \"If you had any idea of what you were doing you would release us immediately,\" she said through gritted teeth.

Richie looked at her in loathing before saying, \"Put them in jail until I can think of something better to do with them.\"

The two guards began to pull the enraged Jessie and the distraught James out the door when Ash said, \"Wait! Let them go.\"

The guards stopped and looked inquisitively at Richie, who was staring at Ash in surprise.

\"Thank you, Ashton,\" Jessie said with a haughty air.

Richie raised his eyebrows. \"You want me to let them go?\" he asked, looking doubtfully at the pair.

\"Trust me, Richie, they aren\'t with Team Rocket anymore.\"

Richie studied Ash for a few moments before saying, \"Release them.\"

The guards looked dumbfounded. \"But, sir-\" one began.

Richie interrupted him. \"If Ash says we can trust them, we can trust them,\" he said firmly. The guards reluctantly loosened their grip on the two ex-Rockets. Jessie wrenched her arm away, while James rubbed his wrists gingerly.

\"What is it?\" Ash asked, taking a step towards them.

Jessie looked warily around the room at the throng of people before saying, \"Gary is putting Team Rocket back together. He told Persian that he is going to try to convince gym leaders to join them with the promise of getting them powers.\"

Ash narrowed his eyes and Richie looked alarmed. \"If he gets leaders fighting alongside him with powers-\" Richie began.

\"He won\'t give them powers,\" Ash interrupted. \"That\'s an empty promise. But if he gets some leaders to fight with him—\" he paused for a moment. \"We could be in for a very bloody war.\"