Chapter 15 – The World of Change
While signs of spring blossomed everywhere, winter had yet to fully die and the temperature in Vermilion remained cold. Wrapped tightly in his heavy clothes, Ash breathed through a thick scarf and squinted against the bone numbing wind that whistled passed him in the black. Putting a gloved hand up to his temple and pressing a button on the small headset resting on his ear, the trainer radioed his partner.
"Misty," he said, speaking over the wind. "How are things ground-side?"
A moment of silence and then static in his ear. "Warmer down here than up there I'd think," Misty answered over the headset. "I'm ready a hundred yards from the raiders. I've got four of them in the camp and it doesn't look like any more will be showing up before sunrise. I can't see the little girl. What do you see from up there?"
Ash paused and held onto the reins of the saddle draped over his Pidgeot's back. The large bird glided silently through the clouds almost six thousand feet above the ground. Ash felt the Pokemon's unyielding muscles shift and contract beneath him as Pidgeot corrected for the biting winds that blew her off course. Glancing to his left, only able to pick the Pokemon out of the gloom by the faint red glow at the tip of its tail, Ash made sure Charizard remained in formation. The dragon snorted out a small jet of deep red flame and Ash nodded, knowing that Charizard's vision was more than acute enough to see him in the near blackness.
Holding onto Pidgeot with his legs and one hand, despite being securely strapped into the exotic saddle, Ash reached for the pack between his legs and drew out a device the size of a small brick. Holding it up to one eye and nudging Pidgeot with the signal to slowly descend, Ash looked through the monocular contraption at the ground and pressed a button. Immediately Charizard, visible in the lens's extreme peripheral vision, lit up like the sun, the Pokemon's near molten core temperature registering clearly on the thermal imager. While Pidgeot responded to Ash's tactile instructions and banked gently to circle a vast stretch of forest a few miles inland from the coast, Ash focused on the ground.
"I love technology..." he muttered as several white dots appeared against the black backdrop of the ground far below. Five ant-shaped of the dots sat in close formation around what Ash thought to be a campfire. Three hundred feet away Ash saw four more blips, two much smaller than the others. Ash reasoned that Misty huddled near Arcanine for warmth, given her staunch refusal to wear more than a light jacket under her armor, and that Vaporeon and Pikachu remained on the flanks.
"It looks like the girl is tied up on the ground," Ash spoke into the radio. "She's a few feet to the left of the guy standing up and turning around," he added, carefully scrutinizing the blips.
Several thousand feet below, Misty watched the camp through a pair of binoculars. Kneeling by Arcanine and shivering in the cold she adjusted the zoom and the focus. "I see the one standing up," she said as one man walked to the edge of the camp and unzipped his pants to relieve himself. "I'm still not seeing the little girl though... oh," she noted as realization dawned on her. "There's another bandit in the way. I see where you're talking about, but I can't see the girl."
"Be careful when we go in," Ash said over the radio, his voice almost overpowered by the hissing wind. "Stick to the plan... just make sure Vaporeon hits the man closest to the prisoner with a precision attack."
"Right," Misty answered. "I'm moving closer."
"I'll signal you before I send Charizard in," said Ash. "One target for each Pokemon," he instructed a moment later... let's make this as quick and clean before they can get their Pokemon out."
Misty nodded as she crawled. "Sounds good," she said. "Out."
For such a large and garishly colored Pokemon, Arcanine moved with surprising alacrity. The huge canine made next to no sound as it stalked through the brush beside Misty, and what noise it did make could easily be passed off as a tricks of the wind in the trees. Of course, Vaporeon moved like a sapphire ghost in the night, startling even Misty with its agility, while Pikachu quietly brought up the flank opposite Arcanine.
Stopping less than a dozen yards from the edge of the rough clearing where the raiders had camped for the night, Misty shook her head. I can't believe these idiots,she thought. They know Ash is hunting them, and they don't even bother to keep their Pokemon out at night... They deserve this. "Ready," Misty whispered into her headset.
A moment passed in silence and then Ash came in on the radio. "Charizard is going to take out the two sleeping ones. Keep Arcanine in reserve and pick your targets. Twenty seconds."
Misty pressed her lips together. She'd scouted out the camp as she's approached and chose several minutes ago which Pokemon would hit which outlaw. Using hand signals she pointed and informed Pikachu and Vaporeon of which marauders they were to attack. When both Pokemon nodded in acknowledgment, Misty held one fist at eye level, counting the seconds and waiting to give the order. The instant she heard the slight rush of wind from above, even before she saw Charizard's bulk, she threw her fist forward and whistled.
From two thousand feet up, Ash watched via the thermal optics as Charizard's silhouette grew smaller and smaller, diving for the collection of humanoid shapes. The same instant as Charizard landed directly upon the prone figures, a bolt of white lightning arced between Pikachu's form and another man, and the raider standing at the edge of the encampment dropped headless as Vaporeon's shape rushed by him. A little over a second and a half later, the sounds of Charizard's hard landing, the clap of a thunderbolt, and a small compilation of screams reached Ash's ears. By that point however, the fight had been over for longer than it had lasted. The last standing humanoid blip rushed from the sidelines with Arcanine to the side of the prone human and knelt. Ash heard Misty's voice immediately thereafter.
"I've got the girl," said the trainer on the ground. "She's intact."
Ash's confident grin widened to a broad smile. "Wonderful," he said, elation obvious in his tone. "I'm on my way down."
"Don't keep me waiting now," Misty answered.
Ash scanned the campsite one last time with the thermal while the Pokemon below set up a perimeter, then cast about the surrounding woods for as far as he could make out any detail. As near as the trainer could tell, there was nothing larger than a Rattata within half a kilometer of the campfire. Putting away the imager, Ash took Pidgeot's squatty reins and guided the Pokemon down to the clearing. Landing a few meters to the side of the campfire, listening to the crying of the terrified young girl as Misty tried to console her, Ash undid the straps holding his legs to the side of the bird's saddle.
"Good girl," he smiled at Pidgeot and ran his hand through her cold feathers, feeling the Pokemon's warm skin beneath. "That was a job well done." The immense bird cooed happily under his touch, and followed Ash in short hops as the trainer walked to the scene of the fight.
Arcanine barked and yipped with youthful vivacity as Ash neared, pawing at the ground but not moving from his defensive position. Charizard and Vaporeon both decided to honor the trainer by acknowledging his existence with a glance as Ash passed by, and Pikachu eagerly jumped up to Ash's shoulder. While Misty quietly half-spoke and half-sang to the little girl cowering in her embrace, Ash stepped up next to his partner, who looked up at him with a calm smile.
"There there," Misty murmured, stroking the child's hair and holding her. "You're safe. We're going to take you home to your momma and dad." She looked up at Ash. "We did good," she said, standing and scooping up the girl with some effort as the child almost immediately passed out against her.
"Damn straight we did," Ash answered with a grin. He paused and looked at Misty, then glanced around at the dead bodies scattered throughout the camp. "It's too bad it had to come to this, but at least the rescue went off without a hitch."
Misty shrugged. "The least they could have done is pick a crime that's less complicated than kidnapping," Misty half-joked. "They should have known they'd have nowhere they could really hide out here in the wild so they brought it on themselves. Kidnapping's a crime, and this is what criminals get."
SC
The harbingers of sunlight had just begun to light up the eastern sky when Ash and Misty arrived in Vermilion, escorted by Vaporeon, Pikachu, and Arcanine. Misty carried the sleeping little girl wrapped in a blanket as the two trainers stepped up onto the front porch of a small house on the outskirts of the city. Ash rapped on the door and stood back. Only a moment later the obtrusive clicking of several locks sounded in the predawn gloom. The door opened wide and a man fully dressed in a wrinkled suit stepped out onto the porch. Immediately his eyes watered and his mouth dropped open as he held out his arms for the girl.
"Shh," said Misty, turning her charge over to the man, who buried his face into the girl's hair.
As another woman stepped from the house onto the porch wearing a bathrobe, the man looked up at Ash and Misty with tears in his eyes. "Thank you," he whispered, "thank you so much. Thank you a million times."
The woman stepped beside her husband and the couple stood close around their daughter as the little girl sleepily opened her eyes and looked up at her parents. Ash and Misty watched quietly, both smiling, as the family reunited. After several moments of tearful whispering and hugging, the woman picked up her daughter, thanked Ash and Misty in a hushed whisper, and stepped inside the house.
"Well," said the man in his thick accent, putting his fist up to his mouth as he coughed to clear his throat. He ran a finger under his eyes and smiled at the trainers. "Again thank you a million times. I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't helped us..."
Ash put up a hand. "It was my pleasure," he said. "As long as you're in Vermilion, your safety is my priority. I'm only sorry that this happened in the first place."
"As am I," said the man with the thick black mustache and thinning hair. "The bandits no doubt followed me here hoping that they could extort my company's profits from me by kidnapping my daughter... not that I wouldn't have given them everything they wanted for her safe return. I'm just so glad that you were here," he looked between Ash and Misty. "You saved both my business and my family. If there's anything I can ever do to repay you-"
"The most I'd ever ask of you," Ash interrupted, "is that that you wouldn't let this incident make you decide to move your business out of Vermilion. The trade you bring in is good for the town and you employ a lot of people."
"I'd never dream of it," said the merchant. "My family likes it here by the sea. And with you here I have no doubts that the town will only get safer."
Ash bowed slightly and shook the merchant's hand. "Thank you," he said. "Hearing that means a lot to me." The Gym Leader shifted to leave and Misty did the same. "Good luck with your business in the future."
The foreign merchant smiled as Ash and Misty descended the stairs. "Thank you again. I think that bright days are ahead and if you ever need anything of me, please ask and I would be honored to help."
Ash waved as he and Misty turned down the street, rejoining Arcanine and Vaporeon. He took Misty's hand and the two trainers set off towards the gym.
"I'd say that was a good day's work," said Ash. "It's a relief seeing that family back together."
"I'm glad we could help," she agreed. "I'm also glad we could convince Suresh to keep his business here in Vermilion."
The Gym Leader grinned. "It's been a long road getting people like him into town, but I think it's finally beginning to pay off."
Misty grabbed Ash's arm and walked close to him, nodding after returning Vaporeon to its pokeball as Ash did likewise with Arcanine.
It had been more than a year since Ash had taken over as Gym Leader in Vermilion, and under his watch the town had begun to recover from Lt. Surge's corruption and oppression. The going early on was hard though, and more than once Misty had wanted Ash to give up on the city for his own sake. Dealing with the fledgling city council, trying to protect Vermilion from the near constant highwayman trouble in the wilds around the town, and looking for ways to peacefully reduce a spiraling crime rate had all stretched Ash to the breaking point. Even with Misty there to help, Ash's health had begun to suffer as he barely ate or slept and worked constantly. Through it all and as if by miracle however, Ash had remained constantly positive. Working on behalf of the people around him, no matter how much it taxed him to do so, gave Ash a purpose and an inner strength that baffled Misty, and anyone who knew the Gym Leader for that matter.
Over the course of several months and a long series of events, Ash's efforts to reduce the crime rate, aided by Nurse Joy's endless capacity for charity began to buy the young city council the freedom from fear of crime it needed to get the hang of running the city. With Surge gone however, enterprise in Vermilion began to regain control over the natural resources in the territory, alleviating some of the woes imposed on the city by poverty and unemployment. Additionally, when the 'Gym Wars,' as the battle in Saffron City had come to be known, finally began to calm down after the swift and decisive actions of the Psychic's Gym, the Vermilion City Council had wasted no time in re-securing trade between the two cities. This in turn brought a new wave of entrepreneurs and merchants looking to exploit the new business opportunities on the coast, away from Saffron's many regulations.
Vermilion was by no means a utopia however. Unemployment and crime were still visible threats to the city, but things seemed to be getting better. Vermilion was getting cleaner by the day, every month the homeless grew less numerous, and new businesses sprung up all across the city, inspiring people from as far away as Celadon to move to Vermilion in search of new opportunities. Viridian especially proved to be a source of new faces for Vermilion, as people flocked from the western city to the cities in the east to escape the growing lack of food.
Even Pewter, Ash had heard from Brock on one of the older Gym Leader's many visits to Vermilion, had begun to suffer under the food crisis. Despite being largely self-sufficient, Pewter's citizens had begun to learn to go without much of the food they had once imported from the southwest, relying instead on the hardy staples Pewter had so long produced for itself. That had worried Ash more than a little, as, according to Brock, the farms west of Viridian that provided much of the food consumed as far east as Fuchsia and Celadon had begun producing less and less, with no explanation as to why. In Vermilion it wasn't so bad as the town had just recently redeveloped the capacity to fish on a large scale, but nonetheless, Ash had noticed that grains and vegetables from the west were far less common than they had once been.
"What do you think we should do with them?" Misty asked, coming out of her reflections and looking up at Ash. "The Pokemon we took from those raiders, I mean."
Ash shrugged, apparently trekking through his own thoughts as well. "I don't know," he muttered absentmindedly, then with a grin he went on, "I guess I was planning to send them to Bill for research like all the rest, unless you think you might be able to find us a fence for them or something."
Misty stopped in mid step and nearly made Ash stumble.
"I'm sorry," Ash added as soon as he'd finished his statement. "I didn't mean to-"
"You promised," said Misty, her face hardening. "Ash, you promised me you'd stop joking about things like that."
"I know I did, I didn't mean to," said the younger trainer, feeling his heart sink into his stomach. The two resumed walking, more slowly than before and Misty still held Ash's arm, though her demeanor seemed to chill rather than warm him. "I'm sorry," said Ash after they'd walked a few blocks. "I really didn't mean to make a joke of it, or bring it up at all. Forgive me?"
"I thought I really went out on a limb telling you everything," said Misty. "And then to find out that you'd heard it all already, from Kasumi of all people... I just want you to stop teasing me about it. A little joke here, a reminder there... It hurts, Ash."
They'd been through this conversation before but usually it took a greater blunder on his part, Ash reflected, to put Misty this on edge. He wondered to himself in the back of his mind if seeing the merchant's family in a state of joy had somehow inflamed her. "I'm sorry," he repeated, putting the groundless thought out of his head. "Genuinely, I am."
"Then stop," Misty responded, looking over and up at him. "I realize it's nothing big to you, but it's important to me, OK?"
Ash nodded. "I understand," he toned, then paused for a long minute, trying to think of what to say next. "I just can't see you as that person you told me about though," he added, making Misty shift uneasily. "I haven't ever thought of you as anyone other than the fiery, beautiful, save-my-ass-in-a-pinch Misty I've always known."
Misty sighed and looked up at he slowly lightening sky. It was going to be another clear day, she thought. "Then you don't understand," she said. "Ash, you've never had to live with anything like... like with what I... you can't understand."
"Then let me say it again, I don't want to," Ash said quickly. "Misty, I've said it before but you're too hard on yourself. You're different now and you need to stop beating yourself up over the past."
"You're never going to get it," sighed the young woman.
"Maybe not. But for what it's worth, I'm really sorry about what I said."
Misty groaned a little under her breath and shook her head. "It's alright," she said a few paces later. "Let's just forget about it."
Nodding, Ash walked a little closer to her, glad her mood had lifted, if only a little. "What can I do to convince you that you're a really good person?" he asked. "And that I really am absolutely crazy about you despite my sometimes shoving my foot in my mouth?"
Misty didn't answer.
As the first glimpses of the sun began to crest the horizon in the east, Ash and Misty turned onto the street leading to the gym. A few blocks away the trainers saw the building, its roof being the first structure in the city to catch the morning sun. At the same time, Ash felt his empathetic link with Haunter beginning to push to the forefront of his mind. That made both trainer and ghost grin internally, as they'd missed each other during the last several days while Haunter had been patrolling the countryside. On top of greeting Ash and expressing gladness to be back, Haunter informed the trainer that two guests awaited him at the gym. When pressed, Haunter added that one was a young woman and the other was an older man with a confident air about him.
"No way," Ash muttered, his arm still around Misty as the trainers rounded the open gate and stepped into the gym's spacious courtyard. His eyes locked on the visitors waiting a few yards away and he laughed once, a smile leaping to his lips. "Grandpa!" he stepped in front of Misty.
The Professor stepped away from his accomplice and took his hands out of his travel-worn and dirty lab coat. "Oh, good to see you," he said, throwing his arms around his grandson and giving him a bear hug. "You've grown," Oak declared, stepping back and looking Ash over, "quite a lot. Bill said you were maturing, but I didn't think he meant all this... leading a gym and everything. Wow."
"Who cares about that?" Ash asked, "Where have you been? I haven't seen any sign of you since we left Pallet Town."
"Ah, that," said Oak, his face falling some. "It's something of a story, and perhaps one best told over breakfast, eh?"
Ash nodded. "Of course," he said. "We don't have too much in the kitchen, but I'm sure we can find something." He gestured to the door of the building to the main gym's east. "Misty and I have been sharing the old Gym Leader's quarters and I'd have to say she's done a beautiful job with it."
Oak looked passed Ash and nodded to Misty with a smile. "Misty," he said politely. "It's a pleasure."
Misty responded with an equally polite grin and inclined her head some. "Same here," she said, trying not to blush as Ash so casually revealed that they'd been living together. "I can make everyone something to eat if you're all hungry." She glanced between Ash, Oak, and the thus far silent visitor.
Prompted by following Misty's glance, Ash turned for the first time to Oak's associate. The girl largely obscured her features with a drab green traveler's cloak. Caked in mud and covering her from neck to boot, the cloak made discerning much more than the visitor's facial features impossible. Of course this seemed a moot point to Ash, who found eye contact, once established with the stranger, impossible to sever. For a length of time Ash couldn't judge, he and the newcomer stared at each other, both equally entranced and dumbfounded by the other. Ash couldn't place it, but he knew this girl from somewhere. Of that he was absolutely certain, and he judged by the look she mirrored to him that she knew him also.
"Oh," said Oak, snapping both Ash and the unintroduced visitor out of their joint stupor. "That was rude of me not to introduce the both of you. Ash," he turned to his grandson and gestured at the girl in the cloak, "this is Dawn."
The girl nodded to the Professor's grandson. "Nice to meet you," she smiled a little, her blue eyes sparkling like cobalt glass.
SC
The sizzling of bacon and sounds of frying fish filled the small but comfortable kitchen as sunlight streamed in from the eastern window. Rather than a kitchen table, Misty had elected to put a plushly cushioned booth against the wall opposite the stove, leaving most of the floorspace open to allow for Arcanine's frequent naps. The booth was also far more comfortable than a set of chairs, prompting Ash and Misty to both spend most evenings there.
Now however, as Misty set a plate of bacon and a small tray of eggs on coasters on the table sandwiched between the seats, Ash occupied one side of the booth, Misty sitting down beside him, while Dawn and Oak sat opposite them. From his spot in the sun on the floor, Arcanine rolled onto his back and happily absorbed the presence of all the company while Pikachu sat beside him. At Misty's invitation, everyone helped themselves to the plentiful breakfast, Ash brought Oak up to date on his recent activities, learning only after he'd recounted the majority of his stories that Oak had already heard most of the tales from Bill. Throughout the conversation, Ash found himself stealing glances at Dawn and noting that she seemed to be giving him the same clandestine once-overs.
"So you two are..." Oak grinned, more like a teasing sibling than a mentor as he gestured between Ash and Misty. "together then?"
Ash glanced at Misty with a smile she sheepishly returned, then looked back at Oak. "Yep," he responded without hesitation.
Misty sighed a little. How he could be so casual about everything was beyond her. More befuddling still, was how Ash seemed to grow into a more confident yet humble individual every day. Nothing fazed him she thought, and if it did, he hid it well. She quickly put the puzzle out of her head though. His quiet confidence was, after all, one of the things that she admired most about him.
"Best wishes then," said Oak. "And this," he fiddled with the thermal imager Ash had given him to examine before setting it next to the radio headset on the table. "This is fascinating," he said. "I see you inherited some of my talent for inventing after all."
Ash nodded. "It's basically a camera that happens to see infrared, rather than regular light. I was experimenting with using different methods to try to see through walls and got this," he laughed. "So that research was almost a success. And the radios are basically just variations on the bigger radios people keep in their houses. I just made them smaller."
"That just goes to demonstrate your ingenuity," said Oak. "Dawn's quite the inventor also," he nodded to the girl beside him. "She and Professor Rowan from Sinnoh do all kinds of interesting projects."
"You mentioned," Ash prompted, "that you went north to visit Sinnoh. You were gone for a year, grandpa. Care to tell us about that."
"Ah," said Oak, sitting back from the table and crossing his arms. "I did say I'd explain, and now that we've all eaten I suppose it's as good a time as any."
Ash and Misty both leaned back in the cushions and relaxed, settling in for what both assumed was going to be a potentially lengthy explanation. Ash subtly reached over and, without being too blatant about it, took Misty's hand. Much to his relief, she quickly twined their fingers and gave him a reassuring squeeze.
"Right after Pallet was destroyed," Oak began, "I debated exactly what I should do, but decided to visit Bill and hopefully reconnect with you there. Before I could reach Cerulean though I received word from an old friend of mine, Rowan, that he was having trouble up north. His message was brief and vague, but requested my help immediately so I changed course and traveled to Sinnoh to meet with him. I wanted to see about helping him as quickly as I could since I knew he wouldn't go to the trouble of getting in contact with me unless it was urgent, and I trusted that you were more than capable of taking care of yourself," Oak smiled at his grandson.
"When I got to Rowan's lab," Oak went on, "he told me that recently he'd discovered that some murders and disappearances throughout Sinnoh might be linked to a group of people calling themselves Team Galactica. The trouble was that Rowan, despite being something of a crusader, couldn't turn up any evidence that Galactica was involved in any criminal activity, but as soon as he began investigating them a series of 'accidents' just about killed him. More than once, people attacked his lab and tried to 'shut him up,' as he put it, which convinced my old friend that he was on the right course by looking at Galactica."
"So you decided to get involved?" Ash prodded. "And I assume you learned something important?"
"It would be a boring story if I didn't," Oak grinned. "Over the course of a few days, Rowan convinced me that the circumstances were just too outlandish but when a group of trainers attacked the lab while Dawn, Rowan, and I were there I decided to help him look into it. One of the assassins or robbers or whatever you call them who attacked the lab survived, but refused to talk. Weeks after we turned him over to the police however, the lab was attacked again and that same assassin was part of the effort. Rowan came up with the idea to turn him over to the police again, feigning that we didn't remember him, and track his movements from there,
"It turns out that it was a good plan. We uncovered not only a link between the local police and the assassin, but Dawn and I followed the assassin back to his lair and learned that he personally was somehow involved with Galactica. Not how exactly, only that he was, and that we couldn't trust the police. The three of us managed to trace the connection to a front company in Veilstone City. By the time we learned this of course," the Professor shrugged, "and got to their hidden base, whoever ran the base and aided the criminals, Galactica we presumed, was on to us and had cleared out... They did however, in their haste leave behind some interesting technology."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "What kind of technology?" he asked.
Dawn cleared her throat and spoke up. "To be honest, we don't know," she said as Oak let her have the floor. "Which for me is really saying something. I'm a genius with Pokemon and electronics alike, but some of what we dragged out of this base was beyond even me."
I guess she doesn't lack for confidence, Ash thought. "Don't be too specific now," he said nonchalantly.
Dawn focused on Ash and glared at the perceived insult. "Fine," she said, "for one, we found a fusion reactor... a working fusion reactor the size of this booth, which should be impossible if you didn't already know that."
"A what?" Ash and Misty responded at once.
Dawn shook her head a little. "Just believe me when I say that the tech we dragged out of that base is way ahead of our time."
"You'll have to forgive Dawn," said Oak, "she still resents Rowan sending her with me to find you."
"Professor Rowan needs my protection more than ever right now," Dawn added. "Even if the attacks have stopped, he needs to be on guard for if- when they come back."
"Anyway," Oak went on, "a little more digging turned up evidence that Galactica was undertaking some kind of massive project in the mountains that run down Sinnoh's spine, but I'm afraid that's where the trail ended..."
"What?" Ash asked. "What do you mean, ended?"
"It went cold, died off," said Oak. "When I went to have a look, I found that there was indeed lots of construction going on atop Mount Coronet, but nothing illegal. They were using private contractors to build some kind of massive foundation and the framework of a mammoth tower on the very summit of the mountain. While that's weird, it isn't murder or kidnapping. Since I saw that, the investigation hadn't turned up anything new and there haven't been attacks on the lab, so we didn't have anything to go on."
"And?" the young trainer pressed. "That's all you could find out?"
Oak shrugged. "We never connected Galactica directly to anything blatantly illegal. Sure they're suspicious and have access to technology that shouldn't exist, but there's no evidence to support the theory that they're criminals. And since the attacks on Rowan's labs have stopped-"
"For now," Dawn interrupted.
"It seems like my job up there was done."
Turning to Oak, Ash shifted a little and said, "I guess I was hoping for something a little more dramatic.
"Not everything bad people do makes sense or is a giant conspiracy to destroy the world," chuckled Oak. "I figure that Rowan isn't a target anymore since whoever was trying to kill him has decided that attacking him is more trouble than it's worth. And you wanted to know what I've been up to so there you have it."
Ash paused and exhaled, stroking Misty's hand with his thumb."So, not that I'm not glad to see you grandpa, really I am, but what does all this have to do with Misty and me?"
Oak smiled a little. "Well on top of visiting my favorite grandson," he said, "I have a present for you."
Ash cocked his head off to one side, mimicking Arcanine's 'curious look'. "What would that be?"
Oak smirked and reached into the small backpack sitting between his feet. Pulling out a small and unassuming wood box only slightly larger than Ash's thermal imager, he flipped a latch and opened the lid. Spinning it towards Ash the Professor sat back, practically glowing with pride. "As promised."
Ash and Misty both looked at the small orbs resting in the velvet padding. Both were smaller than an average pokeball and displayed different colors. The bottom of each orb sparkled a silvery off-white, and the majority of each upper hemisphere shone a deep purple. Also different from the usually smooth texture of a pokeball, these devices each sported two additional raised domes on their upper halves that glowed a dull purple. Also, a white "M" on each sphere, traced in raised white lacquer reflected the morning sunlight in a shimmering glow.
"I had completely forgotten," said Ash, reaching out and picking up one of the Master Balls.
"I thought there were going to be six," said Misty. "Not to ruin the moment, but..."
Oak grimaced. "Initially yes. But I was trying to make them while I was in Sinnoh and I... well frankly I ruined three of the Ultra Balls in the attempt... so I'm left with one for my grandson, one for you," he nodded to misty, "to try and keep up my end of the bargain, and one for myself."
"And these will catch anything," Misty said, picking up the second Master Ball and looking it over.
"Yes," Oak nodded. "I wanted to give you both the best gift I could think of before you continue on your journey to stop Team Rocket, and this is it."
"Bill mentioned that did he?" Ash asked.
"That he did," said the Professor.
"Alright," Ash looked up with a grin. He glanced over at Misty and then turned back to Oak. "I was beginning to feel a little cooped up here anyway," he said. "I'm just about ready to start traveling again, don't you think?"
Oak nodded but Misty flinched.
"I think you've stayed in one place quite long enough," said the Professor. "I'm going back to Pallet to begin rebuilding my laboratory, underground this time, so I can best help everybody, and you should probably get back to collecting recommendations from the other Gym Leaders."
"Right now?" Misty interrupted, putting her hand on Ash's arm and turning to him. "Isn't this a little sudden?"
Ash shook his head. "Well not right now," he said, putting his hand on her leg. "But fairly soon. I think you and I have done just about everything here that only we could do. We helped establish a council, took several big steps toward bringing order back to the region, and booted Team Rocket completely out of Vermilion," he grinned. "From this point on I estimate that the only work left is maintaining the status quo that we set up."
Misty's face fell but she nodded. "Right," she said. "You're right. We've been doing too little for too long."
"I wouldn't say that," said Oak. "You've been doing a lot to keep valuable resources out of Team Rocket's hands, but now it's time for you to take a more active role again and leave the sedentary work to others."
Ash put his hands together and nodded. "Baily's the man to run the Gym while we're gone. He's ready to take over, regardless of whether he knows it, and he doesn't like Rocket anymore than we do so we can count on him to keep them out. I'll tell him this afternoon and inform the city council after that."
Misty sighed again but refused to let her spirits slip too low. "That sounds good. When do you think we'll set out?"
Ash took a second and thought. "Probably not before next week," he said. "So four or five days maybe?"
"Oh," said Misty, her eyes brightening some. "I thought you meant, like, tomorrow."
Ash shook his head. "A few days will give me time to get things squared away, and that way we won't be just abandoning the town." He looked back at Oak and Dawn. "Will you two at least do us the honor of sticking around for a day or two?"
Oak smiled while a look of horror washed over Dawn's face, though it was the Professor who spoke first. "I think we can manage that."
"Professor," Dawn hissed. "The sooner we head towards Pallet, the sooner I can head back to Rowan and tell him you're safe, then start protecting him again. I can't just stay here for a day or two."
Ash's eyes flitted towards Dawn, and the young trainer's mind turned for a second. As much as he wanted to disagree with her and argue for his grandfather to stay for a visit, Dawn's argument made sense. So, Ash spoke up before Oak could comment. "Actually grandpa," said the trainer, "I think she's got a point. If Rowan is still in any kind of trouble it would probably be best if she got back to him as soon as possible."
"I'm not a child," the professor half scoffed, half laughed. "I don't need someone to escort me through the wilds and see to my safety. Dawn," he said kindly, turning to the girl. "I know you promised Rowan you'd see me safely home, but honestly, if you're that worried about him, then by all means, start back and give him my best when you get there."
The girl in the muddy cloak nodded and crossed her arms. "You don't need to tell me twice," she said. "If it's alright with you I'll leave in the morning."
SC
Filling the room with the sot buzz that accompanied the light, the florescent lights Ash had installed throughout his small workshop provided more than enough illumination for the Gym Leader to sort through his things. Picking his way about, sometimes rediscovering little knickknacks he had built months ago and forgotten about, Ash tried to pick out the items he thought would be most valuable in his upcoming return to his travels.
"I've got to admit," sitting on a small stool at Ash's workbench, Oak looked over at his grandson, "I expected to come back and find that you'd done something amazing, but even so you really surprised me. A Gym Leader, an inventor, and the effective leader of a town... I'm impressed."
Ash grinned to himself and pulled up a seat by his grandfather. He glanced out the skylights, wishing that he could see through the haze of the city lights and his workshop's illumination that obscured the stars from him. It was nearly midnight and his favorite constellation would be overhead soon. "I did what I could," said Ash, shrugging. "For the town, for myself, for Misty... I just wanted to make things better here." He smiled a little. "And I think I've done a fair job so far, but there are bigger things to move on to."
"That there are," Oak nodded.
"I've been feeling it for a while," Ash said. "That I should get back out there and take on the world. I've been fighting Team Rocket here as best I can, in my own way, but I've been itching to really take the fight to them. I want to hurry up and finish this trip to all the gyms so I can get into Malebolge and find out what's at the bottom of that cave. Then I'll know what Team Rocket wants, and what I can do to put a stop to them."
"And work on the Pokedex," Oak added.
"There's that too," Ash admitted. "I'll do what I can along the way, but the Pokedex is something that I'll never be able to completely finish. I want to finish the work I can before moving on to the work that will always be there."
"I understand that completely," said the Professor, before the conversation slipped into silence.
The two trainers glanced around the workshop, both knowing the other had something to say, but unsure of how to open up. Eventually Ash broke the silence. "Grandpa," he said plainly. "There's something about Dawn. I can't place it, but I know her from somewhere... Did I meet her at your lab when I was little or something? It was bugging me all day."
Oak smiled and shook his head, turning to Ash and leaning on the bench. "No, you've never met Rowan or Dawn before, at least not that I know of. But you felt it, didn't you?"
"What? Felt what?"
"Ash," the Professor sighed. "I talked with Bill before I came here, and he told me about everything he told you. I nearly killed him for it, but in the end I had to admit he was right about your knowing being a good thing."
"About being a savant?" Ash asked.
"Exactly," his grandfather nodded. "You're quick. But I know he told you and I decided to run a little experiment of my own. Have you guessed the outcome yet, or even what it is?"
Ash paused for a moment and thought. "Dawn's a savant too," he said matter-of-factly.
"Clever boy," Oak answered. "I knew there was a good dose of your mother in you. Yes, Dawn is a savant also, which between you and her makes two in one generation. I brought her here mostly because I
wanted to see what happened if I put two in the same room."
"And what did you discover?"
"Nothing I didn't already know," said Oak. "But the experiment is only just beginning. Ash, as far as I know, savants are rare anomalies, one every few generations. Now all of a sudden there are two that the other Professor's and I know of and there might be more out there."
"And where do you see this going?" Ash asked. "This little peek at what might be evolution in the works..."
"No idea," Oak said merrily. "But then again, science is all about discovering the unknown. I've been watching both you and Dawn separately as close as I can and the similarities between the two of you are remarkable. Ash, you wouldn't have had the chance to find out, but Dawn is a mirror image of you as far as her abilities go. She's spent a little less time training with Pokemon than she has working with technology, but working with both is as natural to her as breathing, same as you."
"Well," Ash chuckled a little to himself, "I'll trust you on that."
"And both of you immediately sensed something innately different from everyone else in the other, it's fascinating."
"Grandpa," said Ash goodheartedly. "This is really cool and all, but I fail to see how it's relevant to taking down Team Rocket."
"It's science," said the Professor, sounding, Ash noticed, a lot like Bill. "It doesn't have to be relevant right now. As soon as I figure out how it works I'll come up with a practical application then."