Chapter Two – Forces of Nature
"What time is it?" asked Ash, noting his broken watch, sitting up a little straighter and glancing around the makeshift camp. Misty had been efficient he had to say; as far as Ash could tell she hadn't used any tinder other than prairie grass to get the fire started and the only thing cooking over said fire was what smelled like Rattata… though most of the spitted meat was gone. "And how long have I been out?"
"You slept for a few hours," said Misty. "You must've taken quite a beating and my best guess is that it's just about midnight. My watch died the day before yesterday." Misty sat back and shifted more towards the fire. Summer was drawing to a close and the nights were just beginning to grow cooler. "So what are you doing out here on your own?" she asked, looking over her shoulder as Ash got off the bedroll and reached for his backpack. "The road isn't exactly a safe place and you've only got two Pokémon."
Ash pulled his backpack to him, making sure not to disturb Pikachu who had curled up beside his leg and begun lightly napping, feeling more secure since Growlithe had woken up and begun pacing about the camp as if to keep watch. That Pikachu had so readily accepted Growlithe as part of the team, Ash decided, was a very good sign. Pikachu had always been a good judge of character. He glanced over at Misty. "I'm headed back to Pallet Town," said the trainer, rummaging through his pack and making sure that everything that was still there. "I didn't mean to come out this far in the first place but," he trailed off a little. "I got carried away wanting to catch a Pokémon today."
Misty shrugged. "I guess that happens to the best of us… Pallet Town is only a couple of hours from here right?"
Ash nodded. "Maybe two and a half if we make good time, where are you going exactly?" he asked. "This road only goes between Pallet Town and Viridian City." I'd recognize her if she was from Pallet, thought Ash. No one new can move in without everyone else knowing about it.
"I'm not really going anywhere in particular," said Misty, looking away from Ash. "I just like to travel, 'ya know? There are a lot of interesting things to see in the world."
Did she just use 'interesting' to reference Pallet Town? Ash caught himself thinking. "So are you going to see Professor Oak or something?" said the trainer, unable to think of anything else near his hometown that was worth seeing.
Misty nodded, "yeah, exactly," she said quickly. "I heard about Professor Oak when I was in," she paused, "Pewter City. I decided to check him out and see if he was really all that amazing. So," her tone brightened a little and she turned back to Ash. "I'm guessing you're on your way back there. Why don't we travel together since we're both going the same direction?"
"There's safety in numbers," said Ash as he shifted onto his knees and neatly packed his bedroll into his pack. "Besides, I wouldn't mind the company and it would be rude to say no to the girl who saved my life." He grinned just a little to Misty as Growlithe, observing that the group was getting ready to leave, paced over to its new trainer and sat silently and warily an arm's length from Ash. "So where are you from Misty?" asked Ash as he finished gathering up his things.
Misty kicked some dirt on the fire, reducing the flames to flickering coals, then scattered the embers with her shoe, shrouding the camp in darkness. The crescent moon afforded the small party only a vestige of light, by which Misty found her pack and slung it over one shoulder. "Up North a ways," she said, looking between Ash and his Growlithe. "When did you catch that one?" she asked.
"About ten minutes before the Fearow tried to turn us into birdseed," said Ash, getting up and shouldering his backpack.
Misty raised an eyebrow. "And he's already taken to you?" she asked. "That's impressive. Growlithe are generally strong willed and tough to tame."
"Well," Ash continued, looking over at the orange canine who met his gaze with a cautious perking up of its ears. "I think part of it was that he's the only survivor of his pack. I found a whole bunch of dead Growlithe in a little grove not too far from here. I don't know what killed them, I'm just glad this little guy," he looked back at the Growlithe and smiled warmly, trying to make sure the Pokémon noticed the gesture, "made it out alright."
"Ah," said Misty. "Yeah, that might have had something to do with it. Growlithe tend to be at their most ferocious when they're in packs so being alone might make it more compliant… That and your Pikachu doesn't look like a pushover." She noted the handful of scars winding across Pikachu's pelt, evidenced by the somewhat rougher patches of darker yellow fur across the Pokémon's back, sides, and even his face.
Ash nodded as, giving the surrounding area as much of a last onceover as he could in the terrible light, he and Misty began walking South. "Pikachu and I have been thorough a lot," he said casually. "We've gotten ourselves into some pretty rough scrapes but we've been there for each other and managed to pull through somehow…" Ash smiled proudly, recalling some of the good times he and Pikachu had in the last five years. "There was this one time," he began narrating, "when Professor Oak and I were doing some fieldwork in a cave just East of Viridian, we got separated by a cave-in and for two days it was just Pikachu and I wandering around in this underground maze, trying to avoid all the Pokémon and find our way out."
"Sounds like you were lucky to get out at all," said Misty, walking beside and just behind Ash. "Did you see any interesting Pokémon or were you too busy just trying to stay alive?"
"Mostly we were trying to stay alive," said Ash. "We saw a couple of Diglett but fortunately those tend to be pretty passive. If you don't bother them they won't bother you. No, the Zubat gave us some trouble though. Those flying leeches almost killed us more than once," Ash paused and held out his forearm, pointing out the semi-circular and now barely visible remnants of a bite mark. "It's been a year since Pikachu and I got out of that cave, and these still haven't disappeared all the way."
Misty glanced over the scar and looked back down the road. "At least you managed to get out at all," she pointed out, not unkindly.
"I'm not complaining," said Ash. "I just wanted to emphasize that without Pikachu I'd be a corpse back in that cave."
Misty nodded and listened as Ash went on, lighting on some of the experiences he remembered, fieldwork with Professor Oak mostly, and freely answering when she questioned him on some detail or facet of the stories. More than an hour passed without incident as they walked, making sure to keep up a good pace. The moon rose higher into the sky and Pikachu, sitting atop Ash's head, made good use of the extra light and kept close watch on the surrounding fields. Growlithe, walking just out of a grab's range from Ash, routinely paused for just a second to sniff the air and then, never picking up a disturbing scent, kept walking and occasionally glancing over at Ash, almost expectantly.
"So now you know the condensed version of my life's story," said Ash good humouredly after a twenty minute stretch of silence. "What's your story? You've seen my Pokémon but all I know about yours is that they tend to favor water moves."
Misty pursed one corner of her lips before answering. "There's not much to tell," she said. "I've been a trainer since I was little, my first Pokémon was a Squirtle. I like Water Pokémon." She shrugged. "What exactly do you want to know?"
Ash raised one shoulder and let it fall. "Well, what about your home life? Where did you live before you went out on your own?"
"Well," said the orange haired trainer, trying not to sound impolite or dodgy. "I've been on my own since I was seven, both of my parents died when our town was attacked by a wild Snorlax."
"Oh," said Ash. "I'm sorry," he backpedaled.
"It's not your fault," said Misty casually. "Nobody really expects any dangerous Pokémon, especially not a wild Snorlax, to come lumbering into a town with a taste for blood in its mouth." She hesitated for a second. "Everybody thinks Snorlax are just giant oafs who only sleep and eat and then sleep some more-"
"Not exactly," said Ash, shaking his head. "Professor Oak warned me about Snorlax once. He said they are some of the most ferocious things alive if they actually fully wake up."
"They don't wake up very often," said Misty. "And we should all be thankful they don't. The one that attacked- my town killed ninety people, ten of them were trainers who had just started up the city's gym, so of course they didn't know what they were doing," Misty began to stare off and comment on her own story. "None of them knew that a Snorlax's fat is thick enough to absorb just bout anything you throw at it…" She trailed off. "I'm sorry," she said, making herself smile. "I don't mean to ramble."
"I didn't mind in the least," said Ash, reaching up to scratch Pikachu's head. "You endured my story. But anyway, you mentioned that you like water Pokémon, you wouldn't happen to be from Cerulean City would you?" he asked.
Ash wasn't quite quick enough to catch the little tremor that shot through Misty's frame. "I've been there once or twice," she said, voice steady. "Why? Have you ever gone out that far?"
"Nope," said Ash. "I've never been passed Mt Moon.
Slipping back into small talk, Misty and Ash let Pikachu and Growlithe worry about keeping track of the surroundings. Both trainers knew that the Pokémon would pick up on a nearby threat long before human senses would detect anything dangerous, especially now that the wind was out of the North and blowing the scents of any wild Pokémon away from the party. In what seemed to Ash like no time at all, he and Misty were trekking up the side of the hill that, when crested, would give them a clear view of Pallet Town.
"It's too bad you won't be able to see the town in the sunlight," said Ash as he and Misty neared the top of the hill. "The way it sits between the three hills on the North, East, and West, and the sea to the South can be beaut-"
Ash stopped silent as a flickering beam of prismatic energy blasted into the sky from the opposite side of the hill. Pikachu and Growlithe both instantly froze. Pikachu's fur needled out again as his cheeks sparked, ready to unleash an attack at the slightest hint of danger. The orange canine began growling and hunkered down, though he took a reflexive step closer to Ash. A resounding boom shook the ground and very nearly knocked Ash and Misty to their knees just as a flare of red fire jetted into the sky, illuminating the night.
"That was a Hyperbeam," said Ash, steadying himself.
"And a Fire Blast by the looks of it," noted Misty. "Whatever's happening is big."
Grunting with effort as he burst forward, Ash took off running up the hill.
"Ash!" Misty shouted, reaching out as if to grab and hold him back. "What do you think you're doing?" she ran after him, catching up with the younger trainer in a few strides. They both crested the hill and just in time to see another huge burst of fire leap up from the center of Pallet Town. The pillar of fire towered into the sky, scattering flaming brands down across the city like rain, riding the wind and setting many of the town's wood-framed buildings on fire.
The fire wasn't what caught Ash's attention. "What the hell is that?" he mumbled, shock nearly choking his voice back. On the Southern end of the town, a colossal serpentine figure stood, ringed in flames, roaring and seeming to glow red in the fires that danced around it like dervishes. The monster reared back, opened its gaping mouth, and belched out a torrent of fire that washed through the streets and ignited very nearly an entire city block. By now acrid black smoke was rising into the air and collecting over the town, hanging low enough to reflect much of the bloody light from the fires now spreading through the town back down, bathing the entire scene in a hellish glow.
"That's a Gyarados," said Misty, raising one eyebrow. "But I've never seen one that color or that big." The colossal, ruby colored, Pokémon continued thrashing down the streets and spraying fire at anything that moved. By now Ash and Misty could make out figures running through the streets seemingly at random, seeking any shelter that wasn't ablaze. "It must be eighty feet long," said the girl.
Ash clenched one fist in rage as he watched the Gyarados barrel through a house, smashing the structure to splinters. How long has it been here? Ash wondered, anger and a sudden feeling of helplessness washing over him. The Gyarados twisted, raising its tail high in the air and bring it crashing down on top of another house. The entire town is going to burn down,he lamented, scanning the Pallet Town from his vantage point on the hill. From one side of the town to another now, there wasn't a home or building that wasn't on fire or quickly threatening to ignite in the firestorm.
Ash felt the wind rushing past him into the city as the fire grew large enough to create gale force winds. He could see bodies in the streets now. "I can't-" Ash growled. "I can't just let this-"
Crackling with energy, a bolt of lightning seared through the air from ground level and slammed into the Gyarados's flank, nearly knocking the beast over and making it roar in pain. Both Ash and the monstrous Pokémon turned and traced the path of the bolt along a smoking arc back to the source, a Raichu. Ash made out the figures of several Pokémon and a single man standing next to the orange Raichu.
"Professor!" he shouted, immediately recognizing the figure as Oak. He couldn't be heard over the raging firestorm, but without a second thought, Ash barreled down the side of the hill towards the battle.
"Ash!" Misty shouted again, hesitating for a moment before running after him, reaching to one of the pokeballs on her belt as she moved.
With Pikachu and Growlithe in tow, Ash raced through the flaming streets of Pallet Town, ignoring the charred and in many cases, still burning, bodies of the dead. Obeying an unspoken command, Pikachu began to glow and flicker with yellow light, charging up a massive amount of energy in the red patches on its cheeks in preparation for the fight. Growlithe, panting with effort and fighting against the bandages which restricted its breathing, merely kept up with the trainer and Pikachu.
Ash rounded a corner and found himself less than fifty meters from the Gyarados's, directly behind the monster which was focusing all of its attention on Professor Oak. Roaring, the Gyarados unleashed another prismatic blast of Hyperbeam on the Professor. Oak flinched but barked the order "Light Shield!"
Without a trace of hesitation, a red and white Pokémon the size of a child jumped in front of Oak, throwing its disproportionately large hands before itself. A yellow barrier of energy sprung to life between the Mr. Mime's hands and rocketed outwards to form a wall, five meters by five, directly between the Gyarados and Oak's forces. The Hyperbeam crashed into the wall and Mr. Mime faltered to one knee as the energy blast exploded and shook the ground. The barrier flickered but held strong and Mr. Mime immediately stood back up as a flurry of green leafs whirled in long arcs around the barrier, flying like missiles at Gyarados.
Oak's Venasaur shook the plant on its back again and another volley of Razorleafs flew towards the monstrous Pokémon, slashing into it like shuriken and drawing thin lines of blood across its body. Oak clenched one fist as Gyarados faltered, but he remained stone-faced, knowing the battle could turn at any instant.
"Pikachu," said Ash, his voice trembling with both anger and fear. "Give it everything you've got. Drop this thing in one hit if you can."
Pikachu acknowledged with a quiet squeak, glowing like a light bulb. With a hissing crackle a bolt of lightning, blindingly bright and so hot the ground around Pikachu blackened, blasted forward from the Pokémon's cheeks and lanced into the distracted Gyarados's back, shattering into a hundred arcs of electricity that raced over the Pokémon's carapace. Gyarados jerked and screeched in pain and nearly fell over.
"Gotcha," Ash cheered, pumping one arm and gritting his teeth, not nothing that Pikachu swooned to one side and nearly collapsed.
"Ash!" the trainer heard Oak shout as the Gyarados turned and refocused its attention on Ash, sheer rage and killer intent burning in its eyes. "Get out of here!"
Ash and Pikachu jumped to one side, behind the nearby rubble of a partially collapsed building as the Gyarados reared back, preparing to unleash yet another attack. "Growlithe!" Ash barked, realizing the canine had failed to move and instead lay in a heap in the middle of the road, panting and sweating.
Ignoring both the blistering heat that sapped his strength and the immanent attack from the Gyarados, Ash threw himself back into the middle of the street and scooped up Growlithe in his arms. "Run!" Oak roared as the Gyarados bolted forwards and opened its mouth. A withering blast of black fire flew from between its massive jaws and straight towards Ash. Pikachu appeared by Ash's side in an instant, determined not to let its master die alone.
Ash didn't even look up to watch as the fire rocketed towards him, but gasped in surprise as a brilliant flash of white light in front of him nearly blinded him. Before the light even fully too shape, Misty who had appeared behind Ash, flanked on either side by a Pokémon resembling a huge starfish, shouted "barrier!"
A blue wall sprang to life before Ash and the new Pokémon which had just begun to take the shape of a third, but even larger, starfish. There was absolutely no time at all between the formation of the blue barrier, and the impact from the black fire. The searing wave of heat rolled around the shield like a river hitting a boulder, flanking Ash, Misty, and their Pokémon on three sides.
Ash turned and saw Misty, holding one arm in front of her face to block out some of the mind numbing heat, reach with her free hand to grab another pokeball. She threw it behind Ash and another Pokémon, this one a huge turtle that Ash recognized as a Blastoise, came to life from the white energy.
"Give us some cover!" Misty ordered.
Without any hesitation the Blastoise dropped onto all fours and scuttled between Ash and the purple Starmie as the wave of black fire dissipated to nothing and the barrier faded. The exhausted Starmie wilted and Misty recalled it with a pokeball. "Tackle it!" Misty barked, seeing the Gyarados remained fixated on them.
The Blastoise lowered its shoulder and barreled forward, faster than Ash had ever seen anything of that size move before. It closed the distance in a split second and smashed its head into the Gyarados's torso, knocking it off balance. The Gyarados shifted, already in the throws of yet another Hyperbeam, and shot the chromatic blast of energy through the roof of a building twenty meters to Ash's left.
Hearing the rumbling blast, Ash turned to his left and saw the building explode into flame. Too late he recognized it as the facility in which Pallet Town processed the natural gas which it received from the Cinnabar pipeline. Then, for a brief second, it seemed to Ash that the entire world exploded. Everything turned white and before he heard absolutely nothing the roaring explosion of the detonating processing plant blotted out all other sound. On top of the wave of heat he felt slam in on him from all sides like a collapsing building, he noted a screaming pain pulsating in his side.
It took Ash a moment to process that he wasn't dead once the world began to come back into focus and the deafness ringing in his ears gradually faded into the popping of fires around him. He couldn't sit up but, opening his eyes, he saw the sky full of black smoke and the red glow of fire.
"Ash," he heard his name called as though he were perceiving it through a wall. "Ash!" the voice called again, a little louder this time. Now he noticed that hovering over him there was a face against the black sky. Misty looked down at him and suddenly he remembered that he should be in a battle for his life. Adrenaline pouring into his veins chased the fogginess from his head and he lurched upright, looking around. Everything was on fire, but Misty and her Blastoise, as well as Pikachu and Growlithe, stood around him in a defensive circle. Ash could see the Gyarados several blocks away, but it was retreating towards the sea and Oak was pursuing it with his Pokémon.
"Misty," Ash tried to say, but stopped after the first syllable. He suddenly felt as though someone were stabbing him in the side with a spear and he twitched away from Misty, looking down at himself. He quickly found the source of the agony; a wooden stake as big around as a tent peg protruded a hand's width from his side and only partially plugged up the wound it had torn in him. Blood was seeping from the edges of the stake and dripping down Ash's shirt.
"Don't move," said Misty, putting her hands on Ash's shoulders and forcing him to lay on the ground. She held him still as the Pokémon kept watch. "If you hold still I can keep you from bleeding to death," she hissed, holding a tightly woven gauze in one hand and reaching to grip the steak with the other. "On the count of three I'm going to pull it out and I need you to help me keep pressure on the gauze, ok?."
"In-in-infection," Ash panted, every breath stabbing another splinter of pain in his side and in his lungs. Even through the pain however he positioned his hand to do as Misty instructed.
"Never mind that," said the orange haired trainer. "Bleeding out will kill you a lot faster than an infection and we have antibiotics for that anyway. One, two, three!"
Misty jerked and the stake, all six inches of the lance like scrap of wood, slid from Ash's side with a slurping gurgle as the wound spat out some blood before Misty slapped the gauze over the open puncture. Ash screwed his eyes shut and ground his teeth in pain, but reached down and put his hand on the makeshift bandage, pressing it into the wound to stop the blood loss.
"Pressure pressure pressure," Misty ordered as she removed her hand and tossed the stake to the ground beside her where it landed next to her bag. She reached into the backpack and pulled out a small white plastic case she set next to Ash. "This is going to hurt," she said, opening the box and pulling out several long, metal staples.
Working at a near frenzied pace, Misty managed to get Ash's wound closed up using the staples to hold the puncture closed. Finding a source of heat to cauterize the wound was not difficult and a few moments later Misty, sitting on her knees, leaned back from Ash who had passed out a few seconds into the procedure. The makeshift surgery wasn't pretty, and it would probably leave the boy with a hideous scar that would never totally disappear, but he was alive and would survive long enough for someone more versed in medicine to do a proper job, and in this situation, Misty told herself, that was something to be proud of.
Exhaling deeply and beginning to feel fatigue setting in as the adrenaline wore off, Misty stood up as Professor Oak, surrounded by a vanguard of monstrous escorts, ran to the scene. "Is Ash alright?" he asked, kneeling down by his grandson and more or less ignoring Misty and the Pokémon around her. "What happened?"
"Shrapnel," said Misty curtly. "It missed anything vital but trauma and blood loss are still going to be dangerous," she quickly briefed the Professor. "We need to get him somewhere safe and do more than a patch-job. We also need to start him on antibiotics."
Oak took only a second to look up at the girl, curiosity in his eyes. "Who are you exactly and how do you know my grandson?"
"I'm Misty," said the girl. "Now about getting him somewhere safe?"
Oak nodded. "Of course… my laboratory's basement is still intact and I have some old equipment down there," he made a motion with his hand and his Machamp stepped forward, gently picking up Ash. "Let's go."
SC
It was the beeping of the machine monitoring his vital signs that woke Ash the next day, late in the morning. He cracked one eye open and slowly forced himself into a sitting position, looking around the room as he did. Ash guessed he was in the basement of Professor Oak's laboratory, given that much of the equipment surrounding him, either around his small bed in the corner or lining the walls, would be nowhere else in a nowhere little place like Pallet Town.
"Easy," said Misty from her chair beside the bed, leaning forward. "Don't move too quickly."
Ash's vision began to spin and he quickly laid back down, pain jabbing into his side. "Where exactly am I?" he asked.
"You're in the Professor's basement," she answered. "It's safe here. The Professor drove off that Gyarados and fixed you up. You're going to pull through."
Ash looked at the IV drip in his arm and traced the little plastic line up to the clear bag of fluid hanging over his bed. "What's that?" he asked.
"Some kind of steroid," said Misty. "I'm not sure what it is but the Professor said that if it worked properly it would have you back up and at one hundred percent in no time. Given how quickly you're healing I'd say it's working."
Ash took a deep breath and looked at the late morning sunlight seeping in through the narrow windows set high up in the wall. "What do the damages look like?" he asked. "How many people survived the attack last night?"
Misty paused and swallowed the lump in her throat. "I haven't been outside yet," said Misty. "I've been trying to keep an eye on- things around here, so I'm not sure. The Professor took Pikachu though and they're out looking around right now."
Ash's face darkened a little and his gaze fell. "Has anyone come to the lab?" he asked.
Misty shook her head. "I don't think anyone survived," she said, no longer dodging the question. "I'm sorry Ash."
Ash shook his head and set one arm over his face, burying his eyes in the crook of his elbow. He took a series of steadying breaths and didn't say anything for several minutes. Misty didn't miss the thin trail of tears that seeped from under his elbow and ran down the side of his face, but she let him gather his thoughts and sat quietly until Ash's breathing leveled a little. "There wasn't anything we could have done," she said at length, breaking the silence. "Even if we had gotten here sooner we probably would have been killed too." She bit her lip, suddenly realizing that probably hadn't been as comforting as she'd meant it to be.
"I know," said Ash. "This makes twice that you've saved me in the last two days."
Misty grinned a little bit. "Yeah, well don't get used to it. I'm not really a nice person you know and I'm not always going to be around to pull your ass out of trouble."
"I think you're a good person," said Ash, not taking his arm off his face.
"Nobody has ever accused me of that before," she said, stopping as she heard footsteps on the stairs. Ash wiped his face with his arm as he took it from his face and, slowly this time, sat up and leaned against the headboard of the bed. The basement was as large as the laboratory above it had been, and sectioned off with machines and makeshift walls forming rooms in just the same fashion, but the sounds echoed here much less for whatever reason and Ash lost track of the footsteps once they left the metal staircase.
A moment later Professor Oak, Pikachu on his shoulder, emerged and paced to the side of the bed without saying a word. His face was a mask as Pikachu leapt down from his shoulders and landed nimbly on the bed between Ash's feet. The Pokémon scampered up to Ash and curled up against him, prompting Ash to scratch Pikachu up and down his back and behind his ears.
"Well," said the Professor, tone low. "I don't know where to begin…"
"Nobody survived," said Ash, more as a statement of fact than a question.
Oak nodded. "If anyone did, they took off into the hills or down Route 1. I didn't find a single person out in what's left of the village."
"How much is left?" asked Misty.
Oak shook his head again. "Not a whole lot… just about the only thing standing is the wall at the edge of town. There's not a home or a building in the town that hasn't burned to the ground. What few survived the fire were demolished by the Gyarados."
"Grandpa," said Ash, sitting up a bit more, feeling a little stronger. "What happened last night? What provoked the Gyarados?"
"Hell if I know," said Oak, running a hand through his grey hair. "It came out of nowhere. One minute everything is peaceful and the entire town is asleep, the next minute everything is blowing up or burning down… If I were to guess I'd say that the Cinnabar Mining Company to the South disturbed the Gyarados with the deep-sea diving operations. If they did, there might not be a Cinnabar Mining Company anymore."
The group of trainers fell silent for a minute. Pikachu dutifully inspected Ash, making sure the boy was healing properly then, when the Pokémon was convinced Ash was indeed as alright as could be expected, he curled up and began napping lightly. Ash grinned at the Pokémon in his lap and petted him some.
"I think Pikachu's still tired from last night," said Ash.
"He should be," said Oak. "That thunderbolt attack was amazing. Even I didn't know Pikachu had that kind of power to him."
Ash smiled a little more. "That's Pikachu for you. He's full of surprises."
Turning to Misty, the Professor cleared his throat. "Thank you for keeping an eye on him," Oak said. "We both owe you a lot."
Misty shrugged. "It was no big deal," she said, dodging the compliment. "I was headed this way anyway and it's always safer to travel with someone."
Oak nodded and crossed his arms. "Very true…" he paused. "There's not an easy way for me to say this," he continued, "so I'm just going to say it. Pallet Town is gone. There's nobody but us left and there's nothing for either of you here… this is just proof to me that this part of the frontier is no longer safe." He faced Ash directly now, but still addressed both trainers. "But I want to make it a safe place and I want you to help me with that."
Misty leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. "Only the bigger cities are really safe," she said casually. "The frontier has always been a wild place, and it probably always will be unless you can somehow come up with a way to give every trainer in the world some advantage over every Pokémon in the wild."
Oak grinned just a little. "Funny you should say that," he said. "I've been working on a project recently to do just that but now that my facility here has been destroyed, I find myself in need of some assistants."
"Whatever I can do to help Grandpa," said Ash. "I'm in no matter what."
"That's my grandson," said Oak, an undertone of something almost like excitement in his voice. "Nothing dampens your spirits." He turned to Misty. "I can't exactly offer much in the way of payment," he told her, "but if you're willing to help with the project I'd see to it that you were fairly compensated for your time. You've already proven that you're a very capable trainer and that you can handle yourself in the wild. Will you help us?"
Misty shrugged and crossed her arms. "Nothing personal," she said, "but I don't just sign up for dangerous work without knowing what I'm getting myself into. If you want me to even consider this I'm going to need some more information."
"Of course, of course," said Oak. "Forgive me, I got ahead of myself. What I need is for someone to deliver an item to a friend of mine named William. He's self-proclaimed "Poke-maniac" living up North and while he may be a nut, he's also a genius."
"What would we be delivering?" interrupted Ash.
"I'm getting there," said Oak, "though now that I think about it," he said, getting to his feet, "it would probably be easier for me to just show you. Pardon me." The professor turned and quickly left, disappearing into the winding stacks of equipment in the basement.
"Sorry," said Ash when he was sure Oak was out of earshot. "My Grandpa can get a little excited."
"Don't apologize," said Misty. "It's good that he loves his work. I'm just a little surprised that, even after living here on the frontier, that he can watch an entire town be wiped out and go on like nothing's happened. Not many people can do that."
Ash shrugged. "That's the world we live in," he said. "Bad things happen, people die, and most of the time things just aren't fair. That doesn't mean we just give up though."
Misty nodded. "I-" she hesitated. "I'm really sorry," she said, "I didn't say it earlier but the Professor said that last night your mom died in the attack. I just wanted to say that I think it takes a lot of courage to handle it this well and if I can help I'd… I'd like to."
Ash hid the tremor that shot through his chest and made his heart feel tight, forcing himself to harden his face a little. "Thanks," was all he could say before Professor Oak returned. As the older man took from his coat pocket a small red device that fit in the palm of his hand, Ash forced all thoughts of his mother from his mind.
"This," said Oak, "is quite possibly the most important thing I've ever created." He held the device up, showing the handheld computer to Ash and Misty in more detail. "The trouble with the way we defend ourselves from Pokémon," began the professor, assuming an almost lecturing tone, "is that trainers tend to only have a select few Pokémon with which they are familiar. A trainer catches a Pokémon and becomes knowledgeable about that specific creature, learning its strengths and weaknesses, but that's where their knowledge ends. Beyond his own Pokémon, any given trainer who hasn't spent years in the world abroad will be unfamiliar with a Pokémon he has to face in the wild or a monster that attacks him or his city. Most trainers who don't train psychic Pokémon for example have no idea that psychics are extremely vulnerable to the powers used by a ghostly Pokémon.
"And it's those strong points and vulnerabilities that are vital information for all trainers. They need to know that fighting a Charizard with an Ivysaur is a very bad idea, but unfortunately there aren't any schools to teach people how to defend themselves intelligently."
"There are gyms," said Misty. "All of the big cities have gyms that hire strong trainers to defend the city from wild Pokémon and other threats."
"And a lot of good that does the smaller towns and villages on the frontier," said Oak. "The fact that Gyms have strong trainers and Pokémon isn't the point. Gyms can't protect everyone, it just isn't possible. What trainers in the wild and in smaller cities need is information, information about threats in the area, about the strengths and weaknesses of different Pokémon and tips on how to defend themselves from danger.
"And that's exactly what this is for," Oak gave the device a little shake. "This is called the Pokedex. It's a device that scans Pokémon and records their genetic information. It catalogues their specific strengths and weaknesses, likely habitats, life expectancy, everything about them, and it sends this information to a database here at my lab… or at least it did before the database was destroyed.
"That's where Bill comes in," said Oak, clearing his throat. "He helped develop the Pokedex and he can reprogram it to send the information it gathers to his computer. From there he can send the information anywhere he wants. My goal here is to create a complete catalogue of all the Pokémon on the continent, a catalogue that can be sent to and accessed by anyone whenever they need it. This would give every trainer in the wild access to the knowledge he needs to have an edge over wild Pokémon. It would also give trainers in the cities more information they can use to defend the city so they can rely less on brute strength and more on strategy and tactics. I want to mass produce the Pokedex and give copies to everyone to use whenever they need it. It could revolutionize the world and make life better and easier for everyone… so, what do you say? Do you want to be a part of this?"
Misty and Ash glanced at each other. "I already said I'd help," said Ash, turning back to Oak. "As soon as I can walk I'll help out however I can."
"Good, good," said Oak, "I appreciate that." He turned to Misty. "Again, I can't promise much but I'll do whatever I can to compensate you if you help Ash take the Pokedex to Bill."
"Well," Misty sighed. "With that red Gyarados still loose in the sea I won't be going any farther South from here and that means North is the only way to go… Sure, I'll help take this at least as far as your friend. After that I'm not making any promises though."
Ash grinned and Professor Oak nodded. "Thank you very much," said the older man. "I'll feel much better knowing that Ash at least has a traveling companion on the road."
"What?" asked Ash. "Won't you be coming with us?"
Oak shook his head. "I can't… It's imperative that Bill gets the Pokedex, but I need to stay here and salvage as much of the lab as I can. There is a lot of technology here that I can't risk falling into the wrong hands."
"Alright," said Ash. "I understand," he looked at the IV running from his arm to the bag of fluid hanging above his bed. "How long do you think it will be before I'm good for the road?"
"If you take it easy," said Oak. "You should be ready to go by tomorrow morning.
Ash nodded. "That's when we'll leave then."