Disclaimer: Don’t own any rights to Pokémon, that kind of stuff…

Claimer: Chris is mine, John is mine, Frank is mine, and Kane is mine. Basically, all original ideas are mine.

Category: General

Rating: PG-13

AN: Uh oh, chapter 8 isn’t going too well. I might not make next week’s update. Oh, and on the 25^th of July I trade my cozy home for a tent in France. For three weeks I shall have to live without my PC, effectively putting me in a state that could be considered brain dead. I will have my Game Boy though, with recently purchased Fire Red, to entertain myself on the long drive there. Seeing as I probably won’t have much to do there except floating around in the pool or the lake, or lying on a stretcher working on my tan, I’ll probably come up with a lot of ideas for my story. This reminds me, I still need to purchase a big notebook and plenty of pens to write it down…

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Fight For Freedom.

By: WeirdDutchGuy, email: swampthing1132[at]hotmail[dot]com

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Chapter Seven: Tormenting Memories, Part One.

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“Wartortle is no longer fit for battle, Gengar wins!” John stated. Out came Charizard again. Last chapter Ash and Chris had started their battle and now both are down to their last Pokémon.

“Charizard, Flamethrower!” Ash yelled. He had to win this battle if he wanted to know what had happened. With the stakes clear, Ash is determined to win, but so seems Chris.

“Ok Gengar, let’s wrap this up quick. Dodge and use your Night Shade attack!” Chris had to win too, because if he didn’t he’d have to tell Ash everything. That, considering they only had a day to prepare, might take a bit too long. That in turn required Chris to be social, a skill that had been deteriorating since this war started.

After several attacks both trainers started to become a bit agitated. So far not one had managed a good hit.

“I think it’s time for a different approach. Gengar hide!” Gengar, knowing what this meant, sank into the floor. This was a tactic they had barely ever resorted to. Chris knew it was a tiny bit unfair, but he wasn’t going to let Ash win and he smirked because he knew what was coming next. Ash didn’t.

“That’s unfair! Charizard can’t sink through the floor! Or fly through walls for that matter! And isn’t it against the rules to leave the battlefield?” Ash tried to get John to show some sympathy.

“Gengar hasn’t left, he’s just invisible. I’ll show you,” Chris started and waited for Charizard to land. “Now! Shadow Punch!” Immediately Gengar shot up from Charizard’s shadow and punched him square on the jaw. While Charizard roared and reeled back from the blow Gengar sank into the floor again. Ash looked on bewildered as the process started to repeat itself. Charizard started flaming the ground on which he stood to try and hit Gengar, but only managed to burn his own feet. But Ash was seeing a pattern here, Gengar always came from a shadow. Something clicked.

“Charizard fly up and hover in the centre of the room!” He ordered and Charizard did as he was told. Chris quickly realized his intentions. If Charizard stayed airborne, his shadow would be on the ground, so Gengar had to travel more to hit. Charizard would easily be able to blast him from the sky.

“Very clever Ash, normally I win by the time they figure it out.” Chris said as his smirk disappeared and he clenched his fists. He should’ve seen this coming. “Note to self: the Shadow strategy doesn’t work on Pokémon that fly, why didn’t I know that?!” At least it hadn’t been a complete waste. Gengar wasn’t hit and Charizard was hit numerous times. Even now that Ash found out his strategy he pretty much won already.

“So yeah, good job to you. But now it ends, Gengar use Shadow Ball!”

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“Listen up Oak, I’m not known for my gentleness, but I know my boss is even worse. You can either tell me what I want to know now, or we can wait for my boss to show up. When he’s through with you we’ll be having trouble to stop you from talking.” Gary kept his mouth shut. The grunt was clearly getting agitated. He hadn’t opened his mouth once since his capture and it had left most of his ‘interrogators’ furious. His current situation was hopeless; chained to the ceiling with his hands pulled up just high enough to not let him sit, but low enough for every body part to be within striking range.

“Look mister, my boss is coming along soon for some answers. If I can’t give him answers because of your stubbornness, he’ll get really pissed. And when he does, he’ll take it out on you. Now I don’t know about you, but I sure wouldn’t like to be on the receiving end of his anger! Tell me where Brock Slate is hiding, or we’ll beat it out of you!” Gary knew these threats weren’t empty; they really would try to beat it out. They’ve been trying to since he was caught. Gary silently cursed Kane and his men for practically razing Pallet Town in search of his group.

Suddenly there was commotion in the hallway. The key to the door was turned and in walked three Rockets. Two normal ones and one wearing grey instead of the normal black. The current interrogator saluted and Kane glared at him with a look that said ‘well?’ The grunt stammered for words.

“I-I eh… he won’t talk… sir.” Kane gave a disappointed sigh and motioned the grunt to leave the room. He then turned to Gary with a sad expression.

“I really hoped you wouldn’t make this so hard on yourself, mister Oak. But have it your way, it seems my own interrogation skills are required here. I just hope you aren’t going for a record; the longest anyone has lasted would be six hours. I know you’d be able to break that, but you wouldn’t have much of a body left by then.” Kane really did hope Gary wouldn’t go for a record, though not for Gary’s sake of course. He didn’t have very long before his little attack on Cinnabar Island and he wanted to be there himself. He just felt a little bored and decided to see if things had progressed here. Not surprisingly he was let down again. After muttering something about ‘incompetent grunts’ Kane left the room with orders to prepare Gary for a ‘proper’ interrogation.

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“Counter it with Flamethrower!” Ash ordered. Chris was surprised Charizard’s speed had hardly dropped, even after all those hits. The flames made short work of the black ball but failed to hit Gengar, again.

“That attack is getting old Ash, come up with something new!” Chris said while a sigh escaped his lips. He was serious; not once had he seen Ash order anything but Flamethrower.

“Who cares, it works doesn’t it?” Ash muttered under his breath. He then turned to Chris. “Yeah, well you haven’t been really original lately. It’s all Shadow Ball, Nightshade ‘n Shadow Punch from your side.”

“Well that’s three attacks Ash, you use one. But if you want a new one that badly…” Chris said with a smirk and a mischievous look. “Who am I to hold it from you? Say Gengar, I say it’s time for our secret weapon!”

Right after that Gengar’s eyes glowed blue with psychic energy. It didn’t take long for Charizard’s body to start glowing as well. Charizard roared in pain as he got slammed into the floor and ceiling time and time again. Ah yes, the wonders of TMs.

“A Gengar that knows Psychic?!” Ash blurted out, but he regained himself and decided to stick to the same strategy as they had used on Haunter. “Quick Charizard, use Fire Spin!” Charizard picked himself up from the ground and looked around to find Gengar. But Gengar was gone. Suddenly he reappeared behind Charizard and tried to punch him in the back, but Charizard had expected this and rolled with the punch shrugging off most of the blow. Gengar found himself directly in front of Charizard’s mouth, which wasted no time and let out that Fire Spin.

At point blank range Chris knew Gengar had no hope of dodging, so now it was time for damage control. “This has to end soon, or Gengar’s a sitting duck. Ash will most likely have him use another Flamethrower, so I’ll have to beat him to it and have Gengar use Shadow Ball now that Charizard’s still on the ground.”

“Ok he’s pinned down, the perfect opportunity. I guess I’ll have Charizard use Flamethrower – no wait, Chris will expect that. And Gengar might not be immobile for long.”

“Gengar,” “Charizard,” Both trainers started. “Shadow Ball!” “Blast Burn!” They yelled simultaneously. Both were stunned, Ash had used a different move and Chris had made no attempt at dodging or defending. As the Pokémon fired their attacks, still quite close to one another, a huge explosion was triggered. As the smoke cleared Ash and Chris stared at the field with wide open eyes.

“It’s… a draw? Both Pokémon are unable to battle, this match ends in a draw!” John exclaimed as he found his voice. Ash was disappointed he only managed a draw and continued to stare with his eyes and mouth wide open. Chris on the other hand was agitated he had come this close to losing, though he had to admit Ash was pretty good. Ok, so maybe he was very good, but this match should’ve been his anyway.

“Ash, close it. You did very well there. That’s my tenth draw already.” Chris said as he reluctantly offered Ash his hand. Ash quickly closed his mouth and shook the extended hand. “Well, since it is a draw, what happens now? We didn’t really discuss that, did we?”

“We could,” Ash started. “We could both tell what happened to us up till now. That way you won’t be the only one explaining.” Though Chris didn’t like the fact he’d be talking at all, he figured it was better than being the only one. And so the four of them made their way to the cafeteria, John and Frank congratulating Ash on his… draw.

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“Still nothing? You are a stubborn one indeed. But you will break eventually.” Kane hissed as he eyed Gary’s bruised body. He’d beaten the guy, tried burning him, partially drowning him, stretching him, basically, he tried every trick in the book and the guy still refused to talk. Not only was that, but the time it took was also getting on Kane’s nerves. He had to be back in Pallet in time to plan the attack more thoroughly. This was taking too long. Obviously this Gary wouldn’t give in to physical beating, so it was time to try some psychological warfare.

“On second thought, get him out of my sight. Just take him outside and shoot him or something.” Kane growled. The grunts that were still in the room were all stunned. In fact, stunned would be a light expression for their state at that moment. As far as they knew, Kane never gave up. Gary smirked, but that was barely noticeable. The important thing was that he hadn’t talked.

“And make his sister and grandfather watch it.” Kane continued with a sick smirk, causing Gary’s to dissipate. Oh yes, how beautiful, playing on his guilt feeling. “Or maybe we should turn things around. Kill them and make you watch!” Kane said to Gary, now smirking from ear to ear. He knew Gary wouldn’t mind to die in front of his family very much, but his family dieing in front of him was a different question. Doubt was in his eyes and it told Kane that it was time to rub it in.

“Yes, go get his family and line them up outside. And bring him.” He said pointing at Gary and he marched for the door.

“Wait!” Gary couldn’t believe that word just left his mouth. Kane stopped and turned with a questioning look on his face. Gary sighed while his head hung low.

“I’ll never forget myself for this, but I’ll tell you…” Kane’s expression turned into a sinister smile, which was soon copied by the grunts in the room.

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Ash had started out with his story and was currently at the part where he arrived in Pallet Town.

“And when I finally made it to my front door Team Rocket appeared. One of them wasn’t really like any others. He had this grey uniform and the others seemed to look up to him. He said they’d been waiting and that he had my mom. I think his name was Kane.” Ash stopped when Chris and John tensed at the mentioning of Kane.

“You know him?” He asked and John just nodded while Chris bared his teeth and frowned.

“Yeah, you could say we met before.” Chris said as his eyes glazed over and he seemed to recall earlier events. John shook him out of it and motioned for Ash to continue.

“Well, he challenged me to a battle, surprisingly a fair one too. We didn’t get to finish ‘cause the Pallet resistance scared them off. Gary offered me to stay, but I wanted to check on some friends of mine and see if I could find out where they took my mom. So I set off for Pewter, but I just had to run into some Rockets in the forest. Not a big deal, but they knew where I was heading now. Anyway, I got to Pewter and all buildings seemed to be undamaged, as if nobody had fought back when Team Rocket showed up.”

“That’s true. There was no fighting in Pewter. I believe its Gym Leader evacuated the city before they got there and let the people return after things settled down a bit. I don’t have a clue where he went though. Team Rocket’s been trying to catch him since.” John interrupted.

“Really? Brock’s still alive and free? That’s great!” Ash exclaimed with a big smile.

“It’s good to see I’m not the only one who keeps seeing the bright side of things.” John couldn’t help but say, earning a confused look from Ash and an annoyed one from Chris. “I’ll explain sometime. But for now, continue please.”

“Um… so Pewter was still standing, but I had to move on. After all, I was being pursued by an army of grunts. I figured going through Mount Moon might be too predictable, so I went around it instead. That was a big mistake. It took me days to get to the other side, because I kept running into Rockets along the way. Not that they saw me, but I had to go around them too. That is, until Kane was with one of the groups. I don’t know how he knew I was coming this way, but he did. We didn’t really fight, but man, Psychic attacks hurt!” Ash said as he involuntarily grabbed his arm, which had been badly bruised after crashing into a rock. Chris almost went into flashback mode again, but John punched him on the arm. Ash meanwhile continued.

“Somehow I made it to Cerulean City and went straight for the Gym. Not one brick was standing where it should be. And there was no trace of my friend.” At these last words Ash’ face fell. Oblivious to this John interrupted again.

“Yup, the sisters fought back. Those Rockets didn’t leave a brick untouched. They did get quite a few, but in the end the sisters ran out of Pokémon to fight with and they didn’t have guns, so they had no choice but to surrender.” He explained.

“All sisters? All four of them?” Ash asked, afraid of the answer.

“Yes, all of them, but why would you ask? Oh, I remember now. One of them was your traveling partner! I remember seeing her on the stands when you were fighting in the League! And Slate was too! Man, you traveled with two Gym Leaders, no wonder you grew so strong so fast. But I’m keeping you from your story.”

“There’s not much left to tell really, nurse Joy found me a hiding place to rest up and let my bruises heal. That lasted a week or so before she came crashing in yelling at me to leave as fast as I could. Kane’s men had come into the city and were searching every house. In the commotion I accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up at the Rock Tunnel instead of Saffron. Heh, I guess I got lucky there.” Ash finished his story as he scratched the back of his head. “So it’s your turn now.”

“I guess so.” Chris said as he got ready. But before he could start John pulled him out by his arm and asked Ash if he’d wait a minute. As they got in the corridor he turned to Chris with a worried look.

“Bro, are you sure you’re up for this? Don’t think I didn’t see that look in your eyes whenever he mentioned that bastard.” He said sternly as he watched Chris in his eyes. “Look, we’ll get him back someday, but right now you need to keep your act together.”

“I’ll be fine. I know we’ll get him, but even if it was today it wouldn’t be soon enough. He deserves nothing less than death for what he did.” Chris said as he pulled himself free from his twin’s grasp. John didn’t buy it and grabbed him again as he went past.

“Kane!” He said and watched the reaction. Chris growled as he frowned at John, but his expression soon softened as his eyes got a far away look. John just shook his head as he jerked his brother’s shoulders.

“You are not up for this. I’ll tell the story; you just go back to your maps or something.” He said as he thought hard “Man, I know Chris still blames himself for what happened, but this is ridiculous! He shouldn’t think about the past like that, not to the point of daydreams. The past has gone and cannot be changed, no matter how often you think it over. Why won’t he see that?!”

“That was a low blow John! I’ll get even for this, but for now, have things your way. I’ll just go get some more training in, since I was in the middle of it when I got interrupted.” Chris smirked. “I need to get control over this. I can’t let these memories torment me forever. Kane must pay!”

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Kane smirked as they dragged Gary out of the room. So Slate was on Cinnabar. That just made his job a whole lot easier. Soon everyone he was after would be in the same place. Then he’d take care to get rid of them all and nothing would remain in his way to stop him from carrying out his master plan. Giovanni would see things his way, as usual, and walk right into his trap. He’d then take control of Team Rocket and sweep through the other regions. Soon the nation would be his and the next step would be the world. And if, by some miracle, they’d put up a decent fight on Cinnabar… he’d have some trump cards. Being an evil genius could be so satisfying.

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To Be Continued…

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AN: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. As I said, it may or may not be a while until the next one comes up. I hope you will all be waiting patiently until it comes. So until next time, and don’t forget: you can actually review here. I know, didn’t bring that up before, but I’d like to know what you think of it anyway.

WeirdDutchGuy