Chapter 9- Death, Love and Splitting Up The steadily dripping faucet was the only sound in the bedroom. Everybody in the room was as silent as a grave. Ash assumed they were as anxious as he was. Today they would save Ericka. She would join the rebellion and be a strong trainer and a great leader. Ash knew she would join. Though Ericka was picky about people who didn’t like her perfume she was good. Ash also assumed that the people who trained with her would join; if there were any left. There was a soft knocking on the door. Gary opened it and warmly welcomed in Robyn. He ignored Lee though. Brock motioned them forward and they each took a seat around the bed. “Like Ericka said” Brock started “we need to go in 3 at a time. A large group would be more suspicious and we can’t afford that.” Ash nodded his head in agreement. Gary began to speak “Ash, you can go with Lee and Scott and I’ll go with Robyn and Brock.” “That’s fine” said Brock in agreement before Ash could argue. He motioned towards Lee “you guys go into the perfume shop first and a few minutes later we will enter the gym. It’s only seven so we have about 2 hours. That should make us less suspicious. And guys remember, we might have to face some Rockets.” They all grew silent. No one spoke, or tried to make conversation. Ash focused on Robyn’s watch as each minute passed by. At 7:32 Lee got up to use the bathroom. At 8:04 Gary coughed. At 8:23 Gary got up to use the bathroom. Finally, at 8:42 Brock announced it was time to leave. Pikachu hopped on Ash’s shoulder. Ash grinned “talking to me again?” “Pika, Pika!” “Good!” They walked out of the Pokemon center careful not to catch Nurse Joy’s eye. The streets were busy as if nothing was going to happen today. To the most of the citizens it would be a normal day, but not to Ash and his friends. They had a mission; a mission that they were going to complete; or so they thought. They were a few blocks away from the gym when the split up. Ash wasn’t at all happy with his group. Lee didn’t seem too happy with him either. In fact she didn’t seem happy at all. She seemed tense and on the edge. Ash put a supporting hand on her shoulder. He expected her to push it away but much to his surprise she loosened up. One block to go. Ash had a feeling this was going to be a long block. He had no idea why he was so worried. After all he had helped save Azalea Town, rescued multiple trainers and had broken in to numerous Team Rocket buildings without getting caught. He just had this feeling. A bad feeling that something was going to happen. Lee must have had the same feeling because she kept glancing behind her shoulder worriedly. It was her looking behind her that caused her to run straight into a man dressed in all black. She mumbled a quick sorry and kept walking but the man stopped her. She tried to get around but he blocked her. Ash had a sinking feeling that this black clothed man was a Rocket. The man glared at the threesome in front of him. “You need to watch it.” He snapped at Lee. “You rude little brat!” This was a mistake. “Excuse me” said Lee “but maybe you shouldn’t be standing in the middle of the street.” The Rocket looked angrily at her “what’s your name, kid?” “Why should I tell you?” Ash pulled her out of the way. “Sorry” he said to the Rocket “my sister is in a bad mood. Mom just took away her computer.” Ash hoped this would be a good excuse. It wasn’t. “Sister, huh? She don’t look like you.” Lee answered that one “well our parents don’t look alike either!” It was dangerous to toy with a Rocket. “Where are you going?” “Out.” “Watch it girlie I can hurt you.” “No you can’t, the street is filled with witnesses!” “Why I outta…” The Rocket left the threat open as if to scare Lee. She wasn’t scared “outta what?” The Rocket couldn’t think of what he “outta” so he merely scowled. “I don’t know who you are kid but- “Good, let’s keep it that way!” snapped Lee. The Rocket scowled as she stormed off. Ash gave the Rocket an apologetic glance before following Lee. Scott glanced nervously at the Rocket and raced after Ash and Lee. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” snapped Scott when he caught up. “Yah,” hissed Ash “he could have killed us! I bet he’s watching us, you ruined everything!” Lee glared at the two boys. “If you knew anything you would know I helped us!” “What??!!” Lee proceeded to explain “by talking back to him and drawing attention to ourselves I actually drew attention away.” “What?” “I bet he thinks that if we were in the rebellion we would have gone to all costs to avoid him. That is what we would have done if I hadn’t run into him. Look, he just started yelling at someone else. I bet they talk back to him too. Remember, to the people who live here he’s just some loser. He can’t hurt anybody and everyone knows that.” The logic dawned on Ash and he realized she was probably right. He glanced back at the Rocket and he appeared to have forgotten about what was probably the 100th sarcastic person that day. Ash still wanted to get the last word in “you took a hell of a chance.” “What do you think were doing now?” asked Lee. “Being in this whole rebellion is a ‘hell of a chance.’” Ash shrugged and looked at Scott who shrugged back. “Sorry, Lee.” “That’s okay. I know I am far more intelligent than you are, and that’s what counts.” Ash wanted to respond but didn’t. Just because in some deep corner of his brain he thought this might be true, and he didn’t like it one bit. The sidewalk wined around multiple buildings and parks. Ash liked it though. There were people with Pokemon and he hadn’t seen that in a while. Everyone seemed to be light hearted and happy. However, he did notice a few people dressed in all black. This made him nervous. The take over would be soon. About half a block away from the gym there was a crowd. The closer they got to the gym the thicker it got. Eventually it was so thick they could hardly move. What is going on thought Ash? “Ash.” Ash turned at the sound of his name and was surprised to see Brock. “What are you doing here?” “You guys are late,” answered Robyn. “We got err… held up.” Ash thought it would be best not to mention the little incident with the Team Rocket member. Together the six of them managed to push their way through the crowd. When they got to they got to a point where they couldn’t fit, they sent Lee ahead. She was the smallest after all. She came back her face white “Police Line. Do not cross!” “What?” they all chorused. “That’s what the yellow line said. Police Line. Do not cross.” They all simultaneously charged ahead. They knocked people out of the way and managed to get to the front. There were Officers walking around and yellow tape keeping people away. “Officer,” called Brock “what’s going on here?” She ignored him and engaged in a conversation with another officer. The guy next to him said “there was a fire at the gym. Some people in the neighboring apartment building heard screams and when they looked out the window there were flames. “B-but the Pokemon and Ericka,” cried Ash. “The Pokemon are probably fried to a crisp” said the man. “As for Ericka they haven’t found her. They did manage to put the fire out pretty soon though.” Ash stared at Brock with fear in his eyes. Robyn tried to comfort him “well if they haven’t found her body she could still be okay…” This idea was extinguished because one of the officers said “Jenny, we have a body.” about five offices carried a body bag and from it dangled a hand the exact skin tone of Ericka’s. She was dead. Ash began to breathe heavily and he felt his feel to begin to walk away. Soon they began to run away. He heard voices calling his name he ignored them and pushed through the crowd. There was a park bench open and he collapsed on it. He slowly began to cry. Team Rocket had defeated them. Soon, they would attack and there would be no Ericka to help. He kept crying and didn’t realize that Lee was standing over him until she sat down. “What do you want?” he choked out between his sobs. “We split up to look for you,” she responded. “And I found you.” He didn’t respond and kept on crying, Lee made no motions to stop him. After awhile he ran out of tears. He glanced at Lee she was focused on the gym in the distance. Neither said anything for awhile. Lee broke the silence “you wanna find the others?” “No!” Lee shrugged and focused her attention on the gym. A bit later “we do need to find the others.” “No!” Lee shrugged again “I won’t tell them you was crying.” Ash looked up “okay.” They walked down the streets trying to find the others. Lee appeared to be trying to say something but couldn’t. Finally, “I’m sorry!” “Hmmm” “That your friend died, Ericka.” “She wasn’t really my friend. I only met her once.” “Ohhh” They walked a bit more and managed to find the others. Everyone could tell that Ash was crying but no one said anything about it. They walked back to the Pokemon Center in silence. Ash lay on his bead staring up at the blank ceiling. He heard the door open and turned around. It was Robyn and Lee. Brock had called a meeting on what to do. “Okay,” he started “we need to do what Lee said. Get some people to join us.” Scott raised a hand “I’ll stay here and round up people. I bet once news of Ericka’s death hits the streets a lot of people will be mad. When they find out that it’s Team Rocket they’ll be willing to fight.” “Cool,” said Brock. “Now here’s what I was thinking, some of us go the opposite way of the Safari Zone and round up as many trainers as we can. The rest of us can go to the hideout.” “I know,” Gary said immediately “Since me, you and Robyn know the most about the rebellion we can round up trainers.” “Ummm Gary” pointed out Ash “we don’t know where the hideout is, or how to get in.” “No problem,” Gary answered “you know where the Safari Zone is and everyone knows where Lance’s mansion is.” “Actually,” stated Brock “that’s not a bad idea. It is possible that the Rockets are watching the place and the less you know the less you can reveal.” It was a good plan but alone with Lee. He would go insane. But the decision was made and it was decided that Ash and Lee would leave that night. A bit later after Brock had told him how to get in he was in his room alone getting ready. A knock came on the door. “Come in,” Ash called. Robyn came into the room. She sat down by him and sighed. “I’m sorry we can’t see each other for a while. Gary’s a jerk.” Ash laughed, “You got that right!” She giggled and scooted closer to him. “I’m going to miss you.” He was about to say me to when she kissed him. It was a quick soft kiss but he loved it. When she released him, he looked at her. She turned red. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t- I wouldn’t- I mean- It was just a good by kiss.” He grinned “then I get to give you one back.” With those words he placed his lips unto hers and pressed. This kiss was anything but soft and friendly. They kissed harder and harder, Ash never wanted to let her go. But he did. She stroked his face with her hand and said “more.” She pulled his shirt and her fell towards her. He explored her body with his hands and she did the same. She unbuttoned his shirt skillfully and pulled it off. He did the same to her. Gary apparently had gotten her a bra. She pressed his body unto his and put her hands where no women had ever put his hands. Ash stopped. “What’s a matter?” she whispered breathlessly. “Not now,” Ash choked “we can’t- He expected her to be mad but to his surprise she agreed. “We can’t now but maybe someday…” Her voice trailed off and Ash nodded “maybe someday.” Disclaimer- Pokemon is not mine What do you think? R&R