"Well that's it then." Richie sighed as he folded the letter he had been 
reading. "All the leaders have chosen sides." It had been four days since Jessie 
had revealed Gary's plan to recruit gym leaders into his army, and the frantic 
project of getting gym leaders to remain loyal was over. 

Ash closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. He had gotten very little sleep 
in the past four days. Most of his time had been spent in the conference room 
planing a strategy. 

Richie studied his friend. Moon light streamed in from the glass wall, bathing 
his face with an eerie glow. Ash's features were exhausted, his face paler than 
normal. He remained as still as death, Richie could hardly tell if he was 
breathing. "Ash are you ok?" Richie asked, the concern in his voice evident. 

Ash opened his eyes. "Yes, I'm fine."

Richie looked at him suspiciously, but Ash was now hunched over the table 
scribbling something on a stray piece of paper. 

In reality, Ash had been feeling horrible since he had fought Gary four days 
earlier. He would suddenly be overcome with waves of dizziness, and he had a 
constant headache. Ash consulted the list he had just written. "So which leaders 
sided with us?" he asked. 

"Misty, Brock, Blaine, and Sabrina are with us," Richie told him, ticking off 
each name on a finger. "Koga, Lt. Surge, Erika, and Lorna sided with Gary."

Ash furrowed his eyebrows. "Lorna?"

"She replaced Giovanni at the Viridian City Gym when he disappeared," Richie 
explained. 

Ash nodded. "Is she a major threat?" 

"Let's just say the contestants in the Pokemon League have thinned down greatly 
since she became a leader. Very few people can beat her." 

Ash stood up and was about to say something else, when his head began to spin so 
violently he had to lean against the table to remain standing. 

Richie stood up, alarmed. "Ash?" 

Ash stood in silence for a few moments, his eyes closed and his palms pressed 
against the wooden table, letting the dizziness subside. When he opened his 
eyes, Richie was at his side staring at him worriedly. "I'm fine Richie," Ash 
assured him, straitening up. "I'm just tired."

It was obvious that Richie didn't believe him, but he let the excuse slide. "Go 
get some sleep," he said, gesturing toward the door. 

Ash shook his head. "No, I'm fine." 

Richie heaved a frustrated sigh. "Ash, it's past midnight. I'm going to bed now 
too." 

Ash nodded. "You're right." His headache had grown more painful, he felt as 
though his head was being squeezed between a pair of massive hands. He began 
walking toward the doors when another wave of dizziness overcame him. With 
nothing to use as support he fell to his knees. His headache worsened to the 
point where the pain was so great that he couldn't see, and he passed out on the 
cold tile floor. 

~*~*~

"Don't you think this is a little much?" a scratchy male voice asked.

"Butch, I do hope you aren't going soft on me," his female companion answered. 

Butch remained silent as they walked through the dark stone corridors; Cassidy's 
boots made a light clicking noise as she walked. Butch glanced at the object in 
her hand with a small shudder of fear, the thought of what they were going to do 
turned his stomach. 

Lit torches lined the wall about every ten yards, casting eerie glows along the 
stone floor. Every few feet the wall would become bars, and if one looked close 
enough he would be able to see the shadowy figures of prisoners  hunched in the 
corner of their cells. 

Cassidy's heels stopped clicking and Butch knew they had arrived. She pulled a 
set of keys from her belt. The small jingle of the keys held an immense power 
over the prisoners, who would cringe in fear at the sound. The only reason keys 
were ever heard outside a cell was if whoever was holding them was coming to 
torture the inmate. Butch watched as Cassidy gleefully pulled the cell door open 
and stepped inside. 

This particular prisoner was hanging from the ceiling by his wrists, which were 
bloody from the constant rubbing of the chains. His head was down and his black 
hair hung over his face. He wasn't wearing a shirt and cuts and bruises stood 
out against his pale skin. He was painfully thin from weeks of starvation, only 
getting enough food to keep him alive. The man was young, only nineteen, and the 
inner strength he possessed amazed all of the Rockets. 

Cassidy and Butch might have thought him unconscious had he not uttered, 
"Where's Pikachu?" 

Butch admired his spirit. After weeks of daily torture the first thing he always 
asked was the location of his pokemon. He probably cared more about that rat 
than himself. 

Cassidy rolled her eyes. "Who cares?" she said. It was her usual response. "Now, 
Ashton, are you going to tell us what we want to know?"

Ash lifted his head to look at them. His face was bloody and battered, and his 
brown eyes glared at her with utter contempt. 

She grinned widely and held up a rectangular object. "Consider carefully," 
Cassidy warned, pressing a button, sending a wave of electricity through the 
stun gun she was holding. 

His eyes flashed with panic for a brief moment before returning to their normal 
blank stare. He said nothing and Cassidy shrugged. "Have it your way," she said 
as she advanced towards him. She flicked the stun gun onto a low setting so it 
wouldn't knock him out on the first try. 

Butch grabbed her arm. "Cass..." he said trailing off, a look of sympathy in his 
eyes. 

"Butch, if he won't talk he gets what he gets." She turned back to Ash. A wicked 
grin spread across her face as she whispered in his ear, "You love your electric 
rat so much, let's see how you take to this." She pressed the stun gun to his 
stomach and turned it on. 

Ash cried out sitting bolt upright in bed. Sweat ran down his face as he 
struggled to regain his surroundings. "It's ok, it's alright," he heard a 
familiar voice say as a pair of arms wrapped around him, holding him tight. It 
didn't take him long to catch the sent of Misty's perfume. He wrapped his arms 
around her and held on tightly, glad for the reminder that he wasn't in that 
cell anymore. 

They embraced for a long time, neither saying anything, both feeling safe in the 
other's arms. A soft knock at the door caused the two to hastily break apart. 
"Come in," Misty said softly, her gaze still upon Ash. 

A woman with large brown eyes and red hair pulled back into two ponytails 
entered. Ash recognized her immediately as one of the hundreds of Nurse Joys. 
"Oh, good," she said, a look of relief evident on her face. "You're awake." 

"How long have I been out?" Ash asked, rubbing his temples with his index 
fingers. 

"A little over a day," Misty told him gently. 

He looked at her. "Has Gary tried anything?" he asked softly. 

Misty lowered her eyes. The Nurse Joy busied herself with checking his pulse. 
When Misty looked up he saw her blue eyes were filled with sadness. 

"What happened?" he asked, searching her face for the answer. 

She took a deep breath then said, "Gary and his army attacked Viridian City." 
Misty paused, looking at his expectant face before continuing. "Richie didn't 
dare try anything without you, with Gary's powers we all would have been 
killed." 

Ash closed his eyes. "How many died?" he murmured. 

There was a long pause before Misty choked out, "No one survived." 

Ash lips released a noise that sounded like a cross between a cry and a moan. He 
opened his eyes, then determinedly removed the blankets that were covering him. 

"What are you doing Master Ketchum?" Nurse Joy said in alarm. 

Ash looked at her in surprise. No one had called him that in over three years. 
He regained his composure. "Gary's going to attack again. This time we'll be 
ready."

"You shouldn't be out of bed yet," Joy protested, as she watched him stand up. 

"I feel fine," Ash lied, for even as he said it, his headache was returning full 
force. 

Sighing, Joy gave up. "I'll go tell Master Hiroshi you're up."

~*~*~

*How are you feeling?* Pikachu asked, looking over his master. He was still 
unnaturally pale and Pikachu could tell he was very ill. 

*I'm fine,* Ash told him as they walked down the hallway. 

Pikachu rolled his eyes. *You can lie to the others, but tell me the truth.*

Ash stopped walking and looked at the pokemon, who was perched on his shoulder. 
*I've been feeling like this since I fought Gary,* he told his friend, then 
resumed his walk.

Pikachu flattened his ears in thought. *Do you think he did something?*

*Actually, I was wondering what disable would do to a human.*

Pikachu's eyes lit up. *Yes! That might be it!*

Ash stopped, having come to his destination. He opened the door and entered the 
brightly lit conference room. Around the rectangular table sat the four gym 
leaders, and at the head of the table stood Richie. They all turned to look at 
him as he entered.

A young woman with ebony hair that rivaled Ash's rose from the table and 
approached him, appearing to almost glide rather than walk. She was clothed in 
long silk robes the color of the midnight blue sky. Her eyes were hidden from 
view by her long bangs. 

"Ashton," she acknowledged, bowing her head. 

"Sabrina," he said, also bowing slightly. 

"It's good to see you among the plane of the living," she said, her expression 
impassive. She moved as close to him as she could get without actually touching. 

Ash made no attempt to back away, instead he looked at the top of her head. 
Sabrina slowly lifted her gaze to meet his; the slightest smile visible upon her 
face. She leaned towards him, and her ruby red lips came inches from his ear. 
Ash could feel her breath tickle his ear as she whispered so low that not even 
Pikachu could hear her say, "I know a certain redhead who is pleased you are 
alive too." 

Misty watched, the anger in her rising as a small smile crept across Ash's face. 

Sabrina returned to her seat. Ash sat in the empty chair next to Brock and cast 
an amused glance around the table. All of the men, Brock especially, were 
sitting with their mouths wide open, gaping at Sabrina. Misty sat slumped in her 
seat, her arms folded across her chest, glaring at Sabrina. 

After a long silence Ash said, "Shall we get this meeting underway?" 

Richie cleared his throat. "Yes, good idea."

"What is the status of the Elite Four?" Blaine asked. 

"As of now, they are remaining neutral. I don't know what they will do if they 
enter the battle," Richie answered. 

"Do we have any idea where Gary is going to attack next?" Brock said. 

At this everyone looked at Ash. He looked around the table before saying, 
"Viridian was just a test to see how powerful the army was." His head pounded as 
he absently rubbed the back of his neck. "My best guess would be that they are 
going to attack Indigo next." 

After an uncomfortable pause Richie said, "So what can we do?"

"Fortunately most of the city is empty, so there will be few civilians involved. 
We have been recruiting as many soldiers as possible. The only thing that really 
needs to be done is for me to work with Sabrina," Ash explained. 

Misty looked up, and before she could stop herself she said, "Why?"

He glanced at her. "Sabrina knows everything their is to know about Alakazam. If 
I'm going to fight Gary I need to be prepared." 

Everyone nodded, agreeing that that was logical. Misty watched, jealousy 
building up inside her as Ash and Sabrina shared a small smirk.



A/N: Slowly but surely... I'm still working on it, I just have very little time 
so please bear with me. Please review, and let me know if you're still with me. 
Thanks.