The rebel's camp lay peacefully in the center of the otherwise deserted Safari Zone. It had grown quiet now. The fires were burnt out and while a few tents remained lit from the interior, there was no movement within the camp. Whatever the earlier commotion had been had kept the camp awake and buzzing late into the night, but things had settled down and a lone man walking between the long row of white tents with a lantern was the only sign that not all the rebels were tucked safely into bed. "Their army is much larger than we had originally anticipated," a female voice said. She pushed herself from her stomach where she had quietly been observing the rebels. Her partner also got to his feet, agreeing with a nod. "No matter," she said contemptuously, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder. "They don't have any pokemon, they shouldn't be difficult to dispose of." "Are you sure this is wise, Cass?" her partner asked uncertainly. The wind had picked up slightly and blew their hair and dark coats from their faces. "The pokemon were always loyal to Satoshi, especially the stolen ones." "I know, Butch, but Giovanni assured me that these pokemon would only obey us." She pat the glistening minimized red and black pokeball on her belt. "How can you be sure?" he rasped. "After all that experimenting, little miss Suzie must have had a breakthrough," she said, her red lips breaking into a cruel smile. Butch also grinned, eager to test the new creations. "Company, move out!" Cassidy called, raising an arm above her head and quickly pulling it down. More than a thousand Rockets dressed in black and previously hidden in the dark forest began to follow their leaders towards the rebel base. ~*~*~ "What if Ash and Gary really are spies from Team Rocket sent to kill us all?" Sydney rolled his eyes and turned over in his sleeping bag so he could face Mikie. Sydney had quickly learned that Mikie was often coming up with conspiracy theories. Sydney would humor him, but thought Mikie was a little old to have such a wild imagination. Both were eighteen, the youngest a person could be to join the rebellion. "The gym leaders trust them," he said. "Besides, why would they tell us they were once in Team Rocket if they were on a spy mission?" Sydney flopped back onto his other side, leaving his back to Mikie. He was tired and didn't feel like talking. "Yes, but Lance doesn't trust him," Mikie pointed out. "And you saw what Ash did to him." With a sigh Sidney rolled onto his back, contenting himself to stare at the simple white canvas they had begun to call home. "If I recall, Lance was the one with the sharp pointy knives. Ash was just defending himself," he said. "Yes but-" "Shh!" Sydney suddenly hissed. They could hear footsteps outside of their tent. A figure was silhouetted on the walls of their tent. It was Gary making the rounds of the camp as he often did. When the footsteps died away Sydney spoke. "Go to bed, Mikie." "Okay." ~*~*~ While no one was walking around camp at so late an hour, Gary knew that few people were asleep. Latern light flickered inside the tents and an excited buzzing could be heard. They were discussing Ash and Lance's fight in terrified whispers. They were frightened to learn that Ash was not only a killer, but was powerful enough to defeat Lance, the man who was training them. Gary shook his head. Up until the fight Gary had been the most feared member of the rebellion. He supposed being a gun toting ex-Rocket made some people uneasy. Ash now had surpassed him in the area of evoking fear by just being present. He noticed that the whispers stopped as he passed the tents, then would begin again once the occupants inside assumed he was out of distance. He apparently hadn't lost any of his ability to frighten others, even if Ash was now deemed more scary. He was so deep in thought he nearly tripped over a large can of fuel that was used to power elemental weapons. He sidestepped it quickly. Falling flat on his face, he mused, would not be the best way to keep up his terrifying image. Gary knew that if anyone should be called a murderer it should be himself. Lance and Ash both had rather skewed perspectives on Ash's actions, yet oddly enough both of their views were nearly identical. Lance thought Ash was a cold blooded murderer, and Ash would most likely be the first to agree with him. Gary though, not Ash, was the one with most of the blood on his hands. Granted it was possible that the house Ash had been ordered to burn had had people in it, but Ash had not been out to kill. Gary was the partner that did most of the killing. Ash frowned upon Gary's ease with his gun, but Gary, who by no means was bloodthirsty, did not think twice about using it. Perhaps it was because it was the one thing he was good at. Sure, he was an adequate pokemon trainer, but Ash had surpassed him at that. Ash could not compare to him when it came to wielding a firearm. It was his talent. It seemed morbid to call such a thing a talent, but he was perversely proud of said talent, despite the deplorable repercussions. He hated himself in that respect. He should not be proud of the deaths he caused. The people he had killed had had families. They were once someone's son or daughter. But he had family too. Family he had been trying to protect. Yet another thing he had failed at. He wondered if it was even worth it. Did the amount of lives he had destroyed measure up to the lives of his family? His sister and Grandfather were dead, two more victims of his dangerous actions. He may not have pulled the trigger but he as good as handed Giovanni the gun. Two more murders for his list. Two more lives on his conscience. Gary's thoughts were abruptly interrupted by gunfire and panicked screaming. He turned quickly and was met with the sight of an entire army of Rockets dressed in black and running into the camp. They were all armed and firing rounds of mechanical weapons wildly at the tents where unsuspecting rebels had been sleeping. ~*~*~ She didn't know how long she stood staring at his back. She had followed him after he had left Lance lying on the ground, but once he stopped, she didn't know what she could say to him. Erika was frozen, by fear of him or fear of her feelings, she didn't know. He was standing rigidly on a hill overlooking the Safari Zone, much as he had been earlier that night. This time he was still, unnaturally so. She finally broke her self imposed vigil and moved towards him, her green kimono rustling softly on her thin frame. "Aren't you afraid of me? Or at least appalled?" he asked, once again sensing her presence before she chose to announce herself. "Should I be?" she asked quietly, joining him. He shrugged, "Everyone else seems to be." "Ash," she said, reaching her hand to cup his face and make him look at her. "I don't know what you did in your years with Team Rocket. I do know that you must have had a good reason for doing it." He leaned into her comforting touch. She continued. "You were protecting your family. If my parents hadn't been killed, I most likely would have done the same thing." He became tense at this. He reached up and removed her hand from his face. "Erika, there's something I need to tell-" Loud screams and machine gun fire drew their attention so fast that all other thoughts were completely forgotten. ~*~*~ Sydney felt as though he had just fallen asleep when he was wrenched from his sleep by loud bangs and screaming. He quickly disentangled himself from his sleeping bag and leapt up and it only took him a moment to realize that Mikie had done the same. "Run!" they heard someone outside their tent scream in panic. "Team Rocket!" They hesitated for only a moment before tearing out of their tent, running into a stumbling frantic mass of people. The shouting had grown louder as black cloaked Team Rocket members began running through the camp, shooting wildly at anything that moved. They heard Gary order them to get to the Arms Tent. Of course! With the proper weapons they could fight back. Sydney willed his legs to pump faster. They could stop this massacre if they could only get their firearms. The Rockets had begun to cease in their chaotic shooting and were now taking careful aim and picking off rebels one by one. Rebels began falling all around him, but Sydney ignored this, although his heart began to pound faster. If he could get the weapons, this could be stopped. He heard the thud of Mikie hitting the ground before he even realized the other boy wasn't running next to him. Skidding to a stop he doubled back, falling to his knees to inspect him. Breathing hard, Sydney nearly retched at the sight of Mikie's back, where a large bullet hole from a rifle was quickly leaking blood. Around them other rebels moaned in pain, or were lying still, dead from the bullet wounds. This was Sydney's first experience with injury. Mikie was as old as he was. Barely eighteen. He couldn't die so young. Mikie groaned. Composing himself, even as more panicked rebels raced around him, he quickly stood, preparing to lift Mikie and carry him to safety. "Leave him," a gruff voice called. "There's no time!" He looked to see Gary running towards him, occasionally shooting over his shoulder and knocking a Rocket off his feet. Sydney hesitated but didn't move. He couldn't leave Mikie. "Come on!" Gary said, grabbing his arm and pulling. "There's nothing you can do for him." Sydney struggled to wrench his arm from Gary's grip. "He's still alive! I can't leave him." "You don't have a choice," Gary said, as bullets began to fall around them since they were two very stationary targets at that moment. He began to pull the struggling Sydney away as fast as he could. As they ran Gary began to think their race for the Arms Tent was futile. Members of the rebellion were falling left and right. Even if they made it to the tent they probably wouldn't have time to load and attempt any sort of counter-strike before Team Rocket was upon them. He was still gripping the young rebel's arm, pulling him along and hopefully out of harm's way. He nearly ran headlong into Ash, who appeared so suddenly in front of him Gary might have though he had teleported if he hadn't known the extent of Ash's speed. "Ash!" Gary said, skidding to a stop. "Good. Take him," he said, thrusting the boy towards him. "I'll hold them off." He turned quickly and began shooting as many Rockets as possible. "Go. Now," he heard Ash's voice say to the kid, then the distinct sounds of one set of footsteps running from the spot. Ash stepped up next to him, his bow out, his quick eyes scanning the scene. "No offense, Ash," Gary said as he shot the a Rocket who had been quickly making his way towards them, "But you're not much help here. You're more of a close range fighter." "You're right," Ash agreed. He quickly sheathed his bow onto his back. "But no matter how good your shot is, you aren't going to be able to hold off all these Rockets." They were getting closer, like a swarm of locusts, destroying everything in their path. Gunfire was raining down upon them, luckily missing its mark. "I know," Gary said, not stopping his shots. It seemed like for every one Gary shot, two more took his place. "There!" Ash said suddenly. "That barrel." There, sitting in the middle of the road, between them and the Rockets sat the metal barrel Gary had nearly tripped over not that much earlier in the evening. The metal barrel full of fuel. Flammable fuel. Gary aimed and with one shot the barrel exploded into a bright ball of fire and smoke, blocking them from view and reach. "That should buy us some time," Ash said, turning, and quickly making his way to the arms tent. Gary grinned. "Enough to at least be able to put up a resistance." When they made it to the arms tent they found Brock, Bruno, and Misty hastily handing out weapons and ammunition. They looked up when they heard Ash and Gary enter. "We've slowed them down," Ash said. "But there's not much time." "You left him to die!" a young rebel shouted, bursting from the crowd and shoving Gary. "Mikie was still alive and you made me leave him!" The entire tent had grown silent as they all awaited Gary's response. "There was nothing you could do," Gary said calmly. "He wouldn't have made it." "If it was him would you have left him to die?" Sydney asked angrily, pointing a shaking finger at Ash. Gary was silent. "He would have if he had to," Ash said, speaking up. Gary looked at him, an odd mixture of emotion on his face, but made no argument. "I'm sorry about your friend, but if there was any way to save him, Gary would have." A loud roar and the sound of rushing water set them alert. "They must have pokemon with them," Ash said as he quickly took over. "We're going to need the elemental weapons. Bruno, Agatha, we'll need your pokemon as well." They nodded, pulling out pokeballs. Ash looked around. "Where are Lorelei and Lance?" "We haven't seen them since the fight," Agatha said. "Great," Ash muttered. "Pikachu!" The small yellow rodent scampered from the crowd and took his rightful place on Ash's shoulder. Loud crashes drew everyone's attention, but they were still all inside the tent and unable to see the cause of the disturbance. "Those sound like pretty big pokemon," Brock said. Ash quickly strode to the entrance of the tent, stopping in his tracks when he could see the pokemon in question. Gary stood next to him and with a sharp intake of breath his eyes widened. "Oh, Suzie," Ash said softly. "What have you done?" A/N: Argh! A cliffhanger, I know. Sorry, it takes so long between chapters but I've got tons of things I'm doing. At least with summer, free time is much easier to come by. Hopefully by the next chapter some questions will be answered. Like... what's going on with Ash and Erika? Where the heck are Lorelei and Lance? And what's up with Team Rocket's pokemon? Well I know for a fact the pokemon question will be answered. We'll see about the others. By the way, Mikie and Sydney are names of characters from the show. I think. Mikie was the evee kid and Syndey had the farfetch... I think. Please review, it really does speed up the writing process.