Disclaimer: See chapter one.

 

Author’s notes: umm… I just had to write down a thought that popped into my head the other day: to any of you, who watch Hikaru no Go (and if you’re not- go watch it!! It’s a great anime *-*), don’t you think that the relationship between Akira and Hikaru are somewhat like Gary and Ash’s? I mean, Gary is stronger, and he pulls Ash along after him- wherever Gary is- Ash will be. And so is Akira: he pulls Hikaru along with him :)

But I think every rivalry is like that, ne?

Ok… I’ll stop my stupid rambling for now ^^;;

 

 

Enjoy your reading! :D

 

 

Oh, and sorry for spelling/grammar. You know that already…

 

 

 

The Arena / Chapter Two

 

Ash leaned against the hard stone wall, his knees folded to his chest, hugged by his arms, and his head buried between them. He stopped crying a while ago. He didn’t know how long he sat like that- an hour? Maybe even two? He thought more. The things that he saw on that monitor… made his stomach flip. He needed some time to think.

 

His train of thought was cut, though, when a voice from the speaker above his head called him: “So, Mr. Ketchum. I assume you have questions?” Ash just glared at the speaker. He didn’t recognize the voice, but he could have sworn he heard a low chuckle. “I thought so. So we better explain it all to you from the beginning: Well, welcome to the Arena, Ash Ketchum. Don’t worry about your Pokemon- they’re in a safe place, and I’m sure they’re having fun. You, on the other hand, are going to fight. We will provide you a Pokemon, who will ‘train’ you. Since you probably don’t understand the Pokemon language, you only need to know that a command in the beginning of a battle means to attack, and in the middle of it means: stand up! You can do it!! On the first battle you’ll have, we’ll be examining your skill and level, but if you win or lose will still be a part of your record. You need to rise in three levels, and then you’ll be free from the Arena. Any more questions?”

 

Ash was silent for a moment, and then asked the million dollars question, “Why do you do this?”

 

“We are just trying to show trainers what they’re Pokemon are going through.”

 

“That’s just cruel!” Ash yelled, trying to stand up but only managing to hit his head in the ceiling during the process and falling down.

 

“Not crueler than the way in which you treat your Pokemon, ne? We will provide three meals a day, and when you’re hurt, we’ll take care of you. We don’t hit you, and even praise you for a good battle. That’s exactly how you treat your Pokemon.”

 

“Oh, yeah?!” Ash countered. “But my Pokemon want to fight for me!”

 

“Are you absolutely sure?” Ash’s self confidence dropped at this. “Maybe they do it because they don’t have another choice.” Ash’s gaped. It may sound cruel and not right but… it made sense. For heaven’s sake, it made sense!

 

After a long silence, Ash eventually asked, “Then why don’t you examine my level now?”

 

“Oh, no. During a real fight, the human mind and physical power can reach levels you didn’t even know you had. You only need to want to win, and believe me, it will happen… even if you refuse to fight.”

 

Ash frowned. “You know that my friends will come to look after me! And they’ll bring the police with them!”

 

The voice’s owner laughed. “We’ll wait and see. And besides, the police can’t do a thing about it.”

 

“Why?” asked Ash, surprised. It’s clear as a crystal that the Arena isn’t legal! But the voice didn’t replay, and Ash remained without an answer.

 

Just then the door opened, and Zac looked down into the tiny cell. “Ready, Ash? Your first battle is about to begin. Aren’t you excited? Oh, and eat this before you go- you need strength!” Zac said and gave him a bowl with rice and pickles.

 

After Ash finished eating, Zac signaled him to come after him. After a few minutes of walking and stretching his muscles in the process, Ash found himself standing in front of huge wooden doors. Zac knocked on them three times and it opened, revealing the Arena to the eyes of the young trainer. Ash gasped at the sight; he may have seen it on the monitor, but in reality… it’s something else alright. Even though horrible things are going on there, that place is… amazing.

 

“Do you like what you see?” asked Zac, as if reading Ash’s mind.

 

“No way!” Ash lied, but judging by the way Zac smiled at this, he didn’t buy it.

 

Suddenly, a Pikachu arrived. Zac smiled at it. “Pikachu! I see you made it. This is your human- Ash.”

 

“Pika…chu?” repeated Ash. By the glare in the eyes of the little rodent, Ash knew that this Pikachu isn’t his own. ”Is it going to give me orders?”

 

Zac nodded. “Yes. Now go to battle! I’m cheering for you!”

 

“As if I care…” Ash mumbled, but Zac heard.

 

“What did you say?!”

 

“Uh… noting!”

 

 

 

Ash walked slowly into the rink, wondering what kind of battle awaited him. He already decided that he wouldn’t fight- they will not take control over his actions! He will not fight another human being.

 

His opponent entered the rink, a Cubone followed, hitting him lightly with his bone and urging him to fight. His opponent wore a tired expression, his eyes reflected desperation. When Ash thought about it… that boy, Roy, had the same expression and eyes, too, and to the boy he fought against. ‘Will I have the same look?’ Ash pondered. No. He wouldn’t fight. He wouldn’t let them win!

 

“Dear Pokemon, welcome to the Arena!” called the announcer, and the Poke-crowd cheered loudly. “Today we have a new trainer, whose level will be measured in this battle- Ash Ketchum! His opponent- Jack Wolfson, level five! He has to raise one more level before he’ll be free! Aren’t you excited, Jack?” Ash noticed his opponent’s lips, Jack, moving. He mumbled something to himself, and by the frown on his face, Ash guessed it wasn’t something nice.

 

“Ready?” the announcer called again. “Go!”

 

The Pokemon cheered again, and the Pikachu shouted something, signaling Ash to move forward. Ash figured that he might as well obey. Moving forward isn’t going to change the fact that he isn’t going to fight. And so, he moved forward.

 

The Cubone also signaled to Jack to move forward, and then said something, and Jack launched himself at Ash, hitting him with his fists and legs.

 

Ash never felt such pain. Sure, he fought with Gary many times a long time ago, but they were kids back then, and they fought for fun. This… this was the real thing.

 

He felt himself falling down, the ground zooming in and out in front of him. He could barely hear the announcer declare that all new trainers refuse to fight at start, that’s until… but besides unimaginable pain, Ash felt something else, deep within his soul. It was some kind of rage that only waited for an opportunity to come out.

 

Jack kicked him, and Ash flew backwards, rolling on the hard ground. The Pikachu kept on shouting, probably commands, but Ash didn’t care.

 

The rage kept on building inside of him, and in the depths of his mind Ash knew that if he won’t do something, he’s done for. He watched as Jack approached him again, ready to finish the fight, and lowered his head, waiting for the last strike to come. But then, something unexpected happened…

 

When Jack punched him the stomach, the rage took control over Ash’s body. His mind went blank- he only knew he needs to fight back, and so, he got up with renewed strength, and punched and kicked Jack. The Poke-crowd cheered, the Pikachu and Cubone shouted commands, and Ash and Jack just fought on.

 

The battle lasted for a few more minutes, until both of them stood, unmoving, panting. The crowd waited for one of them to fall.

 

Ash watched in awe and fear as Jack fell backwards, the time as if stopping at that moment. When he hit the ground, the crowd cheered, and the announcer declared,

 

“An amazing win to Ash Ketchum! I’m proud to announce that he’s in level five! That means he has to climb up to level eight before he could get free! We wish you luck, Ash!”

 

But Ash heard nothing of this. He just stared at his hands, with his mouth gaped and face paled. “What have I done?” he asked himself quietly, his body shaking with the adrenalin of battle.

 

He turned around, and saw the Pikachu smiling at him. Pride? It was proud of him?

 

Maybe the Pokemon was proud but… Ash felt shamed like never before. ‘Is that the way the Pokemon feel after a battle?’ he wondered. ‘Shamed that they beat up another Pokemon, while we’re proud of them and telling them to go on?’

 

And then the exhaustion took over him: he suddenly felt tired, as if he just wanted to lie down and wake up in a week. The voices around echoed in his head, and then became so dull he couldn’t hear them anymore. He started falling down, and when he hit the ground, the colors mixed and blurred until they became pure black. Then he couldn’t feel anything anymore.

 

*~*~*

When Ash woke up he saw only white. “Where… am I?” he whispered hoarsely. A Pokemon-Center? No… it’s been weeks since he, Misty and Brock were in one.

 

It all came back to him at once, and he felt dizzy, his eyes opening fully now. He heard beeping and machines around him, and felt pain all over his body. He lifted his arm, which hurt the most, and was surprised to see it was bandaged up. ‘So they DO take care of you when you get hurt…’

 

“Finally up?” he heard an unfamiliar voice from his right.

 

He turned his head to him. “Who-?”

 

“My name’s Jason,” said the boy, who lay there. He looked about his age, and had green hair and black eyes. “I’m here for three weeks now, and have two levels left before I can get away from here. You’re Ash Ketchum, right? I saw you two-three years ago in the Indigo League. You were great! What is your level?”

 

Ash remained silent, sorting out the new information. “Level… five, I think. Didn’t hear clear enough back then.”

 

Jason seemed surprised. “Yeah, I think I heard the announcer say that. Five, huh? And you just started? You must be strong! The strongest guy here was Roy, and he left the day before yesterday. Good for you! That means you can win most of the fights. I’m weak… I started in lever three.” Jason seemed a bit embarrassed.

 

“The day before yesterday? How long was I out?” Ash asked. He remembered that he fought for the first time the day Roy left.

 

“A day, I think. I saw your battle on the monitor in my cell. I came after you… and lost.” Jason’s face fell, and tears began filling his dark eyes.

 

“Hey, that’s okay!” Ash tried to cheer him up. “You’ll win next time!” he may hate what went on in that Arena, but he knew the feeling of loss and failure very well, so he decided to try and cheer the other boy up.

 

Suddenly, Jason’s expression became mad. “Do you know what you’re saying? Every loss means that we’ll stay here longer! We need to win three fights to raise a level. I need to win six more fights to get out of here, and you need to win eleven. I don’t want to be here anymore! That’s why I have to win!”

 

Ash just stared. “Don’t worry. I’m sure that my friends will come looking for me when they’ll see I’m missing for too long. No league lasts longer than two weeks, and they’ll bring the cops with them! Then we can all be free!”

 

Jason chuckled, and then laughed. Not a joyous laugh, but full of pain. “The police can’t do anything.”

 

“What? But... the Arena isn’t legal!”

 

“Think of it this way- if they’ll forbid what Chris, the big boss here, is doing, and then they’ll have to forbid Pokemon battles. There will be a depression, people will lose their jobs, and the world’s order will change forever. And besides, the police don’t know about this place… most of the released trainer refuse to talk about what’s going on here.”

 

Ash was silent. He was right… it’s like the explanation he got in his cell the day before yesterday: they put them in little cells, like a Pokeball. They give them good meals (and he had to admit- they were quite tasty…), taking care of them when they’re hurt, and the Pokemon praise them on a victory. “It makes you think, you know?” Ash said suddenly.

 

Jason smiled. “I know. I’m starting to ponder myself if I want to keep training Pokemon. If that’s what they’re going through, I just want to let them free…”

 

Ash frowned. “But why are they bringing only trainers in here? What about people, who use Pokemon for their help? Like housekeepers or gardeners…”

 

“Because usually these are partnerships, and these people are too old to fight. These Pokemon are never in Pokeballs, though from what I understand, Chris doesn’t like it, either. He thinks all Pokemon need to be free,” explained Jason.

 

“Then why does he take Pokemon to ‘train’ us?” asked Ash, thinking he found the flaw in Chris’ little evil plan.

 

“He doesn’t take them,” Jason said to Ash’s surprise. “He asked them to come. Most of them are abandoned Pokemon, or abused. Some live here, in big rooms, but most just come from around to watch battles.”

 

Both of them remained silent for a moment, while Ash thought about that information and Jason just staring out of the shielded window, to the freedom outside.

 

“By the way,” Jason said suddenly. “I noticed that you refused to fight, too?” Ash nodded, and Jason smiled. “We all do at start, but deep down… humans are animals. They have the urge to fight each other. If someone hits you, you’ll hit him back, if you haven’t lost consciousness yet. Deep down… we are all just animals.

 

Some of us participate in a few battles before fighting back, and some fight back immediately. It changes from one to another.”

 

‘So that was the rage I felt during the battle?’ Ash wondered. “You sound like a wise person,” ash said, a bit joking, a bit serious.

 

Jason laughed. “We all become like this eventually. When you sit in your cell with nothing to do but think and watch the monitor, you come to conclusions…” his look became distant, and Ash watched sadly as Jason sank into thinking again.

 

The sound of the door opening as a nurse came into the room cut their train of thought. “Jason Miller and Ash Ketchum?” she asked. The two nodded, and she went to check up on Jason first. She replaced some bandages, removed some, and checked him all over to see if there are any complications. She wrote down something on her writing pad, and then came over to Ash. “You’re new here, right?” she asked, starting a conversation that Ash didn’t want.

 

“Yes,” Ash answered, deciding to reply with short answers to any question she may ask. But she didn’t question him longer. She pulled out the IV tube from his arm, replaced his bandages, and wrote some more things down and left the room.

 

She returned after a few minutes with a tray of food, and gave it to Ash. “Eat,” she said. “You need to gain your strength back.”

 

Ash stared at the plate. There was rice, meat, salad, a piece of bread and a bottle of water- certainly a good meal.

 

“May I have the bread?” Jason asked. “I’m a little hungry…”

 

“Sure,” Ash replied with a smile and gave him the bread. Both ate quietly.

 

*~*~*

“Come in!” Christopher called as he heard the knock on the door. Zac entered the room. “What news do you have for me today?”

 

“Well,” Zac pulled out a folded paper from his pocket. “The levels of the new trainers in the Arena are as follow: Edward Johnson- level three, Melvin Roader- level two, and Ash Ketchum- level five.”

 

Christopher’s eyes lit up as he heard Ash’s level. “And the girls?” he asked.

 

“You know that this isn’t under my responsibility. Ask Dian about it.” Zac answered, folding the paper up and returning it into his pocket.

 

Christopher held his chin in thought. “Ash Ketchum, eh? Strong boy. A bright future awaits him here and maybe after he’s freed.”

 

Zac smiled, but felt regret. ‘After they leave here,’ he thought, ‘they have no future.’

 

 

 

 

To Be Continued…

 

 

 

 

 

Author’s notes: bah… I’m bad at making up names ^^;

I figured Ash is pretty strong: In “Mewtwo Strikes Back” he managed to get free from the weird machine, and in the little Lugia episodes he broke a piece of iron o.O

 

And once again, my thanks to Aragorn for editing ^_^

 

Please review!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-E2K