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Chapter 13

Disbelief

"You have got to be kidding me," Amber said.

"I'm not," said Travis Ketchum.

Amber stood in disbelief, looking from Ash to Travis and back again. They did look very much so alike.

"Okay, so you're his dad. So what?"

"So I haven’t seen him in a long time," Ash said, looking a bit dazed.

Amber saw Brock shifting uncomfortably, trying not to interupt the reunion. Amber smirked and turned back to the Ketchums. Suddenly, she rememberred where she had heard the voice. It was the same man who had given her Raltz! She scooped the small creature into her arms, disturbing Pidgey slightly, and looked intently at Travis.

"Why did you give me Raltz? And why was it so much of a risk?" she asked, not wanting to mistrust Ash's father.

"Because. . . I havn't seen you for an even longer time," he said. "Amber, I havn't seen you since you were a baby. Since you were kidnapped."

"What?!"

"Amber. . . you look so much like Delia. You look so much like your mother."

Amber's jaw dropped and she backed up, not wanting anything to do with this man, now. There was no way.

Delia must be Ash's mother. . . She thought. But. . . mine?

She shook her head as she felt herself start to climb onto her bike.

"I don't think so. . ." she said as she started to push off, not allowing herself to stop.

Now Brock was moving. He started running after her, along with Ash and Travis. Amber pulled out her pokeballs for Charmeleon and Raltz, while one-handedly steering her bike.

"No, Amber!" Travis called. "Don't do it!"

Amber returned the two to her balls and started peddling through the forest, batting the limbs and branches aside with her handlebars as she went. Her Pidgey easily kept up with her, and for this moment, she was glad she had its company. She could hear Ash, Brock, and Travis following her, but she didn't slow down. She knew what she had to do. She had to see her father. Her real father.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Ash ran after Amber as she peddled away on her bicycle, bumping Pikachu against his back as he ran faster than he normally would. Still a bit confused himself about Travis, he didn't blame her for running away. As her silhouette grew farther and farther away, he saw it was hopeless to follow her on foot. He turned toward his dad and looked him over. He was just as he remembered him, only he seemed to have hardened somewhat. The last time he had seen his dad was when he was five, and that was a little hard to remember. The only thing he could remember of that time was a bunch of men in black charging into their home, taking away. . . someone. . . his best friend, Ash thought, and then, blackness. When Ash had woken, him mother was crying, saying that they had taken dad and his friend away. From that point on, Ash wanted to be just like his dad. To be the greatest trainer of all time. He shook himself back into reality as he slowed down, allowing Pikachu to drop down from his shoulder in a daze.

"Dad -- it's -- pointless. . . She's -- gone," he said in between deep breaths.

"No, I can't let her. . ." Travis said much easier than Ash had gasped out his words.

"Let. . . her. . . do what?" Brock panted.

Travis looked down at his son with eyes that were soft, yet had a hard edge to them at the same time.

"I shouldn't have shown myself. I should have known that she would go back to Giovanni. I should have known she wouldn't believe me. I just wanted to protect you, and now look what's happened! I've made everything worse!" he said, ignoring Brock.

"Dad. . ." Ash said softly, still puffing a bit, "Please. . . let her. . . do what?"

Travis turned toward his son, and something inside him seemed to break.

"Turn herself in," he said bluntly. "Giovanni will use her. He will want to capture you, Ash, and as long as he has her, he knows you'll come to rescue her. He knows you've been traveling together for a little while, and probably guessed that you two became friends."

"But what does he want them for?" Brock asked, obviously a bit confused.

"A certain legendary pokemon," Ash said, his tone thoughtful. "Amber said that Giovanni knew she was one of the two people who had the power to summon legendary pokemon when in danger, but he didn't know who the other person was. But when we escaped Mt. Moon, they had this kind of scanning device-"

"-and realized that you were the other one," Brock finished.

"Exactly."

"We have to stop Amber from reaching Giovanni," Travis said firmly.

"But we can't! We're on foot, and she's going by bicicle," Ash said, allowing Pikachu to climb back onto his shoulder. "She'll reach Viridian way before we do."

Travis looked like Ash had just punched him in the face.

"Well," he said, "Amber may not be in immediate danger, but when Giovanni has that legendary, and her usefulness has expired. . ."

Travis did not have to finish his sentence for Ash and Brock to understand his meaning perfectly.

There were a lot of errors in this chapter from the original file on fanfiction.net that I had to fix. . . Just a tidbit. I just guessed that people would like some background to how the chapter was put up as opposed to some random jibberish. . . which I guess is what this is. Anyways, read and review!