Destiny.

Krome Angel

The large figure moved slowly toward the cave that he and his companions had been most recently using as a place to stay. Although it wasn't much of a cave, more like three rocks together forming a slight overhang in the forest. He chuckled to himself, it was nothing like the cave where he'd met two of his current companions. He moved almost reluctantly; having gathered some disturbing news, and unsure how to break it to his companions.

His name was Zane. At almost 6 foot 11, he was very tall, and very large and muscular. He looked like he could easily smash anything that had the misfortune to anger him, and he was in fact a good deal stronger than he even looked, which was impressive in and of itself. He moved pretty well for his size, with a solid but unremarkable grace. He had blond hair that he kept cut short and light blue eyes. He wore dark clothes; brown boots, black pants, a brown long sleeved shirt, and a dark black cloak falling to his ankles. The cloak also had a hood but at this moment it was pulled back as the troubled figure walked to the cave. The cloak seemed to have a small bulge in the small of Zane's back where he kept his weapon of choice, a large war hammer. The head fell right at the small of his back with the handle up by his shoulders. Because of Zane's size it was hard to see that there might be something there but there was enough to be noticeable if one was really looking. But for the most part the cloak kept the presence of the hammer concealed.

A few years ago, carrying a weapon such as a hammer would have been pointless. Why carry something heavy when you could use a gun which was just a dangerous yet much lighter. But then everything changed. Some type of energy wave had swept across the land. Instantly, almost every single bit of technology stopped working, cars, phones, computers, everything. No one could explain it. Nothing was wrong with any of the machines, they were all in perfect condition, they just stopped working. The only technology that didn't seem to be affected were poke balls. Even guns no longer worked. No one could explain hat had happened but the results were obvious. Zane sighed sadly to himself, if only that was all that had changed Pokeballs still worked, although now there was no transportation and storing system so most people had to carry their pokeballs with them. He was always aware that it was a major convenience that he and his companion had other options available to them.

As he strode into view of the cave he paused and looked up, and sure enough there they were. Both of them were seemingly still as statues, eyes closed, perched upon a tree branch. Neither of them seemed to even breathe. They were both as still as statues.

In the case of the larger of his two companions, he was supporting himself on one hand, his body completely vertical, in a 90 degree angle with the tree branch. He had no shirt or shoes on, all he had on was a pair of dark grey pants that were loose, yet had elastic at the ankle cuffs to prevent them from getting caught on something, and in this case, to keep the pant legs up and a belt with a silver buckle shaped like a lightning bolt. His slightly less muscular looking but infinitely more agile frame (in comparison to Zane's) held him in position without the slightest hint of strain, and glistened with a light sheen of sweat. The most noticeable thing about the larger of the two was his face. His face had 2 rather noticeable and distinguishing marks. A black patch over his right eye and a long scar running down his left cheek.

In the case of the smaller companion he had no clothes on. Which isn't to say he needed clothes, and would in fact look rather silly in them. The smaller companion who was indeed much smaller than either of the two men, was standing on his tail. Neither of the two looked like they moved an inch, even to breath. But the most amazing part of this was that Zane knew they were in the exact same positions that they were in when he had left almost 4 and a half days ago.

Zane looked around for the third of his three companions, not immediately seeing him. Then he noticed the third companion sitting inside of their cave playing some kind of card game with an old deck of cards. The figure was older than either of the other companions, his face looked to be 60, although Zane knew he could be much older. The man had a hooded black cloak with the hood down, and was wearing a mismatched outfit, grey pants, a dark green shirt, a brown vest and mismatched boots. The old man looked like a bum. But Zane knew he wore those clothes because they were comfortable, the same with the boots. The left boot from one pair of boots fit perfectly, while its partner gave him blisters on his heel. And the right boot from another pair fit, while its partner pinched his feet. So the old man simply mismatched them. Instead of a belt for his pants, the old man had a length of thick rope tied through the loops in his pants. Also the old man's look was deceiving, he didn't have the physique of an older man, and in fact was rather wiry and athletic and Zane knew he was very talented with many things. Zane also was certain that the old man was crazy as a loon.

He moved closer, and the pair up in the tree seemed to become aware of his presence at once, although Zane was positive they'd been aware of his approach for much longer. Their eyes snapped open in unison. "Welcome back" the human said.

Zane looked up uncertainly at the two companions still unsure of how to tell them the information he'd found out. The human, sensing that something was wrong, flipped easily off the tree branch landing on his feet, with his companion landing shortly after on his shoulder. "What's the matter?" he asked.

Zane looked his companion in the eye. He knew his friend could see out of both sides despite the fact that he wore a patch on his right eye. The patch was a one-way see through material, his companion could see out with perfect clarity, but no one could see in. That way it kept people from noticing the fact that his right eye tended to glow.

Zane paused for a second before replying."It's...I'm sorry...... Ashan, they've destroyed Pallet Town."

Ash's eye widened in shock. "What?!" he gasped out, accompanied by a shocked (no pun intended ^_^) "PIKA?!" from the Pikachu sitting on his shoulder. Ash was so surprised by this news that he forgot to chide Zane for his use of his formal name.

Zane paused a moment to allow Ash to collect himself. It was rare for him to be surprised by anything. At any other time, for any other reason, Zane would have enjoyed his companions reaction, but the situation was much too serious this time.

"The league decided to take decisive action against the rebellion. Apparently they discovered that Oak was leading them and that Pallet was the location of their main base. So the league launched a major offensive to get rid of the rebellion. A large number of Rockets were ordered into the attack as well." Zane continued.

Starting a few years ago, Team Rocket had started a serious grab for power. They began growing faster than anyone knew about or could believe. Today, it was common knowledge that whoever is in charge of the Pokemon League, or just The League as it was referred to now, was also in charge of Team Rocket. However, no one knew who was in charge, although he was rumored to be a master who had a great number of pokemon with unbelievable power.

"Did any members of the rebellion survive?" Ash inquired, putting aside what little he still felt for his hometown; and switching into thoughtful mode. He had traveled too far and experienced too much to consider Pallet his hometown anymore.

"Not counting the ones that survived, but were captured, surprisingly about half of them got away. More than a hundred are dead though." Zane replied.

"Where did they flee to?" Ash said wincing painfully at the thought of so many dying.

"Most of them fled as a group to the area around Meteor Falls, north of Rustboro City. They're holed up in that area around there hiding in the rough terrain. A few other small groups managed to escape and are mostly in the area around Pallet, mostly lost and disoriented and trying to recover from the attack. The League has search parties out looking for the scattered groups, but if the League takes out the group at Meteor Falls; they know all they'll have to do is a bit of mopping up action for a few weeks and it will all be over." Zane replied.

"The rebellion is made up of fools! They tried to make a stand against the league who has far more in the way of skilled trainers, and pokemon to throw against them. Not to mention the fact that the sheer numbers of the League's trainers would eradicate them. They decided to stand up to League too late. They should have tried to stop it when it became apparent that the league was getting control of the cities. " Ash said with a mixture of exasperation and disgust.

He let out a sigh and then continued. "This is very bad timing, and I don't think it's a coincidence that they're launching an offensive now.... when the stones are beginning to appear." he paused a moment considering his options. "I know you'd like to help them, and you know I would too, but we both know that we cannot abandon the reason that we have been through so much work and training for. We can't abandon our search for the stones." saying that, Ash turned to pick up his things from inside the cave, still not sure of exactly what they were going to do, Pikachu still riding on his shoulders.

"Wait, there's more." Zane said, reaching out and laying a restraining hand on his friend's shoulder. Ash turned and tilted his head curiously waiting for an explanation.

"I've caught wind of a rumor that whom ever is in charge of the League is going to use some of his Elemental Masters to destroy those who managed to escape at Meteor Falls." Zane said. A few years ago there was a large number of people who were close to the point where they were the equal of the gym leaders in skill and pokemon power.... so the mysterious leader of the league had changed the designation from "gym leader" to "Elemental Masters".

"I couldn't gather a clear idea of which Masters, but apparently they're all rather powerful. Easily powerful enough to overwhelm those at Meteor Falls-."

Hearing this news, Ash got a far-away look in his eyes appearing to consider his options. Before he could say anything about not being able to do anything about it, Zane again interrupted his thoughts. "Wait there's more."

"You're just full of good news today aren't you?" Ash said sarcastically, looking at his friend in exasperation, wondering how much more news there could be..

"I assume you saw the red moon three nights ago." Zane said, and Ash just nodded. "You also know what that means, right?" Zane asked, again Ash just nodded. Neither of them were totally sure of its full meaning, but both knew of some of the implications.

"Well apparently whoever has taken command of the League and the Rockets knows too." Zane went on.

"WHAT?" Ash asked completely shocked.

Zane nodded solemnly. "What's more is that they've already gotten one of the stones."

Ash's mouth fell open in shock. "How?!"

"Not one of THE stones, but something almost as precious..... a seeking stone." Zane paused a moment to let Ash assimilate this before continuing.

"Apparently Professor Oak stumbled across one of the seeking stones years ago……. He knew it was special he just couldn't figure out how. He spent over a decade using his free time to try to research and figure out the significance of the stone. For years he had no clue what he had, so he didn't bother to tell anyone. But he finally found the legend of the Destiny Stones and put two and two together. The League has taken him, but I don't know where they're keeping him, although some of the refugees might have an idea. But either way the League has him and are probably grilling him for information about where he found it and they probably think he knows where to find the others. When I found this out, I rushed back here to tell you," Zane said

After a minute's pause, Zane asked "What's the plan?"

Even though Ash was several years younger than Zane, and Zane had years more experience; Zane almost automatically deferred to Ash now. Not only because Ash was more powerful, but also because as they got to know each other Ash picked up lessons quickly. He still occasionally made rash decisions but usually his choices were what was for the best. There were times Zane didn't even understand the decisions that Ash made, but followed them because they'd developed that level of complete trust with each other.

Ash remained quiet for a few minutes with a faraway look in his eye, considering his options. Things changed now that the League also had a seeking stone.... Ash had one and kept it with him, because it was supposed to help find the Destiny Stones. While he was thinking he absent-mindedly reached up and scratched under Pikachu's chin. After almost a full minute of contemplation he said; "Okay here's the plan. I'll go to Meteo..." He paused as he was interrupted by a loud shriek

"CHEATERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!"

Both Zane and Ash turned and looked at their older companion who was screaming in fury. Instinctively Zane looked at the old man and asked "Who's a cheater?" with a complete expression of puzzlement on his face.

The older man came stomping over to the two young men furiously, coming to a stop in front of them. "Who cheated me!?" he yelled in a fury. "I'll tell you who cheated me! It was the bastard who dealt me those cards! He never lets me win!"

There was a pause before Zane said with a hesitant voice.... "Calen....what were you playing?..."

The old man looked at Zane still furious. "I was playing solitaire, but the blasted dealer never deals me the cards to win.... I ALWAYS lose that game! The dealer is an evil stupid bastard who..."

Zane interrupted Calen's tirade with the restrained voice of someone who is holding himself very firmly in check. "Calen..... you were playing solitaire..... you're the one that dealt..."

This brought the old man up short. "I dealt the cards?" he asked looking puzzled.

"Yes Calen, you dealt the cards," an overly-patient Zane replied.

The old man's tone and demeanor changed immediately. "Damn right I dealt! I'm a good dealer too! See! No one else wins when I do, I'm the best dealer you'll ever see..." he paused and looked at Zane. "So while I was off practicing my masterful dealing skills, where have you been? Any interesting news?"

Zane repeated "The League destroyed Pallet town." Bracing himself for the effect his words would have on the old man.

"That's great.... what's for dinner? I'm starving.... a master dealer can't be expected to play on an empty stomach." the old man replied looking not the least bit disturbed about the news.

Zane gritted his teeth at the old man's reaction, reminding himself over and over that Calen must be totally insane. Ash on the other hand stifled a small smile, not shocked much at all by Calen's lack of response and knowing how Calen could easily infuriate Zane, it was amusing to watch sometimes.

Ash paused and got a faraway look in his eye, considering his options. After almost a full minute of contemplation he said; "Okay here's the plan. You say the League has a seeking stone... that changes everything. I need to know where Oak is. I'll go to Meteor Falls and see what I can do to find out where they might be keeping him……" before Zane could complain Ash continued "You'll go and see if you can round up the groups that are scattered around Pallet. You know the League will be hunting them, see if you can lead them to the water caverns. I'll send whoever I can manage to save, to meet you there."

"Bullshit... Ashan you're not going to Meteor Falls just to see if you can find where they're keeping him. You and I both know that you are going there for more than information. There is no way that you'll stand aside and let people die. And.... Wait! What do you mean you'll send whoever you can save to meet me? Where the hell will you be?" Zane protested, looking very confused.

"I may decide to go after Oak, rescue him from their clutches, especially if there is a chance he could know where some of the stones are. I don't want that information to fall into their hands. If Oak knows anything that could be of use, I want to hear it, or at the very least keep it out of the hands of the League" Ash said stepping aside the beginning of his comment..

"Like hell you will," Zane said furiously. "You know damn well that it will be a trap Ashan. It will be a trap to snare anyone from the rebellion STUPID enough to go after him." Zane paused a moment and seeing his friend prepare to protest he continued "You're right though... we definitely don't want any information about the stones falling into The League's hands. So we'll have to get Oak out. But If you're going to go after him, we're going to do it together." He said this in a tone that invited no argument.

After thinking it over for a minute, and seeing his friend's points Ash just nodded his agreement. "You win. ....I'll see you at the water caverns." Ash paused a moment then a sly smile spread over his face. "Oh, and Calen goes with you." he said grinning.

Zane's mouth dropped open in shock, but before he could say anything Calen interrupted.

"Where are we going?!" interjected Calen who had been standing right there but hadn't been paying attention, and instead was looking at the deck of cards in his hand with suspicion. "Hey! When did we get cards?! I could have been playing cards rather then being completely bored here waiting for you two to finish blathering!"

Both Ash and Zane ignored his comments, knowing it was pointless to tell them that he'd had them for years, and that he had been playing cards no more than a few minutes ago.

"Why does he have to come with me?!" Zane protested.

Ash looked at Zane firmly. "Out of the two of us, which one of us is likely to get into more trouble?"

"You!" Zane said bluntly

Ash paused for a second before nodding agreeing that he conceded that point. "True... but who is more likely to need help? We both know that Calen's pokemon are strong. Besides you're picking up groups that will be scattered over an area, and when you're looking for them, two heads is better than one."

Zane sighed. Despite his reluctance he had to concede that Ash had a point. He knew there was no possible way he could argue with that. "Oh all right, He comes with me." Zane said as he turned to Calen, "We're flying to the outskirts of Pallet to help save some of the groups that got lost in the evacuation and are in the surrounding area."

Calen nodded slightly although muttered "Stupid people getting lost like that.... probably have no idea where they are.... no sense of direction amid the confusion....." He snorted as he picked up his things. He picked up a small duffel laying the strap on his shoulder, and a medium sized sword inside a scabbard that he looped through his makeshift belt.

As Ash turned away and moved toward the cave Pikachu hopped off his shoulder, they heard Zane say "Fearow; GO!" Followed by the typical energy discharge, and a loud squawk, followed.

Then they heard Calen say "Go" followed by another discharge. A few moments later Ash heard Zane yell at Calen. "No! We're going to FLY, you can't use a Parasect to fly!" A few moments later there was another energy discharge of a pokemon being sucked back into a ball. Then another discharge and another loud sigh from Zane "No your Growlithe can't fly either!" Ash then heard Calen's voice say in an english accented voice "Fly!? Why didn't you say so old chap?" He heard the Growlithe get sucked back into a ball, followed by another discharge, this time there was a loud hoot when the ball opened and Ash knew that Calen must have released his Noctowl. A few moments and a relieved sigh from Zane later, Ash heard the flap of the wings as they took off.

Pulling on his dark grey shirt, socks and black boots and fastening on his grey cloak, he reached down and slid into their scabbards, two matching scimitars with intricate silver designs up and down the handles, while matching metallic black designs went up and down the blades themselves. He paused for a minute remembering how he had gotten the scimitars. While he was lost in thought he absentmindedly ran a finger down the long scar on his left cheek. Starting from his reverie, he put on fingerless black padded gloves, and slung a beat up but durable duffel bag over his shoulder and under the cloak. Lastly he picked up a necklace and placed it around his neck, tucking it under his shirt. The necklace was a thick metal chain that was tough to break, and at the end of the necklace was a pendent with a small gem imbedded in it.

. He moved back out of the cave to find his other two companions already out of sight in the sky. He looked down at Pikachu and saw his somewhat curious expression.

"Well buddy, we've been working for a long time And it looks like its time to put it to the test. I know we've been through A LOT of hard times, but the worse is yet to come. We have to find these stones. Otherwise..." he said leaving it hanging, not wanting to consider that option.

Piiiikaaaaa…….."" Pikachu moaned.

At this moan from his companion he smiled. "Yes, I know we've basically struggled through the past few years just so we could struggle through what's coming, and chances are we won't survive it either, no matter how well prepared we are."

"PIKA! Pika pika chu chu!!" Pikachu responded a little angrily.

He smiled down at his best friend, the one who had been his friend for longest. "I am not being fatalistic!" he replied slightly indignantly "I'm being reasonable..." he was interrupted by a slight teasing "pika!" from his friend indicating that Ash being reasonable was a first. Ash continued on seemingly ignoring Pikachu's comment. "The chances are that we won't survive this……. Actually to be honest, we really have two missions. To gather all the Destiny Stones, and to stop the other chosen, whomever is the chosen of the dark destiny, from succeeding. If he succeeds, the world will pretty much go to hell... The odds are so stacked against us. But then again, that has never really bothered us before has it?"

"pika pika chu pika CHU!" Pikachu said grinning ending his statement in a slight teasing tone....

Ash paused for a moment listening to a comment from his companion then he laughed loudly. "You're right the world's gone to hell as it is, its not like we can do much to make it worse…….. We might as well get started... and no you can't have a vacation!"

Ash paused a moment before asking a hesitant question that had been on his mind of late. "Do you regret coming with me now?" He asked his best friend seriously.

"Pika pika chu chu pika chu pika chuuuu" Pikachu replied. (TRANSLATION BAR : "No Ash, I don't regret it, and neither do the rest of them.")

Ash raised his eyebrow at that answer... not being the one he expected. "None of them?" he asked.

"PIKA! Chu chu Pikachu chu pika!!" Pikachu answered ("Not a single one of them, you've worked us all hard. You've trained us harder than we ever imagined.... made us stronger than we ever imagined.... We won't fail you.")

Ash smiled and rubbed Pikachu's head. "Thank you." Saying this Ash reached into his duffel and pulled out a pair of metal sunglasses. The sunglasses were sleek with crimson reflective lenses. (You know the kind that the person wearing can see out but people only see a reflection or distorted reflection when they look at them). Calen had given them to him awhile back. Ash had no idea where he had gotten them, but he could wear them and it would hide anytime his eyes both began to glow. With it on he also didn't have to wear the patch, but for the most part left the patch on anyway. Ash slid the glasses on now for another purpose. They helped keep his eyes from watering when he flew.

Ash concentrated slightly and a pokeball appeared in his hand from thin air "Pidgeot, I choose you!" he said releasing the flying pokemon. The Pidgeot was large, abnormally so, even for a Pidgeot. Its' body was thick and tough and its' razor sharp beak and equally sharp claws gleamed lightly.

Ash and Pikachu hopped on to Pidgeot as Ash said "We have to get to Meteor Falls!" Hearing this, Pidgeot's strong wings propelled them in the air, they took flight and shot towards the intended destination moving quickly with a loud caw "PIDGEOOOOT!". A caw that was a caw of excitement since Pidgeot loved to fly.

Shortly after soaring into the air he cawed "pidge ..pidgeot...pidgeoooot?" ("Why are we headed there?")

Meanwhile~~ cue dark bad guy music~~~

The officer acknowledged the two large guards on either side of the large wooden double doors with a tilt of his head.. They were both extremely large and muscular. They were dressed completely from head to toe in dark black ninja suits including face masks. The only thing that could be seen was just their cold cruel eyes that seemed to be constantly moving. Each had one hand around the handle of a long katana blade in a scabbard at their belt. The two guards looked like they could break him apart without thinking twice and they could without exerting any extensive effort at all. The officer also knew that, while these were the only 2 guards he could see, at least 2 more were around and could probably kill him before he began to move a single step.

The Master had 8 elite body guards that he used, and always at least four at a time sometimes more. The scary part was that there were rumors that these weren't his best men, that there were a few secret agents, or "Hands" that were even better. The Hands were rumored to be nigh-unbeatable trainers, fighters of fantastic skill, and have other special abilities. They were apparently only used for special or priority missions. There was also rumors that the Master himself could easily dispatch all of his guards and even these so called "Hands" in a fight. The officer doubted this because he reasoned that if the Master was so good at fighting why did he need body guards? But the officer also knew that while the normal guardsmen had VERY strong pokemon, and that there were few who had stronger pokemon, that even their pokemon paled in comparison with the Master's pokemon.

NO ONE had pokemon that could compare to the Master's pokemon. His weakest pokemon had never lost a battle to the extent of anyone's knowledge. On the rare times that he showed his skills, he always decimated opponents, and usually against pokemon that had a huge type advantage. No one was even sure how many pokemon he had, and for that matter, no one had ever seen his face or knew his name. They just always called him Master.

The officer knocked timidly on the door to the Master's inner sanctum. After a moments pause the door opened silently to a dark room. There were bookshelves stacked full with books, a large dark brown desk, and behind it the wide-backed cushioned outline of the back of a chair was visible. The chair's outline was visible only because of the moon in the night's sky through the open doors to the balcony. The chair's occupant was staring out at the sky as the officer stood there to deliver his report. The only part that was visible was just the very tip of his head.

"What is it?" A deep, slightly gravelly voice asked from the chair. "W.... w...well sir.... We've got the preliminary reports from our scouts, saying that with the exception of some stragglers, most of what remains of the rebel group has fled to Meteor Falls. Most likely they will attempt to regroup." The officer said managing to control his voice from quavering too much.

"They most certainly will.... or would if we were to allow them the time to do so." the voice replied with a slightly menacing air, causing the officer to tremble slightly; again glad he wasn't among the rebellion's numbers..

"Y..yes sir. We have several squads of troops searching for any stragglers that may still be around the destroyed base, capturing or killing any member of the rebellion they come across." The officer switched gears slightly. "Several of the Elementals have requested your permission to be the ones that lead the expected assault against those in the Falls. Which one, or ones for that matter, should we choose to lead them after the rebellion?"

The chair creaked slightly as the figure leaned back into it contemplating. Trying to decide which of his Elementals to send out against the rebellion. Some of his Elementals had more powerful and more skilled pokemon than others.. Most of the Elementals trained hard and specialized with a certain type of element, raising pokemon who were specifically of that element. But training them hard so that they were far stronger than run-of-the-mill pokemon. Elementals tended to have apprentices who trained the same element that they did. Sometimes the group could be as large as ten or eleven but usually it was only about a half dozen. They trained their groups so that one day the members of the group might become masters of that element themselves.

"Tell Sykes, Humzen, Hanra, Geerg, and Detonil that they have the go ahead on this. Have them each take their groups plus... give each 2 squadrons of the normal foot soldiers." the dark figure said after reflection, chuckling to himself. Two Masters of Fire, two Masters of Rock, and a Masters of Ice, should easily be able to beat down any resistance they met within the mountains. He wouldn't need to send any of his.... special trainers in.

"F...f....five Masters; Sir?" asked the rather shocked officer, hesitating momentarily before continuing. "I..I know its not my place.... but some of those Masters don't exactly get along with one another... why send them?

"Yes, five.... I wish this not only to be a test of their power and skill, but also of their obedience and ability to work with any other group I choose. If they instead choose to compete with each other, despite how much they may or may not like each other. If they in any way botch the mission, then .... the Masters , and their teams will be dealt with, since they should know better than to disobey orders."

"Yes, Sir" the officer nodded and took a second to compose his thoughts.

"I also have another report from the interrogation team Sir" the soldier continued. Silence from the Master was his only answer, indicating that he should continue. "The team searched everywhere they could find, both in his house, and searched in what remained of his notes. They turned up nothing."

"Impossible!" the gravelly voice said suddenly burning with an intense fury.

"No Sir, it seems he only found the one stone, there was not a single trace of any others were found." the officer said somewhat fearfully.

"I know that! I didn't think he would have more than one, but what about all of his notes in studying the stone? All his research into the legend of it? I know for a fact he had pages of notes on that, and where he thought the other stones might possibly be found! Plus whatever other information that he managed to dig up." the Master said angrily.

"W...w ..... Well you see sir.... it seems ... that we underestimated him... rather then rush to flee.... he.....well... he burned all his notes so we wouldn't get them." The officer said cringing from the expected outburst anger, but after a moments pause, the Master surprised him.

"Well, well, well, the old man is more cunning than I thought...." the Master said darkly, causing the officer to shiver from the pure malevolence in his voice, "Very well.... tell the interrogation unit that they may proceed in 'questioning' tell them to take whatever means is necessary, but I WANT that information... although tell them to leave him alive in case we need him further and he's hiding something we don't even know to question him about yet." the Master chuckled at that, as the officer winced knowing that their prisoner was going to be experiencing more pain than he ever imagined very shortly, and that in the end he would talk.... they always do.

"Was there anything else?" the Master asked after his dark mirth subsided.

"One small thing Sir. People are a little nervous about the red moon.... I know its back to normal, but people are still a little disturbed by it." That was an understatement the officer thought. Some people were claiming that it was the end of the world, but no one really knew anyone that was sure what to make of it....

"Tell them not to worry, it was simply a sign that mean my plans are about to come to fruitation" the dark figure said firmly. The officer nodded knowing better than to question him

"OOOOFFF!!!" Grunted the boy as he tripped on the root of a tree in a small clearing in the forest, and fell to the ground. He had been rushing to keep up with the leader of the group, but in the darkness he could not see the protruding root and his foot caught on it, causing him to fall. The person leading the small group immediately turned around and called a halt. The group gratefully stopped for a breather. Most of the group, which consisted of 16 people, were out of breath, with the exception of four people. Two of the members who happened to be in rather good shape, the unconscious person who was being carried, and to most members envy, the person carrying him. Despite his extra load he seemed not to be out of breath somehow. The person carrying her was the biggest and strongest member of the group, so he carried the unconscious guy without complaint as he lead them away from the destruction of Pallet Town.

The big guy lightly set down his unconscious load as he turned to the young man who had tripped and offered him a hand to help him up. With a deep voice he asked "Are you ok Joe?

The young man took the larger man's hand and pulled himself to his feet, testing his weight gingerly on the foot that got caught up in the root. After a few seconds hesitation while he made sure that his foot could support his weight, and was not twisted or worse, Joe replied "Yeah its fine Brock. I just didn't see the root...it was covered by loose leaves."

Brock nodded, then reached into his battered back pack and pulled out an old canteen. He passed it to a person close to him, gesturing for him to take a small sip and pass it on, and then he looked around at the rest of the group, taking note of their fatigue. He wished that he could let them take a long rest, but he knew that they couldn't afford to stop for long. The League's trainers were searching for stragglers and they couldn't be far behind. The League had almost certainly let the trainers with pokemon that could follow a trail or a scent and hunt down the stragglers. Brock knew that if they were caught by a trainer with a pokemon of any decent skill level that they'd be in deep trouble. None of the straggler had any pokemon that were conscious or in any shape to fight. Brock didn't have to say it, every person in the group was thinking the same thing. They had no real destination, they were just trying to get away. They stood almost no chance of making it out of here. He wondered to himself how many people survived the attack and he began to wonder which of his friends survived... He quickly pushed those thoughts away and began to focus on the task at hand.

Taking back his flask he took a small sip of the small amount of water left in the flask before screwing the cap back on and placing it back in his backpack. He looked around and decided that they couldn't wait any longer. "Ok people its time to...." His statement was cut off by a loud growl from his left. Every member of the group turned to look at the source of the growl.

There at the edge of the clearing was a large Arcanine. "GRRRRRRRRRR!" It growled at them again as a figure came into view beside it.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" A cold voice said from beside the powerful fire pokemon. "Seems like I caught myself a bunch of fugitives." the young man said smiling evilly as his pokemon blew a small burst of threatening fire into the air, momentarily ruining the night vision of every person there.

Brock shifted to the front of the group slowly so as not to make any sudden moves, but still to place himself between the fire pokemon and the rest of the group, despite the fact that he knew it would do absolutely no good. Brock knew that even a poorly trained Arcanine could easily incinerate every person in the clearing without much effort.

The young man seeing Brock move in front slightly knew that there was nothing Brock could do to really hurt him. "Well seeing as I caught you all, I should get a rather big reward for stopping over a dozen fugitives."

Brock narrowed his eyes at the man, "We're not going to go back willingly. There is no way you can keep track of all of us all the way back to your base." he replied.

The young man laughed loudly at that. "Oh, I don't have to. We have plenty of prisoners. We're to bring back fugitives dead or alive.. And your skulls will do just fine as proof....." The young man glanced at his Arcanine and then back at the group. "Arcanine.... kill them.... flamethrower!" he said ordering the powerful fire attack. The fire pokemon breathed in preparing to kill all 16 members.

Brock tensed his muscles knowing there wasn't anything he could do, he began to protest but he was interrupted by a loud yell.

"STUUUPPPPPIIIDDDDD BIIIIRRRRRRRRD!" followed by a loud "THUMP!" as a shape barreled from the sky, appearing from nowhere, to smash into the Aarcanine and then into a tree. The form crumpled to the ground leaving a large unconscious bird, laying on top of the unconscious Arcanine.

It took everyone a couple seconds to notice that not only did the bird knock out the Arcanine, but its trainer was lying in a crumpled heap off to the side as well. Judging by the way the young man's body lay, and the way the neck was angled, Brock was sure he would never be getting up again..

The rest of the group heard a soft flapping noise and looked up in time to see a large fearow ridden by what looked to be a large man, set down on the ground softly. The man slid off the fearow and moved toward the crumpled heap of the two unconscious pokemon; looking slightly annoyed with something. Brock suppressed a gasp. He was HUGE. Brock was no midget at 6 foot 3, but this man towered over him. He had to be almost 7 feet tall.

The man moved over the unconscious bird pokemon, which Brock managed to identify as a noctowl, and began to lift it up. It was then that he saw an old man squirm his way out from between the two pokemon. As soon as the old man got clear of the two pokemon he began speaking loudly.

"Its about bloody time you showed up! Did you manage to get lost?! Or did you just plan on leaving me under there forever to get smothered?!" The old man demanded of the bigger man angrily.

The bigger man seemed to breathe an annoyed sigh before he replied, "If you would teach that flying sack of feathers how to land properly you wouldn't be in that mess would you?!"

"Land properly?! What are you talking about?! That was a fantastic landing! He landed on something soft rather than that cold hard ground!" the old man gestured to the arcanine indicating it was the soft landing.

Brock finally managed to speak even though he was wondering if that constituted a good landing, what exactly a bad one entailed. "Ummm... hello?" he said gesturing his hands to get their attention, "Ummm I hate to be rude but who are you and what are you doing here?" he asked once he'd gotten their attention.

Both of the arguing men turned to look at Brock as if seeing him for the first time. The big guy looked like he was about to answer but the older man spoke first.

"Oh! A luggage boy! How nice of you too get here so soon after our flight lande...." he was cut off as Zane stepped in front of him and said in a brusque manner. "I'm Zane, the old man is Calen, we're here to get you as far away from here as we can. We're leading you to the water caverns."

Brock looked at the large guy suspiciously. Despite the fact that the old man had saved them, and Brock wasn't even sure that was intentional, he was still suspicious of people who seemed to be offering help with no gain for them selves. "Why should we follow you? How do we know you're not members of the league trying to capture or kill us?"

"Because if I wanted you dead I'd kill you.... or I'd have let the arcanine take care of it." Zane replied bluntly. "I've got over 150 refugees less than 2 miles away and moving toward the water caverns. So follow us or stay here. I don't really care either way."

Brock looked around at the other members of his group, but they all were looking at him for a decision. Looking at the large man quickly weighing his options. Brock tried to decide what was best knowing his decision would affect the whole group, whether it was a good or bad one was up to him. After a few seconds of worried thought he made his decision. Knowing that if Zane was lying they were screwed whether they followed him or not. "All right we'll come with you." He said. A dew of his group members looked a little bit worried, but kept their objections to themselves. Brock wondered if he should be flattered that they trusted his decision that much, or they knew that they could be screwed either way.

Zane nodded and bent down to take a look at the unconscious person. After a close but quick evaluation, he stood up and said "It's a concussion, he'll be out for awhile, and he'll wake up with a large headache, but he'll be fine"

Brock nodded his head slightly relieved, Zane was just agreeing with the assessment that he himself had made, but it was nice to get verification on things like that.

Zane nodded and allowed Brock to move over and pick the unconscious person up. After Brock had him securely in his arms, Zane turned and checked to make sure everyone else was ready to go. He turned and held up a pokeball and said "Fearow, return." The large bird pokemon turned into crimson energy and was sucked into the ball.

Then, to the amazement of Brock the pokeball seemed to just disappear out of his hand. Brock didn't see him move the ball anywhere, it just seemed to fade away. He turned to see Calen returning his bird pokemon as well. He watched the ball closely in Calen's hand and sure enough it seemed to just disappear into the air. He turned back to Zane to ask him about this, but Zane was already walking heading away and Brock, as well as the rest of his group hurried to catch up to his long strides. Calen waited seeming to want to bring up the rear but Brock didn't really notice.

He caught up to Zane, and after a few moments hesitation he mustered up the courage to ask, "Who are you?"

Zane glanced at him and in a slightly annoyed voice replied. "I already told you, I'm Zane."

Brock shook his head slightly embarrassed. "No that's not what I meant. I mean I know your name.... but I mean why did you save us? You're not a member of the rebellion.... There are a lot of people in it, but I know I'd remember someone as big as you."

Zane turned and offered Brock a hint of a wry smile at the comment about his size. "No, you're right I'm not a rebellion member. But I had to help the survivors, and once I get you to the water caverns, and the other member of my group gets back with the other half of the rebellion, the ones holed up in Meteor Falls, we're going to go after Professor Oak. He's the one we need, he may have information that can help us."

"Information that can help you what?" asked Brock puzzled

Zane glanced down at Brock momentarily, debating how much to tell him. "We're searching for something and Professor Oak may be able to help us."

Brock thought about that, but before he could find a response all thoughts were driven out of his mind by shock. They had walked into a large clearing where there were a large number of battered looking people waiting, looking like they were ready to move. His jaw dropped like a rock. "Where.... where did all of them come from... they were supposed to scatter and go into hiding."

Zane looked at Brock and said "We rounded them up and guided them together so that random League trainers couldn't just pick them off a little at a time. Your group is the last group we found. Now we're going to get you to the water caverns, where you can regroup as best you can." The way he said it made it sound like it was no big deal, but Zane and Calen had been rounding them up for almost two days straight, gathering them and not to mention picking off League trainers here and there.

The rest of Brock's group quickly dispersed into the large group looking for family, friends and loved ones, while Brock immediately began taking stock of the faces that he recognized so he had some idea about the make up of the group. He looked around until he spotted a group of the ones he was hoping to find, and he immediately made his way over to them.

"Erika, Sabrina, Morty, Falkner! You guys managed to make it too!" He said with a small smile on his face, in his mind giving his thanks for small favors. The group turned to him and smiles lit up most of their faces.

"Brock! I'm glad you made it... I mean we thought that you might not have made it out of there, the League managed to get so many people" The black haired ex-gym leader said happily, blushing slightly. Sabrina moved over and gave him a firm hug, then released reluctantly but kept her arm around his back and leaned into his side as he rested his arm over her shoulders.

Brock looked at the four ex gym leaders closely. All of them looked terribly strained. Sabrina's face had a few cuts and scrapes on it, and the psychic trainer also looked like she was hovering on the verge of exhaustion. Her leaning against him was more than just relief that he was ok, he could feel her trembling slightly from her apparent exhaustion, and knew she was leaning on him for physical support as well as emotional support. The other female of the group looked no better. Erika, the ex gym leader of a grass gym, who normally looked impeccably groomed, had her emerald hair tangled and messy and her clothes were ripped and torn in places. The two men in the group actually looked worse. Morty, the ghost pokemon trainer, had a gash on his cheek along with several other cuts and scratches on his face and seemed to be favoring his left leg slightly, as if he didn't want to put too much weight on the leg. The other guy looked as if he had taken a rather serious beating. Falkner, the leader who specialized in flying pokemon, had his arm in a make-shift sling, his hands and one side of his face was scratched rather badly and the eye on that side had swelled shut.

"Who all made it out of there?" Brock asked the group, concerned that so few had seemed to have survived

"Several of us made it to this group, Bruno is around here somewhere, Pryce is helping tend to a few of the wounded, but everyone else is either with the group that managed to break through and hole up in Meteor Falls, or they're MIA." replied Erika gravely.

"How did you guys all manage to meet up here?' a confused Brock asked, knowing that they hadn't really planned any meeting place, there wasn't really time as they were fleeing for their lives.

"What do you think?" the slightly nasal voice of Falkner replied. "We got here the same way you did. The big guy ... Zane brought us here. He and his friend have been bringing people here for almost two days. I think your group is probably the last group we're waiting for. He told me that we're headed for the water caverns. I asked him who put him in charge, and he told me no one and if I didn't want to follow his lead then that was fine, no one had to follow him, but he wasn't going to be responsible for those who didn't."

Brock paused a few moments to reflect on that before asking, "So what do you guys think? Should we follow him or what?" as he said this he afforded Zane a glance to see what he was doing. Zane and Calen seemed to be having a rather animated discussion.

Falkner spoke first "I don't think so. It could be a trap, he could have rounded all of us simply to capture or kill us."

For the first time Morty spoke in his hollow dull sounding voice. "If he wanted to kill us he could have done it already. He stopped several league trainers and I'm pretty sure he's got his pokemon running around making sure that no other trainers get to us, at least not without a decent warning first. I don't know what his motive is but I believe he is here to help us."

Erika spoke up, "Morty is right. Besides, what are we going to do? Strike out on our own path? Does anyone here even have a pokemon that is in fighting condition?" she paused looking for any nods, but getting none she continued, "That's what I thought. All of my pokemon need a few days rest in their pokeballs before they're ready for any action again. They took quite a beating. So as far as I'm concerned we really don't have a choice."

Brock nodded his assent and said "Yeah, my pokemon all took quite a beating. I could use my Onix in a pinch, but he wouldn't be good for very long, and the rest would be useless in their condition. They all need rest."

"And so do you." Zane's voice came from behind Brock startling all of them, even Sabrina who was usually hard to sneak up on, but in her current tired state, even she didn't sense his approach. "I suggest some sleep for you, Its almost midnight and we're going to leave at noon tomorrow to get moving, and I don't plan on stopping until you're safely in the water caverns. It might take us almost 2 days to get there. So you need your rest." He turned and walked away, his boots not making a sound as he walked on the soft ground.

Brock looked around at his fellow Leaders. With Oak captured they were pretty much in charge, so the trainers would follow their lead. The question was what their next move would be. Brock looked around for anyone to speak up, and it was finally Sabrina who said "Well, unless anyone has any better ideas, I think we might as well take his suggestion and get some sleep." Brock and the other three nodded in agreement.

The five leaders split up and headed toward different tents Sabrina turned, and gently leading Brock, began walking towards one group of tents as she continued to lean against him. He let her direct him toward her tent but kpt her standing with his support. "You definitely need some sleep Sabrina, you can barely walk."

Sabrina laughed weakly and replied "Its been a long few days. You know I'm connected to my pokemon so when they get hurt I feel pain. That hurt since all of my pokemon are unconscious. And I've been trying to verify the condition of the other half of us that made it to Meteor Falls with my psychic powers, although it didn't do much good." she smiled ruefully as they came to stop in front of a tent. "Thanks for helping me here Brock," she said. Then she stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek. Before he could say anything she turned blushing red and crawled into her tent.

Brock stood outside her tents for a minute before turning and making his way to an empty space of land, a ways away, he rolled out his sleeping bag, without bothering to pitch a tent, and he crawled in and was asleep almost immediately.

END PART 1

Authors notes. I hope you liked it. Please read and review! Email me at supergirl_slave@hotmail.com all comments are appreciated. I don't care if you hate my work and just want to tell me never to write another piece again. Or if you happened to like it, its nice to hear that too.

I'm also looking for someone to talk about the direction of this story with, and bounce ideas off. Due credit, will of course be given. So if you'd like to help email me as well.

Thats all for now folks. The next part should be up soon!

Luv ya lots!

Krome Angel