Mike: Well, I managed to get a few reviews already.

 

Ash: So when do I get unplugged from the Matrix?

 

Mike: You’ll know soon enough Ash.

 

Misty: I hope it’s soon, because I wanna see him out before the agents get him.

 

Mike: Don’t worry Misty.

 

Brock: Are ya gonna hook me up with any girls outside of the Matrix, Mike?

 

Mike: *Has a sinister look* We’ll see Brock.

 

Disclaimer: The Matrix is the property of the Wachowsky Brothers and Warner Bros inc. Pokémon belongs to Nintendo, Game Freak, and 4 Kids entertainment.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Welcome, to the desert of the real.”-Morpheus.

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Chapter 2: Meeting Slifer, Making a Decision, and Waking Up

 

Satoshi opened his apartment door after a long day at work. As he entered his apartment he noticed that his computer was turned off but he didn’t mind. Just as he set his suit case down, his phone rang. Finding it suspicious, he glanced around his apartment and then hesitantly picked up the phone. He slowly placed the phone up to his ear and cleared his throat.

 

“Hello?” He said answering the phone.

 

(“Hello Satoshi”) Came a voice on the other end. It was deep and somewhat mysterious.

 

“Slifer?” Satoshi asked recognizing the voice.

 

(“I’ve got to make this brief Satoshi. I want you to meet my associates under the Chicago Blvd bridge in a half hour.”) Slifer said over the other end.

 

“O-okay.” Satoshi said hesitantly before both of them hung up.

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

A half hour later, Ash was under the bridge waiting. It was pouring out so he was wearing a raincoat and watched some of the traffic go by the bridge. He waited for about 15 minutes now, waiting for the so-called ‘associates’ of Slifer. He shivered as some of the skin-chilling cold seeped through his coat. The cold sensation gave him goose bumps from his arms down to his legs. As he breathed, the steam from his very breath emerged from his mouth as if he were smoking a cigarette. Let’s just put it this way, he was cold.

 

The sound of tires rolling against a wet road interrupted his thoughts. He looked and saw a pair of headlights coming towards him. It was the same, black Ford Mustang GTE the girl he met at the arcade was driving in although he didn’t see her in it. In the car were 3 people from what he can tell. The car stopped right in front of him and the window of the back, right seat rolled down revealing the girl he met in the arcade.

 

“You.” Ash said recognizing her.

 

“Get in.” She ordered simply.

 

He looked around but did what she ordered him to do, and got into the car. He saw two other people. One looked African-American while he wore a pair of sunglasses…in the middle of the night and on a rainy night at that? The other was a blonde-haired female who looked no older than Kasumi. She too wore sunglasses, Kasumi had hers as well. It was so confusing to Satoshi that all these people were wearing sunglasses in the middle of a rainy night.

 

After he got in, the car drove off towards psychic road. When he looked forward the blonde girl pointed a gun to his head. He began to panic as he had never had the experience of having a gun pointed straight at his head.

 

“This is just for our protection.” The blonde said flatly. “Nothing personal.”

 

After an hour-long drive, the car stopped in front of the Motel 6 and the car parked in the parking lot building. Before they left Kasumi stopped Satoshi and looked at him square in the eyes. She then took her sunglasses off and looked at him again.

 

“Now don’t be nervous, Slifer is here to only guide you to the truth.” Kasumi said before she and her two associates guided him to the hotel to room 456. After they opened it, the room was practically empty minus a couple of chairs, a table, and a man standing up looking out the window.

 

The man was tall, slender, and he looked much older than the other 3 people Satoshi was with. He wore a black leather overcoat and his hands were behind his back. The man slowly turned as it revealed his face. He too wore a pair of sunglasses except these were oval shaped and were black. His hair was a very dark brown; you would easily think it’s black. A smile was on his face as he saw Satoshi.

 

“Welcome Satoshi.” The man said.

 

“You must be Slifer.” Ash said recognizing the voice.

 

“Yes, and it’s a pleasure to finally meet you Satoshi.” Slifer said as he walked up to Satoshi extending his hand.

 

“The pleasure is all mine.” Satoshi said taking Slifer’s hand in his and shaking it.

 

“I believe you have a question that you’ve been waiting to ask me?” Slifer inquired while quirking an eyebrow.

 

“Yeah, as a matter of fact I do.” Satoshi said as he sat down in one of the chairs and Slifer did the same. “What is the Matrix?”

 

All Slifer did was grin, he then adjusted himself in his chair and picked up a platinum case and looked at Satoshi. “What is the Matrix indeed.” He sighed before continuing with his conversation. “Everything you see Satoshi, the matrix. What you smell, hear, taste, and feel is the matrix. Basically, the Matrix is everywhere.”

 

“No way!” Satoshi exclaimed in surprise. “You mean, the Matrix is everything around me? It’s the world?”

 

“Yes, and no.” Slifer said. “The Matrix is actually a computer generated dream world designed as a veil to hide you from the truth.”

 

“What truth?” Satoshi asked.

 

“You’re a slave Satoshi, but not by humans.” Slifer replied as he looked at Satoshi through his sunglasses. “There are other beings outside of the Matrix that has the Human race as slaves. Not aliens, machines.”

 

“Machines? You mean like robots?” Satoshi asked.

 

“Basically. In this world, you’re Ash Ketchum, a well-respected worker for Silph Company. But in the real world, you’re Satoshi, a man who’s waiting to wake up from this long-lasting dream.” Slifer explained as he opened the case and pulled out two pills. One was red, the other was blue. “That’s why we’re giving you a choice to join us and wake up Satoshi.” He opened the hand that had the blue pill. “If you take the blue pill, you’ll wake up in your own room and not remember a thing of this night or anything about the Matrix; period.” He then opened the hand containing the red pill. “If you take the red pill, then we’ll unveil the truth and take you on a journey to discover the truth.”

 

Ash looked at the two pills. Part of him wanted to take the blue pill and forget this whole thing, the other part wanted to take the red pill and see if Slifer was telling the truth. He kept looking at the two pills from left to right. Hesitantly, he picked up the red pill, took a glass of water, and took it. This put another grin on Slifer’s face and he got up.

 

“Follow me Satoshi.” He instructed.

 

Satoshi got up from his chair and followed Slifer, Kasumi, and their two helpers. He followed them to another room. Inside there was a whole lot of electronic equipment and two phones. In the middle was a chair. Slifer gestured Satoshi to sit down, so he did.

 

“That pill you took Satoshi, is part of a tracer program. It’ll help us lock down your code and unplug you from the Matrix.” Slifer explained as his crew started working.

 

“What do you mean?” Satoshi asked.

 

“It means, we’re waking you up from this endless dream.” Kasumi said looking at him after placing the receiver of one of the phones on something.

 

After minutes of waiting, Slifer pulled out his cell phone and began talking to someone named, Takeshi. All of a sudden, Satoshi felt a sudden pain in his gut and everything went black. A second later, he woke up in what looked like pink goo. After much struggle, he emerged from a soft shell like jelly and pulled out a metal thing from his mouth taking in a huge breath of air for the very first time. After breathing for a little while, he looked around him and saw that he was in a bathtub-sized orb and around him were millions of orbs like them. He looked at his body and many cables were attached to him.

 

He felt a metal tube connected to the back of his head to. He felt it while he looked at everything around him. Just then a squid-like machine flew down in front of him giving him quite a scare. It looked at him for a while, while grabbing his neck. Just then Satoshi felt intense pain as the metal tube on the back of his neck was unscrewing off. The machine let go just as he felt more pain as all the cables connecting to him unconnected. Just then, a door opened behind him and all the pink liquid he was in started draining out like a toilet being flushed, he couldn’t escape it. He was sliding down something like a water slide but even faster. He then splashed down into dirty water like sewage.

 

He tried so hard to stay afloat, but he was too weak, he was about ready to drown when he saw a light shine on him and a metal claw came down and picked him up. After it picked him up, he passed out.

 

Satoshi felt like he was on a table and cold. He couldn’t move anything but his eyelids, so he slowly opened them and let out a small groan. A light was directly above him and he felt like over a dozen needles were all over his body. He heard voices but could barely see anyone.

 

“Kasumi, dim the lights.” A voice instructed as the lights dimmed. Ash immediately recognized it as Slifer’s.

 

“Slifer?” Ash inquired trying to see and move.

 

“Welcome to the real world Satoshi.” Slifer said as he looked down on him.

 

“Why can’t I move?” Ash said with a weak voice.

 

“You’ve never used your muscles before. You’ve never used your eyes before either and that’s why the light is too bright for you.” Slifer responded.

 

“Where am I?”

 

“You’re on my ship, the Hercules.” Slifer said. “It’s a hovercraft.”

 

Satoshi simply groaned as he felt sleep take over again. “Get some rest Satoshi, you need it.” Kasumi said as she helped Slifer work on his muscles.

 

Satoshi couldn’t help but to comply as his eyes drooped closed. Satoshi was now in the real world. He was free like many humans before him. He was free from the dream world we all know…

 

As The Matrix.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Mike: Well, that was good.

 

Ash: Now I’m out of the Matrix.

 

Misty: Can’t wait to see what Brock looks like out of the Matrix.

 

Brock: *gulp*

 

Mike: *grins* Ok guys, you know what to do, please review and no flames.