Disclaimer: I dun own Pokémon, Nintendo does. I wish I did, because about now I'd be in the big money on these fics I write. This may be the first, but it certainly isn't the last.

A note: this is a fan-FICTION. Almost everything in this story is purely fictional, including the aspects of the Johto League. I do not know what the results of the Johto competition are, so do not rely on any of those "facts" as the truth. Most of this story was brought on by my own wild imagination, and the help of some careful observations about the TV show. I'll leave you to figure out what I mean... ;)

----

Part One: Return to Pallet Town
Chapter One
It was a sunny day in Pallet Town. Professor Oak was in his lab, researching his Pokémon with the help of Tracey Sketchit. Mrs. Ketchum was in her garden, with her Mr. Mime helping out. And Ash was returning home from competing in the Johto League.

After his departure from Pallet nearly a year ago, Ash Ketchum and his friends had traveled through the land of Johto, collected some new Pokémon, and competed in the Johto League. Ash had gotten in the top five Johto trainers, but he didn't make it to the top as usual.

Ash flew into his hometown on the back of his Charizard. Misty and Brock followed on the ground, riding two of Ash's Tauros.

Ash landed in Oak's "backyard" as he called it. It was actually an entire field that made up only about a tenth of Oak's research area. Misty and Brock came up behind him, and got off the bull Pokémon. The two Tauros, freed of their riders, joined the rest of their herd. As for Charizard, it went back into its Pokéball.

Not surprisingly, Tracey was the very first person they saw. He was watching them from Oak's back door, a strange look on his face.

"Heya Tracey!" Ash called. "Long time no see!"

Tracey laughed. "Ash, it's only been a year."

"How's everything been going?" Misty asked as she walked up behind Ash. She grinned. "Have you gotten over your Oak-a-phobia?"

Tracey looked a little embarrassed. His first encounter with Professor Oak hadn't gone as planned, considering how nervous he was. He used to think of the Pokémon Professor as being some really powerful, famous person that he'd always wanted to meet.

Tracey decided to ignore the question. No one brought it up again. "Well, Oak and I have been really busy sorting all your new Pokémon," he said instead.

Ash grinned. He had been doing a lot better in the catching area of training than he had been two years ago, when he had first started training. He had caught nearly eighty Pokémon, all previously unknown. Those eighty included a Cyndaquil, Chikorita, Totodile, Murkrow, Heracross, Houndour, Stantler, Donphan, and many others.

"How many new Pokémon did Gary catch?" Ash asked, both worried that he might be behind again and hopeful he might be ahead this time.

Tracey shrugged. "About the same. Why don't you ask him?"

Ash had no time to even think about that before his rival appeared in the doorway. "Gary!" Ash yelped in shock.

Gary Oak was standing next to Tracey, still the same as ever. But there was something...different about him that set him apart from any other trainer. He seemed to be a lot nicer than he had been before the Orange League, but still had a bit of arrogance thrown into his personality. He had a strange, older look to his face which made sense because it had been most of a year since they'd seen him.

It also could have been the fact that he was now a full eight inches taller than Ash. And that wasn't because of his hairstyle.

Gary stared at Ash, who was glaring back with a look that could peel paint off a car. Normally around this time Gary would be making one of his smartmouth remarks, but he didn't say anything.

"That's it," Ash snarled after a long moment, taking out a Pokéball. "You've beaten me too many times to let me pass this one. Gary, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle right now!"

Misty and Brock both looked horrified. Tracey tried to object too. "Ash, don't you remember last time you battled?" he began to say, but a glare from Ash prompted him to shut up.

Gary calmly shrugged, and took out a Pokéball of his own. "All right," he said. Even his voice sounded different. "Since you're the challenger, you set the rules."

"Three on three," Ash said instantly. "Whoever wins is Pallet Town's top trainer. Whoever loses is...well, the loser."

Gary nodded silently, strange considering all the times he'd acted before. He opened the Pokéball and sent out his favorite Pokémon, Eevee.

Ash felt a bit nervous. Last time he had gone up against Eevee, Pikachu had gotten badly beaten too easily. But since then, he had new Pokémon with him that might be able to take down an Eevee more easily than a Pikachu.

"All right, Eevee's a Normal Type. What's good against that? Isn't it Fighting?" Ash thought to himself. His eyes lit up, and he threw a Pokéball. "Go, Heracross!" he called.

The Fighting/Bug type Pokémon came out and faced Eevee. Both were fairly high in level, enough to make it a fair match. Fighting was a fairly good Pokémon type to use against a Normal type, the only one Ash knew of.

Gary gave him a skeptical look, but said nothing to the other trainer who seemed to hate him so much. Instead he commanded his Eevee, "Eevee, use your Quick Attack."

Eevee bolted at Heracross. Before the startled bug could react, it was knocked over by the brown blur that had placed itself squarely in the blue insect's midsection.

"Heracross, use your Horn Attack!" Ash yelled.

Heracross managed to get its horn under Eevee and throw it about fifty feet in about three seconds, too fast for Eevee to react.

Or so Ash thought.

A whoosh and a brown blur, and Eevee was suddenly gone again. It reappeared in front of Gary in its battle stance.

At any other time in their earlier travels, Gary would be bragging his head off at this point. But he was strangely silent, only telling Eevee what attacks to use and sometimes not even then.

As it was with the next attack. Eevee slammed its head into Heracross' face in a Skull Bash attack that sent the blue bug flying. It hit the ground, out cold.

Ash stared in shock as he called back his Heracross. He just couldn't understand why it didn't work...

"Ash, use something stronger!" Tracey called, not very helpfully, from the sidelines.

"Gee, really?" was the first thought that came to Ash's mind. He sighed. "Now, what one should I use..." he muttered to himself.

The next Pokémon chose itself as it blazed out of the Pokéball on its own command. Chikorita stood facing Gary and his Eevee, ready to defend her master against his rival.

"Chikorita!" Ash scolded her. "I didn't tell you to come out!"

Chikorita ignored him. Ash sighed. Chikorita would obey him in battle, but once it got down to whether she liked him or not the reading was off the scale. Brock had said once that Chikorita had a crush on him, and even though that sounded ridiculous it was the best explanation they had for Chikorita's strange behavior.

Again, Gary should have been saying something arrogant about Chikorita and how she wouldn't exactly obey, but he was still quiet. Only a nod to his Eevee, and a quick command.

"Eevee, Double Team."

Chikorita was surrounded by twenty Eevees, all of which looked exactly alike. Chikorita looked around, very confused. "Chiko?" she said.

Ash got a sudden inspiration. "Chikorita, use your Sweet Scent!"

Chikorita released the nice-smelling powder from the leaf on her head. It passed over one Eevee without getting any reaction. And the next. And the next.

The seventh one down swayed, and shook its head in an attempt to clear it. The other Eevees disappeared, the illusions broken.

"Chikorita, get that Eevee with your Vine whip!"Ash yelled, hoping he would win.

Chikorita lashed out at Eevee and sent it flying. It landed on its feet in front of its trainer, fur bristling.

Suddenly, Gary held up Eevee's Pokéball. "Eevee return."

"What was that for?" Misty wondered.

"I like to give all my Pokémon a chance to fight," Gary explained as he took out another Pokéball. "Eevee is one of my strongest, so it doesn't need as much battle experience as some of my others."

He threw another Pokéball. Out came a Houndoom, a fire dog Pokémon.

As usual, Ash flipped out "Dexter," his Pokédex. He wanted to see the entry for this Johto Pokémon. He had caught the unevolved form of this Pokémon, Houndour. But he hadn't seen the fully evolved one.

He listened to Dexter talk about Houndoom, then looked a little panicked. Chikorita was a grass type, which is weak to fire.

"Chikorita, return!" Ash said, calling Chikorita back into her Pokéball. She gave him a dirty look as she was sucked in by the beam of red light, clearly not pleased with the fact that he was calling her back.

Ash considered the different Pokémon he had with him. He had Heracross, Chikorita, Pikachu, Charizard, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle. He chose Squirtle, figuring that water was going to have the major advantage against Gary's Houndoom.

"Squirtle, Hydro Pump!" Ash called to his turtle Pokémon.

Squirtle withdrew into its shell and began spinning, spraying water all over everything. Within minutes, everything in the area was soaked except for Gary. No one knew how he managed it, but he had avoided the Hydro Pump without even moving.

"This guy is impossible to beat!" Ash thought, frightened. "What's with him? He's...weird. More than usual..."

Gary smiled slightly, as if he knew exactly what Ash was thinking. Then he said to his nearly-dry Pokémon, "Houndoom, Take Down."

"DOOM!" it howled, and charged at Squirtle. At the last instant it turned its head aside and thrust its left shoulder forward, right into Squirtle's hard shell.

The impact sent Squirtle flying, but the turtle Pokémon was mostly okay because of its shell.

"Squirtle, use your Bubblebeam!" Ash ordered.

Squirtle spat a stream of bubbles at Houndoom. It countered with an Ember, making the water evaporate two inches in front of its face.

"Houndoom, return!" Gary said, calling back his Pokémon.

Ash glared at his rival. "What is with this guy?" he thought again. "He's trying to confuse me or something! I wonder what his last Pokémon is..."

Gary smiled more noticeable this time, a bit of his old self showing through. "Well Ash, it's been a nice match but I'm afraid it must end now." He took out his third and final Pokéball and threw it. "Go Mew!"


Chapter Two
"A Mew?!" Brock yelled, nearly deafening all those around him. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL POKÉMON IS GARY DOING WITH A MEW?!"

Luckily for Ash, he was about twenty feet away from Brock when he yelled that. Gary was even further away. Unfortunately for Misty and Tracey, they were standing right next to Brock.

"What's a Mew?" Ash wondered. He looked at it. Something about it was vaguely familiar to him, so he reached in his pocket and took out his Pokédex. He pointed it at the pink catlike Pokémon hovering in front of him.

"Ding! Mew. A psychic Pokémon. Mew is the most powerful Pokémon known and is believed to be extinct," Dexter said. "However, Mews have been sighted on rare occasions though they are believed to be a mirage."

Ash felt like he'd been Thundershocked by a Zapdos. "That's what it was!" he thought. "Gary caught a Mew, so he knows he'll win! That one guy at the Saffron Gym said you can't control a psychic Pokémon without a direct link to its mind, and so Gary has ALL OF MEW'S POWERS!"

Gary smiled. "Got it in one," his voice said in Ash's mind.

Ash swallowed hard. "I am so dead," he thought.

Mew's eyes glowed hot pink, and Squirtle was lifted up into the air. "Squirtle!" the turtle screamed, thrashing helplessly in the air.

Mew psychically threw Squirtle across the yard. The turtle Pokémon hit the wall of Oak's lab, cracking the concrete.

"Squirtle, no!" Ash yelled in panic. If Squirtle went down, he was toast for sure.

He was saved by the arrival of two other people and a talking Pokémon.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double!"

"No, not now," Ash whined. "Why did it have to be them?"

Gary looked up at Team Rocket, who were floating overhead in their Meowth balloon. Then he shrugged, as if he didn't care that they were there at all.

Even from as far away as they were, the trainers on the ground heard a scream of "THAT TWERP'S GOT A MEW!"

"Calm down, Jessie! Meowth, what's wrong with her?"

Jessie ignored James and held up a remote. "All right you twerps," she hissed. "We've set a bomb in Oak's lab and this remote will activate it. Hand over Pikachu and the Mew and we won't set it off."

"No way!" Ash yelled. Although he was very used to the three pinheads that followed him to everywhere on the face of the Earth, he still didn't understand why they wanted Pikachu so much. Why couldn't they go catch their own? "You aren't getting Pikachu!"

Gary's eyes were suddenly icy as he stared at Ash. "You would rather let all of us die, you would rather kill everyone, you would rather let them KILL MY FAMILY than turn over your Pikachu?!" he exclaimed angrily.

Ash was taken aback, shocked speechless at Gary's sudden outrage. This was the first time the trainer had seen his rival so furious. "I...I..." he stammered.

Jessie's finger hovered over the red button. "You have ten seconds to hand over that Mew and Pikachu," she growled. "Then you say good-bye."

Gary looked over at Mew. "Mew? Go."

Now it was Ash's turn to be angry. Gary was turning over a Mew to Team Rocket! Imagine how powerful they would be with a Mew on their team! And what was Jessie so upset about anyway?

"Eight...seven...six..." Jessie counted the seconds.

Ash opened his mouth to say something, but Gary shot him a poisonous glare. A "don't say anything or I'll kill you" look. Ash shut his mouth, confused. What was Gary up to?

"Five...four..." Jessie continued.

Halfway through its ascent to Team Rocket, the Mew whirled around and streaked for the lab. It flashed bright pink, and disappeared.

And suddenly, all the sounds of Pokémon were gone. All the Pokémon in Oak's lab and backyard were just...gone. The Mew had Teleported them all out of danger!

"Three...two..." Jessie kept going doggedly, not noticing that the Mew was gone.

"GET DOWN!" Gary's voice roared in their minds.

Everyone hit the dirt as Jessie reached one, and hit the red button. And with a white flash the trainers could see with their eyes closed, the Pallet Town laboratory blew up.

Ash felt himself get thrown through the air by the force of the blast, and he wound up landing nearly a hundred feet away in what was left of a barn. The shockwave knocked him out almost instantly, and maybe in some way that made him lucky so he didn't feel anything when he crashed through the roof.


Chapter Three
Brock woke up, staring up into the night sky. He wondered what he was doing there. He wondered what was going on.

"The bomb!" he yelled, memory coming back abruptly.

He sat up, looking around at the scene of destruction. What he saw shocked him right down to the core.

The entire town of Pallet had been almost completely devastated in the blast. It looked almost like a tornado had gone through and ripped up everything, torn it to pieces, then put it all back. He could make out where things used to be, where they SHOULD have been, but weren't. There was pretty much nothing left of Ash's hometown.

Right then, Brock was sitting in the middle of what should have been Ash's driveway. There was absolutely nothing there to hint at what it had been, but Brock knew.

"Ash!" Brock remembered suddenly, accidentally saying it out loud. "What happened to him? What happened to everyone else? Is anyone else still alive?"

"I am," Tracey said. He was standing behind Brock and looked mostly okay, except that he was a bit beat up. One of his arms seemed to be hurt, maybe broken. That was the extent of his injuries.

Brock stood up and faced the young Pokémon Watcher. Other than a few bruises, the breeder-wannabe was fine. "Have you found anyone else yet?" he asked Tracey.

Tracey shook his head. "No. I just woke up before you did. Brock, we've both been out cold for over six hours. Anyone who might have been here could have left already."

"Not everyone," another voice said from the side of the two trainers.

Gary stepped into the moonlight. He had obviously run face-first into a shrapnel storm. His face was cut and bleeding in a dozen places, and some of the flying razors had unevenly trimmed his hair. "There's not much of anyone left, though," he said. "We were the lucky ones."

"What do you mean, LUCKY? We were nearly KILLED in that stupid explosion!" Brock yelled.

Gary stared back, a strange look on his face. He made a "follow me" gesture with his hand, and then began to walk towards the remainder of his own house.

Once the three trainers arrived in front of the rubble that had been Gary's place, Ash's rival stopped. So did Tracey and Brock.

Because lying under the wreckage, silent and unmoving, was Misty.

"Is she...?" Tracey began.

Gary nodded. "Dead."


Chapter Four
About a half an hour after the trio found Misty, they located Pikachu. The electric mouse had terribly burned fur, but seemed to feel better than any of the humans.

The foursome worked until dawn, searching what was left of Pallet Town for more survivors. They managed to find Mrs. Ketchum, a Mr. Mime, and about ten other people. They even found Team Rocket, although Jessie had died in her self-triggered explosion. But the one person that they did not find was Ash.

Mrs. Ketchum refused to believe that Ash was dead, but most of his friends accepted it after a few hours. Misty had been killed, hundreds of people living in town had been killed, so it was possible that Ash could be dead.

Morning found the small group gathered together around a fire made of some building wreckage, talking about people who hadn't been found. Most everybody knew someone who hadn't been accounted for yet, and of course everyone knew Ash.

"Dat poor twerp," Meowth said sadly from where he sat next to Gary. "We was always tryin' to snatch his Pikachu for da Boss without thinkin' somethin' like DIS coulda happened. We messed up alot and did some stupid t'ings, but we never t'ought dat somebody might get hurt like dis."

Gary looked down at the Meowth sitting next to him, and the trainer put a hand on the cat's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault," he said. "I'm sure your boss never thought about something like this either."

"Oh, really?" James spoke up from Meowth's other side. All morning long, the Rocket had been mourning for his Jessie and hadn't said much to anyone else. "That wasn't what we were thinking when his 'ultimate Pokémon' destroyed his headquarters."

Gary looked only slightly puzzled. "You mean his Mewtwo?" he asked.

James and Meowth gasped, and looked over at the trainer who had been Ash's rival. "What...did...you...say?" James said slowly.

"How did ya know about da Boss' Mewtwo?" Meowth asked Gary, moving away from him.

Gary shook his head as if to clear it. "Sorry, that Mew made me partially psychic," he offered as if in an excuse. "That Mew made friends with Mewtwo until I caught it..."

From the other side of the fire, Tracey shook his head wonderingly. Just a day before those three had been their major enemies...AND NOW THEY WERE FRIENDS WITH EACH OTHER! "Oh, well. Strange circumstances call for strange results," Tracey thought.

"And boy are these strange results," Gary quipped in Tracey's head.

"What are you talking to me for?" Tracey thought in his general direction. "I don't know you as well as Brock does, go talk to him."

"I can't," Gary answered, his mental voice a bit strange. "He's too depressed to even listen to me."

Tracey noticed his "voice" waver a little bit. "What is it?" he thought hard at the trainer across the fire. "What's up with you?"

"I don't know," he answered, then spoke out loud. "It's kind of strange that no one's come to investigate the explosion yet," he said. "You'd think something like that would wake up people from here to Cinnabar. But not so much as a sound from any nearby city. They aren't even touched by that bomb's detonation, and it was definitely forceful enough to have woken up at least a few Officer Jennys who would come out on motorcycles to see what happened."

Brock looked up from his silent thoughts at that. "You're right," he said. "There hasn't been anything happening since about the time Jessie set off the bomb."

Pikachu cocked its head. "Pika pika, chu pi?" it asked. "Chu pikachu pika pika."

Everyone looked at Meowth for a translation. Meowth shrugged and said, "Da Pikachu says all da wild Pokémon are gone too, and it t'inks dat maybe dey're preventin' da police from comin' to Pallet."

Everyone accepted that as being the most likely reason why no one had come to investigate. But it was for a very different reason that was also very much the same.


Chapter Five
Ash was dragged back to consciousness a few hours after the bomb had gone off. The entire upper half of his body hurt, but everything below his waist was just plain numb. He was halfway buried in the remains of the Rapidash barn that had been in Oak's backyard before the blast.

He could hear distant voices speaking. "Spread out," someone said. "See if you can find anyone still alive."

"Yes sir, Boss!" a chorus of other voices said.

Ash could hear people walking towards and away from him. They seemed to be looking for someone.

The trainer tried to call out for help while they were still near him, but no sound came out. He couldn't move out from under the wreckage, and he couldn't say anything.

But someone found him. A board was lifted away from Ash by a blurry figure in a black uniform. Whoever it was stopped and gasped.

"Boss!" the figure yelled, his voice going shrill. "BOSS!"

Ash looked up at the dark silhouette approaching. Then he passed out.

~~~~~~~~~~

The young trainer woke up the next day, lying on a hospital bed. His head was bandaged, and the burns on his arms and face had been treated. His lower body was still with no feeling, but the rest of him no longer hurt as much.

"Good morning, kid," a voice said. A man with black hair and dark eyes moved into Ash's view. "Remember me?"

"How could I forget?" Ash answered, looking a little pale. And it wasn't because of how badly he had been hurt. It was because he did indeed recognize the visitor. "Hi, Dad."

Ash's father smiled. "Yes, son. Long time no see."

"Very long time," Ash agreed. "Almost seven years now, isn't it?"

"Hey, you've got a good memory, kid," Ash's father said. "Too bad I can't say that for the rest of you."

Ash smiled weakly. "A blast like that tends to do things like that to me. Where are we?"

"We're in the Saffron City hospital," Ash's father replied. "That blast knocked down most of the other ones all around Pallet Town. Saffron was the closest. We had to airlift you out of there, kid."

"What about the others?"

Ash's father looked confused. "What others?"

"You mean you didn't find them?"

"We only found you and one other person, but she's dead-"

"She? Who was it, Dad?"

Ash's father closed his eyes, trying to remember what the girl had looked like. "She was about your age, maybe a little older. She had orange-red hair and we found six Pokéballs near her along with a Togepi."

Ash's mouth opened in a silent scream. "No. Not Misty," he thought desperately. "She CAN'T be dead! She just CAN'T!"

"Did you know her?" Ash's father asked, noticing the look on Ash's face.

Ash nodded, still in shock and denial. "She...her name was Misty. She was...she was my...my girlfriend." He didn't see the point of denying it anymore. If Misty was dead, then who would make fun of him liking her anymore?

His dad looked at him strangely. He began to say something, then his cellphone rang.

"Excuse me for a moment," Ash's father said as he stood. He reached into his jacket and pulled out the squealing telephone as he walked out of the room.

Ash sighed and leaned his head back on the pillow. Misty was dead. No one else had been found. What if he was the only survivor? What if all the others had died in the explosion? Was anyone still alive after that blast?

"Ash, you're alive!" Gary's voice exclaimed in Ash's head.

Ash jerked his head back, slamming it into the wall. Ouch. "Gary?" he thought cautiously towards where he thought the voice had come from. "Gary, where are you? Who's with you?"

"I'm still in Pallet Town...or what's left of it," Gary said in his mind. "Most everybody died, but your mom, Tracey, Brock, Pikachu and I all survived along with a few other lucky people." He became more serious. "I guess you know about Misty then, huh?"

Ash was trying hard not to cry, but it didn't work. He began bawling like a baby. "Misty's...gone!" he sobbed.

"Easy there, Ash," Gary's reassuring voice said. "There's nothing you could have done."

"Yes there is! I could have given Pikachu over to Jessie, and then she wouldn't have set off the bomb!" Ash cried. "Then she'd still be alive, if not for Team Rocket!"

"Jessie died too, Ash," Gary added. "James and Meowth are here with us, and they didn't have any say in the matter. The explosion was all Jessie's doing, and she's dead now."

Ash barely heard him as he kept sobbing. "Misty..."

"Forget Misty for a minute!" Gary yelled suddenly. "I'm about to lose contact. Tell someone, ANYONE, I don't care who, just tell someone to get out to what's left of Pallet Town and send help! We've got hurt people here, and no way to get them out. You have to tell someone now, or-"

Gary's voice disappeared suddenly. Ash froze. "Gary? GARY?!"

"What? What's wrong?" Ash father yelled, running into the room.

Ash hadn't realized that he had spoken aloud. "Get someone out to Pallet Town," he barely managed to stammer out. "There's more people alive down there! Including Mom!"

Ash's dad went white. "You...you mean Delia?"

Ash knew his mother's first name, but he rarely thought of it. Hearing his dad say it was like, well...it was as if he was different than before.

"Mom," he confirmed.

"By the Mew!" Ash's dad suddenly cursed, whipping out his phone again and dialing up some number. "Get me the police, now!" he barked into the receiver. There was a short pause. "Officer Jenny? Do you have any idea who I am? I am the father of Ash Ketchum and the boss of a vast organization more powerful than any other! I have my son here in front of me and he's just received a telepathic message from Gary Oak...he says there are more survivors in Pallet Town and to go rescue them!"

Even from across the room, Ash could hear Jenny roar, "WHAT?! And we missed them completely our first time around? I'm on my way!"

Ash closed his eyes as he heard his father speaking about his "vast organization." That was the reason his father had left home, and it was also the reason Ash had been a bit frightened when he had first walked into the room. He had only begun to guess at his father's real job a few months earlier, but his short telephone conversation had confirmed it in his father's own words.

His father's full name was Giovanni Ketchum, head of Team Rocket.


Chapter Six
Ash was released from the Saffron City hospital three days before Misty's funeral. Due to a strange and unexplained injury, he was paralyzed from the waist down and had to ride in a wheelchair. He would never walk again. But he didn't care, as long as he got to see his girlfriend one more time.

The young trainer held his Pokéballs in his hands, staring at them. There were twelve that he was holding. Half were his. The other half were Misty's.

Staryu, Starmie, Goldeen, Poliwag, Psyduck, and Horsea. Togepi had been killed with its mistress, but the rest had asked to become Ash's Pokémon. They still missed the fire-haired trainer who would never come back, but wanted to continue with her boyfriend at least.

The other six were Chikorita, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Charizard, Heracross, and Pidgeot. Pikachu no longer lived in its Pokéball, so Ash could actually legally have seven Pokémon at once. Those seven were the closest to Misty than any of the other Pokémon Ash had ever captured, aside from Butterfree. Those seven had asked to come along for the ceremony.

It wasn't completely for Misty, the ceremony was to honor all those lost in the Bombing of Pallet Town, as it was known now. But for Ash, Misty had been the biggest loss in his life, even worse than all the others put together.

Ash had parked his wheelchair in the back, where no one could see him cry like a baby. Tracey stood on his left, his arm still in the sling. Brock was on his right, and Gary next to him. Ash's mom and dad were behind him, watching over the depressed young trainer.

"We are gathered here today to honor many citizens of Pallet Town who were killed in this tragic event," Professor Oak had began. The Pokémon Professor had been Teleported out with the Pokémon before the bomb went off, so he had been unharmed. "There was no warning for most, and no escape for anyone caught in the path of the blast. But the same was true of the bomb's creator, Jessie of Team Rocket, who has departed from this world alongside her many victims."

He motioned to Gary, who stepped forward with a list of names. He began to read the list. "Jessie Musashi of Sunnytown, killed while attempting to follow in her mother's footsteps in trying to capture a Mew and paying the ultimate price for it. May she and Myamoto meet again."

Ash was surprised when he heard that. Myamoto, Jessie's mother, had been killed in a rock slide while on a journey to discover a Mew for the "Boss." Ash had just now heard about it, and the new information shed light on why she wanted the Mew so much. She was following her mother's exact path to downfall.

Gary continued. "Falkner Hayato, Violet City Gym Leader. Killed while flying overhead on the back of his Pidgeot."

He hesitated, then went on. "A nameless Mew belonging to myself, who was lost when trying to save us. It managed to save many lives, yet failed to protect the rest."

Gary went on to read through the list, naming every single person who had been killed. Most of them were citizens of Pallet Town, a few were Pokémon, and the Johto Gym Leader.

Gary reached the last name on the list. He looked over at Ash, who sadly nodded for him to go ahead. "Misty Kasumi Waterflower of Cerulean City," Gary said. "Killed in an attempt to protect her Pokémon and her boyfriend, Ash Ketchum. May she rest in peace."

Ash released all of Misty's Pokémon, and then his own. The thirteen Pokémon stood at attention in silent respect for the brave little red-head who had been their friend.

"Good-bye, Misty," Ash whispered.

---

Yes, I'm stopping here. Aren't I evil? *grins* Mwahahahaaaa! Well, that's all for now, please R&R!