Please note that I do not approve of underage drinking, unless the world has gone to hell, then I think it's okay.

September 16

Brock leaned against a tree; Sandslash stood by him and watched as Pikachu was teaching Raichu how to use Iron Tail. Raichu's Iron Tail would be stronger than Pikachu's seeing as the reach of his tail longer and deadlier with the thunderbolt-like edge at end of it. The downside was that it was slower than Pikachu's, but compensated for the fact that it was more flexible than Pikachu's short and rigid tail.

They had been practicing on trees and had taken it a step further by practicing on boulders that were courtesy of Sandslash. Sandslash suddenly felt the vibrations of several figures heading in their direction. Pikachu and Raichu both raised their heads, taking in the new scents that were entering their range. Raichu's head slumped down in disappointment at the lack of his master's scent among the group.

Pikachu gave a light rub on Raichu's shoulder, the most he could think of as consolation. He tried to contain his joy at the smell of Ash's scent, bursting off in the group's direction as quickly as he could. Sandslash stayed by Brock's side as did Raichu eventually.

Sandslash could tell from the ground vibrations that his master was not among the group of people that was coming in their direction. He had already memorized the vibrations of everyone's footsteps; each was unique like a fingerprint. They would just have to wait until Ash, Pikachu, and the rest of the group came to them, except for one of them that Sandslash merely concluded as a new addition to their group of survivors.

It was after a few minutes that the bushes rustled and Ash was the first to appear. Raichu also recognized Ash's scent, but noticed that there was the faint smell of blood around him and the girl with the blue hair.

"Brock! It's so great to see you" Ash said, running over and offering his hand for a high five. Brock high fived him back, smiling at the sight of everyone appearing behind Ash and in one piece.

"It seems as though you've found another survivor," Brock pointed at, staring at Duplica.

"Oh, her. Yeah" Ash mumbled, keeping his back towards Duplica. Brock watched as Duplica's shoulders subtly slumped. Misty ran over and gave Brock a hug as did Dawn. Brock felt something press him when Dawn hugged him, looking down to see that Dawn had two guns holstered by straps around her thighs. "Seems as though I've missed a few things while you guys were gone" Brock commented as he stared at the guns the group was holding.

Jessie had a shotgun strapped to her back; James had come into the possession of the Thunderbolt once Ash reunited with Pikachu. Misty carried the submachine gun while Ash and Samurai refused to even touch any of the weapons, leaving Dawn with the two handguns.

"We've got a lot to tell you" Misty said as she released Brock from her embrace.

Over the next few hours, Brock and the others filled each other in one what had been going on while they were away from each other. It was Dawn's turn to cook and impress Brock on how much her cooking had improved. When they asked how Brock had sustained himself for the past two days, he told them that he had been living off the surrounding berries.

They had also asked him if anything interesting had happened to him, like finding survivors or warding off any wild Pokemon, he gave a brief glance at Pikachu, Raichu, and Sandslash before looking back at them and saying that absolutely nothing interesting had happened and that it had been a boring and uneventful two days.

Once dinner had finished, Brock openly commented on the meal that Dawn had prepared for them, congratulating and thanking her for the meal. The rest of the night was spent sleeping in the woods. Once everyone was asleep, Brock crept out of bed and headed over to Duplica's Ditto sleeping bag. Duplica turned towards him before he could wake her up, noting the surprise on her face.

"Oh, hey Brock. I thought you were Ash" Duplica said, downcast.

"About that. Care to tell me what happened?" Brock asked.

Duplica nodded and told him the story, Brock sat there nodding. Once she was done, Brock gave a low whistle.

"Wow, I would've never thought that Misty had it in her…they're growing up so fast" Brock sighed dotingly.

"I didn't know Misty was into Ash either. I only wanted to show Ash how Ditto could transform into other people as a joke. If I knew that Misty would've gone that far with him…I wouldn't have done it in the first place. When Misty started doing those things, I couldn't help but watch, it was like she was a completely different person. I told Ditto to turn back when I said Ashy boy; when I finally remembered, it was too late" Duplica explained.

"I understand, you never intended for that to happen. I'll talk with Ash about this and this'll be settled"

"Thanks Brock" Duplica sighed.

"Get to bed, we might have a busy day tomorrow" Brock said, heading back to his sleeping bag. Duplica nodded, turning away once more and slipping off into a deep slumber.

Once morning broke the darkness of the night, they began to pack up and head towards the last signal where the Pokeglov that belonged to Tracy was.

Pikachu was the first to notice that their campground had been surrounded from all sides. Everyone's summoned Pokemon began to tense up, their owners noticing the change in their demeanor, knowing full well what it meant after so many battles. Slowly, from the bushes emerged dozens of Pikachu.

Sandslash smirked, silently planning to exact his pent up frustration towards Ash's Pikachu on these weaker ones were they to attack them. The silence was nerve-wracking. One of the Pikachu approached; once closer, Samurai realized that what he assumed was the alpha Pikachu of the group, was actually scared.

"Pi-pika-pi. Pikaa-chu pika…chu" the alpha Pikachu said.

"Meowth, what does it want" Jessie asked.

Meowth was just about to translate when Raichu's tail stabbed right into the ground before him, directly between his feet. A small jolt of electricity ran down the length of Raichu's tail, going into the ground safely, the current making Meowth's hair stand on end and making him begin to sweat.

"Rai" Raichu merely said while staring at the alpha Pikachu.

"Well Meowth?" James inquired.

"I…uh…" Meowth wondered what to say after Raichu had just told him to say nothing and made it very clear that he was not to be disobeyed.

Samurai gasped silently, no one noticed him from behind the group. The reason for his surprise was that he had actually understood what the alpha Pikachu had said.

"Is this what Ash and Surge go through when they talk to their Pokemon? Why can I suddenly understand them?"

Meowth wondered why he was not being allowed to translate that the Pikachu's had said, "Are you the ones that created the devastation to the forest one moon ago?" Now that he had been denied it, he now wanted to know more about what the Pikachu's were talking about.

"Yes, that was me" Ash's Pikachu stated, stepping forward to face the alpha Pikachu.

Sandslash stepped up as well, "I was also responsible. This Pikachu and I were sparring. I apologize if we've damaged your homes" Sandslash apologized.

"You didn't destroy our…sparring? The devastation you created was sparring?" the Alpha Pikachu gawked at them.

James and Jessie continued to stare at Meowth, still expecting a translation. Everyone else felt awkward at the conversation that was going on around them that they couldn't understand. Eventually, with the exception of two pairs of eyes, everyone began staring at Meowth, making him feel more uncomfortable.

Meowth could say nothing, if he spoke in Pokemon, the others would know that something was up, if he spoke human then the same would happen. He began to look at Raichu for answers. Raichu quickly took notice of Meowth's situation, breaking his attention away from the conversation between the alpha Pikachu and Ash's Pikachu with Sandslash.

"Just tell them that this is a territory dispute and that Pikachu and Sandslash are settling it diplomatically," Raichu said without looking at Meowth. Meowth recited the lie word for word, calming the others instantly. He looked around, seeing that the Pikachu that surrounded them were also just as afraid as the alpha Pikachu.

The more that Meowth listened, the more that he realized that Brock had actually lied to everyone. Something had occurred while Brock had been left alone with Raichu, Pikachu, and Sandslash. Whatever they had done, it had made everything in a ten-mile radius afraid to even go near them. The way they were heading was straight through a colony of Pikachu's who rather than leave their homes, wanted to see if they could reason with the ones responsible for the destruction.

Meowth quickly noticed that all the Pikachu were afraid of Sandslash, Raichu, and Pikachu. At the news that there was no intention of more destruction, the Pikachu visibly relaxed and smiled.

Ash felt that the Pikachu currently surrounding him were the same Pikachu that he had planned to leave with near the beginning of his journey with Pikachu. He had thought that Pikachu would've been happier and better off staying with his own kind. In the end, Pikachu decided to stay with Ash, neither of them regretting that decision.

Ash's Pikachu explained their own situations to the other Pikachu, also reminding them that they had met before. Every Pikachu surrounding them began to bow, in acknowledgement to the power that they had displayed on the other day. Sandslash tried to not let the praise get to his ego, Ash's Pikachu smiled and told them the praise was not necessary.

Meowth quickly lied and said that the bowing was a Pikachu custom to symbolize peace. Ash stared questioningly at Meowth, Brock scoffed, and Samurai coughed silently behind the group. The Pikachu gave advice and suggestions that would help aid them on their journey. This time it was Ash's Pikachu's turn to bow, surprising the other Pikachu.

Ash's Pikachu expressed his appreciation for the help and hoped that they all enjoyed lives of peace. The wild Pikachu thanked Ash's Pikachu for the kindness he had shown; offering their services should their paths ever cross in the future. Once the conversation had concluded, the wild Pikachu's darted away from sight and into the forest all at once.

"That was weird" Dawn commented, her hands relaxing their grip off her guns.

"I'm glad we were able to settle that peacefully" Misty exhaled, her hand raising up to her chest, pressing against her rapidly beating heart as if to calm it down.

"I guess that's that," James said, picking up his bag waiting for the others to begin walking. Pikachu hopped onto Ash's shoulder as he began to walk, stealthily allowing the others to walk past him as he migrated to the end of the group where Samurai was.

Misty took notice, finding it odd that Ash who naturally always walked ahead of them was now behind them. Brock took notice as well, staring at Misty who sent him a concerned glance. With a nod to Misty, Brock also began to slow down, stopping next to Duplica before proceeding.

"Duplica, seeing as there's only wild Pikachu's in the area that are friendly, maybe you could liven up the mood somehow," Brock suggested.

"Sure, I could show them my new imitations" Duplica offered.

"That would be perfect, Duplica" Brock said before slipping back through the group until he was behind with Ash and Samurai.

"What's on your mind, Ash?" Brock asked innocently.

"You lied to us. You said nothing happened when you were alone with Pikachu and the others. The other Pikachu's said differently" Ash pointed out. Pikachu and Brock were both surprised; Samurai was not as shocked.

"Ash, what're you talking about?" Brock replied, trying to sound as calm as possible and without giving away anything.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Those Pikachu were talking about something that happened two days ago, they were afraid of Pikachu and the other two; Pikachu even took responsibility for what happened. What're you trying to cover up?" Ash whispered angrily.

"What're you saying Ash? That you can understand Pokemon?" Brock replied accusingly.

"I…I don't know. I just understood what they were saying for some reason," Ash confessed.

"Since when did you start understanding Pokemon?" Brock asked.

"I think when the-don't think you can change the subject!" Ash abruptly reverted back to the topic that had been at hand.

"Wait! I thought that you were always somehow able to understand Pokemon. I've watched you and Surge converse with Raichu and Pikachu as if you knew what they were saying" Samurai interjected.

"When I talked with Pikachu, I usually just…felt what he was saying. I don't know how to explain it" Ash explained, struggling with the words.

"But your responses looked almost accurate to what your Pokemon was talking about" Samurai pointed out.

"They're just feelings. I've never questioned whether my responses were right or not, Pikachu's never…you're changing the subject again. I want to know what happened and why you were hiding it?" Ash ordered.

Brock sighed, looking at Pikachu to see if it would be all right with it, Pikachu nodded.

"Alright, you win Ash. Pikachu and Sandslash had a sparring match to pass the time and it got out of hand," Brock confessed.

Ash glowered at Brock, expecting more. Brock sighed and decided to continue unveiling just enough information until Ash was satisfied.

"Sandslash used some really strong ground moves that affected anything within a few miles of it. That's probably what scared the Pokemon" Brock mitigated.

"Why did Pikachu admit that he was the cause of the destruction then?" Ash continued his interrogation.

"Pikachu's the one that suggested that they spar, it went a little overboard but they eventually stopped" Brock said, reminding himself that he technically wasn't lying.

"How bad was it? Everything looks find around here" Ash commented, looking around and seeing that the surrounding forest was still intact.

"It was far away from here, there's no point in seeing it. We would just be wasting time. Besides, the lava already cooled" Brock said, attempting to console Ash.

"Lava!" Ash hissed.

"Dammit" Brock swore, chastising himself for letting that tidbit of info leak.

"How the hell does lava fit into sparring?" Ash growled.

"That's what I meant when things went a little overboard when Sandslash started using a lot of earth moves. I cooled it down with Swampert. Besides, what's done is done. You can't change what happened," Brock concluded, Ash begrudgingly let the subject go, but he was not happy about it.

It was the late afternoon once they reached their destination, a wooden sign with the black words.

Dark City

Ash had Misty and Brock had been here before near the beginning of his journey. The city he saw looked like it did when he first saw it, if not even worse that what his memories held. The houses were destroyed and desolate, practically nothing was standing anymore.

The houses appeared charred from fires and sliced into splinters. There were neither bodies nor bloodstains that painted the street. The whole town seemed completely void of all life.

"What would Tracy be doing here?" Misty whispered.

"Hold on, look over there?" Brock said, pointing to the far end of the town, surprised that they hadn't noticed the tallest building in the town as the only one standing. The scene of destruction had stolen all attention from the building, making it the last thing that was noticed.

Sandslash and Raichu suddenly perked up, the quills on Sandslash's back shivering with joy. Raichu cried out, sending a bolt of lightning into the air to catch his master's attention. Two figures exited from the building, running towards them at full speed.

Raichu and Sandslash also ran, crashing into the embraces of their masters. Ash and the others watched the heartwarming scene, lasting almost an entire minute before AJ and Surge came over to greet them.

"Great ta see you're all in one piece" Surge laughed, slamming his monster sized hand onto Ash's shoulder, making his legs almost give out and dislocating his arm.

"What took you so long?" AJ said jokingly.

"Sabrina got us separated when she teleported us into different groups and behind one another, so we had to weight until everyone was caught up and we could come here as a group" Misty explained.

"Where is she, I outta give her a piece of my mind" Surge said, cracking his knuckles and remembering the situation they were put in when they reformed from the teleportation. The others looked at Surge blankly as he looked throughout the group for someone who wasn't there.

"I can see you've got a new girl, but where's Sabrina?" Surge asked, still looking among them.

"We thought she was with you!" Ash replied.

"With us? We thought she was with you!" AJ replied.

There was a moment of confused silence before Ash broke the silence.

"I guess she teleported herself alone, she's probably making her way here. I guess we can stay a few days here until she catches up with us" Ash suggested hopefully, to which the others nodded in agreement.

"Wait! Where's Tracy?" Misty pointed out.

AJ and Surge looked at each other solemnly, "He's in the building" AJ said.

"Is he okay?" Brock inferred.

"He's not hurt… well physically at least. He's been kinda depressed" Surge informed the group.

"Over what?" Ash asked.

"You're better off asking him yourself," AJ suggested.

"Come in guys, you can rest and stock here. This place is great, the entire town was relocated here," Surge laughed as he began to walk away, tousling the fur on Raichu's hair in between his ears.

"Now that they're together, they'll probably be inseparable" Brock murmured to Misty who giggled.

Ash and the others barely managed to enter the building when a roar of laughter and happiness, as well as surprise slammed into them.

"TOM! TOM ATO HAS RETURNED! AND HIS FRIENDS ARE WITH HIM, ANNE CHOVIE AND CEASAR SALAD!" the men inside the building screamed.

Ash, Misty, and Brock all facepalmed simultaneously as Pikachu found a bottle of ketchup and dove for it.

"I can't believe they recognize us" Ash sighed.

"I can't believe they remember those names," Misty groaned.

"I can't believe they have butter!" James, Meowth and Jessie cried out in excitement, moving over to table where a feast had been set out.

"Ash, what're they talking about?" Dawn asked while tugging on Ash's shirt.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you later" Ash said, turning his attention to the interior of the building. The lights were dimmed, but gave the feeling of a cozy home by the fireplace. The walls were made of concrete with a mixture of wood and steel to support the rest of the structure. Furniture of all types was arranged to every wall of the room, a cylindrical flight of stairs in the corner of the room had a group of people descending with plates of more food. Pictures were adorned all over the room, cluttering the walls to leave no space blank while it surrounded the newcomers.

A nurse Joy fell into Brock's sights, he sprung forward to woo her, only to be stopped by his Croagunk. Surge was draping his arms over the shoulders of two other men, each of them laughing and drinking beer. AJ was also drinking beer, caring not that he was still technically underage.

Pikachu licked the spurts of ketchup that he squeezed from the bottle happily, it had been a while since he had gotten to eat ketchup and he was enjoying it. The ex rockets were stuffing their faces without remorse.

"What's all this for?" Ash inquired.

"You're welcoming party. Tracy told us that you were coming from looking at his Pokeglov. We decided to have a party not only for you…but because everyone was down in the dumps. Now everyone's livened up and gotten to know each other, I didn't even know that Joys could hold their liquor" Surge quietly chuckled.

"Where's Tracy?" Ash asked, looking around the slurred singing people and drunkenly dancing men.

"He's…upstairs. You sure you wanna have a buzz kill so quickly?" Surge warned.

"I wanna make sure he's alright" Ash insisted, heading up the stairs. Ash told Misty and Dawn to stay and enjoy themselves, ignoring Duplica entirely. The building was originally supposed to be the Yas and Kas gym. He had helped them unite and rebuild the town that they were destroying with their street fights. Ash had turned each gym's signature Pokemon, Scythers and Electabuzzes against their owners in using the color red to make them go into a made frenzy of rage where they would attack anything, much like a Tauros.

While Ash had been gone, the gyms had combined and turned into a single gym. When the dampeners were removed, the city had ended up being destroyed, no one was killed but many were severely injured. The Yas/Kas gym decided to take responsibility and used their extra room to house the entire town with room to spare.

Ash met with the original leaders of both gyms as he ascended to the next floor, bowing to the great Tom Ato, founder of the Yas/Kas gym. They now wore a mixture of the separate outfits, green overalls over blue jumpsuit pants, black shirts, with red boots and gloves. Orange capes were wrapped around their necks as they wore green fingerless gloves, the same that Ash had worn when he was a child. The insignias were now a K and Y on the front with the symbol that was on Ash's cap when he first came to Dark Town. The outfits looked ridiculous, Ash could tell that they were trying to integrate the two gyms and Ash's old outfit to the uniform of the gym. He would never tell them his true feeling about the outfits, so not to hurt their feelings or get on their bad side.

Once Ash had finished exchanging greeting, told them his real name and explained the reason behind the lie, he proceeded upwards, passing the kitchen floor and the infirmary floor, seeing that many of the people there were wounded, and the next floor appeared to be a meeting room. Another thing that Ash noticed was that there were other rooms that surrounded the main rooms he passed through. Most of them were balconies except for the ones up top that had been converted into individual homes for the people now living there.

All the doors were closed except for one, a ferocious scream bellowing from the ominous black depths of the room. Ash proceeded cautiously, opening the door slowly and letting the light enter. He activated the Pokeglovs light, scanning the room until he saw something move.

"Tracy?" Ash called out into the blackness, receiving only panting as his answer.

"Ash?" Tracy exhaled, finally saying something after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

"Tracy, are you okay? What're you doing here? There's a party downstairs, everyone made it back except Sabrina, but she'll probably come later, we even found another survivor. Her name's Duplica and you should see what her Dittos are able to do now that they're undamp-" Ash began saying as he came closer to Tracy who had settled into a corner. Somehow, despite the darkness, Ash could tell where Tracy was exactly was.

"GO AWAY!" Tracy roared, Ash flinched and ceased his advancement.

"Tracy, what's wrong?" Ash asked, a mixture of concern and fear in his voice.

"Isn't it ironic? Eh? ISN'T IT!" Tracy's cackle turning into a scream.

"What is?"

"We…I…set out to find a safe haven, so that hopefully any people who had Pokemon in Oak's ranch would find themselves at that haven and take the Pokemon I had brought there from the ranch. I carried them in Pokeglovs, had every Pokemon that was in the ranch that didn't belong to any of us. Carried them in every Pokeglov the Professor and me had, along with the blueprints, all of it in my backpack. And in an instant, the Muk destroys all of it, the blueprints, the Pokemon, and any notes or supplies I still had in my backpack.

Then, as if to add insult to injury, Sabrina teleports me to a safe haven, the very place we had been looking for ever since we departed from Pallet Town. Isn't that ironic? That I lose the very cargo I was trying to deliver just seconds before I make it to the destination. Maybe this is Sabrina's way of joking with me. Ha Ha Ha, Sabrina, very funny.

See, I'm laughing. I'm being a good sport about it; it's so fucking hilarious. Are you laughing too Sabrina? IS THIS FUNNY ENOUGH FOR YOU? DOES MY SUFFERING MAKE YOU FUCKING HAPPY?" Tracy was now standing, screaming at the ceiling.

"T-Tracy, calm do-"

"SHUT UP! WHY THE FUCK DO I HAVE TO CALM DOWN? EH! I'VE LOST EVERYTHING! MY MENTOR, MY HOME, MY PARENTS, MY PURPOSE, MY SKETCHES, MY SANITY!"

"You still have your Pokemon, your health, your li-"

"SHUT UP!" Tracy was now panting and wheezing.

"I never understood why you didn't use the Pokemon that belonged to the other trainers to help us. You and I know that there's a good chance that their real trainers who are probably all over the world are most likely dead"

"For one thing, they aren't our Pokemon to use. Their loyalties lied with their trainers. If we told them that their trainers were dead, they would consider themselves free, and try to kill anything that stood in their way of that. We weren't their trainers; they held no allegiance to us, why would they do anything that we said. The dampeners make it so that even if you traded your Pokemon to someone, they would still hold an allegiance to their original trainer, not like before where their memories were modified slightly and they became almost blindly obedient to their new trainers.

All the Pokemon that weren't yours at the ranch were weaker than everyone's Pokemon. They would've died the second they were introduced into any of our battles, that and run away or turn on us. Having all of them grow to accept and become loyal to us would've taken too long. I knew that there was a very small chance of their real owners coming along and retrieving their Pokemon, but then again, there was a small chance that you were going to appear at our doorstep.

I knew it was a crazy idea, I needed to do something, anything than let the Pokemon starve and rot in their Pokeballs or escape into the wild to become murderous creatures and breed more of themselves. I promised them that I would find their trainers, and If I didn't, then when we were safe, like we are now, I would have all the time I would need to slowly convert them and train them to make them our Pokemon. Now that's impossible. They're all dead" Tracy began to sob.

"I lost a Pokemon too, Tracy. My Gliscor died in that last battle," Ash pointed out.

"You lost one Pokemon. I LOST OVER A HUNDRED! YOUR LOSSES DON'T EVEN BEGIN TO COMPARE WITH MINE! I failed Oak and all those people; I don't know what to do anymore"

"Tracy, maybe you need some time alone. To think. We'll stay here for a few days and get ready to head off to find survivors in-"

"I'm not going with you. I'm not leaving this place, and there's nothing you can do to change my mind and say otherwise. You can go off and get killed for all I care; you're stupid to leave a safe place like this."

"You don't mean that. You-"

"Yes…yes I do" Tracy interrupted.

Ash slowly descended down the stairs, seeing that each balcony had a Pokemon stationed to it from the trainers of the Yas/Kas gym. He saw Hitmonlees, Hitmonchans, Machamps, Primeapes, Kinglers, Golems, Rhydons, Raticates, Electivires, and Scythers.

"I guess this place is a pretty good haven" Ash thought, hearing the drunken karaoke the closer he got to ground zero.

Misty was dancing to the music that played loudly through the speakers situated at every corner of the room, the nurse Joy that Ash saw now looked entirely different with her hair down and her hat missing, clinging to Brock's arm as he drank with the rest of the trainers at the table, looking happier than Ash had ever seen him be in a while as he laughed and told stories.

Jessie, James, and Meowth were all stuffed, passed out in a corner of the room. Duplica was the life of the party, doing her imitations with the Dittos had made her into the center of attention. The men all clapped, hooted, yelled, and whistled after every trick she did, the buzz made her performance look more appealing. Surge was in the same Position as Ash had seen him when he had left.

"From the look on your face I can tell ya already met with Tracy. I warned ya didn't I? He's been like that since we got out of the mess when he appeared here" Surge broke away from his newly acquired drinking buddies.

"What happened?" Ash asked.

Surge found two empty seats, sitting down and waiting until Ash was seated before he continued.

"When we got here, all the Pokemon were feeding, the second that the Electivires and Scythers saw the red from Tracy's Pokeglov, they went crazy and tried to kill him. I managed to hold off a few of them with my knife until their trainers stopped them. With the dampeners gone, the sight of red makes it harder to ignore and they go even crazier. It's a good thing that I didn't kill any of their Pokemon; otherwise they probably wouldn't have been so kind ta us. Just make sure that you don't let the Electivires or Scythers see your Pokeglovs, that why they're outside for tonight with the other Pokemon keeping watch.

I explained our situation afterwards and they let us stay here until you guys found us, which we figured you would. Tracy took his losses pretty hard; I tried to snap him out of it several times, to the point where I thought roughing him up a little would work. As you can see, it didn't. He at least had the decency of telling us ahead of time when you guys would be coming and that you were all alive.

I told the people here and they thought it would be nice to do a surprise to take some of their surplus food and do a feast to commemorate your arrival, reunion, and survival. This place is safe and all, but I know we're only gonna stay here a few days and leave to find other safe places and people, right?"

"Yeah" Ash replied, "Tracy's staying behind though."

"I expected that. You've gotta understand that he's a broken man. I've seen his type during the war. He'll come around and be stronger if his depression doesn't kill him" Surge started to get up and leave. Just before he did, he turned to Ash, "You might wanna watch her for awhile."

Ash turned to see Dawn was sitting right next to him, rocking herself back and forth lazily. Her entire face was red, her lids were half shut, and her breath reeked of alcohol.

"No way! Dawn did you drink the beer?" Ash asked aghast.

"No…I (hic) I …they said it was soda…(hic) and I drank some. Misty and (hic) Duplica did too"

"You're kidding me" Ash groaned, turning to see what Misty and Duplica were still doing until Dawn pulled him back towards her.

"Ash…(hic) you never answered my question at the barn…(hic)…who d'you like more?" Dawn said, slurring some of her words.

"Dawn, you're drunk right now. I'll answer your questions when you're sober" Ash replied, trying to turn again once more, only to be pulled back to face Dawn.

"Ib not Drunk" Dawn hiccupped.

"That's what all drunk people say," Ash countered.

"Who cares? I can be as want as I drunk a be," Dawn snapped.

"I feel like your mom would care. I'm supposed to take care of you, remember" Ash answered back, suddenly regretting his choice of words when Dawn's eyes started to water up.

"Mom" Dawn's lip quivered and she began to cry on Ash's shoulder.

"Dawn, Dawn it's okay. She's fine; I know it. We'll find her and bring her here to be safe" Ash consoled. Dawn's crying quickly ceased, replaced with Dawn now nuzzling lovingly into Ash's arm and clinging to it as if for dear life.

"You're so warm, and nice, and kind and…" Dawn mumbled.

"This is gonna be a long night" Ash sighed, "her mom won't like this if she ever finds out. I really hope she's alive, for Dawn's sake."

Ash looked at Dawn again, now asleep, hoping that this crazy world wouldn't break her as well like it had Tracy and he himself. He turned to look around, seeing that Surge had secured a table where a line of men came to arm-wrestle him. Surge had gone undefeated. After several matches, the table couldn't take the strain and split in half, Surge and the others laughing it off.

Ash turned to see Misty still dancing, Ash having a hard time telling if she was drunk or not. A part of him grew a little annoyed that she was dancing with several different partners.

"You do love her then!" Dawn pouted. Ash turned, unable to deny that her reddened pouting face was adorable.

"What makes you say that?"

You keep staring at her" Dawn grumbled.

"I just wanna make sure she's – just go back to sleep Dawn" Ash suddenly ordered.

"Okay" Dawn yawned and fell back asleep on his arm, clinging to him tightly and anchoring him to the chair.

"I didn't think that would actually work" Ash thought, looking over to Surge who had just looked over to him. After seeing his situation for a few seconds, Surge gave him a thumbs up and smiled.

"Dammit, why do I feel he planned this? Does he really expect me to do anything?" Ash groaned.

Ash's head nearly went full circle when he heard the roaring cries of the guys yelling the same word over and over again.

"Strip! Strip! Strip!" the men hollered.

Ash turned to see Duplica, now quite sure that she was drunk, slowly slipping off her shirt. Despite his feelings towards her after the prank, Ash couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene. From the looks of it, she was bigger than Misty, probably because she was older, or at least old enough to have her own mansion and live alone.

In a single swift movement, Duplica tore off her shirt, revealing another shirt that was exactly the same as the one she had just torn off. The shirt in her hand turned into a Ditto, the men that had been whistling and cheering were now laughing and exchanging money from bets they had lost. Duplica laughed at the ones that drunkenly called her a tease, she stuck her tongue out at them.

"I guess her way of coping with this crazy world is jokes and pranks" Ash sighed, understanding her a little better, and laughing at how she had gotten the guys hopes up, even his. Ash eyed the bottle that Dawn had drunken from; it was barely empty. He wondered whether he should drink it or not, it wasn't like he was going to get in trouble with his mom. What worried him was whether or not he would be acting like Dawn and say things he would regret later.

"Well, it's a party" Ash reminded himself, "a party… yeah I guess that's what this is, isn't it?"

It had been so long since he had actually had a party, and after all they had been through, he felt that the others deserved a party. It had been nearly a month of hardship, and a party was the perfect pick-me-up. Ash picked up the bottle and took a sip, finding that the alcohol was barely noticeable and weak, and that the drink actually tasted good.

"Wow, if Dawn got drunk off this, she really can't hold her alcohol. Then again, she is ten" Ash thought, letting the party go off into the night.

It was noon when everyone had woken up and it was full of agonized groaning. Ash woke up with a start, finding that Dawn and Misty's sleeping forms flanked him on each side. Surge stood over him, can of beer in hand, and smiled evilly.

Ash frowned, "not a word."

"What can I say, you're living the dream you dog you," Surge chuckled and walked away. Ash had never felt so trapped before in his life, afraid that every time he breathed, he would disturb and wake up the girls on him.

His pokeglov whirred to life, Tracy's greatly distorted voice managed to make its way through Ash's heavily damaged Pokeglov.

"Sorry Misty, Dawn, Tracy needs me for a second" Ash said, squeezing himself out from between the two girls and heading upstairs. After a few groans Misty and Dawn eased themselves back onto the floor, going back to sleep with ease. Brock also got the message, hating Tracy for making him leave the peacefully sleeping nurse joy's side. He had half a mind to ignore it when Croagunk pointed to the direction of the stairs.

"Go" Croagunk commanded.

Brock's arms slumped, "fine" he repeated dejectedly

Both Brock and Ash entered Tracy's room; AJ was already there, waiting for them. Ash decided it would be for the best if he held back on his feelings towards what Tracy and he had talked about.

"I hope you all had fun last night" Tracy said soullessly, sounding and acting completely different from the other night.

"What's this about, Tracy?" Brock asked.

"Straight to the point! I like that. Well, as some of you already know, I'm staying here while you guys go off to find more…survivors. AJ will be staying with me as well," Tracy informed.

"AJ!" Ash blurted out.

"I didn't think we would ever find a safe haven, but here it is. I'm just gonna stay to see how long this thing lasts. Besides, if something does come to knock it down, I think me an Sandslash can probably take it down" AJ explained.

"Surge won't be staying, and Samurai has also decided to go with you. Right now he and Pikachu are going back to the forest to ask the Pikachu you met earlier to join us here at the haven. They won't be captured or harassed and will be rewarded for their help with food and shelter. You can never have too much help. There is one other thing. One other person will have to stay behind with me," Tracy said nonchalantly.

"Why?" Ash asked.

"Because, with the blueprints to the Pokeglovs gone, I will have to take one of the working ones and build it from memory and scratch. They have the resources here to build another one" Tracy explained.

"I guess I'm out then," Ash said, holding up his arm and showing the extensive damage done to his Pokeglov.

"What the hell happened to it?" AJ remarked.

"Guns and diamond hooves" Ash plainly replied, "I was gonna ask you to replace it but it seems you don't have anything to replace it with. You can't give me yours since it's bonded to your genetic structure for life."

"I wouldn't count you out just yet. You could stay and have me repair it while everyone else went on and searched. I can even do what I did to Brock's Pokeglov and have it be able to talk long distances. Though, I thought that you should know Brock, if you decide to go, you won't be able to talk with your family. Past this point it will be extremely hard for your Pokeglov to extend a link with your mother's Pokeglov. You could stay here and have me analyze the Pokeglov and still be able to talk to Ash and the others as well as your mother and family. You would also be able to do a long distance trade with the others if they needed your Pokemon by any chance" Tracy offered.

Brock looked at Ash, Ash nodded, knowing that Brock's mother would've wanted him to be safe, and things looked like they were only going to get more dangerous the further they ventured into Kanto.

"Alright then, I'll stay" Brock relented.

"Excellent, you can leave now Ash. Brock I want to start checking the Pokeglov so if you would please stay" Tracy asked. Brock sighed, thinking back to the nurse Joy that was probably still sleeping; still waiting for him at couch they had been sleeping on.

"If I stay here, I'll be able to spend more time with her anyway" Brock thought and smiled.

Ash descended the next flights of stairs, the old Yas and Kas gym leaders informing him that they were resupplying his rations and medical supplies for the journey, complimenting him on his bravery for going out into the now vicious world of Kanto. Ash thanked them; consoled when they told him that resuppplying their cache of needs barely put a dent into the main supply.

Waiting for him at the bottom floor were Pikachu and Samurai. Samurai had spent the entire night outside, the music being too loud for him and the smell of alcohol too overwhelming.

"How did it go?" Ash asked weakly.

"Wonderfully, Pikachu insisted that I bring Ketchup and they were hooked onto the idea the second we introduced it to them" Samurai explained. Ash peered over his shoulder, seeing dozens of Pikachu waiting outside.

"What can I say, I know my own kind" Pikachu smiled.

Ash smiled too, thinking how they would spend the next day here resting, considering how Misty complained about her legs hurting like crazy from all the dancing and Dawn from the headache she got from drinking.

With two Chanseys, the people in the infirmary would be on their feet in no time. Brock had talked to him about the situation with Duplica, making him consider forgiving her a little more. Ash hoped that Sabrina would find her way to this haven or that they would meet up with her ahead as they searched for survivors. He still had to find Dawn's mother and find Gary to deliver his father's will and hopefully Ritchie's path would cross with his.

They would round up the survivors out there and bring them back here, a place that they could finally call safe. Hopefully they would also be able to find other safe places out in Kanto, but until then, Ash had every intention of finding Dawn's mother, Gary, and any other survivors in Sinnoh.

For those of you just finishing this arc I feel I must congratulate and apologize to you. Congratulate because you've managed to make it through my writing and reached the end. There's quite a bit of spelling and grammar errors, scenarios that weren't well thought out or had characters act out of character in the way they did things or even spoke. If you've made it to this point, then you're a trooper and I salute you.

My apology is that while you've finished this arc and moving onto the next, the arc you've just read and its prequel are now no longer going to be considered part of the main series of Poke Wars. I'm redoing the series, starting with the Lapidescence (Subsistence Redux). This newer version will keep some things the same, but much of what has happened in Ash's month of the undampening will be different. If you've enjoyed this arc, then I hope the new version I will write will be even more entertaining. I will keep this arc up if only as a way to make a comparison of the plot and my writing style. I look forward to entertaining you all and I hope that I can continue to earn your continued patience.