Adventure's Past

Chapter 5 - Traveler

{—} 10 hours earlier from the arrival {—}

It had been six hours since Ash had begun searching for the cottage. So far, he had found remnants of places he used to hang out when he and Samuel weren't training. One such place was a tree clearing that stood near the center of the island. It held a great spot where Ash could escape from his tight schedule. When he found it after the burning, however, it had been reduced to nothing but a spot in the ground.

Ash had realized that it was midday, meaning he had spent hours looking, to no avail. This was terrifying to him, but even after these six years, Ash had maintained his persistent attitude. He kept desperately searching all over the island for any remnants of a cottage and hopefully a safe and healthy Samuel.

He eventually managed to do a full loop, reaching back to where his Pokemon were still helping all the native Pokemon relocate from the fire. They saw Ash and began happily waving until they saw his face. "I still haven't found him..." Ash muttered, sitting down on the nearby log that stood untouched from the fire.

His Pokémon's expressions changed from calm to angry determination. They were going to find Samuel and safely bring him to Ash if it meant searching every inch of the island. Farfetch'd begun sprinting away in a search while Dragonite and Gengar quickly went to look from above. Ash didn't even notice this happening, as he was too shocked by the entire situation.

What snapped him out of it, though, was a small amount of groaning. Ash looked over at the noise and saw that Dragonite had placed all of the Team Rocket grunts nearby and that one of them was just beginning to wake up. "That nasty little idiot is gonna get what he deserves," The grunt said. "We'll make sure he doesn't get in the way of dealing with that old waste of space."

Ash realized that the grunt was referring to Samuel. Anger filled his whole body and, without thinking, he stormed over in a rage. The grunt saw him coming and stood up, his face showing annoyance. "You're getting in our way, you know that?" The grunt yelled. "I suggest you get out of it!"

Ash wordlessly continued right towards the man, who was slightly worried as he continued to approach him. "It's you who needs to get out of my way," Ash said coldly, his voice filled with enough anger to cripple any opponent. He pulled back his fist and sent a powerful punch to the grunt's face, sending him sprawling onto the ground.

Grabbing him by the uniform's color, Ash kept throwing punch after punch, unable to stop himself from his blind rage. He heard some wild Pokemon behind him causing a commotion to get his attention, but Ash didn't care. In his mind, the ungrateful grunt had caused so much destruction and had possibly ruined Ash's current life.

"You can't just come here and set everything on fire!" Ash screamed. Smack. "Do you know how much pain you've caused these Pokemon? To me?!" Smack. "You might've just killed my only friend right now! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" Smack. Ash had hit the grunt so hard on the final blow that he lost grip on his uniform and fell alongside him.

The grunt, who had been knocked out after the first punch, was unmoving but still breathing. Ash decided to stay on the ground and breathe heavily while staring at the blue sky being infested by the gray smoke from the fire. He could feel blood coming from his knuckles; it made it worse that he didn't know if it was his or the grunts.

{—} 4 hours earlier from the arrival {—}

Despite his rage, Ash had known he needed to help the grunt, so he employed a few of the wild Pokemon to tend to him, while he got a group of Paras to use Sleep Powder to ensure that none of them would wake up for a while. While this was all happening, Ash's Pokemon began slowly returning from their searches, all coming up empty-handed. Farfetch'd and Gengar had both returned, while Dragonite was still gone.