Adventure's Past

Chapter 43 - Statue

It had been a few hours since Ash arrived in Kanto; the only information he had regarding Goh's whereabouts was the fact that he was likely at a mountain that held Giovanni's lair, so it had been proving to be quite an impossible task. His first thought was to have him, Pikachu, and Dragonite go to a mountainous area and use all sets of eyes to try to find anything, but nothing had caught their attention.

Now, he sat atop Dragonite, who was idly flapping his wings and scouting the area around them. Sitting with his legs crossed and his arms folded, Ash was deep in thought, trying with as much willpower to muster up an answer. Let's see, he thought to himself. If I was Giovanni, where would I hide a facility to do villain stuff?

He thought back to the other time Giovanni performed a similar action to this one; the Viridian Gym had been a pretty clever way of hiding his evil doings from the authorities, so Ash felt that a similar tactic might've been used. The big question is where could he possibly do something just like that?

Scratching his head, Ash closed his eyes again before feeling a slight tap on his shoulder. He opened one eye and glanced at Pikachu, who had a proposition. "Pika, Pi," Pikachu explained, pulling up the regional map on Ash's phone and pointing at Viridian City. "Pika, Pika-Pi?" He added suggestively, leading Ash to understand his partner's motives.

Nodding, Ash looked at the map seriously. "Right. You wanna go check out the gym to see if it could lead us anywhere," he said, earning a nod from Pikachu. "You heard the plan, Dragonite," he said over his shoulder kindly. "Viridian City isn't too far from here, and I'll let you rest as we walk around the gym, okay?"

Dragonite bellowed in affirmation and flapped his wings powerfully, sending them south from their current location and towards Viridian City. As Ash felt the wind blow past his face, he wondered about what Bonnie and Serena were doing. It's pitch black outside, so they're probably both sleeping right now, he thought to himself.

The symptoms of fatigue and tiredness were beginning to overcome him, but he knew he couldn't sleep until he had least found the lair that Jessie and James had talked about. "Pikachu, could you give me a quick spark to wake me up?" He asked Pikachu, who lightly sent a small bolt towards Ash, who felt his entire body tingle. He shuddered as the effects mitigated, but he was now wide awake, so the experience wasn't too bad.

"Thanks," He silently whispered, giving Pikachu a small fist bump. Turning back towards where Dragonite was heading, Ash finally took some time to breathe and absorb the sights of the Kanto region surrounding him. He had always liked traveling to new regions, that was no secret, but there was something about the Kanto region that stood out to him so heavily.

Perhaps it was the rolling hills that were accompanied by the various hay bales that sat idle during the daytime, or maybe it was how the stars were extremely visible at night, as the trees that usually blocked his views in other regions were absent, allowing for a direct view of the twinkling dots. Ash knew that a few of the sights in the night sky were Pokemon, and it filled him with more excitement knowing that a few were Pokemon he'd likely never seen before.

The vast, inky sky suddenly allowed his thoughts to wander. It was truly the first time he had been alone since reuniting with all of his friends; there was a sense of comforting familiarity, but he felt the absence of his friends, a feeling that he could only despise. He was aware of the quickness in which he left the group, but truthfully, he needed to get away from everyone temporarily, even if that person happened to be Serena.

Even though he wanted to deny it, he was terrified. He was terrified of the fact that Goh was now missing once more, the fact that he had acted out of character, the fact that something was wrong, given the bursts of the negative energy he had been feeling recently. Even something as trivial as the World Coronation Series was giving him nerves just thinking about it.