Kanto : Going My Way

The Forest Of Troubles - Part 3

"...P-Pl-Please...I-I don't know an-anything else...P-Please l-let me go..."

A man wearing a black suit that was stained by blood whimpered as he felt the spear that was piercing his hands twist. The boy that was standing near him holding the spear hummed in thought.

'...They were BURNING an entire forest for the sake of finding a single pokemon...The Guardian Of All Forests, Celebi...I've read legends that say Celebi watches after all the forests of the world and punishes anyone who dares bring harm to them...But...Actually considering the death of an entire forest to intentionally provoke Celebi to encounter it is...*sigh*' Ash thought with a mental sigh. That's what was happening in the forest...

They were going to burn it down to encounter Celebi and put a tracker on it...These grunts didn't last a minute against HIM, an almost newbie trainer...What chance they had against a legendary pokemon? None. These rocket grunts were given a suicide mission...Just so that Team Rocket could find any trace of Celebi...

...To think that they were using their own grunts as tools that were meant to be thrown away after their purpose was over...And about Domino? She was heading for Vermillion City, just like him...Something related to SS Anne. The man didn't know the full details actually...

Ash looked at the crying man that was tied to the tree and checked for any disturbances in his aura to detect for lies. The Rocket man wasn't lying...Truly he had told Ash everything he knew...

Ash slowly lifted the spear that was piercing his hands and pointed it at his throat...The man's eyes widened as tears leaked out of them, "Y-You said you-you'd l-leave me i-if I told you e-everything..." He whispered fearfully.

"I lied"

The man's face crumpled like a china vase upon falling down. The intensity of his tears falling down his cheeks increased, "...P-Pl-Please don't..."

Ash's spear shot forward at high speeds at his chest but froze just touching the grunt's chest when he heard two words,

"...M-My da-daughter..."

'DON'T LISTEN TO HIM! He's lying!!' A part of Ash's mind shouted at him...

'...He isn't...'

'EVEN THEN DON'T LISTEN TO HIM! HE'S A BAD PERSON! A ROCKET GRUNT! HE STEALS, MURDERS AND THEIVES PEOPLE!! KILL HIM!!' Once more the dark part of his mind screamed at Ash.

'...But...But can I do it? After experiencing the life without a father...Can I kill him like this?...In cold blood? Damning a child to live the life of an orphan?' Ash asked himself...His hands were trembling...The spear too...

'BUT YOU KILLED THOSE GRUNTS TOO! AND THAT ROCKET LADY, CASSIDY?! DIDN'T THEY HAVE FAMILIES TOO?! THEN WHY ARE YOU HESITATING NOW?!'

He shut up after that...He had no response to that...Ash had once thought that killing each and every single one of Team Rocket will solve the problem in Kanto...But will it truly solve the problem? Rocket grunts, they may be...But...They do have families...People who love them unconditionally...Won't those people hate him? Won't those people loathe his very existence if they knew he had killed their family member?

But then...What can he do? Don't do anything? Team Rocket will bring entire Kanto to anarchy...With Lance sitting completely idle and no one to stop their siege. Stop Team Rocket but don't entirely wipe their existence by killing them? They will once more rise in rebellion. Entirely wipe their existence by killing them? Their families, their friends, their loved ones...What would happen to them? Does he have it in himself to do that?