Lost in their Past

Chapter 61:- Brian the Brainy Brain

'I'm not talking about him,' Joanne said.

A sigh had escaped Ailsa's lips. 'Charlus took his out when he left and refused to have it reinstalled. And Ash... he doesn't have one.'

'Why?'

Ailsa didn't speak for a long time. 'I promised his father, Joanne. I'm not going to break it.'

'But what if they reveal our location?'

'He's my son, he'll die before letting it happen. And as for Ash, he doesn't know the specifics. And even if he did, I'm sure he'd rather kill himself before ratting us out.'

'So you're just going to leave him?' Joanne was on the verge of tears, something about her worry told Gary that 'him' wasn't Ash.

'I didn't say that,'

'Then what are you saying?!'

Gary had been leaning on his sore leg the entire time, just when Ailsa was about to open her mouth, he'd slipped and a loud creak had echoed in the air.

'Someone is at the door,' Ailsa said and Gary bolted away as swiftly as he could.

The next stop had been Serena's room.

By the time he finished reciting his tale, he found Serena on the verge of tears.

"Gary what if—" she broke into muffled cries

"Would you quit it!" He raised his voice, there was a limit of 'he's dead' liners he could take from Serena, and she'd already crossed it in the Basil city. "Ash isn't dead! He can't be dead! No matter how much you want him to!"

Serena frowned, her face was red and watery. "You think I want Ash dead?"

"Why else would you be saying 'he's dead... oh Arceus! He's dead!' All the time?!"

His mimicking of her voice did not please Serena, however the circumstances. "I don't sound like that..." she said between her sniffles.

"That's what you took for it?!"

She broke down once again. Gary groaned in frustration, he was bitchy and mean whenever he was tense and nervous. The situation they were in should've been a good excuse but a little voice at the back of his head told him that maybe being negative was her way of coping up with the loss.

It's clever, he thought, expect the worse so you wouldn't be disappointed.

Gary tried to do so but he couldn't. He didn't want to imagine a world without Ash in it. He had been a better trainer and human being than him ever since they were little kids. Ash had insurmountable kindness, he put his Pokemon and other people's need before his every damn time.

He didn't deserve whatever was happening to him, not after all the good and selfless deeds he'd done.

"I'm sorry Serena but stop crying!" He grabbed a handful of his hair, "I can't think!"

She stopped crying... eventually.

"Thanks," he said sarcastically, "I think they're planning to get him back. We should volunteer to help."

Serena frowned, her face was still red. "I'd they were planning to bring him back, they would've brought him back!"

Gary grunted his teeth. Serena was right, Ailsa's tone didn't suggest a rescue mission and then mention of a certain tooth sent shivers down his spine.

Something inside him knew what it was, he was afraid to say it out loud.

"We have to do something, alone." He sighed, "did Ash say where they were going?"

Serena shook her head, "We'd have to find out ourselves."

"But how?"

She went into deep thought. "The control center... it tracks our every move. If Ash and Charlus send a distress signal before they were captured..."

"Maybe we could trace it..." his hopes were getting high, "but... how do we get in it? Joanne's inside 24/7"

"You can distract her...?"

Gary scoffed, "She doesn't like me which is a wonder because everyone else cherishes me!"

The corner of her mouth turned into a snarl. "I don't."

"Of course you do," he said, "but let's save that topic for a rainy day. For now..."

The two of them went into deeper thought.

Come on, come on, he ransacked his brain, you're the love of my life, Brainy Brian, give me something!

Brainy Brian was the name he had given to his brain when he was five years old and has discovered that he was a genius like a grandfather and not a dud like his father. Of course Brian the brainy brain had helped him on numerous occasions but something told him it wasn't going to be of any use today.

That something was Serena.

"Dawn," she said, "Joanne will listen to Dawn."