If the coldness didn't kill him, Ash was sure he was going down for the murder of Gary Oak.
"It's cold!" He said for the millionth time, "I'm freezing!"
"Again... you already said that!"
Gary cursed beneath his breath as he continued tapping his foot impatiently. "It's not the cold that—"
Ash didn't wait for him to finish the sentence, his hands found a way to Gary's thick brain and hit him hard.
Gary fell like a damsel in distress on the wet floor. "What was that for?" He screeched.
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
Ash got up and traveled to the bunker. They were following a particularly disturbing UER that led them halfway across the Orre. But even after spending days in the tundra, they had no promising leads. This was a particularly nasty unown.
"We'll scout more area tomorrow," said Ash as he put down his binoculars, "there is a storm brewing inside."
Ash hadn't expected a yes from Gary but the least he could've done was grunted. Ashton turned back and found Gary buried in his phone screen, a subtle smile spread on his face.
"What?" Asked Ash.
"Dawn and Serena found an unown!" Gary jumped up with happiness, "they found an unown!"
"Why are you happy?" He questioned, "didn't you have a bet going on with Dawn?"
"I did it!" He exclaimed, "but no bet is worth staying in this frozen hell!"
Ash frowned as he went towards their little kitchen, he boiled water for his ramen and said, "We're not leaving, at least not until we find that nasty bugger."
The smile on Gary's face died down. "Oh no no no!" He ran towards him, "I'm not staying here any longer than I have to!"
"You have to."
"I don't!" He screamed, "they need a strike team and we're the closest!"
"It's not like their unown is in danger of exploding."
"It might as well be!"
Ash sighed as he poured water over his frozen noodles. "This is my mission, Gary. I respected you in your previous one and I expect you to do the same to me."
Gary said some more colorful insults as he sank on the couch, the sound of his teeth clattering filled the room once again. Ash picked up his noodle and sat right to him. Soon, the smell of spicy ramen filled the confined space as soon as he took off the lid, steam vapors covered his face providing additional warmth.
"You know..." said Gary, a little spark of hope sprouting in him, "if we don't respond, the page goes over towards Strike team Beta... you do know who's in beta don't you?"
Ash put down the spoon full of ramen which was mere centimeters away from his mouth. He put down the box with a thump, droplets of broth leaked from the box, and onto the table.
"I hate you, you bastard."
Gary smirked, "You love me."
By the time Gary and Ash reached the factory, smoke was coming out of the top.
"What the—" Gary exchanged worried glanced with Ash, they stood still for a moment before rushing their way to the top.
"I thought they weren't supposed to act until we got there!" Exclaimed Ash as he galloped on the stairs.
"It's Dawn!" Gary said as if it was answer enough, "what else did you expect!"
Ash knew the answer to that but it wasn't Dawn as Gary suspected. It wasn't Serena either. Out of the four of them at the Academy, Serena and Dawn were the most level headed and sensible people he knew.
It was the other side, the Apocalypse as they liked to call themselves. Ailsa had warned them of their collaboration, of team Rocket's, Flares, and many more.
The smoke was coming from the structure which looked a lot like a water reservoir. The top hatch was the source of the smoke, it was blown off.
The debris were floating and sinkin inside the reservoir. According to the seconds that the chamber had given them, Serena and Dawn usually accessed the tunnel through a loose tile to avoid attention.
But the Apocalypse hadn't bothered, they'd blasted the whole entering.
Ash and Gary dived down in the reservoir, beware of the fallen ruins, and swam towards the entrance of the tunnel. Their weapons were at their sides. Ash's weapons were beside him and Gary's behind the small of his back.
Gary couched silently as they reached the other end of the tunnel, it was dark and ominous. Something was going on. They walked on their tiptoe towards the darkness, their lasers spread arm's length before them.
The tunnel was empty much to their dismay, there was nothing but smoke and holes drilled throughout the tunnel. A morbid gut feeling crawled its way through Ash's body, the ground looked pretty scared, did it mean that they were...
No, he thought firmly, she may have gotten out safely.
"Ash," said Gary with a heavy voice, "they're not here."
"I know that," he sighed, "we have fanned out, some of these shots are still fresh... we have to hurry!"
BAM!
The tunnel shook from the impact. Loosened mud fell on their heads along with a few stones. They exchanged a look before they rushed out of the collapsing tunnel.
If there was even a tinge of hope that nothing bad was going to happen, it was now disappearing. The last time Ash had seen Serena, it was on the terrace of the Raider Manor. They were bickering before but just for a little while they had forgotten their little spat, their hands had touched and...
...and I'd founded a way to screw it all again.
Their paths had often crossed when they were in the Academy, but they hadn't exactly been pleasant. If anything, they were melodramatic, depressing, and full of angst... not towards Serena, Arceus, he could never be angry at her, just for her.
It didn't take a written slip from the principal's office for him to notice the injustice against Serena. She was the only one who walked around in full sleeve T-shirt's even when it was forty degrees outside.
A stone hit Ash's head as he dived into the water. He winched in pain as the pain traveled down his body, the water around himself started to turn into a deep shade of red.
"You're... bleeding," Gary said as they claimed ours.
He wiped it off using the sleeve of his dress, "It's... fine... come on! The noise came from—"
Before they could evaluate where the voice came from, another blast echoed in the air followed by a third and a fourth and a fifth... with each blast the ground shook more and more, almost as if it was closing in on them...
"Run!" Screamed Ash as soon as he realized what was happening.
There was no time to go down the stairs, Ash and Gary jumped from on roof to another and another, but even at their top speed, they weren't nearly as fast enough to outrun the blasts which were consuming the factory building to building.
Bam!
Ash knew it was the boiler that blew when the hair on the back of their necks was nearly singed off. The loud explosion caused significant damage to their eardrums. But burst eardrums were easily treatable than third-degree burns and severe nerve damage.
They knew their capabilities and it just wasn't enough to escape the roaring fire which crawled its way towards them like a hungry dragon.
"Jump!" Cried Ash as they galloped off the roof of the factory, the fire howled behind them, running to catch up with them to extinguish its lasting hunger.
But they escaped safely just by a split second, as soon as the factory blew up into bits, they landed on the ground and rolled towards the nearest tree for shelter.
Ash wasn't going to deny how badly his legs and arms hurt. The ringing in his ears was intense, for a moment it made him wish he should've died in the roaring fire.
It would've gotten better with time if he'd just waited. But time was something he didn't have. The factory or what was left of it was up in flames. It didn't take a genius to figure out that everyone inside was dead. His heart got caught up in his mouth as he pounded into the thought of Serena being inside when the explosion had happened...
A grunt escaped his lips as he pulled himself up, leaning against the tree for some support. Gary was beside him, he was breathing but unconscious. Blood came out of his mouth, his ribs were broken, and might've punched his lung. His ankle was bending in a funny way in which it definitely shouldn't have been bent.
He took out his receiver, it was showing spikes in UER. If the unknown was near, so was Serena. Despite his obvious injures, Ash moved forward. He tripped a couple of times but never fully fell, he kept on going forward. The spikes were increasing, Serena was near.
But then something happened and his other ankle got caught up in one of the stones from the explosion. Ash fell on the ground face first. He heard a little crack come from his nose, but he couldn't distinguish anymore.
He lay flat on the ground, too injured to move and to help Serena, wherever she was. Dead or alive. The spikes on the receiver were growing in an unusual amount, he could hear the continuous beeps.
Serena was near, she was coming.
His eyes were fixated on the starless night which was covered with a think layer of smoke. His vision was getting blurrier as seconds passed by, he was losing his consciousness.
But then a face came out from the corner, it was two faces and a lot of blond. The first face was sweet and innocent, he could recognize who it was even dead or asleep. It was dirty and bloodied around the corners but mostly, it was worried, worried for him.
The second one, however, was obnoxious and snarky. There was a scowl spread over the face of the leader of the strike team beta. Like he'd just won a competition of some sort.
"We found strike team alpha," said Calem Xavier, "it's lying unconscious on the floor like a little mop."