1 Year Later

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Cerulean

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Misty Waterflower pulled herself out of the pool in Cerulean City. She just finished another show. Her sisters had suddenly become nice to her, she knew they were trying to help her from the trauma the expedition gave her. She loved them for that. Sighing, she grabbed a towel and began to dry off. Pikachu grunted as it fell off the towel Misty was using. Pikachu was asleep on the stack of towels, until Misty pulled one out. Misty giggled and walked to her changing room. As she walked in, she threw the towel on the table next to her and looked at the picture of Ash she had. She picked it up and gently touched Ash’s hair in the picture. She smiled and put it down. She got dressed and went out to Cerulean City.

Hawk was supposed to be at a presentation. He began to sculpt statues, and he was pretty good at it. His latest work was a scale model of Matarae. It scared the living daylights out of some people. He was having a convention in the Cerulean gym. It was going to talk about different myths and the unexplained. He invited several guest speakers to talk. At the end, he was going to give a speech about the expedition, and show video and photos that were discovered. It turned out that Talon had a video camera and a camera. She took plenty of pictures and video, even after she died. Apparently, she left the camera on when she was killed, and it recorded about 20 minuets of the Matarae attacking the camp.

Misty strode to the fountain in the middle of town. There, she sat at the edge of it and watched the people picnic and play in the park. Pikachu plopped next to her and tried to catch some fish that were in the fountain. Misty ran her fingers at the surface of the water, creating tiny ripples. Gently, she stroked several fish that swam up to her. She left her Pokemon at the Pokemon Center, they needed some time off. Pikachu refused to go, however, he basically stuck with her after Ash’s death. It was really hard on the little guy. For weeks, he wouldn’t eat or anything. Now, it seemed like he was adapting.

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Viridian

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May handed out yet another Earth Badge. She sighed, ever since Gary went on that expedition, she became the gym leader at Viridian, instead of Gary. Lately, she hadn’t been doing so well, she lost about half of her battles. It’s been a year since the expedition, and Gary’s body still wasn’t found. Everyone had basically given up hope. Another challenger walked up to May. She showed her all 7 badges. May nodded and begun the battle. “Let’s go Wigglytuff!” the challenger said.

“Meganium! Solar Beam!” The Meganium charged up and unleashed a devastating Solar beam. The Wigglytuff bounced out of the way, safe. It retorted with a Rollout, the first try missed Meganium, but the second and third hit home. Meganium yelped and razor leafed in response. The leaves bounced off the Wigglytuff’s rubbery skin. “Dammit!” May yelled. Wigglytuff used a Mega Punch and brought Meganium to its knees.

“Wiggly, finish it off!”

“Wait!” A husky voice yelled. A figure limped in, covered in a brown cloak. Right next to the strange man, was a creature. It looked like a cross between a wolf and a lion. It had a large crystal growing out of its back. A scar ran down the creature’s eye. “The rules state. If the current gym leader arrives in the middle of a battle that the substitute is doing. The current gym leader has the right to stop the battle, and begin a new one. I, Gary Oak, will use that rule. As the current Gym Leader of Viridian. I challenge you, the trainer with the Wigglytuff, to a 1 Pokemon battle. No time limit,” Gary said as he took off his cloak. May gasped at her brother. He had lost at least 20 pounds, yet, he appeared more muscular. His skin was a bit darker, and a growth of beard began on him.

“I accept your challenge,” The trainer said, unaware that she was talking to the person who has been presumed dead for a year. “Wigglytuff! Go!”

“Let’s go Gevaudan!” The creature at Gary’s side leapt to the Wigglytuff.

“Pound!”

“You know what to do!” The Wigglytuff attempted a pound, but Gevaudan slashed the Wigglytuff into a KO.

“No fair! That was a one hit move!”

“Train harder next time,” Gary said. Angrily, the trainer stormed out of the gym. Gary sighed and almost fell on the floor. May immediately ran to him and embraced him.

“Gary! Where were you!?” She said through tears.

“Trying to get home. Trying to get home.”

May poured another cup of hot tea into a cup for Gary. Gary was sitting on a chair, in front of the fireplace. His cloak was neatly folded on a chair next to him, he changed into a new pair of clothes and showered. He told May everything, how he escaped the blast from the helicopters, how he lived off of the land, how he had to beg for weeks to gather enough money to travel to the states. He told her how he tried to get a plane to Kanto, how he had to be a refugee on a ship in order to get home. He also told her how he met someone else from the expedition on the boat....

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Cerulean

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Misty fell asleep on a bench near the fountain. Pikachu curled in a ball on top of her. A hand gently tapped her shoulder, “Misty, wake up Misty,” a voice said. Misty felt someone’s lips brushing her forehead. Slowly, she woke up at Pikachu’s squeal. Misty’s vision was blurry, all she could see was a figure holding Pikachu. Immediately, Misty went defensive, “Put it down!” she commanded. Immediately, she jumped up to face the person.

“Hi Misty,” he said.

“Ash!? You’re... alive!?”

“Yup,” Ash said, his voice began to crack. Misty embraced him tightly, sobbing.

“Oh Ash, I thought you were gone!” She said through sobs.

“I survived the blast, after a while, I needed to get enough money to come back. I finally was a refugee on a ship, it took several months to get here.”

“You scared me to death,” she said. Finally, the two kissed, a long kiss.

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“Thank you, Mr. Vargas. Your speech floored all of us. We hope to see you soon,” Hawk said, as he shook his hand and watched him walk off the podium. Hawk cleared his throat and looked into the audience of at least three hundred. “Now, this is probably what you have been waiting for. I will now give my speech on Matarae, and show you a movie that was recorded at the time of the attack on the expedition.” Hawk began to start his speech when he saw Misty run in. “Oh, well, looks like we have Misty, as you know is the other person who survived this ordeal,” Hawk stated, he waved for Misty to come up. People applauded as she walked up on the podium.

“I have excellent news for everyone here,” she said. “Ash Ketchum, and Gary Oak are alive!” The audience gasped, immediately hands rose up and questions bombarded her. “Don’t ask me, ask them yourselves,” she said as she motioned at the entrance.

Ash and Gary walked in. They were greeted by cheers and cameras. Hawk stood at the stage dumbfounded, immediately he ran down and hugged them both. Hawk laughed out loud jumping and hugging Misty. Gary and Ash walked up to the podium and began to answer questions.

“First thing I want to say, is that there is no force in heaven nor hell that will make me do that again,” Gary said.

“Same here,” Ash added.

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Gabriel turned off the TV in Team Rocket HQ. He stood up and limped to the intercom. “Giovanni, come here, please.”

“Yes boss.” A couple minutes later, Giovanni appeared. He straightened his suit and walked towards Gabriel. “What can I do for you?”

“Giovanni, while I cannot praise you for the way you handled Team Rocket after the Matarae incident, I can tell you that Team Rocket will no longer be a minor power in this world. We will rise to our peak. In three month’s time, our forces will control Kanto. Giovanni, go tell your top agents to get ready. Team Rocket is rising up.”