Precious Doll in This Ugly World [Pokemon Fanfic, 2015 PKMNWatties]

Karmic Voyage

Her fingers cramped while her arms ached, but she continued her climb. Her clothes were kind of wet too, but it couldn't be helped. Having needed to dive through some waters and climb some areas, Sootoplis City was proving really hard for Ash to navigate. Her back still stung a little, but everything had healed over, so at least it wasn't a bleeding mess anymore (or wouldn't be).

And, to be honest, she was really depressed as well.

After a while, she realized she was near the sea, and she could see the vast waters before her. It was beautiful, and with a sad air, she had the urge to just walk towards it and keep walking into the water, hoping it would embrace her.

She really was useless and pathetic. It was a good thing she left Maxie before she dragged him down with her.

Maybe she really should just head towards the waters...

The cold metal of a gun was pressed obviously against her head.

"Funny finding you here," Howard Stone's voice croaked out, and she turned to see him looking unlike his usual clean and proper self. His suit was rumpled and dirty, and his hair was matted to his skin.

She cringed back, and looked at him fearfully. "W-what happened to Steven?"

"Don't you worry about him," Howard muttered. He gestured for her to get up. "We're going to meet up with a group. They're going to help us get out of here. And don't think about running away from me."

For a second, she did contemplate it. She eyed the gun, wondering if he'd shoot her. Maybe she wanted him to.

"Hurry it up, Miss Ketchum. We're on a tight schedule."

Her head snapped up to face him, looking at him with wide eyes.

"How did you know my name?" she gasped, since she'd never spoken her last name to anyone.

He smirked slightly. "The police talked about you, when I was getting arrested. They were whispering about how you'd just been there and they'd almost got to rescuing you. Oh? You didn't know they were looking for you?" he laughed lightly, as he saw her surprised look. "Well, they are. Hearing that and your name, made me remember a certain League meeting. I'm on the League Board, so I was able to attend the meeting from the Hoenn charter. Imagine, to my surprise, Giovanni Rocketto lecturing us all about the traffickers. He'd even swore that he'd look for an Ash Ketchum no matter what -and hearing your name from the police officers made it click in my head. You are that very girl Giovanni's been looking for."

Ash was in shock. Even after all these years, Giovanni remembered her and now he was even looking for her. She suddenly felt a surge of happiness and determination.

She wasn't done yet. She could still be herself. She wouldn't let anyone take everything from her. Now she just had to find a way out of this situation she was in.

"Where are we going?" she asked shakily as Howard gestured for her to get up again with the gun.

"We'll be meeting with a group of the traffickers. They're using a ship to get around, and will be heading to Slateport. We need to leave now," Howard grabbed her as soon as she got up. He then started yanking her towards a direction quickly.

Ash kept quiet, but internally she was readying herself for an escape attempt. Giovanni hadn't given up on her after all this time. She wouldn't give up on herself either. Not again.

~*~*~

The ship was large. Ash could see the ship's name on the side, titling the S.S. Aqua. She spotted various people around, a lot of them wearing an odd combination of white and blue striped shirts and canvas leggings. Their strange sashes and black ankle-length boots were only matched by the odd bandanas covering their heads and with a stitched blue symbol onto the front of it.