Loyalty

Loyalty 8

Loyalty

Chapter 08: Discoveries

The location on the map was in the open sea where there shouldn't be anything, but Ash didn't question it for a second. He and Misty rode upon his Charizard as swiftly as the fire pokemon could carry them. They eventually reached the location marked on the map and found, water... Ash examined the map again, he and Misty had traveled in silence occupied by their own thoughts. The proximity at riding on Charizard's back felt odd as they tried to stay away from each other without risking falling at the high speed.

Charizard flew in circles over the spot until Ash finally spoke, "Maybe this isn't the place."

"Only one way to find out," Misty jumped off Charizard and dove into the ocean below before Ash even had time to react to her comment or interpret her intentions. A few seconds later, Misty's head emerged from the water with crushed hope. Hope because she had found something, crushed hope, because she crushed it herself. She didn't want to set her heart on something only to find that the reality was much harsher. "There's some kind of underwater facility. It's actually pretty tall." She demonstrated what she meant by moving to stand on the top of the tallest chamber, making the ocean water only reach up to her waist. It was a low tide today.

"We just need to figure out how to get in," Ash hopped off Charizard, who growled in annoyance at being splashed with sea water as Ash landed next to Misty. "Thanks for the ride," Ash recalled his pokemon.

A short and uncomfortable moment of silence passed. They knew who they were and the position they were in, but traveling together, despite this being for a very different reason, reminded them of their adventures of the past. Misty had her reasons to be bitter, she kept reminding herself of that, yet she knew she couldn't really blame Ash for the past. On the other hand, he did stand with his family despite what they did, yet they had been kind to him at least, she mused.

Misty knew that though Delia was human and as such made mistakes, she was a good mother and a kind hearted person. She simply chose loyalty over justice. Yet the bitterness didn't go away completely with those thoughts. Why couldn't things be changed? If not changed then at least she could... Misty's thoughts were interrupted as the floor beneath her feet disappeared and she sunk deeper into the ocean along with Ash. She was a strong swimmer, but she couldn't resist the current pulling her down like suction.

Ash, Misty and Pikachu were pulled down through a transparent pipe. The ocean water was thankfully drained from it as they went along. They were eventually thrown into the floor, the pipe making a curve at the end, which helped to reduce the impact of the fall like a slide. They tried to get back on their feet, coughing out the sea water that had made it into their lungs as the area around them lit up.

The structure resembled a mix of metal dungeon and experimentation laboratory right out of a mad scientist movie. However, the machines looked poorly maintained, as if the facilities had not been used in a long time. Ash and Misty almost expected guards to come running towards them but no one did. None the less, if the lights were on there might be someone there albeit the mechanism could have been somehow automatic or triggered by their combined weight standing above the pipe; maybe it was simply an old structure that gave in.

Silently they began to explore the structure, heading from the large tall chamber down a narrow corridor. The silence was so deafening and the questions so imperative that Misty simply had to ask. "Have you ever thought to defy him? Your father?"

"Yes," Ash replied with sincerity and smiled as if fondly remembering mischief. "It was fun at times, and very stressful at others." His expression turned serious. Letting out a breath, he looked at misty and voiced. "I think I should explain myself. I'm sure you think I must have changed a lot."