Thanks for reviewing people. As you have probably noticed I need a little work on my pacing, so I am gonna try and make this chapter more dramatic, with more emphasis on description in dramatic situations, if I go over the top let me know and I'll find a balance :)

Damien - there are twenty Pokemon films. I have seen three. So no, I didn't know that. When so much of the Pokemon universe is already developed I don't feel guilty missing a detail. If I write something that conflicts with official canon it's safe to assume I either forgot it or haven't seen it, but it's fan fiction so who gives a crap anyway.

Ash woke with a jolt, forgetting for a moment that he had slept on Charizard's back and being surprised to see the ground so far below. It was just past dawn and so it was still a little dark. He sat up and stretched, Charizard rumbling a 'Good morning' to him, and Pikachu nuzzled his hand sleepily. "Morning guys." Ash replied, stifling a yawn. He looked out to the horizon for any sign of Cerulean. They had passed Pewter just as he had fallen asleep but the journey over Mt Moon was a long one. Knowing Charizard could fly for days just by riding the currents he had let sleep take him, the heat from the orange lizard keeping him warm. "How are you keeping up, Charizard? Need a rest?" Charizard shook his head proudly and beat his wings a little faster, gaining a short burst of speed. Ash remembered how Gary had told him that almost all Flying-type Pokemon could put half their brain to sleep whilst flying, allowing them to fly almost indefinitely, but still he was impressed.

"We'll be there soon." Ash said to himself as the outlines of buildings on the horizon, their roofs a deep ocean blue. Immediately he thought of Misty; even though it hadn't been long for him he already missed her. He didn't know how she would react, well she'll certainly angry, he thought with a smirk, but after that? He hoped she could forgive him.

His thoughts were broken by a hoarse cry behind him. He twisted around sharply to see a large bird Pokemon gaining on them. The bird was large and brown, with a very ragged look to it, and ash could see a wicked glint in its eyes.

"Row! Fearow!" The Pokemon cried before suddenly tucking in its wings and dropping into a dive-bomb, its beak spinning. Ash opened his mouth but before he could speak Charizard swerved to the left and dodged the attack with ease, the great lizard suddenly as nimble and graceful as a Whimsicott. Ash was shocked for a moment but his battle senses quickly kicked in.

"Alright, nice dodge Charizard. Counter-attack with a flamethrower."

The orange lizard roared and let loose a massive gout of flame, the size of which Ash would have expected from a Blast Burn attack. The blast shot towards the Fearow but it darted away with only a few blackened feathers. It growled in pain, and fired back with an Air Slash which Charizard easily dodged.

"Charizard, that was incredible." Ash yelled. "You're so much stronger." Charizard nodded in approval before diving down towards the ground, then sweeping back up so that they were underneath the Fearow, which was suddenly looking around in confusion. "Alright, take him down with a Fire Punch." Charizard's right fist became cloaked in flame as they shot towards the opponent and, before it knew what was happening, Charizard's fist smashed into the side of its face. The force of the blow knocked the Fearow away and it fell like a stone. Ash watched it disappear into the trees below. "Nice work, Charizard." Ash yelled, giving him a firm pay on his neck. The Pokemon nodded in approval. 'I can't wait to see how strong my other Pokemon have become.' He thought excitedly, imagining the possibilities, but he was cut short by another hoarse cry from below. He looked down and saw the Fearow again, looking severely injured but still speeding towards them. "Damn, it sure is tenacious." Ash said to Pikachu, who was leaning over his shoulder to get a good look.

"Pikaaa." He replied. Ash was ready to call out another attack when the Fearow let out a different cry, this one higher pitched and louder.

"Oh no." Ash groaned, it was calling for help. Almost immediately the air filled with the distant sound of hundreds of flapping wings, like thunder, and Ash understood why this Fearow was so determined: he knew Fearow had an enormous memory for grudges but after all these years it still amassed him that it remembered him from the first day he set out on his Pokemon journey. Ash turned to see hundreds of Fearow and Spearow behind him, closing fast. He gulped in fear, but then smiled; this was a perfect time to test out how the three years had affected his Pokemon.

"Alright, Butterfree, Pidgeot, Gliscor, it's your time to shine." Ash yelled and threw their pokeballs into the air. Each one emerged with its own battlecry. "Alright guys, they are your targets. Go wild." And with gleeful smiles the three Pokemon dived into the fray, tearing through the ranks of bird Pokemon. Pidgeot fired enormous hurricanes that blew the opponents away in a flurry of feathers. Gliscor sent them plummeting to the ground with barrages of Stone Edge. Butterfree flew above them all and scattered great clouds of Sleep Powder, causing many of them to glide slowly to the ground in a daze. Ash was stunned by their strength; they were on a whole new level of power, but the Fearow's numbers were incredible and the three Pokemon were struggling to keep them away. Soaring through the enormous aerial melee Ash could see that none of them were badly hurt, but at this rate it would be death by a thousand cuts. Time for a new plan. "Alright guys, go take a break with a Roost each, good job." The three Pokemon pulled out of their battles and dropped like stones before pulling up just before they hit the ground and landed softly, panting slightly but still ready for more. "Pikachu," Ash said with a smirk "it's your turn." Pikachu jumped from Ash's should to Charizard's head. "You know what to do - take them all out with a Thunder." Ash roared. Pikachu grinned, finally getting to test his strength. Sucking in a breath and tensing as sparks crackled from his cheeks, and the enemy Pokemon zoomed towards their one remaining target, he attacked.

"Pikachuuuuuuuu!"

From Pikachu came the largest Thunder Ash had ever seen, but then it split into four separate arcs that span around Pikachu's body in a circle, sending out blasts of electricity that devastated the Fearow's ranks. In seconds hundreds of them were blown from the sky and their cries of pain were deafening. The attack didn't stop, though. The lightning arced between each Fearow and Spearow that was still untouched, and for a moment the sky was filled with a beautiful light show. Just as suddenly as the attack had come it stopped, and Ash watched the enormous cloud of charred Pokemon fall silently to the ground. Pikachu, with a cry of delight, turned to Ash and gave him a thumbs up.

"Pikachu, that was amazing." Ash said as he caught the mouse in a hug. "I can't believe how powerful that was."

"Pika!" Was the proud reply.

Charizard circled to the ground and Ash dismounted, grabbing the five Pokemon in a group hug.

"I can't believe how strong you guys are. When we get to cerulean I'm gonna buy you guys more poke puffs than you could ever eat." Ash declared with a grin. The Pokemon cheered. "Alright, I think we'll walk the rest of the way, but you guys can stay out of you want." Both Pidgeot and Butterfree tapped their pokeballs on Ash's belt and disappeared in a red light, but Charizard and Gliscor remained, Gliscor nuzzling up to Ash playfully. "Hey, easy now." He responded, laughing."

"Fearrr..." Came a strangled call from behind him, and Ash broke away from Gliscor. Turning around he saw, unbelievably, the same Fearow from the start of the battle, crawling towards him, pulling itself forward. It's feathers were badly charred and the end of its left wing was twisted out of shape, but Ash could still see that wicked gleam in its eye.

"Seriously!?" Ash yelled, incredulous. "You're still going after all that?"

"Fearr..." The Fearow was on its last legs but it still wanted to keep going, holding itself up through sheer force of will. Ash was impressed. Charizard moved to attack but Ash waved at him to stop. "Wait," he added "I don't think he wants to fight anymore." Ash stared at the Pokemon, watching it calmly as it shuffled closer, stopped a few feet away. Slowly, painfully slowly, it drew itself up to full height so that it was taller than Ash and cared directly into his face. Ash flinched slightly but kept staring it straight in the eye. For a moment there was silence as they stared at each other, dark brown eye meeting deep black. Neither moved, other than Ash's hair in the slight breeze, and then, with surprising grace, the Fearow lowered its head to below Ash's and tilted to one side, exposing it's neck. Ash was no expert but it was clearly an act of submission. Ash slowly raised his hand and placed his hand on the Pokemon's dirty brown feathers, making it twitch, but then Ash started to pet it and it slowly relaxed, letting it's head drop and cawing softly. Looking at the raggedness of its feathers and the lines under its eyes, Ash could see that the Fearow was very, very old to be leading a group; the fact that he was still in charge marked him out as an exceptionally strong Pokemon.

"You're old, and you've had a tough life, but you're still going strong despite it. I respect that." Ash spoke softly so that only the Fearow could hear; a proud Pokemon like this would not like to be talked about in front of other Pokemon. "I'm sorry about your wing, I know you have a grudge against me but I didn't mean for that to happen. If you like I can catch you, and send you to a Pokemon ranch back in Pallet Town. No other Fearow with be able to say it was out of weakness after I beat your entire flock. You can retire proud, with dignity."

The Fearow seemed to weigh this up in silence, before slowly nodding gently. Ash pulled out a pokeball but then looked at the broken wing again. "Gary can heal you properly at the ranch, but if I capture you with your wing like that it will only make it worse. I'm going to have to set it in place." He pulled out a full restore and sprayed it over the elderly Pokemon. It stayed quiet the whole time, staring up at Ash with hope in its eyes. "This is going to hurt badly, but you're going to have to bear with it." The Fearow nodded and Ash placed his hands on its wing; one at the end and one halfway down. "On three. One." He snapped the bone back into place. The Fearow screamed in agony and surprise and snapped its beak down on Ash's right arm out of instinct. Charizard roared in anger and moved to teach the bird a lesson but Ash stopped him with his other arm.

"No." He said through gritted teeth. "It's fine." Slowly the Fearow's beak released his arm as its pain receded and, realising what it had done, nudged Ash with it's head as an apology. "It's ok." He replied. "It's just bruised." He pulled the pokeball back out. "Enjoy retirement, Fearow." The bird Pokemon let out a soft caw as Ash tapped it with the pokeball and it disappeared inside. Since he already had six Pokemon with him the pokeball shrunk and disappeared. Ash let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and turned back to Charizard, Gliscor and Pikachu. "Well that was interesting, but we should probably get going, we don't want to waste the day." Examining his badly bruised arm he began walking away. Not really sure what to make of the situation the three Pokemon exchanged looks before following in tow, occasionally stepping over an unconscious Spearow.

Cerulean City loomed in front of them. Charizard and Gliscor had returned to their pokeballs so Ash, with Pikachu on his shoulder, blended into the crowd comfortably. Ash smiled and took a deep breath, the familiar ocean breeze from the Cape filling his lungs. The city was bustling, in fact it was crowded; more so than before. He looked around, trying to work out the cause. Was it market day? A street fair? He couldn't remember. Looking at them closely they didn't even seem like locals - most of them wore rough, dirty clothes and carried huge bags. They moved slowly towards the city centre, following directions from several Officer Jennys. Ash frowned. Were these...refugees? He walked up to one Jenny who looked less busy.

"Uh, excuse me," he said catching her eye "where have these people come from?"

The Jenny frowned. "Have you not seen the news recently?"

"I've been, uh, travelling."

The Jenny stared at him, but then grunted in dismissal and turned back to directing the crowd. "Another Rocket attack in Saffron City. Turns out they had a power base in a building called Silph Co. and used it to take control of half of the city. More and more are fleeing the area each day, and we have to find somewhere for them. Last I heard Sabrina was holding the defence."

Ash stood there in shock. Team Rocket wasn't wasting time. He turned away and walked down the street, thinking. He had to get down there quickly; Sabrina was strong but she couldn't hold the city on her own, but then, would he really make that much difference? No, he couldn't think like that; if Dialga had that much faith in him then he had to as well. With renewed vigour he headed towards the gym. Not much had changed in Cerulean; a few buildings were bigger, some had been replaced by different shops, but generally it was the same, and so it was easy to find his way. Soon he found himself outside the Cerulean gym; it was identical to how he remembered it, although for somewhere that did water shows it didn't look very busy. All the posters were from at least a year ago and there were very few people around. Maybe Misty's sisters were travelling again. Maybe Mosty was. He hoped not.

Ash stood in front of the huge double doors, trying to fight off a burbling nervousness in his stomach.

"If we know Misty," Ash said to Pikachu "then at first she will be really happy to see us but then she'll think about it, get angry and" he gulped "get her mallet out."

"Piiii." Pikachu replied nervously. Ash sighed; talking about it didn't help, and while he was nervous he was also excited, hopeful and worried as well. Tentatively he pushed the door open and walked inside. In front of him was a reception desk and a few chairs against the wall. No one was there apart from a girl at the desk, who Ash recognised as one of Misty's sisters but he wasn't sure which. He walked up to her.

"Uh, I'm here to see Misty."

The sister, whichever one it was, didn't look up from her magazine. "Here for a battle? Just head through the door, she's in one of the tanks." Rather than try and explain himself Ash just headed for the door; he got the feeling she wouldn't have listened anyway. He pushed the door open and walked through; the arena had changed quite a bit. Whereas before the tanks rose up from the ground someone had dug down and extended them, adding a lot more depth. Ash now stood on a metal walkway about halfway up one of the tanks. He could see why they did it as several water Pokemon swam past gracefully, and noticed that some were new - from regions further than Kanto and Johto. Misty had clearly expanded her collection while he was gone. He took the steps up to the top of the tank and looked around; Nobody was here. He walked along the walkway that led around the large tank, looking for another door, but then a large shape under the water caught his attention, and his eyes darted downward. Below him an enormous, serpentine shape speared through the water, it's deep azure scales glimmering as it passed. Ash stared at the Gyarados for a while as it circled the tank until he noticed a human form on its back, an unmistakeable shock of orange hair on the person's head. Ash stifled a gasp; suddenly he had no idea what to do, he just kept watching her, trying to summon any helpful idea, but it was lost amid a tide of 'what if?'s.

Mercifully, he eventually thought of something; remembering how Misty had once explained that sound travels differently underwater he stuck his hand into the water and knocked on the wall of the tank. Immediately the Gyarados changed direction and headed towards he other end of the tank. As it reached it the form of Misty detached from it and rose towards the surface. Ash's heart started to race nervously. He stood, unable to move, as she reached the surface and climbed out on the side. Immediately grabbing a nearby towel she started drying her hair.

"Here for a battle?" She asked, her voice muffled by the cloth. Ash gulped; she hadn't even looked at him yet and the towel was blocking her vision. She sounded happy, which relieved him. Suddenly his mouth was very dry, he gulped again and opened it to speak.

"Uh, no, that's not why I'm here."

Misty froze mid-towelling at the sound of his voice. Slowly, very slowly, she lowered the towel to around her shoulders, straightened up and turned around. Their eyes met across the tank, Ash's full of joy, Misty's full of a thousand conflicting emotions, and they stood there in silence.

"Ash?" Misty finally said, her voice almost breaking at the word.

Ash smiled, giving her the best smile he could.

"Hey Misty."

Phew, finally got this chapter done. The whole Fearow thing was just me wanting to show Ash had developed more emotionally over the years as I want to make him a little less blockheaded at this age. Anyways, let me know what you think :)