The Greater Evil III : Time of Ruins

Part I : Awakened Prophecies

Chapter I : Path of Prophecy

Burned ruins. The terrible fighting to halt the wave of destruction that had been known as the Crimson Lotus had taken it's toll, and now the small town of Pallet was in ruin. Pushing away his black hair, Ash brushed a tear from his eyes, looking at his fallen hometown. For hundreds of years Pallet had been a thriving little town, slowly building to what it had become by the time he had been born. And in a few days, it had been torn down.

"It's sad isnt't it?" Kyle's voice said from behind him. "It took humans so much time to build this town - and so little time to tear it down..."

Ash nodded somberly, his thoughts elsewhere, on the many memories lost, his memories of Pallet town. Memories forever marred by the destruction of the town, and more so by the fact that the one who was to blame for it was a childhood friend, even more, a childhood love.

"Mankind...so quick to tear things apart, so slow to build them..." Kyle continued, his voice strangely quiet. "It's almost ridiculous, really." He was silent once more, as they headed toward the outskirts of the town, the only area were some house still stood after the battle, especially to the west.

Taking their bearing on the tower of the Oak laboratory, they slowly made their way there, Ash reflecting on the irony that one of the few building that had been spared was the one that logic seemed to say would have been a prime target for the Lotus. His house, near the laboratory, had also been sparred, and that was where they were going ,walking through the rubble-filled street, trying not to hear the complaints of all the citizens who returned only to see their own houses, ruined.

As they neared Ash's house, they found friends waiting, Damian and Richie, Melody not far from them, looking at a map, their eyes lost in thought.

"What are you guys doing? Trying to guess where the other seven are by looking at a map?" Ash asked, pushing aside the dark thoughts, trying to think of his friends, those that were still alive. With a flicker of his wrists, he drew his blade and released his pokemon. Sora's mane flared in happiness, as Deathwing looked around with his head, his eyes obviously searching for any threat. Ashura looked lazily at him, and Khamul took a shrewd glance at everyone, as if he was trying to evaluate their weakness, planning to attack them. Ash gave his pokemon a warning look, trying to make him understand that attacking his friend would not be a good idea, and Khamul seemed to recoil.

Fenrir instinctively moved close to Ash, looking around for something that might quality as a threat, and Esper looked curiously as her master. Aysen glanced disdainfully around, then ignored them all. And then, one last shape formed, the only one of Gary's pokemon that had been out of the pokeball when the young man had died and had not disappeared with Gary's body. Roaring fiercely, yet sadly, the female arcanine came out, looking around then letting her gaze rest on Fenrir. Her name was Morro, she had told him.

"No, just trying to guess were we should be going now." Damian replied, his tone serious. Apparently, he had missed the joke in Ash's voice.

"Best way to do that would be to ask an oracle." Melody said laughing. "They're supposed to predict the future or some such!" As she laughed, they all turned toward her, their eyes wide open, not believing that she had probably found the answer with her joke.

"Aysen?" Ash asked, turning toward the dragon pokemon.

"I suppose we should be looking for the rest of the nine for now. Best way to do that would be to find their oracles, since Syldra and I can feel them, kind of." He answered. "No idea of how far they are, but we can get a general sense of direction." The pokemon made a gesture which Ash knew was the equivalent of shrugging for shoulders-less pokemon. He repeated what the dragon pokemon had said to the other around him, and Damian nodded.

"Then we'd better get Syldra too, and get them far enough so that we can try to use the directions they give us to find the exact location." Damian explained. "It's an old principle, used to pinpoint the exact source of a radio message or other things like that. A radio with good equipment can tell you the direction a message is coming from. If you have two radio a certain distance apart, you can pinpoint two different directions...crossing the lines on a map give you the exact location of the source." He detailed out the process. "We can do the same with Aysen and Syldra, I think."

"All right." Ash nodded. "I'll go ask Misty to help us then." He shivered involuntarily when he said so. Misty had not taken well the news that she was one of the nine, in fact isolating herself in her room inside his house for the last few days, away from them all. He had tried several time to go to talk to her, but she had locked the door, and did not answer when he knocked. He had elected to give her some peace and not use the keys he had that could easily have let him in. But now there was no time to wait, he had to talk with her, they had to get moving.

_______________________________

As Ash walked away from them toward the house, the rest of them looked around at each other, wondering what to do now, since they could not work on the map until Ash, Misty and Syldra joined them, which would, knowing the first two, take some time. Damian smiled, holding Elayne tightly, and decided that he might as well put out the parts of the prophecies that he knew for them all to see. The first one detailed the events that were to take place before the challenge, the four signs.

[quote]

And you shall know that the time of challenge come again when the signs are fulfilled.

The Island of Renewal shall be shattered by one who never knew the womb.

In a storm of power the three shall rise, but the child, the fourth and the summoner shall bring balance to a world endangered.

In a final test of friendship the child will rise, his true dream fulfilled and his identity revealed.

And the one who search will leave, that his mission can be fulfilled.[/quote]

"Any idea what that means?" Richie asked. Damian nodded once, and started to explain.

"The Island of Renewal is probably New Island, not far from Cinnabar. It was destroyed in a freak storm a while ago - a few months over two years -, so that's probably what this is about." Damian explained, conveniently forgetting to mention the Mewtwo project, which he of course knew about, but certainly could not mention to them for now.

"And the three that rise...Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres?" Melody asked, looking at the third line.

"Good, very good. Yeah, that line refer to what Ash, you and Lugia did in the Shamuti islands." Damian nodded, pleasantly surprised that the young woman had pieced it together almost instantly. Even after hearing the story from his sister, it had taken him a while to match it with the fragment of prophecy, which had confirmed to him who the summoner and child where.

"The next one is obvious." Richie added. "Ash is the child, he rose to the rank of pokemon master a few months ago, fulfilling his dreams, and to do that he had to face his best friend in battle." The young man's voice was as bleak as ever.

"So only the next one remains." Elayne looked at it curiously. "I don't get that one though."

"Neither do I." Damian lied, as he knew perfectly well what the line meant, but certainly was not going to reveal it to her yet. Everywhere else in the prophecy, the one who search was called the seeker, and the reference to leaving clearly meant the seeker had to die to complete his mission. Not something he wanted Elayne to know, at least not yet. She didn't deserve the pain it would cause her to learn it too early. "There's that part too."

[quote]

Nine warriors there shall be, the nine powers and mankind defended, as ever they were.

And to bring the power to them, three more, summoner and seeker and neverborn.

One to death sworn, condemned from the dawn of time

Another seeking the end, shaping his own path in rage and redemption, yet only able to choose the one path.

His life condemn them, his death save them.[/quote]

"The beginning is obvious. The nine, and the three helpers." Damian pointed out. "The rest only seems to mean one of the twelve is going to die for sure, and that there's another who can either die to allow the others to live, or live and let the other dies. Might be somethign else entirely though." He explained, and t he others nodded, as they apparently did not have a better explanation. Damian smiled, avoiding again to mention that he at least knew very well who was to death sworn.

[quote]

A flower of blood spread across the land.

A rising sun washes the darkness.

The hand of fate claims a soul already lost, blood calling to blood.

The footsteps of destiny are heard.

When the white cloak fall on the land again, fates will wage war.[/quote]

"I think I get that one." Elayne smiled. A flower of blood spreading across the land, that would have to be the Lotus invasion..." She left it hanging, though Damian smiled, admitting to himself that she had understood the part faster than him.

"And the rising sun washing the darkness is obvious." Melody completed. "That's the Hoshoans kicking them out."

"I'm not too sure I get the one after that, though..." Richie said.

"Blood calling to blood..." Melody whispered, as if she was trying to puzzle it out.

"Maybe it's blood like in, I don't know, families and that?" Elayne asked suddenly, her eyes shining.

"And then...Gary and May you think?" Damian asked her, this time genuinely pleased by the fact that someone had solved a part he had never managed to understand himself. "It would make sense..."

"And the part about the footsteps of destiny means that the next challenge is soon." Richie added.

"And I'm pretty sure the white cloak means winter and snow. That means the next fight will be something like next winter." He smiled, knowing that the puzzle was, for the most part, dealt with - the puzzle of these few parts he had, anyway. There were a few others, and he dug through his pack to find them.

________________________________

Ash slowly knocked at Misty's door, fully expecting to get no answer, and astonished as the door slowly opened, revealing Misty's face, the face of someone who had wept, with a wild look of fear in her eyes. She looked at him, and literally pulled him inside, closing the door as she did so.

"Misty...what's wrong?" He asked her softly, putting his hands on her slowly shaking shoulders, holding her, trying to make her feel safe.

"I...I just don't know Ash...I don't think I'll be able to do it right...being one of the nine..." she shook slowly as she said so, moving closer to him, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders in a loving embrace.

"You'll do just fine Misty...they wouldn't have picked you if you weren't right for the job, uh?" He smiled, bringing her closer to him, feeling her warmth, her perfumed scent feeling his nose, his eyes locked with hers, loosing themselves in the sea of wonder they were. A slow smile crept on her face.

"So, if you're the chosen one then you'll do the job right, uh? What was all that talk about being the frozen one last year? And feeling better if you had been given another name?" She punched him playfully. Ash smiled, remembering the events.

"Well, I guess I'm older and wiser now...And I realized that I did it, after all. I had some help but I did it." He smiled at her.

"Older, yes, but wiser is debatable." Misty grinned, and Ash sighed in relief. Apparently, no matter how he had done it, he had managed to get her to stop thinking about the dark ideas that had been running through her mind.

"I see you're feeling better." He grinned back, still holding her tightly as she wrapped her own arms tightly around him.

"Yeah...I guess you're right...they wouldn't have picked me if I wasn't the best choice." She smiled, and mover her head closer to his, letting their lips meet in a soft kiss. For a while they simply stood there, letting the world vanish from their mind and instead simply resting in the warmth and safety of their feelings.

"Was there something else?" Misty finally asked, her eyes soft and loving, all traces of panic gone from them.

"Actually, yes." Ash answered, remembering his reason for being there in the first place. "We need the help of Syldra to find where we are supposed to go." He told her, still holding her close. She nodded slowly, and he released her from his grip, still putting his right arm around her shoulders as they walked together outside to join their friends, explaining her Damian's idea as they did so.

The four of them were still sitting down in the street, the pokemon playing around them, reading from a sheet of paper. The words themselves seemed old, though the sheet of paper had been printed out recently, probably a copy of the part of the prophecies they had available, made by Damian, he realized.

Ash took a closer look at the part they seemed to be working on at that time, wondering what it was about, trying to decipher it.

[quote]

The blood of the oracle bring down his own blood, a lost soul destroyed by a price too high

The forgotten path lies in those who once where in a forbidden lair.

Guardian of the child, Guardian of the lady, they point at the truth sought.

Where the flowers drowned the path lies.

To find words long lost, and one who is alone no more.[/quote]

"What does that mean?" Elayne was asking, puzzled, as Ash looked over Damian's shoulder.

"Easy." He smiled, calling upon the knowledge of Tairan. "The forbidden lair is the dragon shrine, and that means that to find the path we had to go there. The truth sought is probably where to go next, and I'm sure the two guardians are Aysen and Syldra. As for the rest, I'd say it points where we're going, and what we'll find there." He told them,

"Probably part of the prophecies and the One who stood alone." Damian explained. "That's one of the nine, the One who stood alone." Ash nodded, wondering who he was, and wondering why he felt as if he should know the answer.

"Guess now we should do that trick you suggested Damian." Misty smiled. "Ash, could you ask Celes to give me a lift to that lake where we met?" She asked, smiling and pointing up north. "I don't think Aysen will want to move anymore than he have to, and I'd say the distance between the two is enough for us to pinpoint where we should go next." She said, and Ash turned his head toward Celes, who nodded.

"No problem Misty, go ahead!" He grinned, and she walked toward the bird pokemon, taking her place on the back of the great creature as she extended her wings to take off.

As Misty went away, Ash elected to walk to the south of the town, knowing that the further apart they would be, the more accurate the measurement would be, and the easier it would be to find where they would be traveling now.

He soon reached the shores of Pallet, the beach where the landing had taken place, disfigured by the chaotic dance of war that had erupted there. Here and there, the burned remnants of a tank or landing ship reminded him that the war had ended only recently, and that the Lotus troops that had tried to flee back here had for the most part been butchered by the Hoshoan air force.

"All right Aysen. Why don't you show me now?" he asked, and the pokemon slowly started looking around, his eyes focusing as a thing blue beam erupted from his horn, going northwest. Picking up his compass and looking at it, Ash carefully noted down the exact angle, knowing how important it would be, and walked back in the town to rejoin his friend.

Soon after he arrived, Misty returned, and after a brief hug, they compared the results they had both obtained. Tracing the lines on the map, they crossed over a town all of them knew, and a town that made perfect sense in regard with what the prophecies said.

"Looks like we're going to Saffron now." Damian smiled

Chapter 2 : Soul Scream

Far, far from Kanto and Jotho, the wind tore at the basis of a great crater, one that had never seen the foot of man since the dawn of time - until that very moment. A small cave, close to the forest, was all that could be remarked about the landscape. But what was truly remarkable was the green light that emanated from the cave so often.

The reflections did not stay in Aimée's mind for long, as she turned her attention back toward her mistress, floating gently in the cave, looking at the two humans that were there, a young man and a young woman. Aimée took a careful look at them both. The young man was sleeping, recovering from the wound in his chest that his mistress had healed, his brown hair all around his head. The medallion he had worn was left close to him, as were there two blades he had carried.

The young woman, Aimée did not understand, having no idea how she had come to arrive there, when only the young man had been with her mistress and her when they had left the stream of time. As the world had become blurred around them, the young man had seemed to blur as well, the woman appearing.

She had long, jet black hair and a delicate figure, small almond-shaped brown eyes in the middle of her pale face. Yet her built would leave no doubt to anyone seeing her that she was a warrior, tested and true, one who had traveled the land. The other noticeable thing about the young woman was, of course, that she had been totally naked when she had appeared, and that they had found no clothes for her yet. Though, of course, it didn't matter to Aimée exactly, as her interest, weak as it was, was in men. Still, she was certainly conscious that they would have to find the young woman some clothes before the two of them woke up.

Turning, she looked at the pokeball gathered at the feet of the young man's bed, five of them, and an empty one. She released the pokemon, and waited for her mistress to instruct them in what they were to do, knowing it was not her task to do so.

Thinking there was not much for her to do, she walked outside the cave, looking at the rising sun, wondering at the beauty of the place, the ring of forest and the great central lake, so much like the crater that had seen her birth, in Johto, except for the presence of the crashed airplane in the middle.

For a brief moment she stopped the flow of time, a brief moment that represented, for her, a few second, not much less that the best she could manage before having to let go again. Remaining there, everything in the world motionless around her, she marveled in the perfection of the beautiful sunrise.

Without being called, Song appeared from her pokeball, called out without a sound, without a gesture. Her fiery red mane glistened over her dark coat as she moved closer to her trainer, her sister.

She had no idea why her mistress had exerted herself so, tapping her utter limits, first in warping the flow of time, then in healing the wounds of the young man they had pulled out of the endless river.

"Why Song? Do you know why?" She asked softly, her voice barely a whisper. The rapidash did not answer, but then she rarely did. Smiling, Aimée turned back inside, not really watching the sunset anymore, instead hearing a call deep inside her soul.

"Yes mistress?" She asked, facing the strange being. Her mind seemed to numb for a second as the mind of her mistress, nearly limitless, almost that of a god, touched it.

She listened, understanding the instructions, setting herself to watch over the two, knowing that if it came that one of them woke up, she would have to exert her powers to their utter limit to hold things at bay until her mistress could return.

_______________________________

The sun had not yet risen over Kanto, and the darkness covered Pallet still, as Richie watched again, awakened by a dark feeling from his sleep. From what sleep there had been for him, anyway.

Voices in the night seemed to call to him, a darkness deeper than even the light-less darkness of the deep night. Again, the same nightmarish vision in his eyes as he held his hand in front of his face.

The same vision that greeted him whenever he woke up, the same vision that awaited him as soon as his eyes opened from dreamless sleep. Blood. Dark blood, covering his hands and arms, dark blood he knew was in his eyes as well, flowing from his mouth, from every part of his body. Dark blood that yet could not be his, as there was no weakening, only the palling of his skin.

Washing his arms in the sink of the nearby bathroom, he again wondered if there was a way to end it, to stop the darkness that was taking over his soul.

"The only way to escape is to make the vision real..." A voice seemed to say, in the depths of his mind, a voice that came from the darkness, or maybe from his own soul. A voice of madness, maybe, or of sanity, he could not tell.

But as it was, the only voice that offered him any possibilities of escaping the visions that stole his sleep, destroyed him. The only path out of a madness, even if it might be leading to another, deeper madness. Again, he wondered if ending it all was the best path, as he had often done in the past. Madness or sanity, he did not know. All that he knew was that it would be release.

Slowly, he went to the kitchen, taking a knife with him, slowly applying it to his wrist, over the veins. A wave of pain shot through his body as he brutally slit his wrist open, watching as the blood flowed from it, covering his wrist, his forearm. Splashing to cover his eyes, his mouth. Stinging pain appeared there, pain like none he had ever known, and without looking in the mirror, he knew blood was flowing there, as it was now flowing from both wrists.

But yet, even with his blood leaving him, there was no weakeing, and as the trickling flow died, he saw that for each drop of blood that left it, a drop of inky darkness flowed in him. Desperately, he reached for the switch, lighting the room, but the darkness that was flowing in him did not vanish. Indeed, it was no darkness, but rather a being of utter nothingness, that absorbed even light, that was slowly turning him in a similar darkness.

"Your death is my beginning." The voice seemed to say, as Richie screamed, the shattered dredges of his soul gathering for one last sound of utter panic as they were torn from him, cast back in the depth of his mind. The darkness now seemed to control his action, flexing muscles even when Richie tried to fight, to avoid doing so.

"Welcome in the world of the lifeless." The voice rang through him again, mocking, devastating, a laugh that seemed to pierce at Richie's soul like a thousand knife, a pain more intense than the one of stabbing himself, a pain that he wished he could escape.

He watched from his own eyes, helpless as his body pushed the bathroom door out of the way, walking silently through the house, opening the main door, and walking out without a sound. For a brief moment, he prayed that his friends would wake and kill him before he could be taken too far, but he knew the hope was futile, they were all resting for the long trek that would start the next day.

As the beast he was becoming ran in the hill, Richie tried to scream one last time, a scream that never came, the world vanishing slowly from his sight as he fell in a never-ending, nightmare-filled slumber.

_______________________________________

"Have you found anything, any traces?" Ash asked, his mind strangely blank, instead of panic-filled.

"No...no blood, no sign of violence, no traces...it's almost like Richie was never there in the first place, or that he left without us wanting to know where he was going." Misty told him, and Ash shook his head, completely confused by the strange disappearance of his friend.

"What we can tell is that he wasn't kidnapped, we know for a fact no one got in." Kyle pointed out calmly. "He'll come back when he can, I'm sure he had a good reason to leave." He added. "In the meantime, we need to go play our own part."

"He's right." Damian nodded. "We really have to get to Saffron soon. We have seven of the nine to find, and not much time to do so."

"Yeah but..." Ash could not come up with an argument why they should wait for Richie instead. He had traveled alone often, knew how to take care of himself, and there was no evidence that he had not left of his own free will other than him not telling them, which could simply means he had had to leave in a hurry, without time to wake them up or write a word.

Still, Richie was his friend and he felt guilty about not taking more time to look for him, not trying to find him, as he felt betrayed that Richie had left without a word.

"We need to plan how to get there...the Mount moon tunnels are closed, and so is the Viridian pass, and obviously the Vermilion tunnel." Elayne pointed out, pointing out on the map that damages in the war had caused all the three major roads between the valley of Viridian and eastern Kanto to be closed for repairs for the last few months.

"Right, that mean crossing the mountains. There are enough small paths and valleys to do that, but it won't be easy, without a map especially." Kyle confirmed, fidgeting.

"We could take a car...most of the paths can be used by cars." Damian said, before hitting his forehead.

"Ok, don't mention it, I know the last suggestion was stupid. None of us have a driver license."

"Bikes then?" Misty suggested, smiling at Ash, and the young man remembered their first meeting, wondering how the destruction of his bikes could have led to them being hopelessly in love with each other.

"Wouldn't be that good of an idea on mountain terrain...it would slow us down more than speed us up." Elayne objected, and Ash nodded, even though he did not like having to go against Misty.

"What then?" Damian dropped the question, and they all stopped to think for a moment.

"Maybe we could go see Giovanni in Viridian? He might be able to help us..." Elayne suggested, and they all agreed.

"Let's get your things people, we need to go to Viridian!" Ash told them, wanting for things to get moving now that that planning was done, then ran outside, the others following. He had already gathered all his stuff in his backpack the day before, and simply snatched it as he left the house.

Walking, it still took them a few days to make it from Pallet to Viridian as they stayed on the main roads, avoiding the dangerous shortcuts Ash had been forced to take back when he had first traveled the road. The other reason why the delay was greater was of course that the first time he had followed the path, Ash had been on Misty's bike rather than walking for a long while.

As soon as they reached Viridian, they raced to the Gym to get an appointment with Giovanni, hoping he would be able to help them somehow, perhaps giving them the idea they needed to be able to do what they had to.

The ex-leader of Team Rocket, who also just so happened to be the father of two of them, seemed rather happy to see them. Along with him in his office were two familiar figures, Jessie and James, apparently waiting for him to instruct them in some mission, or else already having been instructed without having the time to leave before they arrived.

The problem was easy to explain, the situation known to all, but it did not make the solution any easier to find. It was a puzzling problem, what to do to gain the means of transportation they needed.

"They could use our Meowth balloon." James suggested, his smile indicating that he was joking, but to Ash's dismay, a smile that Damian missed completely.

"Because even with what you guys did, chances are the police would still destroy on sight your balloon." He replied. "Or most other Rocket vehicles. We need something more...I don't know. Something that can get everywhere with relative ease...you can't land an helicopter or balloon in the middle of a forest." He pointed out.

"That's true." Giovanni admitted. "But then, I guess I can't help much. Maybe Lance could help, the league has a lot of pokemon, maybe it would help."

It barely took a few minutes, half an hour perhaps to get from Viridian to Indigo, flying in Giovanni's personal helicopter, piloted by a young woman with yellow hair and a deadly look in her eyes. Giovanni had presented her to them as Domino.

Within moments, they had clearance to land on the small helicopter pad at the top of the League headquarters building. Lance was waiting for them, his long dark cloak moving in the wind of the great propeller of the helicopter.

"Giovanni, Misty, Damian, Ash, Elayne, Kyle." He greeted them, his face curious. "What are you all doing here?" He did seem happy to see them by his voice, though his greeting had somehow failed to show that.

"We need your help." Giovanni certainly did not try to bring it slowly.

"I sort of figured that. What can I do for you?" He smiled at them, and Ash smiled back at his father.

"I'll cut it short." Damian explained, and Ash barely resisted making a comment about it being a first, or an exception event at least. "It's about the prophecies of twilight. You know about them, I assume." He smiled.

"Of course." Lance replied quickly.

"Very well. Most of us here - Misty, Melody, Ash and I - are involved in one way or another in the prophecies." Damian did, in fact, cut things short.

"I had figured it out, at least for Ash and Misty." Lance answered, his eyes showing some annoyance as he waited for clearer explanations of what they were up to.

"Well, simply put, we need a mean of transportation that can move us around quickly from one place to another, but without having to rely too much on the known roads and all that."

Lance's eyes turned from curious to thoughtful, as he considered the various options that they had.

"Flying pokemon would be a good choice for you all, but that's not something you have a lot of, and the league doesn't have much of these for now either."

Ash nodded, as it was true that the only flying pokemon they had were Celes and Deathwing. Without other flying pokemon, attempting to move around in the sky would be rather futile.

"Then I guess you'll have to move on the land for now while I try to find some flying pokemon. That would mean Rapidash for now. And thanks to you, we have a herd of Rapidash just waiting to be used, and they already know you all."

Ash smiled, the solution was obvious, of course, as the herd of Rapidash they had ridden from the Safari Zone to Fuchsia was now in league care, and would definitely provide good, trustworthy mounts since they already trusted them. And Ash himself had Sora, the lead Rapidash of the herd, still with him.

It took only a few minutes, perhaps fifteen, to reach the fenced area where the fiery horses ran, their great burning mane flowing in the chilly wind of winter. The small group slowly walked in the pen, Ash calling out Sora as an additional safety measure. Soon enough the rapidash had gathered around the head of their herd, and were listening as she ordered them.

Barely a moment later, the rapidash who had carried them to Fuchsia came forward, slowly looking at and smelling each of them, until they all had one close to them.

"Will that be enough?" Lance asked, smiling. "Or is there anything else?"

"There's nothing else." Ash smiled. "Thank you dad. Now I guess we could as well take some time to relax and chat..." He smiled, knowing they had not been very polite to his father, and that leaving without taking some time to talk would really not be a thing to do.

They spent some time together in the leagues headquarters, all of them talking about what they had to do now, the reconstruction and the surprising victory in the war, about how the Lotus headquarter had been moved as they had all known it would.

Chapter 3 : Predator

A new morning dawned bright and clear over the plateau that held the capital of Kanto and Ash stretched as he woke up in the room his father had had readied for him. His friends slept in nearby room, and Ash soon walked out of his to join his friend, his katana hanging from his belt, carrying his cloak under his arm, knowing there was no point other than look to putting it on before they left the building. Misty had not put her cloak on either, he could see that as he joined her outside.

"There you are Ash!" Damian smiled as the young man woke up.

"No, I'm elsewhere." Ash replied half-sarcastically, grinning at the young man who seemed taken aback, then started to laugh.

"I guess I was doing it again, uh?" He said sheepishly.

"I'd say so, yes." Ash grinned.

"Oh, well. Anyway, why don't you hurry up eating, I think we should leave soon." Damian said, pushing a plate with bacon and eggs, as well as a glass of orange juice, toward Ash who rapidly ate, noticing in passing that the food was quite well prepared.

It took him a short time to clear his plate, soon enough they were waving goodbye at Lance and climbing on their great Rapidash. Knowing the pokemon would spend long stretches of time out of the pokeball, Ash had asked them their name the night before. His, of course, was Sora, while Misty was mounted on Atalante, a strangely named rapidash with an ever-so-slightly bluish hue. Damian rode on Tandar, a great stallion, while Isen was the name of the mount of Elayne, a young rapidash that was barely in adulthood. Kyle was riding on a old, wise-looking mare, Shintara by name, and Melody a pokemon that appeared in all points to be Shintara's twin, Mei.

The hooves of the beasts repeatedly struck the ground in a beating noise as the five rapidash went west, not galloping to spare their energy, but still certainly not going too slowly. Ash held the rein of the great fire horse loosely, knowing Sora could be trusted not to let him fall, only using the saddle and reins because of customs.

The speed of their mount let them reach Viridian in mid afternoon, while on foot the trail would usually have taken them three days to complete. Ash smiled as he entered the city, making it to the pokemon center. It was no hard choice to stay there rather than continue, as they would be able to rest much more in the pokemon center than camping in the middle of frosty Viridian forest. Thus, the time they would loose by not riding for the afternoon would be caught back up because they would be able to go further the next day, riding on the forest trails.

The night was calm and peaceful, and none of them had trouble finding sleep, except for that one moment around midnight where a cry, a scream, almost of terror had been heard, but beyond that, there had been nothing. They woke up refreshed and ready to leave the next morning. On their way out of town, they ran in two familiar figures, also apparently leaving.

"Hey! What are you guys doing?" Ash asked Jessie and James, his two old nemesis.

"Oh, hi twerp!" James smiled as he turned to look at them. "Planning to steal your pikachu, of course." He winked and grinned. Ash smiled back, still amazed at the change in both of the redeemed pokemon thief, far less grouchy and far less hating that they had once been. There still remained a certain gap between their two groups of course, the remnants of a hundred thundershocks and as many traps, but still they had changed a lot.

"Yup, and you should prepare for trouble." Jessie grinned too, though they did not continue their motto, which was fine as far as Ash was concerned, as they were words he had heard far too often in his life already.

"Oh. Why?" Damian asked curiously, his eyes reflecting his surprise - a surprise that they all felt, somehow.

"Last night. A woman was strangled in her house, and all her pokemon were...I don't know how to explain it. They are alive, but not. As if something here was feeding on their souls. A whole litter of Meowth kitten..." James shuddered, and looked at them.

"Be careful. For some reason, the boss think that that thing might be after you, at least I think he does. He just seemed far too worried about you and he told us to tell you about this the second we saw you, if we did."

"That's...odd..." Damian said, his eyes scanning around warily, as if he was trying to find whoever had done it, near them.

"He's near." The voice was not Damian's, but Kyle's. "I can feel him...yet not. It's like a spot of darkness that light won't wash away...I can't see inside him, I can only feel two things, two feelings...he's radiating them all around him...hate, and hunger. Hate for us, and hunger for more living souls." His voice was filled with utter horror, and Ash just stared at the young man, his mind shrieking in panic at the idea.

"We'd better get out of Viridian now, and get our running...." Misty's voice, though she attempted to keep it controlled, was filled with panic. Ash looked at her, trying to reassure her, knowing he himself need the reassurance.

"I think we'll go with you for a part of the way at least." Jessie said, calling out a Rapidash of her own. Ash wondered for a moment where she had obtained it, then pushed the thought aside.

"Jessie, I have no rapidash." James pointed out, but before they could back down on the plan, Ash called out Celes, and though the bird pokemon was reluctant to carry an ex-enemy like that, she quickly let herself be convinced.

A moment later, they were all galloping out of town, except of course James who flew overhead, faster than any of the Rapidash could race. Swift wind blew in their faces, the cool winter air biting at their eyes as the city slowly disappeared behind them, the evergreens and leafless maples of Viridian forest shading their way as they went further in the woods.

They raced further within the forest, stopping that night near a small lake, one that was fed by forest brooks. Kyle no longer felt the sense of hatred anywhere close, feeling it vaguely still back in Viridian, so they elected to stop.

Misty and Elayne, as well as Kyle and Melody, went to the shore and gathered there, but Ash stayed behind, as there was something he wanted to talk about with Damian, concerning the prophecies.

"Damian, there's something about the prophecies..." He left it hanging.

"What is it?" The young man asked, his eyes curious.

"The part you showed us two days ago in Indigo about the one who search..."

"Yeah?" This time there was a sliver of fear as well as the curiosity, and Ash instantly knew he was right, though he still asked, wanting to be sure beyond all doubt.

"The one who search is the seeker, right?" He asked, and Damian nodded once.

"Yeah, I didn' t think you'd figure it out - your or anyone else in the group." He admitted.

"So you're going to leave - which is to say, you're going to die soon." He pointed oiut.

"Yes. I'm just not telling Misty and Elayne yet." Damian sighed sadly, and Ash put an hand on his shoulder. The suspicions that that part of the prophecies might be about it had been bad enough, to see them confirmed was even worst.

"I can see why..." He said slowly. While he liked the young man as a friend, Misty and Elayne both cared for Damian much more than he did, one because he was her boyfriend, the other because he was her twin brother.

"That's good. Now, please don't talk about it to Misty and Elayne...I'll tell them when I am ready." The young man told him, and Ash nodded. It wasn't his secret to tell, he wouldn't mention it to either of their girlfriends.

Before they had any more time to talk, Misty and Elayne returned from the side of the lake, and they had no choice but to stop talking about it, so that the two women would not suspect anything.

"What were you talking about..." Misty asked, looking at the two of them curiously, and Ash had to bite his tongue to avoid telling her, something he was not used to doing. Damian threw him a sorry glance, that of someone who knew he was asking for a lot, but saw no choices other than doing so.

"Oh...a few odd things in the prophecies..." Damian replied evasively. "Nothing important." Ash nearly choked as the outright lie came out of his friend's mouth, but managed to control himself and not to reveal the truth.

"Ah." Misty shrugged, her mind obviously on something else. "It's almost evening...we'd better get ready for spending the night here, and set some kind of schedule to have one of us standing guard at all time..." She explained, and Ash nodded. Seeing as there was something, some dark creature after them, leaving some form of guard at night would only make sense.

They quickly arranged the schedule, Ash getting the first turn at keeping the camp safe for an hour and a half. Jessie and James had left them already a few hours earlier, after returning Celes to them. They had not said what they were going to do, only that they had a mission to complete, on orders from Giovanni.

"Oh, I was thinking that maybe instead of just randomly starting on that track to the east of here that we heard about we might want to ask your friend Brock for some help...he did a lot of work in these mountains during the war, so he's bound to know a few tracks that we don't know about." Elayne suggested, her eyes scanning the area around them still, as if she did not trust Kyle's words that the strange hunter was far from them.

"You want to trust Brock anywhere near a map? Ash is bad enough by himself, but Brock is woefully inept with maps." Misty protested, grinning.

"Hey!" Ash protested, then thought about it for a moment." Though I agree about Brock." He smiled.

"Even with that, I think we'd better chance it." Damian said, laughing, and Ash grinned.

"Oh, well. If we get lost I'll be able to blame you all." Misty grinned, looking at them half-suspiciously.

They ate some sandwiches they had packed before leaving Viridian, and went to their sleeping bag, except Ash, who instead drew his sword and sat down close to Misty, sword in hand and Raiken close to him. Misty was lying on the ground, covered in her clothe, a pillow she had carried with her being the only thing between her and the ground.

"Maybe you'd better call out Fenrir...Houndoom know the night like no other pokemon." The pikachu suggested, and Ash nodded, smiling at his friend as he called out the great wolf-like creature.

The light of the fire slowly dimmed to only a dying glow that barely lighted the area around them., Ash glanced around uneasily, fidgeting with the idea of calling out more pokemon, but the truth was that they needed rest. Still, he did call out Esper, knowing that the psychic pokemon would probably be able to sense the creature if it came too close.

Each second of the night seemed like a thousand hour in the dim light of the moon filtering through t he branches and the equally dim light of the dying embers of the fire. It seemed as if each second was lasting a little longer than the last, a little shorter than the next.

Watching around carefully, Ash waited, tense. There were some sounds in the middle of the night, but quick investigation from Fenrir showed it was only a small group of vulpix moving through the bushes. Ash for a brief moment considered catching one, then rejected the idea. Too much effort, too little use with Fenrir and Deathwing already in his team.

Ten minutes passed, then fifteen. Half an hour went by without a sign of trouble, and then another ten minutes. Ash watched around warily, dodging sleep. Another ten minutes, only fifty left to his turn as a guard. An hand touched his shoulder, he whirled. There had been no sound. Kyle was there, his eyes glowing.

"Call back Esper Ash. I don't really need to sleep, I can use my psychic powers to keep going for a while without sleep." He said. "You should get some sleep, too. I'll wake you up if I think there's trouble." The young psychic added.

Ash nodded gratefully, he fell no need to stay awake. Slipping under his cloak, he moved closer to Misty who slept fitfully under her, as if nightmares plagued her sleep. He gently caressed her cheek, kissing her forehead then let himself drift asleep.

He was roughly awakened a few hours later by a hand shaking his shoulders. At least, according to the position of the moon, it was a few hours later, as Ash had no idea how long he had been sleeping, be it a second or a lifetime.

"He's in the forest now. Still far, but coming closer. I thought I'd warn you." Kyle's words immediately banished any thought of sleep from his drowsy mind, fully waking him.

He hesitated, looking at the others sleeping. He would not wake them up, not now, not yet. They needed the sleep too much for him to do that. The monster was far from catching up to them, they had the time to spend on their own need, at least a little time.

"Wait. He stopped moving. He's still a long way off, I don't get why he'd stop moving like that." Kyle sounded puzzled, and Ash had to admit the mysterious change in the actions of their opponent was rather puzzling. "There's something else with him now. It's a presence…I've almost never seen something like that before…It's so powerful…" he whispered, and Ash wondered what he was talking about. There seemed to be light to the south, not the light of the day, certainly, but rather an pulsating light, the light of a flame.

"Is the forest on fire or what?" Kyle asked suspiciously, eyeing the same glow that had drawn Ash's attention.

"I don't know…." Ash replied slowly, hardly thinking that a forest could have caught on fire in the middle of the night, in winter. "I think it's too cold for that…."

"Yeah, but what else could it be?" Kyle shot back.

"I don't know…I really don't…" Ash tried desperately to think on what it could be, realizing he would not succeed. "What of the thing?" Ash asked, his face serious again. Even if whatever it was had made him stop, there was no reason for them to believe that the creature would not go back on track the instant he managed to remove the obstacle, whatever it was.

"Not moving…get some more sleep…I'll tell you if he gets moving toward us again." Kyle told him, and Ash wrapped his cloak around himself again, lying down on the cold, hard ground, grateful that the cloak at least blocked off the chill of both ground and air.

By next morning, when Ash woke up, the beat had not moved again, or so Kyle told them. There had been no traces of whatever had stopped the creature in the night, and Ash certainly was not going to go our of his way to find what could have done that, especially since it meant getting closer to the creature.

They rose north all of that day, the creature barely moving in pursuit, then that night it started coming closer again, yet the advance they had taken during the day and night allowed them to rest safely, the monstrosity still out of range by the next sunrise. Two more days, and they were in Pewter, a city that seemed to be celebrating.

Bright lights hung from posts all around the town, banners and flag and colorful drape in every windows. Men and women sang and danced in the streets to a rhythm Ash had never heard of his entire life, a rhythm that seemed both cheerful and filled with a deep hidden meaning.

The Gym, in the middle of the town, was the heart of the celebration, people dancing in the great stone-paved place in front of it. Stopping one of the dancers, Misty asked her what was happening, and what they were celebrating.

"Excuse me?" She said politely, grabbing the attention of the woman. "Could you please tell my friend and I what you are celebrating?" She asked.

"Two things!" The young woman looked at them happily. "It's the annual blackrock festival to remember the foundation of the town, and our gym leader just announced he was getting married soon."

"Brock will be getting married?" Ash asked in surprise, his own words repeated my Misty, his expression mirrored by hers.

"Yeah! Now, why don't you join us for a dance?" The young woman smiled, offering them her hand.

"Sorry, we have to go see Brock. He's a friend, so we want to congratulate him."

"Of course, of course!" The woman smiled, moving out of the way as they rode closer to the gym, recalling their rapidash to walk for the remnants of the way.

Walking in the gym, they found the door open, Suzie and Brock near the entrance, holding hand, smiling at each other's.

"Ash!" Brock grinned as he turned toward them, "Misty! Have you heard?" He asked them, smiling.

"Yeah!" Ash smiled. "That's great news! Congratulations, both of you!" He grinned, forgetting for a brief moment about the beast that had hunted them in the woods of Viridian.

"I'm so happy for the two of you!" Misty grinned.

"Thank you!" Suzie smiled. "After all we went through together during the war and all…I wanted us two to become more than just lovers." She had an happy smile on her face, the one of someone who was perfectly content and had everything she could ever want.

They talked about the wedding for a long time that night while outside the celebrations went on. They knew that the chances that they would be in Pewter in time for the wedding were low at best, and somehow it felt like cheating, like they were betraying Brock. Only Kyle did not take part in the talking, standing at the door of the gym, watching to the south. Ash had no problems figuring what he was up to, the beast still stalked them. Too far yet for him to do anything, he would probably however reach Pewter, and that time they would have to make sure Brock was warned.

It was not until the next morning, waking up fresh and well-rested that they got a chance to tell Brock of the events in Viridian, and warned him to be careful. Then, they got to the true reason of their visit, their need for maps of the mountains below Pewter. Ash felt a certain guilt at the idea that he was visiting his friend not out of friendship, but out of need, yet there was nothing else to do. They had to obtain the map, they had to leave soon.

"Of course I can help you!" He smiled as soon as they revealed their problem to him. "Though I'm not sure Ash and Misty will trust me near a map." He grinned at the two of them, a twinkle of happiness in his eyes that Ash had never seen there.

"As much as I'd prefer to ask someone else, you're the only one we could think of." Misty shot back, a mischievous twinkle in her own eyes, though also a sliver of fear remaining from what they had been discussion before, the soul-draining creature that stalked their every step.

"Don't worry. I won't get you lost..." Brock said, though he was interrupted by Ash before he could finish.

"Isn't that what you almost always said before getting us lost Brock?" He retaliated teasingly. Brock was silent, only a smile on his lips as he took the map Damian offered him, soon drawing lines in the mountains near the forest of Viridian.

"There you are." He said after a short while. "I'd offer you to stay here for the day, but with that thing after you, I think you'd better leave now." He told them, his eyes serious, handling the map to Damian with a few words.

"I'd give it to Ash or Misty, but they aren't better with maps than I am so..." he grinned at the two of them as they rode away to the southwest, trying to stay as clear from the track of the creature as they could, entering the mountains with the first chance they had.

Chapter 4 : The One who Stood Alone

The mountains south-east of Pewter were dark and foreboding, tall sharp peaks that seemed to pierce the sky, each one taller than the one before, smaller than the next. Stark gray walls covered both sides of the small path they followed, one behind the other, as there was no room for them to even go two in a row.

There had been no traces of the hunter in the last few days, not since they had entered the mountains on the day after leaving Pewter, as he had still been heading toward Pewter, perhaps following their scent in town, perhaps trying simply to deduce where they were going.

If the later was true, the term beast perhaps did not apply, but rather, they were facing a human, albeit one warped, humanity torn from him. Ash prefered to believe they were facing an enemy who was tracking them by scent, but to keep believing such a thing when all the clues they had pointed otherwise was foolish, and something he simply could not manage to do anymore. Had it been an unintelligent beast tracking by scent, it would have been unable to make its way out of Viridian on their trail, would have have been able to find where they were going.

Still, beast or no beast, it took them over a week, eight days to cross from one side of the mountains to the other, riding hard each day, leaving before sunrise and stopping at sunset, a hard pace that took a toll on them all. Even Kyle, using his psychic powers as he could to recover, was hardly getting any better, his eyes now surrounded with black circles from lack of sleep as he stood guard every night. Pewter was far behind, a forgotten sight, and ahead, closer every day, the forest of Celadon and beyond the highlands of Saffron stood waiting.

Walking out of the mountains was a relief for Ash. Even with spring coming, the weather had been cold in the mountains, and the much warmer climate of the forests that one could find in the great valley of the Celadon river was welcome.

They continued riding, four more days on the road endlessly, from sunrise to sunset and sometime beyond, avoiding Celadon entirely, simply making their way past the forest toward the stark cliffs that marked the end of the valley and the beginning of the Saffron Highlands. From there, following the great road from Celadon to Saffron, it took them a mercifully short time to reach their destination, Saffron, and whoever they were to find there.

________________________

Sabrina, as it was, was waiting for them in Saffron, wearing loose clothes rather than the tight one they were used to seeing on her, long blue hair flying in the wind.

"I thought it was you two I was feeling coming this way." She waved as they entered the city, the only one in Kanto that could actually be defined as a fortified, walled city. Of course, there were no true walls, none of the city of Kanto had them, they had been pulled down and never rebuilt after the invasion that had come from Serland had been repelled over a thousand year before. Yet, the stark cliffs of the Saffron Highlands central plateau that served as a home for Saffron itself were enough of a wall on their own.

Ash waved back, grinning at their friends. The very idea of Sabrina being their friends struck him as odd, the very thought sounding somehow ridiculous as he remembered their first meeting. Yet, at the same time, it sounded true, truer than any idea he ever had before. Sabrina, no matter how much any of them tried to deny it, was their friend, and a good friend at that, thanks perhaps to the effort she had put in the rescue mission.

She had been so alone, so isolated, kept away from the world by her own power until they had met her that to see her now as a young woman that actually cared about other and let her feelings be, if only slightly, was a shock still, as much as he should have become used to it.

One who was alone...wasn't there something like that in the prophecies? His mind idly wondered as they stepped down their Rapidash, recalling them, a flurry of red beam flashing out toward the pokemon.

"What brings you to Saffron?" Sabrina asked with one of her rare smiles.

"Prophecies, that kind of stuff." Damian was the first to reply, and Sabrina nodded, her face becoming serious again within an instant. "We know one of the nine is here, and the oracle too." He got down to the point for once, rather than turning around it for half an hour.

"Yes, I know." She smiled again. "You have to figure it out for yourself, though." She added, looking at them. "I'm sure it shouldn't take you too much time."

The others all seemed dismayed by the prospect of having to figure it out for themselves while Sabrina seemed to know and to be teasing them. No such feeling struck Ash, however, only a small smile at the idea that for once he had been the very first to figure something out.

"Damian, could you list the names of the nine to me again?" He asked, trying to hide his face from Sabrina's whose eyes now rested on him.

"The Child of the Dragon - that's you Ash. The Lady of Mist, that's Misty. The Huntress, the Lost Soul, the One who Stood Alone, the Thunderer, the Son of Storms, The Daughter of Flames and the Mistress of Dreams." Damian listed them all, not even bothering to get any of the numerous texts on the subject he carried in his backpack.

"The One who Stood Alone. What do you know about that one?" He asked, putting an hand over his eyes, thinking very hard."

"Not much. Most of the prophecies were lost, so I only know about what's in the league headquarters or in the Viridian gym were my father put all the books Team Rocket collected...." He lost himself in explanation, until Ash interrupted him again.

"The One who Stood Alone?" He asked again, and Damian's face cleared from thinking about things completely unrelated from their main topic of interest.

"I don't know much...only that she will somehow be saved form a dark path by the child of the dragon. That's all." He finally replied, letting go of his constant blabbering.

"That's pretty much what I needed." He turned slowly, facing Sabrina with a grin. "Looks like you will be leaving Saffron Sabrina."

Sabrina smiled, looking at them. "That was quicker than I expected." She whispered. "And without even using your own oracles, too. You're quick Ash."

"I can't take the merit that much, I was already thinking about how you used to be all alone and now there just wasn't any denying you were a good friend of us all when we arrived....It just worked too perfectly." He shrugged, grinning at the young psychic.

"I'll get my things. In the meantime, we have a few fragment of the prophecies in the library, some of which aren't in Viridian or Indigo, I'm sure." She smiled again, and Ash looked at her closely, wondering what was wrong. "You might want to look at them." She indicated, pointing at a nearby building, leading them all in, then to a section at the back that seemed restricted in access. A few sheet of papers were on the table in the middle of it, all of them old and yellowed.

"These are the parts of the prophecies that they don't have in either libraries." She showed them the room around. "Make yourself as comfortable as you need while you read that. There's a kitchen beyond this door with some food if you get hungry, and the bathrooms are there." She finished, pointing at two doors one after the other before heading out.

Ash randomly picked up a sheet, reading quickly from it, finding quickly enough that it detailed the first sign, nothing of interest since it had already come to pass. He browsed through it

To save the world, the child fall

Powers unholy making him in stone unyielding.

Tears to wake him, a forgotten power

Memories blown in the wind of remorse

Forgotten past, will it return?

The passage made no sense to Ash, as it seemed to say he had died in the first sign, even though he stood alive there now. Admittedly, the passage could be interpreted to say that he had died, been given a second life, and made to forget, but it was much of a stretch. He tried not to think of it too much, continuing to read, not sharing his strange discovery with anyone.

However, the second sheet he picked was much more interesting, both confirming that they were on the right path, and telling them of the next step to take once they would be done here. He read it avidly, calling Melody and Damian who were simply shuffling through the sheets to look at it with him.

Find the path of destiny were the child came into the gift of Mew

To the fortress without wall, tall among the hills and not an hill it lead

When there the child find the one he saved

The path lead next beyond mountains, valleys and rivers, beyond forests and snow

In the land of the wind, a town by the sea.

"I don'T get that one." Ash admited.

"I think I get the first line, at least." Melody said. "I heard a legend about how each of the legendary gave something to mankind when we were created...Mew supposedly gave us ambition, so that we would always try to accomplish something in life."

"Pallet town then. The child is me, and my real ambition in life was to become a pokemon master." He smiled. "That started in Pallet Town."

"Makes sense. Fortress without wall is Saffron, they always call it that because of the cliffs of the plateau." Damian explained, though Ash already had figured out the answer at that point.

"And Sabrina's the one I saved." He nodded rapidly, pointing at the last two line. "I'd say the rest just mean it'll be a long trip."

"And the region of New Bark is often called the land of the wind." Damian completed, a satisfied smile on his lips. "That's where we go next I guess." He grinned, the ease of solving the enigma surprising him.

"I wonder if we'll pick up an oracle, one of the nine, or something else there..."

They did not say anymore, there was no use speculating when they had no clues about what awaited them in New Bark. Instead, Ash picked up more of the prophecies, rapidly browsing through them, trying to find something interesting. There was not much luck to be had, most of the sheet covered events that had already taken place.

Interestingly enough, one of the page held the description the prophecies had of him, and he quickly browsed through it, already knowing he was the child of the dragon, but wanting to know more about the first sign and how he could have died in it.

The child of the dragon, son of an ancient line

Born twice in the world, through his owns, through the pokemon

Gatherer of Loyalties, Savior of Souls

Two paths before him, victory and its price, defeat and its reward

Is an eternity of pale shadows better than utter night that may yet pass into day?.

That part made no more sense to Ash, though he elected not to bother the others about it, instead reading it again and again, wondering how it was that he could have been born twice, or born through the will of pokemon for that matter. Some part of the prophecies just did not make sense to him. He pushed aside the sheet, there was nothing on it that he did not know.

The next one hold more interesting material, the description of the One who Stood alone, to be exact.

The one who stood alone followed a darkened path.

Soul lost in the shadow of an hunger for power

A terrible darkness, about to claim her mind

Her sould saved by the child.

The light of joy prevail against the hunger for power.

This one made sense, much more than the previous one. Sabrina had been following a dark path, letting only her powers and her loneliness guide her, loosing herself. Ash, by bringing Haunter - now Gengar - to her had definitely helped Sabrina snap out of the darkness, and it was Haunter's joke, what he supposed was the light of joy, that had ended her hunger for power and insensibility. It comforted him to obtain some more confirmation about Sabrina being the One who stood alone, as there had been some lingering doubts in his mind.

A small part, blurred out, drew his attention, though not for long. It talked about a child of violence, who would be of the child blood, and of that of someone else. He stared at it for a long while. Danea, Tanya and Lance were his only relative, so it had to be one of them, and judging from the age ranges so far, it might be Tanya. Though of course, maybe he had living relatives he was unaware off, he didn't know much about his father's side of the family.

"Do you think we are done here Damian?" Misty asked him a bit later, when they were done scanning through the sheets, and while the young man was making copies out of each of them with a nearby printer, stacking the copies together and putting them in his backpack.

"I'm not sure...maybe we had to find Sabrina...maybe it's something else too." He shrugged, his voice unsure. "I'd say we're done, I'm just not sure."

"We're done." Ash smiled at them, knowing that whatever parts of the prophecies they had seen so far only mentioned picking up Sabrina and the track in Saffron.

"Are you sure?" Damian looked at him suspiciously.

"Yeah. The prophecies only mentioned picking up Sabrina and the track here. We're done with both." He answered quickly.

"True. Let's go."

They all walked out of the library, finding the young psychic waiting outside, a rapidash of her own near her, though there was no telling how she had obtained it, until they asked, which gave them the simple answer - she had had it transferred from Indigo by Lance while they were reading.

"Are you ready to leave? I don't think we have time to loose." she told them, slowly climbing on her pokemon, as she seemed to have not much experience riding.

"True." Damian admitted. "Especially with that thing hunting us."

"Thing?" Sabrina asked in surprise.

"It feeds on soul...Kyle has been keeping track of it for a while with psychic powers, maybe he can show you." Ash explained quickly, getting the two psychic to glance shortly at each other.

Riding out of town by the west entrance was the only choice, even though they so risked to run in the thing, as otherwise the delays would be counted in weeks. In addition, Kyle told them that he could hardly feel the monster at all, as if he was far north, still near Pewter, which was rather surprising, unless it had found a good place to feed, or else been badly wounded.

As they trotted down the main road that led off the plateau, Sabrina turned back took one last, long look at her hometown which she was now leaving behind. Ash, turning back, looked with her. Saffron had not suffered as much from the war as Pallet, but stil had been damaged.

"I guess they'll have to do without my help..." she said, regretfully, guilt in her voice.

"We all have to learn to fly on our own wings sometime." Ash replied, the philosophical reflection coming from Tairan's mind.

Sabrina smiled, a small, sad smile that contrasted with the one lone tear that rolled down one of her cheeks.

"I guess so..." she whispered softly, not looking at him.

Without any more words, they turned away from Saffron, riding off the plateau and west through the highlands, making their way toward Celadon, and beyond the valley of Viridian, the Silver Mountains, and New Bark ultimately.

Chapter 5 : Danea's Tale

No matter how much he tried, Damian could find sleep that night, a week after leaving Saffron, as they left the Moon Mountains, riding through the forest of Viridian. They had left Pallet over a month ago, and so far they had found one, only one of the others, and were still far away from their next stop, New Bark - at least one more week, to reach the road that led to the Silver Mountains, and from there to go to New Bark. It would take them forever and more to find the nine - and they had no such time. He had to find the prophecies, or...or something that would help him find them, gather them all, as he had been fated to do since the start.

Suddenly, as his dreams stirred, he felt...called. Called out of his sleeping bag. Called out of the clearing. He walked to the edge of the small patch of grass in the middle of the forest, then followed a small forest path that led deep into the woods, to another, much smaller clearing. A single woman was there.

As soon as he saw her, Damian fell to his knees, his head held low, staring at the ground rather than at the divine being in front of him.

"My lady..." he said, as he bowed, his eyes half-closed.

"Oh, Damian...stop that!" She laughed a small, silvery laugh. "You know I don't like formality. I have a name. Use it." she ordered, her smile like a thousand flowers blossoming.

"Of course Enaira. Do you want something of me?" He asked, curious as to why his mistress would find it necessary to intervene directly.

"Nothing...I just wanted to talk with you...you seems to be worried..." She replied, her eyes filled with affection, something no one would have expected to see in the eyes of a Goddess.

"Well...." He hesitated. "I don't think I'll be able to do it...I still have no idea where to find the full prophecies...and I have no idea where the fight will be, or where to find the nine..." He shuddered, the extent of what he had yet to find scaring him.

"Go to New Bark. You'll find something there." She smiled. "But you already know that, don't you?"

"Not someone?" He asked, glad he had finally learned something from the discussion.

"No. None of the nine are there. You must find one thing you need there. Now go to sleep. I'll wait for you when you return from New Bark." She whispered softly, putting her hand on his head in a gesture of appeasement.

"Can't you transport us there?" He asked, trying to find a way to speed up the quest, desperately hoping she would accept. The advantages of her doing so would be twin, speed in movement, and the fact that they would confuse the creature that was starting to get closer to them again, something that certainly did worry him. Still, at least, with Sabrina in their group now, they had two psychics who could take turn guarding them at night without over-exerting themselves, which was good as Kyle had been on the verge of falling apart.

"No. There are things that must happen on your way there..." She hesitated, as if she was about to say more, then elected not to do so, smiling at him. "You'll see what happen. Now, get some sleep dear one." She vanished in a blur of silver light, her last words lingering on his mind. Sleep would be good, resting would help him thinking more clearly. He walked back to his sleeping bag, and slipped in it, falling asleep.

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Letting his cloak down on an armchair, Lance looked at his younger sister worriedly, not knowing yet why she had called him over, asking him to come in a hurry. She was weeping, sitting in a couch in the main room, her face in her hands.

"What's wrong Danea?" He asked softly.

"Same thing that's been wrong for the last sixteen years." Her reply was short and to the point, bitter and sad.

Lance sank back in his chair, wringing his hands in frustration. He should have expected it, though in truth he had hoped that she was finally done with those time of despair, and obscure guilt that overcame her from time to time. Ever since that day, fifteen years ago, that day where she had been betrayed, or at least so it had seemed at the time. Lance had later learned the truth, but he did not know if his sister had accepted it.

"Really, that was a stupid question to ask uncle." A voice came out of the doorway, bitter. Lance turned to face Tanya, her silver-white hair loose behind her back, her long black coat still hanging from her shoulders, a black leather collar still on her neck, matching wristbands in place. As always, she wore a tight black shirt with a neckline that was entirely too low as far as Lance was concerned, and tight black pants with matching leather boots. She knew about what had happened, of course.

"What are you doing Tanya?" he asked , eyeing her suspiciously. She held one of her pokeball in hand and seemed ready to fight.

"Well...I tought I could find the man who did that to mommy and...hurt him just a little..." She smiled evilly, her eyes shining with rage.

"Oh, really Tanya...arent' you a little young for that?" He tried to object, knowing as soon as he said it that it was futile and that this argument certainly would not change her mind.

"No. I've seen mum suffering long enough. I'm going to at least make whoever did that suffer as much. I know how to." Her face was set, determined. "What's his name?" She asked again.

"Who?" Lance tried desperately to stall, though he could not come up with a very good idea of how to do so.

"The guy who did that to mom." She was still hard, apparently not fazed at all by Lance's rather pitiful attempt at holding her back.

"You can't do a thing to him Tanya. First because you'd get in trouble with the police and all that. Second off, because he's already dead." He finally blurted out the part of the story that Tanya had never heard.

"Dead? How?" she said, her eyes dark, frustration written in every inches of her body.

"Killed by his own son. Fifteen years or so ago." He replied, not wanting to think a bout the events too much, they were still something painful.

"How do you know?" She sounded suspicious, disbelieving.

"Because I was there. I was out to kill him, but things turned out the wrong way, and he was about to kill me, when his own son killed him..." He explained, avoiding to revealing the names still.

"Oh..." She sighed sadly, looking at him, then at her mother. She went to sit by her, and hugged her tightly.

Lance sighed, relieved. There were things that he had come closer to revealing that he wanted to keep hidden from the young woman for now, things that really needed to be kept under wrap.

_____________________________________

The seven Rapidash raced swifly on the downhill path of Route twenty-six, heading southward as fast as they could. The sun was already descending, a burning orb of fire low on the horizon. All of them were busy thinking about one thing or another, and they nearly missed the small forest temple. It was only Melody who saw it at first, reining in suddenly. They all stopped and went closer to the shrine, exploring it for a brief while. As it seemed safe and night was coming, it was no complex choice to elect to stay there for the night, and Sabrina sat to take her turn on psychic watch duty, even though the creature still was far. The shrine, she noticed, was small, yet complex beyond belief.

She looked around, feeling something strange calling her, drawing her toward the back of the shrine. Wanting to be sure that no one would bother her while she looked at things, she wove flow of psychic powers to convince the minds of her friends to remain asleep. Walking in the rear of the shrine she found a small eye-shaped amethyst lying on the floor, and tried to pick it up, failing, twisting it instead to force it to give way.

Instead, a whole section of wall gave way, letting her step in a room that she had not even suspected existed. This room was entirely different from the one outside they had spent their time in so far. Eight tall marble columns rose high, so high that she could not see the roof, even tough from outside the shrine had seemed small, and a small table was in the middle of the room. She went to the table, in the middle of the group of columns, and picked up the two things lying down there. A golden staff, taller than her, with some adornments on it, amethysts mostly, and a matching purple cloak. Putting the cloak on, she walked outside the room, her staff gripped solidly in her hands.

___________________________

Waking up suddenly, Ash noticed within a moment that the room seemed different somehow, as if it was larger than it had been before, and soon found the explanation, a door that had opened in the back of the shrine.

However, there was something much more troublesome - Sabrina was nowhere to be seen. Just as he was about to start shouting however, trying to wake up the others for a search, she came back in the room by the door that had appeared in the back, wearing a long cloak that seemed very familiar in fabric and shape, if not in color and size. Combined with the staff she held, it was not hard to make assumptions, no harder to make good ones.

Riding south still for most of the next day, then for the day after, resting as little as they could, they reached Danea's house soon enough.

Going from the road to the house was a matter of seconds, and they found themselves in within moments, a red-eyes Danea who had wept too much letting them in with a worried-looking Lance following her around. Tanya was nowhere to be seen.

They soon gathered in the living room, standing or sitting to talk, except Danea, who seemed to be completely off, thinking only about whatever it was that depressed her.

"What are you doing here? I tought you were going to Saffron?" asked Lance, who was, Ash couldn't help but notice, casting worried glances at his sister every chances he had.

"We went there already, now we have to go to New Bark," Ash replied quickly, not out for long explanations..

Sabrina, who had been slightly behind, joined them only a few minutes later, entering the house, only to be greeted by Lance and Danea with surprise. Before there was much time to talk, however, Danea retired to her bedroom, claiming she was having a bad headache.

"Sabrina? What are you doing with them?" Lance finally asked after watching as his sister walked away.

"Well...it seem I'm supposed to be with them...The one who Stood Alone..." She said it as if it was nothing important.

"What a fitting name for you..." Lance chuckled half-heartedly, as if he was thinking of something else..

"What's wrong with you Lance?" Sabrina asked "You've been acting depressed ever since we arrived..." She actually sounded worried, something rare. Her eyes glowed with the inner fires of a psychic, and she nodded sadly. "Oh...that old story again, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but...it's not the kind of think you can forget at will...it's surprising she managed to live that long without even trying to kill herself..." he left it hanging, and Ash remembered the visions of the past he had seen.

"She could if she wanted to...she IS one of the strongest psychic in the world after all...she can shield herself from those memories..." Sabrina objected slowly, looking at Lance.

"I don't think she learned how to do that..." Lance answered. Ash knew that was not true, she had managed to weaken the memories of the mill in both him and Misty when they had first met her, however she had done it.

"She could have done it. She did it before."

"Then maybe she still blames herself for it...I don't know..." Lance shrugged helplessly. It was obvious from his face that seeing her being like that tore at him.

"It's certainly not her fault." whispered Damian. Ash whirled, wondering how he knew the story. His father. Of course, Giovanni had been one of the key players. "He tried to do everything he could, and that was not enough...and there was so much more that he could do than what she could do." He shook his head sadly, a hint of disgust in his eyes, probably thinking of his grandfather.

"At least he avenged her...and saved me..." Lance's whisper was barely audible. Ash shook his head, he knew the story. He probably even knew parts that Damian did not know about, such as the fact that there had been consequences to the rape. Namely, Tanya.

"Yes...but he couldn't protect her...save her..." Damian shook his head sadly again.

"I know...I think all of us who were somehow involved in that have been blaming ourselves for how things turned out for the last sixteen years..." Lance shook his head too, bitter pain in them.

There was a long moment of silence. Then Misty broke it.

"Excuse me...but what are you talking about?" Misty interrupted. She did not know the story, he had never told her about it.

"Well...it's a long story..." Lance started. "You know Tanya, of course." It was no question.

"Of course." Misty answered all the same.

Lance nodded shortly, before continuing.

"Well...this whole story start about sixteen years ago, when Danea was fifteen or so. She hadn't yet taken the youthful look of the family - she was looking like any other fifteen years old. That was when she met a guy, about eight or so years older - Giovanni. Somehow, they managed to fall in love, even with the age difference.... That wouldn't have been bad, if Giovanni's father hadn't been one of the most...how to put it...well, he was suspected of being the major client of most whores in town." He shook his head in disgust, an expression mirrored by Damian, Melody, Elayne, Misty and Sabrina. An expression that was probably just as present on his own face.

"Anyway, he decided that Danea looked like a very nice girl to "try". So, he convinced Giovanni to invite her for supper, introduce her. At some point, he found a reason to get Giovanni outside, locked the doors, and, well...I'm sure you get what happened next." He coughed uncomfortably, though it was already obvious from what he had said before what would have happened next. Rape, the filthiest thing a human could do to another, or close to it at least.

Sabrina muttered something that, if Ash understood well, had to do with a rather nasty form of retribution she had in mind for rapist.

"She never told the details to anyone....We've all been blaming ourselves since then, for not managing to protect her...I knew Lorenzo Scarpa was a pervert, but I didn't warn her...Giovanni brought her to his father, and for a while I thought he was really trying to help his father get her...about until he shot the bastard. We had been friends until that, took us a while after it to manage to rebuild that...and the two of them never managed to look at each other again. I don't know why, they try to avoid each other whenever they can." He shook his head sadly again. "They were a cute couple together, but now that old pervert demolished both of their live. The story don't end there, though. There were consequences to the raping - namely, Tanya, and the fact that neither of them managed to build a relationship after that. Giovanni had been hurt before in another relationship - with your mother." He added, pointing at Damian and Misty. "I guess after that he couldn't bring himself to trust anyone enough for a relationship...and Danea..."

"She never managed to do it either, because she can't trust guys." The voice that completed the sentence was filled with cold fury, and without looking Ash knew who the owner was. "You and mom never told me the full story Lance. Why do you tell them now? Ash is the only one here who even remotely have the right to know, and if he does, so do I."

There was a moment of awkward silence, one that Damian finally broke after cold stares had been exchanged from one end of the room to another.

"I already knew the full story." He said, looking back at Tanya, who stared at him, hate filling her eyes.

"And how exactly?"

"My father told me." His reply was short, as short as her question had been.

"Of course. And how did he learn about it?" The fury was, if anything, growing.

"His name's Giovanni, remember? But then, you already knew that he was the same Giovanni, so don't play innocent."

"All right, all right..." she surrendered, her voice bitter. Misty suddenly smiled, as if she was realizing something, and hugged Tanya. Ash looked at her in surprise.

"What are you doing that for now?" Tanya asked in surprise.

"Well, your father happen to be my grandfather, right?" she pointed out.

"Yeah, so?" Tanya apparently wasn'T much interested in long explanations.

"Then that makes you my aunt." She completed. "Even if you're one year younger than me, you're still my father's sister."

Tanya actually smiled, though only a small smile.

"I guess that's right...you are my niece, aren't you?" there was a strange sense of wonder in her voice, even though the defensive shell was still there. Suddenly, she seemed to remember something. "We'd better try to come up with a way to help my mother, though. She looks like she's slipping further in depression..."