Crossroads: Chapter 1, rivalry renewed.
Summary: Ash and Serena are now faced with a new challenge, but when things seem to be going so well between them Ash and Serena are feeling the pressure of saving the world yet again, with things falling apart around them they soon take it out on each other, what consequences occur when things don't go the way they expect?
Shippings included in this story: minor Pearlshipping, AmourShipping (the first half of this story will involve the increasing tensions between Ash and Serena) and Ikarishipping.
Major rivalries: Ash and Serena (not as prominent as Separate Roads), Dawn and Serena (contests, Hoenn League as well as Ash Ketchum) Ash and Paul (revived yet again)
Rating: (M) for humour, suggestive themes, minor consumption of alcohol and violence.
Ash stepped of the ship holding his backpack over shoulder, taking a deep breath knowing that his next adventure would be a tough one, "well buddy this is it," Ash announced heavily, he walked towards the centre of the town and thought about the first time he met one of his friends, "it has been almost ten years since we first met May, wonder how she is going," Ash asked himself, he looked back to see the ship taking off for the next part of the cruise, he gulped for a moment and wondered where Serena was, 'well no going back, I am certain we will meet her soon enough,' Ash thought to himself as he walked through the small town.
"Well if it isn't Ash Ketchum," a familiar female voice rang out, "we have been in so much trouble recently because you decided to take your sweet time," the young woman stomped towards her friend, her hands on her hips, "we have been making sure that everybody was safe, we didn't even have the time to tell you what was going on, we relied on Professor Birch to tell Sycamore what was going on," May informed Ash gritting her teeth in anger.
Ash scratched the back of his head and let out a slight chuckle, "oh come on May, I still had some unfinished business to attend to in Kalos, that took a little time," Ash informed the brunette who was less than pleased with Ash's excuse, 'oh man, she isn't happy that Serena and I took too long,' Ash stepped back from a furious woman.
"The bad news is, Drew is badly injured, he might never be able to walk again," May's anger quickly turned to sadness, crying at what had happened, "he saved my life and was hit by a stray branch that was directed at my head," May explained the situation much to Ash's horror, "but he still promised me that he would walk again, May embraced Ash crying after telling him.
'And I am immortal, if that sort of stuff happened to me, I would be just fine, but happening to my friends,' Ash thought while trying to comfort his friend, "so May, have you heard from Dawn, Serena and Paul yet?" Ash asked his friend.
"I heard from Paul, he said he was going to arrive in Slateport City," May replied, she stepped back and tried to put on a brave front, "but Dawn and Serena, I haven't heard from them in a while," May informed Ash about the other girls.
"Alright, I need to know more about what is happening, I will go with you to visit Drew in the hospital," Ash promised his friend with a smile.
"Thanks Ash," May replied to Ash.
The two friends left towards the town's exit to see Drew, Ash looked up to the sky, filled with a strange cloud formation that he had never seen before, "odd, I have never seen clouds spiralling like that before," Ash said as he noticed the pattern of sky and cloud which seemed too perfect for it to be natural.
"Yeah, the oddities have occurred since Kyogre and Groudon re-awoke a few weeks ago," May informed Ash as she continued down the road, "first it was blistering heat, then driving rain," May stated while Ash remembered what was said at the Kalos League before it was called to a close prematurely.
"I see, but why is it so intense?" Ash asked his friend calmly.
"We believe that something has increased the power of those two pokemon, right now Rayquaza doesn't have enough power to combat those two for some reason," May continued to explain the growing situation, "Professor Birch also told me something about Primal Reversion, supposedly it is a way for those two to become even more powerful, so powerful they can change the weather patterns of the world," May stated while thinking back to sudden changes in the climate, "it was perfect the day it started, in fact Drew and I were walking towards the beach," May sighed as she was explaining the conditions of the day.
"Yeah the Kalos league had a premature end, because it was so hot people ended up getting hospitalised, then it rained with tons of thunder and lightning, oddly enough it even snowed," Ash told the brunette about the situation that occurred.
"Yeah I heard about something happening in Unova as well," May placed her hand on her chin.
"So how is Drew taking his injury?" Ash asked his friend.
May sighed after hearing the question, "he isn't taking it too well, he grew frustrated and even took it out on me," May replied feeling guilty about the events surrounding Drew's injury, "sure he is a nice person, I also know he hates staying couped up in a bed for a long period of time, in fact he even tried to get out of the bed but ended up on the floor, he said it was like he couldn't feel his feet touching the ground," May explained the problem that Drew was face.
"I see," Ash replied, looking at the ground with his fists clenched.
"Ash, there is a reason why I needed to greet you," May informed her friend calmly, "Professor Birch needed me to meet with you and bring you to Petalberg City," the brunette stated.
"Alright May, lead the way," Ash responded with a nod, the two friends walked through the grassy, windswept fields, seeing the pokemon running happily with the other pokemon, "this takes me back," Ash chuckled with flashbacks of his first journey through the Hoenn region.
"I see you remember our journey together, with my brother and Brock," May looked at her friend.
"Speaking of your brother, how is Max going?" Ash asked enthusiastically.
"Max has taken over the duties as a gym leader, my father is going to challenge the Elite Four so he can become a member one day," May explained to Ash about how things were going, "also my father hasn't been beaten since you defeated him," May stated proudly.
"I bet you Serena can beat your father," Ash challenged her friend to the bet.
May burst out into laughter knowing that Ash had challenged her family, "oh come on Ash, how good can your girlfriend be?" still laughing at the trainer who placed his hand on her shoulder, she looked into the trainer's determined expression, "um Ash, why are you so serious?" May asked quietly.
Ash moved his hand after May had stopped laughing, "you are making the same mistake I made when I battled Serena," Ash replied, his thoughts soon drifted to their last battle, he looked at his partner pokemon who was walking in front of him, "I underestimated her, I said I was going to crush her in the battle, but I was almost beaten by Serena, even Pikachu was on the verge of defeat," Ash explained how the battle between him and Serena went.
"She is that good, I mean we had a draw in our battle, but she almost defeated you?" May questioned the trainer, in shock at hearing that her former traveling companion was almost beaten by his girlfriend. This shock was soon replaced with even more laughter that was directed at Ash, "you have been a trainer for almost ten years, and you were almost beaten by a trainer who only has one year's experience," May pointed and laughed at her friend.
"Oh come on, it wasn't like I wasn't holding back against her," Ash said before covering his mouth, soon to find that May had a sceptical expression on her face, she crossed her arms and moved in closer, "alright, I didn't use my best pokemon," Ash confessed with a frown drooping his head.
"Next time you two battle, you better be using your best pokemon," May turned away, "because if you don't battle her at your best, I might just tell Serena that you were holding back against her," May threatened her friend, she started walking towards the next town leaving Ash in shock at the threat that he had been given, May took a glance over her left shoulder, "come on Ash the weather is about to change very soon," May called to Ash who was still unable to digest the problem he got himself in.
'Oh man, I am so screwed, if May tells Serena that I was holding back against her,' Ash thought, shuddering to think about how badly Serena would react if she knew the truth, Ash walked slowly towards Oldale Town.
(Slateport City)
Paul slung his bag over his shoulder and walked toward the northern exit of the city, 'knowing Ash, he will be heading to his friend's place, that means I need to get to Petalburg City and finally tell Ash that I will be competing against him and Serena,' Paul planned his next stop, he looked around the port city, "things are quiet, maybe that is because of the terrible weather that has been gripping the world," Paul reminded himself, taking a look at the skies towards the north, then switching his attention towards the ocean, seeing the dark clouds hovering over the horizon, seemingly like they were never moving from the same spot, "then we need to plan what we are going to do about that," Paul whispered, glaring at the dark clouds.
Paul noticed the people running away from the sea, "hurry up there is another cyclone coming, that is the fifth in eight days," one of the citizens explained.
"Five cyclones in eight days, that's impossible, don't cyclones take in the warm oceans as a fuel source leaving the waters slightly cooler, making it difficult for cyclones to continue on their path with greater intensity?" Paul asked himself, he turned his attention towards the southern end of the city and ran towards the sea, where the major storm was approaching, he looked around to find that buildings had been destroyed and parts of the city flooded by previous cyclones.
Paul continued to rush towards the beach, but was soon stopped by Officer Jenny, "I am sorry, but this location is off limits," the officer informed Paul about the current status of the area in front of him.
"Yeah, I can see that, but I need to investigate why this is happening, at least give me ten minutes," Paul requested, trying to get into the area before the storm would hit.
"The storm will make landfall in less than an hour, you need to evacuate the city now," Officer Jenny ordered the Sinnoh trainer.
"I am not worried about myself, I am more worried about why this city has been hit so many times by cyclones in such a short space of time and why those black clouds off the eastern shores have remained stationary," Paul tried to explain why he needed to figure out what was going on, "Professor Sycamore, said something was wrong, like the balance of nature is way off, that is why I am here, to assist in any way I can," Paul described his purpose to the officer.
"Alright, you have five minutes to see what is going on, if you don't leave the beach within that time, I am going to arrest you," Officer Jenny allowed Paul to walk through the barrier.
"Fine, five minutes it is," Paul replied walking.
Paul walked through the sands, the umbrellas over turned and the shop completely obliterated, "these cyclones aren't weak either," Paul whispered as he walked towards the water front, kneeling down and placed his hand in the water, "odd, the water is unusually hot for this time of the year, in fact the water shouldn't even be this warm," Paul removed his hand and shook off the water, he looked up seeing the incoming storm, he turned his eyes to the east, 'then there is that stationary storm in the distance, this is providing more question than answers,' Paul thought as he stood up and walked towards the entrance of the beach.
Paul placed his hands on his chin thinking about the water and the storms, "Groudon and Kyogre have a counter balance, that counter is Rayquaza, so that leaves me with one other question," Paul looked up to the sky seeing the unusual patterns that covered the sky, "where is Rayquaza?" Paul asked himself, puzzled by the no show of the other legendary pokemon, 'who would cause such disaster?' More questions flowed into his mind.
Paul walked up to the barrier and was allowed to leave the area, "did you find what you were looking for?" Jenny asked the trainer.
"More questions and no answers," Paul replied coldly, he shook his head in shame, then looked back towards the sea, "you better evacuate the entire city, this isn't going to be a weak cyclone," Paul informed the officer.
"Exactly, these storms haven't been getting weaker, they are in fact getting stronger," Officer Jenny replied with a saddened mannerism.
"I know," Paul replied leaving the scene of destruction, 'so there is more to this mystery, better hurry up, before this world gets destroyed,' Paul told himself, taking one of his pokeballs getting ready to leave fly off to meet with Ash, "things are worse than Sycamore explained to us," Paul whispered as he called out a large yellow pokemon, "Dragonite, let's go to Petalburg City," Paul instructed his powerful pokemon upon climbing onto the dragon type.
(Nearing Petalburg City)
Dawn pointed to the north seeing the forest on fire, "look Serena, that is where Petalburg Forest is, it seems like things are worse than what Sycamore told us," Dawn started with a concerned expression, she watched the ship getting closer to May's home city, "I was here once before, but nothing this bad happened while I was here," Dawn explained to her friend and rival.
"Yeah, Ash is almost here, even Paul is about to arrive," Serena sensed the area around here, 'I will need my aura abilities even more, so I need to get stronger, I might even have to travel on my own for a little while,' Serena thought to herself, covering her face from the harsh sunlight.
"This sunlight is so harsh, I am going inside before it gets to me," Dawn stated her goal to Serena, she looked over her shoulder and noticed that her friend was not feeling the effects of the harsh weather, 'there is some sort of connection with Ash's and Serena's immortality and the weird weather, but what is it?' Dawn asked herself wondering if Serena could sense the same thing, "why is it that I can feel that those two are somehow connected to the growing problems with the world?" Dawn continued to question herself.
"Dawn is right, I can sense that Ash and I are connected to these problems, but why?" Serena admitted after sensing the thoughts of her friend, 'why am I unaffected by these weather conditions, is it something to do with being immortal?' Serena's questions continued to fill her mind, 'who would cause such chaos?' another lot of questions filled Serena with doubt, "are Ash and I the intended targets?" Serena asked herself thinking about her battles with Lysandre.
Dawn watched from the shadows, feeling concerned for her friend, "is she starting to doubt herself, even if she hasn't started journeying in Hoenn?" Dawn asked herself, she crossed her arms and looked out towards the approaching coast, "I get the feeling we are only getting more questions than answers," Dawn acknowledged feeling like they started the solving of the mystery in a bad way, "we are going nowhere at the moment and we don't have much time," Dawn admitted as she felt the ship rock from the rough seas, 'too bad we all couldn't take a submarine to this location, this movement of the seas is making me seasick,' Dawn felt her stomach turning with every rock of the ship.
"The ship is about to dock, please gather your possessions and prepare to disembark," the captain announced over the PA.
"If we don't get answers soon we might have more trouble than we bargained for," Dawn reminded herself as she walked towards the port side of the ship and waited for the ship to stop, Dawn looked up to the blue sky, seeing the smoke rising from the forest, "what can we do now, we still know nothing about what is really happening, even with the little information we have," Dawn explained to herself, the two girls walked down the gangplank with the major city in the background.
Serena focused her attention to the city amazed at how amazing it was, "this is the first time I have stepped foot on Hoenn," Serena whispered, she covered her eyes from the intense rays of the sun, "come on Dawn, we need to get somewhere cool, wait for Ash and come up with a plan on how to stop this weather anomaly," Serena told her friend leading her towards the city.
"Yeah," Dawn agreed with her friend.
(Outside Oldale Town)
Ash and May continued their walk towards the next city, "so Ash, what do you think so far?" May asked her friend calmly.
Ash placed his hand on his chin and started to think, "tough to say, but judging from what you have told me, we have no answers so far, we both know that Groudon and Kyogre are the focal point of the current situation, but we don't know why," Ash replied worried about the weather and his other friend.
"Yes Ash I know, but we need to figure this out or the world will end," May's concern started to become more obvious, showing hints of fear about what could happen, "to be honest I am really scared," May admitted her fear much to Ash's concern.
"I know, even though I am immortal, I am scared myself," Ash told a shocked brunette.
"Immortal?" May enquired wondering what Ash was talking about, "is there something I don't know?" May asked her friend curiously.
"Yeah, there are a few things you don't know, right now there is no point in hiding it anymore," Ash replied, his fists clenched after admitting part of the truth to his friend, "when Serena and I were dealing with Team Flare, both of us died during the battle," Ash informed May of his death in Kalos, she placed her hands over her mouth as tears started to stream down, "no need to cry, Xerneas the pokemon of life brought us back to life, but now Serena and I cannot die as easily as we would like, in fact, we will not age as much as say you or Drew for that matter," Ash explained with a heavy feeling in his heart.
"So you two will outlive your children and their kids as well?" May asked her friend, to which he nodded in reply, "that's horrible, that isn't fair on you or Serena," May's voice started to break a little as her emotions got the best of her.
"I know, both of us hate this immortality, we have only had it for a few months, but we are already feeling the strain of it," Ash looked to the ground confessing his feelings about not being able to die or age like his friends.
"You know Ash, maybe there was another reason for you and Serena being immortal," May assured her friend calmly, but Ash just ignored the comment, walked ahead of his friend leaving May to wonder if everything was alright, 'something is eating away at him, it isn't just immortality, he has seen something that has hurt him,' May told herself as she walked behind the trainer , to her he seemed a little colder, but that was the least of her worries, May needed to get back to Petalburg City to see Drew again, to make sure he was doing just fine.
"Come on May, we need to get to your home city before the weather changes," Ash noticed the dark clouds approaching from the south, the two friends continued towards their destination, 'Serena, are you thinking the same thing as I am?' Ash asked himself, slowing the pace towards the next city, Ash looked up to the horizon and noticed a thick column of smoke rising from the forest, "May, what's going on?" Asking the brunette about the fire.
"That fire has been burning for days, no matter what the firefighters do, this fire is still edging closer to Petalburg, there is a chance that we might need to evacuate, but I refuse to leave Drew in a defenceless state," May announced her plan to Ash, but she knew that there isn't much that could be done to stop that fire from getting into her home city, the wind picked up kicking up the dust that had built up over time.
The trees waved violently in the wind, swaying from one side to the other, "this has been happening for the last week!" May tried to tell Ash of the sound of the wind, they looked up to find the clouds spinning oddly, the two gasped in horror as something appeared from the clouds.
Ash ran towards his friend and pushed her to the ground, "well what about that?!" Ash asked his friend.
"That's new to me!" May tried to yell over the sound of a hundred jets rushing overhead, the wind picked up violently, with greater intensity, May felt her head being forced closer to the ground and fear gripping her, she wanted to see what was going on behind her but Ash wouldn't let her.
Ash looked back to see the funnel of dust and debris, trees being pulled from the ground like they were nothing, the tornado heading straight to Petalburg City, Ash got up and helped up is friend, "come on May, we better rush to Petalburg City," Ash hurried his friend, his concern etched on his face as the twister started to disappear.
"I don't believe it, the tornado just missed Petalburg by a few hundred feet," May gasped in horror, scanning the trail of devastation, she breathed a sigh of relief but knew that parts of the route were destroyed, "this is getting out of hand, it won't be long before we see a number of people killed," May voiced her concern with the situation.
The raven haired trainer nodded "Right, let's go."
The two friends entered the city and looked around they felt the heat pushing down on them, he could sense the concern of May, whose eyes were fixated on the hospital, "we are going to the hospital," May demanded of Ash.
Ash and May changed their path and walked towards the hospital, he looked back to see Serena and Dawn approaching them, "glad to see you two made it," Ash remarked with a joyous smile, but the expression soon changed to a more serious tone, he was about to turn when Serena started running towards him.
"Glad to see you didn't waste any time coming here," Serena teased her boyfriend, she rushed up to Ash and embraced him tightly, "I was getting worried that you might have gotten scared of coming here," Serena smiled as she felt that Ash wasn't returning the hug.
Ash looked down with a serious expression, "one of my friends has gotten badly hurt, I need to see if he is going to be alright," Ash pushed Serena back.
The blonde haired trainer was puzzled by his lack of reaction to her, she had no idea what was going on, this wasn't like him, she remained in shock unable to make a move, "what happened? Why has he changed so much in less than a week?" Serena asked herself, the question played back in her mind seeing Ash walking into the hospital.
"Yeah, I need to know that as well," Dawn thought out loud, she knew that this wasn't like the trainer that she really liked. "Come on Serena, we need to see Ash's injured friend," Dawn tried to cheer her friend up. The two girls walked into the hospital and noticed how busy it was, people were reeling from the weather and they were falling violently ill as well as the heat related stress they had been suffering.
"There aren't enough beds to help these people," Serena overheard one of the nurses talking to their leader.
Serena looked around concerned for the people, "say Dawn, you seem to be getting better at handling this weather," Serena looked over to her friend, but noticed that she still wasn't all that well.
Meanwhile outside the city a group of people were looking from the cliff, "well those two are finally here," a person in a red shirt and jeans said with a smile.
"Excellent," a powerfully built man said, his red hair and beard wearing mostly brown, "those two will pay for not finishing the job they started in Geosenge Town," the man stated with a smile, his left hand covering his face, soon to be removed revealing a scar that ran down from his left eye, "those two will pay for taking my chance at immortality, I think I will start with their friends," he said with a smirk.
Three of the men ran down and prepared to attack the city not caring about who was getting in the way, "yes Master Lysandre!" the men yelled in unison as they watched the men preparing the final stages of the plan.
With more questions than answers Ash, Serena, Dawn and Paul each have to take a separate path to find answers to what would be the demise of the rest of the world, Will these four characters find the answers or will they be too late.
Next time Chapter 2: The Plot thickens.
hope you all have a great christmas, and a brilliant new year, also as an added bonus, I have another little story that i have started and have written at least 5 chapters for, just look in the AshXSalvia tag to find it.