Hello, readers! Guess what?! *waits for guesses* ...Ok since no one's speaking up I'll just tell you: I actually started AND finished a one-shot! Aren't you proud? XD And also, if you'll look in that^ general direction, you'll also notice that I even made some art for it! And, to top it all off, I entered this fanfic in a contest for an anime convention I'm going to in a couple weeks! Goodness, there's just so much to be happy about for a T-rated death fic! Anyway, on to the story itself...I got the idea for this after reading Pokemon White's/Black and White 2' Pokédex entry for Chandelure. No need to look them up; you'll see as you read. Plus, I wanted something I could proudly call T-rated, and I think this fits the bill. And so, without further delay, it's story time! My second posted story: Chandelure's Flame!
"It's been very nice staying with you, Cynthia," Iris said with a smile.
"It sure has," Ash added, "I'm glad I got to see you again."
"Meeting a trainer as prestigious as yourself has been simply wonderful!" Cilan said with a flourish. The Sinnoh region Champion grinned at the three trainers.
"The pleasure is all mine. I hope our paths may cross again one day." She said with a smile.
"Pardon me, Ash," Cynthia's butler Jervis said, stepping forward, "but where will you go to train now? The Unova league is still a ways off."
"That's a good question," Ash said, putting a hand on his chin in thought, "I hadn't really thought about it."
"Expecting forethought from Ash? Ha! That's a good one," Iris commented smugly and Ash shot her a glare.
"Well in that case, I would suggest heading to Lentimas Town, to the west of here. It's a volcanic area with plenty of strong Pokemon to battle," Cynthia explained. She leaned a bit closer to Ash and said, "I've even heard rumors of the legendary Sinnoh Pokemon Heatran showing up there occasionally."
"Heatran? Awesome!" Ash exclaimed. "We have to check it out!"
"Best of luck to you, wherever you go," Cynthia said as Ash and his friends set off down the path, heading west to Lentimas Town.
Just outside of Lentimas town, Ash, Iris, and Cilan walked along the dry desert path in the shadow of the volcanic Reversal Mountain.
"Man, it's so hot!" Ash said, arms hanging loosely.
"That would be an understatement," Cilan commented, wiping the sweat off his forehead with his handkerchief. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.
"Ash, this is your fault!" Iris moaned. She had her sleeves rolled up as well.
"How is it my fault? I didn't invent the sun!" Ash retorted.
"It was you who wanted to come here, though. This is one of the hottest places in Unova!" Iris pointed out.
"I needed a good place to train! If it's good enough for a Champion it's good enough for me," Ash replied.
"Well you're-"
"Wait guys, look!" Cilan interjected. Ash and Iris turned to look where he was pointing and saw an old wooden house in the distance. It had a few broken windows and looked as though it could fall over any second.
"A house way out here? It doesn't look very nice," Ash said.
"Who cares? Maybe they'll have some water for us," Iris said as she started in the direction of the house, Ash and Cilan in tow.
As they came to the front of the house, they stopped and looked up at its tall presence. Cilan noticed a sign and went over to read it. Its writing was nearly illegibly scribbled and the sign itself appeared to have been hurriedly hammered into the ground.
"Strange House," he read, "That's all it says."
"Weird," Iris said thoughtfully.
"Well, we have to check it out now that we're here," Ash said, knocking on the door.
"No one's home," Cilan said after a moment. Ash tried turning the doorknob, and the door slowly creaked open.
"But it's unlocked," Ash said, inching his way in the door.
"This is starting to seem familiar..." Iris muttered as she and Cilan followed Ash inside. The front door opened to a large living room with a tall middle staircase leading up to a second floor and two smaller staircases leading to a basement on either side of it. They were met with a frigid blast of air as they entered. They shivered and Iris and Cilan pulled their sleeves down.
"Geez, someone likes air conditioning," Cilan commented.
"Who lives here, anyway?" Iris asked, looking around at the dusty and chaotically arranged furniture.
"Hello?" Ash called, his voice echoing off of the tall ceiling. No answer came in return. "I guess there really isn't anyone here."
"Then I think we should look for some water. I'm sure the owners will understand," Iris proposed and Ash and Cilan nodded in return. They set off down the staircase to the left of the taller main downstairs, they discovered a huge and cluttered library.
"Look at all the books!" Ash exclaimed.
"There must be thousands of them!" Iris added. Cilan noticed a small bathroom in the corner of the library. He hurried inside and tried the faucet, but no water came out.
"There's no running water," Cilan said, stepping out of the bathroom.
"Maybe this house is abandoned," Ash said, stepping over a pile of scattered books.
"Why's it being air conditioned, then?" Iris questioned.
"Uh..." Ash said, unsure himself.
"Well, there's nothing but books down here. We should see what's upstairs," Cilan said, weaving his way through the maze of bookcases to the other side of the room. Ash and Iris followed and they started up the other staircase.
Back on the main floor, Ash and Cilan started towards the middle staircase, with Iris close behind. Just before they began climbing the steps, however, Iris stopped and looked at the furniture in the living room and frowned.
"Guys? Wasn't that couch in a different spot before?" she asked, pointing to a sofa near the left staircase.
"Yeah...and wasn't that lamp somewhere else too?" Ash asked, looking over to an old, dimly lit floor lamp.
"It couldn't have been," Cilan said in a disbelieving tone, "We're the only ones in here."
"I don't know," Iris said, "I feel like something's weird with this place."
"Come on, not more of your curse nonsense," Cilan said, sweatdropping.
"It's not nonsense!" Iris protested. Cilan waved her off as he started up the stairs again.
"Ok, ok, whatever. Let's just look upstairs so we can hurry out of here." He said.
"Fine," Iris said, she and Ash following Cilan up the stairs. As they came to the top, they were met with several doorways, each one shadowed so it was impossible to see into the rooms they led to.
"More rooms up here too, huh?" Cilan said, looking at each of the doorways.
"I seriously have a bad feeling about this..." Iris said, her voice full of worry. Suddenly, a bright purple light appeared in the middle doorway, catching their attention.
"What's that?" Ash asked, mesmerized by the mysterious light. He walked through the doorway, eyes fixed on the light.
"I'm not sure," Cilan said, following Ash. Iris hesitated for a moment, but followed anyway, as she was curious what the light was too. Once inside, they all made their way to the light. They now noticed it danced back and forth and had a powerful heat to it.
"It's a fire," Ash said, gazing into the flame.
"But...why is it purple? Who could have lit it, anyway?" Cilan asked, unable to look away from the dancing light.
Just then, the flame was snuffed out with a sizzle. Startled, the three trainers jumped back, disoriented by the pitch blackness that now surrounded them. A series of high-pitched cries shot through the air as another blast of cold rushed into the room.
"What's going on?" Iris moaned, pulling Axew in close to her. Axew let out a cry of fear.
"Whatever it is, it can't be good!" Cilan called through the darkness. Suddenly, the whole room illuminated with the same eerie purple light as the flame had. Looking up, they now saw the room had a tall ceiling as well with a chandelier burning brightly with purple flames. Out of the shadows emerged dozens of small, candle-like Pokémon.
"Litwick! Look at them all!" Ash exclaimed.
"Hah...now it really seems familiar!" Iris said, thinking back to their encounter a few months earlier. The Litwick smiled deviously and made cries that almost sounded like laughter.
"We need to get out of here!" Cilan said as he started towards the door, Ash and Iris close behind. Just before they escaped, however, a band of Litwick jumped in front of them, blocking the door. They readied their Shadow Ball and Inferno attacks and the trainers backed off. The rest of the Litwick attacked from behind, and they barely managed to avoid their attacks.
"What could they want from us?" Cilan asked, doing his best to avoid the Candle Pokémon.
"You think it could be like before? Maybe there's a Lampent leading them!" Ash suggested.
"Who knows? What we need to do now is defend ourselves!" Iris said, tossing one of her Pokéballs in the air. "Emolga, come on out!"
"I guess you're right," Cilan said, throwing his own Pokéball out, "Go, Crustle!"
"Pikachu!" Ash said.
"Pika!" Pikachu replied determinedly, jumping off his trainer's shoulder.
"Hidden Power!"
"X-Scissor!"
"Thunderbolt!"
Ash, Iris, and Cilan all did their best to fight off the barrage of Infernos and Shadow Balls, but they were simply outnumbered. Every Litwick defeated would lead to two more taking its place. Taking one last hit from a Shadow Ball, Crustle collapsed to the floor, out cold.
"Oh no, Crustle!" Cilan exclaimed. A split second later, Emolga was slammed with an Inferno, knocking it into a wall, swirls in its eyes.
"Gah! Emolga, no!" Iris cried. She and Cilan both recalled their downed Pokémon, even as Pikachu was knocked back by a Shadow Ball.
"Pikachu...!" He choked out, struggling to stay on his feet.
"Hang in there, buddy!" Ash said desperately. The Litwick began closing in, forcing the three trainers and Pikachu to the middle of the room.
"Chandelure!" A cry ripped through the room just before the Litwick unleashed their final attacks. Their devious smiles turned to expressions of fear, and they all retreated into the shadows as fast as they could.
"What was...that?" Iris asked with fear in her voice. Just then, a somewhat large Pokémon with purple flames to match the Litwicks' descended from the tall ceiling, glaring menacingly at the trio of Pokémon trainers. It glowed just as brightly as the chandelier on the ceiling, if not brighter.
"It's a Chandelure!" Cilan exclaimed. Ash pulled out his Pokédex to scan it.
"Chandelure, the Luring Pokémon, and the evolved form of Lampent. Being consumed in Chandelure's flame burns up the spirit, leaving the body behind," the Pokédex informed them.
"Burns up...the spirit?" Ash repeated, shivering.
"Which means it's dangerous. And it doesn't look like it wants to make friends," Cilan said, keeping an eye on the ghost and fire type hovering in the air above them.
"Lure!" it cried, releasing a ball of orange fire down at the group of trainers. Cilan and Iris jumped left to avoid it, while Ash jumped right.
"Looks like we'll have to fight this one, too!" Iris said, grabbing another Pokéball. "Go, Excadrill!"
"Stunfisk, help us out!" Cilan said. Stunfisk appeared next to Excadrill, ready to battle.
"Pikachu, can you keep going?" Ash asked, looking at Pikachu, concerned.
"Pika..." Pikachu replied weakly. He still hadn't fully recovered from the previous battle.
"Chandelure!" the Chandelure cried out violently. Before Ash, Iris, and Cilan could even give their Pokémon a command, it released a huge column of orange-yellow fire straight at Excadrill and Stunfisk. They gave cries of pain as the Flamethrower made contact, and when the flames finally stopped, they were both unconscious.
"No!" Iris cried. "Excadrill, are you ok?"
Cilan scowled. "Knocked out after only one hit? Just how powerful is this Pokémon?"
"Pikachu! Electro Ball!" Ash growled. Pikachu gathered its remaining strength and sent an Electro Ball barreling toward Chandelure. Chandelure whipped around and fired a Shadow Ball back at Pikachu. The spherical attacks collided in midair, cancelling each other out. Just as quickly as it had turned towards Ash, Chandelure turned back to Cilan and Iris.
"Chaaan..." it said, forming another fireball. This time, however, the fire was purple, and it was aimed right at Cilan and Iris!
"Chan-del-lure!" Chandelure cried, releasing its largest column of fire yet. Cilan and Iris were unable to move, in shock of the deep purple destruction rocketing its way toward them.
The whole scene appeared to slow down for Ash. Without thinking, he sprinted as fast as he could past Pikachu and jumped in front of Cilan and Iris a split second before they were engulfed by the purple flames.
As the flames washed over Ash, he could do nothing but squeeze his eyes shut, in too much pain to even scream. After what seemed like an eternity, the lavender torrent finally stopped, and Ash's body limply dropped to the floor.
For a moment, everything was still, until Cilan and Iris fully realized what had just happened.
"Ash!" Iris screamed in horror, sprinting over to his motionless body.
"It can't be..." Cilan mumbled, hurrying after Iris.
"Ash! Ash! Can you hear me? Wake up! Please!" Iris begged desperately, grabbing Ash's shoulders and shaking him.
"Chandelure..." the Chandelure said softly, retreating back into the shadows. The room was illuminated solely by the eerie purple chandelier once again.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu cried, hurrying over to his trainer.
"He's...he's not breathing..." Cilan said gravely, placing a finger on Ash's neck. After a moment, he closed his eyes and scowled, bowing his head. "No pulse."
Iris did a sort of sob-gasp and clasped her hands over her mouth. "You mean...he's really...?" she choked out, tears in her eyes.
"Uuugh..." a moan came from the other side of the room, behind Cilan and Iris. They looked at each other in surprise, then whirled around to see where it had come from. They couldn't believe their eyes.
Another Ash was struggling to stand up from the floor some twenty feet away. This one, however, was translucent and basically colorless except for a surrounding purple aura to match the chandelier's glow.
"Cilan...Iris...?" the ghostly Ash asked weakly, staring right into this friends' eyes. His own eyes had lost their usual shine and now had a perfectly round, blood-red iris set on a pitch-black sclera. His stare made Cilan and Iris shudder.
"W-what is that?" Cilan stammered.
"Huh?" Ash asked, genuinely confused.
"Chandelure's flame burns up the spirit..." Iris said thoughtfully. "That's it! Those purple flames separated Ash's spirit from his body!"
"What are you talking about?" Ash asked. He looked slowly down at his hands and saw their dull purple glow. "No...n-not again..." He said, wide eyed.
"Again?" Iris asked.
"Yeah, well...long story short, Pikachu and I sort of 'died' once early on in our journey," Ash said, looking over to Pikachu and actually smiling slightly, "Remember that, buddy?"
"Pika..." Pikachu said softly, wondering how his trainer could manage to smile right now.
"Wow," was all Iris could say, in awe of the phenomenon she was witnessing. Cilan, on the other hand, was a different story.
"Not possible..." he said, attempting to steady himself. "G-Ghosts don't exist! You're not real!"
"I'm as real as you are, Cilan!" Ash argued, taking a step forward. The lavender aura about him intensified slightly.
"No! You shielded Iris and I! You just died right in front of us!" Cilan insisted frantically, turning towards Iris. "The two of us...we're just hallucinating!"
"Cilan, it's tough for me to take in too, but believe your eyes instead of your head for once!" Iris said. "He's not really gone!"
"Or at least I won't be for long," Ash said, almost gliding over to his limp body on the floor.
"What are you doing?" Iris asked. Ash stood over his body, halfway in shock of the situation. Something about it felt different from before, and that made him nervous. Shaking it off, he literally dove back into his body in an attempt to revive himself. His body writhed about wildly, and Cilan and Iris took a step back in fear of the disturbing scene playing out before them. At last, Ash's body gave one final heave, and his spirit was once again thrown out, landing on the floor back where he started.
"Ash! Are you all right?" Cilan asked, concerned, as he and Iris hurried over to Ash. Cilan tried to grab his shoulder, but his hand went right through it. Ash's spirit was extremely cold as his hand passed through, and Cilan blinked in shock for a few seconds as he finally took in the reality.
"No...! Why didn't that work?" Ash asked, scrambling to his feet. "That's all I had to do last time! Just return to my body and everything was fine!" At this point, the purple aura around Ash had intensified once again, and it now danced back and forth in a similar manner to the Litwick's flames.
"It must be different now, for some reason," Iris suggested, "Just the circumstance."
"All of this is in extremely poor taste," Cilan said, putting a hand to his head.
"I...I wanted to be...the very best..." Ash said, lowering his head and turning away slightly. "I was going to explore new regions...I wanted to have so many more battles...meet new people..."
"Ash?" Iris said, looking worriedly at the discouraged Ash.
"I wanted to go even more places with you guys, too..." Ash continued, tears forming in his eerie red eyes. "I was going to become the world's greatest Pokémon Master...and you, Pikachu, we were going to do it all together." The purple flames became larger once again, closing in tighter and tighter around Ash's form.
"Pikachu," Pikachu said quietly. He hadn't seen his trainer this hopeless in a long time.
"Ash, you can still do all of that!" Iris said, attempting to maintain her confidence. "You just have to hold on a little longer!"
"Hold on? Hold on to what? Cilan's right, I really did die in that fire," Ash said bitterly, tears falling from his eyes. They dissipated before they even hit the floor.
"A-Ash..." Cilan said, feeling both sad and guilty.
"It all ends here..." Ash said, beginning to look as though he might faint. "Hey, are we back outside? It's getting really warm in here..."
"No, Ash...stay with us, please!" Iris begged, tears beginning to form in her eyes as well. Suddenly, all of Ash's spirit was completely consumed in the brilliant lavender flames. He cried out in pain as he was burned away bit by bit, Iris and Cilan able to do nothing but look on in horror.
Finally, the last piece of Ash's spirit was burned away, and there was another blast of cold air sent tearing through the room. His scream lingered and echoed throughout the entire house. After a moment, everything was once again completely still and peaceful.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu screamed, dashing to the spot where Ash had stood only a moment before. His trainer was gone.
Cilan and Iris were considerably scarred from the event. Cilan was the one that had to carry Ash's lifeless body on his back all the way to Lentimas Town, Iris sobbing the whole way. He was fighting off tears himself. Neither of them ever had the heart to look at Pikachu on Ash's shoulder, trying desperately to awaken his fallen trainer.
Ash's funeral was held in Pallet Town's cemetery the following week. Cilan and Iris had made the trip to Kanto and finally met Ash's mother, Professor Oak, Misty, Brock, even Tracey and Gary. They only wished their meeting and journey to Kanto had been under better circumstances. Everything at the funeral was black-from Delia's veil to Cilan's tie. Despite what you may think, it was not a dark, cloudy day; instead, there was moisture in the air and a sprawling rainbow overhead. Life indeed had to carry on for Ash's loved ones, but something never quite felt the same.
He could have matured to have such a savory flavor...
He was just a little kid...
I should have never told him to train in such a dangerous place...
If I would have known that was the last time I would ever see him...
He promised he would be careful...
We were going to have a Pokémon battle when I grew up...
Sketching his Pokémon was always inspirational...
He really was my best friend...
Oh Ash...
I guess he wasn't so much of a loser...
Pallet Town's most promising young trainer...
My baby boy...
Pikapi...
Very few people ever returned to the Strange House after Ash's death. Those brave enough to enter told of a young man's voice that could be heard echoing throughout the house's old timbers, desperately crying out for a Pokémon:
Pikachu...Pikachu...!
"The spirits burned up in its ominous flame lose their way and wander this world forever."
~Chandelure's Pokédex entry, Pokémon Black 2 and White 2
And there you have it! My first complete one-shot! It's such a weird mix of happiness and depression when finishing a death fic O_o Well, I hope you enjoyed it. I also hope you were able to get who was thinking each italicized thing at the end...Ha, I guess if you just really can't figure one out PM me or something. I'll let you all know if I happen to win something in the convention's fanfic contest! (But don't count on it XD) Now that this is out of the way, I'll keep working on the next chapter of The Curse of the Shadow Triad? and get that up as soon as possible. I'll see you then! Read and review! ^_^