The Book of Ash
Chapter Two: How Sweet the Sound

She felt something splatter onto her face. And then another small splatter.

Raindrops.

That's what she kept feeling, as they dropped onto her one by one, until the rain started to pour more, and she was drenched in no time. She ached everywhere, and there was still a sharp jolt of pain coming from her side (but strangely wasn't nerve-ending pain, like it had been).

"Pika?"

A wet nose nudged her cheek. She wanted to cry out in relief, but was still in shock.

"Am I…am I still alive, Pikachu?" she croaked out.

"Pikachu!" His soft, furry paws patted her cheeks and he appeared over her face.

Ash gave him a small smile. She was alive somehow and it was raining. She had to get out of there…

Slowly, she sat up and noted how her side wasn't bleeding anymore. In fact, there wasn't a wound there anymore, which made her stare at it in confusion. That wasn't possible.

"Pikachu, I'm pretty sure I was dying," she muttered, but Pikachu only shifted slightly and gave nothing away.

Sighing, she unsteadily got onto her feet and then took a deep breath. And then she let Pikachu climb onto her and hold tight, before she started walking out of the lab's ruins. She headed out of the remains of what was once Geosenge Town, not looking back once. She had a feeling she wouldn't be able to keep her feet moving if she did.

"Hey…hey, you! Are you alright?"

Ash blinked out of her stupor, spotting a young man watching her carefully. He tried to be aloof, but that he wasn't succeeding might mean that she probably looked horrible. She wasn't looking forward to seeing herself in a mirror.

"I need…I need to get to Lumiose," she gasped out. "Please. I need to –"

She almost fell to the ground, but he'd gotten close enough to grasp onto her and hold her up. Her Pikachu, protectively, sparked electricity around himself in warning, and the young man's eyes drifted over to Pikachu, staring intently for a long moment.

"My name's Alain. I've got my Charizard with me," Alain told her. "He can fly us to Lumiose."

He took a pokéball from his belt and threw it out, and a Charizard appeared. It made Ash ache for her own Charizard, wondering how he was doing in his pokéball after the ordeal they had just gone through.

"Xander, take us to Lumiose please," he asked his Charizard at the same time as he helped Ash over to him, and then helped her up onto Xander.

He climbed up onto Xander behind her, and then patted Xander's neck.

"To Lumiose!"

Malva muttered under her breath, missing her signature pink sunglasses as she looked through the wrecked headquarters. Thankfully, it was mostly intact, but that didn't mean much to her at the moment.

The Team itself was what was really a wreck.

Lysandre was missing. He wasn't calling and no one could reach him. Flare's weapon had been activated, and now chaos was reigning through the region. She had to gather up what was left of Flare's members, group them together…probably get the hell out of there. Kalos was a lost cause.

Kanto and even Johto were rumored to be Rocket. Ghetsis was a crazy bastard, and another Team to Hoenn was just asking for trouble. Sinnoh though…It wasn't altogether completely a bad idea. Galactic wasn't fully functional and could almost be obsolete after their failed run for power, and rumor had it that Cyrus wasn't even in the region anymore.

What the hell was up with that guy anyway? Or at least where was he?

She slipped on a comlink and tuned it to the all frequency level, aiming to address any Flare members that were able to hear her.

"This is a Code FS-0713. Lysandre is missing…presumed dead after the events of Geosenge Town, which was his last known location. I want any active and living members to head to Safe House 72, and get ready for evacuation. Kalos is lost. I repeat, Kalos is lost."

Looking around, it didn't seem there was anyone in the Lumiose Headquarters. She passed by an unconscious Xerosic earlier, but she didn't really care or bothered with him. He could stay here. And considering the trigger to the weapon was based here (given how once it was activated, the town was long predicted to be decimated if it was to happen, so when the plan was to happen, no one was supposed to be in the Geosenge base), that meant Xerosic had acted before he was supposed to and probably caused this whole mess. Probably caused Lysandre's death, while he was at it…

She grabbed a couple of bags and tossed hard drives and papers into them, whatever she could get and was important. She could come back for more with some of the others later on.

The Essentia Suit that she remembered Xerosic working on and bragging about caught her eye just then, and she felt a wide smirk cross her lips.

Hefting the bags onto her shoulders, she grabbed the Essentia Suit and then headed out.

A new beginning awaited her and the others. She just needed to take control and capitalize on this new turn of events.

Ash couldn't help but gasp at seeing Lumiose from above, the lingering heat coming from buildings that were still smoking long after the fires were out. There was rubble and debris all over, and she could see people scattered all over the streets, either injured or just wandering around in a daze.

"What happened here?" She almost thought it was her that had asked that, but realized it was her new companion who had.

"Nothing good," Ash replied solemnly, not saying anything more.

Pikachu clung onto her, shivering from the cold air and probably from the sight of the once bright city in ruins. How could everything have gone so wrong so quickly? One moment she was facing off against Lysandre in Geosenge, and the next there was nothing but bright light and instant death all around her.

And yet why and how had she survived? Why was she still alive, when no one else in Geosenge Town had survived?

"How far away from Geosenge Town were you?" she asked, wondering how Alain could have survived as well, if he'd been so close.

He shifted, looking up ahead in deep thought, eyebrows furrowed seriously. "I wasn't that close by, to be honest. I was actually a few towns over, though I still felt the effect of the blast that came from Geosenge Town. After what happened and knowing what town and direction it had come from, I wanted to check out what happened. I came across you then."

Ash still felt something was off, a gut feeling that told her that Alain wasn't saying everything. Actually, he felt off. She couldn't explain it, but something was just weird with him. And yet, she could still feel that he was an honest to good "good guy"…Just something strange about him too. She couldn't put her finger on it. It wigged her out and confused her, and maybe it was best to put off thinking about it until she could get her bearings…

If she could, after everything that's happened so far.

At that moment, she looked back down, and (not distracted with the first sight of the chaotic city) Ash remembered how much she hated flying and gripped onto Alain tighter, eliciting a yelp from him at her newly introduced iron grip.

"Er, could you lighten up on your hold?" he asked, voice strained.

"N-no way! Not until we land!" Ash snapped her eyes shut, and Pikachu tittered in her ear, trying to comfort her.

"You're afraid of flying? Why didn't you say so before?" he yelled over the wind as they began their descent.

"I wasn't really in the right mind before, and I was distracted by the city just now! My head's a little clearer, and I really just want to get down soon please!" Ash bit down on her lip then, refusing to open her eyes.

"Okay, okay! We're almost there!"

And thankfully, they landed in a few minutes after that, though it was still too many minutes passing for Ash. Alain hopped off first, prying her arms off of him. After that, he helped her down onto the ground, steadying her when she landed unevenly and almost tripped. Pikachu patted her shoulder and she hesitantly opened her eyes, relieved to find that she was finally on the ground and actually a block near to where Augustine's lab was.

"Oh, thank Arceus," she muttered. "We're even near where I want to go to."

"Good, me too," Alain surprised her by saying, though she guessed that he probably had someone around the area he needed to get to as well.

He recalled Xander back into his pokéball and began walking quickly through the streets, darting around people who were dirty, crying, or just lost-looking. Ash kept close, though she stumbled as she walked passed a wailing mother holding onto a child's body. Her breath caught in her throat and she nearly stopped in the middle of the street, until Alain looked back and went back for her, grabbing her hand firmly and pulling her along gently but determinedly.

There were so many people hurt and…dead in the city. And probably not just in Lumiose. Geosenge Town was completely gone. And who knows how far the damage went –it wasn't like it had been a normal blast. Yveltal had –

Ash swallowed heavily. She wasn't even sure if she had managed to free and help Yveltal…

"Here we are," Alain said tiredly, and she realized they were in front of Augustine's lab. Her eyes widened from how, even by the outside, the lab looked rather wrecked, all the windows shattered and parts of it caved in or holes made into the building. "I have to check on someone here for a bit, and then we can go to where you wanted to be –"

She hadn't thought they'd wanted to go to the same place, and spoke up about it. "Actually, this is where I'd wanted to go too."

She'd check on Clemont and Bonnie afterwards. Augustine would be able to update her on things first, so she wasn't completely lost and confused on what had happened outside of Geosenge Town, and maybe she could contact back home. Sam and her mom might be worried, if they had heard about anything…

They slipped into the building and looked around the first floor. Shelves were thrown to the ground, with books scattered all over the place. Pots were broken, with dirt spilled out onto the carpet and plants wilting alongside it.

"I have to see Professor Sycamore. You?" Alain asked her.

"Me too," she stopped looking around and looked at him as she answered.

He nodded and they headed towards the stairs, avoiding the elevators. They looked down and unusable. The two of them did wonder where everyone was, as they had yet to run into anyone.

They'd only managed to go up a floor, even though they'd been meaning to head to the top, when they heard loud clamoring and shouts, and they entered the floor to see injured people all over. Scientists and researchers of the lab were all running around and attempting to help them, bandaging and medicating however they could. They'd only taken a few steps in, looking around in wonder, before Augustine caught sight of them and hurried over.

"Alain?! Ash! Merci Arceus," he said in relief, throwing his arms around Ash, while reaching out and clasping Alain's shoulder. "You two are alright…"

"What's going on here, Augustine?" Ash asked anxiously, not seeing the strange look Alain tossed her way. "Why are there injured here?"

"My people and I have brought in whoever we can from outside," Augustine explained, looking worn out. "We are doing our best to take care of them and get them help. The city hospital is crowded and overworked, so I offered my lab."

"Sophie and Cosette?" Ash asked, looking around for the two.

"Cosette is upstairs, trying to replicate as many of the medicines we need with a few others. Sophie is…Sophie is…she is…" his voice cracked and he sniffed, and Ash's stomach dropped. She blinked back her own tears and pulled Augustine in close, hugging him tightly.

"What can I do?" she asked.

Augustine weakly waved around him. "Help out, if you can. Do you mind helping the injured and taking care of them?"

"No, of course not. I'll get on that, Augustine. You should rest," she told him softly.

"Yes, yes…perhaps for a moment," he murmured. "I will talk to Alain first though."

She nodded and gave Alain a look, and the other understood, nodding back at her. She really hoped Alain would drag Augustine off, and make sure the older man got in some rest. She didn't think the man had rested in a long while, especially if he was hoping to stave off thoughts of and having to grieve over the death of a close friend.

Ash had gone out of the lab an hour later with Pikachu, hoping to check on Clemont and Bonnie. Serena should've been back home, but she could have also gone to stay with the two for a bit on a visit.

Unhappily, she noted people even more as she walked amongst them, and how not all of them were hurt and injured or upset over someone –many were actually really angry and on edge. A fight broke out near her, and she had to dodge a piece of rock that had been thrown.

There were shouting and various other fights that began near her, some physical and some were just verbally instigated. She couldn't understand how people were furiously turning against each other (at several points in her walk, she noticed this happening in a different way, with people asking for help and others ignoring or turning their bitter faces away).

So Ash did the best she could to help along the way to Clemont's gym, though she knew that there was very little she could actually do. The people of Lumiose City (and who knows how everyone else was in the region) were broken spirited and wounded.

Spotting Prism Tower mostly intact (thank goodness), she sprinted towards it. The top of the tower looked like it had been clobbered off, but at least the bottom half had survived and looked normal. That meant the gym and Clemont's workstation and home would be alright.

Glad to find that her access code that Clemont had keyed in for her still worked, Ash slipped inside and frowned to hear absolutely nothing. It was too quiet and it felt eerie to her. Walking further inside, she made it to the gym part of the tower, and found that it was empty. Frowning even more, Ash hurried to the inner part of the tower to where she knew where Clemont worked on his inventions. She rushed to the room, and near fell over when she stopped herself short and held back her scream.

Bonnie lay unconscious on a metal table, with Clemont nowhere to be seen. She ran to the young girl and checked for a pulse, though the moment she had come close, electricity zapped her hand.

"Pika pika!"

"I know, Pikachu," Ash bit her lip, trying to figure out what to do. "Can you try to absorb some of it?"

"Pikachu!" he saluted her, looking determined.

He jumped onto the table and scooted closer to Bonnie. Carefully, mindful of the electricity occasionally zapping out from her and directing more or more towards Pikachu the closer he got (like it could sense him and his own electrical aura), Pikachu then lightly touched the tip of his tail against Bonnie and concentrated intensely on taking some of the electricity that seemed to have been imbued into Bonnie somehow.

When Pikachu, looking exhausted, gave Ash the thumbs up, Ash came closer and went to pick up Bonnie. But she saw Clemont on the ground as she leaned over the younger girl, ending up screaming in terror and worry about her friend. Darting around the table and dropping to the ground near him, she checked his pulse and let out a sob as she felt nothing but cold skin.

"No, no, no," she muttered, trying to pick up his body.

He was still and not limp, meaning he'd been dead for more than a good few hours, letting rigor mortis set in. That just made Ash clutch onto him harder, and she started crying into Clemont's cold neck.

She should have gotten here faster. She shouldn't have fallen unconscious in Geosenge Town. She should…she should…

"Why?!"

Pikachu cuddled closer to her, mourning Clemont himself. The blond boy had always been kind to him and Ash, and had been such a good friend while they traveled over Kalos together. But now they would never be able to see or talk to him again…

Still, he couldn't let Ash stay and mourn herself to unconsciousness here. Bonnie still needed them.

"Pika," he tugged at her shirt and pointed at Bonnie.

Ash sniffled and rubbed her fist against her face. "You're right, Pikachu. We need to get Bonnie help."

She forced herself onto her feet and went over to Bonnie, grabbing onto the small girl. However, like Alain, there now felt something odd with her too. Ash couldn't understand it, and it was making her worry even more. She hoped there was nothing wrong with Bonnie. She didn't want to see another friend leave her.

She kept a firm grip on Bonnie and let Pikachu climb back onto her shoulder, and then she rushed out of there and back to the lab.

Ash sat on the steps of Augustine's lab, looking as lost as many of the people in the city. Bonnie was stable for now, she'd been told. But she wasn't waking and they didn't know what was wrong with her. They couldn't figure anything out right now, especially with so many others in worse conditions.

And to make things worse, she found out that there was no communications going in and out of Kalos. In fact, anything relying on electricity wasn't working. Not even pokémon could charge up the electrical equipment. Augustine had explained something about an EMP wiping out any and all electronical machinery, leaving only gas-powered, battery-working, and anything capable of working without electricity tech open to everyone.

She kind of felt stranded now.

Her pokémon too, were worrying. She'd just been in a battle with Lysandre not that long ago. Her Charizard –her Red –was in no condition to be let out of his pokéball. Not when all the pokémon healing machines weren't working at all. Her other pokémon were tuckered out too, but nowhere near Charizard, who (because of Augustine) had been working with her on Mega Evolution, and had successfully achieved it in battle against Lysandre for the first time.

"Mind your own damn business!"

"I was here first!"

Ash closed her eyes and clapped her hands over her ears. People fighting again. Why wouldn't they just give it a rest? Everyone was already…hurt. Or worse. Fighting wasn't going to help.

"Pikachu…" he nudged his nose against her arm, and she looked down at him, giving him a watery smile as he looked up worriedly at her.

She took a deep breath and stood up.

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me~" She sung loudly.

And when she had everyone's attention, she gave everyone an encouraging smile before she sung again.

"I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see~"

And she wanted everyone to know they weren't alone and they had to pull together, because this couldn't be the end for everyone.

When Ash looked around, her heart felt less heavy and she less burdened as she saw a crowd had gathered around her and people holding onto each other, and finally support and kindness seemed to ebb from everyone to one another.

In the silence that echoed after she finished the last line, she gave the brightest smile she could.

"Let's pull together, okay? The world isn't over."

It damn well better not. Not after Lysandre and Yveltal, and not after all those other times the world had been in danger and she'd risked her neck to make sure the world ended up okay in the end.

After the crowd dispersed and everyone began working together to help out those in need, or to clear out the streets, she felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to find Augustine smiling at her warmly.

"As always, Ash, you are a bright star to follow, yes? They needed that, I think," he hummed, rocking on the balls of his feet as he overlooked the street and people. "Let people find their way back and not stray to and wallow in the dark…"

"I think people need hope right now," Ash shrugged. She moved to hold onto Pikachu when he scrambled into her arms. "Hope seems so lacking."

Still, she wasn't sure it was enough for people. It looked to be hard times ahead for everyone.

Together, they moved back to go into the lab, when just in the inside (where people were starting to mill around), Ash saw a duo of disheveled Flare members.

"Have you seen a boy named Ash Ketchum?" she heard one of them say.

Her heart almost stopped and she faltered in her step. She had to remember that her hat was off, lost somewhere in Geosenge Town. Still, her boyish clothing was still on and she had her Pikachu. They must've known she was with Lysandre in Geosenge…

There was no way she could stay there with Augustine (where they'd know she'd obviously be). She had to stop pretending to be a boy, like she had for almost all of her journeying, and go into hiding somehow.

She'd stay for as long as she could, waiting for Bonnie. Then she had to find a way to disappear into the city without a trace, and hopefully out of Kalos.

Started 3/13/16 – Completed 3/14/16

A/n: Been a long time, but I hope people still find this interesting, Please review, pretty please?