Sup. DarkSlash9 here with chapter 2! Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon.
The years that followed Ash and Charizard's fall were the worst of May's life. Team Rocket had flown away, glad to have finally defeated Ash. May and Mrs. Ketchum cried for hours on end. Max locked himself in the visitor's room and refused to come out. Pikachu left to look for Ash. But Pikachu never returned, ever. Many of Ash's pokemon ran away. Finally, Professor Oak decided it would be best to release the ones that didn't run away into the wild. Rescue parties were sent to look for Ash and Charizard's bodies. But they were never found. Ash's friends even joined together to look, but to no avail. For the first few months after the incident, May kept clinging on to the hope that maybe Ash had survived the fall. But with each search party that came back with no results, she lost more hope.
1 year after, when all of Ash's friends and family were finally moving on, May was still a wreck. She resorted to self mutilation to fill the void inside. But it was never enough.
2 years after, May's family found out about what she was doing. She agreed to stop cutting herself, but she refused to seek help. She instead continued her downward spiral and began doing multiple drugs and became an alcoholic at the age of 17.
3 years after, May had attempted suicide. She was overwhelmed by the despair and the memories that flooded her mind on a daily basis. After her failed attempt, she agreed to seek help. She was taken to a mental home, where her family would visit her every weekend.
4 years after, May was on the path to recovery. She began to smile again. She cried less, and began to regain stability in her life. Though she was still mourning over Ash's death.
5 years after, May was finally able to function without the help of a therapist. She was haunted by memories of Ash every now and then, but she was able to cope properly. She was checked out of the mental home, and returned home.
5 months after checking out of the mental home, May, now 19, was at home, napping. Her nap was interrupted when Max, who was now 16, nervously entered her room. He had two tickets in his hand. May woke up and looked at Max.
"Hey Max... *yawn* what's up?" asked May tiredly.
"Well... I know that this isn't going to be an easy decision for you but... would you like to go with me to the Pokemon Trainer All-Star Cup? It's in... Kanto. Only the best of the best are allowed to participate."
May's whole body tensed. She had not been to a Pokemon Trainer tournament since Ash passed. Forget tournaments, she hadn't even been able to go to her father's Gym because of the painful memories seeing a pokemon trainer would bring back. She didn't even try going anywhere near Kanto either. But she decided that she would go, for Max's sake. So after 30 seconds of thinking, May replied.
"Okay Max. I'll go with you." said May with a weak smile.
"Really? Alright! The tournament is in two days! Our flight is tomorrow morning! Pack your things!"
"Okay." said May. Max then left the room. May sighed and got up from her bed. She walked over to the mirror that hung on her wall and looked around it. She had pictures of all of her friends hung up on the wall. Zoey, Drew, Brock, Dawn, Misty, and Gary... She had everyone. Everyone except Ash. She then looked at her arms, which were covered with the fading scars that she gave herself four years prior. She felt her eyes tearing up.
"Oh Ash... Am I really ready for this?" May thought to herself as she fought back the tears that were slowly falling.
But what everyone didn't know was that Ash never died...
5 years ago... On the day of the incident...
Falling. Falling. Laughing. Laughing. That's all Ash could comprehend as he and Charizard fell through the air. Death seemed inevitable. But it was not part of fate's plans.
In the forest was a stray Lucario. He had no home, and no master. He was hatched from his egg in that same forest and learned the powers of aura alone. Everyday consisted of the same things. He always longed for a master to call his own, but being abandoned as an egg made it quite hard to find one.
As he was walking on his path to a nearby river, on his daily water break, he felt the force of gravity around him increase slightly. He knew that an increase of gravity meant a dark presence or energy was nearby. He looked around, trying to find the source of this dark power. He then looked up and witnessed a 15 year old boy and a Charizard being blasted with a dark red energy right above him. They began to fall. Using his mastery of aura, the Lucario quickly formed a net made of aura to catch them with. The Charizard came down first, and landed safely in the net. But the boy wasn't as lucky. He landed in the net, but his weight combined with the Charizard's caused the net to snap, which resulted in the boy landing on his head.
The Lucario walked over to the two bodies and saw that the Charizard had an injured wing. But it was no normal injury. The wing looked burnt, and was smoking, but was ice cold to the touch. Lucario felt like he'd seen that type of wound before... But Lucario came to the decision that he would think about it later. He quickly used his aura to heal the Charizard's wing. The wing slowly returned back to normal. Lucario sighed in relief and walked over to the boy. He started healing the boy's head. Right when he was about to finish, he noticed how powerful the boy's inner aura was.
After noticing the large reserves of potential power deep inside the boy, the Lucario quickly cast an aura cloak on the scene, making it invisible to anyone or anything that does not have the power of aura.
Ash woke up a week after the incident, dazed and confused. He looked around and saw that he was surrounded by trees. He couldn't remember anything. The only thing he remembered was the word "May." He didn't know who that was, or if it was even a name to begin with. He looked around once again, still confused.
"Where am I?" he thought aloud. "Better question, WHO am I?"
"Ash Ketchum." said a voice in Ash's mind.
"Who's Ash Ketchum?" asked Ash, confused. He then looked around once again, to see where the voice had come from.
"You." said Lucario as he and Charizard emerged from behind a couple of trees.
"Woooaaaaah a Lucario AND a Charizard!" said Ash in awe.
Charizard looked at Ash with his head tilted, confused as to why Ash didn't recognize him.
"Ash. This is your Charizard." said Lucario.
"Really?!"
"Yes. Do you remember anything about your life at all?" asked Lucario.
"No..."
"It seems you have amnesia. Fortunately Charizard here has not lost any memory. I shall tell you what he told me."
Lucario told Ash what he had learned. Charizard was only able to tell Lucario what he was around for, therefore not giving Ash a thorough explanation of his situation. Ash was not told about May. But Charizard was able to tell Lucario about the dark energy he and Ash were zapped with.
After hearing everything, Ash looked like he was in deep thought. Then finally, he spoke, "So what are we going to do about this mega-evil energy that these 'Team Rocket' guys have?"
"Well, if this dark energy is what I think it is, then the world is doomed unless we do something about it. I must train you in the ways of the aura. You have such large reserves of potential... it would be foolish not to train you." replied Lucario.
"What's aura?"
"This is aura." said Lucario, as his hand began to glow with the blue fire-like energy. "The very essence of life and spirit. When trained in the various arts of aura, one can shape it into anything, or even use it to attack." Lucario then formed an Aura Sphere and launched it at a nearby tree.
"COOL! Please train me!" Ash said.
"Aura is not something to be taken lightly. By learning the ways of aura, you must know that you will never be the same. You will be an Aura Guardian from the very moment you fire your first Aura Sphere. The training will be difficult, but know what's on the line. You have reserves of aura the likes of which I have never seen. From the moment we begin, you shall be my master. Are you ready?" asked Lucario.
"I'm ready." said Ash with a determined face.
"Master, our training begins now. I estimate that we have about 5 years till the time comes for our journey. Charizard must train as well. It is very likely that after these 5 years, he and I will be your only pokemon. He and I will be your companions when our quest begins." said Lucario.
"Alright! Let's save the world guys!" yelled Ash.
Lucario smiled. "Finally... I have a master."
Charizard let out a grand roar as flames shot from his mouth into the sky. Lucario nodded his head. Ash stood up and stretched his arms and legs.
"Let the training begin!" said Lucario.
Within the next two hours, Ash fired his first Aura Sphere. A new Aura Guardian was born.
I really tried to make this chapter longer than the first, but it ended up being about the same length. I promise to make the next chapter longer. Leave me some reviews! Bye!
~DarkSlash9
