CHAPTER THREE: PUTTING OUT THE FLAMES

The badge pinned to the inside of his jacket meant nothing to him suddenly. Ash was beyond simple objects of achievement. The flaming outline of the badge was a mere decoration, like everything else in this world was. Was his body a decoration? Was the only substance in him his soul? And now that could be taken away, so easily. The picture of the smoky hands made him shudder.

He looked over at the sleeping figure of Absol. She looked peaceful, far from the Pokemon of darkness she truly was. Her sharp blue eyes were closed for now. He wondered if Pokemon dreamt as humans did. He wondered many things, and now he wondered how he would feel if the very soul of his Pokemon had been pulled out of its body. He instinctively put his hand out and stroked Absol's soft fur. She hummed slightly in her sleep, subconsciously acknowledging the touch.

He sipped at his drink, enjoying the brain-freeze. He stared out of the café window, gazing at the town of Lavaridge. He had not seen Flannery since. She had handed over the badge to him, stammered words of accomplishment, and had been unable to say anything else. Her lips quivered like she wanted to say something else, but she could not utter another word. She walked away from him then, descending into her living quarters underneath the Gym. Ash wanted to console her, but he did not have the words either. At that moment, there were many things creeping into his mind. Before he could let his confusion wash over his thoughts, he realized that when Flannery came around, she would have questions. He did not intend on feeding everyone his stories of his conversations with the Fortree monk, but there was something that told him he could trust Flannery. It seemed like an invisible bond had formed between them when Absol had prevented the smoky hand from taking Torkoal's soul. She certainly did not know of her Pokemon's soul, but she had understood that it's life had definitely been saved that day. It was not the fact that she owed him, but more of the fact that she seemed to understand that it was well beyond the norm. She seemed to know that there was something odd happening in Hoenn. For this reason alone he had left a note at the door of the gym, with a time and name of the café he would be sitting in the next day.

He sat, waiting for her for what seemed hours, sipping on his cold drink. He was having second thoughts- should he tell her everything? He pushed those thoughts away: what could honestly happen? At most, she would tell him he was mad. But he didn't think she would. Firstly, he did not think she would come. She had just been called to a café by who she thought was a complete stranger, he remembered. He had not revealed himself to her, even when she handed him the badge. He hoped she would come, and he hoped she would listen. Gym Leaders had seen many things in their lives, and the incident with Torkoal would probably make her a little more understanding, if not gullible. Flannery was a gym leader. The happenings of Hoenn were her concern, if not just the happenings of her town. Ash had no idea who the Hoenn Champion was at the moment, but he knew there was a certain hierarchy where the Champion met the gym leaders once in a while to brief them on any concerns he had regarding the region. Ash's reminiscing reminded him of the time when he had wanted desperately to be Champion of Kanto. That desire had ended with loss and a realization of more important things. At this very moment, Ash cared more about the strange events than for a title.

Flannery walked in then. Ash realized that she looked much better. Her eyes did not look as exhausted, and the color had come back to her cheeks. She had changed; she no longer wore the ripped jeans and black top she wore earlier. The eyeliner was gone. She wore a white tank top and black pants that hugged her legs. The white made her look fresh, and her flaming red hair stood out. Instead of tying it up in a messy ponytail as she had before, her hair hung loose, curling slightly at her shoulders. Ash found it fairly refreshing to see her dressed plainly with a complete lack of makeup. She looked less intimidating, for one. She took the seat opposite him, a warm smile playing on her lips.

"I never got to thank you, for what you did for me. For Torkoal-" she began. Ash stopped her.

"Don't mention it, I'm sure you would have done the same."

Flannery jumped in her seat. Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized Ash. He realized that this was the first time he had spoken an entire sentence directly to her. He had barely spoken when he had challenged her to a Gym Battle; he didn't need to, it was obvious why he'd come.

"That voice. Are you…" she said, her voice wandering.

"Ash. Hi, Flannery."

"Ash! My god you look different." she said, mouth open in wonder.

"So do you!"

"Good, different?"

Her question caught him off-guard. Before he could stutter a reply, she laughed, a smooth, happy sound. He laughed with her, as he realized the awkward test he'd been put through and his thorough failure. When the laughter ended, they made eye contact, which seemed a signal to truly start the conversation.

"How's Torkoal?" he asked.

"Much better. But I don't think he'll be getting on the battlefield any time soon. Can you tell me what happened back then? I've lost many battles before, Torkoal's gone down many times, but that, that has never happened." Flannery looked at him, her eyes boring into his. He looked down and exhaled slowly.

"You know something." she simply said. "Tell me. And tell me why you own a single Pokemon and that Pokemon is not Pikachu." she demanded. After an initial wince at the mention of his old friend, Ash told her everything, starting from the battle with Gary. He left out intricate details here and there, regarding the inner thoughts and phases he had passed through after Pikachu was gone. The monk at Fortree interested her greatly, and her enthusiasm died down slightly when Ash told her what he suspected occurred at the end of their battle.

"His…soul?"

He nodded. The silence that followed was stifling, until Flannery breathed out louder than required, making Ash look up from the table.

"You've told me everything, but I haven't told you everything." she said slowly.

Ash frowned. While it irritated him slightly that she had kept something from him, his curiosity was piqued.

"Tell me."

"Ash, you say you haven't been around for three months? By around I mean aware of what's happening. Have you gone into the wild recently?"

Her question was odd. Of course he hadn't.

I stayed out of the scene for three months after Pikachu died. What could have happened in three months?

"Gym Leaders are always under attack, you know that. Every other challenger is a powerful trainer these days. You took me out with an Absol you caught hardly a week ago. Other trainers test me again and again, I see powerful Pokemon all the time, so I'm always trying to get better. On top of that everyone looks at me like I'm a kid, so I need to be better than the average Leader. I started going out into the wild a lot, looking for new Pokemon, fighting different ones. It became a training exercise. This was about two months ago. There's nothing out there anymore, Ash. Hardly."

"Nothing? I'm not sure I understand." And he didn't. Ash was flabbergasted.

"In a month's time, I encountered about five Pokemon. One Muk. One Skarmory. One Duskull. One Xatu. And one Donphan. Five Pokemon."

"Five, but five potentially powerful teammates. Skarmory? Donphan? Xatu? Anyone would kill to come across those, Flannery." Ash said, though something was gnawing at him. "Wait, where did you see these five?"

"Mount Chimney."

The furrow above Ash's brow deepened. He had spent hours searching for Pokemon in Chimney. He had never even heard of those five appearing. Pokemon usually stuck to their habitats. Why were these five wandering? And where were all the other Pokemon? Mount Chimney, if anything, was secluded enough to create a whole environment for Pokemon. The number of Zubats in those caves…The number was enough to airlift a Snorlax.

"There's more." Flannery said.

More bad news. Fantastic.

"These five…Ash, they weren't the same. They had no…energy. No will to fight. They didn't care about the battle, they didn't care that their freedom was at stake. They didn't use a single move. No dodging my attacks. Nothing. They looked like they were dead, but were on their feet and breathing."

"That's…scary. And strange. But how is it relevant to the Pokemon's soul?" Ash asked. He definitely wasn't catching on.

"Ash…what if they were Pokemon whose souls were removed? Like Torkoal except they don't get their souls back. Something was definitely not in them. I thought it might be a disease running through Mount Chimney, but this wasn't like that. And now after what happened with Torkoal and what you just told me, it just seems even stranger."

When Flannery finished, disconcerting images of Pokemon with droopy eyes and sloppy mouths came into Ash's mind. Had Pikachu gone through the same feeling? If what the monk said was indeed true, then the souls of Umbreon and Pikachu had eliminated each other. But what if their souls were taken from them? He didn't recall seeing ghostly hands tugging Pikachu's soul out of him, but then again, he didn't recall seeing anything that day. His attention had been so dissipated after the explosion, he hadn't really looked. Either way, that was miles away, in Kanto. Could this be happening across regions?

But that's the thing. What exactly is happening? If we can't put an explanation to it, we can never solve it. But is this a problem that can be solved at all?

There was too much information, too many theories to consider. Flannery and he could be there all day, debating on various things ranging from the superficial to the scientific. Their discussion would not end, considering the many little things to hypothesize on. Ash wondered suddenly if Brock and Misty had seen anything strange that day. He had bid them farewell three months ago, telling them he needed time alone. He had kept in touch occasionally, calling and listening to their daily activities and worried questions. He had never bothered asking them what they thought. Gary was another story altogether, but there was something connecting him and his rival now- the connected deaths of their Pokemon. Could there be some relation? Had Gary perhaps seen something odd?

What are you thinking? You don't even know where Gary is and what he's doing. Finding him would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

They needed questions answered, and their heads needed to be cleared out. The name that popped into his head was his old friend Professor Oak, but the distance was too much at the moment with Oak's lab far away in Kanto. Professor Birch lived in Littleroot Town, he recalled. May lived there too.

Two Pidgey with one stone?

It took Flannery fifteen minutes to pack her things into a bright red backpack. It was only when they stood outside the Gym, ready to leave, when it struck Ash. All through his travels, he had approached Gym after Gym, like any other budding Pokemon trainer. There were usually a large mass of boys and girls waiting outside Gyms to battle the Leaders, ready to claim the various badges up for grabs. Sometimes, there was even a queue. Ash remembered himself six years ago, standing eagerly outside his first Gym. If Flannery left with him, the Gym would be empty- there would be no Leader to protect it and battle trainers.

Ash realized with a pang that Flannery leaving would do even more harm. A Gym leader was the supreme Pokemon authority in a city or town; the Leader protected the town from danger, helped the citizens, and much more. Flannery was a leader of Lavaridge in her own right- Ash felt like he was doing a terrible thing tempting her to leave with him. When he voiced his thoughts, she shrugged them off casually, shocking Ash. Did Flannery care nothing for the future Pokemon training generations and her hometown?

"I'm not a kid anymore, Ash, I've already thought of all this. When you battled me last, I was an idiot, no direction, no thought." Flannery said, looking at the blue doors of her Gym. "It's been years since then, and things have changed. I guess I decided to be less of my grandfather's heir and more of myself. I know what I'm doing by leaving Lavaridge, Ash."

"Sorry." Ash said. "Wrong assumption. But I still don't understand. What happens to the Gym and the town?"

Flannery smiled in satisfaction.

"Your question applies to any other Gym leader. Honestly, there's nothing ever to do over here. The people that live here are old and peaceful, all they want is to relax- that's why we have more hot springs than Pokemon here. There's never been anything for me to do here as Gym Leader other than battle trainers. And even that has changed."

She looked down furtively, scraping the soil with her boot.

"You're the first trainer to battle me in the last two months."

This statistic threw Ash off completely. Hoenn, Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, they operated on an endless fervor, a fervor of competition and fierce rivalries, a fervor of passion and teamwork. Pokemon trainers could form a line and cover the entire planet, Ash had been so sure of that. You could find a trainer at every corner. Lavaridge was part of the trainer's journey, a must-visit place to reach the Pokemon League. Besides that, the Heat Badge was a sign of overcoming huge adversary; it was the symbol that showed that you had what it took to overcome the destructive power of fire. Why was no one coming to claim it?

"Things have died down a bit, Ash. That's why I'm so ready to leave with you and get this whole thing sorted out. It isn't just the Pokemon that are being affected. We're all linked together, you know that. When the Pokemon aren't happy, no one is. Training, breeding, it becomes entirely different when things like this are happening. What happened with Torkoal isn't exclusive. I'm sure it's happened to many people, only they weren't lucky enough to have you to save them. Lavaridge isn't the only place being affected. I am a Gym Leader. If I don't do something about it, no one will."

Ash grinned and laughed.

"I will."

The unlikely pair took the long road to Mauville, though without any intention of stopping. Hoenn was connected through major cities by the air-travel system, and one of Hoenn's major cities included Mauville. The technology kingdom of Hoenn, Ash remembered how his first stop at Mauville had been the most exciting in his entire journey. The Gym Leader, Watson, used electric Pokemon, and was delighted when he saw Pikachu prancing behind Ash. The old man suddenly decided that it would be a one-on-one battle, his Magneton against Ash's Pikachu, a contest Pikachu had been extremely enthused about. The battle had been the closest possible, a battle of voltage and speed, of power and destruction. The Gym walls were riddled with cracks and burns where electric shocks had struck them. Ash wondered how the newly repaired Gym looked now. He wondered how the old man was, whether he was still his usual excitable self. There was no stopping by for pleasantries though. The Mauville Airport was bustling with activity, so it took a bit of time to purchase tickets. The airship would take them straight to Rustboro City, and from there it would be a walk to Littleroot.

The lady at the ticket counter looked at them strangely, being very obvious about her curiosity. Ash realized that he was not just traveling with a famous person, he was one himself. His previous escapades had made his name known throughout the Pokemon world, and Hoenn was no different. He had never been one for fame, though. He cared less about television appearances and more about progressing as a trainer. Being recognized would draw unnecessary attention to them, he knew. It would hamper the swiftness of their journey, and definitely bring to attention the fact that Flannery was leaving her Gym. A Gym Leader leaving her Gym was a cause for questions, something neither of them had the time for.

Ash's fears of being recognized disappeared the moment he looked in a mirror. He was stunned, and he undoubtedly looked a narcissistic idiot staring at himself, he was well aware of that, and so was Flannery; he noticed her smirking at him from the back. Ash was proud of himself, proud of the fact that he was able to mentally move on from losing Pikachu- a progression that allowed his mind to move into a more mature level of thought. He believed that he was far more mature, just by this decision of his to follow up on the problem at hand. He believed he was a different person. But he hadn't realized just how different. His physical appearance was changed. His hair had grown out slightly, touching the base of his neck. He certainly did not have a mane of hair that made him look an unkempt rock star, but he had allowed it to grow out more than he needed to. His face was older, more lined, he felt. There were dark circles under his eyes, giving him a permanently serious look. His face seemed more serious, if not grim.

If anyone was recognizable, it was Flannery. She may have changed her clothes, and she certainly did not look like a delinquent kid anymore, but she still looked like Flannery. If anything, she looked prettier. In simple clothes instead of her tank top and ripped jeans, and hair that fell loosely over her shoulders instead of her explosively tied up hairdo, she looked older and more mature, but she still looked like her if you looked close. Ash noticed a confidence in her that he had not seen before. She moved and walked with a grace unlike her, and spoke with more authority in her voice. The old nervous Flannery had disappeared. Hopefully, the people at the airport had only seen the old Flannery. It took plenty of convincing to get her to not use her Gym Leader identification license to get a discount on the tickets, convincing that Ash later regretted when he realized how light his wallet was becoming.

It was only during the security checks that Ash realized that Flannery had brought no Pokemon along with her. Incredulous, he questioned her on how exactly she planned to solve any problem without her Pokemon, to which she replied dryly:

"You started again, why can't I? Besides, Torkoal can't battle for a while. I might as well start again."

It had taken Ash considerable effort to let go of his old team. To this day, he still thought of the sheer power he had had in his grasp. He had the flaming surges of Charizard, the speed and judgment of Meganium, the rushing strength of Blastoise, and to top it all off, the thunderous rage that was Pikachu. To restart the assembling of his Pokemon team was a huge wall to climb, a massive thing to even think of. He was letting go of power and skill and talent, and above all, experience. But after he had done it, he felt refreshed. A new team let you do things again, but better. He was thoroughly impressed by Flannery just then, because he knew how difficult it would have been. He realized he had a good companion by his side. They were both starting over, and it would be arduous and tasking, but if they tried hard enough, good things would come their way. With this in mind, Ash sat upon the cushioned seat, optimistic of what was to come and the walls to scale.

He thought of his old companions, all of them at once. He remembered Brock, Misty, Tracy, May, Dawn, and even little Max. At one point of time, he had never thought he'd be able to get along with anyone but Brock and Misty, let alone all of them. Old companions they may have been, but friends they would always be. He remembered distinctly his mother telling him of the importance of keeping in touch with friends and family. He decided that he would call each and every one of them the moment he touched down. He had no intention of briefing them on his activities just yet; he didn't have time for that.

He couldn't help but feel fear deep in his heart. It seemed like the system the world had lived with for so long was slowly perishing, that Hoenn, Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh were crumbling. There was something stirring, and someone was doing it.

Someone or something. Pokemon are equally capable of creating havoc.

He thought of people, villains he had dealt with before. Team Aqua, Team Magma, and Team Rocket popped into his mind. Team Rocket had disbanded, after which Aqua and Magma had disbanded as well. He knew this simply because he had contributed greatly to it. At one point of time in his Pokemon career, causing the dissolution of criminal organizations had been his primary mission. He couldn't help but feel that there was something more than an extraordinary phenomenon at work. Human beings found Pokemon fascinating- their powers and abilities were greatly studied. But some humans took it too far, using these powers for their own ends. A Pokemon soul is strange to even think about, but from what Ash knew, anything can be manipulated and used. A monk sitting underneath a tree outside Fortree City had known about it, it was quite possible that someone else, perhaps a criminal, knew of the existence of Pokemon souls as well.

No. I'm thinking too much. That's rubbish, there's no possibility of it. No one could do this, it's too large scale for one man. And there's no big-shot organization existing now either. I think.