Hello again. I'm back with another chapter for this story.

In this chapter we'll be focusing on certain individuals still trying to get over Ash's death. If I don't fit all who I wanted to show here then I'll do more on this in the next chapter, and then a time skip will happen.

Anyway, enjoy, or not, I don't care you all have your opinions.

Everything belongs to their respective owners.

Chapter Two: Falling inside the black

It has been a week since Ash's funeral had taken place, and let's just say everyone was still affected greatly from it.

The Alola Region has begun to rebuild itself from the Ultra Beasts invasion. It will take a while, but the Region will recover. Of course, physical wounds were easy to heal and fix. Emotional wounds… they take a lot longer to heal. If they ever heal that is.

Currently, we see Kukui in his lab trying to go over papers. It was currently raining outside as of right now. The Alola professor was trying to go over some information about pokemon moves. It was dark in the building, with the only source of light was from his lamp next to him on his desk.

"Ugh," Kukui sighed as he pushed himself away from the desk, needing to get something to drink. "I guess I should get something to drink," The professor then turned around and spoke again, "Hey Ash, do you need a drink to-?" He immediately stop speaking when she realizing what he was doing. Looking at the upper section where Ash used to say, it was now empty.

Kukui couldn't stop himself from getting a few tears in his eyes as he put his hands on his face. He was still making that mistake. It was difficult, so difficult. Ash was like a son to him. Ash always made everything more lively than they have ever been. Ash gave them a reason to be happy. But now… he's gone.

The Alola Professor couldn't stop the tears flowing down his face.

'WITH GLADION'

"Lillie! Open up!" Gladion knocked on the door again only to get told to go away once again.

"Gladion, it's best to leave her alone right now," Gladion's and Lillie's butler James suggested to the blonde haired male, "She just needs time to recover that's all." He tried to assure the older sibling. However it didn't seem to work.

"She's been in her room ever since the funeral!" The older brother of Lillie explained in anger, catching the butler by surprised, "She's barely eating anything, and she's barely sleeping! She's going to kill herself at this rate!" Gladion couldn't stop himself from shouting as he turned around to knock on the door once again. James could only sigh, knowing that trying to convince Gladion was pointless.

"I will check on your mother then." James informed him as he left to attend to see of Lusamine was alright.

Gladion simply got the same response from his younger sister. The former enforcer of Team Skull didn't know what to do. Both his sister and his mother were in this state. His mom felt herself responsible for what happened, and Lillie refused to speak to anyone that wasn't Shiron, her Alolan Vulpex. But ever the small pokemon wasn't making much progress despite the fact the pokemon was with her twenty four seven. The older sibling didn't know what to do to help his sister.

At least he was making progress with his mother. Lusamine was now getting more opened. But Lillie still locked them out. Gladion knew she couldn't keep going at this. She was going to starve herself if she keeps this up.

"Lillie," Gladion tried again trying to hold back his emotions, but he wasn't doing really well at that, "Please… open up." Unfortunately for him, she didn't say anything or do anything. The older sibling couldn't stop a few tears going down his face.

On the other side of the door, Lillie simply sat at the door, trying to stop herself from crying; however the blonde haired girl wasn't doing so well. Shiron was next to her trying to comfort her as best as the small pokemon could.

It hurts. It hurts so much knowing that he was gone.

"W-Why?" Lillie tried to ask herself in a shaky voice as she kept on weeping, "W-Why did t-this have t-to happen? W-Why him?" Lillie didn't understand why life was so cruel? Why was Ash taken from them? From her?

Ash always made sure to help everyone in need. He did everything he could to make them all happy. He didn't do anything wrong. So why… why was he taken from them? Why?!

Lillie then put one of her hands on her stomach.

"I-I never g-got to tell him…" Lillie then turned to Shiron, who was making noises in attempt to comfort her. She couldn't stop the full flood of tears as she hugged her pokemon, as the blonde was now crying out loud. She didn't care who heard her, she needed to let the tears flow. Shiron couldn't help but shed some tears as well for seeing Lillie in this state.

'WITH MALLOW'

Everything was a mess. Her room was a mess. But she didn't care. She didn't care about that right now. Bounsweet tried to cheer her trainer up, but it was proving to be futile. Mallow was on her bed as she lay on her side, she wasn't crying, but it was clear as day that she was in a depressed state if the face didn't tell otherwise.

Why? Why did have to happen? She didn't understand! The green haired woman kept hoping that this was all just some nightmare. But as the days and time passed, this was now her reality. A life without Ash.

"Ash…" Mallow spoke his name as she began to tear up. Bounsweet noticed this and went in front of her to cuddle up to her, hoping that her presence would cheer Mallow up somewhat. The green haired female saw her pokemon and hugged the little fruit pokemon. A few tears began to go down her face as the knowledge that Ash was forever gone stuck to her like glue. And she never got to tell him. She never got to tell him that were gonna have a…

Mallow couldn't stop herself from crying as she hugged onto Bounsweet tightly as the small pokemon could only be sad from seeing her trainer like this.

'WITH LANA'

"Lana… are you okay?" Both Harper and Sarah asked their older sister, who was simply lying on her bed as she stared at the roof. The twins noticed that Lana didn't seem to hear them.

If this was some other time, the twins would have shouted or done something to annoy her to get her to listen. However, from everything that has happened, the twins knew that she was not in a happy or good mood. They figured it was due to her boyfriend dying. They were just kids, so they weren't that affected, mainly because they didn't truly understand. So you can't blame them for not getting all of this.

"Uh… we'll be in the other room if you need us." They both told her, not expecting an answer back as they left the room. They made sure to close her door as well.

Lana simply continued to stare at the ceiling as Brionne, who was Popplio who evolve a while back, tried to comfort the blue haired female. The pokemon spoke its name, which got Lana to look at her pokemon, who looked worried.

"Don't worry Brionne," Lana tried to assure the pop star pokemon, however her own voice betrayed her as she didn't sound right due to her earlier break down, "I'm fine. W-Why wouldn't I-I be a-alright?" Her voice was failing her as she tried to calm herself down. 'Don't think about it Lana! Don't think about him being-!' She thought to herself, trying to block out the thoughts about what happened to Ash. However it proved futile as the image of Ash's lifeless face flashed into her mind.

Lana couldn't stop the tears pouring down her face, as she hugged Bionne, who tried to cheer her up to no valid. So the pokemon simply let the blue haired female cry on itself as the pokemon could only wish it could do something to not see Lana in tears. Right now though, Brionne was powerless to do anything as Lana cried.

'WITH ASH'S POKEMON'

Most of the pokemon were asleep right now as they slept through the rainy night. Currently all of Ash's pokemon were being kept at Aether Paradise since Kukui's lab wasn't big enough for all of them to be in. That and the Paradise also had the room to block out the rain. Many of them were having it rough to know that their trainer and friend was now gone. Especially Pikachu, the poor pokemon as the yellow mouse could barely sleep peacefully.

The only two pokemon that were still awake was Rowlet and Incineroar. Rowlet was simply watching the Heel pokemon as Incineroar was looking down at the ground in both a depressed and mad mood. The Grass Quill pokemon could only wonder what the bigger pokemon was thinking about.

Incineroar was angry. But it wasn't mad at anyone else, the anger was at himself. The fire type pokemon failed to protect Ash when he needed it most. After the funeral, the Heel pokemon went wild in fury and despair as it went crazy on the nearby forest, trying to get his frustration out. Greninja had to calm the fire pokemon down before it caused more damaged to the forest, which was damaged from before due to the Ultra Beast invasion. The fire pokemon remembered when Ash took him in after Stoutland passed away. Like other fire types before him, he was stubborn to listen to Ash on everything. However, when Ash needed him most, he let him die. If only those Ultra Beasts didn't keep him distracted, if only he was stronger, he could have saved Ash. He would still be alive.

The Heel pokemon knew what he had to do. He couldn't allow that to happen again. He looked up from the ground and started to walk.

This however got Rowlet to be confused as the grass type pokemon noticed Incineroar heading to where the exit was. The owl pokemon flew to where the fire pokemon was and questioned in their pokemon communication. Incineroar replied back, and what it said got Rowlet to be surprised. The Grass Quill pokemon tried to change the fire type pokemon's mind, but the Heel pokemon refused, believing this the only way to get stronger.

Then to Incineroar surprised, Rowlet then replied that he wanted to go with him. He didn't want to stay like this. He wanted to get stronger too. Rowlet didn't want to fail again like he did with Ash. The fire type pokemon simply smiled, as it agreed, which got Rowlet to be happy.

With that out of the way, the two made their way toward the exit. They will get stronger; they won't allow anything like Ash's death to happen again.

Alright, there you all go. Sorry if the communication between the two pokemon sucked, since they can't speak human language, so I didn't put in what they were talking about.

Next time, a time skip will occur.

See you all next time, whenever that will be.