I want to thank you all for tolerating my extended absence. The last time that I have not updated in weeks was the summer of 2008. But then again, I needed the rest. I've seen some concerns about this story if it would continue throughout the year; I promise that I'll do whatever I can. Thank you…
So now, please enjoy…
The Kanto skies were ever-shifting swirls of chaotic, conflicting forces, light and darkness dancing within a duel of endless dimensional proportions. At least in the area they were currently in, the light had finally triumphed over the darkness. The returning trio had experienced first hand upon their return to Kanto how merciless the infected soulless creatures had become. While Paul had singlehandedly annihilated an ambush from a rabid Rattata pack, the others felt comfort to have such a forceful, yet shady asset on their side. The trek to Pallet Town was nearing to a close, ignoring side distractions as the reemerging docile Pokémon and the ever grand Battle Dimension. The group had seen the calm town up ahead to be fortunately blessed from attacks from Cipher and the neighboring wild Pokémon.
"Man, you guys can really clean up here," Ash said, commenting on his hometown's status. "Pallet Town is just as awesome and peaceful as ever."
"The town can defend itself pretty well with a Researcher and his grandson working together here," Brock replied.
"Well Professor Oak and Poet Jr. did a great job; Pallet's just as sweet as their poems," Dawn sighed, clasping her hands.
"I didn't think you still listen to his poems, Dawn," Kenny said, examining the land as the group advanced deeper into town. "I guess that would mostly explain why we've stayed longer in Pokémon Centers on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Oh, Dee Dee."
"Are you kidding me, Kenny? I really love poetry in general!" Dawn exclaimed, not having even heard her derogatory childhood nickname; May was suddenly by her side, linked with her arm-in-arm with the same cheerful expression on her face.
"Same goes for me!" May admitted, to which she heard a snide nasally whisper "That's explains it all…" from a certain know-it-all brat. She snorted, ignoring him and his childish, immature remarks. "Aside from watching King Bonsly and Queen Mime Jr., I've gotten into Professor Oak's poems thanks to this little lady."
"Guys! There's my house!" Ash interrupted. His house approached from their right, the house with a Mr. Mime working on the lawn and tending to the small delicate flowers of immaculate white purity. Anabel briefly gazed from the distance, feeling amiable warmth within her heart upon looking at Ash again. "Hey! Mr.—!" The back collar of his shirt was tugged and pulled back effortlessly by Paul.
"We don't have time for distractions; we must get to Oak's lab pronto," Paul demanded, exasperatedly watching Ash struggle foolishly.
"Says who?!"
"Hmph, you said so before we even reached Pallet Town," Paul retorted, closing his eyes in frustration. "Unlike the rest of your friends who wanted to rest in your inactive Battle Facility, you wanted to push forward, didn't you, Pokémon Master?" His rough, sarcastic tone earned a little smidge of weak laughter from the overachieving Aura Guardian.
"Eh heh, so I did," Ash said quickly, covering his mistake with a sudden jerk of his movement.
His collar slipped out of Paul's hand and he inadvertently sprinted off. The others sighed and chuckled graciously, content to find the lighter mood in their worldly crisis. Anabel led the group, a cheery smile present on her bright pale face. The group casually advanced through town, greeting the normal townsfolk along the way. They soon caught up with Ash and Pikachu, catching their breath on the front step of Oak's stoop.
"No need to worry! Take your time," Dawn encouraged. Both Trainer and Pokémon flushed in crimson mortification, immediately straightening their physical priorities and stood tall before the rest.
"I hate to admit, but that's an effective technique," Max remarked, walking with the others up the stairs. They reached the front door in no time flat as though time was nonexistent on the long stairway.
The door opened without question, courtesy of the young Researcher with messy brown hair.
"Hey, Gary!" Ash exclaimed, tightly clasping a wrestling-like hand with his out of sheer bravado. A special handshake they shared, no doubt as his friends watched.
"Hard for me to say that you changed; you look like you on the outside, but even I can feel a great power emanating within you, Ash," Gary replied, ending their tight handshake. He briefly glimpsed at Anabel and Paul; they each had different attitudes, reflective of their facial expressions. "Anabel… Paul…"
"Gary," they said; Anabel's greeting was distinctively kinder and sweeter to listen to than Paul's.
"Everyone, please come this way," Gary requested, placing a mask of stability on and guided the group inside. He led them to the heart of the laboratory where three working figures were present on some sort of research using several microscopes and occupied Poké Balls. "And if you all look to your right, you'd see my grandpa, Tracey, and yes, Lambada working on a shorter way to dispose the ShadowPokérus to save you all the trouble."
The three looked up from their station. Two faces brightened; one glowered.
"Grrrrr, I've willingly helped you fools for seven months and yet my name's never, and I mean never recognized!" the grouchy, balding scientist barked furiously. "MY NAME IS NAMBA!! REMEMBER IT!!!"
Everyone cowered under the tremendous, grating presence of his scratchy voice. While some took pity on the strangely comical and former Rocket scientist, others had actually promised to remember his name just for the sake of their sensitive ears.
"Sorry, kids," Professor Oak apologized in his behalf, "it's becoming a dreadful force of habit." Namba snorted before going back to his research, angrily muttering and questioning why he was working with these "goody-goody little cretins" in the first place.
"Yeah, and welcome back, everyone," Tracey greeted, approaching them after placing a small package back on the table. As the director of the Shadow Pokémon progress, he briefly dusted himself for a better presentation. "You've all done a pretty good job halting the spread of the ShadowPokérus during all of your journeys. As far as we can see, sunlight is slowly returning to different parts of Kanto and few in Johto."
Tracey directed their attention to the large plasma screen cyber map of the entire Kanto region, which alternated to the large region of Johto after a few passing seconds. Unlike Kanto, most sections of Johto were shaded in a dark purple color. Several red dots were present under each the purple-shaded areas of the black and green map. The map shifted back to Kanto after ten more seconds, showing less areas of shadowy purple.
"You see, Professor Krane and Michael's family installed this satellite surveillance system onto the main computer to aid us all while you three heroes were off training," Gary explained, glancing at Ash, Anabel, and Paul as he neared the end of his sentence. "Before leaving to keep Cipher's influence from spreading in Orre, Professor Krane wanted to leave this message to all of you around the time Ash, Anabel, and Paul got back."
Tracey came before them as if on cue, holding the same small boxed package from before. He opened it up cautiously, cutting the sealed tape with a small knife. Ash and his friends watched anxiously, feeling every solid beating from their hearts within their arteries and veins. Tracey swallowed, placing his hands on a lid; not even he knew what Krane's surprise was.
"Well gang, better brace yourselves," he said, suddenly throwing the box lids open. They all stepped forward as Tracey dug his hands deep in the shallow darkness of the box. A look on his face told them that something big was in his grasp. With a minor grunt, he lifted a strange, disk-shaped hologram projector into his arms. The object itself did not look too heavy.
"And this is…?" Drew asked skeptically. He felt a swift bump on his side, courtesy of Zoey's elbow.
"A message," a different voice answered. Ash looked around, but had not recognized the voice from any of his friends. Anabel shrugged, Brock mused, May and Max exchanged looks, and Paul glanced at a corner indifferently.
It had originated from the projector in Tracey's arms. The top round, transparent center of the projector lit up. Everyone gasped. Tracey placed the projector on the ground in front of everyone to see. Light stored within the digital messenger shone brightly to the ceiling. Everyone, including Professor Oak and Namba, surrounded it in a circle. A figure, albeit one composed of customized photons, appeared before them with a warm familiar face to greet them upon his slumber.
"It's Professor Krane," Brock said, stepping in closer for a better view.
"If this projection of myself is out, then that would mean that everyone of our young heroes are back together to make a plan of action," Krane's projection said jovially. "I am pretty sure by now that Ash, Anabel, and the third hero who should have been found are now back from their training in Iron Island." Paul rolled his eyes in dissatisfaction as some looked his way.
"I'd recommend paying attention to this quack than to my well-being," Paul suggested; his dark glare immediately sent them back to Krane.
"By this time, the Orre region has been dominated by the lawless darkness of Cipher," Krane said; his expression changed. "I know from Namba that Cipher doesn't need an army of Shadow Pokémon to conquer the Orre region when they have a corrupted Giratina to serve them. As for their fantasized army, I hope that you remaining kids have dwindled their numbers the past seven months."
"He's so accurate on calculating time," Dawn commented in awe.
"If you all need suggestions put on your table, then here's one," Krane said; his luminescent image sparked. "Ash and the two heroes of Cresselia's prophecy should come to the Orre region as soon as possible for further directions. The rest of you, find an area that's lessening on Shadow Pokémon and completely snuff it out if you ever want the sun to return to that land. I can't say the same for Orre though as I'm sure that XD00∞'s darkness and Mother Nature's desert sun are at odds morning, noon, and night, day by day. I wish for this all to end…" Everyone, sans Paul and Namba, were sympathetic to the melancholic photon figure of the Orre professor. "I want my home back. We all do."
Krane was joined by holographic projections of Michael, Jovi, and Lily; the latter three looked as miserable as the professor. Their unfortunate souls had only roused the others into action. Whatever it took to end this catastrophe, they would conquer every challenge together.
The base of the projector started to uncontrollably spark. The image of the entire family in a group hug started to vanish as the message had fulfilled its course. The projector had malfunctioned, breaking down into hot steam as every present living being in the room contemplated upon everything going on. Ash was the first to speak out, stomping his foot hard for the attention.
"Listen up! We all can't stand the despicable Cipher!" Ash declared. The others agreed zealously. "But with a monster like Giratina on their side, it will take everything our friendship can dish out. It's not just me, Anabel, and Paul, but all of us!" Anabel joined his side. With a nod, she stepped forward.
"We are not going to let go and forgive Cipher on what they've done to everyone of us," Anabel said with strong passion. "I may be this hunk's girlfriend, but I agree with everything he has said!" Everyone cheered and laughed.
"We're all in this together!" May exclaimed with Dawn and Zoey at each side, exchanging high fives.
"No doubt about it," Max concurred, adjusting his glasses with a smirk.
The enthusiastic spirit of the group impressed the elders of the group. Professor Oak and Namba briefly exchanged looks before coming into agreeing terms themselves.
"Then it's settled then," Professor Oak announced, crossing his arms while remaining somewhat amused by the fervor excitement of youth in his laboratory. To be young again and save the world of Pokémon…
"Now get out of here, you scamps," Namba said, feigning a smile while ushering the group out the door. "Now go and save the world and we'll be here to direct our small Purifying army to diminishing Shadow Pokémon areas."
"Later, Namba!" Ash and friends exclaimed, immediately leaving for their responsibilities of either sailing to the Orre region or staying behind and clearing the Kanto and Johto regions of the ShadowPokérus permanently.
"It's Namba! You got—?! … Wait, that's what they said."
As Ash, Anabel, and their loyal friends went their ways, Namba softly closed the entrance door to Oak's laboratory, feeling some sort of strange, comforting warmth inside of him for the first time in his terribly difficult life.
"This sounds oh so awesome," Leon commented, yawning quietly.
"Totally, little brother!" Lila exclaimed, yawning loudly with a curled hand covering her mouth and smacking her lips together. "Mom and Grandma Delia always have the best stories."
"Except this tale is real as you, sweet Lila," Anabel crooned, caressing her daughter's cheek. "How about I continue this story tomorrow?" Both of her children pouted.
"But this was just getting good, Mom," Leon complained as Delia softly giggled to herself.
"Nonsense! It's past your bedtime," Anabel point out to the recently dusted, antique wall clock with Roman Numerals as the numbers. The small hand was halfway between IX and X. The longer clock hand was directly over VI.
"Since when did you want us to learn hieroglyphics?" Lila asked, raising a brow as she pulled the covers over her slender body.
"Never; they are Roman Numerals, Lila," Leon replied, smirking to himself after overhearing Lila muttering incoherently. "The 'I' is 1, two 'I's' are 2, 'V' is 5, and 'X' is 10. You should figure it out from there, dear fraternal sister."
"What?" Lila asked, confused. She heard an irritated groan from her brother, to which she groaned back louder.
"I guess we know where Leon inherited his brain from," Delia whispered jokingly to Anabel.
"My brain, but Ash's confidence," Anabel whispered back. "Lila has a lot more confidence, but relies more on intuition rather than factual knowledge. I love them both."
"You know you should," Delia whispered, giving her a strange look.
"I do! I do!" Anabel quickly replied, gesturing her out the twin's bedroom. "Good night, my beautiful children!"
"Good night, Mom! Good night, Grandma Delia!" Lila and Leon exclaimed back as Anabel switched the lights off. The unique twins snuggled warmly underneath their handmade blankets, eagerly waiting for the next day to hear more of their parents' wondrous adventures when the world of Pokémon was at its darkest hour.
Hmm, I'm not writing a lot like I used to. I hope that's not a big problem for most of you. Then again, this tale is still in its primary stage. I've actually dreamt about this entire story with me as the narrator watching over the Pokémon world. I felt so excited that I wrote my ideas before they disappeared :p.
Anyway…
If you would please review, it will be appreciated. I want to listen to your thoughts regarding this chapter.
Ciao!