Chapter 3:
Breakfast
Sunrise did not come early enough. Ash could not wait to set out, to chase whatever it had been out there the previous night. He got up at the crack of dawn, after sleeping on the couch the night before. He slipped back into his clothes from his pajamas, and ran upstairs to his room where the girls where sleeping. He threw the door open.
"Hey…!" He started, but stopped.
For some strange reason beyond him, his mother had replaced his bed during the last year with a bunk bed. Dawn was sleeping in the bottom bunk, and May was sleeping in the top. But, that was not what had caught his attention. He stood still and silent for just a moment, watching Misty as she slept softly, curled up in his old beanbag chair, the blanket from his old bed wrapped around her. A piece of hair had fallen in front of her face and moved back and forth comically with each silent breath she took.
Ash leaned gently against his doorframe, and watched silently-smiling to himself-for about five seconds before Pikachu groggily walked up to him from downstairs.
"Pikapi?" He asked, and followed his trainer's gaze. "Pikachupi!"
Pikachu ran up to her, and jumped, gently, onto her head. Ash walked over slowly, and put a hand on her shoulder.
Misty didn't wake up right away. She didn't really want to. She was surrounded by his scent. It wasn't until she noticed who was waking her that she woke up entirely.
"Ash?" She breathed, looking up at him.
"You wanna go or not?" He said quietly.
"Can I wake up first?"
"Aren't you?"
"Ash…"
"Fine. Will twenty minutes be enough?"
"Can we eat, too?"
"I'll take care of that," Ash could barely believe what he was saying. Before he- or Misty- could stop him, he went downstairs and took the package of sausage links out of the fridge. He took out the frying pan and set it on the stove.
"Wait," he stopped. "The hell?"
"Pikapi!" Pikachu scolded, as he ran into the room.
"I have no idea what came over me. I can't cook, and here I am doing just that!"
Pikachu simply chuckled, as the links started to sizzle in the pan.
…
A very different smell was filling Aura's nose at that moment. She had a pot sitting over her campfire outside her shack home, filled with water and the meat from a Rattata she had caught in her hunt just before dawn. As the meat stew finished cooking-she liked stewing her meat for the morning meal, and roasting it in the evening-she cracked open a Pidgey egg she had found on her hunt, and ate its contents.
The Lucario stiffened, sensing an intruder. She only relaxed when she saw out of the corner of her eye that it was just Azar. She kicked dirt onto the fire, putting it out, and ignored him completely. She took a wooden spoon-which she had carved herself years before-and tasted the stew.
"Aura," Azar muttered. "The time has come."
"What time?" Aura asked, forgetting briefly that she was supposed to be disregarding him.
"Remember when you first came to live here? When I brought you before the Council of the Sages?"
A memory of a dark night, surrounded by Pokémon, in a strange place came back to Aura. She simply nodded.
"Remember Hikari? Remember what she demanded of you, if you were to live under Nila's and my protection, but not directly serve us, as an aide?"
The most mysterious Pokémon in Aura's memory of that night was a large one-a female-that stayed in the shadows, only her eyes illuminated in the dark night. They called her the Head Sage, she recalled. She had been very kind, and had asked her request as if it really was simply a request. In fact, Aura wouldn't doubt it if it actually had been. The other Sages probably wanted it more, or it was some stupid old law, or Arceus knew what else.
"She told me that I was bound to the will of the Council, and must obey the Sages' every command, unless the Chosen One-who ever the hell he's supposed to be," Aura added under her breath, "Unless the Chosen One comes forth. Then, I'm bound to him, no matter his species, from Flames to Earth, Sea to Sky, Heaven or Hell, and blah blah blah…" Aura waved her paws around. "Silly old superstitions, I do think!" She barked.
"Aura…" Azar sounded concerned. "This is serious. The Chosen One will need guidance to each of the Orbs of the Elements, and no current Sage is allowed to aid in any way, at least not directly. You must do this."
"Let me guess. It has to do with that prophecy. The one about the Chosen One, the Elemental Orbs, and the Age of Hope, and whatever?"
"Yes," Azar sighed. He didn't dare tell Aura that the Chosen One was human. He knew she hated them. But not…
He shook his head. He had to ask; now, before it was too late.
"Aura, why did you leave…your old home? Why did you come here?"
"Why do you want to know so much?" Aura snarled. "The past can't be changed, not can the world. I just get by in it. That's all I can do."
"Aura, you were grievously hurt when you first came here. You were feral-and still pretty much are-and you are…not like other wild Pokémon."
"I'm not wild, you said it yourself," Aura corrected. "I'm feral. Wild means untamed…feral implies untamable."
"I don't want to tame you. I just want to understand."
Aura sighed.
"I just want to be left alone. Understand that."
"Aura, you can't expect us to just…"
"I can and I do. All I want is to live my life as it is now. My old life is my business. Butt out, damn it!"
Listening from a spell, using the Orb of Night to watch, Nila sighed, and hung her head.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," She muttered to herself. "I know what I must do." The image on the orb changed, to two teenage humans walking down a beaten path. Nila's eyes glowed, and so did the horn-like structure on her head and the Orb.
Wave of Disaster, she thought. May it not take hold too soon, and may it be what the feral needs to let you live, Chosen One.
So much depends on you now.
You… and her….
A/N: Well, that was short. Sorry. Chapters will vary in size. Like a book. I apologize. Also, there will be very few of these Notes at the ends of Chapters. Important notes will be on my Author Page if need be. I'll do A/Ns only when absolutely necessary. They add unneeded words to the final count. Sorry. Again, any questions, simply PM me. I'll answer if I can. Oh, and by the by, for the Dark Sage, the terms Dark and Night are used interchangeably, as will it's polar opposite: Light and Day. Apologizes for any confusions, past, present, and future.
