AN: Hey everyone! I'm going straight into this chapter with next to no planning to see what comes out!
P: That is a horrible attitude.
SV: Yes it is! But I've got so much stuff to do it doesn't matter to me at the moment, so I'm happy to go on like this.
T: Don't you have a timeplan? Why don't you look at that?
SV: It's not properly updated. I'll fix it later. For now, no Pokemon ownership, go have fun reading!
*Around six hours later.*
"Good one Ash!" I smiled. "That's really cool!" He smiled wanly, the blue sphere of Aura vanishing into the air.
"Thanks." He fell back, hitting the snow with a muffled thump. "It's actually pretty nice, being able to do something like that."
"We have Judgement, but no real other things like that, to be honest." I fell next to him, then held up my own hand. A small Judgement, the golden colour the Normal type formed in for us, hovered there for a few moments, then shattered into its own flame.
"Maybe you can do it in the same way I do."
"Which is?"
"Hell if I know." He laughed, and I joined him a minute later. When we stopped, he grinned. "But seriously, I just visualise it as my Aura forming a ball above my hand. Maybe you can do that with Psychic power?"
"It's pretty different to how I do Judgement. That just forms when I want it too. The same for Psychic, Heal Pulse… just about anything, actually."
"I guess that's the nature of Pokemon attacks." Ash guessed. "So, going to try it?"
"Might as well." I stayed lying down, just lifting my hand again and thinking.
A pink pool of power, like a well. Looking in, I could see the bottom, but only barely.
"This isn't normal." I whispered. "Normally it just works. Why is this what I see now?" Nothing was around to answer me, so I shrugged, kneeling by the pool. "Maybe…" I touched the edge, lifting some of the water-like power upwards. It made a little puddle in my hand, and I frowned. "Nope, guess not." I stared at the pink shape for a while, trying to figure out what to do. "It'd help if I knew where this is. Maybe a mindscape? It'd make some sense, since my ability is entering people's mindscapes, so maybe this is mine. Still doesn't help the situation, but I guess…" I looked down at the pool. "Oh, I'm an idiot." Taking a moment to facepalm with my free hand, I dropped the whatever this was back, then scooped some more up and glared at it, imagining it rising into a ball, like my Judgement did. It followed, and I grinned, then frowned. "How do I get out of here? If this is like a mindscape dive, I guess just focus on that…" I did, and sure enough the world around me flickered. Now registering that I was in a world of some sort, and not just by a pool surrounded by nothing, I looked up, still focusing on leaving. I felt a small tug, and felt myself leaving the world, but not before something caught my eye. I blinked, startled, and for a moment stared stunned at the things, completely ignoring the fact that I was disappearing in seconds.
Two pedestals. Both white. Both almost identical.
The first had the shape of an Arceus on top, purely white, with none of the highlights or colours it normally had. From this distance, it's eyes seemed open, but with the flat white I couldn't tell. The ring on it's back, however, was slightly golden, the only bit of colour there. Even as I watched, however, it faded, just like I was. It was confusing, but at least it had a meaning I could make a guess at. My hybrid ability, mindscape diving. I'd guessed I was using it now, so perhaps it symbolised that.
The other, however, was a mystery. It looked like a flame of some kind, the same marble white as the base and other statue. It was a flat, uniform shape, when I'd expected some form of markings where a flame would change colours in a cartoon, since real flames didn't do that and it did look like the shape was one from a cartoon. It was completely dim, and I couldn't tell what it might mean.
I only had a few seconds to study them before I faded out of the mindscape, and back into the real world.
Everything snapped back into focus, and I blinked a few times before smiling. A little pink ball of power was floating above my palm, just like it had before. Ash was watching too, and I tried to see if it would move. Instead, it exploded, leaving no trace, knocking us over and blowing some of the snow away. Falling backwards into a deeper part of the snowdrift, we both ended up with snow down our necks and yelped. After a few seconds of frantically trying to get rid of the melting ice, we fell back again, laughing our heads off. I sat up, swapped types with a thought and threw a Fire typed Judgement up into the air, letting it explode before pulling the fire it released around us, melting the snow much faster.
"I'd say thanks, but now I've just got cold water down my back instead of snow, so…" I threw a snowball at him, then used the flame to get rid of the water as well.
"Happy now?" I asked, rolling my eyes.
"Thank you." He returned my eye roll as I dispelled the flames with another burst of Judgement, this one Water. "Anyway, it worked!"
"It exploded immediately." I corrected. He shrugged.
"Same happened to me. You weren't around, but it was the night we went and sat on the cloud. I just used guesswork to try and figure out how Aura Sphere might work."
"I can remember the amount of holes in that clearing." I grinned. "I also remember something about getting you to skydive?"
"We're going skydiving?" Crystal popped up out of the snowbank. "Sounds like fun! We haven't done it in ages!"
"You also mentioned actual diving." Ash said, looking faintly green. "Can we do that instead?"
"Sure, I don't mind doing that either, actually. We don't do it often, and it might be fun!" Crystal was still cheerful, and I smiled.
"It's also safer, honestly. We're less likely to be seen swimming than we are dropping out of the sky."
"Good." He smiled back, sighing in relief. "When'll this be?" Crystal pulled a map from the air, looking at it.
"We're just out of Saffron, and we're heading to Fuchsia, which is near the ocean, so there's there. Or we can pass through Lavender Town, deal with the possibility of ghosts everywhere, and try and do some diving over there." She turned it around, showing us.
"Skip Lavender Town, head to Fuchsia, get the gym badges and then do some diving?" I suggested, glancing between them.
"I'm good with that." Ash nodded.
"Seconded." Leo, still in his Arceus form, dove out of another snowbank and landed next to us.
'Thirded!' He cheered.
"Do you even know what we're talking about?" Crystal asked, exasperated, while I telepathically explained to Ash. "Also, telepathy please."
'Sorry.' My twin replied, in a voice that didn't sound very sorry at all. 'And we were talking about skipping over Lavender Town and heading straight for Fuchsia so we can do some diving.'
"...I guess you were listening." Crystal admitted. "So, I guess no one's interested in the ghosts?"
"Nope." Ash shook his head. "Unlike you guys, I can't see them, and I'd appreciate not getting ambushed by invisible Pokemon if I can help it."
"I don't want to get ambushed either, and keeping a Psych Scan open for a long time can be draining." I added. "Because of that, I'm not giving you the recommendation to use Aura Sight. That, and the three of us so close together might cause some problems."
'I don't like ghosts.' Leo said simply.
"Honestly, same here, but I don't mind too much. If we're all sure we don't want to go, I guess we can skip it." Crystal added, to nods all around.
"So, call the teams back and get ready to move on?" I checked. My cousin nodded, and I reached out telepathically to both mine and Ash's teams, since I knew he wouldn't be able to reach them on his own. He smiled at me as Pikachu hopped to his shoulder, while Spark leapt to mine.
"How've things been, you guys?" Ash asked his team. They quickly gave a list of what they'd been doing as I telepathically translated. My own team, knowing I was focusing more on what Ash's group said, stayed silent until Ash returned his team, then gave their own repeat on what they'd done. Mostly playing in the snow, honestly, but that was fine. We'd all been treating this time as more of a playtime than working anyway. Star had been practising Psychic by using it to make snowballs, while Joey had worked on Shadow Ball by using it to knock snowballs away. Ky, despite her insistence that she couldn't learn Dark Pulse, had at least gotten her Dragon Pulse to look a bit less dragon-like. Leo was interviewing his own team as well, while Crystal's had gone straight back into their Pokeballs, since they hadn't been training and as such had nothing to report. Once we'd gotten all that done, it was time to head out of the world, make a little headway to Fuchsia, then find a campground. I sent a quick glance around the frozen forest we were in, and made a mental note to get Crystal to set one of these up again next time we wanted to train. A small flare placed us back in the clearing we'd left about six hours earlier, looking like only a few had passed.
"It's about four now," Crystal announced, coincidentally confirming my thoughts. "So we should have plenty of time to make some headway on getting to our next destination." She started leading the way, with Leo just behind her. I lagged back slightly, next to Ash.
"Is it just me, or does this feel like a waste of time?" Ash glanced at me, confused.
"Pardon?"
"Well, we're going east, to go south, to go back west." I told him, referencing the map from before. "It'd be easier to just go straight south, but that'd involve going through Vermillion, then hoping there's a boat."
"Now you say it, it does sound kind of stupid." He admitted. "Wouldn't that be easier?"
"Assuming there's a boat to Fuchsia. I don't think there is, so we need to go the long way. Or fly, but then we'd need to go really high up to avoid being seen."
"Pass." Ash was going slightly green at the thought, and I laughed.
"We'll get you up there with us at some point, I swear."
"Can we hold it off for a while, please? At least until I'm used to the idea of flying on you, as opposed to with you."
"... Put it that way, and I can see your point. It does sound kind of unsettling."
"You're used to it, though, since you probably used to fly about together all the time."
"Yes, but that was more with than on. We've got the largest other form, and Crystal wouldn't be able to carry us anywhere. I was about six the first time we went on a proper flight as a family." Ky coughed.
'It's a great story and all, but shouldn't we hurry up?'
'And I'm pretty sure you said to be careful about bringing hybrids up?' Pikachu added. 'You're doing a worse job than I was.'
"Fair enough." I nodded. "And sure, we should catch up. Come on, let's go!" I charged ahead, Ash running behind me in an attempt to keep up. Spark held tightly to my shoulder, laughing, and I could hear Pikachu echoing it behind us.
"Hey Crys?" Leo asked, some time later. We'd been on the road for about an hour now, travelling mostly in silence, with only the occasional telepathic checks from Crystal breaking my reprieve.
"Yes?" She glanced over to him.
"This may be a bad time to ask, but…" He hesitated for a moment. "Do you think we'll run into Lucia and Lucian again?"
"...More than likely." She admitted, after a moment. "I mean, they're Team Rocket, and now they've fought us once they'll be bound to do it again. We've sent that little trio flying quite a few times now, so they definitely know we exist. And since they mentioned Heart before, and we know that's Lucia's code name, so we can assume those two on the tower were Rockets as well." Slow, almost sarcastic, clapping came from the air above us.
"Well done." Lucia said, dropping down into a hover next to us. Crystal schooled her expression into a glassy coldness that I rarely ever saw, and a message passed to each of us.
'We're heading back to a world. I need to punch them both.'
'Right.' Me and Leo nodded, shifting subtly in front of Ash, who got the hint and moved behind us.
'Alex, think you can grab them both?' I measured the distance mentally, and noticed that the two were close enough for me to teleport and grab them.
'Sure. I'll teleport and knock them into you.'
"So, think you can handle us now, without your more powerful siblings?" Lucian taunted. Both of them flinched at the rage Crystal was faking, as well as the slight shine to the air that showed ice forming around her.
"I'm pretty sure we can, since we don't need to hold back any of our power anymore. Thanks to you, Ash knows, so we can go all out." As the duo traded glances, I teleported, appearing in the air behind them. Acting quicker than I'd expected, Leo formed a shield for me to land on. They instinctively backed away, and I flashed a grin.
"Good luck with Crystal." I pushed them both backwards psychically, into Crystal's waiting hold, before teleporting back. I barely got into the pickup range, and was flashed away with the rest of the group in a teleport.
We dropped back into that forest again, away from any of the snow. My twin and I put up a small shield around ourselves and Ash, just in case Crystal's acting was too convincing and our friends decided to attack. They scrambled back, but Crystal grabbed them in a Psychic pulse and held them steady, stalking close to them.
'I get the feeling that this might go south.' Leo commented. I could only nod as our cousin walked over to the terrified Elites.
"So, now we can go all out." She purred. "Alex was right to wish you luck." She stepped forwards, then punched Lucia, then Lucian, on the cheek, before dropping them to the ground and hugging them both. "Because the both of you are prats." The two in her grip exchanged glances, before their terrified expressions fell away, replaced by relief.
"You read the book?" Lucian asked hesitantly.
"Nope." I called, dropping the shield we were maintaining. "We read the note, though. Bel's got the book at the minute."
"And you're not mad?" Lucia was more hopeful than her brother.
"Oh, I still want to punch you." Crystal assured her. "But now it's not because you're in Team Rocket, it's because you didn't say anything."
"Sorry about that." They finally squirmed free of Crystal's hug, and sat back on the grass. "Why'd you have a shield up?"
"In case Crystal's acting was too good and you actually felt threatened." Leo replied.
"We did."
"Good, that was the intention." She said cheerfully.
"How much of that anger was fake?" Lucia asked.
"...Less than I'd like to admit." Crystal had the grace to look embarrassed. "It wasn't really aimed at you, just Team Rocket in general."
"Well, we've got some time before we need to run back like we got beaten to death, so what's first?"
"Why were you really here? I doubt it's a social visit, since you're Elites."
"Said we were going to try and reclaim 'our' Pokemon." Lucian looked disgusted at the idea. "I'd like to counter that with one of my own. Where are Bella and Amy?"
"Back home, dealing with something to do with Melody." Lucia wilted.
"Oh, you don't think she heard about us being in Team Rocket, did she? Oh, she'll be so worried and disappointed."
"Calm down. I don't think it's that." Crystal assured her. A little pink flower bloomed on the ground for a moment, then wilted. Dawning looks of realisation appeared on both Lati's faces, and Lucia gasped.
"I can't believe I'd forgotten! I'm such a horrible friend…"
"No, you've just been busy." She replied. "Trust me, we all forget things when we've been caught up in other things."
"I suppose…" The Latias was still upset, so her brother took over.
"Anything else you want to know?"
"There's someone in your group who is evil." Crystal's voice once again had that sharpened tone. "Can you tell us who it is?"
"...Probably." He shuffled slightly. "What did they do?" Instead of a reply, Crystal just showed them telepathically. From the way they flinched back, the memory probably included all of the anger and bad thoughts that person had left us with. "Oh. Him." Given the amount of rage she spat it with, it was clear that Lucia didn't think highly of whoever this was.
"Yep. Who was that? And what the hell was it?"
"Oblivion." He replied. "He doesn't seem to have a name, or not one he uses. I'm pretty sure that the only reason he doesn't call himself death is because death is more merciful than what he can do. He's a hybrid, but we've never seen him transform. The only reason we know he is one is because he has the pattern of one."
"What sort of pattern?"
"We don't know. That black field doesn't let us. It has blue in it, sometimes, but that's it. Hell, even his brothers don't talk much about him, and he's never said a word to us."
"I remember Oblivion, actually." Ash said. "It was in the note that you left with the book."
"Right." Leo nodded. "There was Wrath and Cross as well."
"Yeah. They're triplets. None of the others have ever transformed around us, unfortunately, so we can't say much else."
"What about the power he used?"
"Shadows." Lucian replied simply. "We don't know how it works, and I'm not sure we want to."
"So, the same thing that's affected Ivysaur and Eevee?" I asked, to nods.
"We don't know how it works, since it's not supposed to affect humans aside from a bit of pressure if the Shadow Pokemon is powerful enough, but if a hybrid can be changed…" He trailed off, letting the implications finish the sentence.
"Is it because he's a hybrid, you think?" Ash questioned. "Since there's a Pokemon half, you could affect that and it causes it to stick around."
"...Maybe." Lucian nodded. "I'm not certain, and I honestly don't ever want to be."
"Well if it is like that, stay safe." Crystal ordered. "I don't want to actually lose you to something."
"I promise we won't." Lucia confirmed. "There's some other stuff as well, but I'd like to tell Bella directly and we can't right now."
"When she gets back, I'll be sure to let her know about everything that's happened here, and tell her you wanted to meet up again. Hopefully you can get here without suspicion."
"We don't technically get orders," Lucia said. "So we could just wander off at any time and tell them to call us if they need us, and hope they don't need us."
"Alright. Should we do anything, or…?"
"Nah, we'll say we got beat and pretend we healed at a Pokemon Center or something before we came back. We can deal with that much." Lucian told her. "Sorry about everything, and we'll see you around."
"Alright." A flare of pink followed, teleporting us out of the world again. The Lati duo fell back into their Team Rocket persona's, and glared.
"You may have beaten us this time, but next time we meet, you will lose!" Lucia flew away with her jetpack, her older brother just behind. Crystal gave a small sigh, and the rest of us calmed down as well.
"So then, I take it we have a problem?" Ash asked.
"One hell of a problem." I confirmed. "If Shadow Pokemon can be made from hybrids, and we don't know how any of this works, or if we can reverse it if it happens to anyone."
"Bella really needs to know about this." Leo said.
"But she and Amy have enough to deal with trying to look after Melody." Crystal argued. "We'll wait for her to get back, then we can tell her about all of this."
"What even is it with this Melody person?" Ash asked. "Why're Bella and Amy with her?"
"She's another hybrid, a Meloetta. She's a talent for singing, and playing instruments. We actually heard the Lugia's Song from her for the first time."
"Lugia's Song?" He pondered that for a moment, then nodded. "That thing that Lillian and Lucas sang when they left in the Pokemon forms, right?"
"That's right. Well… she had a sister. A Shaymin hybrid, actually. I'm now going to put the emphasis on the word had and leave this line of conversation standing while we walk." Crystal turned on her heel and started walking again, heading for Lavender Town, since we'd still need to pass through it to get to Fuchsia.
"So…" Ash looked stunned, and I nodded.
"Now, Crystal's probably got the right idea in dropping this line of conversation off a cliff to see where it lands, so let's get a move on." I replied, hurrying after my cousin with the two boys and our Pokemon in tow.
"Geez, this place really takes the phrase 'ghost town' literally." Leo remarked, looking over Lavender.
"Well, considering that this place is actually really haunted, it makes sense." Crystal explained, glancing back. "Most of the people that used to live here moved away, since they started getting bothered by the Ghosts."
"Are they really that annoying?" Ash asked, peering into the city as if he could see the Ghosts floating about the place.
"Some of them can be, but a good number of them just want to live peacefully. We were here before, and had a chat with them. They're actually not all that bad, some fairly nice Ghosts. Marionette liked it here, spent quite a bit of time learning from some of the locals."
"Marionette?"
"Amy's Banette. She was using her in the battle at Porta Vista, when we were trying to deal with the massive Tentacruel. You must have missed her." She answered. "Maybe we could just stop by and see if any of them are around. They'll recognise me."
"Sure." I nodded my consent. "It's not like we're on that much of a time constraint, at least not anymore." Ash smiled, and the seven of us headed down the hill into the mostly abandoned city.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
We carefully walked into the Tower, cautious not to disturb anything. Crystal immediately flickered into a Psych Scan, looking for Ghosts.
"Ash, this may be a good time to try out Aura Sight more." I whispered, looking around myself. "Just be careful when looking at us."
"Right." His eyes took on a blue tinge, and he used his Aura Sight to look around as well, pointedly keeping himself from glancing anywhere near us.
"What're we looking for, Crystal?" Leo asked.
"There was a Haunter duo that ended up meeting Marionette, so I'm just going to see if I find a pair of Haunter to ask."
'No need…' The air whispered. 'We're right here!' Two Haunter materialised in front of us, and Crystal grinned.
"Hello you two. As cheerful as ever, I see."
'Yep!' The left one smiled. 'After all-'
'-We're the Towers pranksters!' The right one finished. I noticed that the first one sounded male, while the second was female. 'So how's-'
'-Our best friend?'
"Marionette's fine. She's not here at the moment, though. Amy had to head back home, so she went back as well."
'That's a shame.' The male sighed. 'I was-'
'Hoping to see our fellow prankster.' I finished translating to Ash, then spoke.
"Do you always trade lines?"
'Of course!' She replied. 'After all-'
'It's our thing!' He floated over to us. 'So, who-'
'Might you be?' The other joined us.
"I'm Alex, that's my twin Leo, and Amy's our older sister." I waved to them. "That's Ash and Pikachu, and this is Spark and Kydyur." Each of them waved in turn.
'I suppose we should introduce ourselves too. I'm Spectre-'
'And I'm Spooks!' Spooks waved back, while her brother went to Crystal.
'So how've you been Crystal?-'
'-You look well.' She chuckled.
"I'm fine. Have you been ok?"
'Yep. Not many people-'
'Around to prank, but that's-'
'Ok. We'll just prank our-'
'-Fellow Ghosts instead!' The duo traded off lines perfectly, as if it had been rehearsed, and I had to follow along quickly with my telepathy to translate it to Ash properly.
"I hope you haven't been causing too much trouble."
'Of course-'
'-We haven't!' Spooks actually sounded offended. 'We don't-'
'-Like causing problems!' Spectre said. 'We just-'
'-Want to have fun!'
"So long as you haven't been too much of an issue, then that's fine." Crystal relaxed, as did the Ghosts.
'Thank you. So what-'
'-Brings you here today?'
"We were just passing through here on the way to Fuchsia City and I thought I'd drop by to see you." Crystal replied.
'Fuchsia? Would you mind-'
'-If we came along?' Spectre asked. 'We don't-'
'-Really get out much.' I traded a glance with Ash, then Leo. Both boys nodded, then stepped forwards.
"We could catch you, if you want." Leo offered. "It'd make it easier to get around." Spectre and Spooks traded startled glances, and for a second I thought they might refuse, but then they nodded.
'Sure! It sounds like-'
'-It'd be fun to explore-'
'-Outside the city for once!' Spooks went over to Ash, while her brother went over to Leo. 'Let's go-'
'Crystal's folks!' Both of them tapped an outheld Pokeball from the two boys and let themselves be caught. The balls shimmered for a moment, then vanished, heading back to Professor Oak's lab.
"We'll need to drop in at a Pokemon Center to get them back from the Professor." Crystal reminded us. "Still, Marionette will be happy with this."
"Yeah, she will." I smiled. "So, is the Center here still in use, or…?"
"It's still working. We'll get them now, then head to Fuchsia and explain to them everything on the way." Crystal pushed open the door psychically, letting me slip out, followed by Leo and Ash.
"Say, here's a thought," Ash said, as Crystal left and shut the door behind us. "How come Spooks and Spectre weren't surprised that you understood them, on that first time?"
"Marionette just told them it was a family gift of ours." The Articuno grinned, leading the way to the Pokemon Center. "Gotta admit, she wasn't exactly lying, was she?" She laughed, and the rest of us joined in as we walked.
AN: And we're done here!
P: I was beginning to think that this was a filler chapter.
SV: It sort of was, honestly. At first, I wasn't sure what to do with the chapter, since it's a little weird in placement. We're actually getting sort of close to a few of the main events, and I've been starting to wonder if this was even going to be all that long of a fic. I mean, three gyms and a League, sure, that'll take a while, the League will probably be three battles a chapter until someone gets knocked out, but I wasn't sure. Then I've recently been expanding some of the chapter lengths-
T: *Glancing at Guardians or Power.* That's true.
SV: -And I've realised it might be, depending on how long certain events take.
P: I'm sure it'll be ok anyway, Shadow. Now, I don't think there's anything to alert the readers of in this chapter, is there?
SV: Nope, for once I tried to keep away from cryptic references. There's the thing with Melody, and-
T: Creepy shadow guy from Silph Co has a name, sorta!
P: So there are some things in this to guess at, but not much.
SV: So, we'll say our goodbyes, wish you a happy easter 'cause that's this weekend, assuming you celebrate it, and see you around!