Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or its affiliates.

A/N: I'm glad that you are all enjoying this story and have been reviewing. I appreciate hearing what you think and getting your input on how the story is going. Speaking of where it is going, this chapter has some plot twists that some people may not like but I hope that you can keep an open mind. It may seem strange but I promise that the story won't go way out in left field on the weirdness. The idea for this twist came from Fujin of Shadows story Secrets which I recommend to anyone.

The silence was hanging in the stadium like a dense fog that the sun couldn't penetrate. It was like Arceus had hit the mute button on the world for a moment of peace. The storm clouds in the sky didn't make a sound even when lightening streaked across the sky, the wind blew through the stadium, and one lone person was slowly making her way across the stadium. Her destination was a man who was standing in the middle of the stadium looking her way.

Ash was at a loss about what to do. Part of him was excited like a kid on Christmas while another part of him wanted to run away and hide. On top of the seesaw of emotions he was feeling, there was many questions buzzing through his head. Why is she coming toward me? Is she going to try and take me in like Paul? What am I going to say to her?

Even while he was thinking and feeling all of this, Ash never moved from his spot and his eyes never left Lily. He was watching her and trying to answer his questions by reading her body language but mostly he was just getting a good look at her for the first time in five years. The way her eyes sparkled, how pale and creamy looking her skin looked, how her beautiful pink hair cascaded onto her shoulders. He had thought about her a lot in the years he was gone but nothing beats the genuine article.

As he was soaking in every detail of her, it was when he got a good look at her face that told him all he needed to know. Her eyes were red and puffy, probably from the tears streaming down her face but the real clincher was her mouth. The closer she got to him, the better she could see him, the bigger the smile on her face got. She was happy to see him.

"Ok, that's a good sign. Hopefully this goes better than it did with Paul." Ash thought to himself.

When she was only a few steps from Ash she stopped and looked at him with a big smile on her face. After a few minutes of staring at each other in silence, she finally said something.

"Its you isn't it? I know it is, you may have gotten taller but I would know that face anywhere." Lily said with the excitement growing with every word.

"Yeah Lily, it's me." Ash answered calmly, still unsure what to say to her.

Suddenly, in a quick leap, Lily threw herself at Ash catching him in a tight hug. In a low tear filled whisper Lily spoke. "Oh Ash, I missed you so much." She then started crying into his shirt, never letting up her tight hug.

Ash wasn't sure what to do, he had never really had to deal with crying women in the wild, aside from Yellow but Red had handled that. Even before he was exiled, he never had to deal with this. Finally he did what he had seen others do to comfort people. He wrapped his arms around Lily, holding her comfortingly and said in a soothing voice. "It's ok, I'm here now."

While Ash and Lily were comforting each other, the others were a hurricane of questions. Unfortunately for Paul, he was the one they were directed at.

"Paul! I want answers now!" Misty demanded angrily. 'How do you know that's Ash and if it is, why is my sister hugging him?"

"Yeah, what's the deal Paul?" Dawn asked sternly. "They weren't really friends before he left but now they seem close. Really close."

"Tell us Paul. Now!" May yelled with her face turning red.

"Ok ok just calm down will you." Paul stated holding up his hands and backing away slowly. "That is Ash, trust me it is. If we were closer to him, you could tell from his face."

"Wait wait." Roxanne interrupted. "I was saved by Guardian and was right next to him. I even saw his face and I didn't recognize him, granted it was dark out."

"You were?' Dawn asked quickly. "You never said anything about that. What happened?"

"I was attacked by four guys and he saved me. I was helpless; I couldn't do anything to protect myself. It was embarrassing so I didn't want to talk about it." Roxanne explained, suddenly finding her feet very interesting.

"But we are your friends, you can..."

"Enough! Leave her alone." Paul exclaimed interrupting Dawn. "If you want your damn questions answered, then please shut up!"

"Ok." Dawn said quietly, clearly rattled by Paul yelling.

"Ok, I'm sorry for yelling." Paul said genuinely. "But you have to trust me, that is Ash. He knew things that only Ash would know. And to answer your question Misty, the reason she is hugging him is she missed him, ok. If you want to know why, you'll have to ask her. It's her business, not mine."

"Fine, I will. But what do we do now?" Misty asked slightly irritated at the lack of real answers.

"Well do any of you have your cell phone on you?" Paul asked. Receiving nods all around, Paul smirked. "Figures. Anyway, one of you call Cynthia and have her bring as many officers as she can and the Arcanine Unit, quickly."

"Paul you know they won't make a difference." Sabrina spoke knowingly. "I can tell how strong he is and those officers wouldn't last five minutes against him and you know it."

"What choice do I have?!" Paul asked angrily. "I'm under orders to take him in and he destroyed the stadium and tried to kill me. He is a criminal now, so we must treat him like one. Lily will keep him calm till the officers arrive."

"Fine swallow your orders Paul." Sabrina said coldly. "But remember that he is your friend. When this is all over and what I've told you happens, let's see if he still calls you friend. Now let's see if I'm right."

Sabrina turned to look toward Ash and Lily, while the others were in awe at what Sabrina had said. They had never heard her talk to Paul like that. The two usually showed a mutual respect to each other but Sabrina had almost been talking down to Paul. After they came to terms with that they turned toward Ash and Lily too.

Ash was enjoying himself more than he had in a long time. Granted it probably had something to do with the beautiful young women in his arms with her head on his shoulder. When Lily had hugged him, he had been nervous about being so close to her and what to do to comfort her. But as time went by, he became more at ease with her. What had started as rocking back and forth to comfort her had evolved into a slow dance of sorts, both moving together in a small circle held close to each other. Ash would have gone on like this all night but Lily had too many questions on her mind to allow the blissful silence to continue.

"Ash." Lily said softly, lifting her head from his shoulder.

"Yes Lily?" Ash answered, looking at her with a small smile.

When Lily saw the smile Ash gave her, she gained some pink in her cheeks but continued talking. "What are you doing here? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're here it's just a surprise that's all."

Ash was surprised by the question. "I came to see you and Paul of course. Can't an old friend come for a friendly visit?"

"Of course but what you did to the stadium and tried to do to Paul didn't seem very friendly." Lily said gaining a more serious attitude.

Ash let go of Lily and took a few slow steps back while looking down, not saying anything.

Slightly saddened by the lack of contact, Lily continued anyway. "Ash what happened? You can tell me."

Ash was torn about what to do. If he told her why he was destroying the stadium and trying to kill Paul, she might not want to talk to him anymore. But if he didn't tell her she might not trust him and not want to talk to him. It was a lose-lose situation and for some reason losing Lily wasn't something he could live with. She was his last friend, all he really had left from his old life but there was something else about her that he couldn't figure out. It was like an invisible pull toward her, even when he wasn't around her it was there, drawing him to her but he didn't know what it was. Apparently he was taking too long to say something because Lily started talking again with a hurt tone in her voice.

"Fine, don't tell me. I see how it is. See you around Ash." Then she turned angrily toward the others and walked away.

Ash looked up with hurt filled eyes and watched as Lily walked away. He was an idiot, he should have told her. At least then she would have known the truth. It seemed that he was incapable of keeping friend. First all his friends betray him, then Paul tries to arrest him, and now he pushes Lily away. What kind of horrible person must he be to drive these people away from him? Loud screams broke Ash out of his self pity.

"Lily look out!"

Ash looked up to see one of the stadium lights falling toward the field, right where Lily was walking. As fast as a person could blink, Ash had charged his aura and was running toward Lily. But even with his speed, Ash was afraid he wouldn't make it. "NO! I will make it! I have to save her!" Ash thought but as the light got closer he had to scream. "Lily!" Then the light crashed down with a huge cloud of smoke and dust. With Paul and the girls there was panic, screaming and crying.

"Oh my Arceus no." May said with tears forming in her eyes.

Misty had fallen to her knees, crying while muttering Lily's name.

The others were in similar states of tears and sadness but tried their best to comfort Misty. Unlike the others, Paul and Sabrina hadn't lost their composure but had serious expressions on their faces. Both of them were scanning the rubble for signs of movement.

"Can you sense them?" Paul asked in a business like tone, trying to keep his composure.

"I told you he was strong but he is also fast apparently. They are right there." Sabrina said pointing to the left of the group. When she said that everyone turned to look where she pointed and were in awe at what they saw.

In the spot where Sabrina had pointed, there stood what looked like an angel. There was a white flame burning all around him, giving him an otherworldly glow but the thing that caught everyone's attention was the pair of wings coming from his back. They were white as snow and had the same glow as the rest of his body. He had his wings wrapped around himself protecting the person he was holding in his arms but they were slowly opening to reveal the two people inside.

Ash had never felt like this before, he felt powerful but also at ease, almost happy. The fact that the unconscious girl in his arms was alive was mostly responsible for that. "I did it. I actually saved her but if this power hadn't appeared, I might not have. I'll have to figure out where it and these wings came from later." Ash thought as the white glow was dying down and the wings were disappearing.

"Lily! Oh my Arceus, is she ok?" Misty yelled as she ran up to Ash to see her sister. The other girls followed to make sure Lily was ok but also to get a better look at Ash. He had looked like an Adonis to them when he had that white glow and that only diminished a little when it went away. Most of them had pink in their cheeks and couldn't look at him directly.

While everyone was fawning over Ash and Lily being alive, Paul was collecting his thoughts about the events that just happened. "He is full of surprises, isn't he. Powerful Pokémon that he shouldn't have, those blast attacks that he tried to kill me with and now wings. He must be destined for greatness to have all this power in his grasp. But for great evil or for the greater good? Maybe the answer is in finding out what that power is. Maybe Cynthia will have some answers about what it could be."

"Ok, hands where we can see them!"

Ash and everyone turned to see five officers holding handguns and an Arcanine on either side of each officer. Everyone else put their hands up but Ash had his hands full with Lily.

"Did you call them Paul?" Ash spoke coldly, sending a shiver down everyone's spine.

"Yes, I did." Paul said eyeing Ash warily.

Ash carefully laid Lily down, then took off his jacket and rolled it up and put it under her head. He then stood back up slowly while shaking his head in disgust. "Your job really means everything to you doesn't it, Paul. I came here to see you because I missed you and Lily but instead of just visiting and talking about the good old times, you had to do what the League wanted you to do. Look what that caused." Ash said with an irritated tone as he used his arms to show the destruction of the stadium.

'I don't know what to say Ash. I was following orders." Paul said sternly, his eyes never leaving Ash.

"Raise your hands now or we will use force!" The head officer yelled commandingly.

"Grr! Then do it!" Ash yelled as the black flames began swirling around him.

"No Ash don't do this. Please." Misty said pleadingly.

"Please stop! No more." May, Dawn and Roxanne said together.

"Ash. Don't kill them; Lily wouldn't want you to do that." Sabrina said knowingly.

"Are you done?" Ash said darkly. The girls nodded slowly shrinking back from Ash. Ash continued. "Good now I'll say something. I still hate you all, you may have had your reasons for betraying me but you still chose to do it. So you live with the choices you have made and I'll live with the choices I'm about to make. I will give you a piece of advice, the same that I gave Paul earlier. Stay the hell out of my way." Ash then started walking forward toward the officers, leaving a group of stunned and upset girls and a disgruntled Paul behind him.

"You have three seconds to comply before we release the Arcanine!"

Ash smirked to himself as he stared at the police officers in front of him. "More people just swallowing orders. Pitiful." Ash thought as rain began falling, making the Arcanine cower a little from getting wet. Then in a flash of black, Ash was next to the front officer.

"Three seconds is up." Ash said and then grabbed the officer's head and twisted. "SNAP!"

Ash's sudden appearance spooked the two Arcanine that were next to the officer, giving Ash the chance to release three of his own Pokémon.

"Houndoom, Mightyena, Luxray kill!" Ash yelled darkly.

All three growled in understanding and then began using their teeth and claws to attack the Arcanine. As the Arcanine began to fall to the vicious and deadly assault, Ash got to work on the other officers.

Using his speed, Ash disarmed the closest officer quite literally by pulling the man's arms behind his back and putting his foot in the middle of the man's back and pulled till there was a pop. Letting the disarmed men fall to the ground in pain, Ash looked to the other three officers who had their guns pointed at him but their hands were shaking slightly in fear.

Ash smirked. "This will be quick."

Flaring the black flames up even more around him, he clenched his fist and raised his arm straight out. Then in a flash of black he caught each man in the neck with his arm, effectively breaking each ones neck as he runs past them.

Looking to his Pokémon, Ash noticed that they were finishing up too. Nine of the ten Arcanine were lying in pools of blood, either dead or dying from injuries. The last one was in trouble with Houndoom clamped on its throat, cutting off its air.

'Finish it." Ash ordered coldly, as he returned a blood covered Luxray and an equally bloody but also limping Mightyena.

"Crunch! Snap!" Then the Arcanine went limp.

"Good job, return." Ash then turned and walked to the man with the broken arms. "Now to finish you."

Just as Ash was about to grab the man's throat, his body froze. He looked at his arm and noticed it was covered in a blue glow. "What the hell is going on?"

"Leave him alive, no more killing Ash." Sabrina said with her eyes glowing blue.

"Ah, so you are trying to stop me from killing this man, why?" Ash asked with slight curiosity.

"Because it's the right thing to do. However, I will give you some incentive to leave him alive."

"And what incentive could you offer me?"

"I'll go with you so that you get the information you want. I'm guessing that although your powers are formidable, you don't have the ability to read minds. I will offer my services in exchange for his life, deal?" Sabrina panted struggling to hold Ash.

"Sabrina, don't. You have seen what he's capable of. He won't hesitate to kill you." Paul said worriedly.

"I know but if I can save a life, it's worth it." Sabrina said as confidently as she could.

"Very noble of you Sabrina. Fine I could use your particular talents but let's get going before reinforcements come." Ash said as he released Skarmory from its pokeball, after finally breaking Sabrina's hold.

"I'm coming." Sabrina said softly, breathing heavily from holding Ash for that long.

"Paul can you hear me?" a voice in Paul's head spoke.

"Sabrina? What do you want?" Paul thought.

"Listen I don't have much time. Holding Ash tired me out and I can't do this long. When we leave, take Lily to Nurse Joy for treatment and get an ambulance here for the officers and Arcanine. Then find Cynthia and figure out any info on this aura power Ash has. We need to stop him."

"Are you going to be ok with him? You don't even know where he's going!" Paul thought franticly.

"He's going to Goodshow. I caught some stray thoughts as I was holding him. Warn Lance and Goodshow to be on guard."

"Let's go! I want to get going." Ash demanded as the rain started to fall harder.

Sabrina looked at Paul who nodded and climbed on behind Ash as Skarmory took off into the sky.