7
Ash opened his eyes, shouted out as he realized he was floating in mid air through a place he couldn't recognize as anywhere he'd been, maybe not even anywhere on the planet. The dark landscape spread out into infinity, not ending even as he looked down. Ash reached for his pokeballs before recalling that he'd left everyone back at Professor Oak's other than Pikachu. His friend wasn't on his shoulder, nor anywhere else he could see. "Pikachu!" Ash shouted out.
He heard a sound from the distance, metallic in nature. Seeing something coming at him and no way to run away, Ash first waved his hands as if to swim, then put them in front of his face and squinted his eyes shut. As no impact came, Ash eventually peeked through his arms, then put them down, seeing Aegislash in front of him. "Where's Pikachu?" he said.
"I expelled it. In our world, mundane pokemon can interfere with our spectral power," Aegislash explained. "In any case, only you were needed here. Welcome to my domain, my future king."
"Huh?" Ash said, silent after the abnormal greeting. He soon got his mind back on track though. "Where's Pikachu!" he demanded again.
"I can assure you that one is just fine. Wouldn't you rather know more about where you are, my benevolent future king? I've brought you to my world before sending you to the world of all, to reach your destiny and rule the masses."
Ash shook his head at Aegislash's words. "Why do you keep talking about things that make no sense? I just want to know where my pikachu is!"
"Of course. Caring for even the individual members of the meaningless masses is one of your many admirable qualities, which is why I chose you."
"Pikachu isn't meaningless. It's my best friend!" Ash insisted. He waved his arms back and fourth to try and move himself and approach Aegislash, but couldn't get very far.
"Yes, I understand your current sentiments. I knew you'd be worried about the one you cared for, so I made sure its fate would be tied to someone else when you'd have to leave it behind to take your fated role," Aegislash explained. Ash still stared at it cluelessly. "Perhaps I'd better start from the beginning."
Ash was silent as Aegislash waved itself in front of him, and then noticed a bold red strand stretching out from his arm. Eager to have something in the environment he could interact with, Ash took hold of it with both his hands. But before he could try to pull himself to wherever the rope led, a sentiment overtook him. "Pikachu..." he said.
"Correct. This is the thread of fate that connects you to that pikachu," Aegislash said. "Threads of fate connect all of us who influence each other's destiny. I've made sure that pikachu is connected to one that will care for it, the same as you are connected to many."
Aegislash waved itself in front of Ash again, causing more and more threads to appear attached to him. Ash touched them one by way, feeling right away who they were connecting him to. His mom, the professor, Gary, various friends he'd traveled with in the past, both human and pokemon alike. Eventually, he came across threads that connected him to Jessie, James, and Meowth. "Those guys... Why would I be connected to people like them?" Ash asked, scowling.
"Though it hasn't always been positive, they've had a great impact on your fate on numerous occasions, haven't they?" Aegislash said. Ash appeared to consider that possibility, and Aegislash continued. "Of course, the same can be said for you to them, but that's only natural. You have an innate ability to influence the destinies of others."
"Really?" Ash said, looking at Aegislash curiously as he let the idea start to sink in. "I don't think I do."
"But just look at all of the threads of fate connected to you," Aegislash said, sweeping across the unnatural 'room' as it saw all of the threads connected to Ash.
"That's just because I met them, because we're friends or something."
"Oh? Well, of course, I had filtered your vision to allow you to see some, but not all of your connections. Just the most current and the most strong. Would you like to see all of the threads of fate connected to you, past, present, and future?"
Ash nodded uncertainly. It might be interesting, but wouldn't that also take the fun out of living the future, seeing everyone he was going to meet, every pokemon he'd ever catch or befriend? "Um," Ash began, about to reject the previous offer. Before he could, more and more threads started to appear. Of people he'd met in the past, pokemon he'd battled only once. Then he became excited, seeing faces in Kalos of people he'd admired and wanted to meet.
But the red threads still kept appearing. They cast out of every inch of his body, overlapping thousands and then millions of times.
Now there was only a sea of red, connecting him to every being on the planet. Unable to handle all of the input, Ash opened his mouth to scream, instead blacking out that same instance.
Jessie returned to the camp she'd set up with James and Meowth to see the two of them smiling, the berries piled up high in front of them. "Here Jessie, we got you some more," James said.
"No hard feelings, right?" Meowth added.
"No, everything's fine. You can save those for later. Or maybe our pokemon might like some," Jessie said. She then threw out all of her pokemon that had become battle weary earlier in the day. "Have a feast, everyone."
"I guess she ate with that one guy," Meowth said.
"I think there's something weird about him," James commented.
"Yeah? I think it's more likely there's something weird about you. I don't like that guy, but he seems pretty normal to me," Meowth said.
Jessie sighed. Meowth wasn't too far off the mark there. Butch was normal, having this kind of interest in her, even saying she was different than just anyone would be. But Jessie didn't really want just any guy who felt that way, said those things. If she did, she could have settled long ago, many times in the past. Someone like her could be choosey. It was too bad she'd become set on the guy that was perpetually turned off by her. Well, she could get over him, the same as she'd gotten over others in the past that couldn't measure up to her standards.
Just as Jessie thought that, James came and wrapped his arm around her. She at first looked around in surprise, then relaxed into his embrace. If nothing else, it was nice to have someone that was always there.
James felt Jessie's surprise, and felt a bit sheepish. It wasn't a moment of high emotion that he'd decided to show affection during, but a peaceful lull. Luckily Jessie had just relaxed, so everything was fine, wasn't it? James decided so, and held Jessie closer.
Jessie pulled away, just to pull closer and kiss him. Yes, James was here, and he was willing, so she could enjoy giving and taking affection like this. Things really had been lonely, for a long time, much longer than someone like her should have to be lonely for, Jessie thought. But with James, all of that loneliness had lifted, despite all of the other issues they dealt with.
Pulling apart before anyone noticed them, Jessie and James returned their pokemon to their pokeballs, and then went to sleep. Before they finally drifted off, Jessie felt James grab her hand. Before completely falling asleep, she squeezed it back. What were those issues again?
As Cassidy put more wood on the fire, she noticed that Pikachu was finally starting to stir. She wasn't going to just heal it right out, though she had the supplies. Given how resistant it would likely be to being her pokemon, she had to be careful. So she was going to slowly heal it while feeding it berries, and had also caught it in the empty pokeball, the kind that would ignore if a pokemon had previously been captured.
So now that Pikachu was blinking its eyes, trying to get used to where it was, Cassidy released her Houndoom and Raticate, and gave them one berry each. Then she poked her new pokemon. "Hey," Cassidy called.
"Pi?" Pikachu slowly looked up. "Pi pikachu?!" it said, immediately tensing up and going on the offensive. Though it must still be exhausted and not at all battle ready, Pikachu's cheeks started to spark.
Cassidy sighed to herself, though she was also somewhat amused at the pokemon's reaction. Instead of trying to beat it down before it attacked, she turned away. "Do you want another, Houndoom?" she asked before giving it a berry. "And you, Raticate?" Finally, Cassidy turned to Pikachu. "And how about you, Pikachu?"
"Pika!" Pikachu said as it turned its head to indicate a negative response to her offer though it still kept its eyes on her. "Chuuu..." it began as more sparks flew off its cheeks.
"So you're not hungry now?" Cassidy asked. "Well, maybe later." Cassidy placed an oran berry in front of Pikachu, before turning to her pokemon and feeding them more and more, all the while giving them more attention and pets than she normally did. Pokemon liked that kind of thing. Pikachu would warm up soon enough, and come to her and demand more of the same. Cassidy just had to pile the affection onto her other pokemon more and more until it did.
After a while, Cassidy turned back to her new pokemon, only to see the berry she'd left half eaten and the pokemon slowly dragging itself away. So that was how it was going to be, Cassidy thought with some annoyance. She pulled out her new pokemon's pokeball and returned it, then right away releasing it right in front of her.
"Pika?!" Pikachu said, disoriented. It turned to Cassidy, realizing what had happened when it saw the pokeball in her hand. "Pikachu!" it shouted roughly.
"That's right," Cassidy confirmed. "You're now my pokemon. Your old master has nothing left to offer you."
"Pikapi, pikachu!" Pikachu insisted.
"I guess you must be saying how he was taken or whatever, had no choice in the matter, something like that? Right, I know. But now he's as good as abandoned you. I'm all you've got."
"Pika," Pikachu muttered. "Pikachuu!" It aimed its electric attack right as its self-declared 'master'.
Cassidy's raticate ran in front, taking the attack itself. Cassidy scowled at Pikachu, gritting her teeth together. "Stop!" she shouted at Raticate before it attacked, then softened her tone only slightly to speak to her new pokemon. "Alright Pikachu, that was my one freebie. One attack without retaliation. Go ahead and attack again, and then see what happens from there."
"Pika." Pikachu practically choked on its cry. Tears welled up in its eyes as it thought of Ash being taken away, Pikachu unable to help him. And now, Pikachu's best friend was unable to help Pikachu itself. "Pi..."
"It's alright, Pikachu," Cassidy said. Despite the likely danger of being shocked, she went over to Pikachu and scooped it into her arms, hugging it the way she recalled wanting to hug that other electric type as a girl. As Pikachu decided not to shock her, she squeezed it just a little tighter. "I know how you feel," she muttered. But who would believe that hollow-sounding statement, pokemon or human? Cassidy did think she knew how Pikachu felt, but that wasn't what the pokemon needed to hear at the moment. "I mean, I'm going to take care of you, so you don't have to worry."
"Pikapi..." Pikachu cried, and then scowled again. It struggled, scratching to get out of Cassidy's hug.
Cassidy let it go. "You know, I picked you up as just a stray, abandoned pokemon. I'm going to stay here and go after that pokemon that took your master away. For my own reasons, but who knows, maybe I'll find that kid in the process. Then I'd have no reason to keep you, with your master back to take you."
"Pi," Pikachu said with a nod, appearing to relax just with that lie. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie, just that Cassidy figured the truth would still change. Right now she could consider that Pikachu's previous performance had been a fluke, brought on by all the anger it had from its master being dragged away and then people trying to capture it. But she had a feeling it wasn't, from both from Jessie and James's assessments of the pokemon as well as the sheer amount of power it displayed. She'd likely find plenty of reasons to keep this pokemon even if its old master returned.
Right now, Pikachu looked toward Houndoom, who was finishing off its berry now that Pikachu no longer appeared a threat. Cassidy went and got another, then gave it to her new pokemon with a smile.
She had to stay up late with the pokemon, slowly but surely nursing Pikachu back to health. As morning came, Cassidy woke up feeling groggy, and Pikachu stayed asleep, napping happily. Cassidy decided she'd let it, at least for a while. Training with it, not that it needed the improvement with skills, just to get used to the direction of a new trainer, was something she wanted to do early on in the day. There were other things to take care of, but since she had the extra help, she could disperse her underlings to do so.
Butch had already been up, before her at that. Jessie and James on the other hand, she had to go wake up. Cassidy did so grudgingly, wondering why they seemed so annoyed at her doing so. Could they even keep up with all their work when they slept in all the time? Once she was sure they were actually getting up, Cassidy went back to her camp, wondering why she should have to act like their mom or something.
Once all of her underlings gathered together, they looked ready to work and Cassidy felt in better spirits as well. "Well, I see two things we need to need to take care of today. Well, three, but don't bother about the third, I'll do it myself," Cassidy said. She didn't want to argue with them about how training her new powerful pokemon would be important to the group as a whole later. Butch would understand, but Jessie felt the need to pick a fight about any little thing.
"And?" Jessie said with a frown, confirming Cassidy's suspicions.
"First, I need someone to write a report to send back to the boss. He should know we're working as fast as we can, but our stay may be extended.
"I'll do that," Meowth said.
"I'll have James take care of that," Cassidy said. As if she'd let a pokemon do something that important. Butch wasn't good at it either, but she'd read some of James's reports and his writing was coherent, and he seemed to have an ability to convince others that his and Jessie's nonsense wasn't nonsensical through it.
"Right," James agreed as Meowth frowned.
"And also, Butch, I'd like you to investigate that castle. Don't jump into anything, just look around, see what you can find out.
"Right," Butch said.
"And that's that," Cassidy finished her orders with a shrug.
"What about me?" Meowth asked in irritation.
"And me?!" Jessie said, even more annoyed than her group's pokemon.
"Oh," Cassidy said, putting a finger to her chin. "Um, you wanted to help with the report, right?" she said to the talking pokemon before turning to Jessie, having an even longer silence as she thought of what to do with her. "I guess you can also help James."
"That sounds boring," Jessie said, scowling. "James doesn't need any more help with that anyway. Maybe I should help with whatever you're doing. What are you doing again?"
"No, Butch could probably use your help more than me," Cassidy said, realizing her mistake just as soon as she'd spoken. Those two alone was something she'd wanted to avoid.
But Butch jumped right in before she could correct anything. "Yeah, it would be great to have your help," he said, grinning in that awkward way he did when he was interested in some girl.
Cassidy said nothing else since it seemed everyone was overall satisfied with their assignments. As everyone went off to perform their own duties, Cassidy went to get Pikachu and get started on her own pet project.
As she approached the castle, Jessie saw right away that things looked the same as just yesterday. "I don't know what she expects us to find," Jessie commented, one hand in the air. "We already know what's here. A bunch of dangerous pokemon with weird powers."
"Which is why she didn't want us to just rush ourselves on in," Butch said as he stared up at the building. "We're just gonna see what we can see from here."
Jessie nodded, and followed as Butch began to walk around the building, a safe distance from both it and the moat. "Look, an opening," he said, pointing to a window that appeared open rather than covered. Jessie did look, all the while thinking maybe they shouldn't be looking, and instead run out of sight. But there was no sign of activity from the window, so Jessie couldn't bring herself to feel all that apprehensive about things.
She walked around calmly with Butch to the next side. Far from anxious, she was becoming a little bored. "It doesn't seem like you needed me much either."
"Well, it might be useful to have another trainer around if those pokemon jump out and attack, but I guess I had other reasons for wanting you to come," Butch admitted.
Jessie stopped herself from any girlish fluster, though she was a bit surprised to hear him make an admission like that. "Hmph. It sounds like you, these ulterior motives. So, what would make me any more different than anyone else?"
Jessie had expected maybe a grandiose explanation of her beauty and other virtues, but Butch's real answer what short and simple. "For some reason, I like you a lot," he said calmly, glancing toward Jessie before putting his head down into his notes again.
Now Jessie really was feeling flustered, but just channeled that feeling into her anger. "What makes you think you think you even have the right to like me?" she demanded.
Butch's expression went cold for a minute before he forced it into a smile. "I guess I don't. Pretty stupid, huh?"
Of course it wasn't stupid to like her, Jessie thought, her face turning red. She'd just wanted a little more of an explanation, that was all. "Right," Jessie said, trying to become just as absorbed in watching the building as Butch apparently was. But the distraction of the conversation was just too much. "What would your partner think if she knew you were romancing another woman?"
"She knows, doesn't care," Butch said as he put his notes back into his bag.
That kind of flirting would be hard to miss, and thinking back, Jessie couldn't recall Cassidy's reaction, other than it being pretty mild. "She doesn't mind being just another on your list of conquests?"
"I don't think about it like that. Plus I've never slept with her."
"Really?" Jessie said. She'd always assumed they had, even if it wasn't serious. Unlike James, Butch was pretty 'normal' after all.
"Yeah," Butch said. "There were a couple times I thought it would happen, but she didn't want to, so that's that."
"Sound frustrating," Jessie said, thinking it all sounded a bit similar to her recent encounters with James. "I bet you're really frustrated. Doesn't it piss you off? You want to get away from her?"
"No," Butch said without even having to think about it. As Jessie remained in a surprised silence at his response, he continued. "She's my partner even without that. She's been there for me, and no one else has. Ever. Should I say that's worthless just because we aren't fucking?"
Jessie was still silent. That was a pretty virtuous response. Jessie felt similarly. Even if others had 'been there' for her in her life, it was fairly rare. James had been most insistent about being so. Even when she was sure he'd leave her behind, he always ran to catch up with her. Though things weren't exactly the way Jessie would like, the current state of her relationship with James was something she should value, and not scorn because of something like that.
"Plus that leaves me open for you," Butch said.
"Me and everyone else, huh?" Jessie said.
"If I were with you, I wouldn't need anyone else."
"Hmph." Jessie chuckled slightly. Of course Butch wasn't frustrated, because he'd find a way to have that need met otherwise. It was silly for her to see this pervert as virtuous in any way. "Come on," she said, turning away from the castle and walking away.
"Where are you going?" Butch asked, remaining in the same place.
"You're finished aren't you?" Jessie asked, turning back toward him.
"No, next I thought we'd check out inside."
Jessie wrinkled up her face as she thought of their last 'adventure' in there. "Hey, didn't we want to avoid a fight?" she said.
"So you didn't notice what I did when we were walking around?" Butch asked.
Jessie paused to think. She should have paid attention to the task like he had been, but she really hadn't noticed anything. Then again, that was the point. There were no creepy ghost types flying around, no eerie metallic calls, nothing. "There wasn't much of anything. So, you're wondering..."
"If they're even in there," Butch said, though he took out a pokeball just in case as they approached the bridge that went over the moat. "Yeah, we want to avoid a fight, but we can't find out that important detail unless we see for ourselves."
Jessie nodded, getting her own pokeball ready to go. When they got to the door, the tile-like key was already there from the other day. Butch simply readjusted it to get the door to open again. Jessie followed behind, her pokeball for Wobbuffet within reach. That pokemon really was useful, Jessie considered.
But there was really no need to use it. As they went further and further in, there was no sign of the known residents. Not only didn't they see any honedge or evolutions, but they didn't hear them, and windows that were shut tight the previous day were now wide open, making the place look a lot less like a haunted house than before. Jessie was on alert when they'd first entered, but now walked around relaxed, becoming bored in the dusty old castle. She stopped, creaking open the shutter to a window that was only half open. "Our prizes have left. That's kind of troublesome, isn't it?" Jessie observed.
"Yeah. Well, maybe we'll see or hear a sign of them," Butch suggested.
Jessie shrugged, turning away from the window. As she did, she heard a crash. Startled, Jessie went and ran to Butch, grabbing hold of him before she found her own pokeball. "Hey. Hey," Butch called, shaking her arm. "It's okay. That old wood just fell apart, that's all."
Jessie took a look at the shutter she'd just opened now on the floor, no creepy pokemon in sight or anything. Sighing in relief, Jessie eventually looked at the person next to her. Butch looked away, his face flushed, though he hadn't pulled away from Jessie's sudden embrace. As Jessie studied his face, he turned back to her, his hand touching hers. The slight movement surprised Jessie, though she didn't pull away either. After they stood close to each other a while longer, Butch spoke. "It really is fine. Looks like there's no threat at all here."
"Right," Jessie said. There was another silence, the two of them still pushed close to each other. Eventually, Butch moved close to her, first turning to face her, then closing his eyes and leaning his face toward hers. Jessie felt her heart speed up. The duration it took for Butch to finally kiss her seemed like forever.
She only realized how long it was taking him in actuality after Butch opened his eyes, looking away without completing the task. "Sorry," he said.
Just seeing and hearing his reaction, Jessie felt a surge of annoyance. "Why's that?" As he didn't answer her, Jessie glared at him. "Do you really think what we were about to do was so terrible?"
"Of course not," Butch said. "I mean, I guess you did..."
Why would she? She'd actually been eagerly anticipating the moment, but then it had stopped, similarly to how James always frustrated her. Right, she'd just been kissing James the previous evening. She'd be cheating to kiss a different guy today, wouldn't she?
Except it wasn't cheating at all, because she and James weren't really involved. Not to mention James had made it clear he didn't want to be. Butch talked like he was serious about her, but even if he wasn't, this would still be nice, the same as with James. If they both wanted to, why hesitate?
There was no reason at all to deny herself this. Jessie took the initiative, leaning toward the man next to her and kissing him. She half-expected him to flinch or otherwise reject her. Instead he pulled her closer, kissing her back with enough intensity for Jessie to forget that she'd even considered any negative outcomes in the first place. Jessie pulled him closer as they continued to make out, encouraging him to touch her more and enjoying how he did.
They ought to head back soon, Jessie considered. Even so, she knew she could take as much time as she wanted, since it didn't seem like the person she was with had a place he'd rather be. Jessie decided to forget the time for the moment, and instead savor the various feelings and sensations that came with being wanted.