The Harbinger of Life
Chapter Seven – When We're Lost
Some people liked to exaggerate Misty's temper, comparing her to different fiery and explosive pokemon and objects. She liked to think that she was growing out of the anger that almost always used to plague her. At that moment though, there was no way she could object to any of those claims. All week, she had been annoyed and angry, specifically with her boyfriend more than anything else, but now she was positively enraged and he was once again the reason for it. The difference was, this time, she was angry for him, not at him.
Ash was still trying to pry off the simple cuffs that had been clasped around his wrists. His gloves were gone, no doubt torn away so that they could actually put the horrible manacles on him. His fingers were pale from the cold, and he was only making the bruising where he was yanking at them worse, trying to get them off.
"Ash, stop." She grabbed his hands once again to get him to stop. She didn't want him to pull away from her like he had moments before, but it was better than letting him hurt himself. He looked up at her, and Misty inhaled sharply at the sheer terror that he couldn't possibly hope to hide. "Hey, it's okay. We'll get them off."
"Yeah. Pikachu's Iron Tail would make quick work of that," Gary pointed out, nodding his head at the cuffs.
"Are you crazy? Pikachu could hit his arms!" Dawn exclaimed, motioning wildly with her hands. "He could cut them off instead!"
Gary slowly nodded his head, conceding the point. It didn't matter anyway, since Pikachu wasn't there.
"At least they'd be off," Ash grumbled, fidgeting uncomfortably.
"You don't mean that," the redhead scolded him, lips arcing into a frown.
"It would be a kindness in a way," Damos' voice reached them from the other cell, once again drawing the attention back to himself. "For someone who has dormant Aura, discovering that you have it, unleashing that power, is like being blind and then truly seeing for the first time. Losing it so abruptly, so unnaturally, is like having all of your physical senses torn away from you."
Misty looked around at Ash, frowning at the way his shoulders slumped. He wasn't disputing the claim, and even trying to imagine what he was possibly feeling made her sick and uncomfortable.
"Why should we trust you?" Dawn snapped. She jumped from where she had been kneeling on the floor, blue eyes flashing angrily.
"We are all in a similar situation at the moment, trapped here by that backstabber, Marcus." His calm voice became so angry that it made the young girl take a few steps back, even though there were two sets of metal bars and a hallway separating them from the man that they knew would betray Arceus. "He was my second in command, until he tricked me and threw me in this jail."
"Well you probably deserved it," she growled back. "We know who you are and what you did, Damos."
"Dawn," Brock hissed at her, his hand falling on her shoulder. "Stop."
"You know me," Damos muttered. "Interesting, since it's obvious that you're not from here. How is this possible?"
"Don't act like you don't know." Ash's voice came out shaky, his hands still fidgeting, though his bright brown eyes were locked on the man, upset, angry and betrayed. "Why would you refuse to give Arceus back the Jewel of Life? Why set a trap for him?"
"Ash, we're not supposed to be telling him things like that," Gary hissed, trying to remind the other boy that they weren't supposed to meddle with time.
Damos jumped up from where he was sitting, storming over to the edge of his cell and grabbing the bars of it, his vibrant blue eyes glaring at them fiercely. "How dare you! I would do nothing of the sort! I fully intend on returning the Jewel of Life to Arceus!"
"Liar, we all know what you're really going to do." Ash being vocal was apparently enough to prompt Dawn to continue her verbal onslaught.
"It's the truth!" Damos looked to the floor. "It's why Marcus put me in here. To stop me. It is my job to help and defend Arceus, and I would never betray him!"
"Your job?" Misty repeated those two words, feeling Ash tense up beside her. "What's that supposed to mean? That you're some kind of..." She trailed off, not quite sure if she wanted to know the answer. "Some kind of Chosen One to help Arceus, or something?"
Damos was silent, staring at her with confusion and curiosity. "Yes," he finally answered. "I know it seems farfetched, but I am Arceus' Chosen One, meant to protect the legendary pokemon and keep balance when they cannot."
Ash inhaled sharply, his fingers curling around hers, gripping her hand tightly. Dawn and Brock stopped moving as well, looking equally as shocked.
"Chosen One?" Gary muttered, eyeing them all suspiciously. He was the odd-man out, the one who had no way to know why they were all so shocked at this revelation.
"That's why you can use Aura," Brock slowly pieced together. "And we saw what Ash did when they tried to hypnotize him. So Marcus must have used those cuffs to block his Aura so that the hypnosis would work!"
"That actually does make sense," Gary agreed, nodding his head.
"What are you talking about?" Damos stared at them all blankly, clearly lost.
"I saw it," Ash spoke quickly, drawing the attention back to him. "In a dream. I saw what was going to happen." It wasn't necessarily a lie since they had all seen what was going to happen, and it might as well have been in a dream. "That's why we came here."
The sound of footsteps coming from the hall forced all of the conversation to drop. The guards that brought Ash in earlier appeared once again, eyeing the ripped ropes on the rocky floor. "You two are coming with us." He nodded at Misty and Dawn.
"What?" Immediately, all five of them were on their feet, glaring harshly at the two men.
"Master Marcus said to bring the two young women to talk, by any means necessary. Come quietly, and no one will get hurt." It was a petty threat, but enough to make Dawn tug at Misty's sleeve.
"Lets just go," the younger girl whispered. "Maybe we can figure out what's going on. Escape even."
The redhead hadn't thought of that. She slowly nodded her head, knowing that this might be their only chance to piece together exactly what was going on. She looked over at Ash sternly. "Don't be stupid until we get back." Then she dropped her voice and whispered, "Give us half an hour then bust out if you can."
He didn't even scowl at her implying that he could be stupid, he just stared blankly, his eyes following her movements as she and Dawn walked towards the front of the cell. The boys backed up farther away, and could only watch as the girls were let out, the door slamming shut and locking behind them.
Almost immediately, Ash shot forward, stumbling a bit on his own two feet before grasping the bars that were keeping him locked away. Misty frowned a bit, knowing that while he could be a klutz at times when he wasn't paying attention, but Ash was actually pretty coordinated. More so than when he was younger. She would have bet anything that it was the loss of his Aura bothering him.
"Be careful," Ash muttered quietly.
"We'll bring your wife and sister back soon," the younger of the two men said, sympathy written across his face.
Ash blinked, staring blankly at him before his face scrunched up with confusion and what Misty could only describe as disgust. Luckily, he didn't say anything to throw the story off, the guards could have interpreted it as his unease with them being taken away, but Misty knew better. She scowled back at him, turning away so he wouldn't see the bit of hurt in her eyes, though he might not have been able to anyway. It never really occurred to the green-eyed girl that the way he seemed to actually figure out her moods might have been because of the very sense that was torn away from him. That hurt a bit too, even if that wasn't his fault.
She kept her eyes on the ground as they were led away, ignoring Dawn's worried expression. A moment later, she looked up, deciding to try and memorize the pathway back to the prison cells as best as she could. It wasn't really a complicated layout, going around a few corners and up many different flights of stairs.
Misty was an athletic girl, quite proud of her swimming times and how she preformed in the self-defense classes that she decided to take back in Cerulean. Despite that, her leg muscles burned by the time they got to the top of the stairs. Dawn was trailing behind her a little bit, looking about ready to just fall to her knees.
Contrasting sharply with the stone bricks that they'd seen in the halls, the room that they were led into had woven tapestries, sculptures, gold, silver, jewels and so many other different kinds of metal work everywhere around it that it was almost impossible to take in everything.
Marcus sat at the head of a long table, steaming plates of food stretched out across the entire thing. He motioned to the two seats on the left hand side of the table. "Ladies, come sit. You must be tired."
Dawn took a step closer to Misty, her hand twitching a bit, like she wanted to reach out and grab the older girl's hand but didn't know if she was okay with that. Misty kept her stern, brave face on, but she was nervous too. Reaching out, she squeezed Dawn's hand and led the way to the table, sitting in the seat closer to Marcus so that the younger girl wouldn't have to.
"Eat."
"What do you want?" Misty asked him bluntly, not bothering to touch the food even though she was hungry. She had no idea what it was, or if they'd done anything to it.
Marcus clicked his tongue with disapproval. "Women do as they're told and do not ask questions. You must have been poorly raised."
Dawn bristled beside her, and Misty's lips pressed together into a thin line. "I was raised better than you."
He narrowed his blood red eyes at them. "You are going to tell me who you are, why you're here, how you got here, and you're going to tell me about the magic user."
Realizing that the magic user must have been Ash, and remembering Damos' claims about the man, she decided to proceed with extreme caution. They had to give him something, but they certainly couldn't tell him that they were from the future. Misty wished that she was better at chess, because it definitely felt like they were playing a metaphorical version of it.
...
Gary tossed Umbreon's pokeball from his right hand to his left and back again. Impressively, their watches and all of the technology they had on them still seemed to work (outside of any sort of thing that needed coverage), so they were using his to time a half an hour exactly. None of the guards knew that they had pokemon on them, so they could easily break out if they needed to.
If the girls weren't ready though, that could get them into a ton of trouble that could be avoided if only they were patient. He wasn't the problem, Gary knew how to wait, but the boy sitting beside him was more than just a little restless.
Ash shifted again, and Gary was about to tell him to stop, when the other boy jerked with alarm as one of his pokeballs shook and opened. They both panicked, Ash reaching out to grab Ria as she appeared, putting his hand over her mouth so she wouldn't make a sound, while Gary looked around to see if any of the guards had noticed. Luckily only Brock and Damos saw what happened, though the latter seemed a lot more shocked than the former.
"A magical monster. How did you do that?"
Ash opened his mouth to answer but was quickly distracted as Ria started sniffing him and poking at him with alarm. "Ria, stop." She stared at him and his eyes dropped to the floor. "I can't hear you anymore." He held up his wrists to show her.
"Hear her?" Gary asked, looking around at Brock curiously.
"Ria and Ash can communicate using Aura, but if he can't use it..." The young man trailed off and shrugged.
"Ri?" Ria looked down at the cuff on her trainer's wrist, reaching out and touching it curiously. Almost immediately she ripped her hand back, her fur stood on end and she started to growl.
"It's okay," Ash comforted his pokemon, reaching out and picking her up. "I'm..." No doubt about to say that he was okay, even if for the pokemon's sake, her glare stopped him mid-sentence.
"Is it really that bad?" Gary wondered. He didn't understand how it could be. Ash could still see, hear, talk and everything else.
Ash held a hand out in front of him, frowning as he stared at the light bouncing off of the metal. "I always had Aura, even if I didn't know it, or it was dormant, whatever. Then I could use it and it was like I could really see the world for the first time ever. It was weird but I got used to it." He frowned, shoulders slumping. "Damos is right. Having it gone is like getting all of my other senses taken away at the exact same time." Ash laughed almost bitterly as he shook his head. "You know, I didn't want my Aura at first? I just wanted it to go away and it was so hard to deal with because I could literally see the world with my eyes closed. Like everything had a glow to it. Now it's all just..." He seemed to struggle with the word he was looking for. "Empty."
Ria was staring at Ash as she spoke and shook her head almost sadly. She pointed at herself and nodded her head determinedly. Ash laughed a bit and scratched behind her ear. "Yeah, you got this."
"I thought you couldn't understand her?" Gary asked, trying to prompt Ash to see what he saw almost immediately.
Ash blinked up at him before his eyes widened a bit and a small smile appeared on his face. "I can't like that but..."
"I don't know how it works, you'll have to show me more later, but the power, it's not who you are. Never was. You aren't an Aura user that happens to be named Ash. You're Ash Ketchum who happens to be able to use Aura."
"He's right, you know," Damos spoke up from the other cell, drawing their attention to him. "I was much like you when I was your age."
"I believe that," Ash replied with a small shrug.
"Damos," Brock spoke up. "You said you created those, but there must be a way to get them off that doesn't involve cutting off a limb."
"There is," Damos nodded his head. "This metal is rare, embedded with powerful magic. When I was young, a little older than you perhaps and just about to be married, my Aura, my destiny, was revealed to me. I acted immaturely, like I was better than everyone." He sighed and looked down. "Until my power lashed out and I hurt my wife very badly. She survived, but I knew I needed to control it." The man looked up at them, his blue eyes moving from one face to the next. "I heard of the ones who had control over such gifts, the Aura Guardians, but there were none to be found no matter how much I searched. Instead, I found a man. His Aura was dark and cruel, one of the last disciples of the fallen one, but he had the materials that could stop it. He gave them to me without a cost. I was young and foolish, not questioning him and taking them, forging two sets in case one broke. I used it on myself but it was horrible. I had them removed and vowed to never use them, but I kept them, just in case." He looked so sad, so apologetic that none of them questioned his sincerity. "I wish I had destroyed them."
"How did you get them off?" Brock asked again. Gary himself was more interested in the story, but knew that the older boy was right in keep with the relevant topic.
"Psychic power can temporarily disrupt the flow of negative energy in the cuffs. Then you can use your Aura for a very brief moment to push them off." Damos looked directly at Ash while saying this. "It has to be very, very powerful though, both the psychic power and your own. You will have but a split second to do it."
"We don't have any psychic pokemon on us unless..." Ash glanced over at Gary almost hopefully.
"Sorry." Gary shook his head. "Don't have any of mine on me." The other boy sighed. He looked down as Ash's tiny Riolu suddenly perked up a bit, looking down at her own hands. When she didn't do anything else, he added, "Hey, don't worry, we'll find something." As soon as he was done talking, his watch started beeping, signaling that a half an hour was up.
"Hey Ria," the raven-haired boy spoke calmly. His little pokemon perked up, staring with eager eyes. "Break the bars. We're going to find Misty, Dawn, Pikachu and Piplup."
...
It was only after Marcus ate from the food at the table himself that Misty humored him at all by eating a couple grapes. She wasn't about to stuff herself though, not with so many things she couldn't really identify. Dawn was following her lead, picking from the same things since they both knew those weren't laced with anything.
Marcus hadn't asked them anything else, but is blood red eyes were observing them so closely that it made Misty uncomfortable. She had half a mind to call out one of her pokemon, but decided to keep calm.
"Why did you come here?" He finally broke the silence. "How?" The red-haired man had asked them that before, but neither was inclined to answer.
Dawn shifted uncomfortable beside her, and Misty took a deep breath, hoping against all hope that the young girl would play along. "We're from another place. We...my...husband," she tried not to stumble over the word that was so foreign to her in this respect, "he has those powers that can protect us but sometimes it shows him things. He saw us coming here so we did. We used a magical creature to appear here."
Marcus leaned back in his chair, eyes unwavering. "A visionary? What did he see that made you come?"
"Arceus," Dawn spoke up suddenly. Misty had to actively remind herself not to turn around and glare at the young girl. All she could do was hope that she didn't give too much away. "He saw Arceus appearing here. He...my brother...we came to see. We brought her brother and their close friend and teacher too."
"Did he now? What did he see?" The man leaned forward.
"Damos," Dawn answered immediately and confidently. "We saw a man named Damos attacking Arceus when he appears. He's the one in the jail, right?" She turned her big, suddenly tear-filled eyes towards him. "Please, don't let my brother and our friends stay down there with that man."
"Attacking him? I assure you, young lady, he won't be able to get out of that cell." Marcus nodded to them. "Did your brother mention how Damos attacked, and if it worked? That way we can make sure it doesn't happen"
"Lightning, but it didn't work," she answered quickly. "Neither did throwing boulders on him. He said it was horrible, but it didn't matter. Arceus just got really mad and destroyed everything."
"What about Silver Water?" He spoke quickly and urgently, startling both of the girls. Neither one of them had ever heard of that before, and if Misty didn't know about it, there was no way it was based on water pokemon. Not the types they knew, at least. The man shook his head and said, "He must not have." Standing up, Marcus looked down at the two of them. "I believe you, and I will do everything I can to stop Damos. We will return the Jewel of Life to Arceus as soon as he appears."
"Oh thank you!" Dawn sounded so relieved that Misty wanted to applaud the younger girl. The redhead watched him pick up a staff as he walked around the table towards them. Damos claimed that he was a backstabber, and there was something off about him, but at the same time they couldn't be sure. He seemed to genuinely want to give Arceus back the Jewel of Life, and there was always the chance that it was Damos lying to them.
Marcus was the one that slapped those cuffs on Ash's wrists though, and for that, Misty chose to regard him with skepticism. A good person didn't do that to someone.
He held the staff towards them, pressing a button and revealing a glowing orb. Misty inhaled sharply when she realized what it was.
"This is the Jewel of Life, and you will return it to him."
"Me?" Misty repeated with confusion, realizing that he was talking to her.
"Why yes. We can't trust a task like that to a young girl." Dawn bristled at that but didn't protest. Marcus faced away from them, bringing the staff out of sight and closing it with a snap. "Damos will not expect you to have it." He held out the staff to her. "Take it."
Misty hesitated. On one hand, she wanted to grab it and run as fast as she could to give it back to Arceus, but on the other, they weren't supposed to change time, were they? That's what Gary said, at least. If they weren't supposed to change time though, then why would Dialga send them back in the first place?
A loud bang distracted all of them. Marcus ran towards the doors leading to a balcony, just as a soldier ran by. "What was that?"
"The prisons! A magical creature got in and let all of the prisoners out!" The soldier yelled back.
"All of them?"
"All of them!"
Misty liked to think that, in relationship with Ash, she was the one with a good head on her shoulders. She thought things out most of the time, trying to plan what she was going to do and why, while Ash leapt full-steam ahead. He often argued that when she got going, she could be just like him. It was something she denied, and it was something that she couldn't deny in that moment.
She launched forward, ripping the staff out of Marcus' hand before the man even realized what she was doing. Spinning around, she grabbed a very startled Dawn's wrist and pulled her as she took off running without looking back. A guard tried to stop them, but she was quick to knock him back with the staff.
Forget what Gary said, she was going to shape her own destiny.
...
When he first left home at the age of ten, Gary liked to think that he was easily the most mature of the four people leaving Pallet at the time. In retrospect, that title probably went to Leaf, but to ten-year-old Gary, he couldn't do any wrong. When he was alone, he planned out where he was going to travel and what he was going to do, but the second he was in public or ran into someone he knew, especially if it was Ash, he became an impulsive idiot. It was something he realized in retrospect, and it was something that he wanted to change. Gone were the cheerleaders and the flashy car (what a waste of his parents money that had been), and instead he let himself be the real Gary Oak.
Ever since then, he liked to think things over, plan things out. With Ash, that rarely ever happened and it was actually amazing how well things ended up working for the boy when he ran on his instincts.
Ash was the only that randomly told all of his pokemon to let all of the prisoners out, causing mass chaos and panic. No one noticed the three of them, plus Damos, slipping away.
"I need to find the Jewel of Life," Damos said quickly as they slipped into a semi-quiet alley way. "I must return it to Arceus. The sun will go dark soon and he will come."
Gary looked up towards the sky, the tell-tale darkening that accompanied a solar eclipse slowly starting.
"We need to find Misty and Dawn. Our pokemon too," Ash argued with him. "Aren't you worried about your family?"
"I am," Damos agreed with a sigh. "But it is my duty to put Arceus first."
"Ri rio ri riolu," Ria spoke up, pointing down the alley and hopping forward. She looked back at them expectantly, but backed up some when a guard rushed by.
"We need to find some place to lay low, just for a few minutes," Brock insisted, peering around the corner. "This place is crazy right now." He looked towards Ash. "Ria could find Misty and Dawn and then lead them to us, couldn't she?"
Ash looked down at her, and the Riolu nodded her head, pounding her paw to her chest. The raven-haired boy looked back up and said, "Yeah. She'll be able to find us."
"Do you know any places we could go?" Brock directed this question at Damos, who seemed just as ready as Ash to take off into the mess of shouting people.
The man sighed and then nodded his head. "Yes. Yes, you're right. Follow me." He moved quietly down the alley, looking left and right for people. "Come."
"Ria, find them, then find us, okay? Be careful." Ash urged his little pokemon, unable to hide the worry that crept into his voice.
"Ri!" She nodded her head and then bolted, jumping higher than Gary had ever seen a Riolu jump, running across the roof-tops.
"She'll be okay," he assured his childhood friend. "Come on."
"Yeah." Ash slowly nodded his head, and the two of them rushed after Damos and Brock. They stood out like sore thumbs, earning many double-takes from different people as they ran through the sculpted streets. No one bothered to stop them though.
Their trip was quick and, considering the chaos they left behind, rather uneventful. They found themselves in front of a stone building that looked much like the others, though a little bit bigger. Damos took a deep breath and pushed the door open.
There was silence, then out of the darkness a squeal sounded. "Daddy!" A little boy with the same bright blue eyes as Damos rushed out, throwing himself at the man. Damos laughed, scooping him up and throwing him into the air with relief.
"Dad!" Another boy around their age, followed a young girl and a woman around the man's age hurried into the room.
"You're right," the woman almost sobbed in relief as she hugged him tightly. "When you didn't come home, I feared the worst."
It took Gary a full minute to realize that this must have been Damos' family. He knew that Damos was Sheena's ancestor, so he had to have kids to make that possible, but when he watched the man order the pokemon to attack Arceus, that thought had never even occurred to him. Yet here he was smiling, laughing and hugging his family, looking nothing at all like the man with dead eyes that Dialga showed them.
"Pichu pi!" A Pichu with a strange, spiked ear rushed in, climbing up Damos' shoulder and nuzzling him. Following him were two other pokemon that actually squealed when they saw them.
"Pikachu! Piplup!" Ash cried out, and both the pokemon rushed over. Pikachu launched himself into Ash's arms, nuzzling his face into his jacket while Ash closed his eyes and squeezed him tightly.
"Pip piplup?" The water-type looked around Gary's legs and out the door curiously.
"Ria went to get Dawn and Misty," Brock assured the pokemon. "They'll be here soon. What I'd like to know is how you got here."
"Pichu has been rescuing other magical monsters from Marcus," the young girl said, blinking up at them curiously. "Who are you and why do you look weird?"
"We have much to explain," Damos told his family, "and not much time to do so. Come, sit. Marcus could come here at a moment's notice." They did what he said, all with grim expressions. Gary got the distinct impression that it wasn't going to be a fun chat for anyone, and really hoped that Ria would show up with the girls soon.
...
"Did you really need to clock that guy in the head with the Jewel?" Dawn asked Misty, sounding completely exasperated with the older girl.
"Technically it was just the staff, but yes," Misty answered without any regret or hesitation. "He grabbed my arm. A friendly soaking from Politoad wasn't enough." The green pokemon in question just shrugged when Dawn looked at her.
No one seemed to really care about the two girls and a few pokemon running in the chaos. The only time anyone did a double-take was when they saw the staff that Misty carried with her, wielding it as an extra weapon. She didn't worry about the Jewel of Life breaking. Arceus himself said that it wouldn't. So instead it got used like a baseball bat.
"Rio!" A small voice squeaked, causing both girls to stop and look up. Ria jumped down from the rooftops, landing in front of them neatly. "Riolu ri lu!"
"Everyone else is okay." Misty knew without a doubt that Ria would have never left Ash if he was hurt.
"Ria, we need to find Piplup and Pikachu," Dawn spoke to the Riolu almost desperately. "Can you tell us where they are?"
"Ri." She nodded her head and motioned for them to follow behind her.
...
It was an awkward talk about betrayal and people seeing the future in dreams, but Damos' wife didn't blink an eye, quickly offering them drinks and something to eat so they wouldn't be running on empty stomachs. Then they all began pulling a few belongings together, just in case they needed to run.
With so many people hurrying around, Gary found it easier to stay out of the way, sitting against one of the stone walls underneath a window that had busted open. Ash joined him, though Brock seemed eager to help or do something while they waited for Ria to return.
Gary watched them all with interest. The two young children seemed to argue a lot, though the older one kept prompting them to keep working. It was strange in a way, because it made him feel so nostalgic even though he was an only child. Ash shifted beside him, and it suddenly clicked. They reminded him of himself, Ash and Leaf when they were younger. He and Ash would be the ones arguing but not really meaning it, while Leaf would try to keep the peace, though she would often fail and get dragged into the silly fights that ended five minutes later. They were like a family.
Until they weren't.
Gary frowned a bit, knowing that it was probably one of the worst times to think this way. "It was my fault, wasn't it?"
Ash had been fiddling with the cuff on one of his wrists again, though he looked up at the question. Tilting his head, he narrowed his bright brown eyes. "How could all of this be your fault?"
"No," he shook his head, strands of his now-dirty brown hair falling into his eyes. "I just...those kids remind me of us in a way and it was my fault that you, me and Leaf stopped being friends, isn't it?"
Ash's shoulders slumped a bit. He looked away and said, "Your parents and your aunt died. It wasn't your fault you were sad."
"For a while," Gary agreed, his chest tightening at the mention of his long-deceased mother and father, as well as his father's sister. "But afterwards, how I treated you, how I got everyone else to treat you..." He trailed off, knowing full-well that he had been the worst bully in Ash's life. He was not only his main antagonist, but he was the one that prompted more people to pick on the young boy. "I wasn't nearly as bad to Leaf but that was wrong too."
"I pushed her away," Ash admitted sadly, his fingers running over the bruised skin on his other hand, once again giving up on yanking at the cuff. "Not in a mean way, we just stopped talking a little less every day. I didn't want her to be able to hurt me like you." He spoke so bluntly, that it almost startled Gary. "Misty was the first friend I had that didn't turn her back on me when things got bad."
"Pikapi." Pikachu had been sitting quietly beside Ash, leaning to them talk. He jumped up onto his lap, licking the bruised skin a bit and looking up at him with sad eyes.
"First human friend," Ash corrected himself, a very small smile appearing on his face as he rubbed Pikachu's head. He looked up at Gary. "I know your parents died. Mom told me how that changes people but...why?"
Why had he lashed out at his best friend? That was something Gary wasn't sure he could answer, and he wasn't going to insult Ash by making something up. "I don't know." His green eyes looked to the floor. "It just hurt so much but...you and Leaf. You guys never had your fathers and you were able to smile and be so happy and hold yourself together. Neither of you knew what it was like to hurt that much over your own parents, even though neither of you had your fathers. It's so stupid, but I wanted you to hurt with me, I guess." He shook his head. "It's inexcusable, and I get why Leaf talks to me, but she'd also be the first one to break my face without warning. And you. I understand why you get so defensive." He shook his head again. "It doesn't matter, but I'm sorry." Though he himself had long accepted Ash as a friend rather than a bitter rival, never once had he apologized for the way he used to act.
"It's not okay, but I forgive you. I was no angel myself." Gary looked up at Ash and saw completely sincerity in his eyes. How he could actually forgive him for years of bullying and harassment was beyond him. Maybe Ash saw the confusion on his face, but the other boy continued to talk. "I'm like Damos, you know. Just like him. In our time, the legendary pokemon call me their Chosen One. So I guess...I guess everything that's been happening made me realize that holding grudges, letting it build up to something horrible, it doesn't help anyone."
Gary wanted to laugh at Ash's words. No, Gary wanted to laugh at the entire situation. He was sitting beside Ash Ketchum, thousands of years in the past, watching a family run around like crazy after they broke out of a prison, having a random heart-to-heart about something that happened years ago, and apparently on top of that Ash could use Aura and was some sort of Chosen One to the legendary pokemon. It was actually really ridiculous and it made absolute sense in his mind.
"Of course you are," the brunet said with a laugh. Ash stared at him with confusion. "What? It makes sense. You're right, you're nowhere near an angel but...you're probably one of the best people I know." He raised an eyebrow at him. "Just don't let that go to your head."
"Gary..." Ash trailed off before smiling a bit. "Thanks."
He nodded his head. "That must be a lot of pressure even with your Aura. It might not make up for when we were little, but if you need something, I got your back." Gary raised an eyebrow at him. "Even if it's just advice on girls. You seem to need it."
"Gary," this time the word came out sounding completely annoyed.
"What? You two have been acting horrible with each other. You more than her. Don't give me that look, it's true." Gary looked up at Damos' wife as she spoke to her husband quietly, and he frowned a bit. "I've been a bit of a jerk to people, including girls, but you know...sometimes attraction...fades away." He shrugged. "It's nothing to be ashamed of but I learned that clinging to it just makes it worse." The green-eyed boy looked back at his friend. "If that's what's happening, don't keep stringing her along. It's not fair."
Ash stared at him sharply at first, probably wondering why Gary thought he could even give him advice, but the more he spoke, the more he could see Ash waver. His brown eyes looked towards the floor sadly, but with contemplation. "It's not."
"Pip!" Piplup squeaked loudly, startling everyone. He bolted to the door, as it opened, Ria entering without a care in the world. She caught sight of Ash and Pikachu, running over to them, looking quite proud of herself. Piplup on the other hand latched onto the blue-haired girl that walked in.
"Piplup!" Dawn laughed, scooping up her partner and hugging him tightly. She opened her eyes and looked up at Damos with a slightly embarrassed expression. "Sorry for just barging in."
Damos might have said something back to her, but Gary wasn't paying attention to that. He looked towards the door as Misty walked in, blinking with surprise when he recognized the staff in her hand. He was about to ask her how the hell she got it, but his words died before they could even begin to form. She was looking at the ground, sea green eyes so sad that she was actually almost to tears.
She looked over at them, but when she caught Ash's eye, she looked back to the ground. Gary's first thought was that something horrible happened to them, even if Dawn seemed to be acting normal, but Ash inhaled sharply beside him and said, "She heard."
It took him a moment to realize what Ash meant and his heart sank a bit. Gary didn't mean to hurt anyone, he just wanted to help Ash out. Hearing him not only tell Ash that he should basically break up with her if he didn't want her anymore, but hearing Ash agree to it in a way was probably the last thing she wanted to hear.
"The Jewel of Life!" Damos suddenly cried out, breaking the tension in the air and distracting them all. "How'd you get it?"
"I took it," Misty spoke, her voice cracking a little bit.
"This is good. We can get up to the temple before Marcus and return it," the man said eagerly. "Come, we must move swiftly." He looked towards his family. "If anyone comes, be ready to run. Pichu will protect you." They all nodded.
Damos took the staff out of Misty's hand and said, "Are you ready?"
Misty kept her eyes on the ground as she nodded her head. Ash was staring at her blankly as he stood up, and Gary just looked back and fourth between them with guilt. Brock and Dawn looked confused, but they both still nodded to Damos.
There was no time for petty personal drama. The sky was getting dark and they had the Jewel of Life. Now was the time to act. They could discuss everything else that was happening later.
Even if it ended with a broken heart.
...
Note
I wasn't sure if I wanted to update this on the last day of 2014 or the first day of 2015. I decided to go out of the year with a sort-of cliffhanger. Don't get mad at me yet, there's still more to come!
Just to confirm it though: Damos IS the Chosen One from his time. Exact same as Ash. That's why he has Aura.
This part with Gary was part of the reason it was so important to have him appear in a fic, at least to me. There's so much of Ash's past that's unexplored, but two people know what happened because they were there for it. While Leaf's appearance in Distortion did help with this a bit, she also had a highly relevant and practical role in the plot itself. Gary is the voice of reason at times, but more than anything in the anime, I find he's the representation of Ash's past. His role here is much more character related than it is plot related. Not to say that he didn't impact it at all. He did and he's going to keep making a difference.
Again, thank you so much to my awesome beta reader, CLAVUS. I hope you have an awesome New Years!
The same thing goes to all my readers. So many of you have stuck around from the very beginning of Mystery of Aura when it was just a silly little rewrite with some added character growth and pokeshipping. That was planned as a one-time story with no sequels and look at where we are now. It's New Years Eve and I'm posting the 7th chapter of the 5th instalment!
I can't even believe I'm on the 7th chapter. It feels like yesterday I was struggling to write some scenes in Distortion. What happened?
Anyway, thank you to everyone who has read this, everyone who has favourited /followed any of my stories or me. Thank you to the couple people that randomly question me on tumblr (I seriously love getting questions that I can actually reply to). In fact, I think I might start replying to anonymous reviews there just so people can see my thoughts on things.
My biggest thanks goes to all of my reviewers. You have no idea how much I appreciate you guys. Sometimes I feel a little down about my writing and you guys always bring me back up! So a huge thank you goes to: theHuntress101, JediMasterDraco, amandaalb4, Eliza272, ultimateCCC, awolflover2, Check it bonsly, Dr. Tommy Olivers shadow, thedarkpokemaster, Phoenix Keeper Avalon, EchidnaPower, VolcanicPanic and Great!
I wish you all the best in 2015!
Written by: Skylight Sparkle
Edited by: CLAVUS
