This chapter marks the start of the slightly darker side of the story.


Chapter 8: Affliction

A couple of days had passed and Ash now stood at the entrance to the Canalave City Gym, Pikachu perched on his right shoulder and Dawn standing behind him with Piplup in her arms. An evil grin formed on Ash's face as the doors opened to allow him access into the Gym where Byron would be waiting for his arrival. A Kabutops approached Ash and Dawn, eyeing Ash up suspiciously. Ash revealed his Gym Badges to the Shellfish Pokémon who in turn beckoned Ash to follow it.

Dawn was a little wary of such a menacing looking Pokémon guiding them, while Ash, on the other hand, thought nothing of it at all. He couldn't wait to face Byron again. As they entered the arena, Ash took a deep breath.

"Ash Ketchum is back! I challenge you, Byron, to a Gym Battle right NOW!" Ash yelled as loud and as intimidating as he could.

Byron sat on a rock in the middle of the arena. He looked like he had been waiting for Ash to appear for quite a while.

"So, you are indeed back then. Volkner told me you were back and Roark told me that you were unbeatable. Gardenia said your strategy was flawless and Crasher Wake was dumbstruck at losing without even landing a hit. Finally, Fantina wasn't able to deal with how much resilience your Staraptor and Charizard had...but I have changed the game now, Ketchum." Byron stood and made his way over to his trainer box. "I accept your challenge, kid, but we fight on different terms."

Ash shrugged his shoulders and gestured for Byron to continue as he moved to his trainer box.

"We fight a three on two battle. I use three Pokémon and you use two - no substitutions allowed for either side. You beat me and you will have more than earned your badge."

Ash started to laugh, almost uncontrollably.

"What is so funny?!" Byron roared at Ash.

"What is so funny is you!" Ash pointed an index finger at Byron. "You are so scared from all the stories you have heard that you have changed the Gym Battle rules. Lucky for you, Byron, that I'm more than happy to battle by your new rules as you Sinnoh Gym Leaders aren't anywhere near enough as strong as I thought you were, Fantina excluded." Ash's face wore an enormous smug expression.

Dawn frowned at how Ash was belittling the Sinnoh Gym Leaders. Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder and ran over to sit next to Dawn - he too was rather shocked to hear what Ash was saying.

'This isn't like Ash at all.' Both Pikachu and Dawn thought.

"Tell you what, I'll let you have the first move Byron." Ash suggested with a mocking tone in his voice.

"Fine! REFEREE! GET YOUR BACKSIDE IN HERE NOW!" Byron bellowed at the top of his voice.

Within mere moments, a referee ran into the arena and took his place.

"The Gym Battle at the Cana-"

"Yes, yes yes! Just get on with it!" Byron raged at the poor referee. "Everyone here knows the rules!"

"Erm...okay then. Er, trainers reveal your first Pokémon."

"I love STEELIX!" Byron's voice boomed as he threw the Pokéball into the arena.

"This'll be a piece of cake! Sic 'em Charizard!"

Both Pokémon materialised, Steelix roared aggressively at its opponent while Charizard growled and narrowed his eyes. Dawn felt a touch of sympathy for Byron having already seen how much of a combatant Charizard is. As she looked over the orange dragon she noticed he was sporting a metallic bracer with some kind of shiny gem inset into it. As Dawn opened her mouth to ask Ash why Charizard had a bracelet on - Ash wasn't one for buying fashion accessories for himself let alone his Pokémon - but her attempt was cut off before it even began when Ash pulled out a matching bracer from his pocket and snapped it into place on his left wrist.

"This fight will be over as soon as it begins. Let's finish this right now Charizard!" Ash told his dragon as he pressed his right hand on the bracer.

Dawn was left stunned by what she was seeing: a brilliant flashing light shining between the two bracers which resulted in Charizard evolving into another form.

'This is the Mega Evolution I've heard about then. I guess those bracers were what Mom had been holding onto for Ash.'

Dawn eyed up the new look Charizard which was sporting a much redder skin as opposed to the orange skin he normally had. His wings were larger with fully grown spikes on them and he even smaller wings which came out from his claws, his tail flame looked much larger and glowed more intensely and finally the large protruding spike out the back of his head could simply not be ignored. Overall, to Dawn, Charizard's new form made the normal form look rather juvenile, a mere adolescent to the fully grown adult that she was picturing seeing here. Charizard also looked rather prehistoric like this. Charizard wouldn't look out of place around several thousands of years ago.

"What...what the heck is THAT thing?!" Byron was dumbstruck.

Ash said nothing and merely closed his eyes. Pikachu did the same thing as suddenly the light intensified greatly and the heat factor rose considerably. Dawn, Piplup, Steelix and Byron were caught off guard by the sudden intense light and all of them groaned and covered their eyes.

"Ash! What was that?! And why didn't you warn us!" Dawn fumed at her friend.

"That, dear Dawn, was Charizard's ability - Drought. When infused with this mega stone, Charizard gains a small boost to physical attacks and special defence while gaining a large amount of special attack. His new ability turns the sunlight harsh, a bit like Sunny Day but more powerful since Sunny Day dissipates after a while whereas Drought will not. Also, any Pokémon with the Dry Skin ability takes continual damage in Drought." Ash revealed his knowledge of Charizard's new ability.

"Ouch. Byron is in big trouble then." Dawn felt a bit sad that this wasn't going to be much of a battle, but she remembered that Ash was completely serious about winning the Sinnoh League so making short work of the Gym Leaders was how he was going to go about t.

"Steelix, use Stone Edge!" Byron furiously commanded his first choice Pokémon.

Steelix summoned a ring of sharp stones which rotated around it's body and hurled them towards the flying monster that was Ash's mega evolved Charizard.

"Peh, melt those stones with Flamethrower!"

Charizard opened his jaw wide and unleashed a much more intense jet of flame that wouldn't look out of place in an active volcano with lava spewing everywhere. The stones were instantly charred to splintered, broken fragments with ease and the Flamethrower just went on to impact with the steely hide of Steelix. Steelix roared in agony as the flames actually began to melt the super hardened steel that made up the Iron Snake Pokémon's body. It was inevitability far too much for it to take and it collapsed.

"Steelix is unable to battle. Charizard is the winner!" The referee declared, raising the flag in his left hand to indicate that Ash was the winner of that battle.

Byron recalled Steelix and couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. If his Charizard is so incredibly powerful now, why hadn't Ash used Charizard when he was here last time? Surely Charizard was powerful back then. Why didn't Ash use this powerhouse in the League, especially against Tobias?

"Come on Byron, please give poor Charizard a test this time." Ash taunted the Gym Leader.

Byron growled angrily. "I love Bronzong!"

"Ah, so you evolved your little Bronzor I see." Ash stated as he watched Bronzong materialise onto the battlefield. "Time to use an old move I think. Fire Spin that Bronzong, Charizard!"

Charizard balled his claws into fists as he summoned up the power to literally spin the long stream of fire. Unleashing it with unbridled fury, the swirling intense flame wrapped itself around Bronzong and proceeded to inflict a constant stream of damage.

"Use Psychic to dissipate the Fire Spin!" Byron commanded.

Charizard turned his head to look at Ash, who grinned and nodded at him for his response. Both trainer and Pokémon had planned for an eventuality and Ash was fully ready to counter it. Charizard flapped his enormous, spike-pointed wings hard and took to the air, his body becoming engulfed in fire as he charged forth, straight at Bronzong.

Bronzong had forced the Fire Spin off of itself but was in no way able to comprehend what was about to happen, although Byron was.

"Bronzong use Calm Mind! That monster is going to hit you with an Overheat!"

Fortunately for Byron, Bronzong just obeyed the command rather than look to see what was happening. As Charizard's Overheat collided with Bronzong, the Bronze Bell Pokémon was knocked to the ground while Charizard went back into the air.

"Hmm, of course! I remember Bronzor had Heatproof as its ability which is why Bronzong was able to survive an Overheat attack." Ash commented on the scene that had just taken place. "No matter though, Charizard finish it with Dragon Claw!"

"Stop it with Psychic!" Byron wasn't about to let Ash win easily again.

Charizard was directly above Bronzong when he suddenly dived towards his fallen prey. He very quickly reached an incredibly high speed and he slashed with both of his claws to force Bronzong into the ground. Charizard leapt into the air once again and Bronzong...well...

"Bronzong is unable to battle, Charizard is the winner!"

Poor Bronzong didn't have the time needed to unleash the Psychic attack to stop Charizard. Byron recalled Bronzong and wasted little time in unleashing his final Pokémon.

"I love Bastiodon!"

"Alright Charizard, one more victim to go and that badge is ours!" Ash told his trusty companion.

Charizard growled in agreement and prepared himself for one last fight today.

"Hit that thing with Flash Cannon!" Byron shouted, pointing at Charizard.

"Counter it with Flamethrower." Ash calmly ordered.

Both attacks hit each other with an explosion of unleashed energy. Even though using Overheat had lowered the power of Charizard's special based damaging attacks, Flamethrower is still far more powerful than Flash Cannon and it was only a few moments before Bastiodon was being burned by the searing heat.

"Come on Bastiodon! Use Iron Head!"

Bastiodon charged as fast as it could, fairly rapidly closing in on Charizard who was waiting for Ash's next command.

"Wait for it Charizard."

Bastiodon leapt into the air to make contact with Charizard...

"NOW! Overheat!"

Engulfed in flames, Charizard slammed into Bastiodon, sending the Shield Pokémon crashing to the ground. Charizard, for his part, groaned and rubbed his head - that impact had done some damage to him as well.

"Once more Charizard, Dragon Claw!"

Charizard wasted no time in getting in close to Bastiodon and repeatedly hitting it with attack after attack until it was over.

"Bastiodon is unable to battle, therefore Charizard is the winner and the challenger has won the match! Congratulations, use have earned your Mine Badge."


"Ash?"

"Yes, beautiful?"

Dawn coughed in reply.

"Can the charm for the moment. I want to ask you something."

"Go ahead Dawn, I always have time for you." Ash said with a mildly seductive tone to his voice.

"What is wrong with you?" Dawn asked.

"What do you mean? Nothing is wrong with me, I'm as fit as a fiddle."

"No Ash, you are not! Just half a week ago you were recovering from a stab wound and now you aren't acting like your normal self! The Ash Ketchum who won the Mine Badge today wasn't the Ash Ketchum that I've watched battle on TV over the years, nor the Ash Ketchum that defeated Fantina something like ten days ago!"

"Trust me Dawn, I am perfectly fine, though perhaps I've evolved a bit in how I go about my business. Failing to get past the quarter final stage of so many Leagues does that to you, not that you'd know about that." Ash defended him actions vigorously, perhaps a little too harshly as well..

Dawn looked at the ground since she knew Ash was right, about that last part at any rate.

"But when I watched the various tournaments on TV that you were in, you never acted like you did today." Dawn pointed out to her defensive companion.

Ash took in a deep breath, carefully considering his reply.

"I'll concede that point to you, but that was because I was at the League Tournament itself and I had to appear in a professional manner, if I didn't I would get Mom burning me down the phone for not behaving properly." Ash laughed lightly.

Dawn giggled herself, full knowing what Delia would have been like if Ash hadn't acted properly on television. She considered that perhaps Ash wasn't as strange as she had thought, but something wasn't completely right with him.


Night had fallen over Canalave City and Ash, Dawn and their respective Pokémon having retired to their separate rooms in the hotel they were staying at. In the distance, a couple of Hoothoots and a Noctowl could just be heard but apart from that there was silence. Of course, this didn't mean that everyone was asleep, oh no.

A shadowy figure, with a case in hand, moved as stealthily as possible through the streets trying to avoid light wherever possible. Unknown to this figure, it was being followed by someone else. When the first figure stopped at his or her desired destination, the second reached and grabbed the first around the neck and covered the mouth with a free hand, attempting to keep them quiet while focusing on trying to strangle them. A third shadowy figure appeared and attempted to aid the first. The second figure used the arm that was trying to strangle the first and elbowed the third directly in the eye as hard as possible before bringing a fist to the first's cheekbone. Both were left on the floor in immense pain and the standing figure grabbed the first by the head and swiftly twisted the head as violently as he or she could in an attempt to break the neck of the first. The third began pleading as the second approached to do the same thing...


"Ash wake up!" Dawn screamed at the door to Ash's room, pounding it with her fist.

She heard Pikachu answer her followed by the sound of Ash yelling as Pikachu hit him with a Thunderbolt to wake him up.

"Arceus be damned, Pikachu! I've told you to STOP doing that!"

"Ash Ketchum! Open this door now!" Dawn yelled.

In a few moments, the door flung open and Dawn practically shoved Ash out of the way

and made her way over to the television and switched it on to the news.

"What the heck is wrong?" Ash was completely confused.

"Police are still searching for clues about the double murder that took place last night. There was a reported break-in at a local jewellery store in Canalave City at approximately one fifteen at night and the apparent thief and her accomplice were both found brutally murdered at four twelve this morning. Police database has identified both women only known as Annie and Oakley, both former members of the disbanded Team Rocket and have been suspected of a number of jewellery related thefts for the past four years..."

Dawn switched the TV off.

"So, Annie and Oakley have both finally bitten off more than they could chew and paid the price for it." Ash muttered.

"You knew them?"

"Yeah, they were the criminals who tried to steal the Soul Dew while Misty, Brock and I had stopped off at Alto Mare. Had I not had become friends with a Latias there, I wouldn't have been around to help stop them." Ash told Dawn.

"I do remember you telling me that you had been to Alto Mare before and something about the Soul Dew and the story of Latias and Latios."

"Wonder who they pissed off to end up being murdered?" Ash asked.

"No idea." Dawn shook her head.

"Hmm? I was thinking out loud." Ash replied. "Anyway, I guess I better get dressed. I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast."

Dawn nodded and exited Ash's room, closing the door behind her. Ash grabbed some clean clothes and went in to the en suite bathroom to wash and get changed. As he pushed the door open, he felt a slight pain in both his right elbow and his right hand. Ash looked at his hand and then his elbow suspiciously, wondering why they hurt since he couldn't remember doing anything yesterday that would have made them hurt.


"So where and when is your next contest, Dawn?"

"It is in Snowpoint City in eight days time. I'm really psyched about it being there as I know I'll run into Zoey there, and Candice too!"

"So, we go to Veilstone City, I beat the living tar out of Maylene, not literally, train more, go to Snowpoint City, I take Candice to the cleaners and you wipe the floor with the competition in the contest. Easy, no problems." Ash stated his ideas on how the next 8 days will go.

"You sound so...overconfident. Don't write a cheque you can't cash, Ash." Dawn grinned at him.

"Confident? Yes. Overconfident? No. Surely how I destroyed Byron was proof enough to you, oh doubting delicious Dawn. Surely the raw power my Charizard has is more than enough to beat an airhead Ice type trainer and an insecure Fighting type trainer."

Dawn shook her head: there was Ash bashing the Sinnoh Gym Leaders again. She was still unhappy that Ash was so open about his apparent belief that the Sinnoh Gym Leaders, Fantina excluded, were unskilled and far too easy to best. She expected that kind of response from Paul, not Ash. Being in her thoughts had allowed Ash to move on without her noticing until she had come back to real life. Dawn frowned and looked around for the raven haired trainer with a Pikachu on his shoulder when she spotted him halfway up a street to her right...embracing a woman who...had his head...in her chest? That's what it looked like from a distance and Dawn wanted to find out what was happening so he raced after Ash. She could see Pikachu had jumped off of Ash's shoulder and was in deep conversation with a small yellow lizard-like Pokémon while the woman had a large goat shaped Pokémon standing next to her. As she approached she could hear the conversation taking place.

"...been all this time Alexa? Still as forgetful as always I see."

"Hpmf, I'm not as disorganised as I used to be, I'll have you know!"

"Ash! Why did you run off without saying anything?!" Dawn yelled as she reached Ash and this 'Alexa'.

"Well, well, looks like you are quite the ladies' man Ash. I didn't know you had hooked up with Dawn. Thought you'd have ended up with Serena myself. "Alexa sighed. "Looks like Viola won that bet."

Ash chose to gloss over what Alexa had just said and decided on introducing Alexa to Dawn.

"Dawn, this is my friend Alexa, she works as a journalist for the Lumiose Press in Kalos. I first met her when I was on my way back to Pallet after I first entered the Unova League. These are two of her Pokémon, Gogoat, who carries her journalism stuff and frequently reminds her of where she stored various equipment when she can't find it, and Helioptile. Helioptile is a bit like Pikachu as he doesn't stay in his Pokéball and normally travels on Alexa's shoulder." Ash saw Dawn nod at him. "She was going to see Professor Oak for an interview and since I live in the same town where she was heading, it made sense for us to travel together. When she was done, I joined her when she returned to Kalos to start my Kalos adventure and we met a fair few times while I was there."

"I see." Dawn turned to Alexa. "Did you really need to shove his face into your chest?"

Ash cleared his throat and looked away, not wanting Dawn to know that he had enjoyed that moment. An awful lot, actually.

"Eh, I got a little carried away since I hadn't seen him in years." Alexa's faced burned red in embarrassment over her actions and she rubbed the back of her neck. 'Wow! Dawn sure is jealous.'

"So...why are you here anyways, Alexa?" Ash tried to move the conversation on before it became any more awkward.

"Well I'm writing reports on Contests for the Lumiose Press, hence how I know who you are, Dawn, and once the Grand Festival has taken place I'll actually be presenting a league highlight program alongside Viola for Kalos viewers! I am really looking forward to that!" Alexa was bursting with excitement.

"So I'll get to see Viola again too? Awesome!" Ash glanced over at a very angry Dawn and suddenly felt rather nervous. "Uh...Viola is Alexa's sister. She's a photographer and a Gym Leader."

Alexa could see that Dawn wasn't happy at all about Ash's excitement of possibly seeing Viola again so she felt she needed to help him out a bit by shifting the conversation in a different direction.

"I guess you guys heard about what happened to those two former Rocket members last night?" Alexa asked the duo.

"Yeah, sounded awful. Do you know anything more about that?" Dawn queried the journalist.

"Only a little. Apparently one of the women had her left eye socket broken so badly that she would have lost her eye..."

Upon hearing this Ash's eyes widened as visions filled his head:

Corrupted male voice: "Come here you slag!"

Annie's muffled voice: "Ugh! Get..off of me! Oakley! Help!"

Annie is trying to resist having her throat crushed as Oakley runs in to help her partner.

Oakley: "Get off of her you bastard!"

Oakley tries to grab the man's arm and pull it away from Annie but the man fends her off and elbows her hard in the eye socket. Oakley falls to the ground groaning and sobbing and holds her hands to her face, covering up the seriously injured eye.

Annie: "Oakley! Are you alright?"

The male then punches Annie hard on the right cheekbone and floors her. Annie covers her face protectively, but the male grabs her head and twists it violently to try and break her neck. The man then leaves Annie and moves over to Oakley.

Oakley: "Please, don't kill me! Take anything, everything you want. Just...just please let me live. I'll do anything you want! Just...I won't be able to defend myself and...anything."

Corrupted male voice: "You have nothing I want."

The man crouches down at Oakley's right side.

Oakley: "No! PLEASE! I beg of you! Anything! Rape me or anything!"

The man grabbed Oakley's hands and hauled her up to her feet, blood seeping out of her broken eye socket. Oakley made a start at undressing herself when the man stopped her and then kicked her left knee, before slamming her head onto the edge of the pavement, which should give her a fatal brain injury too. He went back over to Annie who, it appears, is still alive and he picks her up and slams her head onto the pavement too.

Ash could feel that the vision was over and he could see Alexa and Dawn both looking at him. Ash had gone very pale.

"You okay Ash?" Both women asked in concern.

Ash looked at them and then ran to a nearby tree with Pikachu running after his friend. When he got to the tree, he promptly threw up.

'This...this can't be. That wasn't a vision - that was a memory. A memory of something I did.' Ash looked at his right hand and glanced to his elbow. 'That is why my hand and elbow hurt this morning. I...I killed Annie and Oakley...but...how did I do that without being consciously aware? I can't let Alexa or Dawn, or anyone for that matter, find out about this!'

A hand rested on Ash's shoulder, causing him to jump and yell. As he turned he saw Dawn's very concerned face looking at him.

"Ash, it's only me. Come on, let's get you something to drink since I guess that description Alexa had shook you badly." Dawn did her best to ignore the awful smell of Ash's vomit.

"Uh, yeah..."

Ash could feel the guilt eating away at him and also a massive worry forming. How did he lose control of himself and murder two people without knowing? Why did he suddenly get memories about what had? He was starting to doubt if he could trust himself.

To Be Continued...