Chapter 9

Hope you all enjoyed the last chapter. This chapter much is explained, but there will still be questions I'm sure. Again, everything will tie up in the end. But as for now, we move forward. And as some encouragement for you all, because I know you are dying to see Ash and Serena reunite...you do not have to wait much longer...but it's not all going to be chocolate and roses, so be prepared. ;)

It still seemed like yesterday that they had arrived at the camp of the Pure Hearted. At first, Brock had been skeptical about the secret base concealed within the Johto forest. He had not trusted the soldiers in white, with their red sashes and gold badges. The army had seemed overly welcoming, and attentive to the fainted woman Brock carried in his arms.

They had entered a large, entrance opening from within a great wall made of stained mahogany surrounding the encampment. Inside there were many barracks and cabins built around the large trees still consuming the grounds, claiming it for the sacred forest despite there being such a human presence. It was a symbiotic relationship between man and wood. The men only used what they needed, giving back to the earth through their pokemon, rain and sunlight and growth. In return the trees sheltered the camp, hiding it within its green bosom so as not to expose it to the wind, which grew darker from west and could not be trusted.

Drifter had been the first to greet them in to the camp, and he led them to a large banquet hall built out of glossed rosewood. He took Serena from Brock's embrace with as one would lift a feather. He told them to go ahead and eat at the table made up of berries, meats, and cheese while he placed Serena in a separate room.

He then had met them back in the dining to tell them of their purposes for being at the camp. Brock remembered it all as clear as day. The fall of mankind, the restoration, and the preeminent redemption…along with Ash's fall in to darkness. It all sounded surreal. Even now.

Brock looked down his white shirt at the white triangle above his heart. For two weeks now he and the others had been staying with the LIghtbearers, regaining their strength, but also training their pokemon every now and then. Everyone was saying that a war was coming, but Brock still didn't know whether or not to believe them. He knew, though, that soon, the Lightbearers would be expecting him and the others to train as soldiers for their army. Brock watched the way the trainers here and they were more than strong. Some could no doubt take on the Pokemon league and win if they wished, but all seemed devoted to their cause.

"Was Ash supposed to be a Lightbearer?" Brock asked Drifter one night, as they sat together by the fire with Gary and Clemont, the last ones awake.

Drifter shook his head. "He was supposed to be a prophet. He was supposed to take my place. He is chosen to lead this army."

"Well, I guess that won't be happening," Gary stared in to the fire and let the ember burn within the reflection of his eyes. He had been acting strange for many days, and Brock didn't have time for it.

"The prophecy is never wrong," Drifter said,

"Where can one go to hide from the Sun?

There is no place for one to go

He cannot hide.

What the Sun has chosen, let no one steal

Not even the darkness can hide him;

Redemption comes to all the elect

And the Sun will take back the stolen

And the Sun will take back the fallen

He will take back the night."

Brock didn't respond. Gary rolled his eyes, but Drifter seemed lost within intense thought. He kept staring at the stars. Brock studied this strange man, who kept changing in appearance and demeanor upon each encounter. He seemed imbedded with an inner light now, one that was not there before. He vanished and came at will. He carried no pokemon, but could summon one upon command; they obeyed him with reverence and caution.

After the strange conversation, and Drifter had left them, Gary went off. "That man is crazy—everyone here is crazy. Ash has become the strongest pokemon trainer in history and no one is interested in how. The only way we're going to bring him down is by playing his game. We need to train and get whatever he's got in order to face him properly."

"We're not trying to kill him Gary," Brock said, clenching his fists so as not to pounce on the arrogant trainer, "If Drifter thinks there's a way to save Ash, then we have to try."

"Ash chose this!"

"And you're trying to choose the same damn thing! Don't you see?!" Brock roared, grabbing Gary by the collar. "You're being stupid, Gary. It could've been any of us."

"Let him go, Brock," Clemont said, pulling Brock away by the shoulders, "we can't turn against each other now. Lunala would want that—,"

"Listen to yourself," Gary snorted, "you sound just as crazy as everyone here."

Clemont shot Gary as fiery glare. "Well, what's keeping you here then, huh? Don't pretend like we don't know."

Gary stormed out of the cabin, slamming the door.

xxxxx

Serena was with Bonnie, Kaleb, and Pikachu, watching the Lightbearers train in one of the fields just outside of the fenced camp. The soldiers used many clearings in the forest to train, but did their best not to disturb the habitat. All of them were very courteous, and allowed the girls and Kaleb to watch, and even join, if ever they wanted to.

Pikachu watched the battles with intense curiosity from Serena's lap, and Kaleb had difficulty tearing his eyes away from the training as well. The Lightbearers were incredibly quick in their abilities. They mimicked the moves of their pokemon at times, as if both trainer and pokemon were in sync. Not only were the pokemon more agile and intelligent than most, but they could mega evolve without stones, and wherever they moved, beams of light seemed to follow. At times, Serena couldn't keep up with the matches for they were too bright from the glow emitting from the pokemon and trainers alike.

"What is it that they fight with?" Kaleb asked.

"The light of the Sun, of course," Drifter smiled at the shocked expressions caused by his sudden appearance.

"How do you keep doing that?" Bonnie muttered and scratched the side of her head.

Drifter took a seat next to Serena and rubbed Pikachu's head. He seemed much less sullen than when she had first met him, and continually regarded him with suspicion. Serena knew he was an ally, but she also knew that saving Ash wasn't his first priority. His first priority was his duty to the Solgaleo, and Serena did not know for what purposes the pokemon had chosen Ash as its prophet—nor did she know her role in all of this.

As the morning went on, and the shadows grew shorter, a large Pigeot came down from the sky toward the encampment. On the pokemon's back was a man Serena recognized as one of the leading generals of the army, Flynn.

Flynn steered the giant bird down to where the Lightbearers were training and jumped off the creature before it touched the earth. He landed with an enviable grace before Drifter and bowed before speaking:

"Kalos has fallen. The whole region is covered in darkness. We have lost all contact with our scouts spying the province. Every radio, transmitter, navigation system—all communications are blocked."

Bonnie gasped. She ran to go find Clemmont. Serena gave thanks that her mother and father were safe in Hoenn on vacation. But she wished she could contact them somehow, so that she could tell them she was okay. She then began to weep. She knew too many people from home to not be grieved with worry. She stood up and looked at Drifter.

"We're going to do something, right? We can't just let everyone in Kalos die!" Serena looked over her shoulder to see Bonnie returning with Clemont and Brock. Kaleb close behind.

"What are we going to do—our parents are down there. Our family. Our lives." Clemont's eyes were hidden behind the glare of his glasses, but Serena had never seen him so unnerved.

Drifter looked at them with an ethereal calm. He imbued peace, as though it were one with his blood, and Serena grew even more alarmed by his lack of reaction.

"We wait," said the prophet.

"We wait?" Clemont whispered, fire spitting out of his tongue, a venomous bite twisted beneath his tone. "No…no, we can't wait."

"We could go, my lord," Flynn said, his hand upon his chest, "I could lead the first attack. We have grown strong. You have the most powerful trainers and pokemon at your disposal. Surely, now must be the moment to perform our duties."

"No," Drifter said, shocking even the general, "for the attack would not honor the prophecy. If we attack now, the prophecy will not be fulfilled and all will be lost. Lunala is still at the peak of his power. He must first must fall."

"Shouldn't we be the first to cause him to fall?" Clemont challenged, "Isn't what this stupid army is for? To fight Lunala?"

Drifter stood up, and all became aware of his grand stature and height. "This army was created for redemption, not for death. We fight to restore."

xxxxx

At night, when the camp slept, Serena went out in to the forest for air. She could not sleep. Her heart kept racing from the nightmares she dreamed of Ash. She kept seeing his black eyes, his red sword, his monstrous dragon. She kept seeing him grinning at the sight of death, leading that dark army in to homes of Kalosian families, so innocent and unaware. She would dream of him as the boy she knew, with his eyes light again like amber; the boy who loved his pokemon more than his own life; the boy who would be her support, her courage—the boy she admired. The boy she loved.

She would always know the way his lips felt against her fingers; he always kissed them before pulling her hand on to his heart, and she would feel the pulse beat beneath his dark shirt. She could feel, even now, the heat of his breath in her hair beyond the chill of the night. She sighed and twirled a lock of her hair, watching the color pale underneath the skin of moonlight.

She did not know if she could see him again. She couldn't. She was breaking all over again, and another look from his onyx eyes would kill her. She would remember how it had all been a lie. He never loved her, he couldn't have. He didn't choose her…

"Serena,"

Drifter's voice came out of the dark and jolted her out of her thoughts. She blushed, as if she had been caught yearning for something she shouldn't have.

"I couldn't sleep,"

"Nor I," he said, and offered her a kind smile. He stood next to her and together they watched the night in silence. Drifter lost in his thoughts, and Serena hesitant to relax around the strange man. She didn't know how to feel about him. He acted like a father-figure, but looked as though he could be an older brother. He spoke as though he'd lived ages, and revealed little to no emotion of which to inform anyone of his thoughts. He hid behind the light he bore.

"It used to be easy for me to reveal worry and panic," Drifter said, as though reading her thoughts. He looked at her surprised expression from the corner of his eye and smiled. "And just because I do not reveal it now, does not mean I do not feel such things. I do. They are within the deepest recesses of my heart. My Spirit now knows that I should not be troubled, but my heart cannot help but feel such things. I am worried. I do doubt. But I have faith."

Serena said nothing for a long while. She let his words float in to the night air and dissipate before the pale light gleaming down from the thick, silhouetted trees. A breeze ruffled the leaves, black against this night, and the branches around them began to moan. She didn't know how to react to the man's honesty. She continued to knot her thick hair around her finger, and she waited.

Somehow, beyond them, they heard a Hoothoot.

"I know you are a Prophet," Serena began, unsure of where she was going, staring at the darkness of the floor, "but I don't understand why Solgaleo—if he is so powerful—why doesn't he just destroy Lunala. Isn't Solgaleo going to save Ash if he is to be the new Prophet?"

Drifter took a long breath, allowing the cold air to fill within his chest. "Yes, it was written that Ash was to be a Prophet for Solgaleo, but it is also written that he would fall—but he is still destined." Drifter paused, as though unsure of what to admit, "I cannot tell you what Solgaleo's purpose for the young man is…I just know that the Pokemon has many plans that are not even revealed to me. That is why I cannot help, but doubt at times. But I do know that the Moon cannot be destroyed lest there be an imbalance of power and chaos. Mankind would be wiped out if such a thing were to happen, for man needs the Moon as much as it needs the Sun.

"As for Ash," Drifter said, and looked at her with the tenderness only concern can render, "I do not know his purpose in this. I know he is to be restored, but restored in to what, I do not know. He will not be the same as when he was lost. I don't know who he will be…"

"Did you know him?" Serena asked, confused by the despondency lingering in his voice.

"Yes," Drifter said, "he is just like his father. I tried to save them both, back when I believed I could undo what was written. It was very foolish of me. No one can save anyone. It is the choice of the individual that renders them free, or a slave. I was once both, and am now the two together."

Drifter smiled, knowing he had completely lost the young woman in riddles. "You will see what I mean. But I was once as lost as Ash is now. It can happen to anyone. All of us are afraid of something."

Serena met the strange man's gaze. "What are you afraid of?"

Drifter was not sure how to answer. He could not tell her that he was dead. He only lived as a Spirit now, because his duty to Solgaleo was not yet been complete. Living outside of death and life, he could not say he feared anything for himself, but rather he feared for the girl before him. He feared for Ash. He knew the Sun would win. And that all would be restored. He just did not know how.

xxxxx

Gary could only watch while the other began their training with the Lightbearers. He had not told anyone, but his chest had stayed unmarked. As a response, he feigned disdain towards the army and the war. He continued to sink in his unbelief. There was no sign or triangle above his heart. At first this didn't bother him, but the small detail inhibited from him accessing the evolution abilities the Lightbearers possessed. That drove him crazy. He wanted that power. He wanted to go up against Ash and win. However, if he could not access such abilities from this side, then what other options did he have? He wanted to leave this godforsaken camp.

And yet he stayed.

"Watch out!" someone shouted as a stray attack went straight for the wooden bench, on which Gary had been watching his friends train.

He ducked and let the thunderbolt from Clemont's Luxray go over his head, hitting a nearby tree. Gary turned to the apologetic gym leader, who was still having trouble assess the power of his mega abilities. The electricity from his Pokemon held more voltage and heat than Clemont was used to.

"Sorry about that!" Clemont muttered, scratching the back of his head. "I misjudged the ricochet."

"Try not to hit the trees," Bonnie groaned, knowing that Celebi wouldn't be happy at them disturbing the forest.

Nearby, Brock was training his Onyx. He was up against a Lightbearer and his Mightyena, and doing rather poorly despite his advantage.

"Stay in sync. Move with your pokemon," the instructor was saying, but Brock was anything but graceful—and Gary couldn't help but enjoy watching him struggle.

Gary sighed. He felt a little lost. Like everyone else he had been hoping for Ash to show up again, but he never expected it to be like this. He felt disloyal for giving up on his best friend…even more so now…but he felt betrayed. Ash left without a word—to pursue some power, a power that helped him win all championships—and he had kept it all a secret. He hated Ash for that. Ash had lied straight to his face. Gary remembers confronting Ash about his sudden, and immense victory streak. He had asked him if he was getting help in some way.

Ash said no.

Gary's fist clenched at the memory. He stared at the worn forest floor, the grass now turning to dirt from usage.

"Hey," Gary heard a soft voice say, just behind him.

He turned around and watched Serena find a seat next to him. He looked away, hating the way he reacted to her. Hating that she was the reason he stayed. He grunted a response and went back to fixing his gaze on the dirt, counting the rocks on the floor.

Pikachu, who had been playing with Dedenne around the training the field, began running up to Serena as soon as he spotted her. He jumped in to her arms, rubbing one of its red cheeks against hers. She smiled and rubbed the fur between Pikachu's ears. The yellow Pokemon then jumped back on to the floor to continue chasing Dedenne.

Serena watched him go, and let Pancham, Delphox, and Sylveon out to join the fun.

"Are you training today?" Gary asked, knowing that she had been avoiding the intense instructional sessions the Lightbearers had been giving to their newest recruits. She was not one to enjoy battling pokemon—she never had been—but out of all the others, mega evolution came easiest to her.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you going to ever train with us?" Serena asked him, without judgment or pretense, her tone innocent of anything malicious. Gary wondered if she even had it in her to be mean.

"No,"

Serena studied him, her mind working towards a puzzle, unaware of the intensity in which she thought. Gary grew self-conscious, feeling as though he were being read better by her than anyone else, and he kept his brows furrowed in order to exaggerate the severity of his countenance.

"What?"

Serena shrugged, relenting. She relaxed and turned back to face the field. "I suppose there's a reason for you not wanting to train. I just don't know what it is yet."

"I don't trust them,"

"That's not it," the young woman said, smiling with satisfaction upon seeing the surprise in his face. "But you don't have to tell me. We all have our secrets."

Gary then suddenly wanted to tell her everything. He wanted to confess to not having the sign of the triangle above his heart, he wanted to tell her that hoping for Ash to change was a waste of time. He wanted to tell her he loved her.

"Why don't you train?" Gary asked, trying to change the subject before his emotions could explode upon the face of his heart, "I know you're a coordinator, but you'd make a good trainer if you'd stop being so sensitive."

Serena blinked at him, then looked down at her delicate hands, cupped upon her red skirt. She looked at her pokemon, playing across the clearing, let the wind rush through the conversation, letting it blow far away from her heart.

"I don't want to be the one who hurts him," Serena said; her voice soft enough to be the breeze, or a leaf breaking off from its branch.

Gary didn't get it. "But Ash isn't the same. He hurt you, remember?"

"It takes two people for one to be hurt," Serena said.

"Do you still love him?" Gary had to know.

Serena went still, shocked by the question she had not even dared to ask herself. When she didn't say anything for a long time, Gary stood up and left. The dead leaves kicked up above the grass as he walked away.

xxxxx

See, no one loves you. You cannot be loved. Come to me.

Gary shot up out of bed. He looked down at his hands and found them shaking beneath the darkness. He clenched them to be sure they belonged to him. He swung his legs around the side of his mattress and touched the floor with his feet. It was cold. But he was sweating. He felt the back of his hair and pulled away to find his fingers damp. He rubbed the dampness between his skin and marveled at it as though it were blood.

Come to me. I will give you what you seek.

There it was again. The voice that hissed in his dreams. Gary jumped out of his sheets and grabbed his jacket. He treaded the wooden floor with the fragility of glass so as not to awaken the others sleeping nearby. He went out the door.

Outside, the air blew a pleasant chill through the camp. There were no stars tonight, they were covered by thick, bellows of clouds, and not even moonlight could penetrate the fog. Gary felt his feet move one after the other, away from the barracks, out towards the forest, the blackness of night, the stench of death. It thrilled him. He was like those corporeal ghosts without souls, lingering towards something they could not identify apart from their lust for the dark.

"I want what Ash has." Gary fixed his eyes towards the exit. There were always men watching the doors to the camp, and tonight there were three, and tonight Gary was desperate. He reached for his belt and found a pokeball that had not been there before. It was a black orb at his side—so dark he could hardly see it against the depths of the floor. Instinct took over his flesh and he called upon the dark sphere.

An Aerodactyl, large and cloaked in black scales, flew out towards the men guarding their post, using the night as cover, with stealth that sailed beyond than the speed of sound. In the following blink, all of the guards were gone, vanished from sight. The Aerodactyl returned before Gary, bowing to encourage the trainer to move on to its black body. Gary could not refuse. Entranced he felt his fingers go out in to the dark, taking hold of the winged beast, pulling himself on to its back.

In immediate haste, the creature flew off in to the moonless sky.

xxxxx

Drifter had watched Gary go late after midnight. He did not try and stop him. He knew such an attempt would be futile. The young man had made up his mind.

Lunala will use him to find our camp. Drifter said to Solgaleo, and the Spirit stirred within him.

Yes, and we must let ourselves be found.