AN: First off, I am sorry for the delay. As I said in the last update, I've had some problems with my laptop. Hence why this chapter is coming from... *sigh* TC's computer.
TC: YEAH!
Yeah. Great. But still, it could be worse. In any case, a few words. Next chapter will be the Q&A session. Also, the poll will close the day after it comes out and the next one will be posted. This will last for much longer. So if you want to vote for the final battle scene for the prologue arc, vote.
TC: Didn't you have a surprise for them?
Ah, yes. This is a double chapter, entitled The Twin Lakes. So as a last word, submit questions as either a review or as a PM if you want.
TC: That's not it! Tell them about the Image Manager!
No. You do it.
TC: Okay! So basically Fanfiction's letting authors submit covers for their stories. The cover for this story is posted, and will change every arc. Hope you enjoy it, and give good feedback on the cover. If you have any suggestions for a cover, send it to me!
Me. This is my story, remember? But anyways, to summarize if you skipped most of this: Vote in the poll, which will close. Send in questions or suggestions for a cover. Lastly, the next chapter will be out on either Sunday or Saturday. And that's all folks!
Answers to reviews will not occur this chapter.
Disclaimer: WORM!
TC: We had a deal! If I let you use the computer you wouldn't call me a derogatory term!
I said that I wouldn't call you "slave" and "worm" is not slave.
TC: Difference?
Worms are to be killed, slaves work for me. For example, worms have to say the disclaimer.
TC: So what kind of clever, witty thing do you want me to say for the disclaimer?
We have a small budget, so just say that I don't own pokemon. DAMMIT!
TC: Too easy.
... You're wearing a ballerina outfit.
TC: What? No I'm not.
I control the disclaimer, so I say you are... where are you going? Get back here, worm!
The Twin Lakes
or
The events of Celebi: Voice of the Forest and Mewtwo Returns
Unspecified Location
Unspecified Time
"Lord Arceus? Everyone appears to be here."
"Yes. I will be there momentarily, after I gain feeling in my legs again."
"See? That's why we try to not mess with Giratina."
"...Shut up Kyurem."
"Hey! Kyu!"
"Yes, Rom?"
"How's Articuno? Heard that she was... y'know."
"That...devil is still angry at Kyogre."
"Yeah... Shiram's the same. Since he was going to lie, so she's been more vain than ever."
"Trouble in paradise?"
"Yeah. You're a corpse, you wouldn't get why I stay. Just let me say that ideals aren't always the best thing to embody."
"See? Told you that you were getting the short end of the stick."
"You were a voice in our head! And Shiram said that ideals were better, not all changing like truths were. Lies! Everybody has a different ideal, and having to manage them when they clash? Worst job ever. I need to get something easy, like Ray has. No rival, just looking after two immensely powerful children..."
"No."
"What, amigo?"
"...Where did you learn Spanish?"
"I got Spanish, Shiram has French. But you avoided the question."
"... I have some of our earlier memories. As one of the earliest legendaries, we remember the rebellion, led by..."
"Him. The most terrifying being ever. Such power... That is my nightmare, the one Cress cannot purge."
"Darkrai."
"Hello, Kyurem."
"Oh, Arceus..."
"Yes, because of his typing he was able to hurt Lord Arceus."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"WAHHH! I'M SUCH A HORRIBLE PERSON! WHAT HAVE I DONE!"
"Celebi! Calm down! What happened!"
"Jirachi? Celebi? Why is Celebi crying?"
"I...I...I... SENT... I CAN'T SAY IT!"
"... Anybody have weed?"
"Wha- The hell, Jirachi? When did you start-"
"It's for Celebi. Like a pacifier for a baby, he shuts up."
"...No. I do not have a "weed" or anything."
"I'm going to go now..."
"Hey, I think that's Lord Arceus. I'm going to go see what's up."
"Shiram!"
"EVERYBODY HATES ME!"
"Why do I have to deal with this?"
...
"So, does anybody have something unusual to report?"
"Yes, we three saw Ash Ketchum with-get this-Red! There was a pulse of aura, and we saw a time flower explode, so we came over."
"It was... enlightening."
"Dumb humans."
"Entei!"
"What?"
"Enough. Anything else?"
"Yes. I have been traveling with Ash and Red, and wish to continue to do so. May I?"
"Mewtwo? Certainly. Anybody else?"
"I'M SUCH A BAD POKEMON! I DESERVE TO DIE!"
"Celebi, if you don't tell me what's wrong, I can't help you!"
"I... think I know what's wrong. Is this about the incident in the forest yesterday-"
"DON'T TELL ANYBODY!"
"... Lord Arceus?"
"Celebi! Get back here!"
"KILL YOU!"
"Gethimoffgethimoffgethimoff! Off, off, off!"
"Ray?"
"Yes?"
"Can you tape this?"
"I have been. I'm going to be so rich! I will kill the satellites!"
"...You're weird, you know that, right?"
Arborville
Red was sitting at the edge of the lake, staring at the sky. It was a sunny day, but he felt none of the sun's warmth. Ash was splashing about in the lake, but Red could tell from both his experiences at reading people and from his aura that Ash was worried. Terrified, even.
'But... Who wouldn't be? That was Arceus, right? But it was so... empty. Not cold, but incomplete. That's what I get. And in a raging fury.' Red continued to stare at the clouds, which were so bright and white, not at all like his emotions.
Feeling water splashing him, Red turned a baleful eye to Ash, who looked to be reconsidering. Deciding that throwing water at Red may have been a bad idea, Ash fled, with Red reaching for a pokeball.
"Blastoise!"
"No!"
Mewtwo stared at the scene, a boy with a pikachu on his head fleeing from a giant blue turtle with another boy wearing red and white atop him. Shrugging, Mewtwo attempted to create fire again. After all, one could not create tea with no heat. Unfortunately, he was unable to learn flamethrower.
A few minutes later, Red had captured Ash. It was a grand chase, with multiple explosions and much lightning. In the end, it was all the foolishness of youth that failed Ash. One electric swimming pool was fine for him, but seven? Nu-uh.
"Now, Ash. Why did you splash me?" Red asked Ash, with his blastoise glaring at Pikachu. As Ash gulped, Red continued, "Your answer decides your punishment."
"H-hey, Blastoise. W-why don't you put me down? I was told to shock you, you know?" Pikachu laughed nervously, being held by the giant turtle.
"Blast."
"N-n-no? W-well that's f-fine! I'm just... just enjoying the v-view!"
"I... thought you were bored?" Ash stammered, not meeting Red's cold eyes. Red thought for a moment, before shrugging and dropping Ash. Blastoise did the same, but Pikachu had a much longer distance to drop, being shorter.
Mewtwo was still attempting to shoot fire from his hands. He had gotten solarbeam, twice, but couldn't kill the twig with fire yet.
"So, Ash?" Red said, having been sitting on him for the past few minutes.
Ash glared at Red. "What," he ground out, earning himself a smack on the head.
"Lesson number one: Be respectful to your elders! Child abuse laws do not apply for apprentices, so I can do pretty much anything in the name of training," Red told a suddenly white Ash, "But I wanted to ask you what happened here? I can see that a few trees are rather... damaged."
"Will you get off of me?"
"..."
"..."
"...Fine."
"Yeah!" Ash whooped, attracting some unwanted attention. Nearby, Celebi was gathering some berries, being the official food-getter for meetings, while Entei cooked.
'Where are those lum berries? I have the oran, but it needs lum and pecha. Whazat?' Celebi thought, being wary of humans after the incident with Iron Mask. After all, after his image had died, he had gotten the memories, and that was not one of his happy ones. Peering around the tree, he saw Ash make a break for it.
"Ash! Get back here!"
"Make me!" Ash shouted over his shoulder as he ran. Sighing and growling at the same time, Red sent out his Venusaur.
"Venusaur? Bring up a tree in front of Ash, please," Red commanded, his giant pokemon complying. Ash, not looking at where he was going, slammed into the tree, which Celebi quickly flitted to, so he could hear them better.
Mewtwo came over to Red, looking at Ash briefly before seeing that his friend had done something stupid. "How are you going to get him? I wouldn't think that you would be kind enough to just carry him over."
Red smirked. "Venusaur, vine whip."
The saurian pokemon lashed out with a large vine, grabbing Ash, but also startling Celebi, who suddenly saw them as a threat.
Ash groaned as he was dropped to the ground by the large pokemon, in front of Red, Pikachu, and Mewtwo. Comically shaking his fist at Red, he pulled himself up, before hearing Mewtwo yell out "Arceus!"
The other three whirled around, seeing Celebi glowing with a yellow light, the light of time travel. Celebi flicked it at the four, intending to send them about seventy years into the future. There was no way for Mewtwo to teleport them away, and they were too stunned to dodge. It looked like they would be taking a vacation, with no return trip.
AN: Yeah, I really wanted to end it here. But I felt two things, fear and pity. After all, I would expect a lynch mob at my door if I did this, and it would be unnecessary torture for all of you. So we continue! Also, this is linked to one of the "talks", guess which one!
"I'm telling you, do it!"
"... I will. Just to show you that I'm not depressed. Core, send me to the future timeline. I have a pit stop to make."
As the glowing yellow light was about to hit the trio plus Pikachu, two things happened, one after another. First a lum berry tree appeared in the middle of the light, sending said tree to the future. As Celebi and our heroes blinked, a reddish light blinking into existence around the four, sending them away from the now distraught Celebi, recognizing that he had just nearly sent the chosen one, Red, and another legendary to another time. And worst of all, he had just sent away a lum berry tree!
"Arceus. Thank you for not letting me die today," Celebi whispered, suddenly realizing that he would have been killed by Lugia and Ho-oh if he had done that.
Outskirts of Charicific Valley
Red, Ash, Mewtwo, and Pikachu appeared standing outside a large door, near a lake. Red and Mewtwo collapsed to the ground, Mewtwo clutching his heart and Red offering his firstborn to whomever had saved them. Ash, on the other hand, was shocked that he hadn't bumped his head, not really grasping the gravity of what had nearly happened.
A small piece of paper drifted down from the sky, along with two smaller slips of parchment. Seeing Red still praying and Mewtwo out of commission, Ash grabbed both objects, waiting for Red and Mewtwo to recover.
After what seemed like a long time, during which time Ash had decided to try to converse with his three pokemon, Charizard getting excited that they were at the place that he had spent so much time at during the past years, Red came over and Mewtwo started to float again.
"Wh-what're those? I know you didn't have those when we were saved, so where?" Red asked, still shocked at the fact that they were alive, and in their own time.
"I don't know. They just floated down from the sky. This one looks like a note, so I decided to wait for you," Ash replied, returning Charizard and Sceptile.
"T-then we should read it," Mewtwo said, joining the duo.
Hello! Yeah, I did just save you four from Celebi. Just so you know, he was going to send you about seventy years into the future, so I took the liberty of stopping that, because it did not turn out well. However, you two, Red and Ash, bonded there quite well, so I send back a few things to help. I went there, copied a few of your future selves' memories, and stored them in those slips of paper. When you use them, which I would recommend that you do not until you have finished your tour of Ash's adventures, just place them on your forehead. They will give you a few memories that I feel can help you both bond and give you a warning. Use the information carefully. Now, individual messages. Ash, let Charizard stay here. You forgot, didn't you? Pikachu, you will soon encounter much ketchup. Enjoy. Mewtwo, there is a meeting for all legendary pokemon today. Teleport your friends to Mt. Quena and give them a way to get to Altomare. You three can stay with Lorenzo when you get there. Red, tell your friend's student that the boy with two badges says hello to your teacher. She will understand. And second, the giver of the right necklace lives, and is active once more. And one last message to all of you. Beware the light. It is not what it seems. ~ The Lady of Realities
There was silence, before several things happened at once. Ash let out Charizard and told him that he could stay at Charicific valley for a while. Red grabbed his necklace, insight coming to him. Mewtwo grabbed a stone and started to exert his psychic powers to turn it into a device for teleportation. Pikachu cheered for ketchup. And lastly, the note exploded.
About an hour later, Mewtwo was off to the meeting while the other three were sitting in the grass near the underground spring at Mt. Quena. With the group assembled, and none of them having anything else to do, Red looked at Ash. "Well, can we get the story of Celebi and this place, finally? Or do we have to wait even longer?"
Ash looked sheepish, before starting, "Well, after a while in Johto, we decided to go to a place called Arborville, which is where we were. After hearing a story from an old woman about a pokemon who captured people and sent them away, we went into the forest. We saw a light, and Celebi and a boy came out of nowhere. We started to talk to him, and found out that he was from about forty years ago, and his name was Sammy."
Red started at that, realizing who it could have been, before he gestured to Ash to continue. Ash went on, "So we started to hang around together, before this giant machine appeared, which had Team Rocket on it, and this other member of Team Rocket, wearing a mask made of metal, driving it."
"Iron Masked Marauder," Pikachu interjected.
"Yeah. So he pokenapped Celebi and sent out these weird strong pokemon. We had to fight them to get to Celebi, and Sammy used these weird pokeballs that needed to be cranked to open."
"The older pokeballs," Red said, receiving a questioning glance from Ash, "That generation had a version where the pokemon were brought in before they were expanded. The generation before that had them being put in basically a sensory deprivation field. My generation had it so that they were just shrinked and the top was see-through. It was more dangerous, because the pokemon could be hurt through the ball. The newest version turns them into energy and puts them in a virtual habitat, where they can hear outside but not see. That's why some trainers have things that they say before they send out their pokemon, such as their name, so that the pokemon knows that they're going out. It is an improvement... But keep going."
"Um, where was I? Oh yeah! Iron Mask had captured Celebi in this evil ball, and made it create his giant plant monster. Then Suicune appeared, saving me when I fell off the plant monster. I rode him so that we saved Celebi, who woke up when Sammy helped it. Celebi blew up the plant monster, but was injured. So we brought him to the lake which could help heal, but since it was all polluted Suicune had to fix it; but the water didn't work. Then a bunch of celebi came down from the sky and healed our Celebi. Then Celebi brought Sammy back to the past, and we left after we told Professor Oak about Sammy. I wonder if we will ever see him again..."
Red considered the story. There were a few interesting points that he wondered about. 'So, Oak was there... interesting. But how did Celebi survive? Might have been replaced by another image. If it were the real one then he wouldn't have died in the first place...' Red nodded, and outwardly he replied, "Good story. Just be glad that the 'Celebi friend' of yours didn't send us into the future."
Ash rubbed the back of his head, grinning sheepishly as he chuckled. Red got up, wanting to look around the spring. "So, Ash. This is Mt. Quena? I thought that the spring was on top of the mountain, but evidently I was wrong..."
"No, you weren't. Right, Ash?" Pikachu said, now not even getting a slight jump of surprise from Ash. After all, it had been a day, and Ash had seen stranger things.
"Pikachu, can we start from the beginning? That would be best, right?" Ash responded, gaining a nod from Red, who was wandering around the lake. That was the moment when Pikachutwo and Meowthtwo came running out of the small forest nearby, followed by a mass of pokemon, a portion of which were the clones.
"Ash Ketchum! Base! Hello!" Pikachutwo yelled, as he tackled Ash, forcing him back. Meowthtwo, on the other hand, stopped short of assaulting Ash and Pikachu, instead settling for waving. The other pokemon made a loose circle around the three others.
"I heard that there were intruders at the lake, and we were going to beat them up, like Master Mewtwo told us to, but then we saw that it was you two, so I canceled the order! It's great to see you two!" Pikachutwo explained, giving a brief hug to his original, before drawing back.
Meowthtwo stepped forward, showing nothing, as he asked his questions, "It is good to see you, but who is the third one of you? And then how did you get here... Oh yeah. Forgot 'bout that. Pichi, you do realize that they can't understand us, right?"
"Yeah I can! But I don't know... how. Red, how come I can understand those two?" Ash yelled, before his realization came, facing Red and answering one of Meowthtwo's questions.
"Quiet! I'm trying to observe this phenomenon! Do you have any idea how rare it is to see two people or pokemon with the same aura? I need to see this!" Red hissed to Ash, his eyes closed. As Meowthtwo and Pikachutwo both blinked, Ash decided to try whatever Red was doing and closed his eyes...
...To see nothing but black. "Hey, Red. How do you see auras?"
Red gave a glare which Ash did not see before answering, "Channel your aura to your eyes and send some of it out. Now be quiet."
Ash just stood there, wishing from the bottom of his heart to send his aura to his eyes, before trying to pulse it. He was launched fifty feet into the air by a blast of pure energy from the bottom of his feet. See, no matter how hard you wish for something, that doesn't mean that it will happen.
Red flinched, since to him it looked like a nuclear explosion happened about five feet away from his body. Wondering how Ash had managed to detonate the aura in his feet when he was using aura sight, he opened his eyes and watched Ash come down, landing on his head atop Venusaurtwo. The large clone, startled, unknowingly used petal dance, sending a large number of powerful petals and Ash forward twenty feet.
As Red watched Ash groan, having received a large number of scrapes, bruises, and other abrasions, he noted a strange sight. Ash appeared to have nearly no aura. 'What did he do? Could he have... He did! Why would he have sent all of his aura into the air?' Yes, not only had Ash blown up the ground, leaving a crater ten feet wide at the site of his launch, he had saturated the air with a massive amount of aura, that was rising up and being absorbed by many of the pokemon and the plants.
Ash moved his one functioning body part, dragging himself closer and closer to the spring with his thumb. The clones, Pikachu, and Red watched as Ash traveled at the astonishing speed of half a kilometer an hour towards the spring. After about ten minutes, Ash had come to the lake that was twenty feet away from his original position. Falling in, Ash disappeared. After a few seconds, Red wondered idly if he was going to be known as the master who got his student killed after just three days.
Ash surfaced, gasping for breath. He gave a glare to a impassive Red, vowing to himself that he would never try to do something that he didn't know how to do like that again.
Red closed his eyes, focusing on not laughing at Ash, before his aura sight picked up on Ash, who was once again shining with his massive aura. Looking back on how Ash had looked when he had climbed out of the water, Red realized that Ash had been healed.
"So, can I guess that this spring heals those who fall or get thrown in it?" Red said to Pikachutwo, who blinked.
After he shared a short look with his friend, Pikachutwo responded, "Well, yes. It also restores our energy by-"
"Returning your aura to you by draining it from the air and converting it into usable aura. Yes, I figured that out too," Red interrupted, gaining attention from Ash.
"How d'you know that?" Ash shouted from his position on the grass thirty feet away. Red shot him a brief glance.
"You were almost completely drained of aura. A few more minutes and you would have either turned to stone or started to restore your aura."
Ash and Pikachu shared a brief glance before they both screamed at the top of their lungs a very empathetic "WHAT!"
Red looked at them before answering. "You were almost completely drained of aura. A few more minutes and you would have either turned to stone or started to restore your aura." Ash nearly facefaulted, but he was already lying on the grass. Thus he failed.
"N-no. I mean why."
"As fascinating as aura theory is, we should wait until we actually start your training. Since I want to get to Altomare before night falls, can we start your story about what went on here, and why the spring is underground?" Red said, dodging the question.
Ash groaned, wanting the same thing and realizing that he hadn't had any lunch, which his stomach seconded. Some of the clones shared a short conversation before going off into the nearby forest and grabbing some berries.
Snacks served, Ash began his story. "First off, this is the least known of my adventures. But anyways... We were going to the next gym in a bus around Mt Quena. There was a small glitch in the trip, but it was mostly uneventful. We came to the house of a few people investigating the spring at the top of the mountain. I forget their names, but they had an assistant named Domino."
"Team Rocket?"
"..."
"Thought so. They have an agent who's wanted by that name, throws roses all the time. I get the files on all known members of Team Rocket, in case you were wondering, in exchange for past services."
"...Okay. Well, anyways, we managed to get up the mountain, where we met the clones and Mewtwo. That's when we were captured by Giovanni and Domino revealed that she was part of Team Rocket. I don't know everything, but apparently Giovanni and the rest of Team Rocket captured all of the clones before Mewtwo showed up and started to dominate."
"Yeah. Basically Master Mewtwo beat up some of Team Rocket before threatening the man in the bad suit. The guy said that Mewtwo might win, but he would keep us and experiment on us. We would die during this, he said, unless Mewtwo surrendered. So Master Mewtwo showed how much he cared and was put into this machine that was going to drain his will and power," Pikachutwo said, all of the clones growling when he talked about Giovanni.
"So, we got out and everybody started to fight. Mewtwo broke out of the machines, but was going to die. I still didn't know that we had met before, but I still ran with him to the spring so he could be healed. I threw him in, and the mountain broke. I don't know what happened outside, but Mewtwo saved us all by moving the lake underground, and that's where it is today."
"We fought Team Rocket, but were going to lose, before a large number of bug type pokemon came over to stop Team Rocket from making another base on Mt Quena. Then the mountain broke," Meowthtwo said, answering the unspoken question.
"So we were all together underground, before Mewtwo said that he would erase everybody's memory, but we convinced him not to, by saying that people and pokemon had to remember the past to look forward to the future, and that by nobody remembering the event didn't mean that it didn't happen. Mewtwo agreed, and only erased the memories of Team Rocket and the researchers, so that the lake would be safe. Then he brought us away, and decided to travel, apparently stalking me," Ash finished, having summarized the major events.
Red had no response, having it all seem reasonable, but inwardly was gnashing his teeth in anger. 'Team Rocket... trying to some back after all this time... Do I have to repeat what I did more than ten years ago, and Gold did about seven years ago? To do something like this... Not taking over a city like Saffron or Goldenrod, but still... What next? Will they stir up someone who went out like Plasma or Ligeh? Hope not...' Getting up, the master of pokemon shot Ash a glance that clearly said to say his good-byes.
"What?"
Red sweatdropped, wondering what it would take to teach Ash. "Say farewell. We're leaving for Altomare."
Ash jumped up, waving to the clones and grabbing Pikachu in a one-armed grip. Red took out the glowing stone as the two humans stood near each other. "Mist Purge!"
The trio was enveloped in a purple glow as they disappeared. Pikachutwo and Meowthtwo stood staring at the spot they had been before Charizardtwo stepped forward. "Still say that we should have beaten em up."
"Chizar!"
Ash and Red blinked in at the museum that marked one of the highlights of Altomare. Grabbing his head from the headache that had developed, Ash looked around at the city that had gone to sleep for the night, trying to figure out which way led to Bianca's house.
"This way," Ash decided after a good few minutes, during which time Red had healed his headache with aura. Going off along the canal, the duo plus the sleeping Pikachu proceeded to get completely lost. After almost an hour of searching with no luck, the pair had ended up back at the museum, where Red glared at Ash. "What?"
Before Red could answer, a piece of paper fell out of the sky, with a map of Altomare on the front, one house circled in bright red. On the back was a note.
Trainer tips! Do not let Ash lead the way!
Red looked from the paper to Ash, before he walked off with the map, Ash in tow. "Hey! Let me lead, I've been here, after all!"
"No. You will get us lost."
"I didn't have a map!"
"The one to whom I promised my firstborn gave me an instruction and so I shall follow it."
"... Why your firstborn? That's so cliche."
"I don't think she would would be interested in money."
"Why she?"
"The Lady of Realities? You think it's a man?"
"Could be a title, like the king."
"Female kings are called queens."
"...Shut up."
Red laughed slightly as they arrived at a door. After Ash knocked, they heard a shout from inside. "I'll get it, grandpa!" The door opened to show a young woman of about eighteen with brown hair. After she looked at them, wondering why there were two strangers at the door, she suddenly perked up and said "Ash!"