Cha. 35

"What's wrong?" Gary turned to Ash, having no clue what he meant before.

Ash breathed out heavily and took out his staff, encoding it in a flow of aura. "Bad. Just know that this is very bad."

Lucario Mega Evolved and held out his hand on which a small, blue flame danced. The temporarily lighting allowed them to see into the cave. The fossils stirred.

"NO!" Ash jumped next to him and slapped the flame extinguished. "These things are fueled with Death Forces. Your aura will wake them up."

"Then what do we do?" Mega Lucario looked at him and stepped back.

"If this was last time, I would've rushed in." Ash closed his eyes. "But it's not. So we say we teleport up and regroup."

"Do you think that it'll let us teleport out this easily?" Misty shook her head. "Remember how last time teleportation shut off completely?"

"Actually," Domino spoke up. "I can reach out perfectly. I can get us out of here in a second."

"Then let's go. What are we waiting for?"

"No. Misty's right. It wouldn't let us out this easily," Domino said with a glint in her eyes. "IF it is well."

"What are you suggesting?" Ash looked at her.

"If it is powerful enough to trap us here like last time, it would have. However, it is just letting us go, which means that we are powerful enough to beat it currently."

Ash realized what she was saying and looked back at the Death Force through his Death Sight. "The Aerodactyl?"

"No. It's probably just using it as a form. It can go anywhere. Mega Lucario. Make sure you make a Protect of Aura large enough to cover the depression where the Aerodactyl sits. When I beat it, it'll just try to escape and possess another fossil."

"I thought they are already filled with Death Energy." Brock said.

"These Death Energy are relatively small, in fact, minimal. I'm guessing it's just to keep them alive for whatever purpose. The Dark Energy in the Aerodactyl is the main enemy."

Ash took a deep breath. "You ready?"

"Yep."

Ash and Domino dashed into the backside of the cave with Pikachu and Zorua, while Lucario started building a thick wall of aura between them and the squirming fossils on the outside.

Pikachu opened fire immediately as he turned the corner with a massive Thunder, which knocked something out of the air and was diffused.

Pikachu was about to second that when Ash yelled "Wait!"

Ash bent down and picked up the thing that intercepted Pikachu's Thunder. The Aerodactyl is still sleeping.

As his hand touched the thing, which now appeared to look like a button of some sort, and it started darkening. A coat of blue aura flowed to his skin instinctively.

A mass of Death Energy began to sizzle out into the air, as if evaporating. Mega Lucario shouted. "Ash. Did you get it? The Death Forces are disappearing in my Sight!"

"They Death Forces on the fossils are disappearing as well!"

Ash looked at the button he now had in his hand. "... I think I found something important… and false alarm, we don't have a Death Creature."

"What?" Mega Lucario broke the shield and walked in with the rest of the group. He took a look at the button in Ash's hand and gasped. "That was what was releasing the Death Forces?"

"Yep. An object inscribed with Death Forces." Ash nodded. "It's like how something, like a Mega Stone, is inscribed in Aura, which doesn't have to come off a living being."

"So no Death Creatures?" Misty sighed with a breath of relief.

"Nope."
"Good!" Brock said. "Don't want to live through THAT again."

"Wait. How could a button keep all of these fossils alive?" Domino asked.

"Maybe the button was extremely infused with Death Forces many thousands of years ago. And then it was all spent protecting these fossils for whatever reason when they collapsed into this cave."

"After that, they just started to hibernate, while the button just sits here?"

"I guess that makes sense." Ash nodded and closed his eyes. "Whatever the case, there definitely is not anymore Death Forces here, so no Death Creatures."

"Hey look! Something is written on the button." Domino pointed at the no-longer-infused button.

"It says…" She squinted to get a better look. "Potter?"

"What the heck does THAT mean?"

A roar brought their attention back in front of them and discovered the Aerodactyl's large eyes staring at them.

Pikachu rolled his eyes. "C'mon, big guy. Calm down. We're trying to figure out some world mysteries right now."

Aerodactyl roared again, and he stood up, a huge globe of white energy charging in his mouth.

Pikachu sighed. "You're forcing me to electrocute you."

With that, he released a pent-up Thunderbolt that he didn't get to use on the nonexistent Death Creature. Aerodactyl fell to the ground, paralyzed.

Brock shrugged and took out a Pokéball. "Thanks, Pikachu. You're getting stronger and stronger."

The yellow mouse shrugged. "Nah. He's just too weak. He's been trapped here for millenniums, has no room to use his Flying abilities, AND who knows what the Death Forces did to him over the course of time."

The Pokéball absorbed the Fossil Pokémon. As Pikachu predicted, he was too weak to protest, and was promptly captured.

Ash took the button over and threw it in his backpack. Looking around, he shrugged. "I guess… that was a bit anticlimactic."

Misty shrugged. "You can't expect every moment of your life to be suspenseful, Ash. And with Domino's teleportation, we've been traveling around A LOT faster, and going through adventures faster too."

Brock walked over to a unwoken Omastar. "Will you join my team?"

He was, of course, given no response.

"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as a yes."

Silence. Domino rolled her eyes. "Just capture what you want and let's get out of here. It's too dark for my liking."

As his friends tried to capture Pokémon, Ash closed his eyes and did one final sweep with Death Sight, and then Aura Sight.

Something flickered with a brown light in Aura Sight next to the Aerodactyl. Ash bent down and picked it up. A smirk came to his face. Mega Stone.

Mega Stone lying next to Aerodactyl. Wonder what THAT means?

A few minutes later, the group was teleported out, with Brock's addition of Aerodactyl and Omastar, and Misty's getting a Kabutops early.

Giselle decided to add a Kabuto to her team that she wanted to train up.

Violet settled with an Omanyte instead of an Omastar because "I don't like spikes."

"Okay, Ash. Do some explaining. What the hell was all of that?" Gary fold his arms across his chest.

Ash scratched his head. "Well… I don't know. Do you remember the Tomb of the Pokélantis from last time?"

Gary nodded. "Yeah, you were just telling me about it during Grandad's party before Domino dragged you away. By the way, are you two a thing now?"

"No! Why would everyone think so!? That's insane!" Ash coughed and quickly returned to the previous subject. "Anyways, this time I went through the tomb, there was this really weird creature, and it carries a force completely opposite of aura."

"Wait… but aura is life force." Gary questioned. "The opposite of life…"

"Death." Ash finished, looking at his childhood friend. "A creature of death. The force of death. The same force that was on that button in the cave."

Gary stared at him.

Ash began again. "In the tomb, it somehow managed to create what Dexter called a paradox. We entered a room through an entrance. Perfectly normal. But then, when we try to exit, it keeps looping us back to the same room!"

"Spatial disorientation?" Gary asked.

Ash shook his head. "No. We managed to shut that possibility down in the room already. Short story is, if there is a spatial mirror, then our foreheads will loop back to become our our neck, and our neck would become our arm… and end up being a glop of flesh."

"It was the Death Creature. We don't know how either? Even Mew's teleportation didn't work."

Gary took a deep breath after comprehending everything. "You know Ash, if anyone else said the same thing to me, I would probably sign the guy into an asylum."

"But, still…" Gary sighed. "Even those words coming out of YOU, it's still…"

Ash nodded. "I know. I couldn't believe it either. It might seem really weird now, but we were scared to death in the tomb, not only by the prospect of death but the creepiness."
"I can see." The Oak boy nodded. "What can the Death Forces do, besides making paradoxes?"

"I'm not sure. Another thing we encountered in the tomb was a bunch of sculptures- possessed, or enhanced, whatever word you want to use- by the Death Force. It is immune to Pokémon attacks, because it reforms after you break it."

"Mew had to pummel one with, like, four Prismatic Lasers, to evaporate it to kill it." Ash's face twitched as he recalled the battle. "Good thing the Death Forces were weak, and we were able to neutralize it with a crap ton of aura from our aura reservoirs."

Gary took a deep breath. "Did you tell Grandad this yet?"

"No."

"I'm sure he'll be VERY interested."

Ash nodded. "I'll make sure Dexter put that down on the to-do list."

"Noted."

"Hey Ash?"

The Ketchum boy turned around and looked at his friend that had accompanied him through all of his childhood. The first to talk to him since his mother and him moved to Pallet.

"Remember: if you need any help, I'll be there in a sec." He smirked.

Ash smiled. "Me too, Gary, me too.

"Defensive Curl! Then Flare Blitz to him and Tackle!" James commanded. Growlie carried out the orders perfectly, knocking the wind out of Brotch's Rhyhorn, ending the battle, while the Arcanine landed gracefully on the padding of his feet.

Jessie had already finished her side of the battle with Metang, easily beating Cassidy's Vileplume. She dashed over and picked her up.

And slapped her across the face.

And again.

And again.

"WHO's in CHARGE here!?" Jessie yelled.

"You…" Cassidy said in a small voice.

Jessie grinned. "Good."

James spoke up. "What will you not do next time?"

"Steal Ash Ketchum."

James gave them a look. "Damn right. Team Rocket doesn't need an enemy as terrifying as Ash Ketchum. Why else would Boss not say anything about Ms. Domino traveling with him?"

Cassidy and Broccoli stared at him. "Domino's traveling with HIM!?"

The Rocket Trio facepalmed, and Growlie also imitated them by covering his face with his paws.

Metang sighed. "When you fail so bad…"

"A Farfetch'd?" Domino expressed her very distinct interest. "Hmmm… I want one."

Ash shrugged. "He has an owner already."

"Didn't he try to steal our Pokémon?" Misty said, slightly pissed.

The blonde smirked. "Stealing Pokémon? I think I know someone who's an Elite for an organization largely dedicated to stealing Pokémon for profit."

"We will not handle crime with more crime." Ash replied.

"But it'll be fun!" Domino gave him a spoiled look.

Ash sighed. "Fine. It'll be funny to see him get pranked."

"Yay!" Misty cheered along with the Elite.

Brock shook his head. "No wonder everone says that girls love revenge."

He pulled out the draft of his Book of Pickups, sequel to the first book of the series, Big Book of Flirts, and jotted down something.

Ash poked his over and sweatdropped. It read: I love you like you love revenge.

Pikachu reached over and slapped him with an Iron Tail. "That's worse than one about the Jynx and the love spell!"

"What about…" Brock pondered his choices and came up with another one. "Revenge might be a dish serve cold, but I make sure the sex is piping hot!"

Dexter beeped. "You copied that off the Internet."

Misty knocked into the boy while she was 'chasing' after the Farfetch'd, her backpack falling to the floor and false tripping with an yelp.

"I'm so sorry!" The boy got up and pulled her up and handed her a backpack… not hers.

Misty sneered silently and got up. "Me too! Are you okay?"

"Fine." Keith ran off without a second sentence.

The Cerulean Leader smirked. "Step one, complete!"

Domino nodded to Noah, who had a giant, holographic screen set up in front of him.

"Initiating step two."

Keith arrived at his tent and threw the backpack down. His Farfetch'd jumped out of the bushes and waved at him. He ran over and gave his Pokémon a high-five. "Another successful mission!"

Farfetch'd chirped and gestured at the backpack with his bill. Keith pet the Pokémon and laughed. "I'm curious too."

He went over and opened it, and was promptly knocked back into Wild Duck Pokémon by a force.

"Force Palm delivered. Smokescreen initiated."

A massive cloud of smoke oozed out of the backpack. A large, pink face dotted with green eyes, a mouth and dots encircling the face formed, and pale ghost fires started lighting up next to him.

The sky began to darken, and started raining.

Blood.

"Releasing Spiritomb. Using Will-o-wisps. Using Rain Dance."

"How's Kirlia doing?"

"She still has gallons and gallons of red dye from Bulbasaur. The rain clouds are throughly painted." Domino said.

Ash shook his head at the prank in front of him. "This is so…"

"Unkind? Inhumane? Unlawful?" Domino supplied.

Ash looked at her sparkling purple eyes and smirked. "Yeah, and fun!"

Keith screamed and clutched Farfetch'd, and both crouched down in fear and shivered on the ground, screaming.

The large face hovered over them, dripping the red rain drops on them, and began in a cold, telepathic voice.

"How DARE YOU!"

"HOW DARE YOU AWAKEN ME!?"

Keith screamed again on the top of his lungs. "NO! It's not my fault!"

"How dare you… you… Wait! Who are you!? You're not even her! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER!?"

"No, no, no!" Keith began crying. "Please don't hurt me."

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HERRRR!?"

"No… nothi… ng." Keith stuttered. "I… I bumped into her, and I guess I took the wrong backpack…"

"LIAR!"

Keith's face twitched and buried his head in his hands.

The voice thundered on. "Your pulse quickened by 20%. You STOLE me from her!"

"No...no…"

"SHUT YOUR TRAP AND LISTEN TO ME, SINNER!"

Keith choked on his tears and looked up at the red, devious face, covered in blood.

"STEALING IS A SIN! YOU HEAR ME!? A SIN! TAKING POSSESSION OF SOMEONE ELSE'S STUFF!? UNTHINKABLE!"

"HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF I, SAY, STEAL YOUR SOUL RIGHT NOW!?"

Keith fell on the ground, crying his eyes out and whimpered. "Please don't hurt me…"

Ash poked Domino lightly on the side, who was currently rolling on the ground, laughing with Misty.

He grabbed her up by aura, and she was still laughing in his grip.

Ash rolled his eyes and turned to Noah, while Misty was being dragged up by Brock. "Okay, let's not be overly cruel."

"This… is… killing… me!" Tears streamed out of the blonde's eyes from laughter, and she pounced back onto the grass, bringing Ash with her.

"YOU WILL NEVER STEAL AGAIN! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!? BOTH OF YOU! NEVER!"

Keith and his Farfetch'd nodded his head exaggeratedly.

"IF I SEE YOU COMMIT THIEVERY AGAIN, I WILL COME FOR YOUR SOUL!"

With that, the smoke began to disappear, and the face diffuse back into the backpack. It lifted off by itself and started toward the forest.

The Will-o-wisps died off, and the red rain stopped, leaving only the boy and the Wild Duck kneeling cowardly in the field, shaking. Both of them were dripped in red dye and mud.

"This is horrible." Ash remarked as Noah shut off the spy-cam. "I can't believe that was so fun."

Domino burst out laughing again and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "C'mon, relax a little, Ashy. It's a good way to deal with stress, especially the stress of saving the world."

Ash nodded. "I guess, but I do feel a little bit bad."

"Good enough." Domino replied. "I was predicting your feeling extremely bad."

Professor Oak sat across the table from the giant white board full of equations and numbers and looked at his old friend.

"What do you think? Did I get it right?"

Celebi shot him a look. "Yes if you only want to shoot one electron through time. With this, you can't even make ONE atom time-travel."

Oak shrugged. "It's a good enough beginning. Remember. I'm doing this as a mass-producing project. Imagine a thousand machines lining up to shoot electrons through space-time.

Celebi rolled her eyes. "Then what?"

Oak coughed, slightly embarrassed. "It's a working project!"

He went back to working on the board, and Celebi watched with her eyes half-closed.

"I can't believe they forgot Togepi!" Meowth yelled as he gently picked up the egg in the fossil site. "This is intolerable!"

Jessie took the egg over from the talking Pokémon, with quite some difficulty, in fact. "C'mon, let's go. We need to return it to Ash."

"Return it!?" Meowth shouted. "But I want Togepi!"

James sighed. "I know you loved the little kid, Meowth, but you have to let her go."

"Misty is a way better parent than us. She's stable… when she's not following Ash, and she's a great trainer. She'll give him immense care."

"If she stays with Team Rocket, she'll grow up in an environment of darkness. We still are an underground organization, even though Boss now trust us with a lot of stuff."

Meowth looked unsure, and he looked back at the peaceful egg in his hold.

"Misty is like her mother, and they spent so much time together and had so much memories." Jessie continued. "Ripping her out of her mother's hands will be so cruel to Togepi."

James looked to the Scratch Cat. "A parent would never let his daughter get hurt now, will him?"

Meowth looked down at the egg with tears in his eyes. A drop fell on the shell, and he sighed. "I don't wanna leave you."

Jessie gently took him. "Let's pay a visit to Professor Oak. He'll know where they are."

Giratina, Mew 1, Mew 2 and Mewtwo sat at the table with giant mahjong tiles.

"HEY! No psychic!" Mew 1 tossed a Psybeam at her sister, while glaring at Mewtwo. "Just because this is your mind doesn't mean you can cheat!"

Mewtwo silently retracted the eye from behind Mew, while stating honorably. "I don't cheat. I observe."

Giratina took out an eyeball and squashed it into its original psychic elements. "Observe that."

The Renegrade Dragon shook his head. "This is like playing poker with my brothers and Arceus all over again."

"We ended up having to have Aaron be the referee to catch any violation of rules."

"Rules?" Both Mew asked curiously.

Giratina silently took out a giant binder and tossed it above the table. "Yep! TRAROTDPB." The Rules And Regulations Of The Deity Poker Bloodshed."

All three psychic legends sweatdropped.

"Ash?" Bulbasaur tapped his trainer with a vine. "Can I talk to you privately?"

"Of course." Ash nodded and excused himself from the pool table and headed to a corner of the Pokémon Center. "What's up?"

Bulbasaur fidgeted, and finally found the courage to begin. "We're almost at the Mysterious Garden for Bulbasaur's evolution. And… I don't know what to do?"

Ash smiled at him warmly. "You're not sure whether you to evolve?"

Bulbasaur nodded.

His trainer asked, "I thought you strongly refused to last time?"

"Yeah, but this time is different." The Poison/Grass Type looked at his trainer with seriousness. "We're going against a power that could contort space-time this time. THe world is at danger. I need to be strong to carry the load."

Ash picked up his loyal Pokémon and set him on his lap. "That's so chivalrous, Bulbasaur, but don't worry about the world yet."

"Remember, our friends are here with us, and we're going to encounter a lot more friends still. We will work together to be strong, to beat Cyrus and to defend the world. It's not a one-man job, Bulbasaur."

"But… you've sacrificed so much yourself!" Bulbasaur protested, a glint of tears glistening. "Your childhood was dedicated to saving the world, saving us!"

Ash smiled. "It's an honor to having been the one to stand up for what's right. It was no sacrifice. It was a privilege."

"And I need to do the same!" Bulbasaur looked at him with determination.

"Listen to me, Bulbasaur. Listen closely." Ash began gently. "You're a great Pokémon. Strong, loyal, smart. Evolving may bring you a sudden surge of power, but at the end of the day, you can get the power by training hard."

"Look at Pikachu. He can probably beat thirty Raichu in a tug of electricity. Evolving isn't the only way to become powerful. In fact, evolving is just a way to show that you are powerful. As you began to get more experienced, you changed your form."

"But that's not great a lot of the times. If you evolve to Venusaur, and I know fully well you can in a heartbeat if you want, you will have to fight using your increased size, and stopped with your current style centered on speed."

"My point is, evolving isn't the only way to get strong." Ash looked at the Seed Pokémon. "Don't let any other factors influence your decision of evolution. You will evolve only because you would want to, and not anything else."

Bulbasaur nodded as he absorbed Ash's words.

"You're good enough for whatever comes our way, I promise you. Have fun. That was what Arceus said to us before he sent Domino and me down. We will do what we can, and let fate take care of the rest."

"And believe me: Fate is always on our side. Just look at all of the life-and-death situations we've been in. It's a miracle I can still stand here!"

"Then I've decided. I want to remain in this form. We don't need to go to the garden." Bulbasaur sucked in a deep breath. "And I will train harder to get more powerful everyday!"

Ash smiled. "Okay, Bulbasaur. That's great! I'll get you an Everstone as a present someday."

The Grass/Poison Type walked away, with tears in his eyes. Who needed fate, when you had a trainer who would support you to the end?

Celebi flashed in front of Misty and waved. "HI!"

Misty choked on her milkshake in surprise and yelped. "Wha…"

"Sorry to surprise you." The Time Traveler looked apologetic. "So… how's life?"

"Great?" The redhead looked at the legendary in front of her. "Not to be rude but, why are you here?"

Celebi placed an egg on the table next to her drink. "Long story short, the Rocket Trio found your Togepi's egg that you guys forgot at the Fossil Site, and they came to Professor Oak and asked him to hand it to you."

Misty didn't pay attention to anything she said after the words: "Togepi's egg". She looked at the dotted egg lovingly and hugged it to her. Quickly, she took out a blanket and wrapped it around the shell.

"No need. Just ask Ash to restore her memory for you." Celebi said. "Also, Meowth said that if you don't spoil her, he will rip through time space to come find you."

Misty sweatdropped and turned around to call Ash. When she turned back, Celebi already disappeared. She shrugged and went back to the Center.

Domino grabbed onto Ash's hand. "I want to do it this time."

Ash smirked. "Be my guest, Princess."

The girl held out a hand and placed it on the egg, which started shining.

"I guess the familiarity rule is irrelevant?" Ash said.

The Elite smirked. "Nah, it's just that I'm awesome!"

Ash put an arm on her shoulder. "You are."

The egg's glow began to be blinding. After reaching maximum, they heard a crack. When the lights died down, a giant Togekiss almost filling up the entire room emerged.

"You never told me she was a Togekiss!" Domino said, pissed, as she tried to become un-squished from the wall.

"Togekiss!" Misty sent her beloved Pokémon out again on the grass. "I missed you!"

Togekiss welcomed her hug and snuggled her head into her trainer's hair. "I missed you too, Mama. What happened?"

Dexter and Noah materialized at the same time, used to the routine. Misty sweatdropped. "It's a long story. A very, very long story. Let's not let these unnecessary details interrupt us."

Dexter turned to look at his counterpart. "Did we just get called unnecessary details?"

Noah nodded with a pained look on his face. "Affirmative. We did."

A/N: Any clever names for Death Creature? What about Death Force? Give me ideas for something cool!

Please review. They are appreciated, and it'll take you less than ten seconds.