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Ya'll have no idea what I am working up to. I really hope you love it.
Part 12
In a pool of emptiness, Phoenix finds himself cold and alone. It is so dark where he is that he cannot see even his hands before him. He feels the hair on his skin prickle as the temperature drops even more. He wonders if this is death. He feels an intolerable hole filled with grief form in his stomach.
Suddenly, darkness spills away from the scene before him. The darkness begins to flee when it is confronted by a single ray of light, then two, then a multitude. Phoenix watches as the light bounces off his own tanned skin and his body becomes visible once again. He fills the hole filling with hope.
Green.
What is the significance? Why does this green light bring such comfort and peace?
Phoenix struggles trying to reach out and grab something forgotten; something so deep that it seems to have been lost to him.
"Ahh!" Phoenix yells out as his eyes snap open. His heart beats quickly and sweat beads across his forehead.
"Phoenix," Ferra speaks softly, "you're okay!"
"Ferra?" he asks, looking around to find himself in a bright white room.
"I knew you would be okay, but I couldn't help worry anyway!" Ferra squeezes his hand tighter.
Phoenix lays back in the hospital's low thread count sheets and watches their hands intertwine.
Ferra watches him sit in silence, noticing a deep frown staining his usually happy features.
After a few minutes he looks up to her and asks, "it was Team Rocket, wasn't it?"
"The agents that were captured won't speak, but we assume so." She says with a sympathetic smile.
Phoenix doesn't say anything immediately, but contemplates the conclusions he has made.
"It was always Team Rocket, wasn't it?" Phoenix asks again quietly which confuses Ferra.
"Yes," a man's voice answers from the doorway. There they find Professor Gary Oak standing in the door frame.
"How did I not know?" Phoenix asks, piecing his ideas together.
The Professor enters the room and stands on the other side of the bed opposite to Ferra.
"When Team Rocket attacked, we went after them," he explained, "and we made good progress. Team Rocket went into hiding for a few years."
"All this time, I thought it was just a fire," Phoenix shakes his head, "and then a bomb explodes and everything came back to me. I remember that day so clearly now. I remember packing to leave, grabbing Charvo's egg, the explosion and Lance. There was a green light too; the one thing I just can't remember."
"You were so scared, Phoenix, and angry." The professor shakes his head sadly and says, "when you couldn't remember what happened, everyone agreed it would be better that you think an accident took your family instead of Team Rocket."
"So, gran knows," Phoenix guesses, leaning back feeling slightly distressed.
"Yes," the professor confirms.
"Does my dad?" Ferra asks. She had been told the same lie for her entire life.
The professor nods in response, "we knew that we would tell you someday, but we didn't know that something like this would ever happen. We thought it would be safer for you if you didn't know."
"What did happen at the festival?" Phoenix asks, confused why the festival had become a target.
"We're not really sure," the professor confesses, "but we think they may have been targeting you which is why you need to know now."
"Me?" Phoenix asks, bewildered.
"Have you interfered with them in any way? The professor asks thoughtfully.
"Yeah!" Ferra says, "When we first left Pewter, we fought off a team of Rockets who were attacking Grant Roque and his news crew."
"And then we fought them in the Rock Tunnel." Phoenix adds.
"Two encounters seem pretty minimal," Ferra says, "why would they go after Phoenix for two encounters?"
"As Ash's son, they probably think he's a threat." The professor hypothesizes.
"They should," Phoenix whispers darkly.
"What?" Ferra turns sharply at his words.
Phoenix sits up in his hospital bed, wincing from his aching body.
"Phoen," Ferra moves to comfort him, "lay back. You need to rest."
Phoenix ignores her and pulls the I.V. and monitor out of his arm causing alarms to blare. Then he throws his legs over the side of the bed and stands up.
"All this time, Ferra," Phoenix shakes his head, tears starting to fall from his eyes, "they were murdered! My dad, my mom, my five-year-old sister."
Ferra sees the pain in his eyes and wraps her arms around his body.
"Excuse me," a nurse enters the room, "is everything alright? I was alerted that the patient has been disconnected from the monitor."
"He's alright," the professor says, watching the two teens embrace, "he'll be alright."
The nurse nods, seeing that Phoenix is alright and leaves. A loud vibration buzzes from the night stand causing Phoenix and Ferra separate. Phoenix continues to lean on her for support.
"Your phone has been buzzing all night," Ferra says, "but I don't know your pass code."
Phoenix grabs the phone and taps in his passcode.
"Did you see Quinn and Austin?" Ferra asks the professor.
"Yeah, Quinny and the boy were having lunch in the cafeteria," the professor says.
"No…" Phoenix breathes while reading his text messages, "the obsidian sphere."
"What happened?" the professor asks, very concerned.
"Will has left me a bunch of messages. His father, Bill, had the Obsidian Sphere stored in a secret government location, but now it's gone missing."
"What do you mean it's gone?" the professor says frantically, "I've been studying this prophecy for over a decade. This is bad."
"Everyone, look outside!" Austin yells as he runs into the hospital with Quinn following behind.
"What?" Phoenix asks, hobbling with Ferra over to the window.
"The sky," Ferra says in awe, "it's so dark."
The five people in the hospital room look out of the window as a plume of darkness rises just over the horizon.
"It looks like it's over the bicycle bridge," Quinn points out towards the northwest.
"There was an abandoned Team Rocket Base under the bridge," the professor informs them, "I'm guessing it's not abandoned any longer.
"Then we know where to go," Phoenix says, a look of determination darkening his face.
"Phoenix!" Delia Ketchum screams as she runs to the young boy, "oh my, Phoenix."
"Gran!" Phoenix cries in response. He melts into his grandmother's arms on contact and sobs.
"I'm so sorry, Phoenix," Delia cries and caresses his ash filled auburn hair, "I'm so sorry."
"Rai," Raichu says forlornly.
"Oh Raichu," Delia shakes her head at the sight of him. The orange and black fur seems foreign. She holds out one arm to signal for him to join them, and he complies.
"Rai rai!" he whines in their embrace.
"Mrs. Ketchum," Lance interrupts, "I need to talk to you alone."
"I'll keep an eye on Phoenix," Professor Oak Sr. assures her. "Come here, son, I'd like to take a look at your new friend."
"Okay," Phoenix says, wiping his eyes and pulling his backpack off his back.
"Charmander?" the little lizard questions from inside the bag.
"It's okay, buddy," Phoenix tells him, "I have someone who wants to meet you. He has met a lot of Chamander, so he knows what to do."
"Charmander?" he cocks his head, too young to fully understand.
"My, what a beautiful pokemon," Delia says softly as she exits the main area with Lance.
Professor Oak Sr. takes Charmander from Phoenix and sets him on the exam table.
"Phoenix, you've hatched a one in a million here," Professor Oak can't help but smile at the rarity despite the grim circumstances.
"What do you mean?" Phoenix asks curiously.
Professor Oak Sr. gives Charmander a piece of Pokemon food which he takes and eats greedily.
"This Charmander is a color variant." in Professor explains, "he is what people have come to call 'shiny'."
Phoenix looks at his new Pokemon, "that's pretty neat."
"Indeed," the professor nods, "I am going to give him a full checkup and grab a pokeball. Why don't you decide if you want to give him a nickname."
"Hm," Phoenix thinks, "I didn't think of that. My parents don't nickname many of their Pokemon. Just Splash."
"It's up to you," the professor assures him.
"Okay," Phoenix nods as he watches the professor examine his Pokemon.
All of the events of the evening have made him numb, but this new life before him has become his only solace.
"Phoenix," the professor says softly, "I know that you are not alright, right now."
Phoenix looks up to him with confusion, anger, and hurt evident in his eyes.
"I'm feeling a lot of hurt and sadness right now too," the professor shares, "I can only imagine your pain."
Phoenix doesn't respond, but listens carefully.
"I want you to know that you were the pride of your parents' lives," he tells the devastated boy, shedding tears of his own, "and for all the Pokemon that they ever loved, they loved you a million times more."
Phoenix nods, wetness streaming down his cheeks.
"And I want you to know that your uncle Gary and I will always be here for you." He rests his hands on the boy's shoulders.
"Thanks professor," Phoenix says, embracing the elderly man.
"Phoenix," Delia reenters the room. It looks as though she wiped her tears away and is trying to appear strong. "We're going to stay here at the lab for a few days.
"Why?" Phoenix asks, "can't we go to your house?"
"We will," she nods her head, "but it's important that we stay here for a few days. Your parents' Pokemon need us for support and we need them.
What Phoenix didn't know was that this was a lie. In reality, no one knew if Phoenix and Raichu were really safe.
Phoenix: Charizard, Fletchinder, Luxio, Primeape, Pikachu, Sandshrew, Kabuto, Psyduck, Oddish, Rattata, Nidorino, Rhyhorn,
Ferra: Alolan Vulpix, Marowak, Clefairy, Charmeleon, Poliwhirl
Austin: Charizard, Pidgeotto, Weepinbell, Graveller
Quinn: Arcanine, Flaaffy, Wartortle, Spheal, Skitty, Deerling
I know this chapter was a little short, but I needed to tie up a few things and the action is about to begin. I really hope I have roped you in with curiosity! Stick around. Big happenings coming next. I promise!
I'm going to take extra care on the climax of the story (the next three chapters), so you might need to pester me to get on it ;D The entire time I've been working on this, I have been so excited to write and share the next parts. The hard part for me has been writing an intro and rising actions that were worthy of it.
Love, Alert, Review!