Max stared at his mentor, his eyes wide with fright. Ash clasped Max's mouth shut and dragged the ten-year-old into the janitor's closet.
Ash flicked the light switch, bringing the room into view. A miniscule closet, made even smaller by jam-packed cleaning supplies, forced the two to huddle together. Max stiffened in an attempt to keep his knees from knocking together. It didn't work.
"Well?" Ash asked, fixing Max with his best stink-eye while keeping his voice entirely calm. "What'd you hear?"
Max gulped. "I heard Lance's voice, something about an email, and that those Rocket operatives that we found outside the Center attacked you." He took a shaky breath and continued on. "You work for Lance."
Lance said that he'd like to recruit Max, eventually. May as well give him a little information to get him interested.
"I can't deny that statement," Ash answered, malice infiltrating his voice.
"Blue, too?" the rookie trainer asked.
Ash nodded.
"What are you doing here?"
"Besides a few personal matters, Lance sent us here on a mission."
"Who else knows that you took down the Rockets?"
Ash frowned. "Brock."
Max raised an eyebrow. "Well?"
"Well what?" Ash said, crossing his arms.
"How'd you beat the Rocket Operatives?"
Ash bit the inside of his lip as he considered the best way to answer his trainee's question. "Blue and I know what we're doing in that department. I need you to listen to me, Max," he continued, lowering his voice. "Everything you've heard puts both Blue and I in extreme jeopardy if it gets passed on to the wrong people. Lives could be risked. Don't make me regret trusting you."
"W-what happens if I say something I shouldn't?" Max asked, masking the quaver in his voice.
"We would have to wipe your memory after you assist us in tracking down whomever you told about us."
Max gulped. "Don't worry- my lips are sealed."
"They'd better be. We need to head back to our seats- don't want to make everyone suspicious," Ash said, opening the door. Max followed him out and fell into step next to the veteran trainer as they began to make their way back to their friends.
Ash watched as Max tried to keep an eye on him. The aura wielder's instinct told him that Max was worried about inquiries into his awkward closet warning.
"No one saw us, Max. If they did, they wouldn't care. Most of these people aren't curious enough to ask questions."
Max gave a thoughtful nod. "If you say so."
The two walked in silence for a few moments before Max spoke up again.
"Hey, Red?"
The elder trainer nodded.
"If you did end up having to wipe my memory... how'd that work?"
Ash paused in his tracks, causing Max to nearly slam into him. "One of two ways. Option one is through a Psychic Pokemon. Option two is to induce amnesia, completely eliminating memories from three days to a month before your violation."
Max cringed. "So you'd wallop me on the head or something like that?"
"Not quite. I'll stop there. You already know too much, little guy."
The younger trainer refrained from asking any of the questions that were buzzing through his mind, and thought.
"As-Red... oh. Never mind."
Ash smiled as he saw the wheels turning within his trainee's head. He'd figure it out, of course. The main question was if Max could realize the truth before things started falling apart.
From Ash's experiences, people never did. It was always too late, and the regions had started to fall by the time that his potential allies realized the truth. Maybe this time would be different.
Maybe he was being overly optimistic. Maybe he was right in his cynicism. Had three years with the G-Men really jaded him to that extent?
"You're back!" Aurian exclaimed. "You missed all the good stuff."
Brock nodded. "It was a pretty close call, but Michael managed to pull through in the end. His last Pokémon barely took down Jasmine's Steelix."
"He had some problems with that gym," Ash said. "Never had a type advantage. Who's up now?"
"Some guy named Tobias," Misty answered, leaning against the railing. "Never heard of him."
Ash paled at the statement. "Think I've heard of him. We'll find out, though."
Tobias' opponent was a Unovian gym leader named Cheren, who looked to be in his mid-twenties.
The stadium went silent as Tobias carelessly tossed out aDarkrai. Misty's mouth dropped to the floor, Brock paled, and the trainees shook their heads in disbelief.
That's the Darkrai that you fought, right? Aurian asked through Kokani, catching Ash's eyes.
Ash nodded. Yeah. I think it's gotten stronger.
Damn. But it was so powerful back then... Aurian trailed off.
Cheren doesn't stand a chance. I know he's a fantastic trainer, but his Normals won't hold up. The only Pokémon that stands a chance of knocking a dark-type that strong out is a fighter or a bug, but bugs are notorious for weaknesses- and Tobias isn't stupid enough to ignore blatant type advantages.
Aurian sighed. Is anyone here strong enough to take him down?
I don't know.
Aurian bit the inside of her lip. If Ash showed uncertainty about the level that Darkrai and its trainer trained to, they were in for a wild ride. From the sounds of things, the guy trained his team well. Too well, in fact, and that's what scared her. Everything seemed too easy for him. She grimaced as Darkrai took down Cheren's Stoutland in four hits.
Something wasn't right. Darkrai's strength didn't come from vitamins or Rare Candies, though. She wanted to analyze it with her Aura Sight, but its trainer returned it to its Pokéball before she had the chance.
The battle ended almost as quickly as it began. Cheren left the field, still in a daze, while the crowd went wild for Tobias. His trainee stood a little off to the side- red hair standing out against everything in the stadium.
Ash narrowed his eyes. I've seen that kid before. He's not a new trainer, though... so what's he doing under Tobias?
"I think that's enough for today," Brock said halfheartedly. "Who's up for lunch?"
Everyone agreed, and the group set out for the Pokémon center. Noah and Michael joined the group about halfway between the stadium and the Center, and were congratulated for an amazing win.
"Thanks, guys," Michael replied. "We never really had all that many Steel-types back in Orre, so that's kind of the hitch in my training plan. I know what to do if I face another specialist, though."
Aurian grinned. "Faint 'em with fire?"
"More or less," Michael replied with a laugh. He glanced over at Noah, who was chatting animatedly with the other trainees about what it was like to stand with their mentors in the box. "I think the trainees really enjoyed the battles today."
Ash nodded. "Yeah, I think Max's eyes were about to pop out of his head for the entire round."
The three G-Men walked in silence.
"Things have been quiet as of late," Aurian said.
Michael sighed. "From the things that I've picked up on, things won't stay that way for long. Saw some poorly disguised Cipher grunts outside the arena after my battle."
"Strange," Ash mused. "They don't normally show themselves until their plans are prepared. What're they up to?"
The Center loomed before them as the conversation died away. Brock and Misty caught up, and were nearly rammed into by Noah. The Kanto native had company, though- Max and Maddy hitched a ride on the back of his chair.
"I can't pull you all, you know!" he exclaimed. "My arms aren't that strong."
Maddy winked. "It was fun, though!"
Max looked a little green, and tottered around a little bit as he regained his balance. "Never again... anyways, who wants food?"
The group cheered as they stormed the Center for lunch.
Ash, being his usual gluttonous self, piled a plate high with everything and bickered with Aurian about his appetite, while Pikachu egged his trainer on. Maddy fed her Cyndaquil, Noah absentmindedly stroked his Squirtle's shell, and Misty fed her Azumarill a special blend of food for water-types.
Max motioned Brock over as they stood in line for the buffet.
"Hey, I saw you pull Red and Blue aside the other day. What'd you ask them?"
The Pokémon Doctor frowned. "What's this about, Max?"
The smaller trainer leaned in a little closer. "I know who they're working for."
Brock's eyebrows went up. "Do you now? I'd like to hear how you managed that. Enlighten me."
Max adjusted his glasses with a smirk. "Only if you tell me what they told you."
Brock sighed and rubbed his temples. "You drive a hard bargain, little Maple. You're lucky that I trust you. They told me that they'd been in intense training for the past three years, and that they'd been sworn to secrecy for whatever purpose they were here to fulfill."
"They're working for Lance," Max said, glancing around to check for eavesdroppers.
Brock thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Should've seen that one coming. Lance mentioned that he headed a peacekeeping corps when I was in Johto with Misty and... anyways, what else?"
"Red threatened to wipe my memory if I tell anyone what they're up to."
"Aren't you in violation of that right now?" Brock asked, quickly looking over his shoulder.
Max grinned. "He's already suspicious of you, since you figured out that they were involved in the fight the other night. As if the gash on his arm didn't make that obvious."
"Tell you what," Brock said. "Let's work together, try to figure this thing out. If they take one of us down, the other keeps working to figure out what's really going on with those two. Sound like a plan?"
Max nodded. "Shake on it."
Brock extended his right hand, and Max did the same.
"What do we do now?" Max asked.
"Act like we never had this conversation. Do you still have my Pokégear number?"
Max nodded.
"We'll communicate through that. Delete all messages immediately after you read them."
The younger Maple whistled. "Dang. We're just as bad as they are."
Brock shrugged. "Trouble always seemed to follow us around when we travelled together... better safe than sorry, am I right?"
Max's sad smile caught Brock off guard.
"If he hasn't come back by now, he's either gone forever or doesn't want to be found."
"No," Max answered. "Red's connected to him somehow, and I'd like to find out what's binding those two together. Blue, as well- I'm getting the feeling that she isn't who she says she is, either. Dad always said to never ignore strings of coincidences..."
Brock chuckled. "Your dad's a smart man. Let's head back before they get suspicious."
Ash and Aurian watched from across the room.
Didn't see that one coming, Aurian noted. Thought it'd be Brock and Misty that teamed up to uncover us.
Brock and Max were especially close through Hoenn and Kanto. Max admired Brock like an older brother, and always tried to do what he did.
Should we up the ante? Drop a few more hints?
No. He'll figure it out. It's just a matter of when.
Aurian smiled. You have a lot of faith in Maple.
He's one of the few that hasn't changed all that much since my travels with him. Everyone else feels... distant, like I'm looking at them through one-way glass.
When'd you get all poetic?
Hey! Ash pouted. I can be intelligent at times.
Of course you can.
Was that an insult?
Aurian chuckled. Maybe. Maybe not.
Oh, you. They're coming back over. Ready?
Max and Brock reappeared, and noted that Red went back for yet another plate of food.
"He'll regret that later," Blue sighed. "Still hasn't learned after three years."
Misty quietly eavesdropped on their conversation as Azumarill finished eating. Red really was just like Ash- bottomless pit of an appetite and everything. They even had a lot of the same Pokémon, even...
Pikachu walked over and plunked himself down next to her foot. She picked the little electric mouse up and gave him a scratch behind the ears. He reacted the same way Ash's Pikachu would've- he squealed in delight and started kicking his right foot.
"Pikaka?" he asked once Misty finished.
"It's nothing. I'm just missing someone, that's all..."
Brock sat down across from her. "I know what you're thinking."
"I'm crazy for wishing he was still here, right?"
"Not sure, really."
They sat in silence for a little bit.
"You still like him, don't you?"
Misty paused, then nodded. "I know it's been three years, but I can't get him out of my head."
"He's probably still out there somewhere, biding his time until it's safe for him to return..." Brock trailed off.
"It'll never be safe for him to come back, will it? With the press still reeling about how he dropped off the face of the earth and how he completely failed to stop a massacre of innocent people?"
"You know just as well as I do that the press spun that story, turned him into a heartless son-of-a-gun. He's smart. Ash will find a way."
Misty sighed. "At this point, I'm not sure what to make of things. I'm having to stop myself from falling for Red, because he's so much like Ash, but they're two completely different people..."
Brock paused. "Little Maple and I have a theory about that. We're investigating the fact that 'Red Aronshu' seems to be some sort of an alias. It's pretty high stakes."
"I'm listening."
"Want to give us a hand? Keep an eye out for anything that seems Magikarp-ish?"
She smiled. "Detective Misty, it is."
Brock nodded. "Good. Max and I are communicating only by Pokégear when it comes to these matters. We'll do the same with you."
"We should probably go watch more battles," Misty pondered, idly twirling a fork. "Get to know our competition."
"Yeah. Let's head back."
Ash and Aurian managed to score bird's eye view seats- almost in the pressbox- for their afternoon battle viewings, and jotted down names of competitors that looked to be their biggest challenges.
Touko White was a Unova superstar that Aurian had met during her travels in the region. Her Emboar was a defensive powerhouse, and the girl's Eelektross was a force to be reckoned with, since it was rendered untouchable from Ground attacks through Levitate rendered it untouchable. Ash heard somewhere that she beat Alder in a battle once, but declined the position of champion.
Then there was Ritchie from Kanto. Ash was very surprised to see that he had allowed Sparky to evolve into a Raichu. The not-so-little electric mouse was in the best condition Ash had ever seen him in. The electric-type radiated power. Zippo, his Charizard, would've shown up any of his pre-Darkrai incident Pokémon for sure. He distantly recalled that Lance almost recruited him, but stopped short for some unknown reason.
Sabrina, brutal as ever. She rarely spoke during her battles, instead choosing to issue orders to her Alakazam and Gardevoir through her psychic powers. Ash noted that she had relatively weak speed, though- a certain friend of his could storm through with little trouble.
"This won't be easy," Aurian pondered, stretching out her shoulders. "One underestimation and we're through."
Oh, acting- I know I'm only here to stop Rocket, but I want to do well here, too...
Misty peeked at the list of names that Red was holding. "Taking notes?"
"Of a sort," he replied. "Brock, who are you most nervous about?"
The Doctor paused for a moment. "Tobias. Touko. Ritchie. Lieutenant Surge is supposed to be on top of his game this year. Hasn't been a single victory in his gym for seven months now."
"Don't forget you two," he added on. "I'm getting the feeling that you're hiding something."
Aurian shrugged. "We didn't want to tire out our teams this early on. Tournaments are more of an endurance game than sheer attack power, in my opinion. If we break the top forty..." she grinned. "All hell will break loose."
"If it doesn't do so before then," Ash countered. "Hopefully we won't face Tobias for a while."
Noah motioned towards his laptop computer. "It's a random scramble for the next round, thank goodness. If things had stayed the way they were, Red and Blue would have fought each other first tomorrow, and Misty would've had to fight the winner of the battle between Barry and Winona."
Max whistled. "That would be fun to watch, but I wouldn't have a clue who to root for."
Ash laughed. "That's both good and bad, though- no room to plan ahead."
"Didn't you tell me in Johto two months back that the best plan was no plan?" Aurian pointed out with an exasperated eye roll.
Ash faked a moody sigh. "Well yeah, only if you're absolutely clueless about what to do next."
Misty laughed. "You two have had this argument before?"
"Yeah," Aurian answered, carefully picking her words. "We had a really challenging set of battles about three months ago, and this idiot wanted to go in without a plan."
"We couldn't make one with the info we had!" the crimson-eyed trainer protested. "Not my fault!"
Brock shook his head at Misty's ingenuity. By asking generally innocent-sounding questions, she had probed a little deeper into Red and Blue's past. Now he knew that they had been in Johto together- he might pull a Max and look for newspaper articles later.
The day went on, interspersed with exciting battles, playful bickering between the three G-Men members and their apprentices, and soon the sun had set and the last battle had finished.
"What a day!" Max exclaimed. "I need food."
"You always need food!" Maddy countered. "What are you, a bottomless pit?"
"Yes," Brock, Max, Misty, and Ash answered at the same time. The group dissolved into laughter as it made its way back to the Center for a well-deserved meal.
The group sat themselves at their usual table, enjoying a standard evening cafeteria meal of veggie burgers and macaroni and cheese.
Ash thoroughly enjoyed his food, and he smiled at Pikachu, who was devouring the food that Brock had placed in front of him. Ash knew that Pikachu hated the food that he attempted to cook whenever they were out on missions, but put up with his poor culinary skills because of his dedication to his trainer.
As he paused to laugh at the memory, a swooping sensation came over him and he felt his heart skip a beat. His aura pulsed once, twice, started swelling within him, and then something incredibly out of the ordinary happened.
Ash's palm started sparking blue. That had never happened before.
Before anyone noticed that he had turned into a human firecracker, Ash immediately excused himself from the table. Once he was outside, he sprinted towards the cover of the woods.
"Why now?" he groaned, gathering the sparks into an aura attack that lit his hand a bright cerulean. He slashed outwards with his glowing palm, and sighed with relief when the stress within his body finally released. He ignored the small tree that he felled. He'd deal with that later.
Okay. Breathe, Ketchum, breathe. What causes random sparking? Haven't been around any other wielders except Aurian for the past few days. Maybe I'm starting the hendō process? Wait... Riley did say that I should undergo it soon. Crap. Looks like I'll have to deal with a haywire aura for the next two weeks. Hopefully my process will be just as short as Aurian's...
Ash chuckled as he remembered Aurian's awkward hendō.
Hers happened almost immediately after she was inducted into the G-Men. Bet that was triggered from the exposure to other wielders. Aurian's was more comical than challenging- she'd always start giving off sparks during the most inconvenient moments, like during board meetings and a formal dinner or two, if I remember correctly. It didn't last long, though- two weeks later, her eyes had changed from a darker blue to Guardian color. Wait... sweet! I'll have blue eyes after this, too! I'll finally look the part of a true Guardian...
But this will make it even harder to keep Ash Ketchum under wraps... especially for Max and Brock, who saw what went down at the Tree of Beginning during the Kanto Battle Frontier... looks like I'll have to bide my time and wait it out. If only my dad was around, I'd ask him what happened, since I inherited my aura from him. Kind of a bummer that he's never around... I know that Mom misses him, but I don't see how. He's a jerk for never showing up.
There was a rustling in the trees, and Ash immediately reached for a Pokéball as Pikachu's cheeks started sparking.
"Stand down!" Aurian called as she stepped into view. "It's me."
Ash sighed. "Sorry, Blue."
She frowned as she activated her aura-sight. "You've started your hendō, haven't you?"
"Is it really that obvious?"
"From what I can see? Yes. You look like a star that's about to explode," her eyes stopped glowing. "Hang in there. It'll only last for about two weeks."
Ash allowed a small smile. "Hope so. How am I going I cover if I start sparking during a tournament battle?"
"Since we're patonai," Aurian said, "we can draw on each other's energy reserves. If yours starts going haywire, I can take enough of yours to get you back to normal levels until the end of the battle or wherever you are."
"That's... actually a really good idea. Why didn't I think of that?"
Aurian grinned. "Because you're stressed out, sleep-deprived, and focused on your battles."
"You know me too well," Ash said.
"That is my job, you know."
The patonai stood in silence for a little bit and watched the sun dip below the horizon.
"Anyways," Aurian stated, "It's getting late. Max and Michael are back at the campsite, and everyone else is just about to turn in for the night. Wanna go back?"
Ash nodded. "Yeah."
The patonai trekked towards the campsite. The flow of sparks from Ash's hands quickly ceased.
"Pikapi, pikakachu?" Pikachu asked.
Ash shrugged. "Not sure, little buddy. We'll find out just how haywire I'll get soon. When do things really start going down hill?"
"Day Three," Aurian responded. "Day of your next tourney battle."
Ash sighed. "Could this be any less convenient?"
Aurian clapped a hand over his mouth. "Don't tempt the fates! Go knock on a tree or something."
"Mmph!" Ash exclaimed, prying his patonai's hand off of his face. "You know I'm not superstitious."
"Next thing you know, an Absol will cross our path."
"That's been proven as fact. If- say- a Purrloin walked out in front of us, I'd laugh my head off."
Aurian sighed. "I've got your back if anything gets weird."
"That's what patonai are for. We're almost at the campsite, Blue- ready for a storm of questions?"
"Where were you?" Max asked.
Ash shrugged. "Wasn't feeling too great. Thought fresh air would help."
"That's what you get for eating all that food at dinner," Aurian countered with an eye roll.
"I'm a growing boy!"
"Growing out," the Sinnoh native muttered, much to Michael and Max's amusement.
Max yawned. "That tournament was awesome! Can't wait to see Misty battle tomorrow."
"She's definitely a force to be reckoned with," Michael responded. "I'm beat. See you in the morning."
The red-headed trainer rolled over in his sleeping bag and ceased to be part of the conversation.
"Blue, I had no clue that you could battle like that! Seeing you fight tag-team with Red against Gary was one thing, but earlier today..." Max trailed off. "Dang. And Red's just as great as you are. What kind of training regimen do you go off of?"
Ash smiled. "Train until you can't get it wrong, not until you can do it correctly."
"That's it?" Max exclaimed. "No crazy exercises or vitamins or Rare Candies or anything?"
Aurian nodded. "Nope. Just pure hard work, blood, sweat, and tears."
Max paused for a bit. That wasn't anything like Ash's old training style. He brought out the shining traits of each Pokémon in order to compensate for their weaknesses- sometimes too much, and overshot his mark. His Hoenn team was a perfect example of his style. His Sceptile, though incredibly fast, lacked in the defense department, which was part of the reason why it fell so quickly against Tobias' Darkrai all those years ago...
"Guess I'll give that a try whenever I start collecting Badges," he answered. "I think
Michael's got the right idea, I'm turning in. G'night."
Max closed his eyes as the sun finished setting. Twilight came over the campsite, and bathed it in a half-moonlit glow.
Ash waited until he could hear Max's snoring to speak with Aurian.
"Dragon Master called today. Passed on an email- want to read it?"
Aurian nodded. "Interesting that he called instead of cornered you in person, but do I ever. Hand over the Pokégear."
Ash pulled the device out of his front pocket and pulled up the email.
"Red and Blue:
We gained rather startling information from the Rocket Operatives. Firstly, they've been
looking for you two ever since you dropped off the radar three years ago. Domino stated
that Giovanni would like to recruit you into Team Rocket if he had the chance, since their
military offensive hasn't been going too well. I need you to stay undercover for as long as
possible, since you can't trust anyone at the GIGT besides Michael.
Second- MissingNO has grown, apparently. Our sleeper agents report that the synthetic
Pokemon is supposed to reach a maximum height of twenty feet. Prepare to be called
back to Headquarters soon- we may need your help in shutting Rocket's experiments
down before this experiment gets out of hand.
That's all for now... be careful. Watch your backs, and don't stand out.
- Dragon Master"
"Damn," Aurian muttered as Ash deleted the email. "Rocket's serious about this MissingNO thing, aren't they?"
Ash nodded. "Yep. What's your stance on this?"
"Though MissingNO was created by people trying to play Arceus, I still think that he...she... it?... should have a chance at life- although not under Rocket control," Aurian pondered. "This is some really philosophical stuff. What would this do to the public?"
"It'd tear them apart- people would pick sides, chaos would ensue... which is what Rocket is after, anyways. As for my thoughts... I'm really not sure about any of this. I'll just tread lightly and pick up more information as it becomes available." Ash said, scratching the back of his neck. "In all honesty, I think it's too early to make a decision about whether to eliminate the threat or not. We really need to conference with Riley about this and hear his thoughts, too."
Aurian sighed. "You're right, as usual. Anyways, what'd you think about how Rocket was out to 'recruit' us?"
"They'd probably kidnap us in the middle of the night and force us into service. As for their desire to hire us... I'm not surprised. I met Giovanni once before in Johto, when he attempted to recapture Mewtwo and the remaining clones from the New Island incident. He's callous, ruthless, and rich- a dangerous combination. If he's expressed a want for us to be initiated, he won't stop looking for us until we're Rockets... or we're dead," Ash continued, his eyes darkening.
"Do you remember what we swore to each other during the patonai vows as we were initiated?" Aurian asked.
"If either one of us are taken by the enemy, we do anything and everything we can to save the other, right?" Ash pondered, absentmindedly stroking a snoozing Pikachu.
Aurian nodded. "Right. Would you still do that for me?"
"Of course," Ash said. "Although you'd probably fight your way out from the inside before I even had a chance to plan anything."
His patonai laughed. "Damn right. We definitely proved ourselves out there today."
"Yeah. Kinda what Michael said- that this won't be hard for us until the top forty. You think that's true?"
Aurian shrugged. "I'm not sure. Are we really that good?"
"We took down Cyrus last year- with some difficulty, but we managed it. Petrel was the same, about two months ago. They were the top trainers outside of the League," Ash said. "Maybe we really are that good."
"We'll," Aurian yawned, "find out soon enough. See you tomorrow."
"Night."
Ash dreamt again, and he found himself back at his childhood home in Pallet. His mom was setting the table for dinner, and paused to fiddle with the tarnished necklace that he'd never seen her go a day without.
Delia popped the pendant open. A picture of a very young Ash, covered in what looked to be a pile of noodles and a heap of spaghetti sauce, was tucked in the right half of the oval locket. The left half contained a picture of both herself and a man with piercing blue eyes. The rest of him was thrown into shadow, eliminating any chance that Ash could discover what the man looked like.
Ash had never even known that his mom's necklace was a locket. The man in the picture was undoubtably his father. Who else would she hold close to her heart? Her parents died years before he was born in a car accident, and she was an only child, so no siblings. Her cousins lived in Hoenn, and never cared to visit. One question tugged at him, though... why were there no pictures of his dad in the house? Ash knew that cameras existed back when his parents were dating, since Delia had several pictures of her college days scattered around the living room and the upstairs.
It was like his father had never existed.
But he had- hadn't he? Delia had always told him funny stories about his dad when he was younger- like the time he nearly fell down the stairs when he took her out on their first date, how he had a certain fondness for anything sweet, how his proposal was nearly ruined by a stampede of Tauros, how he was very nearly late to his own wedding, how he and his partner Pokémon were always on the same page. How much he loved Ash.
The young trainer sighed, and sunk down to sit on the tile floor of his kitchen.
"Why'd you leave, Dad? Where are you?" he asked. Ash bit his lip as his eyes started to water. "Why didn't you ever come back? I could use some your help right now..."
Aurian laid on her back within her sleeping bag and stared up at the stars, remembering how she had to tell her cover to Brock and Misty while Michael was battling. Part of it was true- the man she called 'dad' did end up remarrying after his wife left, but there was a problem with that statement.
She was adopted. That was the bombshell that her adoptive dad's first wife dropped on her as she walked out the door to her lover in Almia. That was why she wasn't included in the custody case, since her 'dad' had adopted her three months before he met his ex-wife, and they had never shared custody of her. Not like that mattered, anyways... she was thankful that she didn't have to go with the witch of a woman that was her former 'mother'. She always wondered how she, the only blue-eyed person in their family, had come from two brown-eyed adults. At least she knew the truth now. It took every last ounce of steel that she had to make it through Matt's custody hearing and make sure that he ended up with her adoptive dad- Matt's father, Atticus. After that... well... she wasn't proud of what she did.
Aurian ran from her problems, and found herself in Sunyshore- the entire opposite end of Sinnoh from her hometown of Sandgem- the day that she met Ash and saved him from a massacre by Galactic Grunts. She didn't stay behind and face her situation like she was supposed to. She was a coward, and that moment nearly three years ago would define every decision she made for the rest of her life.
What she did was wrong, she definitely knew that. The problem was that things with her dad had kind of fallen apart after he confirmed that she was adopted. He came to her G-Men induction, and she went to his wedding. That was one of the last times she had seen him. Matt, however, was a different story. She called him whenever she could, even though she wasn't really supposed to.
Like now, for instance. Aurian slunk off out of earshot, pulled her Pokégear out of her bag, and dialed his number as she plugged her headphones in. Matt picked up with a huge grin, his brown eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Hey, sis! How are you?"
Aurian smiled. "I'm great. How're you doing, almost-ten-little-brother?"
"I'm getting really nervous."
"Hey, that's normal. I'm not sure when I'll get another chance to call you, so count this as an early birthday present, okay?"
He frowned. "You're outside, Ri. Where are you?"
"I'm at where the Sinnoh League was three years ago- Lily of the Valley Island."
"Really? That's where the Darkrai was, right?"
She nodded. "Let's not talk about that, now. Listen. I'm out on a mission- not sure if You-know-who ever told you and Atticus or not. If he hasn't... tell Atticus for me, all right? Things are pretty crazy around here. I've already had my first round battle."
"It's a tournament? And a mission? Sounds right up your alley. I'll tell him." He paused. "You could ask for permission to tell him yourself, you know. It's been forever since I've seen you in person," Matt said, crossing his arms.
Aurian sighed. "I know, and I'm sorry. It's still hard to think about the whole 'adopted' issue..."
Matt shrugged. "Yeah, I know. I'd be ticked about it if I were you, too. Just do what you do, and then come home soon. I miss you."
"Miss you too, little bro. I'll call ASAP."
"Bye!"
"Later."
Aurian hung up, tears brimming in her eyes. That was just what she needed. She really had been an idiot, running from Atticus when all he wanted to do was make sure she had a somewhat normal childhood with two parents before telling her the truth. She made up her mind as she wiped a tear from her cheek. She'd call him after Matt left home and chat with him. Nothing confrontational- just a chat. Aurian knew that Ash still had a good relationship with his mom, even though they'd never seen each other for more than a few weeks at a time between his action-packed journeys. Heck, she'd been on some of them. She really should try to emulate his relationship with Delia.
Maybe she'd ask for his help in finding her real parents.
(A/N): Hey, everyone! Thank you so much for reading Chapter Twelve... and thanks a million more for putting up with my extended absence. I had an awesome marching season, and I'm ready to get back to writing for you guys. Believe it or not, I really missed all of you. Anyways, here's your review responses.
george adams (guest): Hope this chapter lives up to your expectations. Thanks for the review!
Guest: Yep! That's an integral part of the way that I've chosen to write Max.
japaneserockergirl: Thanks for the well wishes! Glad that you like Aurian. She's about to get a little more time at the center of things... hint hint.
TheMusicalBoy93: Wow, thank you so much! I'll work on including Seth for you at some point in here. I was planning on introducing him a little later in.
Menace13: Thanks for the heads-up, completely missed thechinskyguy's editor's notes.
George Adams (guest- are you the same person from above?): I get where you're coming from- a lot of these kinds of stories are inspired by each other. I tried to put my own twist on things with the crazy situations. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
WritingForMuffins: Thanks! Glad to know that you like Aurian.
Please vote for the POV of Primary's prequel fic! Expect an intro chapter before the end of the year...
PL, signing off!