Last Time on TMOM:
Aileen was sacrificed to the tree. And in order to save them all, Ash followed. Can Lucario, James, Meowth, and Pikachu, the only ones left standing, figure out how to save their friends?
Quote: "Mew says... four is too many... to bring back."
Chapter Twenty-Two: Revive
And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get him to swap our places
-Kate Bush
Ash had gone too far. It was a grievous mistake, one that would have fatal consequences if they didn't act quickly.
James had gathered what was left of the boy into his arms. He was still slipping into the crystal, arms first. But the rest of his body was starting to shimmer and fade. James stared, stupefied by the sight of the glittering shards of aura flaking away into the air. He couldn't help being ignorant, but still Lucario hated his hesitation. Any delay could and would cost Ash his life.
"Get Ash into the crystal."
"What?"
"Get Ash into the crystal now," Lucario snapped at the man. "He'll disappear completely if you don't."
James still looked bewildered by this turn of events. But to his credit, he complied with Lucario's demands. It was an awkward endeavor, with Ash being far less substantive than he had been. The edges of his body were transparent, making it difficult for James to maintain a grip. It felt a bit like trying to grapple a cloud. But he managed somehow, feeding the rest of Ash's form into the crystal. Little by little, the ghost that was left disappeared. The sparkling shards of his remaining wave sucked into the life stream of the crystalline tree.
Pikachu sobbed somewhere underfoot. Lucario tried not to focus on the pokemon's grief; afraid of feeling it too much himself. Lucario found it hard not to be angry at everything around him. Angry at himself especially, for having not prevented Ash from his actions. He should have realized immediately what Ash was doing.
He had failed him, just as surely as he had failed Sir Aaron. He still knew Aaron had betrayed him, but a small, disappointing part of himself felt guilty for it. As if being betrayed were some sort of moral failing on his part. He should have seen it coming, just as he should have foreseen Ash's sacrifice. He should have stopped it somehow. But all these thoughts were useless. There was nothing in wanting to change the past. The past had died long ago, Lucario would know that better than anyone. Only in the future was there hope.
But would it work? Lucario couldn't say. But it was up to him to see that the boy's last wishes were carried out. Even if it was agony to do so.
He was a creature of wave, as much a part of it as Mew and the tree were. If anyone would have a chance of reversing what had been done, it would have to be him. Lucario rounded on the small curious legendary who was playing patient witness to everything that had unfolded.
"Mew. Let's try again."
The pokemon nodded, but not looking certain to what it was agreeing. His eyes kept flickering over to where Pikachu knelt, weeping over the spot where his trainer had vanished.
Pikachu pressed his paws against the crystal, trying to extract something from his reflection. But it wouldn't give the way it had for Ash. Pikachu knocked his paws against the solid surface. He pushed out all his breath and tears, straining and fighting against coming back up for air. His grief was bleeding out and Pikachu could do nothing to staunch the flow.
Lucario couldn't read the Legendary's mind, but he could see something in Mew's forlorn expression. All their grief was alien to a creature that lived its life symbiotically attached to an ancient tree. But he wasn't heartless. Lucario knew without asking that Mew would help. He didn't want to watch the pain any more than any of them wanted to feel it.
Lucario and Mew both took up their positions around the large crystal core. As soon as they touched its surface, it shone with a brilliant light. The light tossed over what was left of their small party, shaking them from their mourning. James, Meowth, and Pikachu pulled themselves away from Ash's final resting place and made their way closer to the pulsing core. Though they had said nothing, there seemed to be an unspoken understanding that this wasn't something you approached without reverence. They were holding themselves back, afraid to get too excited; to get their hopes up. After all, people didn't normally come back from the dead.
Lucario could feel the tree's heartbeat. And the aura pulsating through the tree was something so immense, it was like standing on the edge of a vast chasm — the depths of which stole his breath away. He couldn't even begin to see where the others had disappeared to. Their auras had so seamlessly blended into the life force.
The enormity of the task was dawning on him. It was like trying to unravel a tapestry that had been the work of centuries. There was no clear starting or end point. Instead, Lucario was just running his paws over the work that spanned continents in its expanse.
Thankfully, Mew had none of his hesitation. He immediately zeroed in on the threads that didn't belong, yanking them unceremoniously free. The first came loose quickly, slipped back out of the tree's life stream — like grains of sand, reforming piece by piece before being deposited back into cavernous reality.
Jessie slipped out of the crystal, dropping hard to her knees and nearly collapsing all the way to the floor — had not her team been waiting for her. James caught her up in his arms, giving a yelp of both surprise and happiness. They both witnessed her fluttering eyelashes with bated breath. She blinked up at him in confusion, unable to even form words before both James and Meowth had engulfed her in a fierce hug.
Their outpouring of emotion only temporarily distracted Lucario. One glance in Pikachu's direction, noting the pokemon's bone-deep exhaustion and the tears still damp on his cheeks, reminded Lucario of the human still buried deep within the tree.
Kidd was next to materialize. She appeared alongside Jessie, stepping out of a shimmering haze to join them in reality. She stayed upright, but appeared no less dazed, swaying on unsteady legs and blinking back the shine in her eyes. There was no riotous reunion for her. Only a quiet acceptance; that this was happening — that they were all coming back.
Lucario located Aileen at the same time Mew did. They, united in purpose, pulled the young girl out of the tree together. Aileen landed beside Kidd, crouched and ready to spring. She almost did, but then was struck by the same plight of dizziness that materialization had on all the others. She fell heavily into Kidd, who only just kept the both of them tumbling to the floor.
They were a mess — disheveled and rumbled, as if having just been retrieved from a dryer set on the tumble cycle. All three women were breathless and struck with wonder. They had been whole and then made separate once again. It left them giddy — the experience euphoric and terrifying, painful and indescribable in equal measure. They had been part of wave, a part of each other and a life form beyond description. They had shared it together but were thrilled to be free from it. Something with so tangled a grip made it feel almost dreamlike to be back.
The experience had left traces on them, but even these were evaporating from their memories as the seconds passed. Jessie and Kidd willingly released them. Aileen had tried hard to capture it, frame the episode in her mind for further study. But something like that wasn't meant to stay forever in a human mind. Like a shivering bubble caught in a sudden breeze, the slippery memory escaped her.
But there was something that didn't escape her notice as she cast her gaze wide about the cavernous chamber they had been revived in. She took in every familiar face save for one, the one she had been most eager to see; the one that had been the last Aileen had seen before disappearing. The smile slipped off her face.
Aileen rose back to her trembling legs with all the graceful balance of a newborn ponyta. She had to lean back on Kidd to keep from falling. She spun about on the spot, somehow knowing that Ash wouldn't be among those that were left.
"Where's Ash?" She asked, somehow already knowing the answer.
The others couldn't answer. None of them had born witness to what had come after.
But somehow, she knew Ash had joined them within the crystal. She felt it back when she was no longer herself, rejoiced in it even. Aileen turned to Lucario, as the pokemon knew she eventually must. He looked away, afraid of seeing whatever was waiting in her gaze. The expectation, the fear, or the disappointment; it didn't matter what, as any of those feelings would have been enough to shake him. He could only pretend not to see and hope they could rectify Ash's choice as quickly as possible.
But it was as he turned away from the princess that Lucario noticed Mew. The pokemon wasn't so much touching the crystal anymore as he was gripping it. His small limbs were trembling and perpetration beaded his reddening face. Mew kept his eyes squeezed shut, trying to keep focused on the aura. But even the crystal had turned, twisting into a sickly greenish black hue.
Lucario recoiled from the core, horrified. The other humans and pokemon in the room couldn't help but follow suit. The sickness didn't seem to be contained within the crystal's innards; it was spreading out in a thin smoke — bubbling and curdling in serpentine patterns at their feet.
While the group took in this sudden turn of events, only one seemed to zero in on what it meant for them. Pikachu stared up at the core and let out a piteous cry of "Pikapi" as fresh tears tumbled down his cheeks.
"What's happening?" James asked, somehow regaining his power of speech.
"I — I'm not sure." Lucario shook his head. "This shouldn't be happening."
"Is the tree sick?" interjected Kidd.
Lucario could think of no better explanation. The group took a collective step backwards as the smoke drew too close. There was no telling what sort of poison could hide in the folds of such discolored vapors.
"Mew and the tree are connected. Did something happen when you extracted us? Could that injure the tree?" Aileen asked.
"Mew said that he would not have the power to extract four people. But then... Ash..."
He couldn't finish. Lucario didn't think he was that sentimental; finding himself at a loss of words over a human's sacrifice. Telepathy didn't get tongue tied. But then again, this wasn't just any human. This was his friend. And as the moments passed, it was looking more and more like Ash was becoming his late friend. The words weren't there.
Thankfully, James was present to speak for him.
"I was supposed to be the fourth. Ash saved me. Like Kidd saved you." He gestured to the two women in question. "He let the crystal take him instead. Something about having enough wave to make up the difference. I thought that meant that everyone could come back."
"It was supposed to work like that, yes. Theoretically," Lucario glanced back up at the tainted crystal core. The sickness was spreading, fanning out underneath their feet and painting the walls and floor of the cavern a ghastly gray shade. "But perhaps Ash's pure aura, pumped into the crystals like it had been, was too much for the tree. It seems to have contracted a dangerous fever."
"Shouldn't we... do something?"
They were all looking at him. He was the only aura user still left standing and the only one who stood a chance at fixing anything.
Lucario stared hard at the dark shadow of his reflection cast by the tainted crystal. There was no one to talk to. He knew what he had promised, just as Ash had. He was supposed to live. But surely, the circumstances had changed. To act would be to risk his own life, perhaps to even forfeit it. In the past, he would have done so without question — as what life did he even have worth living in this timeline?
But now, Lucario realized it would mean saying goodbye to Ash. Ironically, both paths led to a farewell. Either he left the tree to die and Ash along with it. Or he saved Ash at the cost of his own life — something the boy would never forgive him for.
But Ash wasn't here to stop him.
Only Pikachu was left.
Lucario glanced down at the little pokemon, their goal post in this venture. So much trouble over such an insignificant creature. And yet, Pikachu meant the entire world to Ash. As Sir Aaron had once meant to himself.
He couldn't stand here witness to another tragedy. Sir Aaron may not have deserved saving, but Ash did. Even if the boy ended up hating him, Lucario thought he could live with that.
Lucario stepped forward and pressed his own paws against the crystal. It purpled like a deepening bruise. The wave hit him with the force of a hurricane. It nearly blew him free. Lucario maintained his grip, fighting to keep upright despite the building pressure buffeting him from all sides. Ash's aura had a poor effect on the crystal. Unintentionally, the boy had poisoned the tree with the excess. Instead of letting the tree consume him gently, Ash went with violence — ripping his way into the life stream. It left a weeping scar in his wake, one progressively infecting the whole of the tree.
Lucario stared into the eye of the storm, pushing through the waves and waves of aura for some hint of the human boy that had been lost inside. And somewhere in the deep, far away from where he started, Lucario found him.
Despite still being physically where he started, with his paws pressed against the core of the dying tree, Lucario had found himself within the aura itself. He had manifested a presence, one that stepped free from the storm and into a clearing where Ash was waiting.
The boy wasn't entirely himself. Or at least, not as Lucario knew him. He seemed half-formed, mostly asleep, but with his eyes open. He wavered in place, composed of his gleaming aura, making him more smoke than human. Lucario could make out the boy's hair, his half-lidded eyes, and some semblance of a silhouette. And as Lucario reached for him, Ash turned away. It didn't seem a conscious snub. His movements were dreamlike, turning to look at the form standing at his side.
This one looked similar. Their auras were matching shades. If they were to stand a bit closer, it would be impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. This form lacked Ash's presence and individuality. The only clue to his identity being his similarity to Ash.
Lucario knew who he was, but couldn't believe it. It didn't make sense. Lucario could feel his heart pounding hard, beating out a century-old ache. For him, it had been only a matter of days since he had last encountered this wave signature. The pain was fresh and harsh.
"No... How could you be here?"
There had been too much going on before. Things happened so fast, but Lucario thought he had recognized the gloves that the man James had touched. They were the gloves of an aura user. He had thought it a coincidence, but now there could be no doubt. Sir Aaron had come to the tree. But why?
Ash still wasn't fully present. But he had more of a form than the ancient shade standing by his side. Sir Aaron had no mouth in which to speak. But he had the boy. And the connection they shared seemed to affect them both. Ash slipped his translucent hand around Sir Aaron's wispy appendage, and his eyes shone brighter.
"Hello Lucario," said the boy and the spirit both.
Lucario stepped backwards, nearly falling back into the aura slipstream.
Neither spirit moved to catch him. They stood like statues in this hellish vortex of energy, devoid of much of what used to make them human. Though, Lucario supposed they were more a part of the tree than themselves, especially in the case of Sir Aaron who had survived the centuries as little more than a wisp of his former self.
Lucario recovered himself. "What are you doing here?"
"You are here to save the boy," Sir Aaron made Ash gesture to himself. "I knew you would come for him. So I waited."
"How did you know that?"
"I could see his memories. He expected you. Expected your rescue. His trust in you... it's wonderful, Lucario. I'm so happy to know you aren't alone."
"After you banished me to the future, you mean?"
Ash smiled, but it was a sad smile. For a moment, Lucario could see his ancestor in the young man's features. "I'm so sorry, Lucario."
Lucario stepped forward. To do what he couldn't say. The past week had been a blur of confusing emotions, both high and low. He still didn't know how to make sense of his feelings towards his former companion. He wanted to hate the man. Hate was easier. But then the fool had to go and say something like that...
"You're sorry? You sent me to the future! You severed me from my own timeline, my life! And you're sorry? Murdering me would have been less cruel, Aaron!"
Sir Aaron, to his credit, didn't turn away from Lucario's rage. His eyes, or rather Ash's, stayed fixed on the pokemon's own. He said nothing, only stared. His silence seeming a quiet acknowledgment of Lucario's pain. That only made the anger in Lucario boil hotter.
"Give me a reason. I need... I need a reason."
For a moment, Ash looked conflicted. He glanced back at the shade, as if their connection had been temporarily lost. But then he took a deep breath in sync with Sir Aaron and turned back to Lucario.
"I hadn't intended to trap you for so long. I had hoped that someone might unlock the staff once the danger had passed. I hadn't anticipated my predecessors losing track of the staff. It's a small miracle that Ash found you after all this time..."
"I don't need reminders of how badly you wronged me. You didn't answer. Why did you trap me? All this time I thought it was so you could run away—"
"I had hoped to give you that perception." Again, the smile that Lucario hated. It looked too kind on Ash's face. Made it harder for Lucario to hold on to his hate. "In truth, I just needed to keep you from following me. Using the staff seemed the most foolproof way of accomplishing that. You'd be protected, and you would assume I had betrayed you."
"I don't understand. Follow you where?" Then it dawned on him. Lucario blinked, the final piece clinking into place. "To the tree. Why did you come to the tree?"
"I came to see Mew, actually."
Lucario stared at Ash from an inability to stare at his former companion. He had been so wrong about his old friend and yet felt no less betrayed. Tears from a wound long unfelt splashed down Lucario's face.
"You meant to stop the war. To sacrifice yourself."
Both Ash and Sir Aaron said nothing. It seemed ironic that Ash's original idolization of Sir Aaron had been correct. The entire kingdom had realized something that he had not. The future that carried on without him realized it, too. That Sir Aaron was kind and good and not a coward. But he was a fool and knew Lucario would try to stop him from such an ignoble end.
"You're... you're such an idiot," Lucario wept. "We could have found another way."
"Perhaps," said Ash. "But not quick enough. Not with so little loss of life."
"You were worth ten thousand lives, Aaron! Damn. It was... It was so much easier when I could just hate you!"
Lucario buckled under his grief.
Ash smiled sympathetically for the story he had no part in. There was a shine lining his eyes, betraying the emotion Sir Aaron's shade still felt. Lucario didn't wish to see it. He only wanted to hurt.
"I wanted to spare you my fate, old friend."
"Why didn't you let me choose? I might have done something... I might have shared the burden so we both could live!"
"Because I was afraid..." Ash swallowed hard, the smile gone from his translucent features. "I selfishly saved you because I couldn't bear the thought of you enduring the sacrifice."
Lucario shook his head but had nothing to say in reply. They both would have tried to save the other. So Sir Aaron cheated, taking the choice away before Lucario could even know about it.
"You deserved to live..." Lucario muttered under his breath.
Somehow, both ancestor and descendent heard him. The soft smile had returned but with a wistful quality, light and airy — quite unlike any smile that dared grace the young man's face.
"I don't have any regrets, Lucario. I served a wonderful kingdom and loved a beautiful queen. She lived, and so did my son. Ash, here is proof." Ash gestured to himself before continuing in a voice that sound too ancient for his own young body, "I lived a good life full of adventures. Adventures I shared for a brief time with my friend Lucario."
Ash paused and reached out for Lucario at the same time as Sir Aaron's formless shade. Lucario stared blearily at the offered hands, uncertain.
"The future seems broad and full of possibilities, Lucario. You could try to find yourself within it... or you could stay here with me." Only the shade spoke the last words. They echoed within the boundless room they stood in.
"Choose carefully," Ash continued, looking suddenly as if in possession of his own senses. "This is a choice you'll have to live with."
Bedlam was roaring unchecked outside the confines of the crystal. It was as if the storm inside had spread its blustering tendrils outward, catching up those outside of it. It buffeted the entire group with a source-less wind. An inky glow from the innards of the core crystal painted the very air a shade darker, more sinister, and harder to choke down. They held onto each other, forgiving any bit of unfamiliarity left between them. Jessie hugged Aileen. The Princess had wrapped her arms around James' neck, burying her face into his shoulder. James held tight to Kidd, who embraced both Meowth and Pikachu protectively. They held tight to the ground and to each other, afraid of being blown clear off the Tree of Beginnings.
Lucario stood apart from them still, his paw fastened to the crystal. And Mew hovered only a breath above, drunkenly swaying as the fever that had consumed the crystal kept its work on him. He slid down a considerable length of the crystal, only just able to maintain contact as his consciousness wavered in and out.
But Lucario was unfazed, as still as stone with breath nearly imperceptible.
The humans and remaining pokemon watched reverently, certain that the aura-user would make something happen yet.
They weren't disappointed.
The crystal rippled like disturbed water and deep inside, a shadow formed. Unlike the others, the human emerged slowly as if in reconstructing him; it had forgotten what piece had gone where. Ash stepped out and back into reality with a soft sigh. He fell sideways with no one to catch him. The crystal was still emitting powerful shockwaves of energy that kept everyone else back, but not for long. As soon as the shock of his reappearance had worn off, the group surged forward, with Pikachu leading them.
Pikachu latched onto Ash's torso just seconds before Aileen dragged the unconscious boy into her arms. They shook him awake urgently, not yet believing that the boy had made it back whole. Ash's eyelids fluttered and for several breaths, that was the only sign of life. But at long last, with another big breath, Ash opened his eyes and stared blearily up at the group of unlikely companions that had encircled him.
"Hey," Ash began, the words heavy on his tongue. "Where did you all come from?"
Aileen laughed and was the first to initiate the hug. Kidd quickly followed and despite themselves, Team Rocket couldn't help but join in. Ash was squeezed nearly purple in a giant embrace of gratitude and love.
"You did it, you did it!" Team Rocket cried tearfully above the rest. "You crazy twerp, you did it!"
Ash rocked in their happy embrace, gaze unfocused and expression nonplussed. His memory was a mess of soggy jigsaw pieces. The fuzzy pictures didn't seem to line up with each other, even if they might have once done so.
What had he done?
Another gust of dark energy washed over the group, silencing their short jubilee. Ash winced as the viscous wave buffeted them. It was hard to breathe in, hard to see through. As soon as it had passed, Ash quickly shook himself free of the group's arms and climbed to unsteady feet. He was seized by a sudden panic as his memory caught up with his mind.
Lucario was over there, touching the crystal core. He was in danger!
"Lucario!" Ash cried, his alarmed shout swallowed up in another shockwave.
Lucario hadn't moved. The pokemon remained at post by the crystal; perfectly still, eyes closed, surrounded by the swirling blackish aura. Ash lunged forward, only to be pulled back by his compatriots.
"Ash! You can't-" Aileen began.
"Lucario's the only one with wave. He's handling it," Kidd finished for her.
They all recoiled and shielded themselves when another rush of energy fell over them. But it didn't loosen their grip on Ash's arms. There, they held fast. Even Pikachu was shaking his head, disagreeing with the ill-fated attempt at a rescue. His best friend was almost always up for Ash's hairbrained heroics. But not this time. The pokemon was trying to keep Ash safe.
But they couldn't feel it like Ash could. They didn't have the sense. He could see the pieces beginning to flake off of Lucario's body. It was starting with his aura, but would soon spread down to his fur and flesh. If the Pokémon kept on like this, he was going to disappear.
Just like Sir Aaron had.
Ash started, hit by a fresh surge of memory. It was almost as powerful as the tree's energy waves. He stumbled at the weight of it. Still clasping at his head, dazed by the unexpected pressure of thought, his eyes trailed over to the gloves sticking haphazardly from James' back pocket.
Ash yanked them free before James could even begin a complaint.
Princess Aileen gasped in recognition. "Those were Sir Aaron's."
Ash nodded, thumbing the crystal still embedded in the gauntlet's center. He could feel the possibility of wave pulsing at his fingertips.
"Listen. All of you," Ash said, quite seriously. He made especially sure to meet the eyes of the Team Rocket trio as they were the most likely to turn tail and flee. "Lucario's dying."
He had expected some form of protest. But the others either kept his gaze or glanced over in the said pokemon's direction. There was no question. Lucario's statuette stance was hunched, his shoulders rounded and bracing against the barbs of energy that rippled across his disintegrating form.
"He can't help Mew and the tree on his own. He doesn't have enough power. I can feel it. He's going to die. He's going to die saving us."
James swallowed hard. Jessie looked surprisingly humbled. Kidd hid the shine in her eyes by blinking and turning her head. But Aileen held Ash's gaze, hard.
"I know what you are thinking," began Aileen. "You can't help him, Ash. He only just brought you back."
Aileen's voice was shaking with emotion. Ash noticed how strongly she held his eye. As if she wouldn't — couldn't look Lucario's way.
"I hate this," Aileen continued. "But if you tried to help, you'd only be sacrificing yourself. And then we'd be right back where we started. We can't keep playing this game of… trading places."
"Fine thing to say after trading places with me."
"That was different. There was no time… and Lucario chose this. He chose to save you. To save us… We should respect his decision."
"Like you all respected mine?"
Aileen swallowed back a sob. Ash looked at each of them, even Pikachu. They had a hard time meeting his eye.
"That's not fair, Ash," James protested. "You told us to get you back."
"And did Lucario say, 'let me die'? Does he have to say 'I want to live' in order for you to believe him?"
"He's not from our time." Kidd could no longer hold her tongue. Ash turned and met her fierce look with one of his own.
"So that means he deserves to die?"
"No. But maybe this is his fate. Maybe this is why he came back?"
"You don't know that!"
"You don't either!"
Ash snarled, disgusted by her calm acceptance. She shrugged off Lucario's fate as easily as shrugging off an old jacket. "We shouldn't be deciding whether Lucario should die or not. We should just save him!"
"It's not up to us, Ash. If you try to help him, you could die! …You could both die!"
"It's better than doing nothing!"
"It is, if doing something gets us killed!"
Ash didn't answer. He sneered and shoved his hands unceremoniously into the oversized gauntlets. Aileen grabbed his gloved fingers, somehow finding them through the swallowing fabric.
"Please, Ash. Don't do this. Lucario wanted to save you. Why can't you respect that?"
"I do," Ash spat. "I do respect that. I just don't respect him dying for it."
He ripped himself free from her grabbing hands.
And although the pokemon was against Ash assisting, Pikachu refused to leave his side. He hopped up onto the pokemon trainer's shoulder and prepared himself for whatever came next.
The others cried out after him but their shouts were swallowed up in the tree's malevolent roar. The rolls of wave burned sound right out the air.
Ash cut through the wrathful energy, using Sir Aaron's gauntlets to part the way. Although they were only a few yards from Lucario, the journey to close that distance was agonizingly slow. Ash felt as though he was wading through a churning tide. The energy sucked at his legs like an undertow, threatening to pull him under. In any other circumstance, Ash was sure his legs, that still trembled with weakness, would have gone out from underneath him. His face dripped with sweat as he pushed his way forward. One heavy step forward. One step. And then another. And then another.
Pikachu had dug his claws into the fabric of Ash's shirt, clinging on for dear life. Every passing wave threatened to knock him free. Though the air was close and hot, Pikachu could still pant words of encouragement into his friend's ear. Keep going. Keep going, Pikapi. You're almost there. Almost.
Though he'd try to deny it in the years to come, blaming it on the delirium exhaustion can bring on in these life or death moments, Ash could have sworn he felt supported. As if wrapped up in the arms of someone stronger, the gloves emitted with something more than Ash's own petering grasp of wave. There was a residual energy that burned soft and warm from the crystal on the top of Ash's gauntleted hands. And it was this energy that parted the evil, dark miasma that kept them from Lucario.
Ash practically fell upon Lucario, stumbling with relief through the last few steps. But instead of dissipating, the malevolent storm only intensified. Ash heard Mew's piteous cries from somewhere above, but the winds were too strong to see through. It was all Ash could do to keep his ground. Pikachu bobbled like a kite off Ash's shoulder, gripping Ash's sleeve with both his front paws.
Ash knocked against Lucario's arms, trying to sever his connection to the crystal core. But his limbs were like rock. They didn't yield to Ash's blows. Nor could he pry or pull the pokemon free. It was as if something had petrified him in place.
"Lucario!" Ash screamed, trying once more to pull the pokemon free. "Lucario stop! Stop or you'll—"
Ash gasped as his hand fell through, literally through, one of Lucario's arms. Like the pokemon were made of only dust, the forearm flaked away from the space Ash had made. Then went his disconnected paw. Ash watched as what remained of Lucario's left arm lifted like sand off his gauntleted palms.
Ash shook himself free from the horror of it all. Fighting trembling limbs, he forced his body forward again. This time, Ash gingerly cupped Lucario's right paw in his own gauntlets. He focused all of his remaining aura into the crystals embedded into the gauntlets. Almost immediately, the welded crystals responded by shining bright. The light almost hurt Ash's eyes within the swirl of darkness.
And with the light came pain. Pain, Ash was sure, was only a fraction of what Lucario was experiencing. Ash cried out, his knees buckling — almost severing his connection to the crystal.
Pikachu sparked, brushing Ash's cheek with a sharp, exacting shock. Familiar and welcome compared to the agony it was feeding the monstrous appetite of this tree. Ash fought to stay up. He had done this once already. The tree had consumed him. He wouldn't let it take Lucario, too.
Pikachu had pressed himself tight within the nook of Ash's head and shoulder. The glow that encapsulated both Lucario and Ash had spread, swallowing up Pikachu as well. And remarkably, Ash thought he felt the pain subsiding — if only by a hairbreadth.
Before Ash could even ponder what this might mean, he felt someone take him by the hand. Ash jumped, startled to see James on his left — gripping tight to his oversized gauntlet. He was gritting his teeth, hit with the same heavy agony Ash could feel. Once more, the glow had moved to surround the newcomer. Ash blinked, realizing it wasn't just a random glow at all but wave, or rather James' wave. It was coming from James, fighting to support the immense weight they were all struggling underneath.
But James wasn't alone. Jessie had come up behind him to grasp onto his shoulder. Ash felt a tight grip on his right elbow, where Aileen had latched onto him. And behind her, half holding the princess up, was Kidd.
"Oh Mew!" Meowth exclaimed once he too had hugged onto one of James' boots. "Dis hurts! Hurry up, Twerp! Dis hurts a lot!"
Meowth was right. It did hurt, but somehow far less than it had before. Ash felt tears burning in his eyes. He would have rubbed them away if he could. But with his hands and arms tight in the grip of his friends, yes, all his friends, Ash let the tears fall freely.
"Lucario!" Ash screamed into the ether. "Lucario, can you hear me?!"
Lucario broke the surface of unconsciousness and choked on the sudden rush of air. He twisted about, dodging a second rush of sound that sped by like shrapnel. He could only just make out that it was Ash's voice within the screams.
Disoriented, Lucario took a full turn back to face Sir Aaron's apparition. The ghost had gone silent without Ash's voice to aid him.
"Lucario! Answer me!"
The sound bubbled up behind him, bathing the pokemon in a deep comforting light.
"You don't want to die, do you?"
"No…" Lucario answered softly. Maybe it was just the trick of the light, but Lucario could have sworn what was left of Sir Aaron may have been smiling.
"I said, do you want to die, Lucario?!" Continued Ash's shout.
"NO!" Lucario shouted back, turning toward the light. Lucario fell back, startled by both the brilliance and the sight of the humans silhouetted within it. All of them familiar and smiling, arms open, hands reaching… for him.
Reaching… for him.
His friends.
"Come back to us, Lucario," said Princess Aileen, her arms and hands stretched as far as they could go.
Still, Lucario hesitated. He glanced back at Sir Aaron's ghost. The spirit wavering like that of a candle's flame, caught in a sudden breeze.
"Should… Should I?" Lucario asked.
The spirit didn't answer. But Lucario could feel his reply through the thread of wave that had woven itself around him. It wasn't an answer. It was a question.
Are you of the past or are you of the present?
Within the swirling vortex, shadowy forms manifested. Figures extracted from Lucario's memory to tempt him back to Sir Aaron's side. Lucario recognized their glossy sheen as not being that far removed from the gelatinous sirens that had tried to pull the pokemon trainers to their death. But there was something softer, more honest in their appearance now. They didn't coax or threaten. They encircled but did not envelop.
He gave each of them a cursory glance, taking in their shadowy identities and matching them to those from his past. The giant of a stablehand that let Lucario stay, let him have a roof over his head. Him with his bushy beard and toothy smile. Then there was the freckled young cook with flyaway auburn hair that always made sure to set out some food for the castle pokemon. And not just the leftover mucks, either. She'd set aside full plates of meat and vegetables. Lucario might have loved her for that. But these were all just ships passing in the night, humans he considered tolerable but never bothered with names or stories.
But the Queen — Lynn stood just behind Sir Aaron's apparition, just as Lucario had always remembered her. She stood tall, her chin lifted and long golden tresses floating behind her like a cape. She was resplendent in a gown made of obsidian starlight.
His heart thudded at the sight of her. His lady. And Sir Aaron, his master. He stood now as her equal, his features solidified by the strength of his other memories. He matched his modern-day tapestries quite nicely.
They both awaited his decision with immeasurable patience.
But they did not reach for him.
Lucario turned and squinted back into the brilliant light. And there Ash was, front and center, alive and well with Pikachu perched on his shoulder. Like the Princess, his arms were just as outstretched— blindly reaching into the darkness.
Lucario caught the shine in the boy's eyes. There were tears running down Ash's ruddy cheeks. And he saw the word 'please' forming over and over on the human's lips.
Please.
Come back.
Come home.
"C'mon c'mon!" The humans shouted as the surrounding auras burned hotter. "C'mon c'mon c'mon!" They continued to shout, with Meowth and Pikachu chiming in with their own equivalent chorus.
Even though the pokemon was right beside them, Lucario felt eons away. Ash was the closest to him, close enough to feel the pieces of the pokemon still flaking away between Ash's fingers.
"Lucario! Don't disappear!"
Ash hadn't realized he had shouted until after his words echoed back at him. A sudden hush fell for half a second before all the heavy miasma dropped to the chamber's floor.
The group staggered apart as the wall of energy they had been pushing against had fallen away. A cry sounded from up above. But only Meowth was fast enough to catch the Legendary as he tumbled to the chamber floor. With the pink pokemon thus cradled in Meowth's tiny arms, the others all scrambled over.
All trace of fever had vanished from Mew's face. He smiled brightly up at the concerned group and let out a chirp of his own name.
"He says he's alive," translated Meowth, only half believing.
"We all are."
One person hadn't rushed over with the rest. Ash, his hand tightly clasped around Lucario's remaining paw, refused to let go. Even now, they held onto each other as if Ash had just dragged Lucario out from some unspeakably unfathomable depth. And in a way, he had.
Lucario's breath was labored. And he was down an arm.
But he was breathing.
The crystal core pulsated with a soft pink glow behind them, eating away at whatever darkness remained.
Ash gave Lucario's remaining paw a tight, reassuring squeeze.
"We're all alive," He breathed.
To Be Continued…
Please Read and Review!
I'm sorry for the long delay in this update. My excuses are quite numerous and probably not that interesting to you all but I'll list them off anyway. It started when I lost my cat quite suddenly to cancer. She was very young, not yet two years old, so it hit us all very hard. I ended up taking a writing break in that period.
Then I caught COVID-19. Survived but ugh, that wasn't fun. I graduated from grad school. And then entered a seemingly endless job hunt that is still ongoing. But mostly what was keeping me from writing after I graduated were family issues. I won't get into too many details for the sake of those involved, but it was tumultuous enough that I occasionally felt unsafe enough to have to leave my home.
I'm okay now. I have adopted a new kitty I named Fuku (lucky)- from the Japanese word Fukubukuro, New Year lucky bags. I was hoping this new little girl would have the luck my first little girl wasn't able to have. She's a sweetheart, nothing like PB. But I adore her regardless and she has helped heal the hole that PB left behind. I adopted her as an adult cat (not really wanted to contend with a kitten again) and I'm glad I did so. She's had a few hiccups adjusting but has turned into the perfect little lady... who occasionally pees on my floor when she gets scared but oh well.
I promise that my next update will not take as long as this one. We are almost to the finish line. And I need this story to be done before I continue on to Chosen. And maybe now some of you can guess why.
Thanks to those of you who reviewed last time: Sanmari, canoerider, YumeTakato, AshKetchumForever, Ai, thor94, and Shaveza! A special thanks to canoerider for the condolences. I really appreciated them.
Sanmari asked "what's with the shipping undertones between Ash and Aileen after they figure out they're distant cousins?"
SPOILERS HERE. I can understand your concern but no, this is not going in that direction. It's all very innocent and mostly one-sided from Ash. He's 15 and Aileen is sort of a puppy-dog crush for him. Their family connection is separated by several generations enough to be entirely negligible. But whatever the case, I promise it will still not result in anything substantial. Ash is just a teenage boy with a crush.
Thanks again for all of you putting up with my absence. I'm back! Next time will be the final chapter! Hope you all are ready for it!