Pokémon: Masters
Chapter Six – Losing Your Way
"I said, who are you?" the priest asked again.
"I'm Ash Ketchum," he replied.
The man frowned. "Ketchum? Never heard of that clan," he grimaced. "Where are you from?"
"Pallet, sir," he answered.
"You seem to come from nowhere, young man," the priest said as he lowered his staff. "Are you a pilgrim?"
"Yeah," Ash lied.
"Then I'll allow you some privacy while you pay homage," the priest said as he exited the chamber.
Ash let out a sigh of relief when he was finally alone. He then noticed that his clothes felt different. He looked down and saw he was wearing a robe similar to the priest's but it was brown and made of cheaper material.
"This is too weird," he thought as he looked around the chamber. It was the same chamber as before but only newer. The carvings in the wall were not as corroded as before, and torches lit the room.
So taken back by his surroundings, Ash did not noticed someone else had entered the temple.
"Hello," a voice said from the once sealed doorway.
Ash turned and saw a girl about his age standing there. She was wearing a priestess robe with her long blonde hair tied behind her head.
"May I help you?" she asked.
"Uh," Ash replied. "My name's Ash, and I seem to be a little lost. Can you tell me where I am?"
"You must really be lost to not know this place," the girl laughed. "You are in the temple of the coming destiny."
Ash frowned. This just keeps getting better, he sighed.
"Can you tell me where the nearest town is?" he asked the girl.
"That would be village in the forest," the girl replied "It's about a day's walk to the north."
Ash thought about that. "Sounds like Viridian," he said to himself.
"But you can't leave now," she told him, "it's almost night."
The priest returned and saw the two talking. "Anna," he chided her, "what have I told you about disturbing the pilgrims?"
"But he said he was just lost," she replied.
The priest looked at Ash. "Is this true, young man?"
"Yes," Ash replied hoping not to get the girl in trouble.
"Well," the priest frowned. "You meant no harm in lying, I assume. Just be on your way now."
"Please, sir," Anna plead with the priest, "it's late, and the monsters in the forest will get him if he leaves now. Can't he stay the night?"
The priest smiled at the girl. "Such a noble heart," he sighed. "Very well, he may stay the night."
"Thank you, sir," she said.
"Just make sure he does a chore or two to pay us," the priest replied as he left the chamber once again.
Anna turned to Ash. "You are lucky," she told him as she led him to a door he had not seen before. "Old Cecil rarely lets pilgrims stay here, let alone travelers."
"What did you mean about monster in the forest?" Ash asked as she took him into what he thought was a library.
"There are bug monster in the forest," she said as she went to a shelf and pulled down a book. "Didn't you know about them?"
"I knew about the bug pokémon in the forest," Ash shrugged.
"Pokémon?" Anna said confused. "I never heard of that word. What does it mean?"
"I'll show you," Ash said as he reached for a pokéball but found that they were all missing.
"Great," he sighed. "I don't have my friends or my pokémon. Can this get any worse?"
Anna looked at him as if he were crazed. "Ash, is everything all right?"
Ash looked at an old book lying on a crude wooden table. "The Book of Destiny," he said. "What is it doing here?"
"You are a strange one to know so little about this place," Anna said as Ash walked to the book. "Where else should the book of prophecy be but in the temple of the coming destiny."
"You mean," Ash said with surprise in his voice, "that Destiny hasn't come yet."
"No," she laughed. "If Destiny had come, why would we fear the monsters of the forest?"
Ash was beginning to put two and two together. That Marowak must have sent me back in time, he thought, but why?
While still in thought, Ash heard a familiar cry coming from outside.
"Squirtle! (Help!)"
Ash ran outside and saw several beedrils attacking an injured squirtle.
Ash grabbed a stick and waved it at the bug pokémon. "Get away from him!" he shouted at the bugs.
Seeing the human coming, the beedrils flew back into the forest leaving the squirtle to human.
"Are you okay?" Ash asked the pokémon.
"What are you doing?" Anna screamed from behind.
"Those beedrils were going to kill him," he replied as he picked up the fainted creature. "I couldn't let that happen."
"But he is a monster," she yelled back.
Ash shook his head. Maybe I'm here to act as Destiny, he thought as he took the squirtle inside.
"Ash, I will not allow you to take that thing inside the temple," she told him as he walked to the door.
"I would think that Destiny would want people and monster to care for each other," he snapped back.
"No," she replied standing in his way. "We are to rule over them."
Ash shook his head again. "Then you better learn something different," he told her. "Now are you going to throw me out?"
Anna was shocked by his response. Most people looked forward to the day when they would rule over the monster they feared now, but this boy was not afraid of them and wanted to care for them.
"Who are you?" she asked again.
"Just someone who wants to help an injured squirtle," he replied.
"Cecil is not going to like this," she sighed as she let him in.
"All right, you three," the guard told the three teens in the boat, "don't try anything funny."
"Relax," another guard told him. "With those psy-chains, they're not going anywhere."
The boat ride to Cinnabar would take another two hours, and Jeff was getting anxious. "What I wouldn't do to get my hands on Sabrina and the Ketchum kid," he snarled.
"Calm yourself," Scott told him. "We'll get our chance at revenge soon."
"Quiet," the first guard told them.
Suddenly, the boat was rocked from a hit on the port side. The guards' radio came on with a screaming voice. "We've been hit, it screamed. "Abandon ship."
The three psychics grinned at the guards hurriedly unattached them from the boat. Once he was somewhat free, Jeff punched out one of the guards.
"Hold it right there," the another shouted but was tripped by Mary since he just unchained her feet.
"All right, Jeff," Scott told him, "get the keys and get us out of these chains."
"Sure thing," Jeff replied.
Once he found the keys on the fallen guards, he released Scott from the psy-chains. Scott then unlocked the chains on Jeff and Mary.
Using his returned psychic powers, Scott blasted a hole in the side of the ship. Outside he saw a speed boat waiting for them.
"Get in," said a black uniform Rocket.
Leaping over into the boat, the three psychics saw another person on the boat.
"I guess we should thank you," Scott said to the boy sitting on chair.
"No need," the ten year-old Matt replied. "Just repay me the favor."
"And would that be?" Scott asked.
"Eliminate Ash Ketchum," Matt smiled.
Ash sighed as he was busy washing the dishes in a stream. He been suck at the temple for almost a week now with no hope of returning to the future.
"Stop that, Aqua," Anna laughed as she was playing with the squirtle.
"They really seem to be getting along," Ash sighed as he finished with the dishes. "It reminds me of Pikachu."
He walked over to the girl who was now tickling the laughing pokémon.
"Thanks, Ash," Anna smiled as they walked back to the temple.
"For what?"
"For saving Aqua," she replied. "He really is a good monster."
Ash laughed. He never thought of squirtles, even that Squirtle Squad, as monster before. They were just too friendly.
"Maybe you should train him," Ash laughed.
"Train?" Anna questioned. "For what?"
"For battling," Ash replied. "That way, you don't have worry about the wild monsters."
Anna looked down at Aqua. "But is he big enough to fight such larger creatures?"
"With his water attacks," Ash told her as they walked in, "he can take on monsters several times his size."
"Can we start tomorrow?" she asked.
"Sure," Ash sighed. "Tomorrow we'll start."
After Cecil and Anna were asleep, Ash walked outside and looked up at the stars.
"Misty, will I ever see you again?" he sighed.