Of Light and Darkness
Scenario 2: Revival
Chapter 4: Times
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"You run, you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking..."
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Day.
Days coming, only to go.
Days going, what did you do with it?
Wasted days, do you remember what happened?
Forgotten days, did you even care if something happened?
Ignored days, what about when the next day doesn't come anymore?
Final day...
Blue. A field of endless blue, with white springs. He stood on this field, sitting in one of the springs. It was soft to his skin..so very soft. He looked out to the whole plane of blue, captivated by it's beauty. He got out of the spring and started walking on the blue. He kicked at the blue ground to reveal some green and brown. He was also captivated by it's beauty, but He still prefered the blue, glad to be on it and not on the green below...
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S c e n a r i o
Chapter 4 - Times
R e v i v a l
==================
Ash opened his eyes. He saw the blue sky above, feeling somehow depressed. He looked to his side and saw the green grass below as well as his new, re-found allies: Misty Waterflower, Brock Shale, and, the newcomer to the party: Arisa Tanaka, all were still sleeping peacefully in their own sleeping bags, except for Arisa, who was sharing a bag with Misty. Ash looked at Arisa.
'Lovely...' He thought, looking at the calm face with a happy, serene smile even in her slumber, and the long, currently tangled blue hair. His thoughts drifted to yesterday....
* * *
.... It had been a late afternoon when Ash, Misty and Brock decided to ask Arisa questions about herself.
"Where are your parents?" Ash had asked her, wondering why this girl became a wanderer.
"They're..dead I suppose." Arisa looked down and sighed, "I'm an orphan, the people at the orphanage told me that my mother had died giving birth to me, when I was old enough to ask the question and understand it, of course. I could've stayed at the orphanage until I was 18, but I decided not to, I don't know why, something told me I shouldn't."
"How old are you then?" Brock had asked quickly.
"I'm 16 years old." The answer had clearly surprised Brock.
'Strange, would've thought her to be 19.' Ash remembered having had thought that.
"What about that?" Misty had asked with great curiousity about the wooden cross around Arisa's neck. "I remember seeing it in history books."
"Oh, this.. this is something that belonged to my mother apparently, the orphanage workers told me that at least. Of course, this is from the dead religion of Christianity. The orphanage people told me of their surprise that my mother was a Christian, especially considering that many ideals of it aren't in practice anymore, even though so many of the modern religions are based off principles in the ancient texts of it, but anyways, I'm wasting breath saying stuff that you probably know already. I simply wear this to keep some form of remembering the mother I never knew, I suppose."
"Do you have any Pokemon?" Ash had asked eagerly.
"Yes, I do. Just one really, but it's enough to get me through the day." Arisa took out her pokeball and pressed the button for the usual red blob of energy forming into a large pokemon.
"Scyther!" The large green insect that looked like the result of a marriage between the Grim Reaper and a praying mantis, which was quickly shot with a beam of red and returned to it's confines.
"How do you earn money?" Misty asked.
"I simply do various odd jobs at pokecenters, restaurants, and other places in exchange for a free night's stay, or free food. That sort of thing."
* * *
... And so the questioning had continued, nothing else asked was really of much value or importance to really even bother remembering. Ash looked up to the sky again, noting how it was still early, despite the sky's blueness and returned to sleep with surprising success.
* * *
"Well, the National Guard finally is out of way."
"Wonder who did it, the reports all say a terrorist attack."
"Hmm... they must be pretty powerful to have been able to fry a big fish like the ING."
The Team Rocket Headquarters' boardroom was full of the most powerful and influencial people in Team Rocket. Everyone there was fairly relieved that ING was destroyed, but they were also worried about the things this might be foreshadowing, such as a new crime organization being established, more powerful than anything that TR would be able to imagine.
"Should we try to get everything in place to control more now that we've got ING out of the way?" A man, named Trevor McKannon, asked Giovanni, who was sitting at the north edge of the desk.
"No. While ING is out of the way, and the police didn't pose much treat to us in the first place, it's best if we lay low. It's possible that this new organization could leave us alone if we don't do much, if it does indeed exist. Besides, we've already got control of a good portion of this goddamn region. We've got a gym established in Viridian, our longtime Pokemon stealing operations world-wide, several renewed projects on Mount Moon, and an illegal drug trade in the Orange Islands. We've got scientists researching genetic structures of several different Pokemon, as well as the eggheads developing new weapons, believe me, when and if they make their next move, if the little fuckers even exist, we'll be ready for them." Giovanni answered very confidently.
"But, sir, if we've already had all these damned weapons with us, then why didn't we just torch the ING ourselves?" A different person asked with a raised voice.
"You don't get it, do you? If we torched ING, we would've called way more attention to ourselves than we would want. The ING didn't do too much to us, sure they've come more than once, but they rarely do jack-shit." Trevor decided to answer for his leader. While Giovanni agreed whole-heartedly to Trevor's opinion, nonetheless he spoke out of turn, Giovanni thought of punishing Trevor afterwards, but decided not to for it would simply waste time better spent on other things.
* * *
Sin.
I sense so much of it in here.
It must not be allowed to remain here.
They shall no doubt interfere.
I won't let them interfere.
Sinners deserve no apologies.
* * *
"Anyways, furthermore..." Giovanni was cut off by a soft song followed slight rumbling.
"Niiiiii tannn, tannn niiiiii, niiiii tannn, tannn niiii." The song played on sweetly.
'It ends...' The thought transferred to everyone within the headquarters, the song continued as the ceiling of the boardroom caved in the center, somehow not taking any lives with it's descent.
"What the hell!?" Giovanni looked up surprised to see his roof replaced by the sky so far up above.
A fire suddenly engulfed the TR HQ as the song was still being sung. The whole building was being swallowed by flames within minutes. People were running and screaming loudly as their flesh was being eaten away by the fire. When Trevor successfully jumped out of an open window, others attempted to follow this example with varying degrees of success.
'Sinners deserve no apologies.' Giovanni's mind was filled by this thought repeatedly, along with everyone else who wasn't already a charred skeleton on the ground.
Several more people where rolling on the ground, trying to put out their flames, but it was of no use. Giovanni's suit had long caught on fire, he didn't...couldn't scream despite feeling intense pain from the heat. He just looked up, at the blue sky so far up above...
* * *
"Hmm, we're not too far from Viridian City now." Ash stated simply.
The group was still walking through the peaceful path. Arisa was next to Misty who was next to Ash, with Brock taking not-so-subtle glances at Arisa from Ash's side. Ash looked up at the sky, somehow feeling close, yet so far away.
"So, how long have you three known each other?" Arisa shot an eye towards Ash.
Ash was thrown off by the question.
'Really, how long would I consider myself to have known these people? These strangers from a life so long-past yet from a future so close...' Ash was debating the nature of this when Brock gladly answered.
"We've known each other for about six years." He said.
'Six years. He's correct I suppose, it's been 6 years since we first met, but it's only been three years he's truly known me.'
"Ahh." Arisa smiled and whispered to Misty, "So, are you two..?"
"Of course not!" Misty said out loud with her head up in the air and her eyes closed.
"Ahh, interesting..." Arisa winked and smiled even wider.
* * *
The party had finally arrived at Viridian City early afternoon, possibly sometime after 2 p.m. Ash quickly let his pikachu out of it's confines.
"Oooh! What a cute pikachu!" Arisa chimed excitedly.
"Pika!" The yellow rodent exclaimed happily.
'I sense..something different.' Arisa thought to herself looking past the pokemon and at the city.
"Well, come on! We might as well stick around here for the night." Misty said cheerfully.
* * *
Misty and Arisa went off together, doing some shopping apparently. Brock went do his usual thing of trying to woo anything in a dress that was young and attractive. Ash simply wandered about the city, just thinking to himself quietly.
'Savior...from Darkness...' This thought kept coming back in his mind.
'And Shade..the Dark Savior.. he wasn't even prophicized...'
Suddenly, Ash felt something cold and sharp up against his back.
"You can turn around, Savior." A voice said behind him as he felt whatever it was against his back go away. Ash did as the voice suggested.
"I'm sure you can recognize me." The voice's orgin was a cloaked figure, standing at Ash's height. Even at this close, Ash couldn't see his face, but knew immediately who he was.
"What the hell are you here for?" Ash faced the cloaked one.
"I'm just dropping by, I like giving my prey some time to get started." Shade said with a small chuckle.
"You know you can kill me now."
"Why? It's against the Prophecies.." Shade chuckled again after saying this, "Don't tell me you don't want to see the new era come, you're the Savior, it's your job and role to stick around a little longer."
"You're up to something else."
"Perhaps I am, don't worry Savior, next time we meet, you'll get the action which you seem to be craving." Shade gave a little bow and simply walked away.
"I was expecting greater tricks from you." Ash yelled out.
"All in good time.." Ash heard, even though he couldn't see Shade anymore.
"Is he alright?" A voice said behind Ash
"What a psycho."
"I hope he'll find a good shrink."
Ash looked around himself, wondering why they were saying this. He quickly came to the conclusion that Shade had somehow made himself visible only to him and no one else.
"Oh great, now everyone including me thinks I'm a nutball." Ash decided to find Misty and Arisa.
* * *
"Here! How do ya think this looks on me?" Arisa placed a somewhat revealing V-neck white shirt over her chest.
"Oh! That looks lovely!" Misty wasn't much of a judge of clothing before, maybe only occassionally letting her truly feminine side get the best of her, but that was then, this is now. Her sisters got her into the whole fashion act while staying put at Cerulean City, though she was not as obsessively into it as them.
"Hmm, what do you think of this Arisa?" Misty placed a sky blue dress over herself.
"Ooh, how pretty!"
This little exchange of clothing continued on, neither one of them really knowing what they would buy, especially since they didn't have too much money, $350 each, which might sound like quite a bit, but considering that the prices for the clothing here were about $100 at the least...
"How well do you know Ash?" Arisa asked Misty very suddenly.
"Pretty well, though I haven't seen him in about three or four years.."
"Why not?"
"I dunno, I was just so occupied with battling trainers wanting my the Cascade Badge at the gym..why do you ask anyways?"
Arisa looked down and shook her head, "Nothing. It's nothing."
Misty looked at Arisa oddly and just shrugged it off.
'Could that be why I sensed such sadness in him..?' Arisa thought to herself.
Before Arisa could think about this for much longer, Ash walked into the store and confronted Misty and Arisa.
"Found anything?" Ash asked in decidingly more playful tone.
* * *
Arisa was now clad in the white V-neck she was posing in just minutes before as well as some rather tight-fitting light-blue denim shorts, shockingly looking not unlike a younger, blue-haired Misty. Misty herself was wearing a blue one-piece dress with a rather oceanic theme which reached down to just above Misty's knee, which Misty thought looked better and had a cheaper price tag than the other one she was posing for earlier. Ash was clad in the same dark blue denim jacket, white shirt and black jeans which he had been wearing all this way and would need a washing soon.
They didn't have to go too far to find Brock, who was being his usual self, flirting and trying to get any pretty girl that passed his way. As soon as they (or to be precise, Ash) got him back to his senses, he was more than willing to continue on. Brock also took a chance to compliment Arisa on her lovliness once again, of course.
* * *
Several men were wandering around the island, wondering what to do with their current situation. They looked down upon the ocean, the jagged rocks below certainly appeared as an appealing option...
* * *
Sinners.
They still survive.
Best to leave them now.
For they are weakened.
* * *
A figure was observing the men on the island...
* * *
Black hearted men.
Those whom even the rats refuse to walk amongst.
These will become useful.
They are weak now.
But soon...
* * *
"G'night Arisa"
"Sweet dreams Brock."
"Goodnight Ash."
"Night Misty."
* * *
She was wandering in the forest. She was gasping at the beauty of the leaves as the trees shed them to go to their long rest. She wandered more along the nice, clean passage until she reached a cliffside. There was a large ocean below the cliff and right ahead of it was another cliffside. There was a figure standing at the other cliff's edge, She couldn't quite see who it was, but She felt somehow...attracted..to this figure whom appeared to her as merely as a sihlouette. She took a few steps back and suddenly started running and jumped towards the other cliff, She just had to try. As She started pulmetting towards the jagged rocks She felt something lift her up, She didn't even know what it was, she looked behind her to see that She somehow had massive, white, feathery wings that had grown out of her back. She didn't ponder this and just kept flying towards this figure, it wasn't so far now....She thought She could start to make out some of the figures features...
* * *
*CRASH*
Everyone woke up simultaneously in the room at the Inn, tired but alert. Ash checked the time briefly: 3:33am. Everyone looked outside the window and took immediate notice at banners that had a black circle with an upside down red triangle in the center. They also saw several men clad in black with red hoods. A bat-winged being was floating above the men, it had a black-scaled head of a serpent, two long legs covered with only pink skin but having bird-like talons as it's feet, it's arms were each feathered ending in large cat-like paws, finally, a long twitching tail much like that of cat only covered with scales and ending with a lethal-looking stinger.
"Mirache...Mirache...Mirache..." The creature droned on.
"We follow the path of Chaos/ Order leads to nowhere/ Truth is the path of hurt/ In a world of Darkness/ There is no need for a Light." The apparent followers slowly chanted beneath the horrific beast.
Ash was looking down upon all of this.
"Let's go." He said as he quickly left, seeing as he was already doning his clothing.
* * *
Arisa met up with Ash some time after he left (Mostly due to the issue of putting on proper clothes and convincing the others to stay at the inn). Ash was trying to keep himself from being seen by the followers and the new creature itself. Ash decided to bring his pokedex to good use.
A beep followed soon and soon came up with a brief file, "Mirache, a Dark pokemon. According to Prophecy, it is capable of breathing fire and has a deadly vemon in it's tail which not lethal, but paralyzes it's victim.", Ash quickly closed the pokedex as he took out a pokeball.
"Maybe my scyther might be of some assistance?" Arisa offered.
"Sure." Ash pressed the button on his pokeball, a red beam shot out and brought out a tired, but able, yellow rat. Arisa followed suite and a more battle-ready bladed insect came out.
* * *
The city was falling apart, windows being crashed, several buildings burning. The screams of people echoed throughout the city, never being quite sure if it was just the terror of it all or if people were truly dying. The latter was well confirmed when the Mirache crashed into a building, flying back out with a woman, it showed no mercy as it broke the woman's back, flew up high with the woman and let her fall to the earth with a sickening thud. The followers of the Dark also burned the woman's body, distorting it horrifically as it was scorching her flesh.
* * *
Ash was having trouble keeping himself from vomiting. Arisa was exhibiting similar problems also. The scyther viewed this as another battle, but even Pikachu knew something bigger was admist.
"This is just sick..." Ash said disgustingly.
"This is war.." Arisa said disheartenly.
* * *
Someone was watching all of this from above. Looking down upon everything. Someone knew that they could stop this. Someone quickly jumped down from their perch.
* * *
Ash and Arisa were about to move closer to the Mirache when they were stopped by a tall girl in a red vest. Her face was thin, as was her figure. She was also clad in white aside from the vest, which contrasted her short black hair. Her eyes were a light grey. She was also holding a sharp white stone in her hand.
"Who are you?" Ash asked of the girl.
The girl said nothing and simply threw the stone at Pikachu. It went straight through him, the mouse screaming loudly.
"Pikachu!" Ash tried touching it, but was immediately burnt by the heat as a bright white aura started surrounding the mouse. It was blinding. When Ash could see again, he no longer saw the yellow electric rat he knew and loved, but rather a more streamlined, white rodent with a long, whip-like tail that even made a quick trail of light behind it.
"Pi...ka...lus." The creature said in a slightly more mature voice.
The girl looked at Ash and smiled slightly. She also approached Arisa, put her hand on Arisa's forehead and shortly let go. She then turned and bowed to both of them, jumped up and was unseen.
"I guess we now have a Light pokemon" Arisa looked at the new little creature.
Ash decided to be bold and throw a rock at the Mirache to get it's attention. Predictably enough, the beast came roaring down, diving straight towards Ash. Arisa quickly jumped in the path of the beast but was quickly tossed aside, not by the beast, but by Ash.
"He wants *me* dammit!" Ash closed his eyes, turned his head to the side and streched his arms out.
The beast was almost to reach the boy. However, it suddenly collapsed. Arisa quickly kicked the monster, noting how stiff it was.
"What the heck did you do?!" Arisa looked towards Ash, clearly impressed.
"I...I don't know..." Ash looked in awe at what he alledgedly did, then took out a pokeball and captured it for Oak's research.
'He doesn't seem as sad anymore...' Arisa thought as she retrieved her scyther.
* * *
Shade was looking from above, looking down at Ash and the now- deceased Mirache. He quickly pondered the implications and possibilities of this.
"Savior..the Light..capable of killing a Mirache?! I wonder what could be the cause of this....he must be weakened, his power is much too strong, he's can't quite control it yet..but I can't risk that happening." He looked down once again at Ash's confident smile.
"The Savior must be weakened."
To be continued...
Scenario 2: Revival
Chapter 4: Times
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"You run, you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking..."
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Day.
Days coming, only to go.
Days going, what did you do with it?
Wasted days, do you remember what happened?
Forgotten days, did you even care if something happened?
Ignored days, what about when the next day doesn't come anymore?
Final day...
Blue. A field of endless blue, with white springs. He stood on this field, sitting in one of the springs. It was soft to his skin..so very soft. He looked out to the whole plane of blue, captivated by it's beauty. He got out of the spring and started walking on the blue. He kicked at the blue ground to reveal some green and brown. He was also captivated by it's beauty, but He still prefered the blue, glad to be on it and not on the green below...
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S c e n a r i o
Chapter 4 - Times
R e v i v a l
==================
Ash opened his eyes. He saw the blue sky above, feeling somehow depressed. He looked to his side and saw the green grass below as well as his new, re-found allies: Misty Waterflower, Brock Shale, and, the newcomer to the party: Arisa Tanaka, all were still sleeping peacefully in their own sleeping bags, except for Arisa, who was sharing a bag with Misty. Ash looked at Arisa.
'Lovely...' He thought, looking at the calm face with a happy, serene smile even in her slumber, and the long, currently tangled blue hair. His thoughts drifted to yesterday....
* * *
.... It had been a late afternoon when Ash, Misty and Brock decided to ask Arisa questions about herself.
"Where are your parents?" Ash had asked her, wondering why this girl became a wanderer.
"They're..dead I suppose." Arisa looked down and sighed, "I'm an orphan, the people at the orphanage told me that my mother had died giving birth to me, when I was old enough to ask the question and understand it, of course. I could've stayed at the orphanage until I was 18, but I decided not to, I don't know why, something told me I shouldn't."
"How old are you then?" Brock had asked quickly.
"I'm 16 years old." The answer had clearly surprised Brock.
'Strange, would've thought her to be 19.' Ash remembered having had thought that.
"What about that?" Misty had asked with great curiousity about the wooden cross around Arisa's neck. "I remember seeing it in history books."
"Oh, this.. this is something that belonged to my mother apparently, the orphanage workers told me that at least. Of course, this is from the dead religion of Christianity. The orphanage people told me of their surprise that my mother was a Christian, especially considering that many ideals of it aren't in practice anymore, even though so many of the modern religions are based off principles in the ancient texts of it, but anyways, I'm wasting breath saying stuff that you probably know already. I simply wear this to keep some form of remembering the mother I never knew, I suppose."
"Do you have any Pokemon?" Ash had asked eagerly.
"Yes, I do. Just one really, but it's enough to get me through the day." Arisa took out her pokeball and pressed the button for the usual red blob of energy forming into a large pokemon.
"Scyther!" The large green insect that looked like the result of a marriage between the Grim Reaper and a praying mantis, which was quickly shot with a beam of red and returned to it's confines.
"How do you earn money?" Misty asked.
"I simply do various odd jobs at pokecenters, restaurants, and other places in exchange for a free night's stay, or free food. That sort of thing."
* * *
... And so the questioning had continued, nothing else asked was really of much value or importance to really even bother remembering. Ash looked up to the sky again, noting how it was still early, despite the sky's blueness and returned to sleep with surprising success.
* * *
"Well, the National Guard finally is out of way."
"Wonder who did it, the reports all say a terrorist attack."
"Hmm... they must be pretty powerful to have been able to fry a big fish like the ING."
The Team Rocket Headquarters' boardroom was full of the most powerful and influencial people in Team Rocket. Everyone there was fairly relieved that ING was destroyed, but they were also worried about the things this might be foreshadowing, such as a new crime organization being established, more powerful than anything that TR would be able to imagine.
"Should we try to get everything in place to control more now that we've got ING out of the way?" A man, named Trevor McKannon, asked Giovanni, who was sitting at the north edge of the desk.
"No. While ING is out of the way, and the police didn't pose much treat to us in the first place, it's best if we lay low. It's possible that this new organization could leave us alone if we don't do much, if it does indeed exist. Besides, we've already got control of a good portion of this goddamn region. We've got a gym established in Viridian, our longtime Pokemon stealing operations world-wide, several renewed projects on Mount Moon, and an illegal drug trade in the Orange Islands. We've got scientists researching genetic structures of several different Pokemon, as well as the eggheads developing new weapons, believe me, when and if they make their next move, if the little fuckers even exist, we'll be ready for them." Giovanni answered very confidently.
"But, sir, if we've already had all these damned weapons with us, then why didn't we just torch the ING ourselves?" A different person asked with a raised voice.
"You don't get it, do you? If we torched ING, we would've called way more attention to ourselves than we would want. The ING didn't do too much to us, sure they've come more than once, but they rarely do jack-shit." Trevor decided to answer for his leader. While Giovanni agreed whole-heartedly to Trevor's opinion, nonetheless he spoke out of turn, Giovanni thought of punishing Trevor afterwards, but decided not to for it would simply waste time better spent on other things.
* * *
Sin.
I sense so much of it in here.
It must not be allowed to remain here.
They shall no doubt interfere.
I won't let them interfere.
Sinners deserve no apologies.
* * *
"Anyways, furthermore..." Giovanni was cut off by a soft song followed slight rumbling.
"Niiiiii tannn, tannn niiiiii, niiiii tannn, tannn niiii." The song played on sweetly.
'It ends...' The thought transferred to everyone within the headquarters, the song continued as the ceiling of the boardroom caved in the center, somehow not taking any lives with it's descent.
"What the hell!?" Giovanni looked up surprised to see his roof replaced by the sky so far up above.
A fire suddenly engulfed the TR HQ as the song was still being sung. The whole building was being swallowed by flames within minutes. People were running and screaming loudly as their flesh was being eaten away by the fire. When Trevor successfully jumped out of an open window, others attempted to follow this example with varying degrees of success.
'Sinners deserve no apologies.' Giovanni's mind was filled by this thought repeatedly, along with everyone else who wasn't already a charred skeleton on the ground.
Several more people where rolling on the ground, trying to put out their flames, but it was of no use. Giovanni's suit had long caught on fire, he didn't...couldn't scream despite feeling intense pain from the heat. He just looked up, at the blue sky so far up above...
* * *
"Hmm, we're not too far from Viridian City now." Ash stated simply.
The group was still walking through the peaceful path. Arisa was next to Misty who was next to Ash, with Brock taking not-so-subtle glances at Arisa from Ash's side. Ash looked up at the sky, somehow feeling close, yet so far away.
"So, how long have you three known each other?" Arisa shot an eye towards Ash.
Ash was thrown off by the question.
'Really, how long would I consider myself to have known these people? These strangers from a life so long-past yet from a future so close...' Ash was debating the nature of this when Brock gladly answered.
"We've known each other for about six years." He said.
'Six years. He's correct I suppose, it's been 6 years since we first met, but it's only been three years he's truly known me.'
"Ahh." Arisa smiled and whispered to Misty, "So, are you two..?"
"Of course not!" Misty said out loud with her head up in the air and her eyes closed.
"Ahh, interesting..." Arisa winked and smiled even wider.
* * *
The party had finally arrived at Viridian City early afternoon, possibly sometime after 2 p.m. Ash quickly let his pikachu out of it's confines.
"Oooh! What a cute pikachu!" Arisa chimed excitedly.
"Pika!" The yellow rodent exclaimed happily.
'I sense..something different.' Arisa thought to herself looking past the pokemon and at the city.
"Well, come on! We might as well stick around here for the night." Misty said cheerfully.
* * *
Misty and Arisa went off together, doing some shopping apparently. Brock went do his usual thing of trying to woo anything in a dress that was young and attractive. Ash simply wandered about the city, just thinking to himself quietly.
'Savior...from Darkness...' This thought kept coming back in his mind.
'And Shade..the Dark Savior.. he wasn't even prophicized...'
Suddenly, Ash felt something cold and sharp up against his back.
"You can turn around, Savior." A voice said behind him as he felt whatever it was against his back go away. Ash did as the voice suggested.
"I'm sure you can recognize me." The voice's orgin was a cloaked figure, standing at Ash's height. Even at this close, Ash couldn't see his face, but knew immediately who he was.
"What the hell are you here for?" Ash faced the cloaked one.
"I'm just dropping by, I like giving my prey some time to get started." Shade said with a small chuckle.
"You know you can kill me now."
"Why? It's against the Prophecies.." Shade chuckled again after saying this, "Don't tell me you don't want to see the new era come, you're the Savior, it's your job and role to stick around a little longer."
"You're up to something else."
"Perhaps I am, don't worry Savior, next time we meet, you'll get the action which you seem to be craving." Shade gave a little bow and simply walked away.
"I was expecting greater tricks from you." Ash yelled out.
"All in good time.." Ash heard, even though he couldn't see Shade anymore.
"Is he alright?" A voice said behind Ash
"What a psycho."
"I hope he'll find a good shrink."
Ash looked around himself, wondering why they were saying this. He quickly came to the conclusion that Shade had somehow made himself visible only to him and no one else.
"Oh great, now everyone including me thinks I'm a nutball." Ash decided to find Misty and Arisa.
* * *
"Here! How do ya think this looks on me?" Arisa placed a somewhat revealing V-neck white shirt over her chest.
"Oh! That looks lovely!" Misty wasn't much of a judge of clothing before, maybe only occassionally letting her truly feminine side get the best of her, but that was then, this is now. Her sisters got her into the whole fashion act while staying put at Cerulean City, though she was not as obsessively into it as them.
"Hmm, what do you think of this Arisa?" Misty placed a sky blue dress over herself.
"Ooh, how pretty!"
This little exchange of clothing continued on, neither one of them really knowing what they would buy, especially since they didn't have too much money, $350 each, which might sound like quite a bit, but considering that the prices for the clothing here were about $100 at the least...
"How well do you know Ash?" Arisa asked Misty very suddenly.
"Pretty well, though I haven't seen him in about three or four years.."
"Why not?"
"I dunno, I was just so occupied with battling trainers wanting my the Cascade Badge at the gym..why do you ask anyways?"
Arisa looked down and shook her head, "Nothing. It's nothing."
Misty looked at Arisa oddly and just shrugged it off.
'Could that be why I sensed such sadness in him..?' Arisa thought to herself.
Before Arisa could think about this for much longer, Ash walked into the store and confronted Misty and Arisa.
"Found anything?" Ash asked in decidingly more playful tone.
* * *
Arisa was now clad in the white V-neck she was posing in just minutes before as well as some rather tight-fitting light-blue denim shorts, shockingly looking not unlike a younger, blue-haired Misty. Misty herself was wearing a blue one-piece dress with a rather oceanic theme which reached down to just above Misty's knee, which Misty thought looked better and had a cheaper price tag than the other one she was posing for earlier. Ash was clad in the same dark blue denim jacket, white shirt and black jeans which he had been wearing all this way and would need a washing soon.
They didn't have to go too far to find Brock, who was being his usual self, flirting and trying to get any pretty girl that passed his way. As soon as they (or to be precise, Ash) got him back to his senses, he was more than willing to continue on. Brock also took a chance to compliment Arisa on her lovliness once again, of course.
* * *
Several men were wandering around the island, wondering what to do with their current situation. They looked down upon the ocean, the jagged rocks below certainly appeared as an appealing option...
* * *
Sinners.
They still survive.
Best to leave them now.
For they are weakened.
* * *
A figure was observing the men on the island...
* * *
Black hearted men.
Those whom even the rats refuse to walk amongst.
These will become useful.
They are weak now.
But soon...
* * *
"G'night Arisa"
"Sweet dreams Brock."
"Goodnight Ash."
"Night Misty."
* * *
She was wandering in the forest. She was gasping at the beauty of the leaves as the trees shed them to go to their long rest. She wandered more along the nice, clean passage until she reached a cliffside. There was a large ocean below the cliff and right ahead of it was another cliffside. There was a figure standing at the other cliff's edge, She couldn't quite see who it was, but She felt somehow...attracted..to this figure whom appeared to her as merely as a sihlouette. She took a few steps back and suddenly started running and jumped towards the other cliff, She just had to try. As She started pulmetting towards the jagged rocks She felt something lift her up, She didn't even know what it was, she looked behind her to see that She somehow had massive, white, feathery wings that had grown out of her back. She didn't ponder this and just kept flying towards this figure, it wasn't so far now....She thought She could start to make out some of the figures features...
* * *
*CRASH*
Everyone woke up simultaneously in the room at the Inn, tired but alert. Ash checked the time briefly: 3:33am. Everyone looked outside the window and took immediate notice at banners that had a black circle with an upside down red triangle in the center. They also saw several men clad in black with red hoods. A bat-winged being was floating above the men, it had a black-scaled head of a serpent, two long legs covered with only pink skin but having bird-like talons as it's feet, it's arms were each feathered ending in large cat-like paws, finally, a long twitching tail much like that of cat only covered with scales and ending with a lethal-looking stinger.
"Mirache...Mirache...Mirache..." The creature droned on.
"We follow the path of Chaos/ Order leads to nowhere/ Truth is the path of hurt/ In a world of Darkness/ There is no need for a Light." The apparent followers slowly chanted beneath the horrific beast.
Ash was looking down upon all of this.
"Let's go." He said as he quickly left, seeing as he was already doning his clothing.
* * *
Arisa met up with Ash some time after he left (Mostly due to the issue of putting on proper clothes and convincing the others to stay at the inn). Ash was trying to keep himself from being seen by the followers and the new creature itself. Ash decided to bring his pokedex to good use.
A beep followed soon and soon came up with a brief file, "Mirache, a Dark pokemon. According to Prophecy, it is capable of breathing fire and has a deadly vemon in it's tail which not lethal, but paralyzes it's victim.", Ash quickly closed the pokedex as he took out a pokeball.
"Maybe my scyther might be of some assistance?" Arisa offered.
"Sure." Ash pressed the button on his pokeball, a red beam shot out and brought out a tired, but able, yellow rat. Arisa followed suite and a more battle-ready bladed insect came out.
* * *
The city was falling apart, windows being crashed, several buildings burning. The screams of people echoed throughout the city, never being quite sure if it was just the terror of it all or if people were truly dying. The latter was well confirmed when the Mirache crashed into a building, flying back out with a woman, it showed no mercy as it broke the woman's back, flew up high with the woman and let her fall to the earth with a sickening thud. The followers of the Dark also burned the woman's body, distorting it horrifically as it was scorching her flesh.
* * *
Ash was having trouble keeping himself from vomiting. Arisa was exhibiting similar problems also. The scyther viewed this as another battle, but even Pikachu knew something bigger was admist.
"This is just sick..." Ash said disgustingly.
"This is war.." Arisa said disheartenly.
* * *
Someone was watching all of this from above. Looking down upon everything. Someone knew that they could stop this. Someone quickly jumped down from their perch.
* * *
Ash and Arisa were about to move closer to the Mirache when they were stopped by a tall girl in a red vest. Her face was thin, as was her figure. She was also clad in white aside from the vest, which contrasted her short black hair. Her eyes were a light grey. She was also holding a sharp white stone in her hand.
"Who are you?" Ash asked of the girl.
The girl said nothing and simply threw the stone at Pikachu. It went straight through him, the mouse screaming loudly.
"Pikachu!" Ash tried touching it, but was immediately burnt by the heat as a bright white aura started surrounding the mouse. It was blinding. When Ash could see again, he no longer saw the yellow electric rat he knew and loved, but rather a more streamlined, white rodent with a long, whip-like tail that even made a quick trail of light behind it.
"Pi...ka...lus." The creature said in a slightly more mature voice.
The girl looked at Ash and smiled slightly. She also approached Arisa, put her hand on Arisa's forehead and shortly let go. She then turned and bowed to both of them, jumped up and was unseen.
"I guess we now have a Light pokemon" Arisa looked at the new little creature.
Ash decided to be bold and throw a rock at the Mirache to get it's attention. Predictably enough, the beast came roaring down, diving straight towards Ash. Arisa quickly jumped in the path of the beast but was quickly tossed aside, not by the beast, but by Ash.
"He wants *me* dammit!" Ash closed his eyes, turned his head to the side and streched his arms out.
The beast was almost to reach the boy. However, it suddenly collapsed. Arisa quickly kicked the monster, noting how stiff it was.
"What the heck did you do?!" Arisa looked towards Ash, clearly impressed.
"I...I don't know..." Ash looked in awe at what he alledgedly did, then took out a pokeball and captured it for Oak's research.
'He doesn't seem as sad anymore...' Arisa thought as she retrieved her scyther.
* * *
Shade was looking from above, looking down at Ash and the now- deceased Mirache. He quickly pondered the implications and possibilities of this.
"Savior..the Light..capable of killing a Mirache?! I wonder what could be the cause of this....he must be weakened, his power is much too strong, he's can't quite control it yet..but I can't risk that happening." He looked down once again at Ash's confident smile.
"The Savior must be weakened."
To be continued...
