Continuation of The Flame Burns Deep

Continuation of The Flame Burns Deep

Before we get back to this *ahem* presentation, I'd like to thank all the people who reviewed this (and, hopefully, will review this), this continuation's for you! I hope you enjoy the rest of the first fanfic I ever started, and review if you want to, but I'm not going to kill you if you don't, reviews are very much appreciated, though. Constructive criticism is fine, but don't flame me unless you can pinpoint WHY you didn't like it. It's gonna be sad for a while (two of the main words used in this 'fic are cry and tear(s)), I dunno if it's sad enough for all you readers out there to cry about, but all of my friends cried when they read it at school (I didn't have much finished then). I've managed to keep my Tracey-bashing to the bare minimum 'cuz it didn't seem, well, professional enough to insult one of the characters just 'cuz I happen to dislike him. Well, as I said, enjoy the 'fic!

2nd Half of Chapter Eight: Determination

The first thing Misty saw when she came back to reality was Ash's deathly still body. Tears welled up in her eyes again, but she managed to withhold them this time. Why cry over him? He would be okay. He had to be okay. She sighed heavily and placed her head in her hands, shaking her head back and forth distractedly as if it would take away the lump that had formed in her throat. Eyes closed in concentration; she began to replay the events of the last few days over in her mind, starting with when Tracey left. When she came across the mental message she had gotten right before she had fainted yesterday, her head shot suddenly up. It all made partial sense now. The voice had said she had to confess that she was in love with Ash or something would happen to him. And it did. But how was she supposed to admit it to him when he wasn't conscious? 'Oh well…' she thought, then sighed again. She would have said it straight out then and there, but the tears were creeping up all over again, and she knew that anything she said would indefinitely bring them out, much less something she was sure would bring tears even under normal circumstances.

Trying to take her mind off of everything, Misty looked up at the stars. She was grateful for the fact that there were no lights around for many miles, so they looked far sharper than she was used to. Just now actually noticing the chilling cold, Misty dejectedly crossed her arms and glanced at Ash. Could people be cold while they were knocked out? The stars blurred up suddenly as she felt one single, small tear slide down her face. She wiped it away and sniffled once quietly, then looked back up at the stars. They were so beautiful. And so welcome at a time like this. The starlight lit up the clearing she was in relatively well. The tiny pinpricks of light in the sky seemed oddly comforting to her for a while, until she remembered bitterly that they were nothing but rock floating around in space. That knowledge somehow made them seem so less magical. She felt a flash of odd anger at the world.

'They just had to ruin it, didn't they? To ruin the magic of the moment. Humans are so incredibly good at doing that.' She thought, suddenly infuriated. But then, as quickly as it started, the anger dissolved into resentful neutralism. 'The stars aren't really that far away if you think about it…. I guess it was just too tempting for us humans to resist. Why they care so much about what's out there I'll never know…. I guess people just aren't satisfied with what they have. They just don't realize that everything they've had all along is as great as it really is. A human really can't make just one wish can they? They always want more. I guess that's what this creature, who or whatever it is, is trying to teach me. To love what I have, to love Ash, and all my other friends, human and pokemon. I always have loved them, though, especially Ash. But I guess I gotta show it more before whoever it is is satisfied. Why am I sitting here alone? I should let the pokemon out…mine and Ash's. I'm sure Ash would approve of that.' She thought. She reached over and picked the pokeballs off of his belt. His pokemon deserved to know what had happened to their trainer, and best friend. Then she grabbed her own pokeballs from her pocket.

"Go everybody!" she said, trying to keep at least some enthusiasm. She threw all the pokeballs into the air, with the smart exclusion of Charizard. The pokemon all came out awake (except Snorlax, whom she quickly recalled), much to Misty's surprise. They each gave a joyful cry at being let out, but their expressions turned sorrowful at seeing the look on Misty's face, and, shortly after, their fallen friend. The pokemon's first reaction was to go to Ash, so they did, sadly to no effect whatsoever. They then turned to Misty with eyes clearly asking innocently, "what should we do?"

Misty nodded her head in a self-explainable no. She had let out Staryu, Poliwag, Psyduck, Togepi (who was still a bit shaken from his earlier battle), Goldeen, Tauros, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle. For a while the pokemon just stood there, unknowing of what to do, but then they looked back up at Misty, who's eyes filled with small tears at their naïve displays of confusion. Psyduck was the first one to figure out what to do in this situation. He waddled over to her, and wrapped his short, pudgy arms around her in a rare moment of tenderness.

"Psy." He said simply.

For a brief second Misty could only gape at him. She had misunderstood him for so long. All he wanted to do was make her happy. What a simple goal. That was all he wanted, wasn't it? And what had she done, she had cast him out. She had yelled at him and screamed at him, and kicked him, done all these horrible things to the poor guy, and now here he was, hugging her wholeheartedly, comforting her in her time of need. A fresh wave of tears overwhelmed her, and she pulled the duck pokemon up and hugged him back.

The pokemon, too, were surprised at Psyduck's sudden understanding of the situation, but they shook off their shock when Misty pulled him up into that hug. Starting with Togepi, all of the pokemon came over and surrounded her with enveloping hugs and sympathetic tears. Even Tauros, who wasn't quite capable of hugs, came over and offered himself as a backrest. Misty attempted to hug them all at once, but failed and decided instead to hug them each individually. Psyduck still clinging to her, Misty realized that Pikachu was still missing. By now she was already crying about as hard as a person can cry, but that sudden awareness pulled her farther into her already all-encompassing grief.

She looked over at Ash, silently pleading for him to be alive. When he didn't move, she wondered if there was much hope left for him. The pain was too new for her to be able to grasp the possibility that her best friend was possibly dead, so she roughly pushed the subject out of her mind. 'He can't be gone, I won't let him be gone.' She told herself, and was rewarded with what seemed to be the most welcoming thing she had ever seen. Ash's side rose once shakily, briefly and unevenly, but she suddenly felt a burst of hope.

She wanted to go to him, right then and there, but when she tried to get herself to stand up, she found she was too weak from crying to do that, even with Tauros' help. The pokemon, seeing her weak struggle to get up, got an idea. They each grabbed Ash by his outer jacket, and dragged him over to where Misty was propped up on Tauros, who was lying down and nuzzling her tenderly. Misty immediately wrapped her arms around him, and began crying into his shoulder.

"It's all my fault, Ash" she sniffed. "I was just trying to save you. But look how it turned out…. I shoulda just let you find the pokemon yourself. But I couldn't help it. I was worried about you. I'd never be able to live with myself if you had gotten killed. I still won't be able to live with it if you don't…make it through this. I can't live without you, Ash. I…I love you…." She managed to choke out before she had to stop talking for crying so hard.

Behind her, a very familiar cry sounded out, soft and muffled.

"Pikachupi!"

Misty sniffed and turned around the best she could, feebly attempting to wipe tears away, but succeeding only in streaking them across her face. Her eyes were unfocused from all the crying, so all she saw was a yellow smudge, but of course she immediately recognized her friend.

"Pikachupi." Pikachu murmured again. He then walked towards her slowly, hopped over Tauros, who had fallen asleep and crawled into her lap, eyes sparkling with tears.

His eyes were inquisitive, but Misty shook her head and told him, voice soft, "It's a long story Pikachu, and I'm really not fit to tell it right now. Maybe later, but not now. But Pikachu, Ash, well, he might never wake up." She sniffled a few times in between words, but managed to keep herself under control, not wanting to farther upset Pikachu. Misty knew Pikachu understood the concept of death perhaps better than herself, but saying the words themselves made it seem so much more final.

Pikachu's eyes turned glassy, making them appear to enlarge. Then he too broke down crying. Misty could only sit there silently, stroking the electric rodent, who was every bit as heartbroken as she.

For a while Pikachu cried silently, not even sniffling, but then he unexpectedly broke out in a terrible, agonizing sob, making Misty flinch with heartache. His small body became wracked with sobs, and Misty picked him up soothingly and hugged him.

"Pikachupi, pi pika." Pikachu whispered in her ear, hoping fervently that she could understand him, if only to hear these few words.

And apparently, she did. Her eyes filled with tears that never fell, and she looked out into the forest, hugging Ash and Pikachu as close as she could. Her face was etched with sorrow deeper than crying her heart out could portray. For a moment she sat there frozen, eyes staring off into a different world, then her gaze swept back down to the dirt and she mumbled sadly, almost inaudibly, "the promise, oh Pikachu, the promise."

Pikachu could only nod.

Misty stroked Psyduck once, who had fallen asleep at her side, then looked back up at all the other pokemon, who had also fallen asleep. As she did, an odd sense of déjà vu washed over her. It was strong, yet faint at the same time. It was like she had suffered this before, or at least something similar. Chills ran down her back, and she buried her face in Ash's shoulder, trying to shake it off. But it wouldn't leave, and Misty was overcome with flashes of scenes she was sure she had never seen before. An explosion of pink and blue light, pokemon crying, a small white catlike pokemon with a long tail, and another somewhat similar, though larger one…. Then, when those little scenes were over, other's began to take their place, far more familiar ones.

"Awww, it's just a kid. Oh, and a pokemon! Are you okay?" She heard herself ask in the flashback. She felt a small grin come up at hearing herself say that. She sounded so…disappointed. She would never, ever forget that moment. Then the scene changed.

"And Ash is never alone, cause he's got…" She hesitated to say it, "me." She saw a twinkle of understanding come into Melody's eyes when she had said that. It was almost like Melody had achieved a goal when Misty said that.

They kept on coming, each scene a cherished moment with Ash. They were in no particular order, but each one made her feel both a horrible sense of reality, and slight glow of warmth. Then she felt her mind begin to drift away, into a much-needed sleep.

Her slumber was not a peaceful one, though. It was filled with dreams of terror and panic, and her body shook vehemently with shivers of grief, and her face was again wet with terrified tears. All of the dreams seemed so real, so vivid, yet at the same time far away, in a different reality. Everything was either blurred or unrecognizable, and Misty felt hopelessly lost and alone.

She was never in a deep sleep, either. She always had a slight grasp on reality, one she couldn't seem to get rid of. It almost seemed like something was pursuing her, following her, watching her, and it made her very uneasy. A few times she opened her eyes, but in her confusion, the black forest seemed far too still. She found herself wondering dreamily if time had stopped so she could feel all this agony all drawn out, and as she wondered about it she became aware of severe aches everywhere, caused by her mind being so wracked with woe. Her body trembled uncontrollably, and she almost vomited, but she had absolutely nothing in her stomach, so she couldn't seem to cough anything up. After a time she fell back into the almost equally disturbing sleep, and was actually able to keep from waking up.

Sometime during the night, Ash's heart stopped beating.

Meanwhile, the creature, with sadness perhaps every bit as strong as Misty's, had forced itself to watch the events it had caused. It had been hiding behind trees and darted about the entire time, keeping a sharp eye on its supposed victims. Victims. It hated to put it that way, but that's what they were wasn't it? They were the victims of its scheming. But it would be over soon. The reward for all of this would be priceless. In the end, it would all be worth it.

'Waitaminute!' it thought quickly, feeling utterly ridiculous. 'I could fix it all right now, and I think I will.' With that, it sat down on a pine branch, and began to watch Misty, who would occasionally squeeze Ash a little bit tighter and begin to cry all over again.

Now it could revive him. It could bring him back so simply.

It focused on Ash, trying to put all of its concentration into him. Its eyes started glowing an eerie blue, but then faded back into their usual clear oceanic color. 'Hmmm?' It thought, frustrated, 'that's never happened before…' it tried again, but something was preventing it from putting all of it's attention into Ash. It closed its eyes; maybe it would be easier that way. For a split second it felt it's concentration go into him, that's what it needed to do in order to revive him, but then it faded again, this time apparently beyond its grasp. A spark of fear burst up. It couldn't do it. It couldn't revive Ash. It began to shiver fearfully. It had killed someone. It, the world's biggest pacifist, had killed someone, beyond bringing back. It began to cry bitterly, for everyone involved, for Misty, and Pikachu, for all the other pokemon, too, for Ash, for the fact that he wouldn't have a future, and the way that Misty was going it looked like she wouldn't have one either.

The plan had failed. The plan it had worked on for nearly a year, thought about for a long time, intended to bring Ash and Misty closer, had instead pulled them apart, forever.

So it sped off into the forest, not even bothering to look back.

Chapter Nine: The Flame

You couldn't even tell when the sun rose. The sky was completely obscured by low, flat, gray clouds, though it was somehow obvious that there would be no storm today.

The little sleep Misty got seemed to have done her no good whatsoever, because when she woke up that dull morning, she felt every bit as bad as she had the night before, perhaps even worse. She had trouble opening her eyes because they stung so badly. The skin around them was puffy and raw, and every slight breeze that blew made the stinging ten times worse. Her body was constricted with aches and pains everywhere, and she was desperately famished and parched, though she couldn't seem to think of anything but Ash. Her first thought when she woke up was, ' so it wasn't all a dream.' Ash was still limp in her arms, but nonetheless she hugged him tightly as she looked around at all the pokemon, who hadn't woken up yet. Of course, there was no way of telling what time it was, the overcast sky made it seem much earlier than it actually was.

The pokemon were scattered around her, most within a few feet.

Misty didn't even have to check Ash's pulse to know he was far gone. She couldn't cry anymore. She too numb, too weak, too hurt to cry. She hadn't eaten nor drank anything in three days, and even if she had the grief was quickly sapping her will to live. So she just pulled Ash to her, and rocked back and forth, now too far away in her mind for anything to find her. She was dying, dying for the annoying kid who owed her a bike. For the kid she had followed for years, putting up with his arguments, his terrible sense of direction, his tendency to never listen to anyone. She was also dying for the fact that she had fallen in love with him, throughout all they had been through together. For the fact she had promised to stay with him forever, and how she could never imagine life without him. No, she couldn't live his death down.

But Pikachu had other ideas. The moment he woke up, his first thought was to help Misty, he could see in her eyes how much she needed food and water. She was far too dazed to even notice him as he scampered off into a thorny bush, and away from the site where all of his teammates were still fast asleep.

After searching for a long while, he found a small blackberry bush, with a few overly ripe but otherwise fine blackberries hanging onto it. He grabbed them all, staining his paws purple, and scurried back with them.

He walked back over to Misty and offered her some, but she didn't respond, so he climbed up on Tauros' back and forced her mouth open to drop them in, then promptly closed it again.

Misty couldn't taste them in the least, but she still dejectedly swallowed them, and once Pikachu was sure she had, he scuttled back off in order to find some water.

He was lucky it had rained the night before last, for a small puddle quite a distance from them was the only water for miles. The best he could, he scooped some into his small hand-like front paws, rushed back towards 'camp,' and forced her to drink that too.

It was extremely disheartening to him when she still didn't respond. As he sat down in the dirt to mope, the remaining pokemon awoke. When they saw Misty, hugging Ash and utterly motionless except for a few faint breaths, and Pikachu, sitting in the dirt with not a bit of hope left in him, they all hung their heads in depression. All mumbling under their breath while many tears were shed, each pokemon, except for Tauros, who decided he had a duty to fulfill until they were both dead, walked solemnly over to their pokeballs, which were lying strewn around them, and let themselves in. They could not stand all the suffering anymore. They too had given up all hope of ever seeing their masters alive again. Even Pikachu, who was crying so hard he lost most of his body control, took one last, blurred look at them, his best friends in the whole world, and muttered under his breath,

"Pika pikachu pi pika, chu pikachu. (Translation: Until we meet again, my friends.)"

He tripped and fell into the dirt on his slow, sorrowful way to that empty pokeball that Ash had always kept just in case, the first time he had ever willingly accepted the idea of getting into it. His body was shaking so hard he couldn't get up, and even if he could, he was blinded by tears and heartache. His loss was perhaps even greater than that of Misty's, for he had not only lost his best friend ever; he had lost his second best friend as well. But luckily for him, when he reached out his paw, it happened to hit the pokeball's button, and as he felt himself being sucked into it, he couldn't help but wonder with a pain so deep it was beyond comprehension,

'Why?'

From here on out, his future, as well as the other pokemon's, was as unstable as it could possibly be. Perhaps, someday in the future, a good-hearted trainer would find them, and take good care of them for the rest of their lives. Maybe Tracey would come back and find them, and take care of them. Or maybe their heartache would heal enough that they could let themselves out one day, and live all together, wild and free in the forest. But whatever happened, he vowed he would never forget the two trainers that changed his view of humans, and the world, forever. The last thing he saw before his view of the outer world disappeared was that horribly beautiful scene, Misty, her arms wrapped around Ash, leaning up against Tauros, who felt his service a last favor. Somehow, the way she hugged him like that, portrayed the undying love that never really was, something that the whole world could have learned by, but never would get to see.

*****

She was so ready to take her last breath. So horrifically ready.

But something held her back. There was something that had to happen before she died. She had already told the world she loved Ash, somehow she knew he had loved her too, but now he was dead, therefore there was nothing left to live for. She so wanted to free herself from all the pain, but then, something held her back. She fought with it weakly, but it persisted. Now she was doubly depressed. It was so frustrating, she was so ready to die, but whatever it was wouldn't let her. She gritted her teeth and tried to tell it to let her go, with no luck. Then she pleaded, but still nothing. No release from it all, just the appalling feeling that she was so pathetic that she couldn't even die. She had no strength or time for last words.

It was just then that the high notes of a flute danced through the air. Misty suddenly relaxed and opened her eyes. It soon became apparent that the mysterious piping had a tune, a sad, haunting, but beautiful one. It piped on, so incredible Misty couldn't help but feel a burst of sudden strength from it. The notes flowed together like liquid, and she felt something well up in her, and this time it wasn't tears.

Every moment of happiness she had ever had in her entire life, most with Ash in them, flashed in her mind to the notes of the flute-like cooing, which was not at all unlike Lugia's Song. It seemed like a higher counterpart almost, but the tune had it's own different feeling to it. It made her feel very inspired all of the sudden, and her will to live slowly creeped back with each flowing note. She wasn't even able to guess what had made the music when all the powdery soot, all the debris caused by the forest fire began to rise around her, up towards the swiftly clearing sky.

Oddly enough, Tauros seemed completely oblivious to the whole thing.

The soot just kept flying up, until it was high in the sky, blocking out the sun, which had peeked it's way hesitantly out from behind the still clouds. After a time of watching in wonder and awe as the soot floated up around her, the flute still piping in harmony, the whole sky was covered in what appeared to be a pure black cloud. Then the flute's piping suddenly stopped as the clouds of soot swirled slowly towards the sun, creating a giant black orb, which began to silently shape itself….

Totally in shock and amazement already, Misty watched as the soot took the form of a large bird. For a moment the figure hovered in the air unmoving, then, much to her surprise, the soot suddenly burst, almost like an explosion, and every particle of soot disappeared into thin air to reveal a huge golden bird, wings outspread, glittering directly in the sun's path.

It opened its bronze beak as the last, wavering note of the song sounded loud and clear, and echoed throughout the forest.

Misty sucked in a quick breath as the last note ended, and the bird began to soar about gracefully in the now totally clear sky and she was able to observe it farther.

In the sun, its large feathers created blinding rainbows and flashed like nothing she had ever seen. It was dark gold, almost orange, but it had a beige belly, various colored feathers, and a thin ring of green around its neck. Its tail was of substantial size, but was not so much long as it was, well, big.

Her heart began to thud as it turned its four feather-crowned head to study her with magnificent glimmering eyes of red. Then, in one quick motion, it was heading towards her, an odd look of mirroring wonder in its metallic eyes. As it came closer, Misty felt herself fearfully grip Ash, it had kind of become instinct over the years. But the fear melted away as the bird cocked its head, looking kind of disappointed. It began to turn away, to head in another direction, head hanging low, but Misty managed to croak out to it hoarsely "I-it's okay."

The bird faintly smiled when she said that, and turned its path of flight back towards her.

When it finally reached her, Misty could see it wasn't as huge as she anticipated. It was smaller than Lugia, about twelve or thirteen feet tall. It landed without hesitation a few feet from her, being careful not to touch the scattered pokeballs around it with its bluish scaly feet.

Misty's eyes widened in surprise as the bird dipped down in a full bow, then spread out its wings, gave one little happy note, and flew off again. It seemed to be a bit of a show-off as it flew about, doing various simple tricks and trying to make it seem like it wasn't trying to do them, but Misty thoroughly enjoyed its company anyway.

While watching its kind of silly, pointless actions, Misty began to actually think about it. Why is it here? How could it rise from nothing but cold ashes? Then it struck her. 'Of course! It's a Phoenix! According to legend, the Phoenix will be reborn from ash!' she thought excitedly, taking careful note of the double meaning. 'Does that mean…' she shook off the thought, 'no, that's ridiculous… isn't it?'

As she pondered about it, the Phoenix again began to sing its beautiful song in a successful attempt to get her attention.

When she looked at it, it stopped singing and began to stare into her eyes. As it did, she noticed a change overcome it. Its eyes, which had been glimmering amusingly, hardened with determination. It had a duty to fulfill.

Flapping its rainbow-colored wings powerfully, it flew up, so high in the sky she couldn't see it very well any more. Then it uttered that same last drawn-out note of its song for every living thing in the forest to hear.

Time may have frozen right then and there. Misty felt she could no longer move, and everything around her was every bit as still as she. The air was filled to capacity with expectancy, so strong the breath was sucked out of her.

But she didn't have to wait long. The Phoenix raised its wings and swooped swiftly down, then came to a screeching halt about forty feet above the forest. There it hovered as a golden fire, very much like molten lava, began to spew slowly out of its beak. The fire slowly drifted down through the still air and began to cover everything in the forest in a soft, orange glow.

Then the Phoenix turned to her and Ash. The look it gave Misty as it opened its beak and began to breathe that gorgeous fire onto them somehow made up for all the tears shed, all the sadness, for everything. The last thing Misty felt before she fell into a deep sleep was a soft warm tingling and happiness. Ever so drowning happiness….

¾'s The Way Through Word

I have a feeling I'm gonna get killed for not finishing this yet, but that's the end of the 8th Chapter!!! I hope this jerked some tears outta you, I was crying when I wrote it (oh, I know, I'm pathetic) I promise that the conclusion will be up within three weeks, and don't lose interest 'til then! By the way, I would make Tracey * eh hem * mysteriously disappear… but remember, if this was a real episode, he'd be leaving in the next one episode! So bye for now, again, sorry for the cliffhanger, but how else I'm I gonna keep your attention???

MistyMew