Part 1 : Darkness and Light
Chapter 1 : Memories
The five trainers walked swiftly on the road that passed through the forest country between the towns of Olivine and Ecruteak. Although it was only late September and the weather was rather warm, leaves in all shades of red and gold covered the great expanses of trees on the two sides of the road. Misty, her long red hair flying in the wind, looked around at her companions. Ash was slightly ahead, eager to reach Ecruteak, and she knew his deep brown eyes were intent as he was probably considering how best to deal with the next gym leader. She sighed, not knowing what to do, how to deal with the changes that had come over her boyfriend.
Before, Ash had been slightly obsessive about collecting badges and becoming a pokemon master. Now, it was ten times worst - ever since the death of his mother, killed by a bullet that had been meant for him. Now, it seemed like becoming a pokemon master was the only thing worth doing that he could finds, his only reason to live on besides Misty herself. She was constantly at his side, making sure he was well, cheering and comforting when he was down, trying her very best to give him the hope he needed to go on. She did not want to loose him - they had come too close to loosing each other already, at Sprout Tower. Far, far too close.
The way he had reacted when they had seen the ruined area where the tower once had stood was eloquent enough about how Ash felt about the matter. He has shivered, as if a gust of freezing wind was striking him, and him alone, then his knees had given way under him as Misty watched helplessly, rushing to help him. She had held the sobbing young man tightly, close to her as he wept, remembering what had happened there...how they had lost each other, and how they had come so close to never seeing each other again.
Turning her face slightly, she then looked at her twin brother, Damian, whose long dark hair flew in the wind, dark hairs that he had inherited from their father Giovanni, the once-time leader of Team Rocket. The young man looked strangely sad - he always did. Which was not in any way surprising considering that throughout his life he had barely been able to find a few persons who would not treat him as less than human, most of which where there with him.
Besides him, holding his hand tightly in a reassuring manner, his girlfriend Elayne walked, determinate to make everything he had gone through in his life vanish, replaced by memories of happier times with them all. So far, she wasn't having much success, but she kept trying as best as she could. The good memories were there, but they simply would not erase the darker memories of being put to the side. Of being the one everyone hated, laughed at. Her golden-red hair made for a sharp contrast with Damian's dark hair.
The last member of their little group was walking slightly behind them all. Gary had long since abandoned his carefully spiked hair to instead let them fall in a long dark cascade that covered his shoulders, held behind his head by a leather cord. The wool cloak he insisted on wearing was sent flying behind him by the strong wind, and the hood was, as always, pulled back. His recently evolved Umbreon walked at his side, her night-black head looking warily around them. Ash, similarly, was being flanked on his right by his houndour, whom he had rescued from a swarm of totodile before leaving Pallet to travel in the land of Johto, while Pikachu of course stood on his shoulder. Misty herself had no pokemon out, and neither had Damian or Elayne.
According to Gary's map, they were getting very close to Ecruteak, in fact they should be reaching it any moment. Which might be, she silently admitted, another reason why Ash was walking ahead - so as to see Ecruteak first and be able to help her face the town she had once destroyed as Shadow the year before. What they had heard was that reconstruction was going well and that the city would soon be just as good as it had been back before she had come as Shadow, but still, there was no way for her to shake off the feeling of guilt that struck her whenever she thought of it.
To see the actual town would be a harsh, very harsh test of her will and of how much she had forgiven herself for what had happened during her time as Shadow.
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Ash sighed as he topped the rise and saw Ecruteak just past it. He had known they would soon reach it, known that Misty would have to face what had happened here, and known that he would need to be there for her as they reached the town. He looked behind, and saw that she was still far from reaching the rise, he slowly walked back down toward her. She was all that he had, and there was just no way he would let her get hurt.
"That's it?" she asked him softly as he joined her and took her hand in his.
"Yeah..." he answered, smiling encouragingly at her. He let go of her hand and wrapped his left arms tightly around her shoulders as they walked up the hill. With each step they took, he felt her body tensing further, as if she was readying herself for the shock.
For the return to the past she wanted to put behind her.
When they topped the rise again, the city of Ecruteak waited for them on the other side. It had been rebuilt, certainly. Houses were everywhere, modern houses, and with tall glass towers sprouting up everywhere to replace those that Shadow had taken down a year earlier. It had been rebuilt, but it wasn't the same Ecruteak that had been there before that. It was a Ecruteak that had, except for the two towers slightly to the north of the town, lost all traces of its identity.
Misty's body started to shake as they reached the town, just like a willow in the middle of a fierce storm. He pulled her closer to him, holding her tightly as he hoped to push away the undeserved guilt with love. Damian looked at them both sadly. Of coure, he and Elayne had been told about the events that had lead to Shadow appearing at Ecruteak, and Misty's return in Olivine, thus he knew what she was weeping about.
He held the sobbing girl who had become the center of his life tighter as more tears rand down her cheeks to fall on his shoulders, making his shirt wet and uncomfortable, but he certainly did not mind about that. There was no way something as little as a wet shirt would bother him when he was trying to comfort Misty - his Misty.
"Shhhhh. Shhhh. It's all right." He told her softly, a whisper in her ear. She did not answer, but the shaking and weeping subsided a little as she clung to him fiercely. For a long time they stood together, his arms tightly wrapped around her as her tear-streaked face rested on his shoulder. The sun, which had been high in the sky when they had reached the rise was now lowering rapidly toward the west, bringing a fiery sunset in the sky, the cerulean of heaven slowly being replaced by the gold, the crimson and the night-like purple of the dying sun.
She slowly raised her head again, looking at him in the eyes. Hers were red from the weeping, but still, they were shining, perhaps because the water of her tears that was still there caught the light of the half-gone sun and reflected it, perhaps for other reasons. She smiled at him, a thin, sad smile, but a smile none the less.
"Thank you Ash." She whispered softly. "I love you." She added the few words that meant so much to him.
"It's nothing." He answered just as softly. "I love you too." He smiled as some of the sadness that remained in her tear-streaked face vanished. "And I'd do anything for you." He told her, knowing that even though many would have taken the words to be only an expression, a simple way of saying how much he loved her, in his case it was the absolute truth. He would do anything, give anything for her sake, even die, even renounce to all his other dreams.
"I don't know how you can love me after that..." She answered pointing at the city ahead. "But...nothing ever made me happier than being with you Ash. The last year...it's been such a wonderful time..." her words were soft.
"I know." He smiled, feeling very much the same, despite his mother dying.. Misty's love had seemed to open a new world of feeling to him, a world that he had never suspected could even exists. A world where nothing could touch him, as he was safely sheltered in her love.
Hands in hands, they walked down toward Ecruteak, and toward the pokemon center there to wait for the night.
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The sky was cloudy as they woke up the next morning, the clear blue horizon of the previous day having been replaced by a blank gray roof that covered all that was above them. There was no rain falling, but the wind howled through the trees with fierce strength, a sound like none other on earth.
As Ash and his companions, save Gary who was not up yet, as he had returned to the pokemon center later than them the day before, taking the time to challenge the local gym leader first; gathered in the main area of the pokemon center, he saw a young man sitting at a table, his face lost in thought. Somehow, the young man looked extremely familiar, as if they had met each other before. He tried to summon the memories of the specific event, but none came despite all of his efforts.
The man looked up as he heard them, watching each of them in turn, and his face subtly changed as he saw Ash and Misty, from blank disinterest to half-recognition, confirming to Ash that they had met before. The man had a pokeball attached to his belt, Ash noticed as he took a closer look at him, trying still without success to identify him.
"Bill?" the voice of Gary suddenly asked from the door, and Ash turned to see his friend stepping in.
"What?" The man asked as Ash finally recognized the young researcher he had met at the beginning of his journey. "You're Samuel's grandson, aren't you?" he asked Gary as he recognized him.
"Yeah, that's me. But what are you doing here?" Gary asked right back. "Last I heard you were still working in that lighthouse..."
"I just came here to oversee the installation of their new pokemon equipment. It's the latest, state-of-the-art scanning device and all that. They wanted someone who knew the stuff to help them." He smiled. He looked at the pokemon walking around Gary's feet. "I see that Eevee I sent for your grandfather to give you evolved." He smiled again.
"Yeah, I never got to thank you for that." Gary smiled back. "Thanks."
"Hey, I should be the one thanking you for taking care of it!" Bill told him. "You must have done a pretty good job to get him to evolve in Umbreon." He suddenly snapped his fingers as if he was remembering something. "Hey, I got that Eevee here...I caught the poor things chewing on the cables in the center...I don't guess you happen to have a free spot of your team?" he asked Gary suddenly.
"Nope, but Ash does." Ash smiled as his friend mentioned him. "He had most of his pokemon stolen away a while ago...he has five now, which means he still have a free spot..." Gary explained.
"Ash...aren't you that trainer that was there when I finally managed to see that pokemon?" he asked, finally remembering where he had met the young man before. Ash nodded. "Think you can take good care of that Eevee?" he added. Ash nodded again, and Gary did so as well. Bill took the pokeball he had been playing with and handed it over to Ash. "Take care of it Ash." He smiled again, then looked at his watch. "I have to go though...bye!" he said quickly as he rose and left toward the probably uncompleted treatment area of the center.
"What next?" Misty asked him.
"I'm going to the gym." He smiled at her, knowing she had expected the answer. "And as soon as I have my badge, we're out of here." He added, Misty smiled gratefully at him. Even though she had apparently been able to face what she had been forced to do as Shadow and to put it behind her, it was quite obvious her memories of Ectruteak would keep it from becoming a place on her list of favorite location spots.
As it turned out, the local gym was quite close to the pokemon center, and they reached it in no time. As Ash was getting ready to enter the gym, he turned toward his friends. "I know that guy uses ghost types...any tips on how to fight against those?" he asked them.
"Psychic attacks." Gary suggested. "Or Dark attacks. Umbreon won me the day." He smiled. "Your Eevee should know bite, if nothing else, and bite somehow works against Ghost."
"Aren't ghosts immune to psychic powers though?" Misty protested.
"Depend. Remember what Sabraina told you? She's have a hard time against ghosts, but Danea wouldn't." he smiled. "I'm not going to tell you anything more, so don't try to ask."
Ash smiled as he remembered the particular quote he guessed Gary was referring too, the one about the two sides of psychic powers. From his experience and what Gary had just told him, he could only assume that while ghosts were immune to the mind-warping power of psychic and psychic pokemon, they where in turn weak to the direct offensive powers that warped psychic energy in beams and blasts.
He stepped in the gym. According to the old pictures he had seen, the gym had been a dark, slightly spooky place where the trainers had to face their own fear - of the dark, of bugs or of ghosts, among others. Now, it was a modern, bland building, though he wasn't planning to mention that to Misty. A young man with yellow hair walked in through the opposite door.
"Are you here for a badge?" he asked.
"Yes." Ash answered simply, his voice unwavering. The young man had a strange...aura...around him that Ash suspected would have struck fear in the heart of even the bravest, but somehow he wasn't afraid.
"I'm the gym leader, Morty." He presented himself. "Two on two, no time limit?" he asked.
"Fine with me." Ash nodded.
"I'll choose my pokemon first..." Morty told him, looking at him with an eerie smile. He picked one of his pokeball and threw it to the ground, revealing a floating shape that Ash knew well. "Haunter! I choose you!" the gym leader said as his ghost appeared.
"Right...in that case...Go! Houndour!" he smiled as the fire dog appeared in the middle of the field.
"Interesting choice." Morty smiled. "Haunter! Night Shade!" he ordered.
"Houndour! Faint Attack, then try to bite it!" he ordered back.
The Haunter summoned a wave of darkness that wrapped around them like a cloak of eternal night, weakening the houndour as it did so, but unfortunately, the little fire pokemon was able to take advantage of the wave of darkness to hide in the shadow of the fighting area.
The Haunter looked around, as it couldn't see its opponent anymore, and seemed on the verge of firing another attack when suddenly the houndour jumped out of nowhere to close his jaws around the shape of the ghost. Normally, any attack like that would have failed to hit the Haunter, but the dark energy that flowed through the flesh and blood of the Houndour somehow enabled it to strike at its opponent, as if the touch of darkness made the ghost loose it's gaseous aspect.
As the Haunter whirled to face its opponent, it fired a massive orb of shadow, not that different from those Shadow had wielded during her fight with Danea. The orb aimed straight for the poor Houndour who tried to dodge desperately, but simply could not move out of the way in time. He yelled in pain, then fell to the ground, defeated. Ash stamped his foot on the ground in frustration, realizing he could not afford any more mistakes now. He picked up another pokeball, hoping to rely on agility rather than type advantage to win.
"Abra! I choose you!" he ordered. The psychic pokemon appeared in the middle of the field and looked at the Haunter, not very impressed by what she saw.
"Abra, put up a reflect wall behind you." He ordered calmly. With that one pokemon, there was no need to yell or panic. He had just an idea of how to defeat Morty and his ghost types, and he knew it would work. The psychic pokemon formed up a shining mirror straight behind him while Morty looked at him curiously.
"A psychic against a ghost?" he asked. "That might have been a mistake." He commented.
"You'll see." Ash smiled back.
"True. Haunter! Shadow Ball!" he ordered, and the haunter prepared to launch another of those ball of shadow. Abra turned toward Ash, looking at him from the corner of her eyes. He gave her a tiny nod, barely visible to anyone who wasn't looking for it.
The dark ball of shadow came closer to Abra, who looked at it impassively. Each passing second seemed to be an eternity as Ash prayed that his pokemon would time her move well, else it had all been a waste of time at best, and at worst he had lost the match.
The ball came closer, and it was probably close enough for Abra to feel the crackling energy around it as it came a few centimeters away from her. The movement of the ball was fast, it had barely been five seconds since the Haunter had fired it, but to Ash, it was an eternity.
Suddenly, just as the ball was about to hit her, Abra vanished from sight and everything seemed to go ball to normal speed as the ball was reflected off the mirror the psychic pokemon had set toward the helpless haunter. Behind the ghost pokemon, Abra appeared again, smirking as the shadow ball struck her opponent, sending it floating down. With a sigh, Morty recalled his Haunter. The mirror, damaged by the blast, suddenly bust in a thousand shard, one of which seemed to caught the light especially as it flew toward Abra.
And as it struck, the little pokemon started to glow as a spoon made of the pure crystal of the mirror appeared. Soon, where the small Abra had stood, a quite taller Kadabra was, holding the crystal spoon, looking at it calmly. Ash shouted in joy as he saw that his pokemon had just evolved, and barely even daring to imagine the power of his new pokemon. He remembered his battle at the Saffron Gym, and how powerful Sabrina's Kadabra had been. And now, he had one of his own. On the other hand, his hauter had been immune to the powers of her Kadabra, thus he had to be careful.
Morty picked one of his pokeball. "Gengar! I choose you!" he murmured as he released the pokemon. Ash watched the new opponent. It was definitely a stronger enemy than Haunter had been, and its ability to shift from gaseous to solid form gave it a solid advantage...But on the other hand, it could also be used to great effectiveness, if he planned his moves carefully
"Gengar! Hypnosis!" Morty ordered.
"Kadabra! Close your eyes!" Ash countered, just in time as the hypnotic waves nearly caught Kadabra.
"Thank you master. That was a timely warning" The soft, feminine voice came out of nowhere, and spoke through his mind. Ash could only assume that the owner was his Kadabra. He smiled. Morty, on the other hand, was not smiling.
"Kadabra! Psybeam on that Gengar!" Ash ordered, and watched as his pokemon sent out the beam of psychic energy straight toward the ghost, who simply phased in its solid shape, dropping to the ground as it did so. Ash smiled, it was exactly the move he had anticipated.
"Bombs away!" he yelled and as Morty watched him as if he had suddenly become mad, he concentrated very hard on the move idea he had come up with.
"I see what you mean. Good idea Ash." the voice finally came as Kadabra managed to read the idea from his mind. She curled up in a ball, and suddenly teleported to just above the Gengar who was standing on the ground, just as confused as his master.
With no time to get out of the way, the Gengar did the only thing that could lessen the blow for him, he phased back to his ethereal form. Which, again, was exactly what Ash had been gambling on. "Kadabra! PSYCHIC!" he yelled, and an eerie light filled the room as the eyes of the little pokemon glowed blue. The Gengar's body writhed in pain as waves of psychic energy coursed through its entire ethereal being, devastating it with deadly effectiveness. With a weary sigh, Morty recalled his pokemon and jumped down on the field, holding a small badge for Ash to take. Ash joined him.
"That was a good trick you used. I didn't expect that." He congratulated him.
"Thanks." Ash replied, taking the badge from his hand.
"Well, anyway. Here's your fog badge." He sighed. "Have fun while you are traveling...those will probably be the funniest years of your life." He said sadly. "I wish I could still travel like you do but, well..." he shrugged.
Ash slowly left the gym, reflecting on what Morty had just said.
Chapter 2 : Jormungand
Five days was what it took for them to cover the distance between Ecruteak and Mahogany, through a land of rolling hills, raging rivers, calm lake, rushing streams, high peaks covered in eternal snows shining in the distance, and red and gold trees covering the country on both sides of the road. They all admired the splendor of nature as they walked on the long stretch of packed dirt that was at the side of the equally long stretch of asphalt that served as a path for the cars.
On the night of the fourth day, they were all gathered around a campfire in a small forest clearing not far from the road. They were talking about the many things they had seen so far in their travels through Johto, and the numerous wonders they had hears about. It appeared, from what they were told, that Blackthorn, the town of the eight gym, was a real thing to see.
"Though that's easy to understand. There isn't a single town in all of Johto or Kanto - standing, anyway - that ever had even half as much importance as Blackthorn has for a few thousand years." He stated.
"Really?" Elayne asked curiously.
"Yeah...I'm not going to bore you to death with all the details, but for starters, Blackthorn was one of the first four town in all of Johto and Kanto, along with Alph in the mountains, Pokepolis in the general vicinity of Pallet, and Fuschia. Of course, as things usually happens, those town extended, and eventually became empire..."
For the next few hours, Ash did not really notice the time passing by as he listened to the tale of power, glory and betrayal that was the tale of Blackthorn, which had been the capital of an empire that had lasted for many thousand centuries. Indigo, the capital of Kanto, had for long been nothing more than a trade outpost of Blackthorn. The empire that had risen from the humbles beginnings of a simple city in the mountains had, at one point, extended all the lands west of the gulf of Vermillion and east of Olivine and Cianwood, ranging south from Cinnabar to Mahogany, Ecruteak and Blackthorn in the north. Pewter had been nothing more than a mining town of the empire, and Viridian a mere farming village in the middle of the valley. The only power in all the word that had existed that had even a chance of rivaling with Blackthorn, though a small chance at that, had been Fuschia. Lavender, Saffron, Vermilion and Celadon had all belonged to the Fuschians, and Cerulean had been a free city, a center of trade between the two rival empires.
But invaders from the west had come. Their origin was from further west than Johto, and they had worn steel armor, carrying great sword, fighting in the name of an alien god to bring his dominion to the world. Their banner, against the beautiful flower-adorned banners of the cities of Blackthorn and Fuschia had been drab white banners with small red crux on them that they claimed was the sign of their true faith. Against their fanaticism, Jhoto and Kanto had fallen, taken by the strength of those men.
"It was about five hundred years later that they got pushed out at the time at which pokemon trainers started to appear...and that's quite another story." Damian finished, looking at them all. "Maybe I'll tell you about it another time, but now we should get some sleep if we want to reach that town anytime before next year." He pointed out.
Before they all moved to their sleeping bag again however, Misty brought up a suggestion that obviously she had been thinking about for a few days.
"What would you guys say to the idea of taking a few days off around lake Rage once we get in that vicinity?" she asked them. "I feel like taking some time off after Ecruteak, and, well...I heard the scenery was great, too." She explained her idea.
Although he wanted to move as fast as he could to collect his badges, Ash could not help but agree with Misty about the idea. She definitely had used up a great deal of mental strength during their visit to Ecruteak, and she deserved to be given some time to relax. Besides which, he had heard of the numerous great pokemon that could be caught in the vicinity of lake Rage, and he even though he wanted to collect his badges as soon as possible, there was no point in waiting for two months before the league championship begin.
"Anything for you dear." He smiled and moved closer to her. She smiled back at him.
"Why not?" Damian added.
"That wouldn't be a bad idea at all." Elayne smiled, looking at Damian.
"Oh, well." Gary shrugged. "Why not? It's not like we're in a hurry..." He sounded more hesitant about the idea than Ash himself was, or than any of the others for that matter, but not too badly about it.
They went to sleep on the ground, arrayed in a circle around the dying embers of their fire, their sleeping bags the only source of warmth that each of them had.
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Damian was first to wake up the next morning, looking at them all as he did so. His twin sister, the one person he trusted so much was stirring in her sleep, as if haunted by some strange nightmares, which would not be very surprising considering all that she had gone through. Ash, on the other hand, seemed perfectly calm as he slept, his Pikachu sleeping near him. The young man was a constant puzzle to Damian, as he was about the first boy to try to befriend him rather than insult him. Though Damian half-suspected that this was more for Misty's sake than for any other reason, he still could not help but think that Ash was a good man. After all that Misty had gone through, she definitely deserved to have someone who cared for her like that with him.
Gary was a mystery to Damian, one of those person that no matter how hard he tried to understand, he couldn't even begin to comprehend. Though he seemed to be driven by the same dream that pushed Ash forward, he apparently was more running away from something than running toward a goal. Of course, Damian had heard about what had happened at the mill, but it only seemed to be a small part of what Gary was running from. And then, there was the mystery of what he had done in the streets of Pallet, his display of power he had heard off, but never seen before. Gary was much too young to be a full Kai master, unless he had started training around five, which barely seemed possible, especially with so few Kai Masters being in Kanto and Jhoto in the first place. But the mystery remained complete. If Gary was no Kai Master, how did he manage to have the same power as any of them?
And, of course, Elayne was a constant source of wonder for the young man who watched her as she slept calmly, her wealth of golden hair covering her shoulders. He was always awed by the fact that such a great, such a beautiful girl had fallen in love with him of all people, and that they had now been together for a year.
Her brown eyes opened, revealed to the world, and she turned toward him, a soft smile on her lips. She slowly rose, pushing away the sleeping bag and walking toward him to put her arms around his waist and hold him tightly.
"You're up early." He commented, smiling.
"So are you." She answered, an identical smile playing on her own lips.
They held each other, secure in the tight embrace until the other rose, at which point they sadly let go to help the others prepare for leaving the camp.
They reached Mahogany later that afternoon, and found the town filled with activity, even more than any other town they had been to. Wondering what was happening to cause such a stir in the city, Damian turned toward someone who wasn't actually running around.
"Excuse me, could you tell me what's happening?" he asked politely.
"Oh, that. It's just one of the worst case of gullibility-induced mass panic you'll ever see." The strange middle-aged man answered, tossing his long gray hair.
"What?" Ash asked, his face blank with uncomprehension.
"There's a red gyarados that appears from time to time at Lake Rage. Those idiots think - every time it happens - that it means the magikarp of the lake are angry at Mahogany and will make us all pay. Since it was sighted again, they are panicking."
"A *red* Gyarados?" Gary asked, and his face was painted with surprise. "I thought they were all blue..."
"Apparently that one is special, but I have no idea what it is that it has that makes it red instead of blue. People here have been calling it Goldenfang because of how its scales seems to sparkle, or else Bloodfang because of the color."
"Goldenfang..." The name was definitely familiar to Damian, though he could not afford to let that show. Idly, he wondered if it was the same pokemon that had been given that nickname, eons ago. Probably, as it was a known fact that the others were still the same that had fought a thousand year ago.
"Is there something wrong?" Misty asked him, her voice full of concern.
"No, no. I'm all right."
If they are starting to reappear...then, it's for soon...too soon...the nines are not ready...I'm not ready...or am I?
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Ash wondered what they were talking about, then shrugged it off. If there was something at Lake Ika, he would know soon enough. Watching the strange behavior of the citizens of Mahogany still, they headed toward the northern road out of town, the one that led to Lake Rage.
It was in the late afternoon that they finally reached Lake Rage and there saw a stunning display of beauty as the jewel of northern Johto was revealed before their eyes. The only road that led to the lake came in from the south-east, as the mountains and Rage river blocked off any other possible path. Thus, as they reached the shores of the lake, they saw the sparkling water, colored like a sapphire close to them, and further off, as it reflected the light of the slowly lowering sun, the color of gold. The leaves of the thousands of trees untouched by the hand of man for eons were of all shades of red and gold, and they moved softly in the wind. On the other side of the lake, the stark gray ,snow-capped Mount Mortar stood, daring any human to climb up it.
As the sun slowly sank behind the mountain, the red and gold of the leaves seamed to spread to the surrounding world, first the lake, then the entire air seemed to be filled with the magnificent glow of the departing sun. Ash watched the whole display in stunned amazement. The few clouds that floated leisurely in the sky had been darkened by the falling sun, to the point that they were now the color of grape.
"It's...beautiful..."he whispered as he slowly wrapped his arm around Misty's waist.
"Yes...so beautiful..." she answered, slowly dropping her head on his shoulder, putting her arm on his other shoulder. He smiled as he held her tightly, bathed by the strange, eerie glow.
They worked quickly and managed to install their campground in the light of the falling sun, before it went out entirely. Gary, surprisingly, had appeared as being quite good as a cook, though nowhere near as good as Brock. Thus it was him again who prepared the dinner, without any squabbles about whose turn it was. Ash smiled. Those squabbles, they all knew, were pointless as the results were usually that the one having asked whose turn it was usually ended up being the one cooking.
After eating, they all quickly headed for their bed, not noticing the boat on the lake, or the hooded woman inside it.
When Ash woke up again later that night, he wondered what it was that had caused him to wake up. To be sure, he was no longer sleeping in his sleeping bag back at the camp, as he could feel the rush of air on his naked hands and feet. As he tried to come up with an explanation, he tried to move his hand from where it was, behind his back, but realized it was restrained. Before he could even begin to wonder what was happening, something hit the boat hard, and he lost consciousness. Thus, he did not see the woman who had taken him away using psychic powers to teleport herself off the sinking boat.
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The creature extended his slender neck to get a better look at the young man that now rested in his cave, deep under the lake. He was still unconscious, that was easy to recognize, and in a way, good news. At least, he was not dead, which would have been a disaster. But he was also trapped under the lake, with no way back out.
He must not die.
That much was obvious, there was no way that he could be allowed to die or stay here forever, he had too much to do yet to allow that. But there was also no way that the creature could see of taking the human back to the surface of the lake without him waking up and without him drowning...
And then it was too late to make a choice that would have involved the human remaining unconscious, as the small creature woke up. Lowering his enormous head , the creature waited for the shock of the meeting.
As the human opened his eyes, he, of course, screamed, a loud scream of panic triggered by the sight of an enormous red-headed creature staring at him from a few feet away. A red-headed creature with glistening white fangs and dark, seemingly malevolent eyes, a creature that seemed like an enormous snake as his segmented, scale-covered body wormed across the room, defying the imagination with its length.
"What...what are you...Where am I?" he asked, his voice filled with utter panic.
"The only name I care for is that of Jormungand." The beast answered, sending the answer right back in the young man's mind. "And you are in my cave."
The young man seemed to slowly recover as the gentle telepathic voice of the beast spoke right in his mind. He stood up slowly, his legs weak from the fall in the water, the deep plunge in the depths of the lake that had taken him there.
"So you are that Goldenfang, uh?" he asked slowly.
"That is the name the humans give me. They sight me from afar, very far, and they think I am a Gyarados." The beast replied slowly, the frustration at being considered the same as one of those mindless, ferocious, cruel beast barely kept out of his voice. "They simply don't know how different I am from a Gyarados My only true name is Jormungand" the tone of finality in the "voice" was clear.
"If you say so" The human shrugged. "You sure don't look like any Gyarados I ever met." He commented.
"I am not one" Jormungand pointed out, his voice slightly tinged with exasperation.
"I know that, you already told me." The young human replied. "But I don't know...I feel like...I have to know more about you. I usually feel that way about pokemon, but it's stronger when it comes to you in particular." He explained.
"I am a million years old, human. There is more to tell about me than about all other pokemon except the others who were created with me. There is no way I could tell you all of that in a single night. Now, you need to get back to the surface - to your world, and out of mine."
Summoning forth his powers, the great wyrm crafted a ward of air all around the young man who moved his hand curiously, exploring wonderingly the confine of the shimmering prison. With a weary sigh, Jormungand picked up the ball of air in his enormous mouth, and, slithering in the water, made his way through the surface and the coast. In the camp where the young human and his friends had installed themselves in, they were all still asleep, has the sun had not yet begun to stir in the east. Slowly, Jormungand left the ball of air float down to the ground, where the young man, still looking with very much curiosity at the great beast, walked to his sleeping bag, removing his wet pajama and putting another one on. As he drifted off to sleep, Jormungand sighed, calling upon his power again.
Soon, he was gone, leaving only a single golden scale on the ground, a tiny scale that shone fiercely under the light of the moon.
Chapter 3 : Soul of the Past
Misty rose with the sun on the next morning, her red hair falling loosely over her shoulders, and she quickly went to a spot in the forest where she could change in her clothes without anyone seeing her. She quickly pulled down her pajama, then started putting on her clothes, reflecting on how much her clothing style had changed after the Rocket disaster, and her and Ash openly admitting they loved each other. Her blue jeans short had given way, steadily becoming longer until now most of the time she wore long blue jeans, and her yellow tank-top was gone as well. She still wore tank-top from time to time, but they were simply no longer the only top she would wear, as she more often than not wore the aqua-colored short-sleeved shirts Danea had helped her choose. As she walked back in the camp, she watched the sun rising in the east, partially hidden by the trees which were on their side of the lake. Turning toward Ash with a long, loving gaze, she noticed the heap of clothes that was near him, and wondered what it was. She picked some of the clothes up, and immediately realized that it was Ash's pajama, dripping with water. She looked at the young man curiously, wondering what kind of things he could have done that would have gotten his pajama all wet like that.
"I wonder what happened..."she whispered softly to herself.
Suddenly, something in the sand by the beach caught her eyes, a single golden object shining from the fire of the sun that as reflected of it. She quickly went there, and picked up the object, observing it closely. It seemed made of pure gold, and caught the light of the sun, as she had already noticed. It fits in the palm of her hand, and as she looked at it, she slowly realized that it was the scale of some sort of pokemon, though it didn't match any pokemon she knew.
She turned toward the handsome figure asleep on the ground and watched as he slowly stirred, waking up under her loving gaze. His eyes met hers, and there was a warm glow in them as they smiled at each other. Ash slowly rose, and, still in pajama, walked up to her to hugs her tightly.
"Good morning Ash." She told him softly.
"Good morning Misty." He answered just as softly. Where the words they traded seemed blank, they carried within them a wealth of emotions and feelings, a sense of love greater than anything. "How are you?" He asked her, his voice warm with love.
"I'm great - I'm with you." Her soft answer was full of peace and contentment. "You?" she looked at him, at his shining eyes.
"Do you really need to ask? I'm with you." He replied, letting the needless "great" out of his answer. They both knew what they meant by "I'm with you", and there was no need for either of them to explain it.
From the corner of her eyes, she noticed the others slowly waking up as she lightly kissed Ash. "I think you should go and change now my love." She told him softly. Ash nodded and slowly walked away from her. As he walked away, she remembered the strange scale and went back to observing it. The others in turn went away to change in their clothes, as she continued gazing at the mysterious object. Ash was the first to come back, wearing his black shirt and blue jeans. He had stopped wearing a blue vest over his shirt a long time ago, and he actually was not wearing his pokemon league hat either. It was another of those thing he did less and less that they had not yet really talked about. She shrugged, it was probably nothing more than change, the same reason why she had completely changed her clothing style and was now letting her hair down instead of wearing it in a ponytail as she used to do.
She suddenly remembered the wet heap of his pajama, and turned toward him. "What happened to you Ash?" she asked him. "And to your pajama?" she added. "Did you fall in the water or what?" she smiled at him as she said so.
He hesitated before answering, thinking about what he was going to say for a long time.
"Kinda. It was weird." He started as the others, Gary and Damian first then Elayne walked back in. "Let's see...in the middle of the night, I woke up in a boat..." he started, as they looked at him with disbelieving frowns. "And then there was something that caused the boat to start sinking...I think it knocked me out too, because the next thing I remember is waking up in a cave." He took a deep breath. "With a big, very big beast staring at me." He added. "Anyway, I woke up, talked with the beast - seems like he can do some telepathy - and he took me back to the surface."
"Don't you have any more details about that beast?" Damian asked him, his face oddly intent.
"It was big. As long as a few Gyarados together..." he answered. "Completely golden, with a weird head...looked kinda like a charizard head, but with a few differences. Much larger, for one thing." He described the beast he had encountered the previous night as Misty listened, completely amazed by what she was hearing.
"And what did it tells you?" Gary suddenly asked. For some reason Misty couldn't even begin to fathom, his eyes had taken the same kind of intent look that was in Damian's eyes. For that matter, she had no idea why Damian was acting like that either. They both seemed to know something that no one else among them knew.
"A few things about me having to go back...oh. he told me his name, too."
"Really?" Damian obviously wanted to know more.
"Yeah...Jormungand or some such, I think it said." Ash looked at him.
"Jormungand...so, he is still alive. After all those years." The voice that came from Gary's lips was definitely not Gary's. It was, for one thing, softer that Gary's voice, and with a definitely different accent to it. Gary spoke the same way they did, usually, but the voice was heavily accented, an accent that Misty had heard a few times before but could not remember.
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Damian looked closely at Gary as he spoke, and it almost seemed as if through Gary's familiar face, he could see the outline of another face, one that seemed made of smoke. The face of a woman, a Hoshoan woman, to be precise. Suddenly, he remembered the old tales he had heard about the prophecies and the heroes that had brought them to their successful conclusion.
Tomoyo...I've been a fool not to realize it earlier...she wouldn't have wanted to let Akira's heir alone. his mind reeled at the thought of what she had done just to be here. Of course, he knew who Akira's heir was, there was no doubt about it. That one line was easy to trace, from Akira to Ash, with Ash's father being there along the way. And of course, knowing that Oak was simply the western form of Tomoyo's last name, it was easy - should have been easy to understand.
And Jormungand is back already...he came back a bit early, but then...I guess he wanted to set things in motions. He tried not to think too much about how hard the soul-splitting had to be on Gary, and how blind he had been not to notice earlier. Gary's protectiveness of Ash was quite easier to understand, with Tomoyo being around once again, and so was the way he seemed to worry about Ash so much.
He rose, realizing that before he started explaining about Jormungand, he had to do a few things, specifically, check a few facts at the Mahogany library, though he had no intent of talking to the others about that just yet. It was nowhere near the Blackthorn or Saffron library in size, but it would have to do for now. No matter if the library was large enough of not, though, it was quite obvious that he'd have to wait until they went back there before he checked anything.
"I need to do a few things." He told them. "Gary, could you come with me?" he asked him. Gary rose, looking at him curiously.
"Why not?" he answered, coming closer to Damian.
"We'll be back later today!" He told the other as he raced away, Gary following him.
"So. I take it you recognized me." The soft voice spoke as soon as they were away from the camp.
"I should have recognized you earlier Tomoyo." He answered. "I should have known what was driving Gary toward Ash like that...it took me almost a year to identify you." He told her, feeling ashamed at his failure to do so.
"I know how to conceal myself Damian. Even from you." The young woman who spoke through Gary's lip answered. "Until now, only Gary knew I was in him. And he's been doing a very good job of hiding it" She added. It was definitely easier for Damian to think of the person resulting from Tomoyo's soul taking over as a woman than thinking of that person as a man whose body was taken over by the soul of a dead woman. "And history's repeating itself again." She shook her head slowly. "There was another girl who got Akira, and now Misty got Ash." A few bitter tears fell from her eyes.
Damian took a sad look at Tomoyo - it was hard to think of her as such, and not as Gary, as she was in Gary's body. It was, in fact, quite a tragic story, of how Tomoyo had done everything to gain Akira's love, and had not been able to get it, and of how much she had loved him. And now, history was about to repeat itself, only made worst by the fact that she found herself in a man's body, which lessened further her chances of Ash, Akira's heir ever falling in love with her. He put an arm on his - her - shoulders and tried to comfort her. After a while, she managed to brush off the tears.
"There's one thing that puzzle me though..." Damian suddenly asked. "Why did you come back in that body? Why not his sister?" he asked her.
"I tried, but it didn't work...something kept me from being in her body." She answered softly. Her voice was not exactly that of a woman, forced as it was through the body of a man, but it was not that of a man either. "I think maybe she's one of them." She added. Damian simply nodded, as he himself wasn't too sure whether or not it was possible.
"I assume you know of your destiny Damian?" she asked sadly.
"Yes" he answered soberly, nodding slightly. He knew about that, alright.
"How many of them have you found?"
"That I am sure of? One, and that's the obvious one."
"Ash." She answered softly. "He's so much like Akira was..." she shook her head sadly. "It just can't be someone else. Any others?"
"That I'm sure of ? None. I have a few suspicions, but nothing certain." He answered.
"As I told you, I'm pretty sure that Gary's sister - my sister - is one of them." She looked at him. "I'm afraid I can't help you much beyond that, though."
"I know. Finding the nine is my job Tomoyo. Not yours." He told her.
"Exactly what the seeker of last time around told me." She smiled. "And what about you? Are you ready?" she asked him referring to that one line in the prophecies he wasn't afraid off, but definitely preferred to forget, especially now that he had Elayne with him.
"I am. I guess...It's not like it's something I really need to be ready for." He answered, a faint touch of sadness in his voice. "It's not like I'll have to do anything. All I have to do is sit there..." he paused, and she looked at him. "Sit there, and let someone kill me. And the prophecies will be going just fine when that happens." His voice was slightly bitter.
She sighed, and he looked at her, realizing that barely a moment after he turned toward her, Tomoyo had withdrawn, leaving Gary in charge once again.
"She's not here anymore." He told him.
"I know." He answered, his voice still holding a part of the bitterness that had been in it earlier.
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Ash looked around at the two girls who were with him, wondering what it was Gary and Damian had gone away to do.
"I really wonder what's up with Gary...he's starting to become that...that other Gary more and more often." He commented. "Softer voice, and a completely different outlook on life...It's so odd..." he shook his head.
"Yeah, I noticed too...and why do you think Damian suddenly had to leave after you mentioned Jormungand and Garry remembered him?" Elayne asked him.
"I don't have the smallest idea." Ash replied slowly.
"Neither do I." Misty added. "I've known Damian for a long while, and I've never seen him like that. I could say the same for Gary, though I didn't known him for as long when he started that, of course." She added.
"Yeah...that's odd...I've never seen Damian like that either." Elayne confirmed with a nod of her head. Ash looked at them all, wondering what had gotten into their two friends. There was no way to explain what was slowly happening to Gary, and Damian's sudden reaction to his tale.
Suddenly, the two of them appeared in the camp site, back from wherever they had been. In all honesty, Ash had to admit it had taken them less time than he had expected to deal with whatever they had to deal with.
"What were you doing?" Elayne asked Damian as soon as he arrived.
"Sorry, I had to have a chat with Gary and I wanted it to be private." He told them. "You can ask him about what we talked about, he'll probably tell you a little bit of tit, but not much at all." He told them back. "It's just not my secret to share.
Ash looked at him, wondering what it was that had happened between the two young men, and what was the secrets they were holding back.
Chapter 4 : Fallen Dreams
Lying down on the ground for their second night out in the forest of Lake Rage, Ash tossed restlessly in his sleep. Dark dreams haunted him, dreams he couldn't even begin to understand, as they made little sense by what he knew. They were dreams of dark fire tearing the world apart, and dreams of a darkness reaching from stars to stars. Dreams of old pain, too, and those he could understand, as he saw in his mind's eye Sprout Tower burning once more, Butch firing in the streets of Pallet once again. Misty's scream, and images of his mother's dead body flashed in his mind as a soundless scream floated from his lips in the depths of the night while he tried to escape from the iron grip of the nightmare. Slowly, from the depths of the vision of horror, he seemed to wake up.
It was no vision of horror that awaited him as he woke up, he knew that as soon as his eyes opened, as he felt the burning pain in his chest, heard the rasping breath - his own. The worried look in the eyes of the woman who seemed to be treating his wounds was more than enough to tell him he probably wouldn't survive.
"C'mon Ash...hang on..." The voice of the woman was filled with unshed tears. He turned his head, taking all of his strength to turn toward her. She had shoulder-length chestnut hair, and as he looked at her, he could see a faint, fading golden aura surrounding her. He couldn't shake the feeling that he knew her, that they had already met more than once. But no matter how hard her tried to remember who she was, the name eluded him constantly.
The pain in his chest grew stronger, and he knew that soon, there would not be pain anymore, that the wound would claim his life. The pain was intense, searing, as if a white-hot, hooked knife was being twisted inside his chest by a malevolent hand.
The despair in the girl's eyes as she turned toward him, looking at him with a face ravaged by grief. She was slightly older than he was, perhaps eighteen, ninety, or her early twenties. He coughed as tendrils of pain seemed to worm their way around his throat, wrapping it tightly and slowly constricting it. Simply filling his lung seemed to be the hardest thing he had ever done.
He turned toward her again as the pain became stronger, as slowly he stopped feeling his limbs, then his arms. The iron grips of the tendril of pains on his heart tightened, and he felt as if his life was suddenly being torn out of him.
"Ash! Don't!" the cry of anguish of the woman tore his soul. "Don't die...I can't loose you too...not after..." she seemed desperate. "I need you...Misty need you...the world need you." The tears were not held back this time.
"I'm...sorry..." his voice was less than a whisper, and as the last word slowly faded from his lips, his life ebbed out of him, departing never to return.
His eyes snapped open again, this time to the gray light of the time just before dawn, when the sun in the east brought a light under the cloud without allowing any shadow to be cast. Pikachu was looking at him worriedly. He sat up slowly, remembering the succession of nightmare, culminating with the vivid vision of his own death.
"That." He said to the pokemon who had quickly become such a great friend. "Was not my idea of a good night." He smiled. "I wonder what she meant, though, the world need me?" he shrugged it off.
"Chuuuu?" the electric mouse asked sleepily, looking at his companion with bleary eyes.
"Oh...nothing Pikachu...I just had a nightmare...that's all." Ash replied, trying to set his mind straight about what had just happened.
"Chu?" the little electric mouse asked again, face filled with curiosity as he woke up.
"Ah, nothing important..." Ash replied, not willing to mention what he had seen to anyone for now.
Despite his best attempts, he couldn't go back to sleep in the grayish light of dawn, and so he sat down, thinking about Misty, about the mysterious figure of his dream, one he was sure he had met before, just hadn't recognized.
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They left the coast of Lake Rage later in the morning, once they were all up. Misty, of course, had noticed Ash as being tired and had offered that they stay one more day, but he had declined. He was eager to be back on his quest, and now that Misty was sufficiently rested, he could see no reason not to move on with life. Not even the fear of a death like the one he had dreamed about in that one dream that had been so vivid the night before. When it had been the time to act, he had never let fear of what might happen interfere with his choices, what he felt he had to do.
They walked back toward Mahogany, Misty at his side. Elayne was not too far from them, and for once she was not anywhere close to Damian, who walked behind them all, apparently lost in thought. They had not fought each other that Ash knew of, but what he knew was that they both seemed to be lost in thought. He could only hope that it had nothing to do with their relationship, as he knew how important it was to both of them.
"Ash...did you have a...strange...dream last night? One that seemed like it was real?" she asked him as they crossed another of the many streams that ran down from the mountains to feed the Rage river.
"Yeah..." he answered slowly, remembering the vivid details of his dream. "You?"
"Me too...we were in Cerulean, and there was a dark...thing in it, too...I don't know what it was..." her voice was soft but somehow worried.
"At least you were luckier than me..." he told her, holding her tightly.
"What do you mean?" she asked him, her eyes concerned.
"Seeing - and feeling - your own death is NOT my idea of fun." He told her glumily.
"You two had bad dreams too?" Elayne turned toward them as she heard them talking.
"Yeah..." Ash replied slowly.
"I had one too...I...I don't think I want to talk about it though." There were a few tears in her eyes as she looked at the two of them. Misty put a comforting hand on her shoulder and looked at her with reassuring eyes. "It'll be alright Elayne." She told her softly. Ash smiled. He had no idea if Misty's softening was the result of her simply becoming older, or if it had something to do with being with him, but he knew that she did not snap at people half as much as she used to.
When they arrived to Mahogany in the afternoon, Ash decided to go challenge the gym leader immediately, while Gary agreed to go second. Misty followed Ash as he opened the great glass doors of the gym that had been shaped to look like crystal. They shone fiercely as the sun pounded on them, and their bright light forced Ash and Misty to shield their eyes. As they stepped in the ice-covered gym that looked almost like an hockey ring, the two of them were met by an old man with white hair and a walking stick.
"Greeting. I am Pryce, the gym leader of Mahogany." He told them in a tired voice. "I assume one of you is here for the badge?" he asked themé
"I am." Ash nodded.
"Very well. Three on three?" the man asked him. "Is that fine for you?"
"It's fine." Ash replied, quickly selecting his pokemon. Houndour was a must, because of his ability to use fire attacks while not being in as much danger from ice as Charizard. Charizard, despite the danger due to his flying side would also have to be part of the team. And the fact that most Ice types were also part-water made Pikachu the obvious last choice.
"Then, Dewgong! I choose you!" the man shouted as a the beautiful pearly white pokemon appeared, its shining horn seemingly made of pure crystal.
"Dewgong...the, Pikachu, you go!" Ash ordered, knowing that the advantage of his two fire types over ice would be wasted in that fight since Dewgong was also a water pokemon.
"A Pikachu? Dewgong! Body slam that thing!" Pryce ordered, and it was clear he wanted the normal move to overcome the type weakness he was up against.
"Pikachu! Use agility to get out of the way, then Thunderbolt!" Ash countered.
As the seal-like pokemon tried to ram Pikachu with its body in a powerful physical ramming move, the little mouse quickly dodged, running to safety, letting the Dewgong fly past him. As he rapidly turned to face the beast, his cheek sparkled and a fierce bolt of thunder flew off, striking the great beast and greatly weakening it. The Dewgong glared at Pikachu, and Pryce glared at Ash.
"Not bad so far..." Pryce muttered. "Dewgong! Horn Drill!" Pryce ordered. Ash knew that move, it was one that would automatically cause a pokemon to faint if it struck, one that had been known to even kill the pokemon against which it was used once or twice. If that move struck, Pikachu was out of the game, and that was something Ash definitely did not want.
"Pikachu! Agility again, then another thunderbolt!" he ordered, and as the seal pokemon tried to ram pikachu with his horn, the little mouse dodged to safety again, and fired a thunderbolt. Just at the same time, Dewgon fired an impressive beam of ice at Pikachu. As the thunderbolt struck dewgong, the ice enveloped Pikachu, freezing him in place.
"Double knock-out, it seems." Pryce commented. Ash nodded slowly as he jumped in the ring to take care of the block of ice that held his pikachu. He carried it back toward his side of the battle arena, and gave it to Misty.
"Can you please take care of him?" he asked her pleadingly. She nodded with a smile.
"Anything for you Ash."
Ash turned back toward Pryce, who was already sending out his next pokemon. "Piloswine! I choose you!" he yelled as a fur-covered, boar-like pokemon appeared in the middle of the battlefield. Wondering what the creature was as he had never seen one like it before, Ash drew his pokedex.
"Pilloswine. The Swine pokemon. Because the hair all over its body obscures its sight, it just keeps charging repeatedly." The mechanic voice informed him. "Piloswine is a ice and a ground pokemon."
The ground type meant that sending out Houndour was quite risky, as he would probably be defeated by an earthquake attack, or another such. Those attacks could easily tear destroy the little beast. Charizard, on the other hand, would at least benefit from immunity to the ground move due to his flying type - as long as he maintained himself above the ground, no ground attack could touch him.
"Charizard! I choose you!" he called out the great fire dragon, who appeared in the middle of the battlefield, glaring at the boar-like Piloswine.
"Piloswine! Blizzard!" Pryce yelled.
"Charizard! Counter it with a fire blast!" Ash gave his own order.
A swarm of icy crystals floated out of Piloswine's fur, speeding toward Charizard, only to be met midway through by the roaring wave of flame that came from the dragon's powerful fire blast. The crystals melted in a puddle of water, and some of that water was pushed back to fall on the Piloswine who reared, roaring in pain as the water attack met one of its weakness.
"Charizard! Fire blast again! Aim under Piloswine!" he ordered, remembering the trick that had almost defeated him during the fourth round of the pokemon league challenge, on, appropriately enough, the ice field.
The wave of fire melted the ice under Piloswine, transforming it in a deep puddle of water. As Pryce and the ground type slowly realized what was happening, Ash smiled. The ground type was too slow to get out of the hole in which it was sinking in time. With a weary sigh, the gym leader recalled his pokemon, glaring at Ash.
"Let's see how you handle this one, then." He muttered, calling on his last pokeball. "Jynx! I choose you!" he yelled as the little blonde pokemon appeared, making kissing gestures at his charizard who recoiled in something very much like disgust.
"Charizard! Fire Blast!" Ash ordered quickly.
"Jynx! Dodge, then put it to sleep with lovely kiss!" Pryce countered.
The roaring wave of fire struck toward the ice pokemon, but she somehow managed to slide to safety in time. As she did so, she suddenly jumped and managed to land on Charizard's back, immediatey kissing the dragon, ho fell asleep and on the ground. Ash recalled his pokemon, knowing he was down to his last one - and also knowing that his last pokemon would have the advantage in the next battle.
"Houndour! I choose you!" He summoned the dark type, knowing the double advantage of being a dark-type against a psychic and a fire-type against an ice-type seriously tipped the balance his way.
The little wolf cub-like pokemon appeared in the middle of the field, his eyes fierce with determination. Over the last few months, his chances to battle had been few and far between - Azalea being about the only gym were Ash had actually used him - but he definitely seemed to want to prove himself before Ash.
"Now's your chance Houndour! Sunny day, then flamethrower!" he ordered.
"Jynx! Double Slap!" his opponent countered, knowing that all his other options had been taken out by the doubled type disadvantage.
The humanoid pokemon charged and started repeatedly slapping the houndour, but at the same time, the creature howled, to the sun instead of howling to the moon, and all the clouds that had covered the day star vanished. The crystal-like doors and the icy floor reflected the strong sunlight, blinding everyone save Houndour who had prepared himself and Ash who had done the same, knowing what was coming and had put an hand over his eyes to let them slowly adapt to the light.
A powerful beam of fire flew out of the Houndour's mouth, a deadly weapon that struck the Jynx in the head, causing it to fall to the floor, taken out by the dreaded attack, which had been made stronger by the warmth of the sunlight. As the sunlight slowly started to fade, the glow seemed to remain present, surrounding Houndour. Ash watched in astonishment as the body of the little pokemon grew and as two horns appeared on the top of his head. When the glow vanished, he was left looking no longer at as small wolf cub-like pokemon, but at a tall, sleek and deadly hound. An Houndoom.
Ash recalled his new pokemon, smiling as he realized that Houndour certainly would not have to complain about being under-used again. Now that he was evolved, there was no reason to fear that he would be too weak to handle battles, even without such a positive type match-up as the last battle. Pryce joined him, and handed him a small object.
"Here's your Glacier Badge. You deserve it." He told him. "It's good to know that not all the kids have forgotten how to fight." He commented. "Hopefully, we'll meet again at Indigo in a few months..."
"What?" Ash asked in surprise. He had no ideas what he would be doing at Indigo in a few months. The Johto headquarters were in Goldenrod, after all.
"They announced it yesterday...They are calling off both the Indigo and Johto championship for this year." Pryce explained, and Ash's heart sank. "Instead, there is going to be a huge tournament at Indigo for the trainers and gym leaders of the two leagues. You need at least 8 badges from one of the league to enter the qualifiers, and if you have eight badges from each league, you get a bye to the finals. Same if you are a gym leader." He explained. Ash smiled as he realized that unless he failed to get his badge in Blackthorn in the next few months, he would be in the finals of that championship.
Chapter 5 : Dark Force Rising
They left Mahogany the next morning, after Gary had in turn successfully defeated Pryce. Of course, as they walked toward the Ice Pass that lead to the legendary Blackthorn, Ash and his friends could not help but talk about the stunning news about the enormous championship. As it was, out of the five of them, Ash, Gary and Misty would probably be instantly qualified for the finals, the first two for having all sixteen badges, and Misty for being a Gym Leader.
"I wonder if we'll have to face each other..." Elayne mused, looking at each of them.
"If I have to face you Ash, you can be sure I'll forfeit." Misty added. "It's your dream, not mine. And if I get a chance to help you..." She smiled.
"Not a chance of ME doing that, though." Gary smiled. "Just because you're my best friend doesn't mean I wouldn't want to face you." He grinned.
"I wouldn't have it any other way Gary." Ash replied, grinning back. Even though their friendship was renewed, he was eager to face his friend.
"Don't you think you should get your last badge first?" Damian told them sourly. Apparently, he wasn't interested much in pokemon battling and found the way the four of them had been obsessing over it for most of the day quite annoying.
Ash and Gary both nodded sheepishly. It was true that they both had one badge left to collect, and that according to what they had heard, the gym leader they were about to face knew his business and would probably give them some trouble, maybe even forcing them to ask for a re-match. He certainly hoped it didn't come down to that, as he hated to loose, but if the choice was between risking his pokemon's live and loosing, it wasn't an hard choice for him, and despite some of the things his friend had done over time, he knew it wasn't an hard choice for Gary either.
"You're right..." Gary said. "Do you have any idea what kind of pokemon that gym leader train?" he asked them all. They all shook their heads slowly. It appeared that the type of pokemon that the last gym leader was training was a closely guarded secret.
"No...And I'd really like to know..." Ash replied, It was hard to plan out an effective strategy without knowing what he'd be up against. Gary looked at him, and his eyes apparently for the first time noticed something.
"Hey Ash, you trying to copy my style or what?" He asked teasingly, pointing at the piece of leather tied between Ash's neck that held a golden scale on his chest, the same scale that Misty had found on the shore of Lake Rage earlier and given him.
"I just picked up that scale, and I thought it'd be nice there." Ash replied, smiling at his friend. Of course, that was not the exact truth - using the small necklace as a pendant had been Misty's idea, not his - but it was close enough. Gary nodded and brought back his attention to watching the world around them in hope of finding a new pokemon he could catch. He had a fairly good team, of course, but Ash could definitely understand why his friend would want to improve it, given the chance.
They continues walking eastward, and after nearly a week of traveling through an area filled with sparkling lakes and shining trees, they reached the gaping entrance of a cave. Crystal shards could be seen within the cave, those closest to the entrance glittering in the sunlight.
"That's the place." Gary commented.
"Yeah. The entrance of the Ice pass." Misty nodded, looking at the map.
"Weird though..." Elayne noted. "I thought pass were in open air, usually..." she looked at Misty questioningly.
"That's because there's a route in open air, but with the recent changes they made, it's only for cars...they opened up those tunnels for the people." Gary explained. Apparently, he had been in the region already, probably in the time between his defeat at the pokemon league and the time at which he had returned to Pallet.
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The wind howled with fierce fury in the mountains of the north, past Cerulean, where the Crimson Lotus Headquarter was located. The snowflakes that fell from the sky were blown and scattered by the howling gale, sometime falling on the flanks of the great peak that housed the Crimson Lotus base, sometime falling in the water that did not freeze only because of the salt that kept its temperature from going too low. Even then, some small packs of ice appeared from time to time, but fortunately, they were equipped to deal with that.
Realizing that the current location was no place to be looking at the weather, May Oak shifted her attention back to the man who was talking. He was quite old, with a short white beard and no other traces of hair. There was a sense of power to the man, the sense of someone who could lead without any trouble, who could order others without them ever saying anythign about it and accepting it without even thinking about complaining.
He was the Grand Master of the Crimson Lotus, and the simple idea of a member who had barely been in the group for over a year being summoned to his office was something quite overwhelming.
"So, you are May Oak." He said. "I have heard much about you." His face was unreadable. "They tell me you have a gift for strategy?" he asked her, one eyebrow raised.
May tried to stay calm under the scrutiny of the man. One mistake here would send her to the first line of attack in the fighting, and she would probably get herself killed there. Whereas a perfect score could land her in command of the Lotus army instead, which was a much more rewarding position.
"Maybe. If they think so." She answered carefully. Denying it would be the worst move, but acknowledging it before having shown the proof of it to the Grand Master would have been very nearly as bad.
"They tell me you took Saffron, with the best score ever?" he looked at her. Of course, he already knew the truth of that, and she knew that he knew, but she would still acknowledge that she had done that. Here, proof was already delivered, and had been brought to the man a long time ago. Right before they had started training her in strategy, tactic and the art of leading warriors instead of the art of shooting people, running around, and avoiding obstacles.
"I did." She simply nodded as she said so.
"And that you did extremely well during your training session?" he asked her. Here, she had to be careful. Many teachers had told her she was, in fact, one of their best student ever, but to say so here, without proof, would be a mistake.
"They might think so."
"And do you believe so?"
She froze as she heard the question, a question she was unprepared for. So far, all questions had been questions based on the opinions of other. He had never asked her any question about her own personal beliefs. She took a deep breath, and took the risk of answering.
"I believe I did well." She answered. "Although I could probably have done better." She added.
"Yet, you have done better than anyone before you in most cases, or nearly as well as the few who went before you when you weren't the best. And you think you could have done better."
"What I did wasn't perfect." She answered. "I made mistakes."
"Ah, so you are able to admit that." The voice was actually sounding to sound impressed, though May could not be sure of it, and would not take the risk of assuming he was. "And those who taught you say that you made very few mistakes." This time, it was no question, but a simple statement. "You are a ver rare person, Miss Oak." He told her. "Extremely skilled in the art of war, yet able to admit your own weaknesses, to see your mistakes, few and far between as they are and be willing to work to correct them, instead of telling yourself they are too small to matter." A hard smile appeared on his old, wrinkled face as he turned toward a box behind him on a shelf.
He opened the box, drawing a single object from it, a small pin. He handed it to her. "Your new uniform await you in the next room. Once you have put it on, you'll need that pin." He told her, pointing toward the door in the back of his office. She slwoly opened it, her heart pounding, wondering what rank she had been assigned. She made a conscious effort not to look at the pin as she entered. Closing the door, she watched the snow-white pants and shirt waiting for her. Slowly removing the olive uniform she had been issued upon her arrival at the base, she put on the new one. Her heart kept on beating heavily inside her chest as she slowly looked at the pin she had been given.
Her jaw dropped as she saw at once that it was made of gold and inlaid with three lotus-shaped rubies. Higher that she had ever hoped to reach. General of the Lotus army, the highest possible rank, the one that would put her in command of thousands of men, women and many other officiers. She slowly pinned the mark of her new rank in place on her shirt, for the first time noticing the two golden shoulder plates which had been left in the room, and fixing then in place as well.
Filled with pride, yet also with a certain sense that this was far more than she had bargained for, she walked back in the room, where the grandmaster awaited her. He was no longer alone. With him were two more men, one whom she knew, in a colonel uniform, the other a man with dark hair, a pointy beard, and sharp, angular eyes. He did not look like the kind of man she tended to trust, but if he had been selected as a general, then there had to be a good reason for that. Eric gave her a smile with a wink that obviously meant "I told you so".
"Ah, General Oak. There you are." The grandmaster smiled at her. "Let me introduce you to two men you will be working with. This is Ethan Starkhad, one of our best agent, who has proven his skill at manipulating the opposition by destroying Team Rocket. While you will be in charge of our offensive operations, he will be in charge of the forces defending the headquarters, at first anyway." The man they all respected told her. "And this one is your new aide, Eric Nelson. He will be in charge of assisting you in whichever tasks you require." He added.
"General Starkhad." May nodded slightly toward the man, who barely moved his head in acknowledgement.
"General Oak." His tone was frosty. Obviously, he had wanted her job, and did not like having lost it to a twenty years old woman. Eric bowed respectfully when she turned toward him, and she groaned inwardly.
"Now, I believe there is yet one more thing that we have to take care of. Ethan, I believe you have to oversee the preparations of our defenses, so if you will please do so?" the grandmaster ordered the man. "May, Eric, if you will please follow me..." he added, turning toward them. As they exited his office, a pair of guard formed up to escort them.
He led them through the halls of the fortress to part she had never seen before, further down until they reached what seemed like a laboratory deep inside the fortress. In the middle of it stood a strange machine, with two helms-like devices. In the back, shelve were filled with rows upon rows of pokeball. At a sign of the grandmaster, one of the lotus officer waiting on the other side went and picked up a pokeball. May wondered what this was all about as the grandmaster motioned her to go sit under one of the helm-like devices. He started to explain.
"You see, as you already know, pokemon are creature of evil, creature of darkness." He told her. "But the power they wield, it is a power they steal from the Creator himself. A power that we must harness and command ourselves so that we can finish the great work of our creator." He started his explanation. "It's a power that can be harnessed to make weapons, or other tools of war." The explanation continued. "It's also a power that can be given to a human. Only those who deserves it the most are granted that power, because it is extremely hard to wield. But you will need it." He looked at her, and made a sign to one of the man. Looking at Eric, she could plainly read in his face what he wanted to tell her, that the process would be painful - though he would probably have said it more like "It hurts like hell". She braced herself as the device was lowered over her head and as a pokemon appeared on the other side, restrained, only to have the device lowered over his own head.
What came after, she couldn't understand as the first blast of energy from the machine struck her, sending waves of atrocious pain throughout her body, as the power of the creatures were slowly forced in her. It was obvious that those powers - maybe they were the creature spirit? - did not want to be in her, but that the machine forced them in. Her own spirit also seemed to be trying to resist, and the pain came mostly from the clashing of these two wills with the power of the machine.
Suddenly, the pain stopped, even though she could tell the process was not over. It was as if the two spirits had stopped fighting each other, and now they were becoming one with ease, as if they now both wanted to be united.
As the helm started to rise again, she realized with a start that she could actually feel the presence of the others in the room...Eric, who seemed worried, was just behind her. The grandmaster, very calm, was standing further than he had, closer to the stair. The technicians all seemed puzzled as they looked at her. As she looked around, she saw them dragging away the dead body of the pokemon who had been used in this transfer, one that she thought was an Alakazam from what she had heard from her grandfather and brother.
As soon as the helm was completely away, she moved out of the chair, to stare at Eric's definitely worried face.
"How are you?" He quickly asked her.
"I'm fine...it was painful at first, but only for a short while...after that, it became easy..." she explained.
"That's odd...all those that I know who went through it, me included thought it was painful from the beginning to the end..." he answered. He seemed about to say something else, but he was interrupted by the voice of the grandmaster.
"General Oak, I believe you have some tactical planning to do...our assault will begin in a few months, and I want you to be ready." He told her.
"I will be." She answered, and she knew that she would have her plans fully ready by then.
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As they walked through the cave, Ash could not help but stare in wonder at the environment. Crystals of ice were everywhere, covering the cave, and reflecting the light of Charizard's tail fire in a rainbow of coruscating colors. Misty, who was walking besides him, was as wide-eyed as he was as they stared at the stunning beauty of the place.
"It's...so beautiful..." she whispered, wrapping her arm tightly around his waist..
"Yeah..." he answered slowly, holding her close to him with one arm over her shoulder, hoping to share warmth as the cave was quite cold.
They did not talk much during the two days within the cave, two days of freezing cold as they made their way toward the last gym. The sole night they spent in the cave was a night that they spent being frozen. They all slept close, so that they could share both their body warmth and their sleeping bag, which, opened, made for excellent blankets. Even that way, the night was still cold, and they were all tired the next morning as they had not managed to sleep much.
Late on the second day, they finally reached the end of the cave, and saw at once why Blackthorn was such a famous city. The mountain vale that sprawled just ahead of them was filled with ancient marble buildings, temples and palaces, some of them half in ruins, some of them being repaired, some of them which looked unaffected by the passage of time. The sky was fiery as the sun was lowering in the horizon, and the snow on the mountains surrounding the city was shining in a stunning display of color, red, gold, pink, yellow and purple rivaling as they were reflected by the pristine white material.
