It is over. The Redeyes has been vanquished for what I can only is for the final time. The world has been saved. People go about their lives around the globe, and tonight they will go sleep. Tomorrow they shall awake and continue their lives. And two children are dead.

Ash Ketchum and Misty Waterflower found themselves swept up into events beyond their imagination or control. Yet together they were able to overcome these difficulties and accomplish the task that fate had forced upon them.

Everything continues today because those two sacrificed their lives to save a world that will never know of their actions. I could tell the world, and they would most likely be praised as heroes, they themselves becoming legends. But, in my final act of cowardice, I have decided not to tell the world how close it came to destruction.

I tell myself that I do this because people don't want to know how close they are death. People sometimes don't realize the true price of the future. Sometimes it is very high indeed. Ash and Misty paid in full willingly, even though they both had been deceived by me.

I wonder if someone else had come across the ancient set of words written down into stone millennia before he or she had been born, would they have done different? I did what I thought was best. I did what I thought was needed.

But in doing so, I betrayed two people very close to me. I keep telling myself I never told Ash beforehand because I didn't want him to have to make such a decision himself. In my own arrogance, I guess, I made sure all the evil was mine and mine alone. Why should a 16-year-old boy with everything to live for be asked to give up his life for the sake of the world? Do the lives of many really outweigh a single life?

I know Ash would have said yes. I know that with all my heart. That is why I betrayed him. So he wouldn't have to choose. I made the same decision with Misty. Why should she have been forced to give up on the one she loved when she still believed there was a chance? She almost convinced me that the prophecy was wrong. For a moment I had hope again. I can never thank her enough for that.

As this journal is my final confession, I cannot leave anything out. When the prophecy of the Redeyes was first excavated, I was the first to translate it. As soon as I read it, I knew that it was Ash and Misty that it referred to. The first seventeen lines told of the Redeyes' return and its attempt to reclaim the world. It also told of how the flower would try and save the master, in the process saving the world.

A master will be born,

The youngest to wear the crown.

Upon the coronation,

The Redeyes will be awakened

To reclaim the world it lost.

It will take the master,

And its reign will begin anew.

The sky will rain upon the world,

And human and pokémon alike will fall.

Forests will burn

Seas will boil,

And the world will end.

However, amidst the horrors,

A flower of water will bloom,

Wielding the thorn,

That will extinguish the redeyes,

And free the world from its fate.

No one else knew, however, that there were six other lines. I didn't even tell Marshall or the others. Again, I was trying to save them from as much sin as possible. Unlike the beginning, these lines told of what would happen during the final confrontation. Misty had asked me how I was so sure that she was the flower. How could I tell her that the clues lay in these hidden lines?

The flower will be severed,

But her death will awaken the master.

He will take the thorn from his lover's grasp,

And destroy the Redeyes forever.

The light will return to the world,

The price of the future paid in blood.

I do not know what I will do now, but I know I can no longer stay here. The damage I have caused to those close to me will never be healed. One day I may be able to make amends for my sins, but I do not know how.

Samuel looked up from his writings. There was only one person to whom he could give this. He knew he was running away, but how could he face anyone? Maybe one day he would return. But for now, I must begin a new journey. Where I will go and who I will meet, I don't know.

He stood up, and replaced the chair neatly against the desk. Picking up the journal, he turned out the desk light and left the room.

* * * * *

Pallet's cemetery was on the edge of town. A traveler could walk through the center of town and never see it. Pallet was not a large town, but people had been living in the area for a very a long time. The cemetery itself had been use for over 300 years.

It still surprised Brock had large it really was. Beginning in a natural meadow, it now stretched over 12 acres. Rows upon rows of headstones followed the natural contours of the land, rising and falling live waves on the ocean. Several trees remained, but for the most part, it was completely open ground.

Silently, Brock walked down a small dirt path as it meandered its way through the cemetery. Passing over a small knoll, he reached his destination.

The double headstone was ornately carved and its white stone was noticeably newer than its neighbors'. Two sets of epitaphs were carved onto its face. One read, Ash Ketchum, 2013-2029, Pokémon Master, Best Friend and Beloved Son. The other read, Misty Waterflower, 2012-2029, Gym Leader, Loving Sister and Wonderful Friend. Underneath, written across the length of the monument were the words, They found each other in this life, may their love guide them in the next.

Several bouquets of flowers had been laid in front of it. You guys touched so many people, you know that right? Brock said silently.

"Hey guys," Brock said softly, barely above a whisper. Three weeks ago he would never had believed that today he would be visiting his two best friends here. So many things had happened since the day Ash had become Pokémon Master, everything before it felt like a different world, a world that no longer existed.

"I brought a friend to see you," he said." He turned around. "Come on, Pikachu."

Slowly, the yellow pokémon that had been following him through the cemetery hopped up to him. It looked up at him nervously.

"It's ok, Pikachu. Just go talk to them."

It looked back and forth between the gravestone and him before finally hopping over to it. "Pika pikapi. Pikachu, pika pika. Chu pika pikachupi."

Brock watched as it talked to its two friend that were no longer around to talk back. He had never been able to understand Pikachu like Ash could or even Misty for that matter, but at that moment, he was almost glad he couldn't. Whatever it was saying was between it and Ash and Misty.

Frankly, Pikachu was lucky to be alive. The doctors had all but given up hope. For the last three weeks it had been in intensive care at the Viridian City Emergency Pokémon Center. Somehow, though, Pikachu had pulled through anyway. At first, he had been afraid that the news of Ash and Misty's death would have sent it into a relapse, but slowly Pikachu was getting through its grief. It would a long and hard road ahead, but if he knew Pikachu, it could do it. Once it set its mind on something, nothing could stop it. It was a lot like Ash in that way.

Brock sighed. He doubted he would ever know for sure what really had happened to Ash and Misty. What little he did know he had had to learn from watching the news. Whatever it was that had attacked Ash, no one knew. How and why had Misty escaped from the hospital? How had she found Ash? What happened to them? Their bodies had been discovered in a cave east of Mt. Moon, but little else made any sense.

Lost in thought, Brock didn't notice Pikachu walk back to him until it tugged on his pants. He knelt down and scratched its ear. "I know its hard, Pikachu, but we'll get through together, right?" Slowly it nodded. "That's a good boy. I'll be done in a few minutes." He gave it one more scratch and then stood up.

"Sarah's getting out of the hospital the day after tomorrow," he said to the headstone. "She'll have to undergo a month or two of rehabilitation, but the doctors say she should be fine after that." Sarah, his 11-year-old sister, had been caught under a falling beam when the family gym had collapsed. Thankfully, she had been the only one in his family to be seriously hurt in the attack on Pewter. Considering how many people had lost their lives, Brock knew it was a miracle indeed that everyone in his family had survived. The gym had always provided for them and it had protected them to the end.

"We're beginning construction on the new gym next week, after Sarah gets settled. Dad says the new gym will be even bigger than before and will have a separate breeding center. Somehow I always knew I would live my life in Pewter, I just didn't know I would be going back so soon. We have a lot of rebuilding to do, but we're a strong town."

He glanced at his watch, 3:50. He was supposed to be at Mrs. Ketchum's at four and didn't want to be late. She had been understandably depressed over the last three weeks. It had gotten worse when the Professor suddenly left town the day after Ash and Misty's funeral. He hadn't given any warning and Brock hadn't found out until Tracey called him with the news. So, Brock has stepped in. For the last six years of his life Mrs. Ketchum had become the mother he himself had lost when he was young. He owed it to her and Ash that he make sure she was ok.

"I have to go," he said out loud. "I promised Ash's mom I would help her with the gardening. You should see it Ash. She's got it more beautiful than ever." He paused. "I'll be back again, don't you worry. You'll always be my best friends. I really hope you guys are doing well. If any two people deserve it, it's you."

He looked down at Pikachu. "Come on, Pikachu. We have to visit Mrs. Ketchum." The pokémon ignored him. "Come on, we'll visit them again." Again, Pikachu made no indication that it had heard him. Suddenly, it jumped forward and began to rummage through the flowers in front of the headstone.

"Pikachu, don't touch those," Brock shouted, but it continued to dig through the bouquets. Brock was about to reach and grab it out of them when Pikachu pulled out a small package that had been hidden within the flowers. Brock stopped and knelt down, gently taking the package from it.

The package wasn't very large, flat like a book, and wrapped in brown paper. Strangest of all, his name was written in black ink across the front of it. Why would someone leave me something and hide it here?

He delicately opened the wrapping and pulled out a small red journal. The cover was blank, but when he opened it to the front page it said, "Journal of Samuel Oak." There was also a handwritten note attached to the inside cover.

"Brock, I left this because you deserve to know the truth of what happened to Ash and Misty and the part that I had in their deaths. What you do with the information contained in this journal is up to you. The only thing I ask is that you don't hurt Delia anymore than I already have. I cared for her dearly, just as I cared for Ash and Misty, although after reading this I doubt you will believe me. I'm sorry I left as I did, but it was the only way. I doubt I will ever see you again. Perhaps that is for the best. Please tell Tracey the deed to the laboratory has been changed over to his name. Believe me when I say I am sorry for my actions."

Curious by the enigmatic words, Brock turned the page and began reading. Soon, all thoughts of gardening left him.

(the end.)