Chapter 12: Ash's intervention
Mirmik and Warles stepped out of the store they were just in. Mirmik glanced in the bag of food he held. Sniffing in the scent of fresh fruits and bakery goods, he smiled. "Wow… your kind in this world certainly know how to get people to buy their food," Mirmik remarked. "This smell is delicious!"
"It's supposed to be," Warles said, "and so is the taste. Otherwise no one would eat it."
"I'm still wondering, though," Mirmik replied back. "Why did you have us go out a different door than we entered?"
"Umm…"
Warles left the question unanswered as he pulled out his Pidgeot. He tossed over a roll to Mirmik. "Here, eat this. You must be famished."
Mirmik was suspicious of Warles when he handed the roll over, but forgot everything when he began to eat it. His hunger overpowered his memory, and so was focused on it as they got on the Pidgeot. The Pidgeot, however, didn't leave the ground when a voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Warles… I never knew you as the one who would steal," a man said, approaching them as if he came from the shadows.
"What the… Ash?!?" Warles exclaimed, staring at the man. "What are you doing here?"
"The messenger has tarried too long," Ash said coldly. The cap he wore from 15 years ago still fit on his head, and covered his eyes in shadows, giving him a haunting look.
"The Messenger… do you mean to tell me that he is growing tired of waiting?" Warles said, his humorous mood completely gone. "I have only been gone for two days!"
"It does not concern you, Messenger, but the last of the gathering," Ash stated calmly. "I learned that the last lies with you. Where is he?"
"Who, exactly?"
"You know very well, Warles," Ash said coldly. "I have no time for idle talk. Kevin must be brought to the meeting."
"I was just about to get back there," Warles explained. "He found a portal on Cinnabar—"
"You will take me to him," Ash declared. "I am aware that he is trapped, but he cannot get free without my help."
"Now wait just a blazin' minute here—" Warles began, but Ash stopped him by raising his head to reveal his eyes. Though Ash's eyes were once full of energy, over time, they have become as emotionless as the man he grew into. Not even Celebi would reveal to him what happened, but whatever it was, any stare from Ash could give even the greatest of people shivers down their spine. Only his Pikachu, who faithfully stood at Ash's side, could read them at what he was saying without words.
After a few seconds, Ash spoke again. "Remember, you are only a messenger here, Warles," he said. "Now, I must help with the others."
"Hey, I got the berries!" Arang shouted as he came from the forest, then stopped. He looked at Ash. "Who's this?"
* * *
"Come on, hurry up!" Naria pleaded to no one in particular. She and those hybrids who were with her had barred the door and were attempting to cool it as well as they could. The constant barrage of flamethrowers on it and the walls were beginning to make them turn a noticeable red, and Naria could tell that they were reaching a point that they would melt.
"Man," Rikki remarked, "do you think that they abandoned us?"
"I don't think so," Naria remarked. She looked over to Cerberus, who was attempting to fan the door with her hands. "Cerberus, go check out one of the back windows to see if anyone's coming!"
Cerberus took off into the rest of the building. A minute later, she came back, her eyes wide. "Naria," Cerberus asked, "Did you say look for someone or something?"
"What are you talking about?"
As if on cue, a loud noise of rushing water echoed down the hallways and practically shook everyone and everything in the building. The noise and vibration lasted for a full five seconds before it subsided. Naria watched the walls as they went from their red hue to their white color, and once the noise stopped, they stepped outside, making sure there were no more Slugma attacking it.
Blade and Laguna flew in from the sky, Laguna carrying Blade by the shoulders. "Wow!" Blade exclaimed. "That was the best fun yet. We should do it again!"
"Not while I'm around, you crazy boy!" Cerberus barked. "When you said a wave, I didn't know you meant the whole sea! You're lucky I don't hurt you for that one!"
"Well, I'm sorry to scare the daylights out of you, miss I'm-afraid-to-get-wet," Blade argued. "Naria did say it could withstand quite a bit!"
"You jerk! I bet I could take you down without even a flamethrower!" Cerberus growled.
"Cerberus, Blade… we don't need to be fighting now," Naria reminded, getting between them. "The Slugma were taken care of now and are all hard as a rock, but who knows when they'll be able to move again. We have to repair it now."
"Hey!" a voice yelled from above. Everyone glanced up to see three riders on a Pidgeot.
"Warles!" Rikki shouted. "You're back! What'd you get us?"
"Plenty," Warles said, hopping off once his Pidgeot had landed. He pulled out several large sandwiches. "Anyone hungry?"
* * *
Two days quickly passed. With the help of Cerberus and Blade, Naria finished the repairs ahead of schedule. Laguna remained outside, keeping not only his eye on the Slugma statues, but on the stranger that came with Warles. Several times Laguna attempted some conversation, but was unsuccessful. He was, however, successful at gaining the gaze of the stranger, which made Laguna suspect him to have motives of his own.
Finally, he just gave up on his conversation starters. "If only I knew what I originated from," he muttered to himself, "I would go back and live there."
He struck gold. The stranger finally spoke. "Your life is intertwined with your leader, Kevin," he said calmly, though still coldly. "Though you will learn soon, you must live with others of your kin."
"Kevin? My leader? I hardly think so," Laguna said, laughing slightly.
"So much as Warles is a messenger and worker for his leader, you must also do your part," the stranger stated. "You will not be accepted in your origin as others of their kind because you are a hybrid."
"And why not?" Laguna asked angrily. However, their conversation ended with silence, and Laguna despised the man more than before.
Inside the building, there was even more frustration. The portal was fixed, but what needed to be done was a lot tougher for Naria than connecting two worlds. Everyone except for Cerberus waited patiently for Naria to finish.
"What's taking so long?" Cerberus finally asked. "Why can't you get the portal to open?"
"Well, there's no other entry to assist in this," Naria explained. "Extending a bridge will take a lot more energy and power from the portal itself. In addition to that, I have to find the target first, and with him drifting around out there as such, it's next to impossible to get a lock-on."
"Do you want me to get you something to eat so you can concentrate better?" Warles offered. Even with his knowledge, he knew nothing of portal technology.
"No, but if it's possible, we need a new generator," Naria said. "Because of us guarding the door, we failed to keep a watch everywhere else and they managed to get a small hole through one wall. Though the tidal wave didn't break down the door, it soaked the machinery, so I have to keep the energy consumption in small doses or I'll fry the generator."
"That explains why only the lights are on in certain areas," Blade said, looking at the dim glow above him. "Not to mention that they seem to only be emergency lights."
"Blast it all," Naria growled to no one. "I can't get a lock-on or extend a bridge without overloading the generator!"
"Hey, I can help!" Rikki commented. "I've rested up enough, and have enough electricity in me to power the thing!"
"Not for very long, however."
Everyone turned to the back of the room. The stranger stood there, the soft lights giving him more of a spooky look than ever. Warles was the first to speak. "Is this why you came, Ash?" he asked.
"Yes," Ash replied. "You've hardly had any training in storing electrical energy. If you were to power the machine yourself, it would hardly last 10 minutes before exhausting your supply." He looked down to his Pikachu. "However, with Pikachu helping out, you can triple the time and we can get Kevin out… If we do this correctly."
"What do you mean by that?" Rikki asked. "And how do you know of Kevin?"
"If we attempt to rescue him with insufficient power, we may end up trapping another between worlds," Ash replied. "However, for your second question, I will explain later. Rikki, are you ready?"
"Whoa! We have to get someone to retrieve him first once the portal opens," Naria explained. "Someone who's fast, but can keep contact with the bridge."
Everyone looked at Cerberus. She looked back at everyone. "What the… me??"