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After having everything explained by Professor Oak and Tracey, the group had settled back to the lounge room. Ash had been rubbing his arm instinctively, and it was beginning to peeve Misty off
"Ash, do you mind?"
"Hmm?" Ash replied blankly, not looking up
"The constant rubbing" She mumbled boredly.
Ash stopped "I wasn't" Of course, this seemed like a completely understandable complaint from his point of view. He hadn't even realized he was rubbing his arm, and felt Misty was, once again trying to blame him for something he hadn't done
"You were too!"
"I was not!"
"Were too!"
"Was not!" Now they were both standing facing each other, hands clenched into fists and glaring angrily
"You were Ash, but you were too stupid to notice, just admit it!"
"I was not, you were probably hallucinating you ugly faker!"
Misty glared and growled slightly, hands balling into fists. Now Ash knew he had gone too far. For all he knew, he might have been rubbing his arm. It was beginning to hurt more than immediately after it had happened, though there was no blood anymore.
Uh oh. Too far He thought, taking a small step backwards, raising his hands in front of him self palm forward "I didn't say that, did I?"
Misty growled again, and Ash jumped backwards, then turned as a loud call came from Tracey. Pikachu looked up, yawning. He had used a lot of energy in that attack, and surprisingly had survived, unlike most if they tried anything like that. Springing to Ash's side Pikachu raised its ears, watching as Tracey came charging down the hallway, heading for Professor Oaks room.
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Ash, Misty, Brock and Pikachu sat in the lounge room, the other three all stared at Ash and he squirmed uncomfortably "What?"
"Well, aren't you a little worried at what they might find?" Brock asked, and Ash shook his head
"Nope, 'coz I know there's nothing there to find. I don't know why they went to all the trouble. I'm just a normal trainer, like everyone else"
It seemed he spoke too soon. There was a startled yell and Professor Oak came rushing in, calling out something to Tracey before turning to look at the trio in the room, and Pikachu.
"Ash, I… I think you'd better come with me…" Pikachu looked up, and jumped into its trainer's arms with a confused "Chuu?" Misty and Brock glanced at each other before standing and following Oak and Ash. Tracey stood by the door, shivering but nodded slowly to the Professor, and muttering
"It was just an accident" Before following them in
They all crowded into the large lab, and all eyes were drawn to a large tube, with a thick blue liquid in it, bubbling softly. It was what was inside the liquid that captured Ash's gaze the most. He was staring at an unconscious form of himself.
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Tracey launched into an explanation of how he had placed the small vial of energy from all of Ash's pokémon on the bench. He had turned, and his hand had accidentally knocked the vial, straight into Ash's. The two had spilt and merged together with a blinding flash and then the black orb had floated to the tank. In seconds it had formed into what is was now.
"Cool!" Ash said, not flinching under all the strange looks "Now I have someone to do all my chores!" He expected a comment, but Tracey and Oak looked nervous
"Ash" Professor Oak began "We may have accidentally created a clone… but there are some things that we realize now we didn't get from you when we extracted that energy…"
The Professor droned on, but Ash stared at his clone a moment, before taking a small step towards it. Everything went blurry, sort of, out of focus. He barely saw Oak come to a stop, and Ash didn't turn to see them all staring at him.
As he reached the tube, he raised his hands, placing them on the glass, staring transfixed at the figure that looked so alike him, floating as if unconscious in the thick blue liquid. He thought he heard someone call his name, but couldn't quit hear properly, everything had faded, other than the gentle, yet consistent bubbling of the water in the tank, and a strange throbbing which reverberated through Ash's entire body.
As hands were placed on his shoulders, he still felt nothing, but struggled. He had to get his hands back on that tank. He just had to, Ash didn't know why, but he did. Mumbling he struggled desperately, flinging the hands off his shoulders and stumbling back to the tube, replacing his hands on the cold glass… it seemed a little colder than before.
"Ash!" Head snapping up, Ash spun around, to find himself looking straight at Misty who held her hands palm in front of her, looking at him in… in fear?
There was a sound of shattering glass, and Ash managed to glance around in time to see the clone open its eyes, and found himself fall deep into pools of blood, that seemed so eternal. There was a sinking sensation and everything went black
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Ash looked up, and opened his eyes. Well, at least he thought he did, for there was no change in the light or area around him. Blinking, he stood; if there was even ground here to stand on. It seemed to him he was the only thing in a huge expanse of black, a complete void of colour or light. Strangely enough though, he was illuminated just as he had been back in the lab with all the lab lighting.
The Lab… the clone… those eyes… Ash looked around worriedly, wondering why he was here, and where here was.
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Misty sat up, shaking her head and looking to where Ash had fallen. The tube had shattered and water and glass had knocked Ash down. She wondered what had happened to the clone, but ignored the feeling in her mind.
"Ash?" She questioned and walked over to the form on the ground, glass crunching under her shoes, she tried not to slip on liquid
Brock was helping Pikachu up; the poor pokémon had been flung back from the gush of water and knocked under one of the tables. There must have been an earthquake or something, for the room was in a pretty bad state for a tube merely shattering. Tracey had jumped away from the liquid filled tube to Professor Oak, and they both stood near the door in whispers
"We should have told him sooner"
"It may be too late now"
"I sure hope not"
"What about the clone?"
"We'll have to wait and see"
"What about…"
Misty placed a hand on Ash's shoulder and looked at him worriedly "Ash?" She asked again, shaking him a little, watching as he stirred and pushed himself up. A grin spread across his face and Ash turned his head in Misty's direction, before opening his eyes to look at her through a veil of blood.
