Part 10
The Beast of the SeaWas it morning….or…was it late at night? Out the window the moon shined brightly over Violet Town. For Ash, he had not found sleep for three days. He no longer knew what time or what day it was. He had spent the last thirty-nine hours locked in his pitch black room staring at what was sending him over the edge. On the dresser laid the three pokeballs containing the legendary birds, Articuno, Moltres and most recently Zapdos. At first he thought it was a fluke, that it was by some incredible luck that he captured Articuno. But the events of the past two weeks almost pushed him to the breaking point. His mind cold not handle all these unanswered questions. What were those dreams about? Why did he have that strange feeling before finding Zapdos? Why did he feel pain when Gary captured Zapdos? With each question he asked himself the more he slipped into a horrible depression. His eyes were red and his nerves were shot. Since his mind would not rest until the answers were found, his body would not get rest. His world as he knew it was completely flipped upside down.
When first arriving to Violet Ash was in a much better state then he was now. After the storm that almost took the city, there was some considerable damage done. Some trees were knocked over, many windows were blown in and some power lines had gone down. But the townspeople were resilient and went about daily business as usual. Everything was open including the Violet City Gym. Brock advised that Ash get it over with and go straight to the gym to pick up another badge. At this point the Johto league was the farthest thing from his mind but he went anyway. He was still tired from the ordeal with Zapdos and Gary, who was still probably still lying in the mud.
He met with the Gym Leader, Falkner. He specialized in flying pokemon. Now Ash knew that flying pokemon are weak against electric. Ash wanted to try battling with Zapdos, since it was a flying pokemon and it was electric type, he thought it would be an easy win. So he went to the pokemon center and switched his Squirtle for his newly captured Zapdos. Once the battle started he quickly found that he had no control over Zapdos. No matter how many times Ash said the command, the legendary bird of lightning just stood there. Ash quickly switched his pokemon, Falkner didn't notice since he was still in shock from seeing Zapdos. After that the match went very quickly. It only took one hit from Articuno's wing attack to bring down all three of Falkner's pokemon. Some wouldn't even call that a battle, it was more like a massacre. Falkner proudly gave Ash his Zephyr and thanked him for giving him the chance to battle such a beautiful creature. He also swore to Ash that he would not tell anyone of the events of the battle and their meeting. As Ash looked at the badge, he didn't feel the excitement he used to get after winning a gym battle. He didn't feel proud like he once felt. Because of the past few weeks, everything he knew was different. Things could never be the same. At that very moment Ash Ketchum was no more, there was a lost little boy instead. He went from the gym to his room and hasn't left since.
Brock and Misty were obviously very worried, Misty more than Brock. They tried to communicate with the catatonic state that was Ash, but to no avail. The only times he left his room was to go to the bathroom and grab a two month old pre-made wrapped sandwich from the vending machine in the foyer. He wouldn't even let Pikachu inside the room.
Brock looked up in time from his couch to see Ash make one of his few trips to the bathroom across the hall. Ash looked and felt like the proverbial hell on earth. He needed help and no sense that Misty and Brock were making seemed to work. They needed to bring in the big guns. Misty and Brock ran over to the phone sitting in the corner and put out a call to the one man that could make all the difference.
"Professor Oak will know what to do." Stated Brock.
"I hope your right Brock.."
They both watched as the screen flickered and reveled an image of the Professor in his robe.
~"Ah, I've been waiting to hear from you guys…..where's Ash? He has some explaining to do. I've been trying to call him on the pokegear for ever! It's not broken is it? That cost a lot of money to make!"~
Brock shook his head. "No Professor, he just turned it
off. Something has happened to him,
he's not his usual self, he's different."
~"Really? How so?"~
Misty grabbed the phone from Brock. "he's been locked alone in a room for a day and a half. He won't talk to any of us, especially me of all people! I'm really worried Professor Oak….I think he's given up on everything!"
~"hmmmm…..extreme depression…I wonder if it has to do with the three legendary birds…..actually I would bet that's what's bothering him…..Alright, looks like I will have to come down there myself!"~
Misty breathed a sigh of relief. If his friend couldn't talk sense into him, and his girlfriend couldn't do it, maybe his mentor can.
"Thanks you so much Professor Oak!"
~"beside this might give me the chance to finally understand what has been happening the past two weeks. I will charter a plane down today and I should make it before lunch. Perhaps we can solve this perplexing mystery together."~
"We await you arrival Professor, I knew we could count on you!"
Pikachu jumped on Misty's head. "Pika….." She gently scratched its chin. "don't worry Pikachu, Ash will be back to normal soon. He's just going through a phase…"
"pi….."
******
Inside the darkened room Ash laid on the unmade bed and stared at the ceiling. His mind was a torrent of thoughts and questions. The stress was to much for the young trainer, he could feel himself becoming paranoid. One of the symptoms was that he kept hearing voices in his head. They starting coming to him about seven hours ago. The voices were quiet at first, but got louder and appeared every twenty minutes. It was hard to make out what they were saying since he still tried to deny to himself that he wasn't hearing anything. But the voices got louder and louder and had to be heard. They said the same chant over and over again.
"Yret… Sym.. Ehtk… Colnu…"It was in some strange dialect that he couldn't perceive or translate. The repeated chanting tore deep into his mind and drove him mad. He began to scream out into the darkness, begging them to stop.
"ASH"
He bolted up right in bed and glared at the door thinking that someone was trying to get in. But the door remained closed, locked and untouched. The voices spoke up once again.
"ASH…Yret… Sym.. Ehtk… Colnu…"
He trailed the sound of the voice to the three pokeballs lying on the dresser. He slowly crept towards them and stuck out his ear. He waited but heard nothing. Ash continued to strain to hear anything. It seemed what ever was chanting those words, decided it had talked enough. Tired, and mentally exhausted he clambered onto the bed and for the first time decided that he would mediate. He has seen it lots of it demonstrated on the TV and it looked very relaxing. He crossed his legs and placed a pillow under him. He breathed in gently and focused on a spot just a few feet in front of him. Ash needed to clear his mind, he needed to find some kind of enlightenment, no matter how long it would take. Ash concentrated on his breathing and soon the many thoughts in his head about the past two weeks began to disappear and for the first time he felt at peace. All the problems in the world and with himself were not the subject of worry over anymore. He sighed to himself. "I should of done this earlier………………"
It worked almost to well as he slowly fell backwards onto the bed and into deep sleep before his head hit the pillow.
***
".where….am I?"
He was standing on a cliff.
"GOD DAMNIT! I have had it up to here with these damn cliff sides of death, I swear if there is another black groaning cloud below me, I'm gonna have a fit!"
Luckily for Ash this cliff was different. He could see for miles in all directions, but he couldn't find a trace of civilization everywhere. There was also soft light everywhere. The surroundings looked like something from a Richard Frost poem. As he walked off the cliff rocks and into a large field he could sense another presence. As if someone was watching him.
Suddenly a large ball of osculating light appeared in front of him. He had seen this orb many times in his dreams. Although this one was different, it was silver. The other one he saw was more of a gold color.
"Ash…"
The voice of the mysterious orb was very deep and familiar.
"Ash the test is going on beautifully, but we are running out of time. You must collect the others, only then can we defeat the evil."
Ash stared at the glowing light. "What do you mean! What does any of this mean! Where am I? Why aren't I getting any answers!!"
"Ash, are you prepared to hear the reasons are you prepared to receive the answers?"
"I know I am, I know if I just knew what was happening, maybe I could go on in life!"
"Very well, stand back…"
Ash heard something over head and saw three glowing lights come floating down from the sky. They flew down in a line and circled around Ash. Each one was a different color, blue, red and yellow.
"what are they?"
The lights continued to swirl around him, they were much smaller then the silver orb that floated just a few feet in front of Ash.
"Ash, you should already know the answer to that….feel them Ash, what do they say?"
He stared at the bouncing orbs of light in confusion. Then the blue one broke from the chain and hovered right in front of him. Ash reached out and touched the orb. Just then he felt something, deep inside of him. Ash quickly whipped his head to the silver orb.
"This is Articuno! Isn't it!"
"Yes"
Ash pointed to the other two remaining lights. "And those are Moltres and Zapdos!"
The orbs bounced around happily as they began to glow extremely bright.
"Ash, concentrate…..you do remember don't you? ……… Bring together all three, their treasures combined…tame the beast of the sea…."
Ash's eyes went wide, he slowly raised his finger to the silver orb.
"….your…Lugia!!!!"
"Yes, your beginning to understand."
"Not really…..I'm still
confused." He said while scratching his
head.
"Of course you are, and its'
partly our fault. But it is time for
you to learn of your past and why you are the chosen one."
"But I thought I already did
my task as the chosen one!"
"Ash……..it has hardly begun."
Suddenly the floating orbs began to shift and warp into different shapes. Each one after the other turned into their original form. Around him stood the three legendary birds, and Lugia stood in front of him. They looked as real as they day he first saw them, only this was in his head, could this be real?
"How do I know that this is not a dream?"
Articuno stepped forward. "Ash, we are speaking to you from beyond the pokeballs, we are the mental projections of our physical selves. We are just using telepathic waves to talk to you."
Ash looked stunned. "you weren't able to talk before…"
Moltres stepped up beside Articuno. "Are physic abilities aren't strong enough, we can only talk to you when you mind is at complete rest."
The four magnificent birds circled around him. A calm blue light began to form around them. Lugia tucked his wings under his body and laid on the ground, his head was only inches from Ash's.
"Are you ready to accept the answers? Are you ready to accept the responsibility? Are you ready to accept your fate?"
Ash breathed in heavily. "……..yes."
"Very well, over a 500,000 years back when time began and life first started to thrive on this planet. The PokeGods were in control of creating and populating the planet with pokemon to serve and protect man. The ManGods created and populated the planet with the humans that would cultivate the land and care for the Pokemon. The Pokemon relied on the Humans for food and medicine; Humans relied on the Pokemon for protection and friendship. There was a perfect balance and harmony between the two races on earth."
"unbelievable…"
"One day the Gods came together in agreement that they would put a great protector on the earth to watch over both the Humans and Pokemon and to defeat evil wherever it was present. This ultimate being had the flesh and blood of a human, but also had a deep hidden power that only pokemon could posses. The local villages knew him as the Pokeman, but we knew him as the Chosen one. To help him in his task of defending the world, the pokegods put ten legendary pokemon on the earth to serve him and protect him. The Mangods also put two prophets on the earth to befriend and guide him."
"Prophets?…Do you mean Misty and Brock!!"
"That is what they are known as now, Ash, your meeting of Misty and Brock were not by chance or luck, it was fate."
"fate?……"
"Sadly the Chosen One died before he could pass on his linage and produce offspring to carry on the title of the chosen one. Although the Legendary pokemon remain immortal, the chosen one was created as a mortal. But it had been foretold by the Gods that the chosen one would return and rid the world of all the darkness. Over 400,000 years went by, and there was no sign of the chosen one. As the pokemon evolved, so did the humans. They created the society you know today. And with the evolution of the world, evil has presented itself once again."
"The two high powers of the legendary pokemon announced your arrival into the world, and for years we have watched over you. We were there when you took your first step. We were there when you lost your father. And we were there when you first started your journey. All your life you have been put through countless test. Tests that would prepare you body, mind and soul for the task that would come later in life. Everything has happened for a reason, we made it happen. Take the incident when you first met Misty, we were the ones that rustled up those spearows that attacked you. But if it wasn't for them, you two would of never met."
"But she followed me because I wrecked her bike!"
"Fate works in mysterious ways"
"What other stuff have you put me through!"
"The biggest test we put you through was at Shimoutee. It was there that the legend was finally fulfilled. It was right then that we knew that the Chosen One had arrived on earth. The gods were so adamant that we would sacrifice everything just to find you, for you will make all the difference."
"But then you would have already knew the outcome!"
"Fate and legend can only bring you so far, It is up to you alone to fulfill it."
"………………..What is next for me?"
"That I do not know, I am not able to see into the future and even if I could, the future is never truly written. Things can be changed, to find answers, we look into the past. But we do have one final task for you. It will challenge your physical and mental limitations. On your first day do you remember what you saw?"
"You mean that weird
flying Pokemon I saw? Everyone thought
that I just imagined it!"
"in a sense you did, what you saw was the mental projection of the 5th
Legendary Bird, Ho-oh."
"Ho-oh? But why was it a mirage?"
"Before the Chosen One died for the first time, there was a great battle
and Ho-oh was sealed away forever in the mountain range of Johto. He has been there ever since, he has only
made appearances using his highly developed physic abilities to extend his
physical self from within the cage he has spent a lifetime in. We have been unable to break him free from
his prison, even if we did, we can't detect where in the mountains he is. It is up to the Chosen One to release
him. Lately his strength has almost
left him and we are unable to communicate with him. The prison is destroying him, if he is destroyed the energy that
flows between us all will be disrupted"
"What energy?"
"Since time began there has been a source of energy that has flowed through the earth and the Legendary Pokemon. We are greatly in tune with nature and live to protect it. But if the link is broken between the 10 Legendary Pokemon… I don't have to remind you to what happened at Shimoutee. We know that you are the Chosen one for this energy now flows through you. Before no human could harness this energy, they all had opposite polarization. Like the Collector, anyone who captured a legendary pokemon would of disrupted the energy flow, because the Positive energy was flowing through the body that had a Negative Polarization…. understand? His body was used like a large transformer, it change the energy flow and drove the birds mad. And it drastically changed the climate all over the world, for like a said, the energy flows through the whole earth and it was affected as well."
"So when Gary captured Zapdos….that's why I felt pain? Its because at Shimoutee it hadn't been flowing through me yet?"
"Yes! Now that the energy flows through you, you were able to feel it being disrupted inside you, you felt the earth cry out in pain."
"When I captured Articuno, the earth wasn't destroyed….."
"On that very day the energy began to build inside you, as long as it wasn't disrupted, everything was fine. You see Ash! You are the only one in existence that can tame the legendary birds, you are the Chosen One!! So it is you that must go and break the seal on Ho-oh's prison!"
"……..I don't think I can do this…." Ash began to feel very overwhelmed by all the information he was getting, its not everyday you discover your pretty much a god. "What about Brock and Misty, what is their role in this?"
"They are to merely guide you in your quest, without each other, you cannot complete the task ahead of you. They are there to give you friendship, to give support and to give love. Now you must go out and summon me."
"Where do I go? What do I do?"
"The answers are coming, Ash, we believe in you, why not trying to believe in yourself"
With one simple beat of it's wings, Lugia and the other legendary birds disappeared from sight. It seemed Ash had more question then when he first started, but he now knew his purpose in life.
***
Misty and Brock slowly opened the door and peeked their heads around the corner. Misty quickly noticed that Ash was sprawled across the bed fast asleep. His legs and arms fidgeted, telling Misty that he was dreaming. She was happy that he was finally resting but it couldn't have been at a worse time. Professor Oak had just arrived at the pokemon center after riding on the Goldenrod Express bullet train. It had only taken 6 hours for the Professor to get there, it took the kids 3 weeks. Misty was startled when she felt Prof. Oak's hand on her shoulder.
"Let's wake him up."
Misty protested. "This is the first he has slept in 36 hours, give him a break."
"I don't have much time to spend here, I must talk to him now."
Luckily for Prof. Oak, Ash woke up all by himself. He took a few seconds to determine where he was and then jumped of the bed and ran to the dresser. Ash sighed after realizing that the pokeballs were still there. After rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he noticed Brock, Misty and Prof. Oak of all people standing in front of him. "….hey……um….what is the Professor doing here?"
Before he could even get an answer to his own question, Ash bolted out of the room carrying his jacket and his pokeballs. He stumbled down the hall as he tried to make his legs wake up as well. But with his severe lagging, Misty, Brock and the Prof, were all able to catch up to him.
Misty grabbed his wrist. "Where do you think your going?!"
Ash squinted at Misty, his eyes hadn't even the chance to adjust to the light. "I have to get to the beach!"
"WHY!" Misty screamed.
Ash finished putting on his jacket. "Listen, I can't really explain it right now….but something amazing is happening to me….right now….since the very day I was born….i have something I need to do…you guys can come to, perhaps you will get your answers, just as I did!"
With that Ash whistled for Pikachu and ran out of the pokemon center. Brock, Misty and Samuel stood in the foyer trying to contemplate what Ash had said. Misty crossed her arms in frustration. "I'm not going after him……..what about you guys?"
She plummeted to the floor when she saw Brock and Professor Oak sprinting towards the door. Misty scrambled to her feet and grabbed Togepi, and began chasing after all three of them.
Outside Ash was running around in a panicked state. Trying to find the closet beach or harbor to let lose his three legendary birds in hopes of summoning the forth piece of the puzzle. That is, if he can find the beach.
He soon discovered that he was running in massive circle as he ran into Professor Oak and nearly toppling Brock into a ditch. After a few obscenities were exchanged and Misty finally caught up, Brock took out his map much to her chagrin. Knowing full well that Brock would get them more lost. But luckily for him, Brock was having a good day when it came to reading maps. It wasn't soon after they began seeing tourism signs pointed them to the nearest water source. As they ran down the near empty streets they noticed that the roads were still clattered with garbage from the storm of the previous night. It seems that the town's people were busy in their homes cleaning the messes there, as the streets were completely void of people.
There was a torrent of thoughts going through Ash's head right now. He was worried that this wouldn't work and he would fail in what ever mission that was being put out in front of him.
The smell of salt filled their lungs as they ran around the corner and entered the harbor. Luckily the beach was completely empty since there was so much seaweed and driftwood that had washed up.
They stopped at the edge of the water and caught their breath. Misty, Brock and Professor Oak all wanted to ask so many questions, but Ash was sick and tired of being asked questions, he had been asking them himself for the past weeks. With one fluid movement he lobbed all three pokeballs into the air. And in a brilliant flash of light for the first time after Shimoutee, all three birds where together in the open air. They looked absolutely magnificent. Professor Oak couldn't help but let out a few tears from seeing the legendary birds.
Articuno, Moltres and Zapdos flew around the beach feeling the cool breeze flow threw their wings. They all descended gracefully towards the ebbing waters and stood proudly in front of their master. Ash smiled and walked up to them, he ruffled their chest feathers and spoke softy to them. Misty, Brock and Professor Oak all marveled at their beauty, even though Misty had been at Shimoutee and at the capturing of both Moltres and Zapdos, but every time she saw them Misty had to remind her self that this wasn't a dream.
Suddenly the birds slowly circled around Ash and began to gently flap their wings kicking up a lot of sand in the process. Then much to everyone's amazement the three legendary birds and Ash standing dead still in the middle began to glow an eerie blue. A large gust of wind seemed to appear on were Ash was standing. Pikachu ran out of the circle and rolled onto the sand, having been almost blown away by the force of whatever was coming from Ash. His close began to ruffle, even blowing of his hat, but Ash didn't move from his spot. The birds all closed their eyes and touched wing tips completing the circle.
Misty huddled next to Brock and tried to cover her eyes from the sand. "What's going on!!"
Brock had no trouble keeping the sand out of his eyes. "I have no idea!"
Then three of them continued to watch in awe as Ash slowly rose off the ground and begin to hover in mid-air.
The Professor took out a small video camera and tried to focus on the anomaly unfolding in front of him. "this is amazing! I have never felt so much power!" Oak felt his camera begin to tremble and then explode in a million fragments. "WAA! My video! Now no one will believe me!"
To their extreme astonishment the blue aura began to swell and grow as a beam of light began to reach toward the sky. Ash clenched his fist as a massive energy burst hit him. Small electrical bolts jumped from his skin.
The two awestruck trainers and Professor gasped as they watched a large waterspout tornado explode form the calm waters of Violet City. The churning pillar of water snaked its way towards the shore. And Misty for the first time heard a familiar sound. The sound was unmistakable; it filled the air and echoed in her mind, it was Lugia's song.
The sun shone of the water droplets on Lugia's skin as he finally entered into view. The waterspout fell back into the ocean leaving behind a cloud of mist.
Misty looked to see that Ash had stopped glowing and had both feet planted firmly on the ground. She diverted her attention back to Lugia who had flown over and began speaking, only it was telepathic.
"So Ash, you have felt the energy that flows through us all…it is a great power that has been given to you by the gods themselves. Every time you gather a Legendary Pokemon together you will become more powerful and harness more energy. Over great time you will learn how to use it, but for know experiencing it for the first time is all you need."
Ash breathed heavily after reliving in his mind what just happened to him. "…I….could feel….." Ash thought a moment to find the correct word to express what he was feeling.
"………………everything……the trees, the ocean, the people….they were all inside me……"
Lugia nodded. "The question still remains….will you be ready? Will you take you place in history…will you accept your role as the Chosen One?"
Ash looked over to Brock who was holding Pikachu, he had a very confused look on his face. Professor Oak was grinning madly, being the first pokemon researcher to experience such an event and having someone dear to him involved. His gaze turned to Misty. It wasn't her expression that worried Ash, she covered up her true feelings. But Ash could see it, deep within her eyes, for they could not lie. She was scared. And he couldn't blame her. He was to, but what was the right thing to do? Ash could easily back down, and return to his previous life. No….that was impossible now, he couldn't run from past, or his future. Ash slowly looked back up to Lugia and the three legendary birds of fire, ice and lightning.
"…….Lugia……."
Everyone watched as he reached behind his jacket, and pulled out a pokeball.
"……………your mine."
TO BE CONTINUED…..
Authors Notes: Thank you for joining me for this very special occasion. Reaching Part 10 of this 25 part series has been a HUGE milestone for me. When I first wrote Part 1 the Ultimate struggle, I had no intention of continuing it. But then the reviews began to slowly come in, and after I realized that people really like my story I began writing part 2, and then part 3 and before I knew it this epic began to unfold inside my head, and I desperately needed to put it on paper. As this story progressed so did my writing ability, and this has helped me in all of my English classes. I went from getting low 60's to low 80's and it's all because of FF.net and a little show called pokemon. I am a huge fan of anime, but I only seem to write pokemon fics. I think because I really like the characters and the many things you can write about in the pokemon world. I am having so much fun writing this and I would like to thank all those readers that took time not only to review but to e-mail me and see when a next installment would be out. Knowing that people read and love my work has kept me going. I know that the second I finish writing this fic I'm gonna cry my eyes out. But that won't happen for another 15 parts… I may cut that down to 10 parts. Thank you for reading and please review, I love to hear from everyone!
All the best luck in 2002.
Neongene
