Chapter 9: Home Holds a Hypothesis.

ASH'S P.O.V. (Continued)

I started to come around after I had fainted from the confusion of seeing the ghost, Elizabeth, pop up in front of me and by my mom, and having Kari clung on to my arm, not wanting to let go. I pivoted my head to look at my alarm clock, since I realized that I was back in my room. It was 11:39 A.M. How long was I out? Was it all a dream? Did I really go to Resembool, or NERV HQ? What about the Aoi campus, or the elven world? It seemed impossible that I went to New York, Okinawa, or even the Feudal Era on one trip. I was shaking my head to clear up what on Earth I was thinking, that there would be no way that Prof. Oak's invention could have transported me to those areas that I had mentioned. When I was trying to get up, I couldn't. It was like some access weight was slapped on my chest to keep me in bed so that I couldn't aggrivate any injuries I might've suffered from the incident. Probably Max was sent to keep me restrained, but I decided to look under the covers to find the reason for the weight. I was in complete shock when I saw Kari, completely on top of me and unconcious. I had to think of something fast, but I didn't want to wake her, fearing that anything she suffered would be worse. I wrapped my arms around her, and rotated my body gentley until she was on the mattress, which prompted me to get out, but not before I gave her a kiss on the forehead, still feeling like what it was when I was in the church. Her pure heart was still shining brightly as the sun rayed through the room, when I exited, knowing she'll be alright when she smiled.

END P.O.V.

Ash had exited from his room, still waking up from the shock, when... "Guten Morgen, Ash." It was Asuka, who was waiting outside of Ash's room, since she and the others had arrived at a place that the only knowledge of the area is the trainer, himself.

"G-G-Guten what?" He studdered, not understanding what she said. Asuka laughed at the struggling friend of hers.

"It means 'Good Morning' in German, silly." Ash hid his face in embarassment. "Oh, cheer up, Ash. I didn't mean to offend you. Besides, how's she doing?" He knew Asuka was talking about Kari.

"She's resting." Then, Asuka saw a group picture of Ash, together with a young tanned man with spiky black hair, and a redhead with a small ponytail, sticking straight up.

"Say, Ashy, who's the redhead?"

"Oh, that's Misty, she's a gym leader at Ceruliean City. We used to get into arguements all the time over a fact that I once obliterated her bike."

"You got into fights with her?" Asuka started to laugh loudly.

"I'm serious."

No, it's something that I just realized. Remember my arguement back with third child?"

FLASHBACK TO TOKYO-3...

"I still can't believe matinence would forget to recharge the battery backups," Asuka loudly groaned.

"I've interrogated the head matinence, and found out he didn't perform the recharging of the battery packs, like he was required to," Misato reviewed. "His excuse wasn't excepted, thus, he was fired."

"Makes sense," Shinji pondered. "Without the external chords, that angel would've killed us."

"We appreciate people stating the obvious, Shinji," Asuka mocked in disgust.

"You had a chance, even without the chord."

"What was that!"

"You heard what I said, you had more time with your supply." Both Shinji and Asuka were growling at each other, when they heard Ash laughing, by Al, who was still a suit of armor.

"Ash, what's so funny?" Al asked. Ash started to calm down.

"Sorry, but those two remind me of someone I fought with," he struggled to talk with the laughter.

END FLASHBACK

"Yeah, I still do."

"I guess this is what you meant. Me and Shinji, you and Misty...it's funny, now that I know." Both Ash and Asuka chuckled at the thought. They headed downstairs where Ash saw Delia, Gary, Rin, and a young blue-haired woman, sitting down and having a conversation. Ash, immediatley, recognized the new woman, but in confusion.

"Suzie, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, hey, Ash," Suzie greeted. Gary also turned to his one-time rival.

"Hey, it seems you two had an encounter before," he said. "Ashy boy, don't tell me that the incident at my grandfather's lab gave you a concussion. I told you it was a surprise for Brock, tomorrow." That's when Suzie flashed a small ruby-colored jewelry box in front of Ash and Asuka. Then, Ash had a frightening, but intriguing thought.

"You mean, that you want to tie the knot with Brock?" Ash shrieked.

"That's right," Suzie pointed. "What, do you see anything wrong?"

"Actually, the opposite, knowing that you two are great breeders, that I know." Suzie giggled at the comment. Delia decided to cut in to the conversation.

"Son, Prof. Oak wanted to see you, regarding the keys and some of the people you brought here," she noted.

"That's where the other boys are," Gary added. When Ash nodded, he started to walk out, when...

"Mrs. Ketchum, is it possible if I travel to Oak's lab with your son?" Rin requested, wanting to get something off of her chest by talking to Ash.

"Sure, sweetie," Delia acknowledged, but was perplexed with it. Rin got up and walked out of the house with Ash. Sasami, who was fixing tea in the kitchen, heard the door open and close.

"What did Rin want with Ash?" she wondered.

"Not sure," Asuka shrugged. Ash and Rin were walking towards Prof. Oak's lab without saying a word, until they were halfway to the location. Rin stopped walking and looked down, causing Ash to stop as well, and turn to Rin, worried that something was troubling her.

"Rin, is something wrong?" he asked.

"I was born under a royal clan invloved with the magic of swords, and rivaled to the Morisaki family, clan of the fists," Rin started. "Both clans involve both of us to speak to men by using their last name, unless either they present no surname or the person is married, like I present to Shikimori. However, I've been use to knowing you so well, that back in New York, I thought about your first name, which broken the ways that I was used to, and it scared me. It could've been because I started to care about you. So, I was wanting to ask. Can I address you by your first name?" Ash was surprised to hear Rin's confession. It took him a couple seconds for him to recover with a smile.

"I see. You're concerned about whether you still wanted to talk to me and refering me by my last name because of your teachings. Is the reason your asking me this is that you...actually care that much about me?" Rin was dumbfounded with what Ash was saying and was sweating a lot.

"Well, I thought that I...uh-" Ash placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Of course you can. Just because you've been disiplined in that fashion, doesn't mean you need to live with it for the rest of your life. You are you, and no one can change that fact. Not Kazuki, not me...only you, Rin." Rin was showing happiness as she walked up and hugged Ash, showing tears of joy for the reply.

"Thank you...Ash." Ash wrapped his arm around Rin's lower ribs, to avoid having her to believe he's a lecture as well. After a few seconds they broke away from the hug, but never dropped their smile.

"C'mon, let's go." They continued their walk over to Prof. Oak's house where they saw a green dino-like creature with a leaf on it's head, watching over the fence. "Hey, Bayleef!" Bayleef looked over to see the approaching two and immediatley recognized Ash, which gave her a reason to cheer, since it hadn't seen its master ever since he left for the Hoenn league. It trampled over to and tackled Ash. He was going to steam, but then, understood its excitement. "Nice to see you, too."

"Ash, who is that?" Bayleef used its vines to help Ash back on his feet and dusted some dust off.

"This is Bayleef, a Pokemon I picked up in the Johto region. It was once a Chikorita, but it evloved when it was sensing that I was in danger." He, then, turned to his Pokemon. "Bayleef, this is my friend, Rin. Don't go and scare her off like the last time, okay?" It loaned a vine to Rin, like it wanted to shake the swordswoman's hand. Reluctant at first, Rin grabbed the vine and shook it. A little while later, both Rin and Ash entered the house, but didn't see anyone. "Anyone here?" Koga peered from the stair railing and saw the two.

"Ash, Rin, up here," he called. The two ran up to where Koga, Al, Junpei, Max, Tracy, and Prof. Oak were.

"So, what's up, guys?"

"Well, one thing, it's good to know that your okay," Max grinned. "May would've flipped if you were a goner."

"Very sympathetic, Max," Al moaned sarcastically.

"We've already explained to the professor about how the keys brought us together," Junpei said.

"Indeed," Oak started. "It was suppose to be a simple delivery over to Prof. Ivy, when something about the key triggered some sort of chain reaction. Apparently, you were the first to discover this phenomenom, since you were trapped inside."

"Of course, it still doesn't explain how one key became eight," Koga monotoned.

"I'm afraid that's true."

"And to add, why the keys had a choice in who holds them or not," Rin added.

"That seems more of a pain than carrying him and Kari back to his room," Junpei groaned. Ash was speechless with what he heard.

"What was that!" he roared.

"Easy, man, it was your mom's request," Max muttered, trying to calm the enraged trainer.

"My mom?"

"Yeah. After you passed out for some reason, probably shock, Elizabeth and I woke Junpei and Koga up. Your mom was a little quick with the explaination, but they listened through it and carried the two of you back. I have to admit, I do envy you, since these two decided to have her on top." Ash's face was so red, steam was shooting out of his nose, eyes and ears, plus, the sound spooked Rin a little.

"Anyway, I want to go looking at the spot where Ash's Bulbasaur dug up that key," Oak noted. "However, I recieved an e-mail that Prof. Ivy was going to stop by and join us." Ash was sensing some problem.

"Did she say how long she was staying?" he wondered. Oak knew why Ash had asked.

"You're worried about Brock, aren't you? Well, if it goes well, she should be leaving by later tonight or tomorrow morning." The trainer breathed a sigh of relief. Then, a knock at the door catches everyone's attention. "I bet that's her." Oak walked down the stairs and over to the door and opened it to reveal a rather young woman with long violet hair, and in a lab coat. "Velina, come on in."

"Thank you, Sam," the woman said as they walked back up to the group. Ash recognized her as well.

"Prof. Ivy, how you been?" he wondered.

"Been well, actually. Brock's recipies have made the island Pokemon a lot healthier."

"Yeah, about him, what happened between you two that has Brock in the corner when you're mentioned?"

"It's hard to believe, but my husband came back from exploring the southern tip of the Orange Islands, just as we were watching you in the finals of the Orange Cup. When Brock saw him, he thought the gig was up and left. My husband heard my side, and he took it well. In fact, he would've wanted Brock to stay and help each other out." Everyone was perplexed at what Ivy had mentioned. The room was so silent, you could almost hear Kari waking up in Ash's bed. A little while later, everyone was back to normal, or at least as normal as they can get. "So this is the key you were mentioning about."

"It was dug up by my Bulbasaur, and when Prof. Oak's invention acted weird after tossing it in, I was transported to this quest to get these keys and this team."

"If anything, Prof. Ivy, do you know anything about just this key?" Al asked. Ivy examined the key, but was clueless about it. She slammed her hand on the table and shook her head in disgrace.

"I'm sorry, but I can't find an answer to the key mystery," Ivy whimpered, giving up. Junpei, then, turned to Oak.

"Prof., I think we should look for that spot you mentioned," he requested, allowing Oak to nod.

"Okay, everyone, let's go to that spot," he ordered. Later, outside at the ranch, Junpei, Rin, Koga and Al were amazed by the sight of the Pokemon doing what friendly Pokemon would do: play around, conversate, and help with some of their attacks. In the distant, a large heard of Tauros were doing a stampeding exercise, which had Ash sweat drop a little. "Hopefully, your Tauros don't crash through the gates like last time." That's when Gatomon and blue and ivory mouse, with red spots on its back, approached the group.

"Hey, guys," Gatomon greeted.

"Hey, it seems you and Cyndaquil are getting along pretty well," Ash grinned. Cyndaquil squeaked in agreement. "By the way, where are the others?"

"Ryo-oki is over by the stables with the Ponyta and Rapidash, Pikachu's seeing some old friends it hasn't seen in a while and Kilala is resting with Snorlax." His grin turned to worried, since he knows that if Snorlax was on top of Kilala, it would be crushed. He ran over to the large sleeping Pokemon, and saw Kilala on top, which made Ash breathed another sigh of relief. Junpei and Koga were in shock, since they never saw such a docile heavyweight before.

"You mean that's a Snorlax?" Junpei shrieked.

"Yep. It's one of the largest Pokemon in the world, weighing at half a ton," Oak pointed out.

"Half...a...ton..." Kilala woke up to the shivering sounds of Junpei and jumped into Rin's arms. Then, Pikachu and Bulbasaur, along with a beetle-like Pokemon, ran up to the group.

"Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Heracross," Ash called. "What's up?" Pikachu explained that they know where the hole is and that they wanted to follow them, then they ran back from where they appeared. "Let's go." The group ran for a minute until they saw the three Pokemon by a dirt hole surrounded by four trees.

"Looks like this is the spot," Koga said.

"I'll run back to get the shovels."

"That won't be nessesary," Al grinned.

"Why's that?" Al flashed his transmutation papers out.

"Allow me." He laid the slips down to make one large transmutation circle. Ash, Rin and Junpei knew what Al was up to, but the rest had no clue about his alchemy skills.

"Guys, I believe we need to take a few steps back for this," Junpei warned, causing everyone, but Al, to take a few steps backwards to let the young blond do his work. Then, with a clap, he planted his hands on the large circle. Sparks were radiating from the circle as the newbies stared at this event with awe, when the ground started to shake. 10 seconds later, an explosion engulfed Al, making everyone worry about him. Ryo-oki also heard the explosion, and ran to where it came from. When the smoke cleared, Al reemgered unhurt, but the circle created an even larger hole. Everyone looked into the hole and found an emerald green stone tablet at the bottom, with strange markings on it.

"Looks like we may have something," Oak pondered.

"I'll get it." Junpei jumped into the hole to grab the tablet. As soon as he got it, he tried to climb out, but kept slipping down to the bottom. That's when Bayleef and Ryo-oki saw the struggling martial artist, and Bayleef loaned a vine to help him out. As soon as he exited the hole, he hugged the Pokemon and cried. "Thank you," he whimpered. After that, he calmly handed the tablet over to Oak and Ivy to examine it. Both professors were puzzled with what was trying to be read with the pictures on it.

"We'll get this examined. Ash, you and Max get the girls over."

"Yes, sir," Ash and Max said in unison. They ran off to Ash's house as the rest watch.

"Professor, can you detail what is on the tablet?" Rin asked.

"Well, it's defenitley Pokemon hyroglyphics," Oak stated. "...But, I can't make out anything until I have it analyzed." Later, when the "Key" team was gathered, as well as Delia, Gary, and Suzie, both professors had managed to run a scan on the tablet and have it displayed on the giant computer screen. However, both of them had no clue about it. That's when Asuka saw something that could help.

"Can you create a mirrored image on it?" she questioned.

"I can try. What angle do you want?"

"Horizontal." With a nod, Oak ran a mirrored copy to the side of the original. After the program was done, Oak and Ivy were astounded with the result.

"It's readible. Let me run a program to translate the tablet." When the translation was finished, a printout was made. Kari took the print and read it.

1 TO 8, 8 TO 1. THE FUTURE OF SPACE AND TIME BEHOLDS THE ITEM OF THE ROYALS WHO WILL UNCOVER THE LIGHT AGAINST THE ENTITY OF BLACK BY THE ITEMS BESTOWED ON THINE CHOSEN: THE DARKNESS THAT PLAGUES GALAXIES ON END AND THY PERSON THEMSELVES. ONLY MY TREASURES CAN GUIDE MY CHILDREN WITH THE RISE TO THE MOUNTAIN OF THE MOON.
"It's a prophecy," Ivy said. "...But, what does it mean?"

"Good question," Delia moaned. Thoughts went through the night as everyone was thinking about the first six words. Al stayed in Oak's lab, where Max was helping both professors with cleanup.

'1 to 8, 8 to 1,' Al thought. It was weighing on his mind ever since the tablet was translated. 'Even Ed wouldn't figure this out, especially with this mountain of the moon. Maybe Cheskia would know.' That's when Tracy brought out a cup of coffee, along with cream and sugar.

"Anything yet, Alphonse?" he asked.

"Nothing. I don't think Edward would figure it out." Tracy took a look at the printout, again.

"That '1 to 8, 8 to 1' thing still gets you, huh?" Al nods. "You're not alone."

"If we can find out about that, the rest should fall like dominos, thus we get to go to this place." Meanwhile, on the cliffside, Junpei and Koga were trying to make sense of the prophecy as well.

"1 to 8, 8 to 1," Junpei repeatedly muttered for five minutes. Koga was getting real annoyed by it.

"Would you cut that out? It's irritating," he groaned. Junpei stopped the muttering.

"Did you come up with anything?"

"Not with that repeated chatter of yours."

"It's something an old teacher advised me to do if I got stuck on a quiz question. Repeat the most important words in the problem until you see where to put it. Right now the first six words have me pinned to a corner." Koga thought it over for a second.

"Let me try." Then, they both started chanting the same sentence, hoping it would make sense. Asuka was perched on a rooftop watching the starry night, but kept her mind on the prophecy.

'No one said figuring out this tablet wasn't easy,' she thought to herself. 'There would be no way that Shinji or Wondergirl would get this, but not even my college skill can make any sense of this.' Then, she heard footsteps from below. After Asuka jumped down from the roof, she glanced over to her left. It was Sasami, also thinking about the prophecy. "Anything on your end?"

"No," she slowly muttered. "You?"

"Nothing."

"I hope the others have better luck." By the ranch, Ash and Rin were feeding some of the Pokemon who were still awake, but never let the prophecy slide.

"Everytime I think I've got it down, the whole prophecy falls apart, and I don't know how many angles I thought of," Ash moaned.

"If Senior Namba or Kuriko were here, they would piece this puzzle called fustraition," Rin growled.

"Too bad Bill or Kurt aren't here."

"Are they more intellegent than you?"

"Unfortunatley, yes. I've got smarts, but those and some others are in a whole higher level." After Ash's Noctowl was fed, they started to head back to the house, where Kari, Gatomon and Cyndaquil were. Kari was holding her key, and thinking of the prophecy.

"I don't know about you, but I feel as if there's a connection between the key and the tablet they found, today," she said.

"Kari, think about it," Gatomon said. "Keys don't fit into tablets, they fit in keyholes."

"I know that, but-"

"What are keys for?"

"Opening doors, treasure chest..." She stopped herself when something made sense, just as Ash and Rin walked into the house. "I think I've got it!"

"What do you mean? Did you figure it out?" That's when the other two entered the room.

"Kari, what's up?" Ash wondered.

"Have you disected the prophecy?" Rin asked.

"I think so," Kari replied. "Cyndaquil, alert the others." Cyndaquil ran downstairs to the chimney, where its back lit up, shooting flames, then, launched a flamethrower out the top. The flames were easily seen throughout the neighborhood, giving the reat of the team a reason to run back to Ash's house. After everyone else, as well as Suzie, arrived, Kari had the floor. "The main issue on everyone's mind is the first sentence, '1 to 8, 8 to 1.' Well, I believe I know what it means."

"What did you find out?" Koga questioned.

"Well, think about what a simple key is used for. It unlocks doors, chests, anything with a keyhole on it. Now the prophecy: '1 to 8, 8 to 1.'"

"As far as we know, Ash was the first of the key holders when Oak's invention suffered a malfunction, and sending him to where Elric resided," Rin reminded.

"Of course, I was the eighth," Sasami pointed out.

"But in all those times, fifth child was right there when we found the next key," Asuka said.

"Not mine," Koga corrected. Asuka lightly slapped herself in the head.

"Sorry."

"Wait a minute," Ash voiced up, causing everyone to look at him. "'1 to 8.' Are you saying that one door can fit the eight keys, and '8 to 1' being eight chosen in one team?" Everyone's jaw fell through the floor on Ash's guess, actually believing how it could make sense with the prophecy. After 20 seconds, Kari took a deep breath and resumed.

"I can't believe you had taken the words out of my mouth," Kari said in dismay.

"Hey, the way you brought it up, it only made sense that it was what I said."

"But that solves only part of the prophecy," Al mentioned. Everyone nodded as Suzie brought the printout from her pants pocket, and handed it to Kari.

"Thanks, Suzie," she greeted. She re-read the printout. "Now the other things mentioned in the prophecy relate to royalty, but nothing more than 'my children will rise to the mountain of the moon.' Ash, do you know any 'mountains of the moon?'"

"Actually, there is a mountain between Pewter and Ceruliean Cities, called Mt. Moon, habitated by the Cleffa, Clefairy and Clefable," Ash remembered.

"Are these creatures as docile as your Snorlax?" Junpei asked.

"People shy, actually. However, the whole thing about us being children to the prophecy is a real puzzler."

"How so?" Sasami wondered.

"How is it that we're royalty? I understand your positions, Rin and Sasami, but what about anyone else?"

"You have a point," Al agreed.

"Maybe," Kari started in thought. "It isn't about the physical royalty, but the judgement royalty. We might be the children the prophecy mentioned to protect the light from the darkness."

"The prophecy said both the darkness from the threat and from within all of you," Suzie said.

"While that doesn't phase me," Koga talked. "I think we need to retire for the night and discuss it when Brock gets here." Everyone agreed to Koga's advice, knowing that Ash's friend would want to be in this discussion. Everyone left, except for Ash, Kari and Rin.

"I guess we should call it a night," Rin muttered as Ash was laying down to sleep. "Kari, I will keep watch over him, tonight. You can have him tomorrow." Kari didn't want to let Ash go, but since it was for one night, she sheepishly accepted the offer, and climbed up to the top bunk and fell asleep. Rin smiled at the sleeping trainer, then, she placed her katana down, slipped her sandals off and crawled into Ash's bed, and snuggled with the trainer. Tomorrow was a big day for everyone, even the tanned young man with spiky black hair, waiting to see Ash again after his leave of absence. However, he won't be the only one.

TO BE CONTINUED...
Ash and Co. get final preparations ready for Brock as the prophecy still weighs on them, but he won't be alone. How will he react to Suzie's proposal? And how will the others react to seeing Ash's new ladies?
(A/N: Keep in mind, it's not Team Rocket, but it doesn't mean I won't leave them out.)