Galar Region, Circhester City (Before previous chapter)
Gou noticed Ash grabbing his head again as he closed his eyes in pain and wondered for the nineth time today... what was causing Ash to experience this? Was it only Ash who was feeling this? No other human they had encountered still unaffected by the infected were in the same condition as Ash
The group of infected kept on coming closer and Gou pressed his back even more against the wall. Was this how it would end for the two of them? Would they join in with the rest of the infected?
Ash couldn't handle the aching pain in his head and to Gou's shock, his friend seemed to have a faint glowing blue outline surrounding him. The infected also seemed to notice this they turned away from Gou and started moving towards the Pallet-native
What happened next, shocked Gou even more. When Ash opened his eyes, they were a glowing blue something which Gou hadn't expected. Following this, he and it seems the infected too, felt a wave of invisible energy hit them as they were thrown back into the wall hard
Although shocked as much as Gou, Ash knew now wasn't the time to freeze up and grabbed his friend as he led them out of the building and as far as possible from the infected, however not before returning there Pokemon, which were much to their relief still themselves
Unnoticed by either trainer was that an infected human had spotted them. Turning away from his current victim, he started making his way towards the unsuspecting duo, making sure to keep away from their line of view as well
Meanwhile Ash suddenly had a bad feeling. Although the headaches had become more bearable, he could still feel them. He knew something was trying to sneak up on both him and Gou. He could literally feel the hate and darkness radiating from them... and based on how the infected were like, Ash had to conclude that an infected had spotted them and was planning on surprise attacking them
'Two can play at that game' the raven-haired teen seriously said as he slowly turned his attention towards Gou, who had yet to notice their uninvited guest coming. Ash had to admit, these infected sure were smart and wondered how it was this had all happened in the first place... all he could come up with is that something in Kanto had caused this mess
The infected human still unaware that one of his victims knew about him, continued his path discreetly
Ash could finally see the infected from the corner of his eye and saw that they were human instead of Pokemon. From what Ash remembered during the first few minutes, Pokemon were generally the ones to infect others, but that didn't mean humans couldn't do the same
Just as the infected was almost close to them, a female voice was suddenly heard as both Kantonian trainers turned and saw a brunette with a messed-up appearance behind the infected human
"Glaceon, ice beam!" she shouted as a beam of ice was shot from the ice type beside her, freezing the infected human as he had been caught by surprise
Sighing in relief, the brunette returned her ice type as she calmly walked over towards the frozen infected. She could see him still alive and knew it was only a matter of time before he found a way out... she should know since she had seen it happen at least twice
"Hey! Don't just stand there, we gotta move!" she shouted as this snapped them out of their shock
"Who are you? I mean, I thought there weren't any uninfected left?" Gou asked as he followed the brunette who was leading them through various twist and turns
"Who I am shouldn't matter. However, I'm from the Sinnoh Region and a Pokemon Coordinator. I was hoping to learn about the rumors of these giant Pokemon which had been appearing in Galar... but then this all happened"
"I see, I hope you at least got to see what you wanted" Gou said, but his expression turned to disappointed when he noticed her shaking her head "Well let's hope that you will after all this is over. I'm Gou from Vermillion City and that's Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town"
"Nice to meet you both. I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you my name. I'm Saki Sasaki" she introduced with a faint smile, which Gou returned
Deciding it best to keep talk quietly, the trio made their way through the thick forest cautiously and remained on alert for any infected that could pop up
Ash was the only one not engaged in the new conversation that the duo were currently having, instead trailing behind them. He was still unable to understand what was going on what him. Nothing made sense anymore. Why was all this happening? Why was he being affected differently?
He knew subconsciously what it was about him that might be causing these reactions;
Aura
It was the only explanation he could come up with. Ash knew he could use and manipulate aura, but he had chosen not to follow up on the revelation, instead deciding to keep working towards his dream of becoming a Pokemon master
Honestly, he could have, or maybe, should have done both; kept working on his dream and figure about this whole thing with aura
Right now, he regretted not at least learning the basics or something. The first time he found out about his abilities was during the whole Pikachu getting kidnapped by Mew. He had used his aura for the first time when the Tree of Beginning was dying and hadn't used it again or even though about it until Sinnoh. That was the second time he had used his abilities and it was during a special mission to help a special Riolu who could use aura sphere.
So lost in his thoughts, Ash bumped into the girl, Saki if he recalled, who turned to face him
"Your friend told me what happened when you were corned by a group of infected. I think you know more than you let on. However, it's none of my business and as such won't pry you for information" she said as Ash looked at her emotionlessly
Deciding to leave the raven-haired teen alone, Saki turned towards Gou "Before I joined up with you both, I was in a group and despite our combined forces, everyone but me was infected. I only survived cause my best friend literally asked his Pokemon to teleport me away. No matter what, infected seem to gain the upper hand. I'm not going to allow more people to become zombies because I was too weak to help. I'm heading to Kalos and yes I know that no region is safe, but this is something that has to be done"
Gou was about to protest on the fact about splitting up, but Ash interrupted him "I agree with her Gou. I'm also thinking of going solo. There's somethings I need to figure out and I believe this is something I need to do alone"
"Does this have something to do with what happened back in Circhester City?" he asked and when Ash didn't respond, Gou knew the answer to his question "Fine... we'll split up. But I expect to see the both of you again"
Saki nodded as she took out a heal ball and walked over to Ash, grabbing his hand and placing the pink-coloured ball into his hand "I heard you were a high-ranking battler... I want you to take care of her. She's not much for contests and loves battling more. I feel she would do better with you than she ever could have with me"
Ash looked at her slightly surprised, but nonetheless nodded as he tucked the heal ball into his jacket pocket. Speaking of jacket, he would probably need to get a change of clothing seeing as his jacket was ripped up in certain places and his shorts were all messed up
Saying goodbye to one another, Ash watched as the duo left in separate directions. Deciding it best to leave while the sun is still up and the coast is clear from infected, Ash took out Dragonite's pokeball and was soon on his way towards Sinnoh
So I just realized that when I did the last chapter I had said 3 weeks later, as such I added at the top that this is before previous chapter just to clear up any misunderstanding. Also Ash finally actually uses aura! I almost mentioned Riley, but decided against it for reasons you'll soon find out. Saki Sasaki is the newest OC in the book, and we'll see if we see her again or not later on. Also the group splits up! They all go their separate ways and Ash has chosen Sinnoh as his destination. AdvanceShippers, your wait may soon be over ;)
Till next time everyone ^^