AN: Sorry for not posting last week. I don't really have any excuses other than the fact that Splatoon 3 basically took over my life. And I also needed to grind to unlock Mew in Pokémon Unite
Zippher-B.R.I.C.K69: I'm not sure if your comment was genuine or sarcastic. But judging by the fact that you're following the story I'll asume it was genuine so glad to write something that appeal to you I guess. I always liked darker Pokémon stories, not creepypasta or anything that edgy. But stories that tried to make a world filled with overpowered monsters a bit more realistic and not the perfect utopia portrayed in the games and anime.
''Run!''
As soon as the word left Lillie's mouth, Ash ran like a bolt of lightning. He did not survive this long by being slow on the uptake. Behind him he could hear the sound of several dozens glasses breaking into pieces. He did not waste time to look back to see what had caused the sound, he only ran with Lillie in tow.
They soon found the exit of the hideout and slammed the door behind themselves. ''You idiot! Why did you press the button that activated the emergency release sequence?!'' Lillie yelled angrily.
''I throught the red button would shut down the terminal!'' Ash replied defensively.
''Well clearly, it didn't!'' She replied angrily. Their argument was interrupted by the sound of explosion. A few meters away from them they saw the wall crumbling to gravel. A bipedal feline creature with a a giant red and yellow mane, with muscles that would put many heavy weight lifters to shame stood there with a still burning fist.
Ash recalled seeing a Pokémon that looked vaguely similar to this in a picture book once. A Pyroar if he remembered the name correcly. But the creature he remembered wasn't supposed to be bipedal and it was certainly not supposed to be this buff! ''Crap! let's go we can't stay here!'' More than happy to follow her instruction Ash began to sprint once again as fast as his legs could carry him.
''Crap, crap, crap! I knew I should have never have come here!'' He yelled over the wind, in the distance they could hear the sound of other parts of the wall breaking down as more and more creatures of all shape and size came pouring out of the abandoned building.
The bipedal Pyroar growled in annoyance as it's ears started twitching. It glared toward the radio tower on top of the mayor's office and created a huge fireball that it threw at it. The fireball travelled the whole distance to the radio tower and blew it up to piece.
The fireball and the destruction of the radio tower had been quickly noticed by the Knights of Humanity who quickly rushed toward where the Fireball had come from. They were in for a surprise when they arrived at the scene and saw the horde of weird humanoid Pokémon filling the entire street. Many of them began to panic and were about to flee away. But just before they could descend into chaos an authoritative voice yelled loudly for everyone to hear.
''Men take battle formation! All of you have signed up to eradicate these demons off the face of the Earth! Now is the perfect chance to show the world what you are made of! We will protect this town and ensure the survival of humanity!''
''The Dragons shall fall so that humanity may rise!'' All the men and woman in armor yelled proudly before charging into the fray their armor lighting up with etheral energy. The leader of the group took a stand in front of everyone and shot a large fireball toward the aproaching horde of Pokémon. Many of the creature caught fire and died in a matter of seconds. The other knights moral rose at the display of power of their leader and began to attack the Pokémon with renewed vigor. A barrage of lightning, water, ice, wind and other elements were sent toward the oncoming horde sending them to their doom.
But even with the effort of the knights many creatures managed to rescape into town. One in particular was dead set on following a certain fleeing duo. ''Is he still following us?!'' Ash asked in panic.
Lillie took a small peak behind herself and saw the same feline creature running at them at high speed. ''Yes!'' She replied before gaining a boost of speed. Their chase eventually led them to the most busy district of the town. The passerby looked at them weirdly as they saw them sprinting like mad people. But all of them scattered in panic when they saw the flaming monster following closely behind them.
The Pokémon tried to throw fireballs at the two of them. They managed to narrowly dodged them. Unfortunately the fast food restaurant was caught in the crossfire. one of the wall had collapse at the impact and the rooftop caught fire. ''Well I guess I can really say goodbye to my free meals... Not that they were good.'' Ash said under his breath.
Eventually they managed to leave the town behind. They tried to lose the Fire Pokémon into the lush forest surrounding the settlement. Unfortunately in their haste they failed to notice a crevice in front of them and both of them screamed as they fell down the hole. They landed on the ground with a loud thud and both of them groaned in pain.
They became silent however when they began to hear the sound of footsteps. Ash and Lillie tried to stay as silent as possible as the giant hulking feline was looking everywhere around the forest for them. The weird Pokémon growled menacingly as it sniffed around trying to find trace of Ash and Lillie. Eventually it grew bored and left the two teenagers alone.
After making sure it was gone for good Ash sighed in relief. ''Man, I hate Pokémon the world would be such a better place without them.'' As soon as he finished saying those word he was bombarded by a series of angry squeals coming from Lillie's pouch. The girl chuckled and turned toward him with a smirk.
''I think you offended him, you should say sorry.'' She said before presenting the miniature nebula to Ash.
He grimaced as he looked down at the creature. ''Keep that thing away from me! It might look innocent now but it could kill us in a matter of seconds!'' He said while backing away from her. Lillie rolled her eyes, but she nonetheless put Nebby back in her pouch.
They managed to get out of the crevice with surprising ease and once they brushed away the dirt on their clothes they looked back at each other awkwardly not really knowing what to say. Ash was the first to break the silence. ''Well then, I guess this is goodbye you got your...friend.'' He stated with much distaste. ''And I got something really valuable in return.'' He said while gesturing at his backpack containing the Draconid Gems. ''See ya, I doubt we'll see each other again but if we do I guess I wouldn't mind talking once again, that is if you keep that thing away from me.''
But before he could leave he heard the sound of a twig breaking followed by rapids footsteps coming their way. much to their horror they saw that the feline creature had come back and he looked even more angry than before.
''Crap, run!'' He yelled to Lillie. But before he could even begin to move the creature threw a fireball in his direction. Ash saw his entire life flashing before his eyes as he saw the huge orb of fire approaching him. But something he never thought would happened occured in front of him. A bush of roses sprung up from the ground as if by magic. The fireball hit the bush and instantly burned it to ashes but it was enough to stopped the fire in it's track.
Ash then heard a cry coming up from further away and a small being ran in front of him. It looked like a small pink baby deer. But Ash instantly knew it was not really a deer. Normal deers did not have flowers growing on their heads, they definitely did not had a coat that looked like they were made of pink grass either.
''A-are you protecting me?'' He asked in shocked voice, much to his surprise the Pokémon responded with a nod of it's head. ''But why? Pokémon and humans are enemies!''
''That's not true!'' The voice of Lillie shouted behind him. ''You're the one that see them as nothing but monsters!'' She exclaimed in a bitter tone.
Ash looked at her with an angry look. ''How can you say they're not our enemies?! They destroyed everything we had! They killed everyone we loved!'' He shouted back.
Lillie shook her head and crossed her arms. ''You're blaming all of the Pokémon, but the only real enemies are the Dragons. You should turn your anger toward them, without them in the way I'm sure we could find a way to live with the Pokémon in peace.''
Ash clenched his fist and his eyes narrowed. ''The Dragons...'' He still could vividly remember the day he lost everything at the hands of Kyurem, The Winter Dragon. Everyday he dreamed of killing that monster. But every time he would do a reality check and realise there's nothing he could do against such a being. But could Lillie be right? Could things return to normal without the Dragons? He used to want all Pokémon dead but it seemed more and more unrealistic with each passing days. While killing the Dragons was also pretty far-fetched, it was still a bit more realistic than killing the billions of creatures that had invaded their world and replaced the entire ecosystem of their planet in ten short years.
But now was not the time to daydream about such an unrealistic goal. Right now he should focus on surviving against the Pokémon that was attacking them right now. The flamming beast came rushing toward them snarling at him. But before he could reach him the deer-like creature stepped in front of it and trapped the fire creature into a massive vine that came sprouting out of the ground.
Unfortunately the Fire Elestia quickly burned off the vine and turned angrily toward the young Pokémon protecting the boy. The smaller Pokémon wasn't quick enough to dodge the oncoming kick from the large feline. She was sent flying in the air before impacting the trunk of the tree splintering some of the wood in the process.
The poor Pokémon cried out in pain and fell down on the ground. While watching the flaming monster approaching his defenseless protector Ash did something he never thought he would ever do. He decided to help a Pokémon. Ash picked up a rock from the ground and proceeded to throw it with all his strenght toward the freak of nature.
The rock impacted unto the massive Pyroar. But it didn't do much more than a scratch on his head. However it was enough to make him change of target. Ash instantly realised his mistake as a flaming bipedal lion twice his size came running straight at him. He knew there was no point to run the creature was too quick. Ash closed his eyes hoping for a quick death. But the killing blow never came.
Opening his eyes, Ash noticed that the Pyroar was enveloped into a dark blue aura. It began to trash into the air trying to dislodge itself from the ethereal force, but to no avail. Ash was confused at what was happening but could only watch as the scene unfolded. The feline was then brutally slammed onto the ground repeatedly until it stopped struglling and went limp. Finally the aura dissapeared and returned to it's owner. It's owner which happened to be the same girl he had spent the entire day with.
Ash was shocked to say the least. ''W-what the heck was that?! Are you some sort of witch or something?!''
But before she could respond Lillie feel down on her knee with a dazed look in her eyes. He instantly ran up to her side, concern evident in his eyes.
Lillie shook her head and tried to smile reassuringly toward him. ''Don't worry about me, I'm still not used to using this. So that took a lot out of me.''
''What was that?'' He asked really wanting to know how a human could do that.
Lillie shook her head and pointed in the direction of the deer-like Elestia. ''I'll tell you another time for now you have more pressing matter to attend to. The Pokémon that saved you... I can feel that she's really in a bad shape. If you don't do anything she will most likely die here. I can feel her life force fading away.''
Ash looked concerned at that. ''What do you want me to do? I'm not a doctor or anything like that.'' He said with a frown plastered on his face.
Lillie shook her head and pointed toward the boy's backpack. ''Your Draconid Gems, it has the power to heal almost any injuries a Pokémon substained. if you use one of them you will save her life.''
Ash's eyes widened and he back away with a panicked expression. ''What?! Use a Draconid Gem?! But...if I do that I would become a Trainer! There's no coming back from that!''
Lillie glared at him and then she looked back toward the faintly breathing Elestia. ''Would you prefer letting the one that risked her life for you die here like this? Is that how you treat the people who are ready to risk their life for you?'' She asked in judgemental tone.
For a second Ash thought back on that day ten years ago when his mom sacrificed herself so he could live. Then he remembered the Pokémon when she had jump in front of him to confront the feline monster. He realised that at that moment the Pokémon had the exact same determined look in her eyes that he saw in his mother.
Ash sighed in defeat, he never thought something like this would happen. But here he was about to throw everything away for a creature he didn't even know. Trainers were one of the most hated type of people in the New World, many people saw them as traitors of mankind that decided to side with the invaders rather than the rest of humanity. It also didn't help that it was rumored that many trainers had romantic relationships with their Pokémon, so he also had that stigma to deal with too. If words spreaded around that he had become a Trainer he would become an outcast in more than half of the settlements in the country. But as he approached the deer-like creature she faintly opened her eyes and for a moment Ash could almost see her eyes begging for mercy.
Gritting his teeth he retrieved the small wooden box and opened it. Taking a deep breath he took the green gem and gently press it on the forehead of the Pokémon. And then everything turned white around him.
When he regained his senses Ash looked around and looked in awe and confusion at the scene before him. He was in another forest but this forest was vastly different than the one he had just left. The grass was a gorgeous but very strange blue shade, the night sky above him twinkled with many stars he had never seen before. The sky was illuminated by three moons of three different sizes and the sky itself held a purple color that made it seem much more bright than a night sky should be.
All around him he could hear the sound of nature, but it was not a wildlife that he was used to. The sound the insects of the forest made were completely alien to him, but still somehow felt recomforting and peaceful. The trees if you could even call it that were made out of a strange sponge-like texture and the white leaves of the trees almost reminded him of snow.
But before he could observe more of this strange new place a familiar creature slowly walked toward him, it was the same Pokémon that had saved him earlier. Ash was relieved at seeing her. ''You're okay! I'm glad, I'm still not sure if I trust Pokémon after everything that happened. But you risked your life for me and for that I'm extremely grateful.''
''Thank you... Ash is it?'' He heard a small voice say in his head.
''Who said that?!'' He shouted while looking all around him.
''Down there.'' The female voice said to him.
Ash looked down at the small deer in front of him in shock. ''Y-you can talk?!'' He shouted at her.
The flowered Pokémon tilted her head curiously. ''We always talk, it's just that humans don't understand the same language as us. But this place is special, it allow us to understand each other despite our difference in species. But once you leave you will lose the ability to understand me.'' She said in response.
''So this is the power of a Draconid Gem... But what is this forest? I never saw something like this!'' Ash said while looking around the strange forest once again.
''This place is a replica of my home, from before the Legendaries dragged us all into your world.'' She said with an underlying sadness in her tone.
Hearing this Ash looked at the forest in a new light. ''So this is what your home was like huh? So I'm basically standing in an alien world right now. No wonder so many people are ready to pay a small fortune for these gems!'' He said with child-like excitement.
But then he tought about the Pokémon words. Legendaries? Is that her way of saying Dragons? Well he couldn't blame them for giving these creatures such a title. As much as he hated the Dragons their power was truly unfathomable.
The Deerling closed her eyes and let out a breath before speaking. ''I would show you around but I'm still tired after that fight. Now to seal the pact you have to name me, once it is done you will become my new mate.'' She opened her eyes as she finished talking.
Ash looked at her in shock and sputtered in shock. ''N-new mate?! W-wait I didn't agree to anything like that!''
''Isn't that why humans catch Pokémon? I tought it was some sort of mating ritual to determine which female is worthy of bearing your fawns.'' The small Pokémon replied with a clear confused look. ''Oh... Is it because you don't find me beautiful? I'm sorry I forced your hands by saving your life like that.''
Ash spluttered once again and his face turned red in embarassment. ''N-no you're really pretty, for a deer anyway. But I'm not interest in any other species than humans! I just caught you because otherwise you would have died!''
The Elestia looked crestfallen at his words. ''Oh, so you're really not interested in being my mate. I tought I had finally found someone that could give me eggs of my own, this is so dissapointing.''
The poor creature sounded so sad Ash felt obligated to recomfort it. ''L-look, I might not be interested in being your mate. But Trainers and their Pokémon are supposed to be partners and help each other out of tough situations. So instead of mates how about we become friends instead?''
The deer-like creature seemed deep in thought. ''I guess if that's what you want I'm okay with it, but I really don't see why you can't also be my mate, I tought males were supposed hump any wet and slippery holes they could find. Maybe you humans are just too weird for Pokémon to understand.'' Ash had nothing to say to that, he really did not wanted to know about the mating habits of Pokémon. ''So um... I know you don't want to be my mate and everything but do you still want to name me?''
He scratched his chin form a few seconds. ''Well... How about Sandy? Mom always said that was the name she would have given me if I had been born as a girl.''
The grass Pokémon tilted her head and hummed gently before nodding rapidly. ''I like it, Sandy! From now on I will protect you until my last breath, my precious mate!''
''I told you I don't want to be your mate!'' He shouted indignantly and with a bit of red appearing on his face.
''Umm, my precious...friend?'' Sandy asked in an unsure tone.
He sighed and shook his head in exasperation. ''I guess that's a start.'' But before they could continue their conversation the world lit up around Ash until he could see nothing else but the color white surrounding him...
Once the light disappeared he was back in the forest back on Earth. He was still holding the Draconid Gem in his hand. He looked behind himself and saw that Lillie was now back on her feet but she still looked tired. ''Have I been gone for a long time?''
The girl shook her head. ''You've been staring blankly at the gem for about five seconds before you returned to your senses.''
Ash looked down at the Draconid Gem in confusion. ''I'm sure I was in there for much longer than that.'' In the corner of his eyes Ash noticed that Lillie was smugly smirking at him. ''What are you smilling about?'' He asked with narrowed eyes.
''You said you hated Pokémon but as soon as one of them helped you, you completely changed your attitude.'' She said in a smug voice.
Ash scoffed at her. ''Don't think I love those monsters just because of this. Most Pokémon are still bloodthirsty demons. I only made an exception for this one so I wouldn't owe her anything, that's all.'' With that Ash left with a huff.
Lillie looked down as she heard a soft huffing noise coming from her pouch. ''Don't worry Nebby, one step at a time, I'm sure he's gonna warm up to Pokémon eventually. Now that he's a Trainer he's going to see them for what they really are and not what he think they are.'' She was responded by a soft cry of affirmation. Lillie looked down on the still unconscious form of the bipedal Pyroar who had attacked them earlier. ''I guess we should go too before he decide to wake up.'' She was met with a squeal for her suggestion. The blonde girl decided to follow the retreating form of the raven haired boy.
She could have decided to leave him right there. After all she got everything she needed from him. But there was something about him that intrigued her. There had been a certain kindness in his eyes when he had looked at the injured Pokémon on the ground. Not many people in this world could still feel empathy for others, especially for non-humans.
But he was misguided, he believed every Pokémon was the enemies when only a few of them were the problem. She wanted to make sure he knew who to fight against because otherwise she felt like this kindness she had briefly saw in him would completely vanish under his hardening heart.
When they arrived back in town Ash winced as he saw the damage the Pokémon that escaped the hideout had done. Many houses had crumbled or caught fire and now people were running around trying to limit the damages done to the town.
Ash turned to glare toward Lillie. ''You still think Pokémon are not evil after seeing this? These people have done nothing to deserve this and these monsters destroyed their homes without a single thought.''
Lillie glared back at him. ''This is all your fault you know, you're the one that released all of them from their sleep. You should never carelessly press a button if you don't know what it does, especially in a CGO hideout!''
''So you agree that the Pokémon are evil.'' Ash said with a smug expression.
Lillie looked at him with a irritated expression. ''They're not evil! Look I won't say Pokémon can't do bad things, because that would be a lie.''
''Damn right.'' Ash replied while crossing his arms.
The girl rolled her eyes at him before continuing. ''But that doesn't mean they're evil. Look at it this way, wolves used to be one of the worst enemies of humanity a long time ago. But some early humans decided to use their help while hunting. That alliance ended up creating dogs which became humanity greatest allies. I believe the same thing could happen with the Pokémon if we just gave them a chance.''
''I would prefer to see all of them dead.'' Ash replied harshly making the girl recoiled slightly and a small squeal of fear emerged from Lillie's pouch.
''You're impossible! Fine let's assume you kill all the Pokémon by some miracle. Then what? By this point they have replaced the vast majority of Earth's ecosystem. The only remaining animals in the world still exist only because of humans efforts from small farms and private reserves. This new ecosystem will crumble if you commit mass genocide on all the Pokémon and then humanity will go with them.''
Ash didn't know how to reply to that so instead he snorted and walked away. Lillie massaged her temples in frustration but decided to follow him before he did something reckless. As they walked throught town they saw a group of kids with torned up clothes taking advantage of the crisis to enter houses and loot them of all their food.
Lillie was about to step in and give them the scolding ot their life. But she was quickly stopped by Ash. ''Look at these houses this is the rich part of town.'' The blonde girl looked around and saw that he was right. The houses here were in much better conditions than most building she had seen since the Invasion. The lawn was trimmed to perfection and the grass was a vibrant green and she could see that some houses even had a small garden with flowers and vegetables. The walls of the houses didn't have any dirt or grime on them. Some houses had fences to keep out the riff raff from their property and she even saw one house that had a door with a golden doorknob on it. All in all these houses reminded her of what houses used to look like, before the Invasion.
''The people in these houses can afford to lose some food, it will barely make a dent in their savings. These kids however won't survive for long if you stop them right now.'' Lillie had a conflicted expression on her face at that revelation, reluctantly she decided to let them go.
''So where are you going exactly? I though you were about to leave this town before you decided to help me.'' She said with an raised eyebrow.
Just as Ash was about to respond a loud shrill scream echoed throught the town. Without thinking both of them went running toward the commotion. When they arrived they saw that the old lady from the local restaurant was being pursued by a creature unlike anything Ash ever saw. It took the shape of a giant white moth, it almost looked like it wasn't made of flesh and blood but instead it's fur almost looked like of ice and snow. Each flap of it's wings spreaded a thin layer of snow everywhere it went.
To someone else the creature might have seem harmless but Ash knew that Pokémon could be a lot stronger than they look. He hesitated on what to do. On one hand the old witch had gave him almost rotten food earlier, but she was also one of the only people that had bothered feeding him. With a resigned sighed he took the green Draconid Gem in his hand and pointed it toward the Frosmoth. He looked down at the gem in confusion when nothing happened. ''Umm how am I supposed to summon her?'' He asked Lillie with a sheepish expression.
Lillie facepalmed and looked at him with a small amount of disapointment for his lack of knowledge. ''It's simple all you have to do is call out the name of your Pokémon and she will come out. But are you sure you should summon her right now? She might not be completely healed yet.'' She said with concern clear in her voice.
''I'm sure it's going to be okay, that Pokémon don't look too strong and it's not like I have any other option. Unless you want to use those freaky powers from earlier.'' He said with a raised eyebrow.
At that Lillie looked down and nervously fiddled with her hands. Taking that as a no Ash pointed the gem toward the Frosmoth and called out his new friend's name.
''Come out Sandy!'' As soon as the words left his mouth a green beam of energy emerged from the gem and took up the form of the familiar fawn. ''Alright Sandy stop that Pokémon from attacking the old lady!'' Sandy responded with a cry before charging toward the frozen moth.
When she came close to the to the insect she stomped on the ground and three vines emerged from the dirt and grabbed the attacking bug. ''Alright now slam it to the ground!'' Sandy did as ordered and slammed the massive moth on the ground with a loud crash. Even thought the Pokémon almost looked like it was made of ice and snow the impact barely made a dent on it's body. But at least it was still dazed from the hit. ''Again!'' He yelled, once again the small insect was slammed on the ground and this time it fell unconscious. Ash was about to order Sandy to finish it off but Lillie stopped him.
''Stop! You don't need to kill it, once we leave it in the wild it will understand that humans settlements are off limits after this.'' Ash sighed in annoyance, he was tempted to not listen to her and kill the damn monster anyway. But for some reasons he didn't want to disappoint Lillie and he didn't really knew why.
''Fine but if it does come back I won't stop next time.'' Ash ordered Sandy to release the Frosmoth and she did without complaint. After she was done Ash could see that the fawn was panting heavily and she had trouble standing on one of her legs.
''Return Sandy! I'm sorry I had to call you out so soon after your last battle.'' The grass type Pokémon was called back in her gem and he smiled at it for a well done job. But his smile turned into a frown once he saw Lillie smugly smilling at him. ''What?'' He asked with narrowed eyes.
''You're arleady head over heel for your Pokémon, admit it. Even you couldn't resist their charm for long.''
Ash snorted at that. ''You're imagining things.''
Lillie crossed her arms, her smirk still in place. ''I don't think I am.'' She said to him.
Before he could reply they heard two pairs of loud metallic footsteps coming toward them. Without them noticing the old lady had ran away as soon as he had sent Sandy to battle the bug Pokémon and now she was pointing at them with an angry scowl. ''It's him! He's a damn Trainer! I saw him use a Pokémon!'' The two knights behind her instantly lifted their arms toward the Ash and the palm of their hands glowed with elemental energy.
''Crap! I knew I shouldn't have trusted that old witch!'' Without hesitation Ash started to run just in time to dodge a bolt of lightning and a blast of wind that was sent toward him. He quickly hid behind a wall and saw that Lillie was beside him. ''Why are you here?! It's me they're after!''
''You won't get rid of me that easily. Beside I don't really have anywhere else to go.'' Before they could continue their argument another bolt of lightning came and destroyed the wall they were hiding behind.
''We shouldn't stay here come on!'' Ash exclaimed. Both of them start running once again expertly dodging everything the knights could dish at them. They managed to lose them by going in the Main Street. The road was filled with rubbles and the dead bodies of Pokémon that were killed by the knights earlier that day, they had to jump over many of the corpses as they ran away from their attackers.
Lillie seemed distraught at the sight of so many dead creatures but had no time to mourn them as they ran for their lives.
Fortunately for them the knights could not follow them with their big clunky armors and they managed to run back into the forest. They stopped once they found a small cave they could hide into. ''Oh crap now the entire world will know I'm a Trainers. They're probably gonna make wanted posters with my face on it. I should have never saved that Pokémon.'' He muttered bitterly under his breath.
''You don't mean that and I know it.'' Lillie said with a frown.
''You don't know anything about me, stop pretending that you do! I hate Pokémon they took away everything I cared about! And now they took away my only reliable source of food too! These damn things won't stop until I'm dead!'' He shouted back at her, he was breathing heavily once he was done with his tirade.
Lillie sighed and then turned her gaze toward her pouch. She retrieved the small nebula Pokémon from it and smiled at him. ''Nebby fly into the sky and warn us if you see any knights approaching our hiding spot.'' The small Pokémon let out shrill cry of affirmation before taking off into the air.
Ash sighed as he watched the Cosmog disappeared above the cloud. Lillie turned toward him with a worried expression. ''Hey are you okay? Do you know where to go after this?'' She asked him with a frown.
Ash chuckled dryly at that. ''Where do you want me to go? I'm an outcast now. I have nowhere to go. ''
Lillie rosed an eyebrow at that. ''Didn't you say you were going at Bajoon when you were mumbling to yourself? If I remember correctly from what I read they even have Trainers there.''
Ash chuckled bitterly at that. ''Bajoon? Forget it, they will kick us out as soon as they see we have Pokémon. There's only one Trainers protecting the town and they make them live outside the wall because they don't want them inside the town. Most other places threat Trainers even worse than that. Most would call the knights as soon as they saw us.'' He said in a tone of defeat.
Lillie seemed thoughtful at that, then her eyes lit up and she smiled toward Ash. ''What about the Ding Dong Community?'' She asked hopefully.
At that Ash instantly groaned. ''You want us to go meet the people who literally marry and have sex with their Pokémon? Nuh uh, I'm drawing the line here. I don't want anything to do with these people.'' He said with a deep scowl.
Lillie rolled her eyes in exasperation. ''Oh come on, what other option do you have? Beside you're a Pokémon lover yourself now.'' She said the last part with a smirk.
''No I'm not!'' He replied angrily but then he sighed and looked down on the ground. ''But you're right, I don't really have any other options left unless I become a really good Pokémon hunter and make a good income by killing Pokémon by myself. But even I know I'm nowhere near experienced enough to become a good hunter. Not only that but Sandy is way too young to kill most Pokémon right now it will take a lot of training for her to take on serious threats. Basically I really don't know enough about being a Trainer to realistically make it out there at the moment.''
''So?'' Lillie asked in anticipation.
Ash sighed and looked back at her with a resigned look. ''The Poképhiles it is. We're starting our journey to the Ding Dong Community tomorrow. For now we should rest, it should take between two to three days to make our way there.'' He said before taking out his sleeping bag from his backpack and laid on it for the night. Lillie didn't have a sleeping bag on her but she made do with a pile of leaves that she collected from outside. Ash felt kind of bad for sleeping more comfortably than her. But at the same time he didn't feel like he should deprive himself just because he was more prepared than her.
He wondered once again what was her story. She didn't look like she struggled as much as most people since the Invasion, she looked way too clean to be homeless. And yet she was acting as if she had nowhere else to go. Maybe she had lost her home only recently? It wasn't that uncommon to see small settlements being wiped out by a horde of hungry or territorial Pokémon, maybe that's what happened to her.
Fortunately the knights did not come close to their hiding spot that night. Maybe they saw him as a low threat since he only had a young unevolved Pokémon with him. But that didn't mean they should be careless, if they had the chance the knights would kill them without any hesitation.
As they drifted to sleep Ash felt hopeful which confused him. Why did he feel hopeful when he had just lost everything? But then he realised this was the first time he actually had a goal since the Invasion. For the first time he would do something more than just aimlessly wander the ruins of Orchestralia. Maybe he would end up dead before he could even reach his destination. But then again everyday he risked his life just for scraps of foods. Now he could actually be part of something bigger. Maybe not something he agreed with completely. But it was better than the life he had right now.
As the last shred of consciousness left him he thought back on his childhood when everything was still perfect. When his mother and father were still alive. He wondered what they would think of him now, after all he had done to survive...
AN: So as you can see this story will contain some Poképhilia. Ash and Lillie is the main ship of this story however both of them will also eventually develop a polyamorous relationships with some of their Pokémon. Sorry I couldn't tell you all that upfront but this site is really bad with letting us show what our story is about especially with the low word count for the synopsis.
I know I will probably lose some reader because of that, but oh well. It will not be a huge part of the story anyway and I will let you all know when a smut scene come up so you can skip it.