Last Time On TMOM:
Unexpected celebrity, preventive care from pickpockets, bad dancing and unleashing an ancient pokemon from an artifact.
Quote: I've found you.
Chapter Seven: Imprisoned
Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise
Running in the shadows, damn your love, damn your lies
-Fleetwood Mac
"Wait!" Ash cried out, only just rolling out of the way before the pokemon pounced upon him. The marble steps cracked on impact, splintering and tossing bits of shards in the air.
"Holy mother of—" Ash heard Roman's curse flying from his lips. But the king lurched backward rather than forwards, leaving Ash completely at the wild pokemon's mercy. The crowd became a crazed and panicked mob, screaming and dashing for the exits. Ash cursed at their retreating backs. The pokemon wasn't after them.
The fireworks continued to pop heedlessly in the background. Ash could hear the whistles and crashes as the light splashed unkindly across his assailant's menacing features. It lunged again, and Ash used the staff to block the blow. But the pokemon's strength was fierce, far superior to one 15-year-old boy. Ash was thrown off his feet and crashed back down on the dais steps. The pokemon had pinned him, the stairs cutting unkindly into Ash's back. It pressed down, forcing the hilt hard across Ash's throat, strangling him.
"Pikachu!" Ash cried out, fighting against the rod crushing his windpipe. "Pikachu, thunderbolt!"
There was no reply. Ash, with trembling arms, pushed upwards on the staff and tried to see from his downcast position where his pokemon had gone to. Upside down, Ash scanned the chaotic stampede of polished boots and brushed skirts that flitted past. But no pokemon. Not even Aipom. Not even Meowth.
The creature easily overpowered Ash's momentary fight, gravity being on its side. The bar was down again, crushing Ash's throat. Ash gagged helplessly. The world flashed blood red with an ill-timed firework.
You will not win this, Sir Aaron. You've grown soft in your complacency.
"I'm—I'm not—" Ash's hand slipped, his grip on the staff gone. In one horror-filled second, both knew it was over. The pokemon smirked and Ash, because he could do nothing else, closed his eyes.
Suddenly, something large swept overhead, knocking the fox-like creature off of Ash. The angry pokemon went sprawling out onto the ballroom floor, amidst the confusing jumble of escaping patrons. Ash rolled back over to his knees, dry-heaving, choking on the sudden rush of air. He wearily glanced back at his savior: the princess, pink-faced with her wig askew and a large, dented shield in her arms. She must have pried it from one of the suits of armor in the hall. Ceremonious in function and emblazoned with the castle's coat of arms, the shield barely held up when struck against an actual opponent.
Aileen threw out her hand, which Ash took without question. She yanked him back to his feet.
Your goons won't stop me! echoed more bodiless words. Ash couldn't help but grab his ears, the words were so loud. It was like small explosions in his mind, screamed at him with full force. I will end your treachery. I will end you.
Aileen caught Ash as he buckled, alarmed by his sudden weakness, perhaps thinking he was going to be sick. She couldn't hear it anymore. Those words were meant for Ash alone.
"It's coming back!" Ash hissed. He knew it before the pokemon had even recovered. Aileen didn't question his sixth sense. She stepped protectively in front Ash, pushing him back with her free hand. She was the very picture of absurd, with her mussed up fake hair and flashy gown. But Ash trusted her and the shield over nothing at all.
In the throng of the crowd, Ash spotted the crazed pokemon. It stood at a deceptively short height, the strange, black protruding appendages on the back of its head raised like hackles and vibrated, moving along with the pokemon's guttural hum. For the briefest of moments, Ash felt something, something he couldn't explain. It was in the shiver of the air, like a second layer he had never noticed before. And just as suddenly, it was gone.
It dissipated the second the creature shot itself towards them again. Aileen braced herself behind the shield and Ash behind her, but they both underestimated the creature. It wasn't just some brute force bent on smashing what was in its path. The pokemon was calculating, with a singular purpose that it had already screamed into Ash's head.
Instead of smashing itself uselessly against the shield, it leapt at the last second, vaulting off the shield and twisting its body through the air over both of the children's heads. Landing deftly behind them, Ash barely had time to register what had just happened before the pokemon grabbed him again.
It pulled him away from Aileen in a tight, frightening hold, its arms about his neck. Ash had no means to stop the crushing grip. He could only kick out, his heels dragging across the floor. He uselessly pulled at the offending arm as it tried to twist his neck at a cruel angle. It was too strong, too fast, too smart.
Farewell.
"Nn-" Ash only just managed to get out.
"Lucario, stop!"
This, like nothing else, stayed the beast's hand. Aileen's sudden, tear-choked shout froze the pokemon in place. The feelers on the back of its head fluttered as it blindly pointed its vulpine face in the Princess' direction.
"Your Highness?"
Aileen started. She drew back, pulling hastily on her misshapen wig. Perhaps she thought she might be able to play the part to save Ash, but it turned out she didn't need to. Much to the surprise of the few who were left to witness it, the pokemon finally opened its eyes.
It wasn't blind like Ash had thought. Its irises were an uncanny shade of red, sharp and alert. It looked at Aileen first, in her mussed up gown and tattered wig, focusing oddly on the tear streaks on her cheeks. Then, at last, it looked down at the young man held captive in its chokehold.
Lucario jerked back as if struck, releasing Ash into a messy tangle on the floor. As soon as he was free, Ash grabbed at his own throat, coughing and gratefully still breathing. Lucario tossed its head, looking first at Aileen and then back to the young man on the floor.
"Who are you?"
"Not Sir Aaron," Ash coughed, a comment far more witty and sardonic than his usual repertoire, probably only just because he had narrowly cheated death twice now. Perhaps with a less dangerous pokemon, Ash might have also given a playful smile and forgiven its momentary misunderstanding. However, Ash was a far cry from feeling anything like comfort around such a creature. Instead, Ash crawled back to the dais steps, hoping to get out of range just in case the pokemon decided to change its mind and strike again.
"What is going on? Where am I?"
"Lucario…" Aileen took a tentative step forward. "Are you truly Sir Aaron's Lucario?"
"I do not belong to that human!" The words came sharp and fast into their heads. Ash and Aileen both buckled under the force of the shout. Aileen at least had the sense not to show so much outward pain, still determined to hold a conversation.
"I'm sorry, Lucario. It's just that… we're as confused as you are. Please… where did you come from?"
Lucario's head turned in Ash's direction, where he lay against the bottom of the dais steps. Ash flinched involuntarily. The pokemon chose to ignore the reaction.
"Clearly, I was carelessly summoned from my staff by Sir Aaron." His eyes darted about the emptying ballroom, scanning the faces of the few patrons who were left, standing agape at the proceedings. "In a moment of weakness, perhaps. Where did he flee to? Tell me quickly and I will trouble you no further."
Aileen opened her mouth as if to respond, but she couldn't think of what to say. Instead, she looked helplessly at the only other witness in close proximity. Ash shared in her confusion. When Aileen turned back to Lucario she tried to, as tactfully as possible, explain the current chain of events.
"Lucario, I don't know how to say this—"
"Sir Aaron is dead." Ash was standing now, his left hand hovering discreetly over his pokebelt. He delivered the words with no hint of relish, but no pity either. Just cold and empty, so they couldn't be argued against. "He died centuries ago, protecting the kingdom from the Great War. If anyone summoned you, it was me."
Lucario's eyes narrowed. "That's not possible."
"I didn't do it on purpose," Ash snapped. "But I was holding the staff…wanna make something of it?" He pulled a pokeball off his belt threateningly. "Or do you only attack people who are unarmed?"
"Ash!" Aileen cried out. She rushed forward and grabbed Ash's raised arm before he could do anything stupid. Though Ash pulled against her, he didn't release any of his pokemon. And by Lucario's stance, the pokemon clearly hadn't taken the boy's threat seriously. He merely stared and with a voice only Ash could hear said,
You're an impetuous child. Do you make a habit of goading every monster you meet?
Ash pulled his hand free from Aileen's grip. Though he barely comprehended the advanced vernacular of the ancient pokemon, it being spoken telepathically was enough to get the meaning across. Ash smiled meanly at Lucario, "Only special ones."
Take care, boy. That might get you killed someday. Lucario focused his whole attention back on Princess Aileen, effectively cutting off any retort Ash might have been able to muster. "Only Sir Aaron can summon me from the staff. Please. I am deeply sorry for the trouble I have caused interrupting your… " Lucario glanced around him, at the scattered guest and overturned banquet tables. "...your feast. He is a traitor to the kingdom of Cameron. I humbly request your assistance in apprehending him."
Lucario bowed. And Aileen, standing helplessly before him, blinked. It took her a second or two to realize why he was bowing. She stumbled back, only just able to keep the costumed crown on the top of her fake hair.
"Oh um, Lucario… This is Cameron."
Lucario looked up in confusion. He cast his frighteningly-colored eyes out at the few slack-jawed attendants still standing around, then past them to the architecture, to the high, wide ceilings and the mighty columns supporting them. Then back around to the expansive windows that opened out into unfamiliar gardens.
"This is not Cameron."
Ash tried to angrily interrupt, assert that he had indeed been the one to summon Lucario, that Sir Aaron was dead, that this was Cameron, but Aileen cut him off before he could. She stepped forward and back into the role that she had been playing the whole night.
"I am Crown Princess Aileen, royal descendant of Queen Rin and rightful heir to the Cameron throne. And..." Her expression softened as she stared down on Lucario's troubled face. "Ash was telling you the truth, I'm afraid. You see… Sir Aaron and Lady Rin, they existed centuries ago. If… if you are the Lucario from those stories then…"
"C-centuries?"
In their moment of shared horror, Ash went to fetch the fallen staff. He snatched it back up from where it had clattered down the dais steps and jogged back over to the two. He held the staff out to Lucario, and the pokemon lurched back in alarm.
"You were inside this," Ash said. "It must have been keeping you alive all these years."
Lucario looked up and down the hated staff before resting his eyes on the young man in front of him. Once more, Ash heard words in his head that no one else could hear.
Why do you dress like him? Are you mocking me?
Ash gave the staff a single shake, rattling the dangling metal on the ends. Lucario flinched, then looked back at Ash with a frown.
"It's a costume."
Ah. Lucario straightened, seemingly placated by Ash's response. So you're the court jester… I see.
Ash's face went a bright red.
"I am not—" But before he could retaliate, Aileen was there again, taking the staff gently from Ash's hands. She was careful to place the offending object out of the pokemon's line of sight, behind the folds of her ball gown.
"Sir Aaron must have been trying to keep you from harm, Lucario," said Aileen softly. Lucario balked at the suggestion.
"No," said Lucario, a shadow passing over its face. "Not from harm. I tried to stop him. To stop him from fleeing the battle and he imprisoned me for it."
Neither Ash nor Aileen knew what to say. Lucario buckled under some ancient pain, hugging itself as if to push it back down. Even Ash, who wanted nothing to do with this miserable pokemon, felt a momentary pang of sympathy.
"If what you say is true, then I am lost." Lucario wailed. "Centuries, you said. He imprisoned me for centuries! What harm did he save me from? Life? Time? He stole everything from me!"
And with that, Lucario flew from the room. He dashed across the ballroom floor, out the open balcony and down into the night. The final cracks of fireworks sounded in his wake, but Aileen and Ash, being mere humans, were far too slow to catch him. Aileen stumbled by the doors and Ash fell against the railing, peering into the pitch darkness below.
But Lucario, the pokemon out of time, was gone.
A small explosion of light on the high dais steps was the first sign that things were going just as strangely as they always did around Ash Ketchum. James had been laughing at the time, sharing in a momentary break from dancing with Jessie, gulping down almost certainly spiked punch and pressing in with the rest of the crowd for a chance to see the fireworks.
He was lightheaded and happy. Jessie was complaining that she couldn't see, so James pulled her in close, sharing his small window between people's heads. He didn't even feel shy about it, which is how he knew the punch had to have been spiked.
Jessie made a joke of some kind; some teasing remark at his expense. But in the rush that followed, James all but forgot what was said. He only remembered that he had been laughing until that pokemon appeared. Then the bottom of his stomach dropped out.
Unlike the rest of the audience, James and Jessie were both pretty sure the sudden mysterious pokemon's appearance wasn't part of the show. Jessie reached out and blindly grabbed James' hand. It was the only way she showed that she was sharing in his sudden anxiety.
They watched only as long as was necessary. When people started to run, they were both the first to dash for the doors. Jessie caught James' arm at the doorway, roughly yanking the both of them into a small alcove just outside the grand hall. She pinned him to the wall, breathless with a crazed look in her eye.
"James! This is our chance!"
"W-what?"
"The twerp is distracted. This is the perfect time to nab a few off these trainers!"
"You can't seriously want to steal pokemon right now," Her eager smile brought a deep sigh to James' lips. "Of course you do."
She gave James' arm a vigorous shake, practically bouncing on her toes in anticipation of the criminal undertaking. "Come on, come on! We won't get a better chance than this!"
James shook her off. "No, Jessie. We've been through this."
"That was then. This is now! The twerp won't ever know!"
"It's not that." James cast a furtive look back at the ballroom they had just recently vacated. He could hear the shouts and the sounds of what seemed like fighting. That pokemon looked like it intended to attack anyone stupid enough to get near it. And if Ash had somehow had a hand in summoning it, James doubted it was your run-of-the-mill wild pokemon.
"You saw that thing too, right?"
"That blue-looking dog? Yeah, I saw it."
"It looked dangerous."
"Seeing how the twerp summoned it, I imagine it is." Jessie blinked as if a sudden thought had come to her. "You think it's one of those Chosen One things again?"
"That's exactly what I was thinking."
Jessie frowned all the vigor from before effectively drained out of her. She stepped away from the narrow alcove and cast her own wary gaze back the way they had come. "Then we need to get the hell out of Dodge."
"My thoughts exactly."
Jessie started jogging first and James rushed to keep pace. She started spitting out orders, how they were going to get their Meowth balloon out of the courtyard, where she had seen suitable supplies they could nab on their way. However, the two hadn't gotten much farther down the corridor before they realized who wasn't with them. Both Rocket members stopped and looked at each other. They were short one talking Meowth.
Aileen assembled what she could of the palace staff. While she was royalty, it meant something very different in the modern age. They had hired servants, but not guards. And the servants, the majority of them, were just for show during the festival. The rest of the year, both Aileen and her father had full command of an empty tourist attraction, left to their own intellectual pursuits and occasionally called upon to play the part in a mid-year show.
King Roman had acted instinctively in the situation, dashing off to his personal apartments where he could phone the authorities. They had few modern luxuries in the castle, all of which had to be hidden from tourists' eyes. Aileen intercepted him and his phone call, pleading with the Officer Jenny on the other line not to send the whole task force as King Roman was frantically suggesting. They compromised on a few officers who'd help in the search for the wayward pokemon. And per Aileen's request, the officers were under strict orders to be gentle while apprehending Lucario.
Ash didn't join in on the search right away; he had his own search to conduct, after all. Even after all the chaos at the dance, Pikachu still hadn't turned up. Ash wandered the labyrinthine halls until, quite by chance, he ended up at the sleeping quarters he and Pikachu shared the previous night. Ash scoured the room, even resorting to looking underneath the four-poster bed. But he came up empty-handed.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity to change, Ash discarded the hero's garb for a more modern fashion. The gloves were the first to go, aside from the hat, which had been left somewhere back on the ballroom floor. He tossed the heavy, gauntleted things onto the bed, shaking out his hands gratefully once they were off. Ash left the tunic and pants in a messy puddle at the foot of the bed. The boots were comically difficult to get off his feet while standing. Ash spent more time trying to get them off quickly when if he had just patiently sat down for a moment, he might have unlaced them faster. Once disrobed, Ash threw on a light-colored pokemon league shirt and cargo pants, exceedingly grateful for how much lighter his own century's clothing was. Ash only briefly debated on whether or not to wear a windbreaker. Ultimately, the drafty feel of his own room convinced Ash that he'd find it no more pleasant out in the hallways.
Ash restarted his search with renewed energy, but he had no more luck than he had started with. There didn't seem to be a hint of Pikachu anywhere in the castle's blighted walls.
Feeling perhaps it might be good to retrace his steps, Ash returned to the ballroom. The grandiose hall felt even larger when empty. His sneakers made far less noise on the polished floors than the heavy-heeled boots, but his footsteps were still loud enough to be unnerving.
Ash walked under an unblinking tapestry of Sir Aaron. He only stared for a second before averting his eyes. Ash was really starting to resent the legacy the hero had left in his wake. There still wasn't any answer on why the staff had reacted to Ash's touch the way it had. Aileen had tried to probe him for answers. He said he didn't have any, which was only sort of true.
There were a few sickening possibilities that dawned on him when he was forced to think about it. Years ago, on a cluster of islands far from here, Ash had made crystals shine before. They were glass orbs then and, as far as Ash knew, held no pokemon. But they had summoned something, something insanely powerful. And for that, they named him Chosen One.
Ash was hoping that this crystal had nothing to do with those. He had to because to entertain that possibility was too terrifying to even comprehend. If Ash had even the slightest inkling that this was yet another Chosen One deal, he'd be on the first bus back to Pallet. At least, he'd have to try to escape.
There was a garden on the other side of the giant windows, still open since Lucario had yet to be found. Ash could see them, the search parties waving their flashlights about the grounds and calling out Lucario's name. Ash frowned at the sight, trying hard not to resent the amount of people seeking a dangerous, unwanted pokemon when one tiny, desperately wanted pikachu was missing, too.
Ash took the stairs two at a time. He turned at the large fountain, heading away from the seekers and into the shadows of a small servant's building. The door was opened, a good sign. This place wasn't too far from the feast hall. It was feasible that two troublesome pokemon could have tumbled their way into this garden shed of sorts.
Ash wandered into the pitch darkness, fumbling about the walls for a switch. He hadn't made it far when something launched down on him from above. Ash had barely the time to cry out before he found himself in a familiar choke hold.
"Let me go!"
"Oh, it's you." Lucario released Ash, letting the human scramble away from him. Ash frantically brushed himself off, as if the pokemon's touch still held some power over him. He glared at Lucario, pulling himself back to his feet with the help of the nearby cabinetry.
"Goddammit," Ash hissed, smacking the newfound switch on the wall a bit harder than necessary and showering the two of them with artificial light. Lucario stared wide-eyed up at the low lamps across the ceiling, but Ash ignored his innocent surprise. "Is this how it's always gonna be between us? Cause let me tell you, I'm not a fan."
"You shouldn't sneak up on me."
"Right. Sure. And I'm guessing no one taught you how to not randomly attack people."
Lucario narrowed his eyes. "I admit, I was disorientated and attacked without provocation. You looked exactly like Sir Aaron." Lucario looked at him now, sizing up the young man in front of him. His gaze lingered on the faded Indigo League logo emblazoned across his chest and then at the sneakers tied to his feet. "You don't now."
Ash self-consciously folded his arms across his chest. "Yeah, well, I told you: that was a costume. I was dressed up for the festival. This," He gestured in front of himself with a sarcastic flourish. "Is what I look like normally."
"Absurd. You're dressed like a pauper." Lucario raised an eyebrow the boy's way. "Are you a pauper?"
Ash didn't want to admit that he had no idea what a pauper even was. It sounded mean though. So he carried on as if it were. "Yeah, well, fashion's kind of moved on since your time period, grandpa."
Lucario flinched. But he didn't let the stinging remark linger in his thoughts. Instead, he returned to what he had been doing before the child had interrupted, which was examining his surroundings and taking in exactly how much he had missed while he was asleep. Ash watched him, his irritation giving way to curiosity. Ash thought for sure that Lucario wouldn't stay long after being discovered. He hadn't seemed to want to stay with them all in the ballroom, after all. And yet now, he was standing, as if transfixed.
"What's wrong?" Ash asked despite himself.
"I was here. In this room, just days ago." Lucario paused to touch a pair of garden shears left on one of the cabinets, not able to make heads or tails of its odd design.
Ash came up alongside him. He eyed the tool with far less reverence before returning his attention to the pokemon in front of him. "So you don't remember… being in that crystal all this time."
"Small mercies," Lucario muttered, touching the cool plastic handle before pulling back with a start. It was quite unlike any material he had ever seen forged before. His eyes fell back upon the strange young man standing next to him. The future was still too foreign.
"Look," Ash began once he felt he had arrested the strange pokemon's attention. "What I said before. I wasn't lying. I really did… summon you somehow. But I don't know how I did it…"
Lucario shook his head. "Not possible."
"But I'm telling you the truth!"
Lucario had already turned his head, taken in by yet another object he had yet to comprehend the function of. Ash let out an exasperated sigh, running his hand through his hair. He was staring at the floor and the marks his sneakers made, rubbing out small trenches in the dust when a sudden thought came to him.
"Wait, you said you attacked me because I looked like Sir Aaron."
Lucario was staring into the spout of a plastic watering can. He only gave the smallest incline of his head as affirmation.
"How could you have seen me? Your eyes were closed… And yeah, why was that? Why were you running around blind?"
"I was blinded by a sand attack in a fight before Sir Aaron captured me," Lucario answered carelessly, flipping over the watering can so as to examine its back end more closely. "I hadn't yet recovered my vision."
"You didn't answer my question."
Lucario set the watering can down with some reluctance. After a moment's pause, where he seemed to reflect on something unpleasant, Lucario finally turned about to face Ash.
"I used wave."
"Wave?"
"Wave, aura, chi… you humans have many names for such an energy."
"Wait, wave… like that 'wave is with me' thing that everyone keeps saying?"
Lucario nodded stiffly, clearly wanting not to explain further. He hadn't known Ash very long, but he already had a feeling the boy wouldn't let him be without a full explanation.
"That's actually a thing?" Ash laughed. "I thought it was just a weird chant. I mean, well, I guess it had to come from somewhere. So it came from your time period then?"
"It didn't come from anywhere. It's always been here. It's always been everywhere."
"Uh… okay, I don't follow."
Lucario rolled his eyes. "It's a life force. A light that fills up all the space inside a person or pokemon. It makes up every living thing and each person has their own unique… for lack of a better word, look."
Ash frowned. He had taken up a small jangle of keys from the nearby cabinet hook; fiddling with them much as Lucario had been with his various assortment of garden tools. But while Lucario had been fueled by curiosity, Ash only needed to fidget. He always needed to fidget when thinking about things. Ash teased the keys around his fingers as he thought over what Lucario had just said. "Wait... if everyone has their own look then why did you think I was—"
Lucario bristled at the incessant, probing questions. It wasn't that these weren't already questions he had asked himself, but he certainly wasn't ready to come up with answers.
"I don't know. I made a mistake!" Lucario snapped. "Perhaps it has something to do with having just been released from my centuries worth of imprisonment!"
"Fine," Ash snapped, slamming down the keys on the table and pushing past the pokemon. "I have somewhere better to be anyway."
Lucario watched him go. And when the human had slipped out of sight, Lucario closed his eyes. With a soft hum, he easily slipped back into his familiar second sight. What he saw there brought Lucario immediately back to himself. He opened his eyes and sighed.
"Perfect."
Ash was very flippant when it came to his discovery of Lucario. He told the passing officer and didn't wait around for whatever came afterward. Lucario found in the Princess a far more gracious host than he had found in Ash. Both she and her father were respectful and desperate to please, reassuring the pokemon that he could find a home in the castle still.
Princess Aileen politely requested that they all reconvene in the throne room. There was much to get to the bottom of and much Lucario didn't know about the world that had moved on without him. Lucario, who swore he wasn't hiding, just seeking a temporary refuge to think, went along willing with Aileen's suggestion. Ash was another story.
Still trying to find his pokemon partner, he didn't want to relinquish the search for anything. Not even for answers to unsettling questions he still had. It took Aileen's reassurance that she would join in the search for pikachu after the meeting, along with any remaining palace staff she could spare at the late hour, to convince Ash to join them.
Ash did admit that he needed to be there too, as much as he didn't want to be. They needed to figure this thing out, whatever 'this thing' might be.
The throne room, as it was called, held two small thrones just like the raised dais in the ballroom. The narrow room was far less cavernous than the ballroom, though, with thicker, closer walls and full carpets. Behind the thrones was a giant portrait of both Sir Aaron and Queen Rin, looking out regally over the proceedings. Ash got the instant sense that the room was mostly for show. His suspicions were confirmed as King Roman sat awkwardly at the foot of his throne and Aileen opted to just stand by the armrest of her own.
When Ash entered the room, Lucario was standing in direct center. To avoid being too close to the undesirable pokemon, Ash chose to lean casually against a far column, several feet away from the group. Lucario made no comment, but the princess gave Ash a disapproving look.
King Roman was still in his royal garb, minus his heavy crown. Aileen, too, had little time to change. She had, however, removed the deceitful wig, her dirty blonde hair hanging short about her ears and thick-framed glasses back on her face. Ash appreciated the change. Princess Aileen was far more intimidating than just Aileen.
"Lucario, I know you must be exhausted." Aileen began upon Ash's entrance. "But… we must get to the bottom of what happened tonight. I hope you will indulge our curiosity."
Lucario bowed his head respectfully. "I shall do my best, your highness."
Both King and Princess looked appropriately at a loss for words. It was one thing to put on an act for the annual festival; it was quite another when the opposing party accepted it so willingly. Neither had true experience as the royalty they reenacted for their little parties.
"Um, yes well… I guess it would be best to… start with what we know. And you can correct our understanding of it." Aileen looked helplessly over to her father, who nodded encouragingly. Aileen cleared her throat and continued. "Our legends of Sir Aaron always said you had fallen in battle, though your body had never been recovered."
"As I already said, Sir Aaron imprisoned me in the staff."
"Yes, why would he do that?"
"Are there stories about the Great War? Of how Cameron was dragged into the conflict?"
Ash's attention was piqued. He couldn't help but draw closer, this being a part of his childhood bedtime stories that he could barely remember. Aileen nodded but said, "Please, enlighten us. How did it really happen?"
Lucario let his eyelids fall. His words fell like a wash over them all, intoxicating and deep in their own minds. As if their own thoughts were building up the story; if only the sorrowful tinge wasn't there to pull them back into reality.
Lucario spoke at great length of the increasing border threat, and how Queen Rin had been strongly urged to leave. Time and time again, her life was threatened. Currently with child and having no other heir to take the throne if she should perish, her safety was paramount. But the Lady was as stubborn as she was willful. Her consort, Sir Aaron, was staying. As were most of her subjects, those too old or sick to evacuate. Their kingdom was trapped between the two terrible forces, in a war they had no standing in, and yet were due to pay the ultimate price for. The Queen saw that if her kingdom should fall, it was only fitting that she should perish along with it.
"When the time had come, the forces were converging on either side of our kingdom. I, along with Sir Aaron, took up arms to protect Cameron. We had tried many times to slow the troops, to trap and trick them into changing course. But it was all for naught. Perhaps Sir Aaron saw that before I. How our efforts were useless. I was prepared to die to protect Cameron, my kingdom, my home. But he—" Lucario squeezed his eyes shut, as if afraid to open them again.
Aileen looked as if she wanted to go to him, but she held herself back, perhaps thinking the comfort would be unwelcome from a stranger.
"Our legend says," Aileen began dryly. "That Sir Aaron sacrificed himself in one final attempt to stop the fighting. Cameron didn't fall. Queen Rin lived to carry on the royal line."
"That isn't possible. I saw Sir Aaron fleeing the field of battle. And when I tried to stop him—"
"Maybe you misunderstood."
Lucario shot Ash an exasperated look. Ash shrugged in response. Though he did feel like his comment was probably contrary for the sake of being contrarian, Lucario's explanation for what happened just rubbed Ash the wrong way. He didn't really have any true stake in Sir Aaron's reputation, but it still felt wrong that Cameron spent centuries celebrating a coward. He didn't want to believe it, not when it used to be such a good bedtime story.
"How could I have misunderstood?" Ash didn't fail to notice the bit of venom in Lucario's biting tone. He just chose to ignore it.
"Perhaps he was getting something. Something to give everyone an edge in the fight?"
"Hm. So he fled the battlefield because he forgot his good lance back in the castle courtyard? And so he must have trapped me in the staff for several centuries just for a good laugh?"
"I'm just saying! There might be another explanation for what you saw."
"You were not there, boy. You don't know anything about anything."
Ash pushed off the column he had been leaning against, hand flying to his pokebelt. "Oh, and you do?"
"Ash!" Aileen cried, stepping between the two. However, her opened palms were pointed Ash's way, intending to hold him and only him back. "Please!"
Ash took the interruption as more of an affront than Lucario did. Especially in how Aileen was scolding him like he was the sole aggressor. It wasn't his fault the pokemon refused to think outside of his own narrow perspective. "Oh come on," Ash whined. "You can't say he doesn't have a history of jumping to conclusions! You saw what he did to me when he came out of the staff!"
"I told you, you resembled Sir Aaron."
"You also said you couldn't see me! So which is it?"
Lucario stumbled back like an animal cornered. He looked between the human faces in the room, settling on the massive portrait hanging above their heads. The likeness was close, but not quite. Obviously, it had been painted after the royal couple's lifetime. Lucario certainly didn't remember so vain a portraiture hanging in the old throne room; a court of arms held that place. But it seemed that after his passing, Sir Aaron's visage had taken up residence in every spot where Cameron pride used to show. It was as if the whole future was a needlessly cruel hell created to torture him.
"Couldn't see you?" came Aileen's soft whisper.
"Lucario said he had been blinded in battle. But he still thought I was Sir Aaron."
Lucario barely heard the explanation Ash was feeding the Princess. He was temporary lost to the memory of an old friend. But that memory was no more true than the portraits hanging of him.
"Your wave energy is the same as Sir Aaron's."
Lucario's sudden interruption startled both princess and pokemon trainer. His words left far more of an impact on the princess. Both she and the king were looking between Lucario and Ash with renewed awe.
Ash, however, had yet to grow any appreciation for what wave was. He sighed, "You said that wasn't possible."
"It isn't," Lucario snapped. "And yet here we are."
Far from being upset, both Roman and Aileen looked positively elated by the news. Roman kept chuckling and shaking his head. Aileen was hiding her girlish giggles behind her hands. And both of them were looking at Ash as if he were in on this big, wonderful secret. Ash stared, dumbfounded, back at them both.
"What?"
"Lucario, you don't mean...?" Aileen smiled, heedless of obvious lack of enjoyment Lucario got from the same news.
"Mean what?"
"Ah, Ash my boy!" Roman came up, giving him a hearty slap on the back. "Who would've guessed!"
"Guessed what?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"No!" Ash snapped back, whirling back around to Aileen—someone he hoped would have a straight answer. She did seem to take pity on him.
"Ash, wave energy. Each person has their own aura. It's as distinct as a fingerprint. So if you have a similar wave signature to Sir Aaron… enough to confuse a wave user like Lucario, then you must…"
"What? Are you saying… I'm like Sir Aaron's reincarnation or something?"
"Ha! No, nothing so fantastical," Roman barked.
"No, Ash. If your wave is the same then you must be…"
"Sir Aaron's descendant."
Ash looked back at Lucario. He didn't like the look the pokemon was giving him. Lucario was sizing him up, measuring his worth against the giant portrait behind them, but Ash couldn't tell if it was to determine the similarities or to appreciate the differences.
"You're Sir Aaron's descendant," Lucario repeated. "His direct descendant."
Ash had hardly a second for this heavy realization to sink in. Aileen was laughing again. Ash couldn't see what was so funny.
Before Ash could really disentangle his shorted emotions, Roman had captured Ash in a giant hug. "Welcome to the family!" He shouted merrily, crushing Ash in his friendly embrace.
All Ash could feel, aside from his crushed limbs, was numb. Sir Aaron… His ancestor… What was that supposed to mean?
And Lucario wouldn't look away from Ash's conflicted face. Ash had the horrible feeling the pokemon could see right through him.
To Be Continued…
Please Read and Review!
Hope you guys are enjoying this rewrite as much as I am. Lucario has been super fun to write so far. And of course, I love making him and Ash bicker.
Once more, I have to shout out my beta reader, HarunaRei. Her hard work makes sure this story comes out not only in a timely manner but readable too!
Thank you very much to those who reviewed the last chapter; AshKetchumForever, YumeTakato, and, of course, Shaveza. Each and every update is thanks to you guys!
I once again overestimated everything this chapter would be able to cover. So next chapter's prediction is the same as last time. Next time, Ash knows just who to blame for Pikachu's disappearance.
Stay tuned for the next chapter which is due to be posted this coming April/May. Leave a review and maybe it will come out sooner~! Love ya!