This is a quick author's note to let you, the reader, know that this is a sequel to my previous book, 'A Journey's Link'. If you haven't read that one, then I would advise clicking off of this book to avoid spoilers.
Enjoy!
"Ash. Honey, it's time to get up," Serena's soothing voice whispered to Ash, who was sleeping. "You're gonna miss the meeting with all those new trainers." She nudged Ash, who simply groaned as he opened his eyes and turned over, and faced the ceiling.
"I guess that's today, huh?" He commented before sitting up on the bed and rubbing his eyes. "Yes, it is," she responded, patting him on the back. "Professor Sycamore wanted you to be there early so that you can talk to the Pokemon. They're nervous to meet their new trainer," she explained sweetly.
Ash sighed and smiled at Serena. "Pikachu was super nervous when I first met him, so I get it," he said, hopping out of the bed and grabbing his signature hat, which sat on his nightstand next to his claimed side of the bed. "Isn't that right, buddy?" Ash asked Pikachu, who was waking up on a small makeshift bed right beside Ash.
"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed, unaware of what Ash was talking about. "That's the spirit!" Ash said excitedly, extending his arm for Pikachu to run up to his shoulder. Ash, in his excitement, began to run out of the room before Serena yelled, "Honey! Don't forget to grab your jacket!" Ash turned around and smiled at Serena. "Almost forgot. Thanks," he said as he ran out the door.
Grabbing his blue jacket, he quickly put it on and zipped it up as he exited the front door to his apartment room, entering the hallway. Ash didn't know how long he had lived there with Serena for some odd reason but didn't question it. He ran down the stairs and opened the doors that led to the outside, which was quite the sight.
It was winter in Lumiose City, where Ash lived with Serena, so that meant powdery snowflakes were scattered everywhere throughout the city, covering all of the industrial buildings and Prism Tower. Despite being more mature, Ash stuck out his tongue and watched as a snowflake landed on his tongue melting almost instantly.
I bet Clemont could explain why snowflakes have different patterns, Ash thought to himself as he looked at the snow-ridden Prism Tower. He's probably really busy right now. Clemont had been working on what he called 'The Breakthrough of Inventions'. Ash didn't know what the invention was or what it would do, but Clemont had been working for the past week in his workshop, barely coming out.
"You excited to see the starter Pokemon, Pikachu?" Ash asked Pikachu while nuzzling his cheek. "Pika-chu-pi," Pikachu responded, nodding at Ash's question. "Yeah, it'll be cool to see again," Ash said. As his boots crunched against the inches of snow, Ash noticed something incredibly weird.
Not a single person was walking through the streets, which didn't make sense, as the city was usually bustling with businesspeople and Pokemon trainers, regardless of the weather. Ash frowned as he looked for anyone, to no avail, but eventually gave up and shrugged, as he had reached the Professor's laboratory.
Swinging open the door and being instantly met with the warm embrace of the building's air conditioning heater, Ash stepped in and casually removed his jacket. As he hung up on the jacket on the rack near the door, he yelled out, "Anyone here?!" to the empty lobby. Usually, at least someone was in the front lobby area to greet people, but it seemed abandoned.
"We should go check on the Professor," Ash said to Pikachu, who nodded with a determined face. He walked down the left hallway, towards where Sycamore's main laboratory was. As he entered the room, he noticed that all of the machines and devices were turned on and running, yet there was no one around to use them.
"What the-?" Ash exclaimed, quickly running over to the different working electronics and powering them off. Why are these on? Ash thought to himself as he flicked the switches on the devices. Did the Professor leave them on? He reached the final machine, which was a simple hot plate, and switched it off.
"Is that all of them, Pikachu?" Ash asked Pikachu, who was helping him turn off all of the devices. "Pika," Pikachu responded affirmatively. Extending his arm and allowing Pikachu to climb up onto his shoulder, Ash walked out of the room and made his way back into the lobby, hoping to see any sign of life. Come to think of it, he thought to himself. I haven't seen anyone but Serena.
He realized that even though Clemont was supposedly busy working on his invention, he'd never actually seen him outside of the Prism Tower. The same was true with Bonnie, Sycamore, or pretty much any other citizen of Lumiose City. What is going on? Ash wondered as he entered the lobby and looked around the dark, empty room.
"Professor Sycamore?" Ash called out once more, getting no response. He raised an eyebrow as he realized something more was happening. Running out the door and back onto the lifeless, snow-covered streets, Ash looked around for any sign of human interaction. Unable to find any, he sprinted back to his apartment to tell Serena that something crazy was happening.
Walking into the small and cozy apartment building, he ran up the stairs quickly and made his way to his room, which was number 60 in the apartment building. He quickly barged in without a key, something Ash was surprised at, and looked around for Serena. "Serena! Serena!" Ash exclaimed. "Where are you!?" He got no response, so he quickly went to their bedroom to see if she was sleeping.
Walking in on an empty bed, Ash frantically rushed into the bathroom, wondering if maybe she was preparing for the day. "Serena!?" He exclaimed as he entered the bathroom, which was tidy, a sign that it had not been used yet. Ash opened the closest that connected up to their bathroom, hoping to find Serena perhaps picking out which outfit she was going to wear that day.
Ash opened the door and was met with an empty closet full of different colored dresses and sweaters, each chosen by Serena for her Performances. "Where is she...?" Ash whispered to himself as he stood in the closet. Turning around, he was met with the bathroom mirror, reflecting his face in the mirror. Not able to make out his face and familiarize it, he confusingly touched it and messed with it, hoping to understand it.
My face... it looks older, he thought to himself, looking at it from different angles. But it looks so familiar. Why? He couldn't understand what about his face made it so mature until he ran his hands along with his lightning bolts. These aren't my lightning bolts, he told himself. They're my father's!
This revelation terrified him as he realized something. My father! When's the last time I saw him!? It had been years since he'd seen him, the last time was during the conflict against Giovanni. What happened after that? He began thinking to himself as the apartment bathroom around him faded away into the darkness, Pikachu included. I went into a coma, then flew away... then what?
His mind struggled to come up with what had happened after that before realizing it. I landed on a deserted island! But it wasn't deserted; there was an old man. What did he do again? He couldn't understand why his memory was so shaky right now until he heard the old man's voice from far away. "Ash. Ash," the voice repeated, its old raspiness evident.
The old man! Ash thought in his mind, looking around. Where is he? It sounded like he was really- his thought process was interrupted as he felt a sharp whack on his face, causing him to bring his head and rub his face. "Ow!" He said, rubbing his nose. He brought his hands away from his face and looked around in confusion as he realized something.
I was dreaming! Ash realized, touching his chest in a daze. All of that was a dream! He was both relieved and upset at this revelation, as it had been a great dream at the start involving Serena in his life, but soon became a nightmare once he understood that no one else was in the dream. "That hurt!" He exclaimed to whatever had hit him, rubbing his nose furiously.
"I had to get you up," a tired voice said from the darkness of the night. Ash realized he was sleeping in a hammock and peeked his head out to see the owner of the voice. Upon looking out into the world, he saw a campfire that had been lit by the person sitting right beside it; the old man.
"Again, training is rigorous and requires discipline," the old man said, standing up and putting out the fire with his bare feet. "If you're going to sleep in like that, you might as well make your amends with this world," he stated somewhat angrily, but in a kind way. "That's right... training," Ash said to himself as he flopped out of the hammock.
"Did you forget?" The old man said. "Or are you just being lazy?" Ash quickly shook his head as he stood up. "No, I promise I'm paying attention. I won't slack off anymore!" He exclaimed fervently. The old man raised one eyebrow. "Do you promise me this?" He asked inconspicuously. Ash nodded his head.
"Yes, I promise," he said. "Yes, I promise...what? What do you promise?" The old man asked impatiently. "I promise to train with all my focus," Ash added. The old man stared at him in an expecting manner. "I won't let you down, Samuel," Ash said, exasperated from having to be so serious with his mentor.
"Good! I'm glad you remembered my name," the old man, Samuel, said. "Now, where's Pikachu? He's going to be in our first round of training for the day," he asked, turning his head in search of the electric mouse Pokemon. "Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed from behind Ash. Ash turned around and saw Pikachu stepping towards them.
"Hey, buddy!" Ash exclaimed, extending his arm out. "I just had the craziest dream! It felt so real!" Pikachu smiled and exclaimed, "Pika!" In a supporting way towards Ash. Samuel secretly smiled at the duo. He knew Ash viewed him as this old, grumpy man who just wanted to get work done, but he secretly wanted to see Ash succeed so that what he knew could be prevented.
"Meet me by the beach when you are ready," Samuel said as he walked away from the two. He also liked to give Ash a few minutes to fully wake up, as he knew the raven-haired trainer was a deep sleeper. Ash, who was still talking to Pikachu, sighed as he realized another day of training ahead of him. He walked over to a small makeshift desk he had made next to his leafy hammock and opened up a journal that lay flat on the wood surface.
Day 2189 read the previous page, which had been yesterday. Samuel had worked Ash on his stamina, pushing him to his limit. It explained Ash's exhaustion, as he usually never intentionally did so much exercise. Ash took a pen from his backpack that was still managing to work after all this time and wrote Day 2190 on the top of the page.
"Pika! Pika-pi!" Pikachu exclaimed as Ash wrote. "What's up?" Ash asked Pikachu, nuzzling his chin. "Pi-pi!" Pikachu responded, holding up six fingers to Ash. "Six? Six what?" Ash asked, scratching his head. He looked back at the book and realized what Pikachu was saying. "No way," he said to himself. "It's been six years since I've landed on this island," he said in awe, unable to process that fact.
I wonder what my friends are doing right now, he thought to himself. He didn't have much time to think about the fact that six years had passed, as Samuel had grown impatient and yelled from the beach into the forest for Ash to hurry up. "Coming!" Ash explained frantically, putting the pen back in his bag and sprinting with Pikachu on his shoulder to another day of training for what was to come.
