Locked Away, Chapter 66
"Jessie, wake up." Misty slapped the woman's face gently, stirring her awake.
Honestly, Misty couldn't recall how they returned to Jessie. Somewhere between the rumbling of the broken fortress, the decaying rocks, and caving floors, she shut off her mind to avoid her entire body ceasing up. The vortex above them, which violently pulled apart the prison previously, circled high enough in the air that most of the damage subsided. Thankfully far enough away that when they reached Jessie, the crumbling of the world around them had nearly mellowed thanks to gravity. Even though the tornado hung in the air, turning harmlessly in a stasis, Misty's only thought was to get away from this prison before the entire facility went down.
Jessie's eyelids fluttered at Misty, but before they could close fully, Misty gently pat her cheek once more.
"Jessie, stay with us."
Behind the two women, James collected the injured meowth from the ground, who was pinned beneath a rock that psyduck helped him remove. The cat pokemon stayed near the duck when James circled back into the destroyed room. His face was dirty and his lip was bruised, but he was still more equipped to handle Jessie than Misty was. Once he stood above the duo, he stooped down and collected Jessie into his arms. Her head lolled backward, but neither of them paid it any mind.
"We have to get out of here now," Misty ordered, placing her hand on James' back to lead him back toward the partially ruined steps. If they were lucky, the cyclone wouldn't start ripping into the structure until they were safely out of its grasp. Whatever Ash was doing, it was working... hopefully. A pang of guilt rushed through her system when she stood. Ash was stuck in that vortex with Mewtwo... Her body quivered, but as quickly as she shuddered, she picked up her feet and started forward. Ash was a professional at this kind of stuff, he'd be fine. She reminded herself several times and returned her focus to fleeing.
One by one the group made their way down the decrepit stairs, less terrifying now that the light of the morning swirled in the air. In James arms, Jessie groaned and wheezed with each step, no doubt in any of their minds that the movement was hurting her. Meowth, once he caught his breath, was far more active than Jessie, who mumbled in her grogginess.
"Should...known better." She breathed, her breath hot against James' throat as he staggered into the darkened entrance hall, below the torn-off roof. There was far more light than before, thanks to the holes in the ceiling above, but the group didn't stop to enjoy the craftsmanship on the walls.
"...Stupid." Jessie murmured, though James' tried to shush her, she was talking nonsense.
Shouldn't have ran ahead. Shouldn't have split up. It was stupid to go in without a plan. They knew that it would be bad in the beginning, but how could they have ever imagined the results? Now, there was a large ball of energy hovering above them, collecting broken pieces of the prison and hurling objects into the ocean below.
Misty ran in front of James to secure the front door with the help of psyduck, and seconds later, they escaped into the open, to witness the true destruction around them. During their departure, they nearly forgot about Ho-oh, who had been spitting fire along the lower part of the island. When her foot connected with the first step of gravel, a loud crash soared above them, striking the broken prison with another blast of fire.
It hadn't only been Mewtwo breaking apart the prison, Misty concluded. The crying deity above them circled the island but paid them no mind.
"I don't think we can get to the shoreline with that much fire," James muttered quietly, hoping that the bird above them didn't hear.
The lump in her own throat clenched tightly as she backed up slowly onto the concrete once more. "Maybe it's better the way I came in?" She wondered, pointing over her shoulder.
One at a time, the group spun around and ran back through the long entrance that was scorched with electrical webs and puddles of water. Vomit inducing cramps clenched Misty's abdomen, but she forced her mind to focus on the exit, not on the past. She stopped at the back door.
"Now... don't..." don't look around. However, it was so much worse with the heat coming from the island, and when the smell hit them, not much else needed to be said.
Misty pressed the door open and eyed the ajar door at the opposite end of the room—never mind the hallways or the chairs she didn't see before. Mind nothing else in the room but the exit. The smell was worse now than before and brought bile to the back of her throat she wouldn't release. Her feet pounded stubbornly through the graveyard, until she was at the end, holding the door for her friends.
Friends, hard to think after all of this, she suddenly viewed them as friends.
James and meowth swung the door closed violently once they exited, with James swearing up a storm. Incoherently at first, with meowth agreeing. Misty held tightly onto her knees and stroked psyduck's head for comfort. They all knew what happened—at least, she did. There were so many dead. Whether they were prisoners or people that worked for Team Rocket, they didn't know. What mattered was that they didn't become one of them. Misty grabbed James' arm and pointed down at her boat. Aside from rocks and grass, this path wasn't laden with fire.
On their way down, James skid once because of the weight of Jessie, but Misty guided him. She knew these steps, every painful moment of them. She wanted to forget them, but not until after they were safely away from the destruction.
The smell of salt and blood from the ocean hit them like a sucker punch, but Misty didn't falter as she grasped the edges of the boat, guided it back to land with the help of the raging waves, and gestured for the rest of them to get inside. Without the dooming presence of the prison above them, with high walls and captivity, the structure was far less menacing. The winds above the building were far worse now, spiraling into dark clouds once again, and Misty's heart sank.
Misty was the last to jump into the metal boat. James set Jessie down in the small control room and used the seat cover as a prop for her head. She was probably concussed because she wasn't speaking in full sentences, and her eyes closed despite her apparent awareness. Worry consumed Misty when she turned to face Ho-oh alongside psyduck and meowth. The bird sprayed another torrent of fire onto the prison causing the entire structure to shudder under the intense blast.
Back and forth, they drifted into the ocean and back to shore again, Misty's nose curled and her eyes squinted. The smell of iron was pungent and hung viciously in the boat, above the saltwater, above the sweat and tears. Maybe it was shock, or denial, but it took Misty a moment to recognize the floating carcass. Lugia's body was a giant mass that turned the sea red around it and stained the grey shores, and their boat.
"...Oh my god." escaped Misty.
Ash wasn't exaggerating, not that he would about such an event, but seeing it, and hearing it, were two different responses. Her entire being hurt, from her shoulders to her toes, and the vomit she kept tucked away at the back of her throat rose and brought her over the edge of the boat to expel it. When she was a child, she read storybooks about Lugia's immense and immeasurable powers. Then, to see this super pokemon that Ash told her amazing tales of, was... it was...
She retched again, and psyduck pat her leg, his eyes saddened by what he saw.
"It's..." She turned to tell him it was alright, but she couldn't find the strength to lie. Instead, James stood before her, blocking the view of the body.
"We need to leave," James whispered as his own gaze returned Misty's to the problem.
She wiped her lips nonchalantly, watching when Ho-oh howled and blasted the vortex that Mewtwo created. Fire sprayed in, and the fanned out in all directions like lightning bolts striking the ocean. However, she didn't want to leave. Ash was still up there. Being held captive, being tortured. Was she horrible for leaving him behind? Her heart hurt. Should she go back for him? How though? How?
Suddenly, it felt like the world was closing in, her chest hurt and panic surged through her. Her muscles tingled, starting at the wound in her upper arm, and working through her fingers that clasped Ash's jacket. Before she had time to grip what was happening, meowth took control of the boat, and she didn't realize until they were slowly moving away from shore.
"Wait—Ash!" She tried to speak, but her words stuck in her throat painfully. James touched her shoulders and convulsions rocketed through her body.
"We have believed in him this far, we need to do it again." James urged, then added. "We're no good to him if we burn with the rest of this place."
Misty's breath was ragged, but she clenched James's upper arms for support. It felt like her body was rejecting her. Her skeleton tried to rip itself out of her flesh, her knees wobbled and she wanted to scream loudly, but then she squeezed her eyes shut. Simpler times. Sitting at the gym, playing with her pokemon. Staying up too late watching cheesy television. Finding the egg that became togepi. Packing boxes with Ash and taking the final tests to join the Elite Four. Dress shopping for an event that literally imploded.
She inhaled, her body shuddered when she released James. Her knuckles were white, but she faced the destruction once again. Her eyes met with the maelstrom that swirled with lightning and fire. She stood against the shock wave that rocked the entire boat. She swore under her breath and narrowed her eyes. Gritting her teeth tightly, she glared beyond the smoke, beyond the absolute terror and beyond the fear that enveloped her heart.
C'mon, Ash.
XOX
Inside of the vortex, Ash shuddered while riding on top of charizard's back. He nearly looked over his shoulder but was busy dodging another ball of purple energy that hit the whirling wall behind them. Since Mewtwo stopped preaching and flipped on his angry, homicidal switch again, the ground turned as vicious as the rest of the storm around them, limiting their movement. Charizard countered with a fiery blast of his own, launching balls of blue and red flames that landed in the chaotic walls, temporarily igniting it.
"You're fighting a battle you will never win!" Mewtwo warned Ash, who pulled charizard into a hard stop from circling the monster. The closer he got to the edge of the once 'safe' bubble, the more he felt like his skin might detach completely from his bones.
"I don't know about that." Ash retaliated, motioning pikachu forward with togetic who together launched a thunderbolt that skittered past Mewtwo.
Unless they left this bubble, they would never get a decent shot on Mewtwo, becoming more clear when Mewtwo raised his arms, and brought them together, creating spikes out of the very fabric of the walls. Lucky for him, charizard danced easily out of the way, snapping his large jaws at Mewtwo, and bellowing another rain of fire.
"It's not too late to do this together! The right way!" Ash offered earnestly.
Without bothering to reply, Mewtwo released another blast from his paws that pikachu countered with lightning, breaking it before it reached Ash, who dodged the last spike. Flying backward, togetic dropped pikachu into Ash's arms once more before heading off charizard. The small creature glowed blue and ticked angrily before the psychic pokemon. Rarely did togetic take part fully in battles, as it was more of a protector than a battler, but when the blue tick finished, the explosion that followed blew Ash, charizard, and pikachu backward—but also Mewtwo.
Ash recuperated faster, kicking his heels into charizard and pulling on his neck the best that he could, to reel him away from spiraling into the lethal whirlwind.
"Let us out of here!" Ash screamed loudly.
Charizard and pikachu used the opening created by a successful metronome to unleash a combo attack that reached across the bubble in seconds, striking Mewtwo. Flashes of light rippled through the winds that sheltered them, cutting through the imaginary hurricane Mewtwo created, and eliciting a sound so horrible from the psychic pokemon, Ash nearly had to cover his ears. When charizard spread his wings, they opened a full twenty feet, nearly touching each end of the orb, and without pikachu's help, shot another blue blast, and then another, intending to stop Mewtwo before he could get back up. A ruthless maneuver, that forced Ash to hold on to the blackened pseudo-dragon for dear life.
Then little by little, the blast erupted the entire whirlwind into a blaze that rippled through the air, nearly suffocating them all with smoke. It circled and hissed until the blast shattered the fabrics of Mewtwo's false reality.
Ringing pierced their ears, the blast so powerful that they spiraled backward, through the remaining fabrics, and they were falling. Spinning, racing to the island floor. Salty air and fresh smoke filled Ash's nostrils, pushing him to regain his senses. His eyes pried open, and with all of his strength, he yelled to charizard.
"Aggh!" Ash yelped, carrying pikachu in the bend of his arm, and clinging onto charizard with the other. Seconds before smashing against the fallen building, the dragon twisted magnificently, and launched away from the ground again, spraying dust and smoke up as he took back off to the sky.
"Ash!" Misty's shout of relief ripped through the skies, and Ash dared to look back for a split second but didn't linger for long. Togetic waved off a blast from Mewtwo before recuperating with Ash, and as charizard seethed, Mewtwo finally appeared before them in his real glory.
In the light of day, Mewtwo appeared angrier. The tubes from the machine still clung to his decaying body. His limbs twisted together uncomfortably, creating a gangling monster out of the smooth creature he saw himself to be... and then it hit Ash. Mewtwo hadn't lived outside of a tube in years—which could give him the edge on the battle, despite his mental prowess, he was already in a weakened state.
"You aren't as powerful as you think you are!" Ash reminded the psychic pokemon while charizard flapped his wings and then rocketed forward.
"Pathetic human!" Mewtwo spat venomously, surely believing he would make Ash pay for his insubordination. With a flick of his wrists, the remaining vortex spun around once more, and then sprayed shards of broken debris at Ash, though charizard could dodge most of them, the rest shattered against his hardened scales.
When that didn't work, Mewtwo flared his nostrils, and a deafening ring erupted in Ash's ears that simultaneously shattered parts of the ground, and in the distance, lowered his friends to their knees. Ash released pikachu to cover his ears as the ringing rippled through his entire body painfully. Luckily, his pokemon were not as affected by the physic attack, and once more, togetic and pikachu tag-teamed to launch another thunder attack causing Mewtwo to dodge, thus breaking the sound and allowing charizard to attack once again since Ash could properly grasp his back.
Togetic lined pikachu up with charizard, his little wings floated him vigorously through the air to keep up with the dragon so the two could launch another lightning and fire attack at Mewtwo. Before it landed, the psychic pokemon raised his hands, and purple strands of fire launched forward, hitting the blast created by pikachu and charizard, and erupting in a massive explosion.
Faster than Ash could ever remember charizard moving before, the pokemon circled back around to prepare a finishing blow before Mewtwo recuperated, but the latter had other plans. As charizard navigated the skies, they ran into a very small problem. As they rounded the blast, Another pokemon stood between them—four times larger than charizard, and equally vicious.
Ho-oh screeched in all his glory, fanning his wings forward and sending a gust of wind out that separated Ash and charizard momentarily.
Somewhere in the moment's haze, he heard someone yelling after him, but luckily, he never had to face what the ground felt like because his pokemon never left him. Togetic wasn't nearly as fast, or as strong, or as agile as charizard, but with a combination of protect, and tiny, little wings, it stalled Ash's fall long enough to reunite with charizard and pikachu. A shame that in charizard's new form the riding harness Gary gave him didn't hold up.
"Thanks." Ash muttered quietly before glancing up at the new enemy.
The odds... were not in his favor. Ashed stared down Ho-oh, but as an enemy this time. Pikachu made a valid point that they needed to avoid the large bird and make direct attacks to Mewtwo. The latter hovered above the ground, his eyes glowing blue again as they had been when Ash first met him, from what he could tell, probably showing that he was controlling someone... or something again.
The fire below them grew as Ho-oh stared menacingly down at them. His ruffled feathers from the fight with Lugia marring the charm and beauty of the bird, and from each wound, flames erupted through his skin. Ash thought the heat was unreal, and they were easily a hundred feet away from the terrifying bird.
"...Ho-oh..." Ash murmured, his shoulders completely fallen. Not only Lugia, but now this great, and powerful bird, that wished to have no part in this 'battle' to begin with, was being used against his own will.
"Don't let Mewtwo control you!" Ash cried, trying to reach out to the bird. For a solid minute silence fell between the two of them, watching each other's eyes for a change. Ho-oh's were so hurt, so full of frustration. Ash yearned to protect that. Then, when he thought everything would be lost, the bird slowly turned away from Ash.
Do you think I'd ever let this abomination control me?
Ash's eyes widened to the same expression as Mewtwo, whose eyes faded back into black pools as the legendary pokemon he summoned turned against him.
"Stop..." Mewtwo ordered while Ash hung back, unable to take his eyes away. "I control you."
Fire seethed vehemently through Ho-oh's beak at the assumption, leering ever so closely to the former-machine ridden pokemon. Then, large, red wings burning with the undercoat of rainbows spread like the red sea before Mewtwo, unleashing the full power of Ho-oh's flame. A spiraling fire, as hot molten lava, barreled forward. Ash covered his eyes.
It was over.
….Just like that.
Ash wanted to scream for Ho-oh to stop but hadn't the time to think, let alone speak. It was over and done in a second, and the only thing left behind were ashes of the all-powerful pokemon they all feared. Warm tears stung at Ash's eyes, how sad it was to feel sorry for him after all this time, and yet, nothing deserved that. Even after the crimes Mewtwo committed, it wasn't malicious. He honestly thought he was doing the right thing. He was confused, misguided!
He was...
You would sympathize with such a creature?... Ho-oh remarked practically reading Ash's mind. The sound of his voice rang through Ash's head without pain. He met the fire in the bird's eyes again as the remains floated down to the ocean.
Ash's heart hurt.
"...It's never too late to change..." He reiterated, blinking away the tears at the corner of his eyes. "He didn't know any better!" Ash yelled at Ho-oh without restraint.
What was your plan, human? And when those hurt eyes turned to Ash, he wasn't sure what else to say. His eyes were like the pits of hell that sprayed fire and scorched the earth. So much anger and sadness.
You would allow more to die and for what? At the possibility of change?
Ash was at a loss for words when Ho-oh wailed.
That abomination was created by humans, which means it has the same fundamental flaw—it could never change! He roared and if it were possible, Ash believed the very air around them shook.
I told you humans would ruin everything. Fire shot past Ash, who moved backward through the air on charizard, now trying to put more space between themselves and the legendary creature. When Ho-oh flapped his wings, the fire spread out, stretching along the oceans themselves.
He was never a threat, you sought me out for selfish reasons. You've proven that men are evil.
"I didn't..." Ash yelled but was struggling to withstand the heat.
You were wrong, Ash Ketchum. Ho-oh snarled, inching forward, flames rising from his beak once again.
There is no hope for humanity.
Time stood still for Ash, who stared into the deep orbs of Ho-oh's eyes. His own watered once more, despite the heat and he tried to shake his head, tried to explain himself but the vibrations, the pain, projecting from Ho-oh and into his very soul was almost too much to bear. Once more, he was reminded of the lifeless body of Lugia below them, matched with the ashes of Mewtwo flying around them.
"Ho-oh I'm..." Sorry.
Ash tried, but couldn't speak. Words lodged into the back of his throat and wouldn't move as the birds last, sympathetic stare vanished.
I should have never trusted you.
Not humans, as the great beast usually called him... but you. As in Ash. Should have never trusted Ash. His stomach fell, but still, he could not defend himself—because it was true. Every decision Ash made, it was because he thought he was helping the greater good—only to find out strings were pulled, and really, this entire situation was his fault. Mostly.
The emotions brought his guard down, despite his pokemon trying to call out to him, he barely reacted when that same shriek that preceded Mewtwo's untimely death erupted from Ho-oh's mouth once again, and Ash sat back on his haunches, waiting as the blood-curdling noise brought a comforting numb through his body, and then...
Charizard lifted them both up before the giant fire blast Ho-oh released even dared to contact Ash and then the group immediately spiraled into the red ocean like a falling comet.
XOX
Ash wasn't entirely sure what was going on.
...Did he lose?
His eyes were heavy and the ice-cold liquid surrounding him threatened to crush him. The pressure formed inside of him, crippling his resolve.
I should have never trusted you echoed through his mind once again. His mind is fuzzy and black.
Ho-oh wasn't wrong.
Ash was no better than Mewtwo.
After all, it was his fault. His dreams. His mind.
How often did Ash know what he was doing? If he hadn't sought Ho-oh's help, they might have avoided this entire situation.
He started so long ago.
A young man woke from a coma and changed the course of history... for the worse.
He ruined his mom's simple life. He chased after bad-guys without a clue on how to fight them. He followed through with destruction, took life by the horns without delicacy.
He nearly cost his best friends their lives. If he hadn't already.
He pushed people.
Ruined people.
Maybe Ash didn't trust himself.
For so many months, it was the next thing. The next thing.
Wake up.
Get better.
Find mom and pikachu.
Find the rest of his pokemon.
Stop Team Rocket.
Help the legendary pokemon
Find out what happened in Unova
Help Jessie and James
Help Brock and Misty
Find and stop Giovanni
Save the Legendary pokemon
Save the world...
Save himself...
Get better...
wake up...
Ash felt his arms rising to his sides. Suffocating. His eyes blinked underwater, his hands felt numb, his skin was cold. He couldn't see pikachu, or togetic, or charizard.
Maybe it was supposed to end this way? After all, his attempts to help always failed. Finding himself became about finding the next distraction.
His list could have been easily narrowed to don't stop or you have to face reality.
The reality that the world wasn't how he left it.
That he lost ten years.
Why on earth should anyone have ever trusted him?
He made everything worse.
This world was better.
Better without him.
Safer.
Mewtwo sought him out. Thought he could help bring about a 'new' world.
Created by his very own nightmares.
Mewtwo hurt his friends to get to him.
Had Ash never woken up...
Never woken up...
XOX
The moment he landed in the water, Misty didn't spare a minute to throw off the jacket Ash tried to tie around her, and jump in after him—however, James was faster than she was, and far less injured. In a flash, James was in the water leaving Misty behind to listen to Ho-oh and standing at the edge of the boat.
"Pikachu-!" She hissed. "Togetic!" She cried, and with even more emotion, she whined.
"Ash!"
The skies darkened around them, thunder and lightning formed with dark rings and Misty felt the quake through her entire body as Ho-oh wailed his painful song.
This creature was nothing more than a plague.
Humans created a monster that forced my hand.
Unsure of who he was preaching to, she covered her eyes. His once fuzzy and incoherent screeches finally made sense once Ash arrived, and the initial pain dissipated.
"No one forced you to kill Lugia!" Misty screamed, tears falling from her eyes. After what she witnessed, she didn't care anymore.
"You're just looking for a reason to hurt people!" She yelled, unsympathetically.
I was summoned to help save pokemon and humans. Instead, you have cursed everyone. KILLED my brethren!
Misty fought the tears, wiping at them with her arm as she held her stomach. She studied the bird who circled around, his voice commanding as he continued to screech.
I will watch this world burn for what it has done!
Every being will feel the consequence of this day. Will suffer my wrath!
As he threw a fit, he sprayed the entire island with fire, and Misty looked into the water—James and Ash were both gone for what felt like forever. Her heart sank with the both of them.
What was she supposed to do?
Starting with the rest of you...
However, as Ho-oh turned his twisted eyes at Misty, a large form blasted from the water, nearly turning the boat over in the process and knocked away the blast with blue fire that matched Ho-oh's.
Misty covered her eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing. She had only heard about it in books. In legends. She recognized it right away when she saw that charizard was covered in black scales and blue flames. The final evolution of pokemon; giving them power strong enough to rival the legendary creatures that reigned superior.
'What about mega evolution?' Misty was so quick to debunk Ash's questions, she had never thought it could be real. However, she shouldn't have been surprised. Not with Ash, not with everything she had been through and seen as of late.
Charizard sprung back, attacking Ho-oh directly, with no restraints now that Ash was off of his back. Charizard matched his flames with Ho-oh's and what he couldn't match in size, he made up within speed and maneuverability. Misty watched with a rocky stomach, finally understanding what happened to charizard.
She didn't know a lot about it, but she knew that the occurrence came on like a sickness. In the books she read, it was described as unobtainable, because human and pokemon needed to be perfectly in sync; and even then, it was still horribly painful for the pokemon to process, as it was, in all terms supposed to be 'temporary'. Misty saw the way charizard moved the second they emerged out of that vortex created by Mewtwo; he was stronger than ever and somehow weaker.
Temporary, however, in the sense that...
"Misty!" James screamed, his head finally above water.
Thoughts derailed, Misty turned frantically at the lavender haired main who floated with a motionless Ash in his arms, and a concerned pikachu and a rising togetic, who raced over to Misty to help her throw over the life-preserver. The fairy pokemon caught the object mid-flight and carried it the rest of the way to James.
Sprays of water poured from the sky as smoke turned the sky black. Courtesy of charizard fanning a tidal wave upward. Once Ash and James were in range, pikachu crawled up her arm, and then she pulled Ash out of the water, who was holstered up by James, who came after. When Ash's weight crashed against hers, she didn't mean to drop him lifelessly onto the metal, but his body was limp. Frail.
No. no. no. She urged, telling herself that 'this wasn't happening again' as she fell to her knees and pressed her folded hands on top of Ash's chest, immediately beginning chest compression. With Ash here, her focus fell on him, and the battling still going on around her fell away. As did James rushing for the controls to get them, as he put it: "The hell out of here".
Typically, pikachu would have been at her side, but he bellowed to charizard who was still fighting the large bird above the prison grounds.
"We have to go..." Jessie's voice cracked through the ringing in Misty's ears, as the older woman tried to help James with the controls. Pikachu still shouted from the front of the boat which still faced the island.
Ash wasn't breathing. Misty realized the very moment they pulled him out of the water. His limbs were cold, which easily could have been because of the water, and inwardly, she wanted to scream. Yet she remained composed, throwing her entire weight into each compression despite the pain each push struck through her body.
"...brrrii." Togetic murmured, also staring back at the fire, as if they knew that Ash would be fine! Frustration boiled up in her chest, nearly causing her to heave when she thought no one seemed to care that Ash was laying here, lifelessly.
Then, suddenly, the water lodged in his throat sputtered up, and Misty immediately rolled him to his side and held his chest; however, his eyes did not open.
"...Ash?" She breathed, rolling him back over onto her lap to touch his face which was still abnormally pale. He was breathing now, but it was labored.
"He's not waking up." Misty frantically stuttered, her hands shaking, though she knew better than to shake the man. James touched her shoulder gently to bring her attention away from the young boy for a moment. Somehow, his tone calmed her slightly.
"He fell a long way. We have to get him to a hospital." James motioned for Misty to release him, so they could prop him up appropriately, as her clinging to him wasn't proper care. When James laid him against the wall opposite of her, pikachu finally crawled, defeated, from the hull of the ship, and retired with tears in his eyes to Ash's lap, where Misty finally realized what the mouse had been doing. She wiped at her tears and turned where togetic was still trying to reach out to the dragon.
"Charizard!" Misty screamed to no avail.
"Charizard, come back!" rather than reply to her, he deflected another attack from Ho-oh, which was aimed at them. Frustrated, Ho-oh temporarily swooped backward, taking off in a fit as charizard slowly faced Misty in the distance. His once blue eyes were red, and while he whipped his wings at Ho-oh, she thought he might have been smiling.
Damn, smug pokemon. Worse than his trainer.
"You don't have to stay here!" She cried, but charizard didn't budge, and with each moment, they drifted further away from the island, further away from his protection. He was never running away again. Not this time.
"...Please." Misty urged quietly as they faded away, their attention heading back to the mainland where smoke still rose from the horizon, but nothing as fresh as what was behind them. The further they went, the clearer the ocean became.
One weak muscle at a time, Misty fell beside Ash, placing his head in her lap while she sniffled and stroked his hair. She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to watch as the fight unfurled behind her; praying to whatever was out there, that charizard would be okay somehow.
James reached out to Misty again, trying to calm her nerves, but nothing could stifle the insanity now.
"We'll be there before you know it."
And yet, from everything but relief, tears fell. Her heartbeat in her ears, and something in her broke. So, she wept.
Author's Note:
Let me borrow you for a minute, and let's all put on our tinfoil hats, shall we?
Since the beginning of the story, this whole Giovanni and Mewtwo thing has been directly connected to the coma theory. Haha.
In the original theory, Giovanni represents an unattainable father figure, a person that must be pleased via Jessie and James. He's never really seen but is always alluded to. Much like in the same fashion he was represented in the story as a whole. He's this ominous figure, but never really 'does' anything directly to affect the heroes. More importantly, I think it was important to also show that Giovanni wasn't technically the main 'bad guy' because, in all media, he is mostly conveyed as a mobster and less of a world-domination kind of guy. That's where Mewtwo comes into the picture as a lost soul, trying to make the world 'perfect' as per the vision he saw within Ash's mind during the first part of his coma. Which is also how I picked Mewtwo to be the main villain of this story. He seemed the most natural and effective way to mirror what 'could have been'.
Therefore, Mewtwo represents how Ash could have turned out. I know it seems SILLY for that to be like the main "AH-hA!" moment of the fic, but it's because in the coma-theory, one of the ways that Ash supposedly can 'escape' the coma, is by accepting his fate; his 'swan song' if you will. Mewtwo was supposed to reflect how Ash could have behaved if he never had the courage to move on and embrace the changes of this world outside of his coma.
Okay tin-foil hat friends, does that make sense? Was it too far of a stretch?
Now that we've gone over that...
A little anti-climatic that Mewtwo died so quickly? All throughout this fic, I have really pressed the idea that the legendary pokemon are like 'gods'. They are sources of power that even Mewtwo wants to control. As Ho-oh said, humans were disgusting to create a pokemon like Mewtwo in the hope to obtain god-like power. Mewtwo was an 'abomination' in the eyes of a pokemon like Ho-oh, and I think that he wouldn't have any mercy, which is why he ended Mewtwo so quickly, then immediately fought Ash. Finally, mega evolution. If you haven't guessed it, that's what Charizard is going through. (No surprise really) In the story, it's been regarded as a 'myth' but, as you all should know by now, I apparently lived for not-so-subtle foreshadowing in this story. If it was brought up, it was clearly going to play a role at some point. That being said, mega-evolution doesn't work anything like it is portrayed in the anime, and fits with a theory I read awhile ago, but for now, we will leave it at that until the epilogue.
With that all said. I won't leave another lengthy note until the last chapter.
Peace
NINT