There it is, the update. I'm so sorry it took so long, I still don't realize the impact that these kinds of stories make on some people. Try and keep in mind that I try and deliver the best possible chapter and that I won't hesitate to delete the entire thing if I don't feel like it's up to par with the storyline I have in mind. Which, in the end, leaves me with an empty canvas and less time to make another chapter. But I'm nothing if not stubborn so try and have a bit of faith in that fact when waiting for another chapter.
Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Sitting here, feeling so disappointed in the lack of faith, makes Ash feel a bit lonely, although Riley's right in front of him, sleeping on the couch. He doesn't know what to do with himself so he takes out his phone after allowing Pikachu to curl up on his lap. The pokémon seems ready for a snooze but the teen has never felt any more awake. It's painfully clear that he'll need to make a bit of a bigger impression on people for them to believe him. It feels strange but on the other hand, should he have even been surprised to have been cast aside like that? Wasn't it like, a miracle that his uncle, one of the most down to earth people he knew, believed in his weird, mystical nonsense? Ash doesn't think his mother would have been there to listen to any of his dreams, let's not even assume that she would be there to listen to any predicting bad news. No, she totally wouldn't be there for that, that muck was sure.
He sighs softly and scrolls through his many contacts in his phone, gathered over the years. His fingers ghost over a name he's not heard or seen in a while but then again, it's been quite some time since he's seen Solana. He wonders if the girl still remembers him. He sure remembers the young pokémon ranger, she's left a big impression on him and honestly, Ash is pretty sure he would go to being an actual pokémon ranger if being a pokémon trainer didn't work out any longer. His stupid fingers somehow press the 'call' button on his phone when trying to scroll by her number and his moron brain tells him it's a smart move to end the call straight after he notices he's calling her. Ash lingers a bit, he's feeling awkward now because he's pretty sure Solana would've gotten a notification that he just tried to call her. Should he admit to her that it was a mistake? Honesty's been the best route to take so far…
-Hey, don't sweat it! It's good to hear from you, it's been a while!- her message reads in response to his apology and it makes Ash smile.
It's been a while since they last spoke, indeed but before he can send her another message, he gets a whole bloody essay from her. Now he's feeling bad that he's so slow in answering messages, the girl must have stellar reflexes to type that fast.
-I'm glad you messaged me, Ash, I just finished my last class about shadow pokémon and I don't doubt that you've heard about them too by now, with the fundraiser for Orre I imagine you will have actively participated in. I just wanted to warn you, no matter how you think shadow pokémon will look, there's seriously no chance that you will be able to see the difference between a shadow pokémon and a regularly pissed pokémon. Even the best of trainers had trouble fighting off these creatures, they have no feelings, no remorse or anything and the scariest part is that it's not unheard of that they will kill the opposing pokémon during a battle. I don't want to put you in that position. Don't interact with angry pokémon, Ash, don't fight them. Please promise me, this will be a battle you won't be able to win. I know that you'll try to save the pokémon but several trainers have been put in the spot between killing the shadow pokémon or watching their pokémon get killed.-
This girl is making an awful lot of assumptions and isn't it scary how she's right nine out of ten times? Seems like he's made a big impression on her too but that's hardly surprising, he's been told he's hard to handle more than enough times. Still, Solana dropped this a bit sudden, it's a lot to take in. But the only thing she's confused about is the fact he would hesitate to save his own pokémon. Nevertheless, Ash brings his phone to his face and starts what could be the most expensive call he's ever made. It doesn't matter, Solana shouldn't have told him this if she didn't want to be questioned.
"Ash, I'm so sorry," she says as soon as she answers the phone. "I didn't mean to worry you, it's just, these pokémon are appearing globally, I don't know if you're travelling but interacting with one of those is a big no-no. They're different from the shadow pokémon in Orre, those pokémon could be purified with friendship but the ones appearing all over the world, far beyond Orre, can't be reasoned with, they need to be defeated, captured and then purified through a mechanical process."
"I know they're dangerous, I wouldn't have warned to pokémon league to cancel their public event in honour that they raised so much money for Orre if I didn't know that," he says and that successfully shuts her up. "Solana, you still there?"
"Which one?"
"Come again?"
"Which one do you think is going to appear at the pokémon league?" she repeats.
"Why do you think I know-"
"Ash, tell me. I didn't even know there is such an event planned, you know more so tell me. If you know, you're best off being honest to me."
He ponders about it for a bit, he wonders why he's linked the dream he had -where he originally thought there had been bombs going off- with shadow pokémon. Like, it happened quite naturally so… Honestly, now that he thinks about it, his dream might have looked like bombs were exploding but it could have damn well been the impact of a well-aimed Hyper Beam. In fact, the destruction and the fact that the entire floor collapsed on them could also be caused by several Hyper Beam attack, any agitated pokémon could aim and fire several, following closely after each other. And talking about agitation, a shadow pokémon's anger would surely do the trick. That's why the following sentence rolls of his tongue before Ash can stop himself.
"Is it possible that it can be a Legendary pokémon?" he asks.
"Yes," Solana answers slowly. "There were several originally captured in Orre and while there were a couple retrieved and purified through friendship… but some have never been found."
"Like a Lugia?"
"… Yes. Yes, that one has never been found. It's also one of the pokémon you could very well spot whether it's in a shadow state or not," she answers and Ash hears that her voice is trembling.
"It's not a bonus to know that the Lugia is actually a shadow pokémon, huh?"
"I… I need to tell Wes about this. Ash, are you sure that's… whatever you know? I don't care how you got this information, is it a trustworthy thing to follow?"
"I mean, it's up to you whether you trust me to be able to spot trouble when it's there-"
"I do. I really do. Ash, holy shit, why isn't this all over the news if you're so certain?"
"Because you're the third person who believes me. "
"Wha… so it's like an ability or something?"
"Yeah."
"I need to talk to my superiors, this isn't funny. I don't believe the pokémon league would take this risk, even if they think your warning could be fake. They know the pokémon are there, they know it's a global issue, why did they cast you aside like that? I know Mr. Goodshow is so protective of people with abilities, it makes no sense that he wouldn't listen to you."
"You'll have to take that up to Mr. Goodshow himself, Solana, there's nothing more I can do than try to reach him through people he'll actively listen to otherwise."
"Professor Hastings most likely will take it up to him if something happens. Oh, sheesh, I need to talk to some people right now," Solana says. "I'll talk to you later, 'kay?"
"Sounds good," Ash says. "Hey, Solana?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for believing me."
"… Anytime."
The teen feels all tingly as he stuffs his phone in his pocket. A part of him wonders if he would be powerless against one of those shadow pokémon like Solana says but it feels stupid to take bait to such an honest warning. Besides, it doesn't matter right now, unless these pokémon spawn inside houses, he's not at any risk, he's still stuck inside for the time being. He's getting a bit antsy, though, he's aware something is about to go down and he feels so helpless being to do something about this. This is a far bigger problem than he's ever faced, though, this could get political too and that goes way over his head. Besides, he's got other things to worry about than people who refused to listen to reason. It's the fifteen of January today, which leaves him with two weeks to get ready for Kalos and start the new trainer season.
But it's really cold here in Johto, the only pokémon who's ready to train outside is Glalie but even so, Ash himself can't keep up for long. At this point, he's very tempted to ask his uncle whether he could use one of the indoor training rooms, otherwise, he could get behind schedule. Not that he keeps up a rigorous training schedule each time he starts a journey, no one's expecting a hard challenge from a foreign trainer who's just visiting but this time, he wants to be ready. He can't underestimate his foresight and now Ash is curious whether his dreams will become clearer now that he's no longer under influence of any medicine. His left hip and knee are aching a bit, so it's clear that the remainder of his medicine has been cleared out of his body. Talking about foresight… Could it be that the ability unconsciously influences his decisions, even if he's not had a dream? Clair's accident hadn't shown up though she had dropped the milk… had that been a warning too?
Ash doesn't remember what she used to clean up the mess in his dream but then again, he couldn't deny he had gotten a clear sign something was going to happen. The dread in his stomach had been comparable with the feeling of that Dark Aura user, though less severe and again, the feeling had appeared moments before the accident happened. Oooh, if only he could run without risking to slip and hurt himself, maybe he could have avoided her hitting her head on that table…
'But wait,' he thinks. '… I caught myself with my ability to float. Why didn't I make Clair float? She wouldn't have even touched the damn table in the first place!?'
The teen groans and puts a hand to his face, if only to resist smacking himself for his stupidity. All these abilities, two teachers and a butt load of power and he still wasn't using anything? And hell, why did he imagine his mother's voice chiding him all of a sudden, he doesn't remember having used any kind of ability in Pallet, how would she know when to tell him not to use his weird abilities in the house anyway?
"Are you okay?" Cynthia asks, apparently having heard him groan. She's startled to see Riley in the seat next to the door, the man is still deeply asleep.
Ash smiles as she shoots him an apologetic look and hurries over to the seat next to him.
"Thank heavens that he's a heavy sleeper," she says, voice barely above a whisper even though she looks pretty mischievous as she bends over towards him.
"He is, just not for long."
"Ah… Well, that's alright. Anyway, how are you doing? Did you get a bad omen again?"
"… Nothing other than the fact I'll never escape that I'm a massive idiot from time to time," Ash answers dryly, still massively bummed out about Clair's accident and how he could have avoided it, yet failed to realise it in time. "Don't worry about it."
"I don't think I like how everyone is telling me not to worry while there are some terribly worrisome things going on. Don't shut me out, Ash, I'm only trying to help."
The teen smiles at her, he doesn't think all the help in the world couldn't stop him from being an idiot on occasion but he appreciates her offer. Cynthia seems to get it and pulls him in a sideward hug.
"You're still upset about Clair, aren't you? Is there any way I can convince you that you did alright by her?"
"No. No, you can't, not when I forgot that I can make everything, including people and pokémon float. She didn't have to even hit her head, I could have avoided that and I didn't. I failed her.
The woman watches him for a little while and sighs.
"Being forgetful when in a panic is being human, not an idiot," she says. "You'll find that there are only a couple of people who can react accordingly to a situation."
"I used to be one of them."
"Even so, Ash, even those people can freeze up and act wrongly. And you've got a couple of big shocks these days, haven't you? I wasn't kidding when I said I'm concerned about you, this foresight can't be good for you."
"… What if it's forewarnings about bad situations, though? Wouldn't foresight show the ordinary and good too?"
"That's even more troublesome," she says. "I originally claimed that you would see this mad world's happenings twice but this would mean you're seeing the bad part of the world twice."
"I'll be okay, though."
"Oh, I'll make sure that you will be, trust me on that. Do you think I won't let Charles know that casting your valid concerns aside like that is going to be one of the worst mistakes he'll ever make? He's all about abilities so to think he would bypass a claim from someone with forewarning! Unbelievable."
Ash nods, though realises that his foresight -or forewarning, whatever- is influencing him big time. All it took was Solana's essay to change the bombs in his dream to the attack of a pokémon and it had happened so naturally… He hadn't been aware of it until the pokémon ranger asked him to speak up. Still, the fact that it's a living bomb makes the situation a lot worse but hey, he at least contacted the rangers for help, right? It's amazing how the smallest of details can actually make a difference, the pokémon rangers could do nothing against bombs… The thing is, he's a bit unnerved on how quickly his foresight picked up on the change of the original plan of attack, or rather, how quickly that plan changed at all.
"Cynthia?" he asks and continues when he gets her attention. "How big is the chance that there's someone inside the pokémon league leaking information to someone important from another region but like, not official? Untraceable?"
"A spy, you mean?"
"Yeah."
"Pretty high, just not in Johto. That's Will's territory, he's always poking into the minds of people, he finds double agents and spies rather quickly," Cynthia answers. "Why?"
"I feel like the contents of the meeting Mr. Goodshow had with my uncle have spilt outside of the room. I think someone has alerted the people responsible for planting the bombs I saw going off."
"You mean, that they've changed their minds and not plant any bombs due to the heightened security measure? Doesn't that mean the accident has been avoided completely?"
He watches her in silence for a couple of minutes. It's interesting to see the realisation dawn on Cynthia, the accident couldn't be any further from being avoided. Ash still has the specific creature to fill out the role of a hell-raiser in the dream. Wouldn't it be absolute madness to somehow get a shadow pokémon inside an arena filled to the brim with enthusiastic and loud people, cheering for the contestants in the middle of the arena, the cheering slowly turning into screams of terror-
Bile rises to his throat and he swallows it with disgust etched on his face. The woman next to him spots it and rubs his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. Her warm hand makes him aware of how cold he's suddenly become and it feels good to be near her, he wishes she could pull him into a hug again and surround him with the warmth he's suddenly lost.
"What did you see?" she asks.
"A shadow pokémon. A legendary shadow pokémon."
"I don't like the direction to where this is going, Ash."
"I… I'm not going!" he suddenly decides and figures that, if he can't convince the pokémon league to stop the entire event from happening, he might as well convince everyone from not going at all. His heart is hammering in his chest still, this… this pokémon he sees is blue… Solana was right, there is a difference.
"You've gone all cold," Cynthia says and hold him in her arms like he wanted earlier. But it doesn't bring the comfort he imagined it would bring, unfortunately, Ash still feels hollow and alone. "Is it going to be that bad that you would face away from a challenge, Ash?" she asks.
"I'm done not being listened to. I've already caused so much grief to the people who love me. I won't willingly walk to my death or be the cause of the death of my loved ones… Can… Can I convince you not to go? Please, Cynthia?"
He knows he's driving a hard bargain, he's putting Cynthia's faith in the pokémon league and its president against her belief in his words. He hopes she understands that listening to him will save her and many others from their doom.
"Yes. I won't go," she says eventually, after a tense minute of thinking.
"Thank you," he breathes out in sheer relief. He doesn't know what to do other than to hold her close because he doesn't want to lose her either.
Ash has no idea of what impression he's leaving but at this point, he's just happy that he's managed to save someone who could have a huge impact if she were to perish in such an accident. There's a high chance that Sinnoh would go to war because of it, Cynthia's madly popular and there are about a hundred thousand men who would want to be in his position right now. But honestly, he wants to cry, he would happily do a hundred fundraiser event, eat a seventy-course meal or something, yet all the money in the world could never be enough if it meant to save so many people. Why did Charles suddenly not listen to him? Was what Solana and Cynthia said true? Did the man indeed care so much about all kinds of abilities… except his?
The teen remains silent, he doesn't want to bother Cynthia with his grief of not being believed, hers, his uncle and aunt's trust means more than the world to him. He couldn't bear to lose any of them right now, he values them equally to his most loved pokémon -which could well be every single one but still- and with Clair's accident hot and heavy on his mind, Ash knows what such an event would cause in him. He's not sure what would happen if he would lose his uncle or aunt but he's pretty sure he would never let another human being make an impression on him ever again, keep them at arm's length so they couldn't cause him to hurt should they leave.
Ash nearly expects some sort of ethereal voice that he would never be capable of doing that but all he hears is Riley's soft snoring and the slight noise the gentle rubbing of Cynthia's hand on his back is making. Nothing calls him out on his statement and he's suddenly painfully aware that he better be careful what he says in the future. Very careful.
The teen yawns and finds himself completely alone again, so he figures that he's fallen asleep at some point. Although, alone… Riley is still there, asleep. A quick look at the clock tells him that he's been asleep for at least an hour too and it's nearly dinner time. So that means Riley's been asleep for longer than he's ever seen the man asleep for. It worries the boy a bit, enough to go and check if he's actually asleep and not something else, yet as he approaches the man, he also gets closer to the door and he catches a part of a sentence that interests him.
"… expect you, Morty. I can't tell you much either, if Ash didn't tell you something out of his own volition, then you won't get an answer out of me either."
It's his uncle's voice and now that the teen's attention is piqued, he goes towards the door. He had completely forgotten about Morty too but that's hardly his fault, with Clair's accident happening and Cynthia coming along. Ash wonders if she is still here too or had he been asleep when she left?
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry," Morty answers, sounding a bit sullen. "I know better than to question you, Lance. But maybe you could tell me why the boy is even here? I remember that he's not a Johto native and I still am quite surprised to hear that he is here, with you."
"His parents have been deemed incapable of caring for him and as the next, willing kin, I was asked to take care of him for an indefinite time."
Ash recoils away from the door, straight onto Riley's lap, who wakes up with a loud, startled yell. And while the man quickly realises that the teen must have lost his balance and holds him close to him, the teen's mind is in turmoil. Lance never told him about the indefinite part, like, Mewtwo's anger at his mother made him aware that something wasn't okay but he never thought…
"All good?" Riley asks and Ash can only look at him with teary eyes to then turn to the door. But there is no door there, no, his uncle is standing in the way of it and Morty is right behind him, looking exactly like Ash usually feels when he's put his foot in something he should never even have meddled with. "That's a no, huh?" the man adds and before the boy can turn back to Riley, Lance grabs a hold of his shoulders.
"I didn't mean for you to find out this way, Ash," he says and the boy believes him. "We'll talk about it later if you like."
"Please."
Lance nods and straightens.
"Well, Morty, you wanted to talk to him, didn't you?" the man says and the Gym Leader jumps at the attention.
"I-I'm really sorry, Lance… and Ash, of course, I always do this, I don't know how. I… I hope that asking you why you weren't surprised why the pokémon bit you sets you off too, I mean, it's really not my intention," the man stammers.
"A pokémon bit you?" Lance asks, turning towards him with a confused look.
"A fat Snubbull," Ash answers and he can see that his uncle realises why such a pokémon would not have scared him, he's used to greeting other kinds of pokémon who pop out of nowhere, after all. "I'm not scared of pokémon, Morty and it bit right into my prosthesis."
The man looks mortified -no pun intended- and he nods slowly. He's not surprised when he finds his uncle trying to usher Morty out of the house but he isn't leaving just yet.
"I thought you could use a bit of help, whatever it was that made me think that you had some kind of special ability that stopped you from reacting to that &pokémon and just chase it off with one look, it doesn't matter now," Morty rambles and awkwardly pushes a box in his hands. "I'll be off now, I need to catch the bus to Ecruteak anyway."
"I'll let you out, then," Lance says and follows Morty into the hallway.
Ash is left staring at the box, feeling like he's just punked a person who could be a good ally by not being honest.
"Whenever I feel like an awkward mug, I always think of Morty and I'll always feel like there are people worse off than me," Riley comments and pats his shoulder, he's still on the man's lap, after all. "Besides, don't let him get into your favour, there's a reason why Lance acts a bit coldly towards him."
The boy frowns, he doesn't think his uncle acted cold at all, if anything, he was just respecting his wishes. But he's interested in what Riley's got to say and his frown makes the man start to explain himself.
"Morty's opinion on how Orre got themselves into trouble and refusal to lift even a single finger to find a bit of money to donate to the cause because of that opinion has become a bit controversial."
"… Everyone has a right to have their own opinion and I know that Morty is a person who isn't easily convinced of something he doesn't deem possible;"
"Is that why you didn't tell him about your abilities?"
"He has never believed a word I said before, what makes you think he would believe me right now? Especially when I've never really been special at all-"
"Aaand that's where you're wrong," Riley interrupts, annoyingly wagging his finger right in front of his face. The teen's feral side surges up and he resists the urge to bite the man's finger. Instead, he gives him a foul look. "All children are special, all in different ways."
"Yeah, until they get a mind of their own, then no one cares."
Riley baulks at him.
"Whoa, what? Where did you get that from?"
"Pallet. I've heard it plenty in other area's though, I might be dumb but I'm not deaf."
"Listen, a lot of those people won't be in a good place in a few years," the man says as he gently pulls the teen in his arms. "And you're not dumb, kiddo and yeah, you are special. You've always been but now you're just a bit more special… but that has its own set of difficulties. I don't need to tell you to be careful, you obviously already are and I can trust you to know who to trust but please, stop calling yourself dumb. Dumb people don't think about the times they've hurt people or the things they have unwillingly caused and they certainly don't get to the point where they'll go out of their way to warn everyone of a terrible accident because being dumb realises that you wouldn't even have noticed that you had foresight. So no, Ash, you're not dumb, you just have other things on your mind. Instead of calling yourself dumb, call it absentminded. If you want to demean yourself, say it right."
Ash rolls his eyes, he didn't need people preaching about whether he was dumb or not. He knows who he is but he knows he can do better than this. And honestly, it's not like being called absentminded is anywhere near a compliment, he's not going to bother saying something to Riley about this. The man can have his opinion on the matter but honestly, forgetting that you could make things float right after you've floated barely a second ago, that's dumb and no one is going to change his mind about it. It's as dumb as Mr. Goodshow ignoring his warning, even if it was false, wouldn't it be better not to take the risk at all?
"Besides, shouldn't it be better if you were to focus on the important things instead of your own shortcomings? I mean, no one's perfect, you might as well realise that early on and move on so you can live happily."
"How can I possibly be happy when I'm being such a massive bother? I'm blessed to know stuff I'm not supposed to but cursed that the ones who are involved in it won't believe me."
"Kiddo, for once in your life, will you please don't care about what someone else does? You've done your part, you've warned plenty of enough people, if everything goes as planned, Charles will be the only one there and then it'll be his own fault."
"Oh, sure, they'll be able to do without the president of the pokémon league, huh?"
"Actually," Lance's voice says and the man's form follows shortly after. " We can do without him quite easily. But no worries, someone has alerted the pokémon rangers who have their panties in knots because that same someone predicted that there is going to be a shadow pokémon there so thankfully, our president will be quite safe now that this lot has latched onto the entire building. And no, they didn't let anyone besides me know, mostly because I am related to the one who alerted them."
"Wait, what?" Riley asks. "A shadow pokémon?"
"That's what the pokémon ranger told me. Sooo, on that note, I'm not setting one foot near the damn place and neither are the two of you, got that?"
"What about the rest, though?" Ash asks.
"Cynthia's put her shoulders under the project of boycotting the entire thing and has asked Steven, Alder, Diantha and Leon to join her boycott. And before you ask, they all were quite impressed by the fact Mr. Goodshow wouldn't listen to something that sounds quite probable so to answer your question, no one is going to be there. No one but the rangers and Mr. Goodshow that is," Lance answers.
Ash nods dumbly, he didn't expect such a response but he's already relieved that the worst dream he's ever had so far has been avoided. Before he knows it, though, he's picked up and deposited in the arms of his equally confused uncle.
"You two need to talk and I need some air."
"Whatever upset you this time?" Lance huffs but holds the boy closely to his chest, a position Ash enjoys a lot.
"I need a second opinion on the little trouble seeker you're holding," the man answers. "Ending up in trouble is one thing but eventually discovering foresight a couple of years later tells me that either the one ending up in the trouble is unlucky… or someone who has a good idea what trouble they will end up in, whether or not they realise that they are in said trouble and still willing to help. And then getting live updates of the foresight, going from bombs to pissy pokémon, that tells me it's trained and thus, has been there before. Adding that with the immense Aura, I feel like I know exactly who I'm dealing with but I don't know how to deal with it. So, thus the second opinion."
"Try not to take grizzly Aura users with you when you come back, please?"
"You're going to have to let go of that one day, Lance."
"Perhaps but today is not that day," the man quips and by the look on his uncle's face, Ash knows he'll torment Riley with the dark Aura user thing for a little while longer.
He desperately hopes that someone like that wouldn't ever pass by him again but then again, he felt the feeling coming from pretty far away. Still, Ash feels like Riley's made a point there, this foresight thing could be trained over the years, like, he's been in an awful lot of trouble so far. Unova had been a special kind of shitty adventure, he'd gone stratospheric, like… How had he survived that with just brain damage? And how had bloody Team Rocket survived that? He knows that criminals and bad guys have a special God all to themselves, watching them all carefully and shielding them from harm but heck, where was the limit?
"So… judging from your reaction to the news, I gather you would like a bit of explanation?" Lance says when Riley's left the living room in a hurry.
"News? What news?" the teen asks.
The man smiles and moves him over to the couch, going to sit right next to him once Ash was seated.
"I was contacted by CPS a good few weeks ago, things aren't going too well with your mom, Ash. Red's still the same, though feeling very guilty and he's still finding a way to deal with that, he doesn't seem to be able to forgive himself and I am not ready to forgive him for nearly killing you either so there's that… But so CPS deemed both of them utterly unfit to provide a safe and comfortable environment for you to grow up in, even if you're going to travel, you still need a place to come home to. So I said 'yes' when posed to the question of whether I would keep you for as long as necessary."
"So… You basically adopted me?" Ash asks, still unsure how to feel about this. He loves Lance a lot, the man's done so much for him and he can't imagine life without him… but he's just gotten used to calling him 'uncle'. How will he ever manage to call him anything else?
"Nothing's decided on until I have your say-so."
"Euhm yeah, it's not as if I have many choices and I do really like you and living here. It's a lot better than where I came from, anyway so… What do you need from me? Just okay or…?"
"I will call CPS and then they'll send over a nice person to finish the administration and then the deal is done. All I need you to do is say exactly what you're thinking about it to the nice person, yes?"
"Sure," he says because that's not hard to do, is it? "There is no way I'll be going home?"
"Not really. Your mother did a really stupid thing a couple of days ago, it's ruled out every possibility of her regaining custody over you."
"… I won't be able to see her again either, will I?"
"I'm not sure whether it would make you feel better than not going to see her at all, Ash. She's delusional and not… well, she'll need to deal with eating with a spoon and wearing loafers."
Ash blinked, he knows his mother would rather die than be caught wearing loafers but he feels like staying with Lance is the safest option. He remembers how angry Mewtwo was-
"Still am, though much, much worse, friend. I will talk to you later."
Well, okay, much worse then. All this is making him question a lot of things but he knows he's better of remaining calm. He trusts Lance's judgement on his mother's condition, along with Mewtwo's response to her behaviour, he feels like he's indeed much safer here. Ash never liked being around his mom when she was upset or mad, he always got all kinds of insults and mean remarks thrown at his head, most untrue and some being a truth that he didn't need to hear. Like that he was the worst accident she's ever had and things like that. The thing is, the nice person from CPS arrives late in the evening, all smiles but Ash doesn't miss how they seem to want to have the deal done and dusted quite quickly. He's uncomfortable throughout the entire thing and then Riley comes in again, giving him a hard, long look before going upstairs… No, he's not at ease right now and that's not good for his mood. He tries to cheer himself up by grooming Heracross when he's in his room, just to make sure he sleeps well. He always gets a positive response from his lovely Bug-type pokémon and today is no different.
But even though he's surrounded by pokémon, Ash still feels like he's not entirely himself. He doesn't believe that giving his pokémon a bit of love didn't help, surely he loves them enough to just forget everything else for a little bit? Yet, his worries didn't dissipate by the slightest, he holds Pikachu and Heracross closely against his chest while the bed's creaking under Charizard's body weight, firmly pressed against his back -because they too could tell he's not feeling quite alright.
When the boy finally falls asleep after a long time of listening to the noises his sleeping pokémon were making -they still feel as comfortable in his arms as before so it's good that something hasn't changed- he's back in Pallet Town, looking down the street. His pulse skyrockets up as he sees the 'For sale' sign planted in the wilderness that used to be his mother's well-maintained front garden. In the background, professor Oak is yelling at someone, saying that he will never, ever listen to that 'good for nothing' little shit that used to live across the road again. His heart squeezes uncomfortably and before he knows it, he's awake, staring at the darkness inside his room again. Ash presses Heracross against him, hoping for all hopes that he can get a bit of comfort out of it… but his pokémon has become awfully furry and the purr coming from the creature in his arms sounds very feline.
'Whatever,' he thinks, figuring that any love is good love right now and rakes his hands through the comfortable, soft mess that's the pokémon's fur.
There's nothing else he can do but lament over the fact it might never be possible to befriend professor Oak again. The thing is, the man doesn't have many friends, as far as he knows, plenty of acquaintances, though but not many friends. Doesn't that mean that the professor tends to be a bit of an asshole to people in general? And worse with friends? If that's the case, does he even want professor Oak's friendship any longer? Maybe not but he certainly doesn't want a regional professor to be angry at him either. He figures he'll just have to be careful of what he does… though this was his foresight in play again, right? Was the part where his old home was for sale even avoidable? Was it something like Clair's accident, that, no matter what he did to avoid it, it still somehow happened?
The creature in his arms purrs and pushes its head against his chin, perky ears sliding past his cheek. He's pretty sure this isn't Heracross but Ash will figure out it is later. Right now, all he wants is to sleep and get over today.
Lance watches his nephew slump in the chair, he's a bit wary of what's going on too. Cynthia had been clear, she was capable of believing in Ash's foresight and trusting his judgement and the way he tried to avoid situations from happening but on the other side, she had warned him that this might be taking a toll on the boy and that he should be careful to watch how his mood shifts, to stop him from ending up in a depression. Given the fact that dr. Knight has made him aware that Ash tends to have negative thoughts, mostly about himself, Lance is keeping a close eye on him. So he sees that the teen isn't happy and thus, slides his seat over to sit next to him.
"You're not getting much sleep, are you?" he says quietly, trying not to set him off.
"No, I'm not. I'm sorry, the bed's fine and the room is too, it's just… I had this dream where the house was for sale and I just…"
"Wait, this house?"
"No, the one in Pallet."
The man stills, this is a possible scenario, very possible, actually. Everything depends on how Delia is doing and considering that the doctors are thinking of putting her somewhere permanently, seeing they're not seeing much change, in fact, the last time he's seen her, she was doing much worse, there is very little chance of her ever going home at all. He will never tell Ash what he's seen that day until he explicitly asks… and the house really is in Red's name so whatever the man decides on, will happen. The thing is, Lance doesn't think his brother is ready to confront Ash about something as delicate. The house has no meaning to Red any longer, not after what he's seen happen to Delia but to the boy… no matter what kind of childhood he's had in it, he still grew up in it.
"Does the idea of it being for sale upset you?" he asks.
"A bit. I mean, it'll need to be cleaned out, right?"
"You would never be responsible for that unless you're eighteen, Ash but that doesn't mean you can't go inside it any longer. It's not for sale right now and someone is keeping it clean, should anyone want to return in it but you will never be stopped if you want to go inside in it unless it's sold," he says and puts a hand on the boy's arm. "Did something else happen in that dream?"
"Professor Oak did, yeah, I-"
Lance watches the boy grab at his phone that just rang out to catch his attention. He feels a little creeped out, he had planned to take Ash to Pallet later today, as a surprise because the Waterflowers wanted to see him and honestly, going from Pallet to Cerulean isn't that bad a trip.
"O-oh… Oh, no, I don't think this is a good idea," Ash then says and now the man feels like he's actually reading his mind.
"What is?"
"Gary just asked me for my opinion. He asked me if going to Orre to study the pokémon there is a good idea," the boy answers and he makes such a face that Lance feels like he doesn't need to tell the teen that it's an awfully bad idea. "I better tell him that it isn't, right? I mean, I don't think there are any different pokémon there than here, just shadow controlled."
"You're right about that," the man says dryly, having seen plenty of familiar pokémon there, all angry, every single one of them.
"Lemme just… there. Oh, surely this wouldn't be why professor Oak never wanted to listen to me again, would it?"
"What do you mean?"
"In my dream, professor Oak screamed at someone that he would never believe the good for nothing kid that used to live across the street, which is me. And maybe, if I didn't know what was going to happen on the eighteenth, I would've said that it would be okay but I know now and honestly, it's kinda clear that not everyone in Orre is happy with the other regions, huh?"
Lance just sighs and ruffles the teen's hair, mostly because he doesn't know what to say to that. Sending anyone to Orre now is just sending them to their death, in his opinion. He's done his bit and no, he's not excited about the idea that shadow pokémon are appearing all over the world like the pokémon ranger said they were doing. And honestly, even if the G-men haven't noticed anything of the sort, he feels like he can trust people who are out and about ninety percent of the time and handled issues with pokémon full-time, whereas the G-men usually handled people problems which occasionally involved pokémon, like Ash's accident.
The boy's phone 'pings' again and this time, it's Ash's turn to sigh.
"Oh, he's disappointed in me," he says and gives the screen a sad look. "Should I tell him to look out for the news of the eighteen, uncle?"
"Does he know you have foresight?"
"Yep."
"Then tell him."
He watches his nephew -or rather, adopted son, which still gives him shivers all over because Ash hasn't got a single clue about what this means and no, his last name might not change but a lot of other things will- type in another message. It doesn't take long before the teen gets a response, which makes him sigh again.
"Jeesh, thanks, Gary," he huffs but then turns to look at Lance. " He just told me he had forgotten about the foresight."
"More importantly, though, is he a little less disappointed now?"
"Yeah, he said he's going to check out his other options," Ash says and stuffs his phone in his pocket again. "I wonder what's so attractive about Orre to some people, I mean, if I was sure that there was something to do other than getting mauled by angry pokémon, like an actual pokémon league or something, I might've tried shooting my shot there too but there… there's really nothing there than scared people and pokémon and angry ones."
"I'm glad you are sensible in matters like these, I can see why professor Oak would upset if his… how old is he again?"
"Fifteen, like me. He'll turn sixteen in April, while I'll turn sixteen in May."
"Yeah, that's really no age to get send to Orre to, I mean, a lot of people my age didn't deal with it well at all. There are still officers on leave and it's almost a year ago."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-six."
"Whoa…"
"Why? Do I look that bad?"
"No, I just… You were sixteen when you joined the G-men?"
"Mostly thanks to Red but yes, I did. It was a benefit too, a lot of young people joined Team Rocket at the time so it was easy to infiltrate the bases, they were never too suspicious of kids going everywhere they weren't supposed to be. Their mistake, I guess but there were a lot of recruits at the time, I guess they had their hands fuller than they could handle."
"Yeah but… can you see me infiltrate a Team Rocket base at this age?"
"Absolutely."
The boy falters at that but Lance swats at his shoulder.
"Buddy, you don't seem to realise that, next to having a good head on your shoulder and your heart at the right place, you have a good enough bond with wild pokémon to rival the one I have with my trained ones at this very moment. Team Rocket would love to have someone like you if only you didn't have such a strong sense of justice."
That Ash turns to him with a bewildered look is worse enough a response, Lance is aware that compliments are hard to come by these days, they are even rarer in Pallet. The kid is just going to need to learn to deal with it, though, if he thinks he's not going to get compliments in Kalos, he's wrong. The people there love to show their appreciation, just like they will criticize if there is something they don't enjoy.
"… Thanks," the boy answers hesitantly.
"Besides, the entire pokémon league is rooting for you too. Even Morty, the odd, awkward sod."
"Oh?"
"The gift?"
"I completely forgot about that!" Ash exclaims and shoots up from his chair. "With everything that happened yesterday, I just took it up in my room with me, I didn't even unwrap it, oh no, that's so ungrateful-"
"As you said, a lot happened yesterday, Ash. But please sit down and have a bit of breakfast before you storm back upstairs?"
"… Storm?" the boy repeats as he sinks back down his chair. "Me? Since when?"
"You know what I mean."
Ash doesn't answer him but eats his breakfast without complaints. Which is good, Lance still thinks that the teen is capable of completely forgetting to eat and he doesn't think that his hunger will ever win from the idea that, in case he failed to win a battle or something, it might be righteous punishment for himself. There isn't much he can do when the boy isn't under his supervision but he would like to make his nephew aware that eating is a basic need and not something you should only access after you've had success at something or not. He still needs to have a chat with dr. Knight about how the boy is dealing with this foresight, he might have someone to talk to right now but that may not always be the case.
Still, the sullen look Lance worried about has disappeared from the teen's face when he sees Clair come into the kitchen. Ash jumps from his chair a second time this morning but this time, he doesn't stop the boy from hugging the woman who seems to enjoy his reaction to her appearance.
"Hello buddy," she says softly as Ash hugs her middle. "How are you doing?"
"Fine, fine, how's your headache?"
Clair's completely honest about how she's still a little woozy due to the painkiller but also isn't feeling any pain any longer. And while Ash seems pretty pleased with the answer, Lance feels like he's never truly gotten a good answer on how the boy is actually feeling. Granted, the teen's expressions often give away how he's feeling and on certain occasions, he's wearing his heart on his sleeve, like right now, for example. It's clear he's happy that Clair is feeling better, it's been a while since he's seen the boy this cheerful.
"Did something happen?" Clair asks when Ash just left to go get Morty's gift from his bedroom.
"You did."
"Other than that?"
"His foresight is a lot more trouble than we expected. He gets live updates in case something in his prediction changes," Lance answers and he can hardly believe the words coming out of his mouth himself.
He still remembers how small the child had looked in that large hospital bed, grievously wounded and then, when he woke up -which still amazes him to this day, it's a miracle the boy has made it this far already- how full of misgivings and troubles he had in his head. They're not all gone still, he knows that his nephew still has doubts about going to Kalos and how he will manage on his own, not to mention how he still tends to think so little of himself.
"It sounds bothersome, yeah but you're looking like the world ended, Lance," Clair says and stares at him. "What happened to you, then?"
"… I had to tell him that his mom and dad couldn't care for them," he says but tries to defend himself when his niece pulls a face at him. "It wasn't my fault, Morty put his foot in it and Ash listened into my conversation with him. I didn't mean to…"
He cuts himself off, knowing why Clair is giving him that look.
"I know I've not been the best aunt to the kid either but with that expression, you're even making me feel like you regret having him here," she sighs. "And honestly, I feel like you shouldn't underestimate him, not once has he asked to see his mother or father, during his stay here. Don't you think he's gotten an inkling neither of them were doing well, Lance? And isn't it you who has told him he could come to talk to you about troubles? Why don't you talk to him about things that also matter to him? You shouldn't have doubted to tell him anything nor should you have needed to think about timing. It's not like your to procrastinate either, what's going on Lance?"
"… I don't know, I guess I'm just not… used to the idea of being a father."
"Oh, you're joking me, you entered papa bear mode the moment you laid eyes on the kid and you've been a brilliant father to Ash for over three months. Just because the title changed on paper doesn't mean anything's changed in real life. I certainly didn't see a teenager who didn't care about either of us jump up at the sight of me."
"You have no idea how guilty he's still feeling about that, though. Cynthia told me he blames himself for letting that happen to you."
"I'll just have to hug the idea out of him, I'm already glad he's sat with me throughout the entire thing. He's a super brave and intelligent kid, to act so fast."
"He has probably healed you, the doctors told me something wasn't right but they never divulged into the subject. I don't think all the doctors have such a colourful imagination as the one in Celadon Central."
"I'll still hug those bad ideas out of him, no matter how long it takes. I'm just a lot more determined now."
"Well good, you go ahead and do that. I'll just have to think about how my father is going to deal with the idea that the family has an heir now."
"Oh, come on, he's fourteen? He at least needs to be eighteen until anything is decided on."
"I know but I'll have to tell him about Ash anyway. Or do you want to be the one to eventually tell him that the kid exists in four years?"
"It's not like Ryu is always on top of the news," Clair says, a bit grumpy as she grabs a slice of cheese off the tray in front of her. "It's your call to make but I hope you don't forget that Ash is smarter than Red has ever been, better at catching social cues and has a lot more talent than anyone in this family ever has. So, on that note, I'm going to make sure the boy will be comfortable, instead of trying to spook him with all kinds of expectations that could really use an update anyway."
Lance sighs, rakes a hand through his hair and realises that somehow, Clair knocking her head on this table did her a lot of good. It's been a while since he's heard something this sensible coming from her and yeah, she's right. Besides, he knows Ash would try to follow whatever rule he laid out for him, just out of respect but honestly, what point did it have? He would eventually do things his own way whenever he was sure no one was watching anyway, Lance knows he sure only acts overly properly whenever his father is around too.
"You're right," he says. "For once, you're absolutely right," he adds and doesn't pause when Clair splutters at the 'for once' part. "I bet he would somehow find a loophole right through all the properness too, it's better not to give him the chance to embarrass my father."
"If he wants respect, his grandfather should show up and earn it."
Again, wise words and when Ash comes back in looking awfully confused about something that's hit the world by storm only a year ago and thus, something every trainer would recognise upon sigh, Lance feels like his father might have met his match.
"Morty's given me some kind of weird bracelet thingy," the teen says and holds it up like he's holding an unhappy Ekans by the tail.
"It's a necklace, buddy," Lance answers as Clair chokes in her juice due to Ash's very dry remark. "It's something you can use to Mega Evolve pokémon."
"… It's a bit small for that, though. Like, it'll only go up on my neck if I wanna put it on," the boy says and holds it exactly where it's supposed to go.
"Yes, that's where you're going to have to wear it."
"Really? That's a thing?"
The woman is quietly snickering in the background, though Lance isn't sure whether they're badly hidden coughs or not. Instead of laughing at the confused boy, he helps him put on the choker.
"Here, that's where it goes," he says. "It looks good on you."
"It does? Huh, I never thought Morty would be into fashion, it sure doesn't look like he is but we had that one woman in Pallet that always knew what others should wear and they always looked amazing in the clothes she picked out but she herself always looks like a well-used mop whenever she goes out so I guess you can't judge a book by the cover."
Clair's giggling in the background makes it hard for Lance to keep a straight face, he doesn't succeed in keeping the amused smile off his face.
"Please don't say that to him? I don't think he thought about the way the Mega activator was supposed to be worn by you, I think that he just wanted to give you an activator as a means to motivate you. Kalos is all about Mega Evolution, after all."
"They are? How cool, I guess I can ask the regional professor what's up with this then, huh?"
Lance nods, he certainly also knows what it is, he has one himself but he will leave professor Sycamore to have his moment. The man enjoys explaining his research that's grabbed a lot of junior assistants and press' attention, in fact, most people already know about the subject so the professor will be quite pleased to find someone willing to listen.
"Of course, you can ask him all about it when you get there. The plane you will take from Johto to Kalos will actually land in Lumiose too so that's exactly where his laboratory is. Mind you, finding it can be quite tricky, the city is shaped like a large circle and it's quite easy to get lost if you don't keep an eye on the Prism Tower."
"… Right, I'll keep that in mind," the teen says though Lance can see a certain shine in Ash's eyes he's not seen ever since the boy ended up in hospital.
It must be the call of the journey that's getting to him.
"Oh, I've been meaning to ask, would it be okay if I used a room to get my pokémon into shape? I mean, a bit of training would never hurt, right?"
"That's absolutely fine, buddy, I have plenty of room you could use. Let me just finish my coffee and I'll show you exactly where to go."
Ash nods enthusiastically but honestly, Lance isn't even near done with his breakfast so it does take a while. The teen doesn't mind, though, he's released Heracross out in the living room and is talking to it in an excited tone. The pokémon seems quite happy to follow them into the room too and honestly, if only half his pokémon behaved as well as this one did, Lance would thank Arceus and would leave the lot of them roaming in the house. Ash would love that, if in a good mood, his dragons were great company but they only got into that mood about five percent of the time so they were better off in an area where they could build and destroy as they pleased.
He's been a bit stupid, he knew damn well that he planned to take the boy to see the Waterflowers and professor Oak so he should totally not left him in that room on his own. It can hardly be called a surprise when you force someone to come with you, especially when he's trying to be a bit subtle on where he's taking him. Clair seems very amused at his bumbling attempts to convince Ash to come with him to this 'unknown' place.
"You really think a kid who has friends in a certain city isn't going to realise which way you're going? So unless you're going to blindfold him, you can just tell him straight away," she says as she's leaning at the edge of the door of the room where Lance is putting his shoes on.
"Well, let's see if he knows where I'll be taking him, then."
"You shouldn't underestimate how much he trusts you, Lance," she then says, which makes the man look up.
"What do you mean?"
"Remember how he had been floating all over the place in the hospital? Has he had that here recently?"
… Now that he thinks about it, he only saw it once or twice and it occurred very early in his stay here. And outside of the nightly visitors -like Lorelei- not a peep has come out of the room. His face must have conveyed his doubts whether that has something to do with trust, though, he can see that Clair's looking a bit peeved at his expression. As if called, Riley pops by.
"Hi, do you know where I can find Ash?"
"Yes, later, in the back of my car," Lance answers. "Why?"
"I wanted to talk to him."
"We won't be gone forever, you can talk to him when we get back. Can I just ask you something, Riley?"
"Sure, what can I do for you?"
"If kids float, does that have something to do with Aura?"
"Yeah, it's got something to do with instinct but the kid might need an awful lot of Aura for it, just as Ash has. Most kids are born with the passive Aura most adults have, which means they had just enough to keep them alive, which is perfectly normal. Those kids won't float but ones who have such extra-ordinary amounts like Ash has, they will float whenever they don't feel safe."
"Really?"
"Yes, it's a rare remnant of the times where Aura users were still hunted for who they were. It's some sort of pre-emptive measure against being found and not a lot of children could master it in time. But then again, it seems like some parents managed to scare their children enough for them to pass on the ability through their genes."
Lance bit the inside of his cheek, he knew why Red has Aura and he doesn't. He also knows why his father married his mother and not Red's… and he also knows that his father is very well aware of what Aura is and what it's capable of doing. The thing is, there was never any malice in the relationship between his mother and Red's mother, they were on good terms until Red's mother passed away due to an accident. Both he and Red spend an awful lot of years together, they went to school together until adulthood -or much rather, the different expectations for them- pulled them away from each other. Lance remembers the day he finally saw Red again all too well but never has he witnessed the man floating. There have been no complaints of it from the hospital where his half-brother stayed at either.
"Why is this important now, though?" Riley asks.
"I was trying to tell Lance that Ash does trust him a lot," Clair answers. "He still thinks the kid might do a runner, somehow."
"… I'm not sure if he fully trusts us a hundred percent, there are some things he hasn't told us."
"Like what?" Ash's voice pipes up and Riley's startled enough to turn to the boy who's standing right next to him.
"I didn't see you there," the man chuckles sheepishly.
"Don't dodge the subject, if you can stare holes in my shirt, you can tell me what's up with that too. So, again, like what?"
"… Like you never told us you were Arceus' Chosen One."
"Oh, that actually means something?" the teen says, blinking in confusion but the silence in the room is deafening. "What's up with that reaction? Pokémon call me Chosen One all the time."
"You… you don't think that pokémon talking to you is kind of a big deal?"
"People talk all the time and I've always called special only to end up in scum class so what if a pokémon does it and I get hurt the same way? No one's ever brought it up after the situation was over too, how was I supposed to know that these pokémon don't just appoint someone as their Chosen One every time they need help?"
Ash sounds terribly blasé about it like he's only bothered that Riley's making a big deal out of it. The man is slowly deflating as if he's realising that the teen indeed has no idea what it means.
"And you never thought about how you were the only one they asked for help?"
"I thought it was a coincidence, honestly. Trust me, I was once convinced the whole world was filled with good people."
It sounds so bitter and the need to grab the boy in his arms hits Lance like a truck. So he does so, which ends up pulling Ash's attention back on the matter at hand.
"You're still not going to tell me where you're going?"
"We're going to see a friend."
"One of mine or yours?"
"I don't consider them close friends but they're certainly not enemies either," Lance says, which causes Clair to scoff.
"Enemies," she repeats indignantly. "You don't have enemies, everyone is too scared of you for that."
"Sounds cosy," Ash pipes up and looks up at him. "Are you sure I wanna be there for this one?"
"Positive."
"'kay, I'll follow you, then."
Lance chuckles and seems quite amused at the situation but as he leaves the house with the teen in tow, Clair and Riley are left staring at each other. The two of them haven't met eye to eye quite often and if the man could avoid direct contact with the easily upset woman, he would have.
"So, Chosen One, huh? Couldn't wait to ask him about that?"
"Clair, trust me, if you didn't think that it was a little weird that legendary pokémon were popping in and out of the house, you shouldn't be any less surprised to finally know the reason for it."
"You and Lance honestly seem convinced he's a man-eating dragon underneath all this cuteness, though. What happened while I was out? Did he bite one of you guys?"
"He wants me to teach his left hand how to destroy."
"And he healed me with his right. What are you trying to say?"
"… Oh, you know about that," Riley sighs and rubs his face. "I don't know, I've never enjoyed overly powerful people, they always seem so demeaning. While now… Ash isn't demeaning in the slightest, he doesn't even know how special he is, he thinks it's normal. How can you be scared of someone who thinks that all this isn't special?"
"You heard him, he doesn't think that being called special means anything other than being a victim of some sort of crime. I'm sure professor Oak and that trophy-winning mother of his have something to do with that."
"Trophy-winning?" The man repeats. "What did she win?"
"Guess," the woman says with enough intent behind it that Riley knows she doesn't mean anything positive.
"Oh…"
"Yeah, oh. Try and look a little more cheerful next time, I don't know what makes it so hard to act happy around Ash for you guys but it's about time you pull that stick up your butt out of there and smile a bit. It's not as if being nice to him is going to make the world end."
Riley rolls his eyes as soon as she's turned her back towards him. He knows he's not perfect but he's so scared he will end up teaching Ash something that he'll regret. He figures that he can't really teach the boy something awfully bad in a couple of days anyway, he knows that Lance bought the teen a ticket to Kalos for the end of January already. Maybe, if he ignores the teen's questions, he can get out of teaching the aggressiveness Ash wants to channel. Yes, maybe he can do that.
Too bad how he forgets that some entities do not enjoy his teaching or rather the lack of thereof. The knowledge of what his student is, is information that should not be shared nor be questioned. Their Chosen One is to be made aware of his abilities and if his human teacher fails, they will replace him with one of their own. And yes, that the human is holding back precious information just because of his lack of faith in the child Arceus Itself appointed, is seen as a failure and thus, his service will no longer be necessary. His friendship, however, would come in handy and perhaps he can still show their Chosen One the lighter side of Aura. He can leave it up to them to show the child the brutal truth, to show him the exact reason why Aura users were feared and eventually hunted. Not their Chosen one, though, he has done enough to warrant his protection and they know that he will still fight for them if needed.
Because they can teach the boy something awfully dangerous in a couple of days… and they will.
End of chapter twenty.