Here's the third chapter. I was planning on posting it later, but you guys were begging. Now,we don't go into the cave just yet; that will happen at the end of the chapter. And you won't believe who Serena is going to meet! They will appear again at the end of the chapter.
[Johto side of Mount Silver]
Serena and her Pokémon moved through the undergrowth to the place Olympia said where they would find their informant on the restless. Serena thought to herself on who Olympia said that they were going to go see. I can't believe that we have to see him, she thought to herself.
Suddenly, they emerged into a clearing. Well, not very much of a clearing. It was full of all sorts of things. Almost rubbish, but for some odd reason, there was an old stump in the center of the clearing with a picture on top of it in a frame. It showed two people and two Pokémon. The people were a man and a woman. The man had purple hair while the woman had long magenta colored hair. On top of a Wobbufet perched a Meowth. The people in the picture looked pretty happy.
As Serena picked up the picture, a voice behind and above her called out, "I'd wondered when you'd come around, 'twoipette'."
Startled, Serena and her Pokémon look around as the voice continues, "Trouble starting up again, and why am I not surprised to see you poking around my new home. In exile of course, but still a home. Team Rocket is stirring, the Restless are gathering, bitterness has filled the world, oh, why is it now that you, Serena Yvonne, come to little old me. Well, not so little anymore, I guess."
Finally, the voice turns exasperated and calls out, "Up here, dimwits!"
They look towards the source of the voice. From a high up branch in a tree, a Persian is laying on a sturdy branch. Grinning wickedly, he says to Serena, "You must be so desperate to come to an old enemy."
Serena asks, "Can we talk?"
"I suppose so," the Persian says hotly, "Haven't had any Pokémon to talk to since the Battle of Aquacorde, except those guys on the other side of the mountain. But people are a different matter. Haven't talked to a person since Jessie died and James got put in a hospital somewhere."
"I heard," said Serena, "he's catatonic isn't he?"
"That's what comes with choosing the wrong side," says Persian, "Team Rocket went too far from The Boss's original vision." He sighs sadly. " and for that, they still arrest him. Not that I'm complaining about it," Persian continues, "But I'm not the only one who suffered from losses. What about you and the 'twoip'? You went off the grid completely!"
"Ash also went catatonic! But he recovered with some care. Then we went into hiding. He's Asher now, not Ash. A tax consultant."
Persian says, a little bit shocked and amused at the same time, "Never would've thought that he'd do that! Hah! A tax consultant. But I suppose you're not here to talk about the good old days. Why you here?"
"Team rocket is rising again," explains Serena
"And this is a surprise why?" says Persian, "If you're here to persuade me to fight, good luck with that!"
"Asher and I were forced from hiding," says Serena
The Persian gives a scoff, "No surprises there either! I bet you were expectin' that to happen!"
"Asher has gone to find his remaining Pokémon."
"And that Professor Oak told you where to find them," he turned away from her and said, "You know, I actually go and pay my respects to them every so often."
"They're here?"
"Yup. I'm actually surprised that Greninja would let me visit them. The others give me dagger-eyes. So, what'cha doin' here?"
Serena says, "Olympia has told me of the Restless. They're why I'm here."
Persian turns to face Serena and smiles, saying, "Well then, you came to the right Persian."
(())
[Kanto side of Mount Silver]
Asher leaned against a tree at the edge of clearing, as far from the cave as he could get without one of the Pokémon appearing and dragging him back. He was deep in his thoughts and thinking about what he could do to convince his team that they had to stop Team Rocket. But he knew that they wouldn't leave until he had gone in. But he was completely refusing to do that.
Suddenly, he felt something nudge him, and looking down, he sees one of the two Pikachus that started following him around. It looked up at him and asked in a questioning tone, "Pi-ka?"
Asher glared at it and said, "Go away."
The Pikachu stays there continuing to look up at him, so he gave a half-hearted kick, which it dodged, and said to it, a little bit more firmer, "Go away."
The Pikachu now looked a little bit annoyed and Asher saw it charging up its cheeks. Then it shocked him a bit, causing him to sit hard with an, "OW! What was that for?"
The Pikachu pointed towards the mouth of the cave and said, "Pi-ka pi-ka! Pikachu?"
"No! I'm not going in there!" Asher told it. He still had that gift of able to sort of understand what Pokémon said.
"Pi-ka?" asked the Pikachu.
"I'm not that person anymore, and I'm not going to go in there!"
(())
Thorn, the other Pikachu (which he had nicknamed Thunder) Charizard, and Sceptile were sitting a little ways into the undergrowth. Thorn found it a little strange to be spying on his father, but he knew that he needed to heal and become who he really was. "What is his deal?" he asks, "all he has to do is go into a cave! Why is he so hesitant?"
Charizard shrugs his big shoulders as if to say, I don't know any more than you do. "You're right. None of us really know, do we." Thorn sighs and asks Charizard and Sceptile, "How good of a trainer was he?"
Charizard gives a thumbs up while Sceptile wiggles his hand-like claw in a so-so gesture. "That good huh?" Thorn asks smiling, but then it changed into a frown as he asks, "so what changed? Do you guys know?"
Sceptile leans over and taps Thorn's chest, then leaning back, he shook his head with a sad, "Scep-tile."
"Is there something wrong with his heart?"
Sceptile shakes his hand in a so-so gesture again. "Wish he wasn't like that now," Thorn said gloomily, "I want a dad that let's me become a trainer. Now that I know who he really is, well...I want him to be Ash Ketchum. Is that why you won't help him stop Team Rocket? Because you want the old him back?"
Charizard, Sceptile, and Gigalith-who is watching on a nearby rock-nod in agreement. "Including Greninja?" Thorn asks, reffering to the blue ninja-frog Pokemon that wasn't currently with them. Charizard nods in confirmation.
Gigalith continues to scan the sky, looking for anysigns of troube that just might head their way. Suddenly he freezes and gives a roar, causing everyone to jump and look up in time to see a Team Rocket plane, engines on fire and smoke trailing from it, to pass overhead and a little while later is the sound of something crashing into the ground.
"C'mon, guys!" yells Thorn. Thunder hops on his shoulder as everyone rushes into the clearing. Asher is sitting up and looking at the sky as Thorn says, "Dad! Did you see that?"
"If you are referring to the Team Rocket plane that just whizzed overhead, heavily damaged, yes, I did see it," Asher says to him, standing up. Charizard turns it's back to Asher, as if promping himto get on. Asher doesn't hesitate and clambers onto the fire-lizard Pokemons back while Sceptile beckons to Thorn to get on. Asher calls back Gigalith and he, Pikachu, Charizard, and Garchomp take to the air, as Thorn, Thunder and Sceptile run along the ground, following them. "Hold on!" says Thorn, "Where's Greninja?"
Sceptile shrugs his shoulders and calls back and Thorn gets the impression that he said, he's got his reason for staying out of this!
(())
The flying Pokemon land at the edge of the small, destroyed part of the forest that Team Rocket had caused when they crashed. The grunts were milling around the crash site, exclaiming about the burning plane and, "Oh man, the boss ain't gonna be happy about this!"
"I don't see any Elites," says Thorn as he and Sceptile come up. "Grunt crew," says Asher, "let's find out what they're up to."
The grunts give a jump as Asher, Thorn and the rest of the Pokemon come out of the forest. Instantly, they called out their Pokemon and one of the grunts-who looked like the group leader, said, "You don't want to mess with us you two! Get on outta here!"
"I think not," said Asher, smiling slightly. "Let's see if we can blast you guys off too," said Thorn, grinning. Thunder, who was perched on his shoulder, smiled slightly as well, his cheeks sparking slightly.
Less than five minutes later, the grunt crew and their Pokemon were flat out on the ground, Knocked Out cold. "It's funnier when you get to blast them off," said Thorn sadly.
"Still, son, it was kind of funny to see that one guy running around with his rear end on fire. Thank you for that Charizard," Asher said to him. The fire-lizard Pokemon was grinning and giving several grunts as if he was still laughing. "Lets see what they were carting," Asher said to his team.
Suddenly, there came an explosion from the rear end of the wreckage. A small, injured Growlith emerged, covered in bruises and a few burns. Thorn quickly scooped him up as his father said, "There must be more. C'mon!"
Going to the tail end of the plane, he ordered, "Garchomp! Use Hyper beam!" A purple and gold beam of energy shot from the dragon-like Pokemons mouth, shooting a hole in which they all climbed in, Thorn still holding the Growlith, who appeared too weak to even struggle.
Gigalith started using Sandstorm to put out the flames as Charizard, Sceptile, and Garchomp worked on the three remaining cages which contained an Oshawott, a Rufflet, and a Zoura. The three Pokemon were scratching their cages and Zoura was even using Dark Pulse to try and burn a hole in the side like Growlith had done. Their efforts increased as the three other Pokemon approached.
Charizard and Sceptile soon had Oshawott and Ruffle free, but Garchomp was still struggling with the lock on Zoura's cage As he was working, a sudden explosion overhead caused a steel beam to fall on Garchomp, knocking him to the floor. "Garchomp!" yelled Asher, running forward and checking on him. Garchomp was struggling to stand with the weight of the beam on him, and he now had a long burn mark on his back and right arm-wing.
Asher looked up as he put Garchomp back in his Pokeball and said as another explosion occured, "The place is starting to collapse. Everyone get out, me and Pikachu will get Zoura."
"Dad, I'm not leaving you!" protested Thorn, but Asher said calmly to him, "I know what I'm doing. Now go!" Sceptile lifted up the still-protesting Thorn, Thunder, and the Growlith, and headed outside.
(())
On the other side of the plane, not the side where all the grunts were, Thorn paced and stared worriedly at the wreckage, pacing back and forth worriedly. Finally, he said, "What's taking them so long?"
Meanwhile, inside the remains of the cargo bay, Asher and Pikachu had finally managed to crack open Zoura's cage, Pikachu using Iron Tail. Asher lifted out Zoura and said to Pikachu, "Let's get out of here." As they started towards the exit, another explosion caused the back end to collapse, casing the three of them to back up. Pikachu pointed to the hole that Growlith had made, indicating that they could still get out. "Right. Let's go!" said Asher.
They quickly crawled through as the plane started to collapse and explode. (Asher with a little bit of squeezing) "There they are!" yelled Thorn, pointing to them as they rushed across the strip of grass to the woods. Charizard took one look at them and flew forward, grabbing his trainer and the two Pokemon. He flew back into the forest just as the plane exploded. Thorn, Sceptile, and Gigalith were cheering as Charizard landed in front of them.
Asher was breathing heavily, but there was a huge grin on his face. Even if he didn't want to be Ash Ketchum, he could still rescue Pokemon, and boy was that fun. Pikachu hopped onto the ground and shook off the soot covering his small body as Zoura and all the other Pokemon that they had rescued bobbed their heads respectivly to Asher and Thorn, expressing their thanks. "Your welcome," replied Thorn. He was also smiling. Turning to his father, he asked, "Is rescuing Pokemon that fun? If it is, I hope I can do it a lot more! That was awesome!"
"C'mon everybody," says Asher, still smiling, "let's head back to the clearing. These guys are going to need some treatment, as well as Garchomp."
When they reached the clearing, Asher let out Garchomp, and told Sceptile and Charizar to patch him up. As Thorn started pulling out sprays from his father's backpack, he looked up and froze.
Knowing who exactly was behind him, Asher turned around and came face-to-face with Greninja, who was looking at him eerily. "So, where were you?" he asked, a little accusingly. All the Pokemon froze as they saw the confrontation between the two of them. "Gar-gar," murmurs Garchomp.
"I need you Greninja," says Asher, "I need you so what happened a long time ago doesn't happen again. So that no more young Pokemon can meet their end and become weapons. I need all of you." he turns to his team.
Nobody moves except Greninja, who points to the cave-once again, still not saying anything to him.
"I can't," Asher says again. "We've gone over this; I'm not going in there."
"What's in there dad?" Thorn asks his dad in confusion. All the other Pokemon, except Asher's Pokemon, look confused.
Asher was silent for a long moment, then he says, "When I was out of it for a while, so full of despair, your mother, Serena, she and my Pokémon prepared a way that would be able to bring the old me back, when they needed me. Serena had visited a Xatu, and it had said that Ash Ketchum would be needed again. I don't want to be Ash again. I was against it. But Serena went with it anyways."
He turns to Thorn and says, "When I was Ash, when I fought Team Rocket in that battle at Aquacorde, all I left were 'Ash's'." Then Asher says to Greninja, "I can't be Ash Ketchum anymore. He's dead, I'm sorry."
Greninja doesn't move. "I need you Greninja. I need you all." He turns to the rest of his Pokémon as he says this.
"I doubt that Greninja or the rest of your Pokemon are going to help you unless you go back to the person you were before all this happened."
They all turn to see Persian, Serena, and all of Serena's Pokemon. Asher instantly recognises the Persian and says, "you."
"Me," says Persian with a smile.
Serena runs up and hugs Asher and Thorn, saying, "I'm glad you're both safe. Although," she sniffs their clothes and asks, "why do you smell like ash?"
"Uh, long story, Mom," says Thorn nervously. Thunder shakes his head in despair, and then gets stroked by Serena. "Oh, Mom, thei is Thunder," Thorn introduces his Pikachu.
"Glad to meet you, Thunder," Serena says to Thunder, who smiles and says, "Pika-pika!"
Then Persian says to Asher, "Tell me, how do you plan to stop Team Rocket as you are? What Ash would've done is immediatlly gone out of his way to make sure Team Rocket would have been stopped. He wouldn't have run away like you have been doing these past 20 years."
Asher growls, "I have not been running."
Persian thinks for a second and then says, "You're right. Oh, oh, you've been hiding. Hiding like a child, afraid of the Gengar under his bed, waiting to come out and frighten him! The real Ash that I worked with and fought with all those years ago would not have hid like some three-year old!"
"I AM NOT ASH KETCHUM!" roars Asher, angry with Persian.
"If you truly believe that," says Persian, "then we're all dead. Maybe Team Rocket will spare us all when they coquer the world, but the Restless certainly won't."
Thorn, now confused, asks, "The Restless?"
Serena explains, "After I dropped off your brothers and sisters, I went to Anistar City, home to the Anistar Gym thats led by Olympia, who can see the future." Turning to her husband, she continues, "Olympia was the one who predicted the Kalos Crisis, and Olympia has had visions again. 'Civilization as we know it will be destroyed, unless Ash Ketchum becomes himself again.' That's what she said," she says, repeating Olympia's words.
"Team Rocket ain't the only thing that you have to worry about now," Persian says, "There's a group of Pokemon that have been abandoned by their Trainers. They've been gathering the Wild Pokemon together, forming a group called the Restless. They are through co-existing with humanity capturing them and fighting with them, not caring one bit about them. So, they've decided to do something about it. And I'm telling you now, it ain't gonna be pretty when they're done."
"We need you Ash," says Serena, calling Aser by his real name.
Asher doesn't try to remind Serena. He's stunned by this revelation. He was backed into a corner, and he's stuck with no other choice. He now knows that he cannot continue as he is. Both humans and Pokemon need who he was, not who he is now. But he still hesitates. If he was going to go in there, he can't do it alone.
He turns to Serena and says, "I can't do this alone."
"I'll be with you every step of the way," she replies. The two of them grasp hands, and, side by side, they walk into the cave with everyone watching.
As soon as they vanish into the cave entrance, Persian plops down on the ground and says, "Now, we wait."
Forewarning, the next chapter will be very sad. Will Asher finally embrace who he is meant to be?
Stay tuned for the last chapter; and don't kill me!