Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Pokemon, its characters, locations, or names. All of them, with the exception of the original characters, belong to Nintendo
Credits: The original fan fiction Shadow League was based off, Pokemon Master, was written by Acey. I retrieved permission before starting this the first time. Kiall and Elizabeth belong to me. "Paran" is the property of Elemental Sorceress, who had requested that I include her in my fan fiction.
A/N: Merry Christmas all! I finally got my cell phone and DS – Even though I have no games for it! But that's ok, I can just use it for the GBA games and drawing little doodles until I do. XD Haha. I also got The Little Mermaid soundtrack among other things, but meh, that isn't something you probably all want to hear about. XD
Anyway, I rather like how this chapter turned out compared to the original. It was really quite...unbelievable how I had it before where Ash became sick immediately, rather then having it progress over a short period of time as it is now.
Warnings: The pairing in this is RivalSibling. This fan fiction has a lot of violence and gore, not to mention some language, and implied rape/sex. Not for kids, that's for sure.
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Chapter 14: Ash's Fall
"Like, totally sure, we can take you to Cinnabar!" Daisy replied, getting nods of agreement from the other two women, "We'd do anything to help you, Misty!"
Misty smiled then, the valley girl accent not at all phasing her. "Are the rest of them not complaining that you are helping us?" she asked, and Violet laughed.
"Oh, you mean Koga?" the older girl replied, "Nah. He's being...agreeable about it, as long as we remind him who is involved."
They turned to look at Ash, who rolled his eyes. "That would, wouldn't it?" he said indignantly, looking away, "When can we go? I want to get to the island as soon as we can."
"Just, like, give us an hour to prepare," the blonde sister said, "then we can totally set sail."
"Do it," Lance prompted.
- - -
"Alright, your health is perfect, I can't see any sign of sickness, disease. Your eyesight is good, so is hearing, and I'm assuming your other senses are just as great." Melody pulled a rectangular box out of her lab coat, and flipped it on, aiming its small antenna at Ash, her eyes falling to the readings it was giving. "Your stats are...above normal." Her eyes went wide, her mouth hanging open in disbelief. "They're off the charts! I cannot believe this!"
He gave her a full, evil grin. It was a reaction like that, that made getting such a thorough examination done worthwhile; however, the only reason he asked for one was that he didn't want something cropping up before such an important battle. "Oh, that's nothing." Ash said, feigning modesty, "It came with the title."
The man that worked the computers several feet away muttered under his breath, looking crossly at them. "Arrogant son of a bitch..."
His eyes going narrow quickly, Ash looked at him. "I can hear you, you know," he growled, leaping off the table gracefully.
Frantically, Melody put herself between the two men, glancing from one to the other. "I wouldn't bother." the shorter of the two said, "I'd bet he's too scared of hurting his oh-so-delicate skin to fight me."
Pulling his shirt on, then his cloak, Ash glared at him. "You, sir, are not worth wasting my time or strength on," he whispered venomously, "but I will not hesitate to fight you if you don't shut the hole you call a mouth while you still can!"
"Stan! Do as he says, stop picking on him!" Melody ordered. Stan looked at Ash disapprovingly.
"Hell no. It's boys like these that make you normal Masters look bad!" the elder barked, "Both the Light Master and him. Freaks of nature, I tell ya-"
Within seconds Stan felt the wall against his back, pinned against it, and faced by a very irate, very angry Ash. "You're damn lucky I don't rip your throat out right now," he growled, "and if I ever, ever hear you, or anyone else for that matter, call May anything outside of her title or name again, they won't have vocal cords to speak with! Is that clear?"
"Crystal," Stan mumbled quietly, and Ash let him go, scowling.
"Good. You had better have a good memory of it, because I meant every word."
- - -
The Waverider cut through the ocean, racing over the waves agilely through the night, the sun having set hours before, dinner cleaned up and the dinning room ready for when everyone arose in the morning.
Ash tossed and turned uncomfortably, his efforts at sleep futile. Curling up under the thick blanket to block the chilly air, he shook his head. Sighing impatiently, he wrapped himself lazily around May, getting a soft groan from her in response. "Wake up?" he asked quietly, making a trail of kisses down her throat.
She squirmed. "Ash, what's wrong?" May ask, rubbing her eyes sleepily, "Why are you still up?"
He was quiet for a minute, until she started cuddling against him. "I keep thinking about what happened at the Med Ward," he admitted, and May looked at him curiously. "This tech guy, Stan...gods, he hit a bad nerve. Called us both freaks, called me arrogant, might as well have called me a coward..." The anger he had felt rose again at verbalizing the incident, and it clearly showed on his face.
"What about it?" she said wearily, and Ash winced, regretting waking her up, "He was just being a fool, you know that. Neither of us are freaks, you're not a coward, nor are you...well, actually..."
Nipping at the exposed flesh below her chin as retaliation for the implication, Ash settled back down. "I don't know." He sighed, pressing his cheek against hers, "It is just...so typical. I would get it from just about anyone. Dammit, I know I'm not normal, I know I've done things I shouldn't have and still do them anyway, I don't need my nose rubbed in it!"
"We both know that." May turned so that she was facing him, her face inches from his. "I know that didn't bother you before now. What's changed?"
Thinking about it, Ash couldn't come to a good answer at first. "I don't know," he said, feeling like a broken record, "it's like...here I am, running around to try to save these people's asses, and all some of them can do is scoff at me or attack me. It is one way not to feel appreciated."
The brunette smiled then. "Well, they'll learn their lesson when they see who it was that saved them from a grisly death."
Ash went silent, feeling like a child; when so much was going on, so much at stake, he was pouting like a five year old that was called a name by a bully. What the hell is wrong with me? "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be bugging you with this bull that shouldn't be bugging me either. I'm twenty-eight, for gods' sake."
"You've also been through hell and deserve a little leeway on feeling bad. You are human, Ash, even if that term is unknown to you." May stuck her tongue out. "Don't worry about it. I don't really mind it. I think I might keep you around like an alarm clock."
He scowled, albeit good naturedly. "Thanks," Ash said, "I really needed to be dubbed as an object that makes people tear their hair out daily."
- - -
"Where're we at?" Paran asked, hanging over the railing to peer around, "This's too cold for Cinnabar Island."
Unfortunately, a thunderstorm had blown them off course, and they were left with a ship that was damaged and very much stuck at an island that certainly wasn't were they had hoped to be. "This is going to take a few days to fix," Violet said, "We're totally stuck. Any ideas?"
"Are we there yet? Cinnabar?" Everyone turned around to see Ash walk across the bridge toward them, May beside him. "...What're we going at the Seafoam Islands? Weren't we going West, not South?"
"Yes, but..." Daisy shook her head. "That jolt we felt, like, an hour ago? That was the ship totally hitting something, and now we're stranded here until we fix the ship."
"I thought the Seafoam Islands was made up of all caves? This is a normal island," Lance asked, and Ash shrugged.
"Well, they were," May replied, looking out at the chilled landscape, "but then there was an earthquake a few years back that hit around here, and it leveled them."
"Regardless, we can't leave until my sisters get whatever is wrong righted again," Misty sighed, and she smiled slightly, "so why don't we go check things out?"
"Hm, sounds good to me. I need some time on solid ground to move around." Ash glanced between his traveling companions, "Who's all going?"
No one refused. Gathering supplies and necessities, they headed out in the forest.
- - -
Pine trees. They were surrounded by hundreds of pine trees, and the strong scent of them assaulted their noses as they stepped on the needles that littered the ground. A light frost covered everything, making some areas more slippery then other.
"I'm amazed at how fast these grew, if they've only had a few years..." Lance said, admiring the island's landscape. "It's...unreal..."
"Well, a lot of things have happened we didn't think were possible," Paran pointed out. She looked back at them, and frowned; trailing far behind the rest was Ash, who was drifting along slowly. "Hey, Ash! What are you doing, slow poke?"
He looked up, his eyes unfocused, and frowned. Even Pikachu – who was clinging to his shoulder – looked down, ears bent back and shivering. "Are you alright? You look sick," Misty said.
"I'm fine." Ash forced a smile - even though he felt like he was a walking corpse, his mind not quite wanting to function at normal speed, like he was in a state of dreaming rather then awake - and waved them on. "Let's keep going, I'm alright."
"Actually..." Lance started, crossing his arms, "I suggest that we stop for the night. It's getting darker, and going any farther could prove dangerous. We need to set up camp."
Agreeing on it, they started unpacking, getting set up for dinner and for their stay in the grove of trees. The fire Paran made roared quietly as they worked, lighting up the area as darkness started falling over them. "Pikachu? Pikapi..." the Shadow Pokemon cooed, head tilting.
"No, don't worry about it," Ash yawned. Pikachu snarled, and trotted over to May and Lucia, poking at them hurriedly.
"What's wrong Pikachu?" she asked, stroking the dark furred creature. Before he could reply, she heard a thud, and turned to look at Ash; he had fallen over. "Ash!"
She rushed over to him as the others noticed the commotion. "What happened?" Lance asked as she pulled Ash up. May shook her head.
Misty placed the back of her hand against his forehead, withdrawing it quickly with a gasp. "He's burning up! I thought Melody said everything was fine!"
"She did," May said, running a hand through the Shadow Master's long hair, feeling just how warm he was at that moment. Ash moaned, shivering, and went silent again, his breath being shallow one minute, rhythmic the next. She hugged him. "Ash..."
"This can't be normal," Paran said, turning to Lance, "since...since he has healing..."
"Yes, I know." the Dragon Master replied, "This isn't normal, by any means. It's too abrupt, too...unusual. We need to get him to a doctor." May let Fiona out, the ice bird letting out a shrill tune.
"I'll take him now. We can't waste time going on foot," she said, and they nodded in understanding.
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