Chapter Three:
Beyond the portal, Ash and Pikachu were surrounded by darkness.
"Piiiika!"
"Hang on, buddy!" Ash screamed, holding Pikachu close. "We'll make it!"
I know we will!
Ash closed his eyes, and suddenly a strange calm settled over him.
There was glowing blue light everywhere, radiating from everything.
"...Aura!" Ash realized suddenly. His eyes flew open, and the vision vanished. "I was seeing Aura..."
He remembered some events that had happened over his journey after the Lucario incident... How he'd tracked down the kidnapped Riolu, how he'd sealed Spiritomb away, and meeting Riley, the only living person Ash knew of who could manipulate Aura...
Of course, ever since he'd used Aura before Lucario died, Ash had known he could call on the powers again if he had to... But he still wanted to be a Pokemon Master, not a Guardian of Aura. And he hadn't known what to tell his friends, so he'd tried to keep it a secret as much as possible.
"What am I supposed to do...?" Ash cried out.
/Follow your heart./ The voice again.
"What?"
/The Aura will guide you to where you need to be... But you must use it, or you will be lost! This is your first test. Do not fail... For to fail is to die, Chosen One./
"I...?" Ash started to protest, but then he went silent. He closed his eyes again, and waited for the calm to return.
This time, he didn't pull away in shock or fear... He opened his heart and mind to the Aura around him.
In a flash, he was somewhere else. A place that was very dark and ominous, where nothing lived and everything was deathly still... As though time itself had halted, and darkness had consumed everything.
"What...? What is this?" Ash asked, his voice echoing across the forsaken lands.
/What will be, if we fail. Heed this warning, Chosen One. Heed it well./
Suddenly Ash was back in the strange, Aura filled stream again. "Pika Piii?" Pikachu cried out.
"Shh, Pikachu. It's okay..." Ash said. I hope it's the truth.
/Remember what I told you./
Ash clenched his teeth together, closing his eyes and using the Aura once again. It was easier this time. Then, reaching out, he saw something strange. A familiar Aura... One he'd seen before, once.
He focused everything on that Aura, and it came closer... and closer... until he was free of the darkness at last. He landed hard on a hard stone floor somewhere, but at least he was alive.
Opening his eyes, he smiled at Pikachu, who was fine, too.
"Pika?"
"Well, looks like we both made it." Ash smiled.
"Congratulations." A rough and familiar voice said.
Ash and Pikachu looked up at the same time. They were in some old building, that much was obvious, and there was something familiar about the architecture... But the first thing Ash noticed wasn't that. It was the source of the voice, the bearer of the Aura that had guided Ash...
"Lucario!" Ash grinned. "You're alive!"
Lucario smiled weakly. "...Yes, Ash. And I'm not the only one."
"Huh?" Ash asked, dumbfounded. "What do you mean?"
"Exactly what he said." Another voice said, from above them, just as someone jumped down into the room.
It was Sir Aaron.
…
Sir Aaron smiled at Ash and Pikachu, walking over to them. His clothes were different, more modern but still very similar to the ones he used to wear. "Lucario told me all about you, Ash."
"He did?"
"Yes. It was a very intriguing story, too." A puzzled expression crossed his face. "Do you realize how rare it is for two people to have the same Aura?"
"But we do, don't we?" Ash asked.
Sir Aaron and Lucario shared a glance, eyes darkening. "I wish I could tell you." Sir Aaron sighed. "But alas, I can't."
"Why not? You can see other people's Auras with your skills!"
Sir Aaron shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not. That is... not any longer."
It was Ash's turn to look puzzled.
Lucario sighed. "We aren't exactly... well..."
Ash still said nothing.
"Ash, Lucario and I are very ill... Dying, in fact," Sir Aaron said, quietly.
"Dying?" Ash asked, shocked.
Sir Aaron smirked glumly. "Why so shocked? We were both supposed to be dead anyway... We're lucky we're even standing here right now."
"But... How?"
Lucario looked at Aaron, who gave a slight nod. "Well, Ash, it's rather complicated... But I'll try to explain. See, both Aaron and I transferred all of our Aura into Mew... Which should have caused us to die not long after. But for some reason, instead of dying we shattered into a bunch of dust..."
"Yeah... I remember that happening to you, Lucario."
Lucario nodded. "And all that dust floated around for a while, but eventually all of it came to the same place. Here, actually, in Rota. And that's how both of us woke up, only it happened to Sir Aaron several years ago... Right, Sir Aaron?"
"Right," He agreed. "...I woke up here at Cameron Palace, several centuries after the incident at the Tree of Beginnings that should have killed me." For a minute, Aaron's eyes were distant, as though he were thinking of something else. But he soon returned to the present. "However, there is a problem."
Lucario sighed. "Our Auras are still depleted, and slowly running out. We don't know much more about this "Aura sickness" except that it was caused by us sacrificing our Auras to Mew... and that it is fatal."
"You mean you don't know of a cure?"
"Not yet," Aaron sighed. "We're looking for one."
Ash sighed. "Well, that isn't good... Any chance I could help you guys?"
"Pika Pi!"
Ash jumped. "Oh, right! I almost forgot! I'm supposed to be looking for some "Phoenix" thing. I had a... vision... about it, and the gate mentioned it, too."
Lucario looked at Sir Aaron, whose eyes darkened. "Well, actually... Yes. The Phoenix does need help..." Aaron said.
"You know what it is?"
"Both who and what," Aaron said, smiling. "See, the Phoenix actually could refer to two things... One of them is the Pokemon Ho-Oh, which would make sense because Ho-Oh has been captured by Cipher. The second... Well, the second is me."
"Some people call Sir Aaron "the Phoenix" because he returned to life from the dust of his old self."
Ash nodded. "I guess that does make sense. But what do you mean Ho-Oh has been captured by Cipher? I thought they were defeated... Weren't they? Why would they want to capture Ho-Oh?"
Sir Aaron shook his head. "They don't just want to capture Pokemon, they want to do awful and horrible experiments on them that seal their hearts away, making them evil. They've been perfecting their methods, and though their plans have been thwarted several times, they have returned with a vengeance..."
"We don't know what they're up to, but they're seeking out the most powerful Pokemon," Lucario added. "The more powerful, the better to take control of everything."
Sir Aaron's eyes lit in anger. "Yes, but they went too far when they stole away Ho-Oh and Mew."
"They have Mew?" Ash asked. "What are we supposed to do?"
"If only we knew..." Sir Aaron sighed. "Lucario and I do all we can, which isn't much, I'm sorry to say. We're forming a team of... exceptional... trainers to fight Cipher."
"Master, we're talking Ash's ears off. Don't you think it's a bit much for him to take in?"
Sir Aaron chuckled. "I suppose you're right. Forgive me, Ash. Why don't I introduce you to our friends?"
"Sounds great!" Ash said. "Do I get to join?"
"I think you qualify as an exceptional trainer, Ash."
He led Ash and Pikachu down the hall, to a huge underground sanctuary.
"Welcome to the Citadel," Aaron said, smiling. "It's a secret fortress hidden beneath Cameron Palace. It was built sometime after the incident that happened in the past, in case such a situation should arise again." He sighed, before continuing, "I've been trapped here, unable to return to my own time and place because of the Aura Sickness... Time travel could kill me if I attempted it."
"That's awful," Ash said, thinking about how badly Sammy had wanted to return to his own time... How badly he would want to go home, if he were forced to stay away from his.
Aaron led Ash down into the main room. There were several trainers gathered here, all doing some sort of task. There was a kid under a piece of equipment, working on it. Ash could only see his feet. Another trainer was training a group of Pokemon. The red-headed boy seemed harsh, but the Pokemon he was working with seemed to truly respect him.
Aaron smiled at him. "Training going well, Silver?"
He nodded. "Yeah. I'm just about ready," Silver met Ash's gaze, and Ash frowned at the shadows lurking in Silver's demeanor. "I'm still not good enough, though. Not by a long-shot."
Aaron shook his head. "You know better, Silver. You're doing fine. You weren't chosen for no reason."
Silver frowned, turning away. "Yeah, well... I'm used to being overlooked. Crobat! Sneasel! Double the effort! You too, Typhlosion!" The Pokemon responded to Silver's commands as though it were second nature to them.
As Ash, Aaron, and Lucario walked away, Lucario shook his head. Aaron shared a glance with his friend and partner. "What is it?"
Lucario sighed. "Silver's good, don't get me wrong... But his past is troubled. It worries me."
Aaron shrugged. "His heart is in the right place. The rest will come in time."
Next, there was a girl sitting at a desk, working with a Cyndaquil. Unless Ash were mistaken, she seemed to be talking to it. She had blond hair that was tied up in pigtails that for some reason made Ash think of a Pikachu's ears...
Ash looked at Lucario in confusion.
"Pika." He said, smiling. "Why don't you go say hi to her, Ash?"
Ash walked over to the couch. Indeed, the girl was talking to it... but not exactly the way Ash had thought.
"Pika Pi?" She asked.
"Cyndaquil!"
She laughed. "Pika Pika!"
"Excuse me?" Ash asked.
The girl started. "I didn't see you there!"
"Cyndaquil." The Cyndaquil looked amused.
The girl shot the Cyndaquil a mildly annoyed look. "No, Firebolt, I doubt my Dimensional Scream ability should have warned me."
"So, his name is Firebolt?" Ash asked. "Is he your Pokemon?"
"No, he's my partner," she said. "But yeah, his name is Firebolt."
"I'm Ash... and you're Pika? Is that your name?"
She nodded. "It's what everyone calls me, anyway. When I was little I wanted to be a Pikachu when I grew up, so people started calling me Pika, and it stuck."
"That's cool."
"Is that Pikachu yours?"
"Yeah, he is," Ash grinned. "Pikachu's always been one of my best friends."
Pika smiled at him. "Cool. Firebolt and I have been friends for a little while now... Ever since we first met each other."
"Pika, why don't you tell Ash about your abilities?" Aaron suggested.
"Can she use Aura, too?" Ash asked.
"No," Pika said, "But I do have some special skills. See... I can understand all Pokemon because... Well... I've been one before."
Ash started. "You've what?"
Pika grinned sheepishly. "See, I'm originally from this awful timeline where time itself is forever stopped... No seasons, no wind, no sunrise..."
Ash swallowed, feeling very faint all of a sudden as Pika's words recalled the horrible place the voice had shown him. /What will be, if we fail. Heed this warning, Chosen One. Heed it well./
Pika was still talking, though, and Ash tried to hear what she was saying. "Me and my old partner Grovyle vowed to save the world, even if doing so and changing history meant we'd cease to exist," For a moment, Pika's eyes clouded over. "We got separated, and I fell through time to a place where only Pokemon live, no humans... And while I stayed there, I wasn't human anymore. I was a Pikachu, just like your partner."
"Really?" Ash tried to sound unworried.
"Yep," Pika smiled. "I have another ability, too... It's called the Dimensional Scream."
"The what?" Ash was becoming increasingly confused.
Pika sighed. "It's complicated... But just think of it as a sort of telepathy that allows me to see either the past or the future of something or someone when I touch it... And when I have a trusted partner with me."
Ash thought about this for a moment. "I can see how that would be useful..." His brow wrinkled as he struggled to compute everything Pika had said. "So you're from a future that no longer exists? Shouldn't you be... You know..."
"Gone?" Pika asked. "Yeah, I should be. But Dialga pitied me and Firebolt, so he distorted time so that I could come back."
Suddenly there was a crash and Ash turned around to look. Sir Aaron had collapsed and was coughing uncontrollably. "Master!" Lucario shouted, worried.
Ash ran to Sir Aaron's side. Finally, just when everyone was really scared, the coughing quieted.
"...Water. Please." Sir Aaron whispered. Lucario ran to get some.
"What just happened?" Ash asked.
Sir Aaron smiled weakly. "The sickness, Ash."
Lucario returned with a tall glass of water, and Aaron drank it slowly. He sighed weakly when it was drained. "Better?" Lucario asked, and Sir Aaron nodded.
"Does this happen often?" Ash asked.
Sir Aaron shook his head. "Only recently... And only to me. Lucario isn't as... progressed... as I am. I've had it for years, he hasn't even been here for one year yet. But it's working faster on Lucario than it did on me... He's already shown signs beyond the initial ones, and it took more than a year for that to happen to me..." Aaron's eyes took on the distant look again, but he shook his head and stood up carefully.
"Do you have any idea why?" Pika asked.
Aaron looked at her, then nodded. "Lucario's a Pokemon. It probably affects him differently... Besides that, Aura relates to the heart, and... There are many factors that could have helped me."
Ash looked from Sir Aaron to Lucario, and then to Pika. First, his expression was sad, but then it turned to his trademark determined look.
"I'm going to help you. I have to."
...
Author: The editing for this chapter took a lot longer than I thought it would. Argh. This is the one where the bigger changes start happening (like their location being Rota, and Silver being there already) so the parts I wanted to keep had to be altered to fit the new plotlines. Hopefully it's all still coherent. (I'm pretty sure it is, though. I spent extra time re-reading through it to make sure it made sense.)
Thanks to my reviewers! (It means a lot, really.)
I'll try to update asap. I do promise it won't take as long as this one did next time.
See you next time!