Frozen Heart and the Beast Within: Ash's Realization

The wide theater screen displayed various horrifying scenes at a rapid pace, showing a certain raven-haired boy what he had done to countless people over time. All Ash could do was shake and clutch his head before releasing a loud prolonged scream as he witnessed what he had done.

After countless scenes, the screen vanished, leaving the lanky boy to rock back and forth with his knees pulled to his chest while his eyes poured like waterfalls.

"That couldn't be me! There's no way I would do things like that! Even Pikachu changed!"

Ash kept yelling at nothing, until his mind finally couldn't take any more and the world began fading away. As his head hit the invisible ground, all he could say before losing it completely was

"What... have I... become?"

Time passed him by as the young boy floated through nothingness, tears still running down his cheeks, body twisting and turning as his newly-accumulated memories flooded his mind. His whimpering echoed throughout the void. The boy couldn't take it; he wanted his life to end, but knew the damage he had done wouldn't just vanish along with him. Ash knew that he was nowhere, and that his body was floating, but for some reason he could tell that he had stopped, and was now laying on something soft.

Brown eyes fluttered open as the raven-haired boy sat up and rubbed his temples in an attempt to clear his mind. After focusing a bit, he was able to push all his pain to one side of his mind where he would be able to ignore it, a difficult feat for one who typically only focused on battling or eating. He knew something was different about him, but he put those thoughts aside as well as he stood up and dusted off his already clean clothes.

Satisfied, he finally looked up and immediately took a step back from what was in front of him; eyes widening. In front of the young boy was a simple pond with a small waterfall trickling in a corner. Surrounded by tall trees and lush grass, Pokemon were at the pond's edge sipping up the refreshing liquid or napping under the moonlight. This would have been a peaceful sight if it wasn't for the fact that the pond's water was black, the trees were dead, the grass and moon were red, and the Pokemon were nothing but bones and shredded pieces of flesh.

Ash couldn't believe what he was seeing; what was this place and why was it so twisted?

His mind formed countless questions as he stared at the scene before him, but it was halted as bubbles had begun forming in the middle of the pond. The first thing he saw emerge was round, and as it came closer to the surface, he was ably to identify it as a human being. But something wasn't right about this figure. She had long brown hair that fell to her waist but was tied at the end to form a small ponytail, wore a plain white dress that ended at the knees, and was bare-foot as she walked on the water's surface. On her back were two long black wings that uncurled themselves slowly.

The figure continued its slow advance until it was standing in front of Ash, showing a small small and laughing quietly.

For some reason this figure reminded the raven-haired boy of someone, and after pondering it for awhile his mouth fell open and he fell immediately to his knees. While on the ground, his eyes were wide open and he pointed at the figure, trying his best to speak and failing before finally shaking his head and gasping out..."MOM!"

The figure closed its eyes and laughed before bending over the boy and pecking him on his nose.

The two stayed like that for awhile before the figure stood back up and went to the water's edge. She seemed to hum something before turning around and speaking for the first time.

"Sorry Ashy-boy, but I am not your mother...at least not technically."

The woman's voice sounded angelic, but Ash could hear a small amount of his mother's voice in it as well. A pregnant silence fell over the two, eventually causing Ash to stand up and speak.

"Then, if you're not my mother, who are you? And what is this place?"

The woman started to hum again. This time Ash recognized the song, but couldn't quite put his finger on how. While Ash was pondering, he didn't hear the woman speak, but was brought back to reality after being hit in the back of his head. The figured chuckled before giving the boy a serious face.

"This, Ash, is your mind."

"My...Mind?"

Now Ash was definitely confused.

"Come on, you should know this place."

He did feel that this place looked familiar, after all...

"Yes," she released another breath before continuing, "Everything you see now was once full of life, but that all changed after that disturbing event."

Ash felt like fainting, but he needed answers.

"What do you mean, 'that disturbing event'? And why did everything die?"

"Everything was peaceful here. The grass and trees were a healthy green, the water was blue and clear, the moon was bright and gave off the most luminous light ever seen, and the Pokemon and I loved it here. But after that event, the moon dimmed and turned red, the waterfall poured black water that caused the grass to grow red and the trees to die, and soon after that, the Pokemon lost all their forms and became the beings you see now. Come on, you should remember what it was like before all this happened. You used to play here a lot."

Ash couldn't believe it; this place transformed into this all due to one event? After focusing a bit, he suddenly remembered, as if a thick fog had been lifted from his mind.

"I remember now! This place was beautiful and I came here every time something bad happened to escape all the pain I went through! But for some reason I hardly remember you...?"

"Yes, it's true. This was your sanctuary and I am a bit saddened you don't remember me, but it is not your fault. Sit down here while I explain a few things."

The woman sat down and patted the grass next to her. At first he was reluctant to go, but Ash made his way over to her none the less and sat down where she'd indicated.

"Now, let me tell you who I am. I am a spirit you made when you were young, by the way, you named me Shana, that way when you came here, you would have to someone to play with and feel safe around. When I was created, you made me like your mother, so in a way, you were correct earlier. Anyway, I was born to protect you when your mother wasn't around and to protect this area from the darkness you also had."

All poor Ash could do was nod and listen as she told her tale.

"The reason you are here and have lost some of your memories was due to the event that made you lose yourself to your own darkness. Right now you can't remember any events that led up to the main one, but after I help you a bit you should be able to push a little amount of your darkness away and remember. But I warn you that once this happens, you might self destruct and never find happiness again."

Ash stared wide-eyed and with mouth agape; he couldn't believe it.

"Before I get back to that event, let me explain about what happened with your darkness. At first it was simple to protect this area, but after those events took place, the darkness grew stronger. When it was created, it was merely a blob. After a while, it took on the form of an infant, but it still lacked the power to beat me. As time went by, however, the dark infant turned into a small boy, and to my surprise it looked just like you. When I met this boy, I could tell that it was pure evil, but what I couldn't grasp was that you were capable of harboring it all. It started to become a hassle to fight with, since it continued to grow, but when this area changed to what it is now, that small boy had turned out to look exactly as you are now, and the first time I saw him, I knew that there was a chance I would fail."

As Shana continued her tale, the raven-haired boy only cried as he realized that he was the reason this once-beautiful area had become so warped.

"I met the dark you right here. At first we just stared at each other, but to my surprise it just smiled when I warned it to leave."

(yay flashback ^w^)

"Get out of here now, before the master comes back."

The figure in front of her merely laughed murderously before snapping its fingers.

"What are you doi-AAAAHHHHH!"

Shana looked down and saw black chains at her feet. They quickly moved upwards, and before she could do anything she was caught.

"As you can see, you are no match for me now. As for your master...I will be him soon enough."

With that said, the dark boy left, but not before trapping Shana in a small black sphere and sending it to the bottom of the pond for an eternity of sleep.

"Now that she's gone, it's time to take my rightful place."

(waaaaaahhh! Flashback ended ;-; )

"I was in that sphere for a long time, but what the dark one didn't know was that you would awaken and, which in turn released me. Now I think it's time to tell you why you are here. As you can guess, the dark one succeeded in taking over your mind, but you have the power to push him back into his cage and put a stop to his evil plan to take full control over you. In order for that to happen, we need you to unlock the powers you carry within you, though I'm sorry to say that I don't know how to unlock them, and until you do I can't help you."

With that said, she looked up at the blood moon while humming a small tune. Next to her was her master, shaking and surprised. Ash couldn't believe what he heard, and if he didn't unlock his powers soon, something horrible was going to happen.

"Quick question."

"Yes?"

"In order for him to take control over my body, what does he need to do?"

Shana immediately tensed and shivered; Ash knew that her answer was going to be horrible, but what he didn't know was that her answer would destroy his world.

"Are you sure you want to know that information?"

Shana was trying her best to change his mind since the answer was indeed going to ruin him forever.

"Yes!"

"He has to kill your true happiness."

Ash didn't understand, and he knew she did that on purpose.

"Simple terms!"

"Fine, he has to kill your true love, so in other words his target is..."

She hesitated; she didn't want to tell him this.

"TELL ME!"

"Gary."

With that said, the land shook as he stared at her blankly; he wasn't expecting this. His first and only friend/love was going to die because of his darkness. He pulled his knees to his chest and rocked back and forth while finally releasing the tears he'd fought so hard to hold back. Shana felt sorry for her master, and as a motherly reflex she pulled him into a hug and hummed quietly to calm him down.

Ash was still shaking in her arms, but as soon as he heard that tune he froze; he finally remembered why it sounded so familiar. When he was young, his mother would come in to his room and sing him to sleep. Even though the song was sad, he still loved it. As his memories flooded back, he immediately started to sing the sad song his mother had.

As Ash's song filled the void, a loud voice was heard.

"What is happening?"

"Hmm, seems like he unlocked his powers."

Shana gave a small smile as she looked at her young master.

As Ash sung, he soon found himself back in his own body, wind rushing through his hair and hitting his face as he sat on top of a tower. When he looked down, he finally got to see his love again. Gary was staring at him as tears fell down his face, but sadly it didn't last long as he felt himself being pulled back into the void. Before leaving he released a small tears as his song finally ended and he was gone yet again.