Revival Chapter Nine: Black and Blue

Growing shadows obscured and concealed as Misty and Ash, who was still carrying Max, ran down the stream. Splashes echoed in their ears along with the cries of their pursuers. Ash was starting to slow down the added burden of Max was starting to take its toll. He came to a stand still, lungs burning. Every breath he took felt like fire running down his windpipe. Misty noticed Ash had stopped.

"Ash!" She shouted. "We need to hurry!" The cries were coming closer.

"Misty, you take Max, I'll hold them off." He didn't know why he said it, he wanted to get away from whatever was behind them badly, but a small voice inside his head urged him to make a stand.

"Are you on drugs!" Misty screamed. "Whatever the heck is out there is going to get you if you just stand there like a gaping idiot!"

Ash took a deep breath. "Trust me," he said calmly. Misty's tirade came to a screeching halt. Ash was an idiot, but he knew what he was doing, sometimes. Hopefully, this would be one of them.

"Fine, I'll take Max." Ash handed Max over to the teen. "Just don't do anything too stupid, you hear me?"

"When was the last time I did something stupid?"

She shook her head. Ash watched her go, carrying Max on her back. He turned back around, ready to face the attackers. In the fading light, he could finally see the pursuers, a pack of houndoom and mightyena, three of each, looking ravenous. Pikachu bared his ruff and growled at the would be attackers, sparks trailing from his cheeks.

As he watched them get closer and closer, time seemed to slow, then come to a grinding halt. It felt like something had broke free from his mind, and the words of Blaidd rang in his head "Clear your mind of nothing else except the Aura. Then everything will come to you." Somehow, faced with impeding danger, his mind had unlocked the ability to clear his mind. The world changed to outlines of shades of blue, signs that he had connected with Aura. "Aw, not now," he cursed. He tried to go back to how he saw before, but failed to. Meanwhile, the pack was nearly on them. Pikachu reacted, sending out a lightning bolt, lighting up the area for a split second, until it hit one of the houndoom. It spasmed and twitched as the electricity surged through all of its muscles. Overloaded with the energy, its heart gave out and it pitched over, crashing into another houndoom, dead.

Ash held his hands out instinctively and they became sheathed in a blazing blue fire. The color was a darker shade than Blaidd's but it was the same substance, nonetheless.

Aura.

The fire congealed into an orb, and Ash commanded it to attack the pack. The sphere flew out from between his hands and it struck a mightyena in the legs, shattering them. It collapsed into the stream, tripping up one of its comrades. Another skillfully leaped over the fallen mightyena and continued its assault. Pikachu stepped out in front of the mightyena and swung with an iron tail attack. The mightyena's head twisted funny and the bones in its neck snapped with the force of the iron tail attack, falling down in front of Ash and Pikachu. But there were still others to contend with. Ash sent out two more of the blue spheres, cracking the ribs of one of the remaining houndoom, while the other missed the group completely. The motion drained Ash of most of his strength, and he realized that he couldn't keep the Aura up much longer. The vision of blue went away, leaving Ash back in a world of a quickly approaching night.

He pulled out the heavy knife from its pocket sheath, remembering how Blaidd touted the uses for the weapon, one of which was defending himself from rampaging pokemon, just like now. The knife trembled in his hands as he shook with fright. Pikachu had engaged with a houndoom, ducking and dodging the houndoom's vicious fangs while retaliating with strikes of his own, which left Ash with a mightyena. The pokemon snarled and leaped, ignoring Mia's mental commands as it sought revenge for the slaying of its comrades. Ash flung the knife upwards, watching in horror as the knife sunk deep into the beast's chest cavity. Mightyena struggled to get free of the weapon in its chest, causing the knife to sink deeper and deeper. It clawed at Ash's face, but he was able to keep the beast away from his face by adrenaline alone. Blood spilled all over his clothes and hat in a red waterfall, filling the air with the metallic, coppery tang of spilt blood. Ash pointed the knife downward and the mightyena slid off of the knife, tainting the steam's waters with blood. Ash saw the light go out in the creature's eyes, replaced by the glassiness of death.

Pikachu came up beside him and tugged at his pant leg. "Chu?" he asked plaintively, concerned for his trainer, who saw in a state of shock. Ash looked over and saw the remaining houndoom in some brush, it's legs twitching with the overflow of electricity. A slight smell of singed fur mingled with the heavy scent of blood. The whole area smelt like death.

Ash picked up the small pokemon, taking comfort in its presence, despite his bloody clothes. "I'm alright buddy." he paused. "No, I'm not alright. I just killed a pokemon for Mew's sake. I'm a trainer, I'm supposed to befriend pokemon, not try to kill them." His eyes went down to his gloved hands, which were liberally covered in blood, the knife in the hand not holding Pikachu. He knelt down and washed the blade in the stream, desperately trying to avoid eye contact with the dead mightyena. He had no desire to be reminded of his crimes. The beast's eyes stared blankly ahead, as if accusing Ash of the crime. "Let's go find the others, okay?"

Pikachu chirruped a reply, and Ash wondered if the small mouse pokemon felt guilt over slaying the pokemon. Battles were designed so that a pokemon's strength wasn't as full strength when fighting. If they were, then pokemon battles would be bathed in blood, like in the olden days before pokeballs were invented. Ash had a feeling he didn't. It probably thought more about the survival of him and his beloved trainer than questioning the morals of his actions.

Night had finally fallen in the forest, making it impossible to see. Ash pulled out a pokeball. "Quilava, can you give us some light?"

The fire pokemon nodded and the flames on his back lit up, lighting the way for them. Quilava occasionally looked over his shoulder, his eyes going to Ash's blood stained clothing. "Quil?"

"Don't worry Quilava, it isn't mine," Ash reassured the pokemon, "But a part of me wishes it was, maybe then I wouldn't feel so bad."

XXXXXXXXXX

Misty had a small fire burning as she wrapped Max's ankle, which had swelled up slightly during their flight. Brock had the full blown first-aid kit, but everyone had a smaller version of it, in cases of emergencies like this. Her blue-green eyes cast about worriedly around them as she waited for everyone to return. It was now nighttime, and the forest always seemed to have a darker cast to it at night.

"How's your ankle?" she asked, trying to take her mind off the situation.

"It feels better." Max wiggled his toes, testing the bandage. Misty didn't have any ice to bring down the swelling, so she used the next best thing, cold water from her politoed's water gun attack. "Thank you." He looked about the campsite. "I hope May gets back soon."

"She'll be fine," Misty tried to reassure him.

"I know, but it's taking so long."

There was a rustle in the bushes and Misty sprang up, hand to her pokemon. A quilava stepped into the clearing, followed by Ash, with Pikachu in his arms. Ash looked haggard and worn, with blood stained clothing.

"Ash, you're bleeding!" She exclaimed, catching sight of his garments.

He looked down, as if he just noticed them. "They aren't mine," he said, a mournful tone in his voice.

"Then who's are-" she started to ask, but the haunted look in Ash's eyes pleaded her not to, and she stopped in mid-question. Pikachu leaped out of Ash's arms and scampered towards Max, who was elevating his foot on a log Misty had found. Ash took off his blood soaked clothing and knelt by the stream and started to wash the garments in silence.

A couple of minutes later, The others arrived as well, safe and sound, although Drew was soaking wet and cold. May went to Max, to comfort him, enveloping her younger sibling in a hug

"Heat!" He proclaimed and ran by the fire, hoping to get dry and warm.

Misty cocked an eyebrow. "What's with him?"

"Well, Mr. Hero had to play rodeo with a houndoom and flew right over a waterfall." May jerked a thumb in his general direction. May's eyes softened. "But he's still a hero."

Drew flashed a cocky smile. "Hey, I'll remember that next time when we have an argument. It'll now be my trump card."

"Oh jeez."

Ash joined the group, tossing his wet jacket, hat and gloves by the fire to get dry, wearing only his black shirt and jeans. His hair fell messily about his face, giving him a rebel like look. Misty took notice of how the shirt stretched somewhat over his upper torso, giving indications of muscles underneath and she flushed, but fortunately, the others saw it as heat from the fire.

"Looks like everyone's okay," Ash started, sitting down between Blaidd and Brock. He wanted to ask Blaidd so badly about tonight, how he was able to use his Aura, but sleep beckoned to him, as did the others. He yawned. "I'm going to hit the sack. Today's been a long day."

"No kidding," Brock added.

Blaidd stood up. "Ash's right. We can recuperate at Pewter City when we arrive there." Blaidd pulled out a pocket map with Cameran Palace and the surrounding region. "After Pewter City, we head through the mountains northwards until we reach Naiad River, then we'll follow the river eastward until we hit this valley." Blaidd pointed to a small valley drawn on the map. "There are villages there, so we can restock there. From there, we'll continue to head in a northeasterly direction until we hit Cameran Palace." Blaidd furled the map back up. "Good night everyone." The group pulled out their sleeping bags and huddled close to the fire, for safety and heat. Blaidd offered to take watch again.

Misty watched Ash as he turned away from and went to sleep, Pikachu curled up in a small ball by the trainer's head. Something happened while Ash was alone, and she was determined to find out what. When she saw him, he had a haunted look in his eyes, like he did something unspeakable, and that was what worried her. "You can't just keep it in there," she thought. "You'll continue to feel worse and worse about it until you can't take it anymore. I wish you would trust me and tell me what happened." she closed her eyes and fell into a fitful sleep, a dreamless and deep sleep.

XXXXXXXXXX

Eldrin paced as he awaited the return of the pack. It had been nearly two hours, and there was still no sign of the pokemon. The teens couldn't have gotten that far from them, could they? "Stella, Mia, go down the streams and check on the pokemon."

Mia shot Eldrin a dirty look; she hated to be bossed around, but he was the leader, she had to listen to him. Stella had already left down the left side, so Mia took the right. Fifteen minutes later, the two women came back, their expressions like granite. "They're dead," Mia spoke, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean, 'dead'?"

"The pokemon, they're dead. Nearly all of them were killed." Stella added, placing two pokeballs in Eldrin's open palm.

Eldrin opened the balls to reveal two of the remaining pokemon, a houndoom with broken ribs along its left side, and a mightyena with shattered front legs. Both of the belonged to Eldrin. His eyes widened and his face paled at the sight. He knelt next to the whimpering pokemon. He had raised them both from when they were pups, now they were gravely injured, on the precipice of death. He placed them back into their respective balls. "Stella, do you have any flying types on you?"

"Just my fearow, why?"

Eldrin thrust the pair of pokeballs at her. "Because you're taking them back to the island, now."

"I'm not some slave to boss around all the time, Eldrin!"

"Well, I can't send Mia off. She's a tracker, I need her. You're not, you're just a soldier, therefore, you're going."

Stella snarled, but agreed reluctantly. The pokemon needed attention, and fast, before they would die. She summoned her fearow and climbing on the back of the vicious bird, flew off into the night sky, Eldrin's pokemon shoved in a satchel.

Eldrin watched the fearow disappear, then turned to Mia. "We'll make camp here for the night. Then, we'll go after that brat. The Master will have him alive, but not before I have my way with him."

I always like giving my villains some sort of redeeming quality. Eldrin cares for his pokemon, he doesn't see them as tools like the others.