Disclaimer: I own neither Hellsing nor Pokémon, they are owned by their respective owners.
Chapter 9: Enemies and Revelations
"A-Ash, w-what happened to me?" asked Dawn.
Ash remained as silent and expressionless as a rock.
"Ash, please, answer me," pleaded the young girl.
Ash still did not reply, which only caused Dawn to change mood from fearful and confused to frustrated.
"Ash answer me!"
The young man still didn't respond, and Dawn was ready to rip Ash's throat out of his neck when the man in the military outfit spoke.
"Before we begin retelling you what happened last night, tell us what do you remember of last evening's events after you met Mr. Ketchum here," he said. say
Dawn, losing her earlier anger, closed her eyes in thoughtful concentration. After a moment, she finally said.
"Can you please tell me your name first?" she asked.
The man looked at her, his eyes meeting that of the young vampire's, and Dawn wondered if he was trying to bore a hole through her head. A few tense minutes of silence passed, and then the man spoke once more.
"My name is Hans Gunche, but others call me the Captain, my rank before I retired from the military. Now tell us what you remember of last night," said the Captain.
Dawn nodded. "After we met Ash, we took him to a restaurant. I got a burger, mom got a salad, and Ash got – Ash, why did want a nearly raw piece of meat? I don't even think that was cooked!"
Smiling as the momentary lapse of seriousness, Ash opened his mouth to reply when the Captain cut him off. "We have no time for such childish amusement, the sooner you will understand you condition, the sooner we can go about our usual businesses."
"Condition, what condition?" asked Dawn.
"You questions will be answered later during out explanation, right now, tell us what happened next."
Though disappointed that all her queries remained unanswered, Dawn nevertheless continued with her tale. "After we ate dinner, Ash asked mom why she was here, and then asked her all about Pokémon Coordinating. We left the restaurant then. Mom and I were heading back to the hotel when this man grabbed mom and took her to an alley. Mom was holding me at that time, so I was dragged in as well. That man demanded all of our money and rings and earrings, he was also holding a gun, so we really had can't do anything about it. After that, the man then talked something about giving me pleasure –"
Prostitute! And I thought no one could sink any lower, bringing children to that horrid profession. If I had gotten there any sooner I would have ripped that man apart limb from limb, organ to organ! These thoughts were going through the Captain's head as he listened to Dawn.
"-and so after that, the man grabbed mom's hands, I don't know what came over me but then I bit the man's hand. He tried to pull me off, but I only bit harder. That's until he threw me against the wall, I think I hit my head first, and after that, I woke up here," said Dawn, finishing her story. She waited eagerly for both males to respond, to tell her what was going on, to tell her where her mother was.
She did not have to wait very long.
Ash, still looking at Dawn with a face that would make a statue proud, finally decided to let himself known.
"Come with me, I would like to show you something," said Ash.
Ash led Dawn outside the little hut. She followed him to the back of the hut. What she immediately saw were two mounds of earth. One was kept clean and organized, and even had a headstone carved from a stone with what seemed to be a spoon. The other one looked like somebody simply dug a grave, placed the body, covered it up, and proceeded to leave, but not before urinating on it, as Dawn can still smell a faint trace of urine on the ground above said pile of earth.
"Who peed on this?" asked Dawn, pointing to the urinated heap of dirt.
"I did," was Ash's reply.
Dawn frowned. Why did Ash bring me here in the first place? She thought.
"Why did you bring me here?"
Ash looked at her. "I think you can guess," he said, his tone a mixture of sadness, fear, and a hint of anger.
Dawn looked at the mounds again, her mind racing through all the possibilities. Then it clicked. She slowly ambled toward the mounds; she then kneeled before the two graves, and looked at the clean one. She looked at Ash, her eyes threatening to spill a flood at any second.
"Ash," she pointed towards the clean grave," this is mom, right?"
Ash nodded. And, finally, a stream of tears and sadness ran down Dawn's face. She cried for a long time, remembering all of the good and bad moments with her mother at her side, always supporting her, cheering her up, pushing her forward. All of those happy memories, memories that will never again be repeated for eternity, she was all alone now, and there was nothing she could do about it.
When she finally stopped crying, gave one last look at her mother's resting place, and whispered, "Goodnight mom."
Wiping her tears, she stood up, turned to Ash, and then to the other mound. She looked at it for a time, and then realized what it was. She looked at Ash. She was giving off killing intent that made many of the local Pokémon flee the area.
"This is where the killer is buried isn't it?"
Ash nodded once more.
Dawn returned her gaze to the grave of her mother's killer. If looks could kill, then the man would have been dead a thousand times over. She finally looked back at Ash, but not before spitting onto the grave and stepping on it with her boot.
She walked back to Ash.
"How did the man die?" she asked. She was in a mood to kill, and if her question wasn't answered soon, something will die.
But the only thing that was killed was the mood itself once Ash told her how he killed the man.
"I bit him and drank his blood," replied the vampire.
This caught Dawn completely off-guard. She did not expect Ash to be the one to kill the man, let alone kill him in the most disturbing way possible.
"You d-drank his blood?" she asked, more out of curiosity than fear.
"Yes, I did."
Dawn was at a loss for words. Here was a child nearly her age, who took on a fully grown man, and not only held his ground but also manage to kill him, and by draining the blood out of the unfortunate, for others at least, fellow. It was somehow discomforting for Dawn to realize that she should be more afraid than this, but she wasn't. She was broken out of her musing when Ash started talking again.
"You must be thinking how I did this, let me be blunt, I am a vampire."
Dawn stared at him, disbelief etched all over her face. She could not believe it. Vampires exist? She started towards him, held out her hand, and touched his face. He was solid. She looked at her hand; they were shaking, and then back at Ash, who was carrying an almost amused expression.
Ash then reached into his eyes, and Dawn can only stare as he pulled out a kind of membrane from his eyes, she followed his hands, Ash placed the contact lenses into his pocket. She slowly returned her gaze back to his face, and gasped in shock.
Ash's eyes were red.
Dawn was now breathing hard. She had just been thrown into a wall, shot twice, woke up to find out she craved blood, learned that her mother was dead, and that vampires exist. Any human would have fainted from the shock, but Dawn was not human anymore. And the revelations are not over yet.
Still breathing harder than normal, she once again turned her eyes back to the vampire, Ash, who was still looked like he was both amused and bemused. Once she was able to catch her breath, the trainer spoke again, however, this time Dawn caught a hint of regret, as if he was afraid of telling her this piece of information.
"Have you looked at you face lately Dawn?"
This confused Dawn, here was Ash talking about vampires and suddenly he asked her if she had looked into a mirror recently.
"Last night, before mom and I went out shopping, why?"
"What is the color of your eyes?"
"Blue, Ash why are you asking me these stupid ques-," Dawn's sentence was cut short however, when she understood the reason why Ash was asking her all of these questions.
She shakily put a hand underneath her eye.
"A-Ash, my eyes, are my eyes…" she started, only to stop because Ash reached into his pocket to pull out a small mirror. Dawn slowly looked into the reflective glass, and her fears were confirmed.
Her eyes were also red, a deep blood red not unlike that of Ash's. She gazed into the mirror longer, as if waiting for any changes. Nothing.
Returning the mirror to Ash, Dawn gazed into his crimson orbs, and then she asked the million dollar question.
"I'm, I'm a vampire now aren't I?"
Ash nodded solemnly, his eyes tearing away from hers, it was apparent he could not bear to see the sadness he thought would be in Dawn's face. If it was sadness that was etched in Dawn's face.
"Why?" Nope, it was more of curiosity than anything else.
Ash turned to look at her again, Dawn was wearing her face like someone whose anger and sadness was fading away, and was replaced by an overpowering urge to satisfy his interest.
"Why did you bite me Ash?" Dawn asked again. She did not question him who was responsible for her transformation. Somehow, she knew that it was Ash who bit her.
Ash turned his gaze down, deep in thought. He finally spoke a moment afterward.
'It was Miss Johanna's request. When I came to the alley, you were already knocked out, while Miss Johanna was bleeding very badly off to one side. After I killed the man, I went over to Miss Johanna, if I didn't know that there was only one adult woman there, I would not have known it was her. Her face was covered in bullet holes, and her body was no better. Even if I bit her too, she would not survive."
Ash paused, waiting for Dawn to allow him to continue, which she did.
"Go on."
"When I finally reached her, she looked at me, and then asked me that I save you, and let you enjoy your life, she died after that."
He paused again, and saw Dawn looking back towards the grave of Johanna, and gaped in mild surprise when he saw Dawn walk back towards the graves, kneeled in front of her mother's grave, and said quietly.
"Thanks for caring mom," her voice was a mixture of grief, happiness, and pride. "No need to worry, I'll enjoy every second of my life you bought for me, and I'll become the greatest Pokémon Coordinator the world has even seen!" she added, smiling softly all the while.
She walked back to Ash, still smiling that sad smile.
"Thanks for giving me a second chance Ash."
Ash also smiled. "So, what are your plans now?" he asked.
This gave Dawn pause; she had never considered where she would be heading after last night's ordeal. Obviously she cannot go to any of her mother's relatives, being a vampire completely prevented that, and she has no idea who they are, let alone where they live.
"Um, I don't know."
"Then let me help you. I just became a vampire last year, and the one who bit me was a member of a group of vampire hunters, ironic, I know, known as Hellsing. They hunt down supernatural creatures who cause trouble or are overpopulated."
Dawn nodded.
"Anyway, like I said, this vampire, Miss Seras Victoria, was a member of Hellsing, and so I am a member now as well, and now you are a member," continued Ash.
Dawn nodded once more. She does not know what she would do after last night, and being a member of this Hellsing is better than just wandering around.
"So, are you in or not?" asked Ash.
Dawn shrugged. "Sure, it's not like I have anywhere to go now. Plus maybe they can train me in becoming like you."
Ash blinked. "Like me?"
Dawn smiled. "Yeah, like you. I mean, you killed that man who killed my mom, and if I don't want that to happen to anybody else then I would have to know what I can do, and how to use that properly."
Ash mirrored her smile. "Alright then, that settles it, we're going to Viridian city to let them know about you, then after that we'll have to go to Hellsing manor so that Sir Integra will know of their newest vampire."
Dawn chuckled. "You sound like you've practiced what you said a long time ago."
Ash rolled his eyes. "Sure, anything you say."
They finally went back to the hut, where the Captain was waiting for them.
"I take it you have understood everything now?" he asked.
Dawn looked at him, determination in her eyes. "Yes, I do."
The Captain nodded, and then looked at Ash. "Where do you plan on going now?"
"I want to go to Cerulean city first, because that's where my next badge would be, and after that we would head straight for Viridian city to let Hellsing know about Dawn."
The Captain gave him a look of understanding. "Very well, I have no further obligations in this matter, if there is nothing else, I shall be on my way, I have werewolves to torture."
Dawn gasped. "You're a werewolf?"
Before the Captain can answer, Ash replied. "Don't worry Dawn, he's on our side, and yes, vampire and werewolves have fought before, but not now, now they are allies, sort of."
Dawn gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, well I guess if you two were enemies you would be attacking each other by now."
Both rolled their eyes. "Whatever, I will see you two around," said the Captain, turning around and leaving the hut, his bag of groceries with him. A few minutes of silence passed.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Dawn.
"I guess I could call Miss Seras to tell her about what happened," replied Ash as he took out his cell phone, which gave an annoying beep.
"Well, that's just nice, no signal, we'll have to go to Cerulean city to call her."
And with that, both left the hut, the graves, and Dawn's sadness, and went off to Cerulean city.
A few minutes later…
"Wait, Ash."
"What?"
"I just noticed, we're walking in the sunlight."
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Shouldn't we be burning by now?"
Ash chuckled. "Don't worry, the one that bit Miss Seras, Master Alucard, was the most powerful vampire in existence, he can go about in the sun with only a slight weakening of his powers. And those he bit, like Miss Seras, can also walk about in the sun, and so on, but I think the effect's getting weaker the farther you are away from Alucard, so I can't stay in the sun all day, and you even less, otherwise you'll get weak."
Dawn nodded. "Okay, how many hours do you think is allowed for me to be under the sun?"
"I don't know, eight hours?" replied Ash, clearly pulling a number from out of nowhere. "Better just stay out of the sun if you can avoid it."
Dawn shrugged, and they continued on their way.
Nighttime arrived soon after.
Both were now walking in a small village, rather a group of houses far from civilization. And immediately Ash noticed something odd.
"That's weird; it's what, seven in the evening? The lights should be on by now," he said, looking around the dark path that is the center of the village.
"You're right, what's going on here?" Dawn added, now noticing the oddity as well.
Ash was instantly on guard. "Be careful Dawn, something is wrong here, and we don't know what."
Dawn mouthed an agreement, and the two went on their way, albeit more alert than earlier.
And Ash was right, there was something going on. When they reached the center of the village, they heard sounds of a feast, like a hundred people eating at the same time.
Ash started towards the sounds, with Dawn behind him, obviously scared.
"Wait, Ash, where are you going?"
"Where else? To investigate."
"B-but, what if it's dangerous?" asked Dawn, afraid.
"Then I kill them."
Dawn does not know why she was still following Ash after that, but she did.
Just before they reached the source of the sound, Ash pulled out some things from his pocket. They looked like candy, popping one in his mouth, he gave some to Dawn, saying, "here Dawn, eat some of this. This is blood candy, thought it might give us a boost in case something happens."
Dawn nodded, and she too popped the candy into her mouth.
They soon arrived at the scene. Hiding behind some bushes, they watched, in interest for Ash and in horror for Dawn, at what was going on.
At a large open field in the middle of the village was several dozen people and they were feasting…on human parts. The two young vampires can see heads and legs being devoured relentlessly by the cannibals, not caring that they were from other humans, or that what they were eating was cooked or not.
In the center of the human banquet, stood a man in a white uniform, he was wearing boots with white pants and shirt. The shirt was decorated with a large, red letter R in the center. Plastered upon his face was a smile that was a combination of that typically given by the rich, and that worn by a sadistic murderer. He has blue hair. (A/N, guessed who this is yet?)
Dawn, in her need to find a place to release her dinner after seeing internal organs in every direction, stepped on a crisp leaf. The uniformed man heard her. He turned her head upon the bush that the duo was hiding, and said, in a calming tone hiding the fact that they were about to be eaten alive….
"Well, well, looks like we have some strays from the pack, why don't you come over here and introduce yourselves?" he said. All the cannibals stopped what they were doing, and stared at the bush.
Ash, seeing that they were discovered, stood up and walked away from the bush, with Dawn following him. His hands were once again in his pockets.
"I'm so sorry Ash," said Dawn, upset that she was the reason they were found.
"Don't worry about it, we would have been found sooner or later anyway," replied Ash, not at all angry at her new underling.
"Yes, you would, and in fact even before you hid in that bush, you were already discovered," he said, pointing to the rather large group of ghouls coming from behind Ash and Dawn.
Ash, undaunted, asked the man. "Who are you and why are you doing this?"
The man laughed, the kind that would make you smile and wet yourself at the same time
"It is usually customary to introduce yourself first young man."
Ash scowled. "My am Ash Ketchum, and this is Dawn Berlitz," he said gesturing towards Dawn, who was hiding behind him.
The man only smiled more. "I am James, this is my army of vampires, and that's all you need to know."
And with that, James snapped his fingers, and the vampire all pounced on Ash and Dawn.
Ash was in action immediately, he pulled out whatever was inside his pocket, which turned out to be a gun. Giving the gun to Dawn, he instructed her, "take care of the ghouls, those things behind us, let me handle the vampires and James."
Dawn nodded, albeit hesitantly, and took the gun. Ash then charged into the horde of vampires, hands positioned like claws.
Dawn then looked towards the ghouls, her hands in the gun that Ash gave her. She placed her fingers on the trigger, but the sight of so many undead unnerved the young vampire. Her reluctance proved costly when a vampire who escaped Ash's wrath grabbed her from behind. Panicked, Dawn tried pulling the vampire away from her, which only resulted in the ghouls up front managing to reach her and promptly took hold of her entire body. The girl screamed, and was then lost in a crowd of undead.
Ash on the other hand, was having more success. He was tearing through the vampires like nothing. One came from behind him, and received an elbow to the jaw. Another tried a frontal approach, and was rewarded by a hand plunging into his chest and tearing his heart out. Yet another one managed to take a hold of him, which resulted in both arms flying away from the attacker's body and being used as a club. He was about to kick one more when he was sent flying into one of the houses. He stuck his head out, trying to find the one who launched him fifty feet from the fighting, and he saw James standing in front of him, his ever present smile with him.
"Shall we?" he asked, and proceeded to put a fist into Ash's face.
Dawn was struggling. She was literally under a pile of dead bodies, and they were biting and tearing her flesh apart. She can feel, very painfully, muscle being torn from her bones, skin ripped from her flesh, and bones breaking apart. For the first time, she thought she was going to die. Am I going to die here? Is this the end? Sorry mom, I couldn't keep my promise to you. Despite her predicament, she could hear vampire being torn apart by Ash. Ash, thank you for saving me, but I think I have met my end.Then she felt something else, a strong desire to survive. But is this really the end? There is still so much more I can do. The feeling grew stronger, and soon anger was replacing the old emotion of surrender. No! I will not let it end like this! I have been given a second chance, and I will savor it, and you along with it!
From inside her, an overwhelming fury rose instantly, clouding all rational thought and replacing it with pure instinct. She let out an ear-splitting scream.
Ash and James were almost equally matched. When one punched, the other blocked, and when the one tired to counterattack, the other would counter with one of his own. With every strike, bones were broken, flesh was torn, and limbs were ripped from their bodies. Ash ducked a kick by James, and threw a fist into the blue-haired man's face, which was countered and replied with an elbow to the gut. The elbow connected, but not before two fingers found their way into James' neck and through his throat. The two fighters backed from each other, with Ash having to destroy the head of a vampire who tried to sneak up on him.
They glared at one another. Then James smirked, "who would have thought you are a vampire as well?"
Ash glared at him, he took one step towards James, when he heard a bone-chilling scream from where Dawn was standing. He turned his head towards the sound. And was awarded a grand total of a fist coming down his left cheek, courtesy of James, and broken bones; he flew sideways, and landed upon a tree.
James smirked even wider. "That's what you get for turning you back towards an opponent," he said, before turning towards the source of the scream himself.
What he saw was ghouls and vampire alike being crushed at an alarming rate. And the one responsible for the destruction was none other than Dawn, who was now ripping the arms off an unfortunate ghoul who came too close. Her clothes were a deep blood red and torn to the point of near-obscenity. What was once her arms and legs were now little more than bits of bone and muscle attached to her shoulder, and was regenerating quickly. And her eyes, her blood red eyes bore the look of deep rage, like a grudge held for decades coming loose upon those poor souls who gathered near her.
She held the head of a vampire in her hand, and closed her fingers, crushing the head in the process.
James looked on in interest. "Another vampire? And so young an age? Who could be responsible?"
His thoughts were broken when he suddenly felt pain from his back, a second later, a hand was visible through his chest, his still beating heart clutched inside it. The hand then removed itself from his torso, and James fell onto his face.
Ash was standing over him.
"Don't turn your back against an opponent remember?"
A vampire attempted to attack Ash, only to be met by his master's heart coming at him at incredible speeds, it exploded in his face, taking his face with it.
Ash then turned James over with his foot. "Now tell me who you are working for," said Ash.
James coughed up blood. "Hehe, I guess my rocket didn't blast off today. Sorry kid, you'll never find it out from me."
Ash frowned. "Too bad for you, by the way, all of your ghouls and vampires have been destroyed, and Dawn's coming this way."
The last thing James saw was Dawn's boot coming down his face. His last thoughts were, she was wearing black.
Author's note: This is definitely not early August. I am so sorry for the late update, things in school have been hell, with one exam after another and projects and assignments in between. I really hope this chapter makes up for it.
I would like to thank my reviewers, Trinity Fenton-Phantom, masterart, Defender of the Pen Alexis, Shin'en of the Chaotic Destiny, and Firehedgehog for their continued support for this story, as well as all the other reviewers, thank you so much. I hope you like this chapter.
If you have any suggestions for writing this story, please include in your reviews.
Please read and review!