"A-Ash! A-Ash!" Iris was calling. It was morning.
"What's going on?" Cilan said, sleepily, from his bed.
"Ash is missing! He wasn't in his bed!" Iris almost yelled in his face.
"He's probably exploring or something. Maybe looking for new Pokémon. You know how he is. Don't worry so much." Cilan answered, ears ringing from Iris's yelling.
"Should I check the forest?" Iris asked.
"Sure, maybe you could ask Xyrule for some help." Cilan suggested.
"Okay!" Iris said, heading for the spot where Xyrule said he was at this general time.
"Xyrule, can you help me search for Ash in the forest?" she inquired the powerful creature.
"Yes, I can lend one of my Xorro to help you." he answered, without emotion.
"Thanks!" Iris said, excitedly.
Only one day here and already Xyrule was treating them like old friends! So Iris chose one of the Xorro and headed toward the forest. After searching for about an hour, she came about a small clearing.
"That's weird. It's like something burned away the plants here." She noted.
She then saw a reddish pile with a hat, of all things, next to it. She looked closer, and noticed the design of the hat. It looked a lot like-
"CILAN! XYRULE! XORRO! ANYBODY! COME HERE QUICK!" she yelled when she realized what it was, and then saw the face of the pile, a face she recognized very clearly.
At that point, Xyrule and Cilan rushed there, or really teleported from Xyrule's powers.
"What?" they both said, simultaneously.
"Look!" Iris said, pointing first to the body, and then to the hat.
"No…It can't be…" Cilan said, recognizing the features.
"It is. It's Ash!" Iris said, bursting into tears over the discovery. Xyrule bent over the body, examining it.
"This was a murder, by an intelligent being. Whatever did this knew exactly what he was doing and why he needed to." Xyrule deduced from his observation.
"How do you figure that out?" Iris asked.
"I know all and see all." Xyrule said.
"okay." Iris squeaked between sobs.
Xyrule telepthically picked up Ash's body, and walked beside Cilan and Iris, who was crying heavily.
He looked at her. "Do not despair for him, Iris Dragonfriend. He is still alive within your heart. And I will resurrect him soon. Do not worry." he said. Iris looked at him.
"You would do that?" she asked. Xyrule nodded.
While they walked to the main campsite for Xyrule's home, many of the Xorro swarmed around their path as they walked.
"They sense a great loss." said Xyrule.
"Wait, if they sense something drastically changed, does that mean…" Cilan started.
"I think so." Xyrule said, reading his thoughts, "Our meeting was no accident."
While Xyrule was talking to the others, Ash's killer was in a tree watching the conversation. When they went back through the portal, he turned and faced his dragon, who immediately shrank himself to the size of a kitten.
"Come, Dragor. Xyrule knows of our presence. We must leave here for a while, until our little trap springs." The monster said.
He pointed at the clearing, which he had caused for just this purpose, and a jet of dark energy shot out of his hand, creating a shadow portal into the Bottom Realms, his domain. For this creature was the darkest of all, a reverse of Xyrule that had gone completely evil. He was Flarimist, king of the shadows, nicknamed, by himself, the Devil. And he was here for a reason. A dark, evil reason.
When Flarimist opened the portal, he didn't realize that he was being watched by another shadow being: the reason that Dark Forest got its name, the being Darkell. He has been on order to watch the forest for so long that only he and his master remember his true purpose. He had never known why, until he sensed new energy enter the forest.
This is why I was put here. I was to protect my son. But I have failed. I have failed my master. I have failed my son. I have failed the world. I have failed myself. He thought, looking up, and as he did so, his eyes went a little bit bluer and his shadow being a little bit more solid, but it went back to normal as he slipped into the shadows of the night.
That night, as Cilan, Aran, and Iris lay sleeping in their hammocks, Xyrule went to the shrine that had been built for Ash, who they had laid on it, and went to the form of the fallen human. He made a golden tear, which he placed on the exact center of Ash's cold forehead, and laid down on the floor next to him and froze into a meditative pose, closing his green eyes.
When Darkell rose back out of the darkness, he was next to the same shrine that Xyrule was meditating at on the other side. He approached cautiously toward the center, where Ash lay, and placed a clawed hand on the same place as Xyrule's tear had fallen.
"Ash, I have failed you. I will now give you one last gift, the greatest one I can give. I give you eternal peace." Darkell said, and when he did, a white light came from his clawed hand, and then Ash's physical body disappeared into a golden dust, which was swept away in the wind.
He didn't know then that part of Ash still existed within Xyrule's infinite knowledge. As soon as Darkell gave that last gift, Xyrule rose from the other side of the tomb and saw Darkell. He didn't look surprised at all.
"Darkell. I see that you have finally come to give your son your blessing for his last journey." Xyrule told him.
"I have failed you, master. I have nothing to live for now." Darkell confessed to his long-time friend and leader.
"You have not failed anyone. It wasn't your fault for this, and you could do nothing to stop this, so don't blame yourself for it. Flarimist was wrong to do this, but he unknowingly has played a part in his own destruction. You therefore have succeeded, for you refrained from trying to prevent him from his revenge. You will see your son again, but you must wait. But for now, you have one more part to play in this war for the world. Here's the plan." Xyrule told Darkell, placing his hand on the shadow's shoulder, and told the plan.
After he was told, Darkell sank back into the shadows, and returned to his home in the forest.
The next morning, Iris was the first one up again. She went directly to Ash's resting place, but when she got there, he was gone.
"Cilan! Aran! Xyrule! Ash is missing!" she screamed.
Everyone, including the entire Xorro pack, came over to the tomb.
"There's no sign that he was dragged, because there's nothing to show for that. It's like he just disappeared into thin air." Cilan said, after a close examination.
"But how?" Iris said, starting to cry again.
"There is one hope." Xyrule said grimly.
"What?" Iris said, through gasps.
"I have all of his memories within my mind. I can recreate him, as I promised.' Xyrule responded. Iris nodded immediately, and Cilan did, after thinking for a second.
Xyrule's eyes closed, and one more golden tear came from his eye. When it hit the ground, the grass and dirt near it began to swirl into a six-foot-high column. When it disappeared, Ash stood there.
"Iris? Cilan? Xyrule? Aran?" he said.
"Ash!" everyone said simultaneously, "You're back!"
"When did I leave?" Ash asked, clearly confused.
"You were dead! We just got you back with Xyrule's powers! Don't you remember anything?" Iris said.
"The last thing that I remember was a pair of red eyes, then a tug in my brain." Ash thought back, shivering as he did so.
Nobody noticed at that time, but his eyes were green, not brown.