Okay, so I'm way overdue with this story. I know. But when life hits me with a ton of bricks, and another story taking up more interest, this story was put on hold. Well, actually, I have one more chapter (this chapter) before putting it on hold for some time. I plan to start on this story again when I finish my other story, Bound to Fate, assuming that I don't have any other ideas for new stories.
Also, I don't think this chapter is in par with the others, mostly because I wrote this chapter halfway, left it alone for weeks, and came back to it and finished it in a rush. So I'm sorry if this chapter is not to your liking.
Wanli8970: This chapter should let you know who the main antagonist is.
phantomorion: Thanks for your input on my story. Here is a chapter for you but I'm sorry it took so long. Also, this is the last one for a while.
Candykaykay2001: Thank you for your words! I really hope this story grows but life has other plans for me. As a temporary farewell gift, I give you another chapter.
Without further ado, and before a long break (hiatus), I give you the next chapter. I'm really sorry for the stop of this story for a while. I hope I can start again soon.
Disclaimer: I. Don't. Own. Pokemon.
Chapter 4: Trapped in the Mind
"You shouldn't be alive," Ash said with absolute disbelief. The man smirked.
"Oh but I am," the man said. "I am very much alive."
"But how?!" Ash exclaimed, momentarily forgetting his fears, pain, and danger. "You gave up your life to protect your people! How are you even here?!"
"My, my," the man said. He walked up to Ash and punched him in the chest once more. Ash went flying back. "You do not question me, child," he spat. Ash just cringed in pain.
"Why," Ash wheezed. "Why...are you...against the good side?"
The man laughed. "That is none of your concern. However, if I must, I will reveal my mission when the first phase of my plan is complete."
"What plan?" Ash asked, getting up. Whatever plan it was, he didn't like it.
"Did you think I would reveal it to you here and now?" the man said venomously. "You are a special pawn to my plan."
"Pawn? Special? What in the world are you talking about?"
The man calmly came over to Ash and gripped his neck. He held him off the ground. As Ash choked, the man spoke, "I thought I told you not to question me."
He threw Ash to the ground with heavy force. Enough force that the ground cracked upon impact. To Ash, it hurt like crazy, but he could tell that the pain was far less intense than it should have been.
"Hmm, very interesting," the man said, staring at Ash. "Now that your Aura has decided to expose itself, it's time I initiate the first phase of my plan."
"My...Aura?" Ash wondered. He stood up and realized that he was glowing blue.
"You shall be mine to control!" the man shouted with so much force that the entire ground shook. "Aura Shadow!" Suddenly, the man changed form. His body started to fade out into a wisp of red smoke, a malicious blaze of red Aura. Without warning, it quickly made its way towards Ash. He tried to run away but was frozen in pain and absolute, pure fear.
The red Aura surrounded Ash, He tried to control his Aura to fight it off but because he hadn't had training with Aura whatsoever, he couldn't do a thing.
The red Aura completely swallowed him. He started to feel something inside him. And he began to feel disconnected with his body. He couldn't feel nor could he move. He could see but his vision seemed to become distant as if he was watching a movie in a theater.
He didn't see the outline of his blue Aura turn red. And the red slowly consumed and replaced the blue. Soon, his blue Aura was all but a speck in the red and completely disappeared a split second after.
And then the pain presented itself.
Ash screamed in pain but his scream didn't reach his vocal chords. He was screaming somewhere else. He still had his body but only darkness surrounded him. He cringed and yelled in pain; it was as if he was being sent to the doors of Death the hard way (and he knew that feeling from somewhere but strangely, he couldn't remember where, much less who or what caused him to feel that way)
Suddenly, the pain stopped as quickly as it came. When he came to his senses, he realized that he wasn't with the man. He wasn't in the same environment. He was in pure darkness.
And in the darkness came the man himself. The man who once gave his life to protect his kingdom. A legendary hero of Aura, the Aura Guardian Sir Aaron. And in his traditional Aura Guardian clothes too. Almost an insult to the Sir Aaron he saw from the time flowers. Just who was this guy?
"Well, it looks like you have survived," he said. "Maybe you are deemed worthy of Aura, even if you are incompetent. Foolish of you not to pursue the ways of Aura."
Ash was confused. One because the pain was in fact intense but it wasn't enough to kill and two because of Aura. Sure he was able to use Aura, ever since he manipulated it to try and save the Tree of Beginning, but he had a goal to become a Pokemon Master and Aura was just a passive ability he had. So why did he say that he should have trained his Aura?
"What do you mean? Of course I'm alive. The pain wasn't that bad," Ash replied. Well...he did admit it was a traumatic experience.
"Imbecile," the man sneered. "I meant your mentality. Such a young mind should not have survived from the overshadowing of Aura."
"Mentality? Sure I've been called reckless, but that doesn't mean-"
"Silence!" Sir Aaron shouted. "You will be a prisoner of your own mind."
"I don't get it," Ash said. "I don't get any of this! Why are you against us?! Just why!?" he yelled at Sir Aaron. "You shouldn't be alive! Your time was centuries ago! I'm not even sure if you're Sir Aaron at all! You are nothing like what I saw in those time flowers! Pikachu, show him a taste of your power!" Silence. "Pikachu?"
Sir Aaron chuckled in a low tone. "Dense as ever, fool." He charged an Aura Sphere, colored red, and shot it at Ash, who took the hit without warning. As he struggled to get up, Sir Aaron made his way to him. "You're in your own mind, and in your own mind you'll stay. Stay out of my way or your friends get a nice treatment of Aura."
The threat reached Ash faster than he could blink. Visible wisps of dark blue Aura covered his body. "Leave my friends out of this," he growled, "or you'll pay. I'll never let you get away with it all."
Sir Aaron raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that, boy? Your body is mine to control and so it should be your friends who need a proper warning." He smirked. "Of course, that is if they knew who they are really dealing with."
Ash gasped as he realized that his friends would be in danger if they didn't know that the complete opposite of Sir Aaron had taken control of him. He had to warn them! But how?!
"Enjoy the show, Chosen one," Sir Aaron chuckled before disappearing into the darkness.
[Physical World (Reality)]
A red glow of Aura surrounded Ash's body as he got up and looked around. Instead of his signature smile, there was a cruel smirk. His chocolate brown eyes now had a tinge of red and black. And when he spoke, his tone of voice was deeper than his regular voice.
"So, the possession went as planned," he said, chuckling. "But this tone of voice gives me away." A small flash of red emitted from his body. "Now, this is much more convincing," he said with Ash's regular voice. "First things first, let's see how strong his Aura is."
He held out his right hand and immediately formed an Aura Sphere. A red one. He throw the sphere at a nearby concrete wall. When it made contact, a powerful explosion followed and the wall was completely annihilated.
"Not bad," Sir Aaron said. "His Aura levels are very powerful indeed." He smirked. "He was a fool not to pursue its potential."
He closed his eyes and tried to sense the core of his Aura. What he found was shocking, even to him.
"Impossible," he muttered in shock. "The boy's Aura can create Aura?! No human nor pokemon can create Aura; it's impossible. Aura itself regenerates only itself, not create other Auras. Yet, this boy's Aura can." He laughed. "It makes my plan much easier to carry out. However, his Aura is mostly dormant. I must awaken the power it its full potential."
He walked away through the wall be blasted not a minute ago and into the outside.
The world's fall into darkness has just begun.
[Mental World (Ash's Mind)]
'Darkness. Darkness. Even more darkness. Where's the night-light when you need it?' Ash stopped thinking. 'Wait...night-light?'
Ash's train of thoughts promptly derailed and crashed. And it exploded when he realized that he was thinking while inside his own mind which was used for thinking. "This makes no sense! I'm thinking while inside my own mind! Get me out of here!" he yelled.
"If it's your own mind, don't you suppose you have some control over it?" a familiar voice said from the darkness. The voice belonged to Sir Aaron, no doubt, but it was much more calmer and gentle.
"Who's there?" Ash asked, cautious. He didn't want a repeat of what happened not too long ago. Also, he did want his mind in one piece.
"I do not mean you any harm," the voice replied. "As for who I am, you have already met my counterpart."
"Counterpart?" Ash got closer to the voice and saw Sir Aaron himself. "You!" He went into a defensive stance.
"I assure you that I am not who you are referring to," Sir Aaron said. "My counterpart is the one you should resent, not me."
Ash noticed that even though it was the same Sir Aaron he had fought earlier, this Sir Aaron had a calm and gentle attitude which was concrete evidence that this Sir Aaron was the real Sir Aaron. "Okay, I believe you." Silence. "Wait...how are you here?"
"That would be because of my other self. He locked me in your mind the instant his Aura took over yours. It seems he did the same to you."
"But why? What's his plan?"
Sir Aaron sighed. "Since our Aura is one, I can see his desires, his mission, and his ultimate goal. His plan is world domination."
"WHAT?!" Ash exclaimed. "There's no way I'm gonna let him do that!"
Sir Aaron shook his head. "He's in control of both our Auras and your body. We are powerless to do anything against him."
Ash stared at Sir Aaron. Was he actually giving up? If he knew one thing about Aura Guardians, it was that they NEVER gave up.
"Don't give up till it's over. It's not over yet. Please, Sir Aaron, don't give up hope just yet," Ash said in a determined tone. Sir Aaron looked surprised and then smiled.
"You're right. You would have been a legendary Aura Guardian had you started training your Aura. Thank you for reminding me about my role as an Aura Guardian," Sir Aaron said with a hint of admiration.
"We need to stay strong. Are there any ways out of here? There has to be a way, I know it!"
Sir Aaron thought for a second. "There is a way. It's risky but it can help us both. But for it to work, we must take advantage of your Mental Aura."
"Mental Aura?" Ash wondered. He thought Aura was universal, not sub-categorized.
"Hmm...I see I have a lot to teach you about Aura. Though I do think a Memory Transfer will be faster. Come forward, Ash."
Ash obliged and Sir Aaron put a hand with Aura on Ash's head and the Aura traveled around his body. Ash stepped back, astonished and amazed. The Memory Transfer had let him see how Sir Aaron had learned about Aura. Now, he had a fair bit of knowledge of Aura as well. Not as much as Sir Aaron himself but enough to learn techniques and manipulations using Aura.
"Now since you know the basics of Aura, we shall begin on an Aura Technique called Aura Displacement," Sir Aaron said.
"Aura Displacement?" Ash asked. Sir Aaron nodded.
"It is a technique of Aura that uses Mental Aura and projects it outside the physical body, or Physical Aura. We can use this technique to help fight back my counterpart that has possessed your Physical Aura."
Ash thought for a second. "Wait, I thought Aura cannot be contained without a living force binding it. Won't our Aura scatter or disappear the moment we are outside my body's Physical Aura?"
Sir Aaron's eyes gleamed. "Your type of Aura is one that is impossible, Ash," he said with admiration. "Your Aura can create Aura from nothing, which is immensely helpful when using up too much Aura in a short time. In our case, it will contain our Aura in one place as long as you concentrate on containing it."
"Whoa, I didn't know that!" He looked at Sir Aaron. "Then what is your type? What can your Aura do?"
Sir Aaron answered but after a slight pause, "My Aura can cut off other Auras. This means that I can literally take away someone's life away."
Ash shuddered. "How can you live with that kind of Aura?"
"I was trained to become an Aura Guardian. I know how to control my Aura and its ability, Aura Sever." He then visibly paled. "But the same cannot be said about my counterpart."
Ash also paled. "Wait, you mean he has the same Aura ability as you do?! Then that means that nobody is safe! My friends and everyone else out there are in danger! We have to help them!"
Sir Aaron nodded. "Let's make haste. We have to learn Aura Displacement as soon as possible. Once my counterpart taps into your Aura's full potential, all hope will be lost."
[Physical World (Reality)]
In order to awaken his true Aura powers, evil Sir Aaron had to utilize it. And since world domination was his ultimate goal, why not raze some cities while he was at it? In order to cause mass chaos, a large city would be best to destroy. From the boy's memories, the perfect target would be...
Lumiose City.
"Let's see how fast and far I can travel with this boy's Aura," he said. In a flash of red, he vanished.
...
In an instant, he arrived at the top of Lumiose City's Prism Tower. He was worn out from the Aura Travel but recovery only lasted a few seconds due to the boy's Aura being able to create even his own Aura.
"Impressive. Now time to start the show." He concentrated on a huge buildup of Aura. Then in his hands, he formed a red Aura Sphere in each. He scanned the buildings for potential targets of destruction. He found two: A power plant and the tallest skyscraper. The skyscraper was closed for safety maintenance and thus had no people inside. "Lights out." He threw an Aura Sphere at the power plant situated to the northwest of Prism Tower. It was the main generator for the city's power.
Like a bullet, the Aura Sphere bolted towards the plant. It made no sound as it whizzed through the air and it was too fast for anybody to see. The distance from Prism Tower was about a mile but the sphere reached it in less than 10 seconds.
The instant the Aura Sphere came into contact with metal, the explosion was massive. Smoke and fire soared high into the sky, causing nearby pokemon and people to scatter in fear and shock. Suddenly, a large lightning bolt raced up into the sky, right from the center of the of explosion. The result was a city-wide power outage.
The explosion alone caused pandemonium but evil Sir Aaron wasn't done yet. His second target, the skyscraper, was in his line of sight, in the opposite side from the power plant, to the northeast. He threw his remaining Aura Sphere.
It made direct contact at its center. The force of the explosion was enough to send the tower collapsing on itself. Screams of civilians could be heard from all over. Fires broke out as debris rained upon the area.
Evil Sir Aaron (in Ash's body) was smiling. Three-fourths of the city had no power. A small portion was in chaos from the collapsed tower. But it wasn't enough for him. The more chaos, the more power he gained. He was the Controller of Chaos.
Concentrating, he created several more red Aura Spheres. One by one, he sent them towards different parts of Lumiose City. More destruction followed. More chaos to feed off of.
"The destruction's just begun. Let's raze this city to ashes." More Aura Spheres were created and hurled.
The destruction of Lumiose City has just begun.
Like I said before, this is the last chapter for a long while. Though I have to say, writing this and improvising did give back some interest. Hopefully I can find time to keep this story alive. But for now, it will sleep. I will not abandon this story, don't worry.
Getting darker. But nothing too detailed.
Also, for the lack of other characters, I would believe Ash's friends and pokemon are conducting a search and rescue mission to find Ash.
Also, I have thought once more about the next sequence of the plot and found that for the plot to be kept intact, I had to change the Prologue a bit. You'll know what's been changed if you've read it before.
Again, I'm sorry for the temporary hiatus for this story. My other story has a very well developed plot and I have more chapters for it. But I will be back for this story. This story, too, has potential. (I just need to find it somewhere)
AlphaAura (and Beta!), signing off.