(Updated 9th Sept 09)
Review Replies:
-Rapist? No, he's just a cocky prick, the world's got hundreds of them.
-Human form back?
Haha
HAHA
HAHAHAHAHA!
ehem... maybe ;)
Now for the chappie, bon appetite.
Pikachu stood before his temporarily former trainer eager to get things underway. Because now the tables had turned, the chars had been rotated and the pancakes well and truly flipped. "Right," the little Pokémon began, looking up undaunted at the larger creature before him "this is your first lesson on how to be a Pokémon. Or as the course is more commonly known, 'How to be Awesome 101'"
"Sounds awesome." The Voice snarked to Ash in a whisper.
"This will be a gruelling challenge" Pikachu continued whilst maintaining the image of upmost professionalism, "your knees will hurt, your arms will break, your eyeballs will leak precious bodily fluids as you beg for my mercy."
"He's loving this."
"And you WILL follow the rules of my classroom! There will be no sneezing, no bathroom breaks and no interrupting. Do I make myself clear Private?" Ash nodded immediately.
The Voice let out a sharp laugh, "you're the trainer, you got to take responsibility for this monster."
Pikachu continued, not seeming to have noticed the Voice that Ash heard. "Good, Lieutenant. Make sure that you understand that I am the boss and… hopefully, we'll make a fighter out of you yet." Having forgotten that he was only supposed to teach Ash how to talk.
"Now, I know that you want to learn how to do electric attacks, I know, I know. No species should suffer being devoid of such a glorious gift." Pikachu shook his head in pity, "but you will, one day, if you listen to me, be able to control the power of electricity." He smirked "Oh, you won't neearly be as great as me, but no longer will you be a pitiful creature that can't let out a single spark."
Zorua interrupted impatiently, "Say any more about electric attacks and I swear that I'll fart- in- your- face."
"Eh hem" Pikachu coughed, keeping his composure. "As I was say-ing, this course will require your skills of critical thinking, analysis, teamwork-"
"Thinking?" The Voice in Ash's head echoed in mock horror. "You're doomed, you know that." But no matter what, nothing seemed to stop Pikachu's little lecture.
"And we will complete our seven week course with several sections about-" something that Ash quickly stopped listening to, as the Voice quickly filled the gap.
"Hey, see if that 'fart in the face' idea will get things back on track" she whispered conspiratorially but before Ash could even blink at her comment Zorua interrupted once more.
"What he's trying to say, Ashy boy is that if you want to speak like a Pokémon you have to imagine what you're trying to say as you speak."
"Oi!" Pikachu interrupted, "Madame Fluffy, I won't have you poisoning my students with lies, I-"
"MADAME FLUFFY!" Zorua screeched. "How in the world am I FLUFFY?"
"Um, your hair?"
"What's wrong with my hair!"
"Excuse me little angry ones?" Ash said.
"Wait a minute Ash, Madame Fluffy's shouting at me." Pikachu blinked, and the two small Pokémon then turned to the largest of their group with eyes wide open.
The Voice broke the silence for Ash, "Oh… my… gosh. You just said your first word. This is, this is-"
"You just said your first word." Pikachu unknowingly echoed.
"Did he just copy me?" The Voice asked herself.
"We should have bought a camera" Zorua added.
"What good would a-"
"What good would a camera be?" Pikachu asked.
"Oi!"she screeched.
"Eh hem?" Ash coughed to interrupt them, wondering why he didn't do this before.
"Yeah?"
"Learnings?" Ash asked impatiently.
"Learnings?" Pikachu echoed, "Oh! You mean your lessons!" Ash nodded his head eagerly, "well it wasn't a part of my schedule to teach you speech until at least week four-"
"Say what!" Zorua spluttered.
"But as my plan was interrupted by Madame Fluffy I shall try to adjust things." They both turned to Zorua who just sat with a grin. "But as I- Umpf"
Pikachu fell after being struck by a tackle from the little fox. He groaned getting up, shooting a scowl at the Dark type who returned a sweet grin in response.
He turned to his student "But as I was saying… uhh." He paused and turned back to Zorua, "how did you know to tell him that anyway?"
"Well, to be honest" she replied "it's a little obvious to notice the relatively high levels of tangential emotional input to the afflictions of our species compared to the functional and objective nature of the human tongues when you sit down and think about it." Zorua grinned.
"uhh… yeah. I knew that." Pikachu replied awkwardly.
"I like her, she's got spunk" The Voice confidently commented.
"But why does he talk weird?" Pikachu asked.
"Well" Zorua scratched her chin with a paw "If I had to guess, I'd say his mental matrix is still pre-set to his original range of absolute fixed phrases, and a shift, mentally to the varied and singular nature that is represented by our tongue should take time, despite the astounding feat that he's accomplished by being able to understand and adapt in the first place."
Ash and Pikachu stared at her blankly. "I understood all of that" Pikachu replied, "But I'm not sure that Ash did, could you… repeat that for him"
"ooh" Zorua purred, "I'm not so sure, I mean you're the teacher and I've been interrupting your lessons for an awfully long time."
"Oh" Pikachu laughed, rubbing a paw behind his head, "Don't worry about that I'm sure that you'll-"
"No no, I insist" Zorua interrupted, eyes boring down on Pikachu like a predator after its prey, "I'd just looove to see your stunning explanation."
"I disturb you?" Ash said "I say I already understand."
"Really?" Pikachu blinked, "Can you explain it then… for your sake, not that we don't already know."
"Simples. Body change makes head think different. Talk turns different when head listens to body. Yes?"
"Err" the two Pokémon blinked in astonishment, as Ash grinned in return. There were some advantages to having a disembodied voice in your head.
Zoroark walked casually towards the group of four humans who stood with their attention on a man she had not seen before. Fortunately however it wasn't long before they noticed her approaching them in her disguise and called out to her, "Ash!"
Zoroark twisted the illusions face into a smile as the four ran up towards her asking her questions about where he had been, and how worried they were when he had disappeared. It took a moment for the information to process itself and when it had, Zoroark noticed that the group was looking at her for answers. "Don't worry guys" she said in a fairly accurate rendition of the boy's voice "I just woke up early and left for a walk." Keeping her explanation as short and believable as possible.
"And Pikachu?" the dark skinned male questioned.
"Yeah he came with me too." Zoroark amended.
"Where is he now?" he continued.
"With Zorua" she replied instantly, knowing that a little truth would do a lot of good in strengthening her façade. His features softened and she took it for granted that her answer had placated him. Though she remembered to keep an eye on the unusually inquisitive human, should he prove to be a problem in the future.
The other man who she had not met yet walked up towards the group and introduced himself to her as "William Jennings a representative of the League." Whith what she assumed what the human version of a friendly greeting. He was dressed in an official-esque outfit with bold colours and sharp lines that looked odd to Zoroark, as if they weren't made for him. But when she considered that human wrappings, especially those of the females baffled her brain, she put her danger sense to rest.
She found herself caught up briefly on the tangent about why humans wore cloth around their bodies. She had speculated that the males clearly used it to insulate their frail selves, yet this didn't seem as evident when she took the females into account. Then again, maybe the females were just more resilient? Regardless there was an oddness to this outsider barging into their group but Zoroark opted to listen to what he had to say.
Finally noticing with some alarm that he had held his hand out for a traditional human greeting all the time that she was lost in thought. She felt relief when he then placed his hand back down to his side when he noticed that the boy before him wouldn't reciprocate. The illusion may not have lasted prolonged contact of that sort.
The man began to speak, "The League originally heard reports of Legendries going rampant and moved here to intervene, but I've heard reports that this was not true, and of your efforts to save their power from being abused by a criminal?" The man looked at the group with a gaze of respect.
"Given this new knowledge. The League would personally like to thank all of you for your service to this town and all its inhabitants. But I'm afraid I've been notified of some… developments in this case that you may find unsettling." Zoroark fought to keep the curiously attentive expression plastered on her illusion from snorting in disgust, wishing that the fool would get to the point rather than letting loose some half-baked platitudes he thought up moments ago.
"That explosion you heard moments ago was the criminal, Kodai that you had worked so hard to capture, escaping his prison cell." The group gasped in surprise.
"Is there anything we can do?" one of the females asked, to which the man shook his head.
"No, the footage from the ship has seen him flying off into the distance and we already have designated trackers in place." He sighed, "the problem is that there is something more serious going on, we've heard that he has an assistant who has been watching you and your friends."
They felt horror at the thought that they may be personally targeted by this mad man and his minions.
Zoroark worried for Ash.
"And there's one more thing" the man admitted, looking up.
He inhaled.
Then punched Zoroark in the face.
She stumbled back in shock, battle instincts roaring to life. Instantly noticing that her illusion had been destroyed, noticing the bracelet on the man's arm, the horrified reactions of the other humans. Realised that she was outnumbered.
Then ran.
She was already far in the distance when the humans had finally found the strength to speak, the young girl starting with an exclamation of "What was that!"
"I'm afraid" the man continued without faltering, looking briefly to the rooftops to see if his Pokémon were trailing the imposter. "That the Zoroark you thought was your ally was working with the criminal Kodai and had helped him to escape."
"No way!"
"I'm afraid so, we have video footage from the ship that had been used to transport him showing her fighting off the security Machoke and destroying the control room."
The group tried to find holes in the officials' accusation, but with the proof he had behind of him and the event that had just transpired, they couldn't deny the facts that they were given. Nor could they do anything in this situation, not when the League specifically had this situation in hand. All they could do was worry and wait.
Zoroark leapt into the clearing to the surprise of the three that were already there. Her surprising entrance shocking them into a battle stance that they relaxed once they recognised her as an ally.
She asked herself where they should go now but heard a buzzing sound pass by her hearing.
Her battle instincts roared to life, then the ambush was sprung. Various warrior Pokémon leapt out of the bushes and trees, ready to fight.
Thud.
She looked forward to see Ash Zorua and Pikachu collapse from three strikes to the head. She was alone and outnumbered in this fight now.
She readied herself to fight for her children, and her family.
Her foes readied their ranged attacks, and the world was filled with the sounds of explosions.
Ash felt the shadows of unconsciousness leave him as he lay in limbo, exhausted beyond words from whatever had occurred to put him in such a sorry state. He let out a light whimper of pain from his stiff muscles, barely noticeable amidst his heavy breathing. Opened his eyes slightly and withheld a groan at the sight of dark grey prison bars that stood before him.
His memories of the lightning fast battle that put him here reawoke and he wondered just how many times he was going to see the inside of a cage in his lifetime.
Too many.
Then he heard the sounds of advancing footsteps come towards him. The familiar clip-clop rhythm of rubber smacking against the stone floor, growing ever closer and closer to his position.
The sounds stopped from a position that Ash guessed was nearby and he felt that it was best to try and lay prone, to let the bad guy turn around and leave so that he could try to find an escape route.
"I know you're awake." The man's razor sharp voice sung, making Ash's heart leap inside of its chest, "after all we both know just how tough you are."
Ash realised that it was time to give up his rouse but was quickly stopped from moving by the sound of someone else.
He squinted his eyes open and noticed that the… oddly dressed man wasn't even looking at him, then glanced at what his captor had directed his gaze at and felt his heart jump at the sight of terror that stood before him.
The entire corner of the cage was shrouded in an unnatural shadow, moving, pulsing, breathing in and out as if it was alive. Then came movement , a small but noticeable shift in the air around the entity, a new sharpness and from those dark depths opened a pair of ice blue eyes staring wrathfully down at their adversary on the other side of the cage.
A growl rumbled through the stone walls of the room and the shadows began to take physical form. A towering black and red beast bathed in primal power, stepping forward to resist the man. A distant part of Ash's mind recognised Zoroark as a friend but that was silenced by the sheer sense of dread that emanated from her imposing figure.
"See" the man remarked lightly, "Was it so hard to show your face to me?"
Zoroark growled once more, her face twisting into an image of childhood horrors. Insulted by the very sound of his voice. She spat at him in her native tongue "Bite me."
"And she speaks as well!" the man exclaimed with glee, then frowned. "Although I am a little disappointed, why do you hesitate in using the civilised tongue?"
Zoroark grabbed the bars with her claws and told the man in her own language that "you wouldn't know civilised if it smacked you in the face."
The man feigned hurt, "Oh you wound me"
"And your breath smells like fart."
"Though I must admit that if anyone was going to find out the truth, it would be you" The man grinned, forcing another growl from Zoroark. "Alas, in the spirit of comradeship between two 'hide and seekers' I thought it prudent to allow you one last chance to join me." Zoroark let loose a glob of spit which the man deftly dodged.
"You see" he continued unfazed, "my mission is a righteous one. You know this, after all you too must have seem the many atrocities made by those who misuse the power of magnificent creatures such as yourself."
Zoroark looked bored as if she had long since rejected anything that he could offer.
"and without my prior funding there would be a collapse in the organisational strength of those who oppose them." His arms and volume began to rise as he continued to preach.
"The Leagues can not stem this tide on their own. How else are we to stop the great nomad dynasties that oppose us and threaten to send us into calamity at every turn, the trainers can only do so much."
He sighed, lowering his frantic speaking pace, "yet it takes time to build up an Empire such as mine. I do not harm the Guardian of the Forest in my search for youth and I do not see the harm in letting a narrow minded town such as this suffer for their pride."
He grinned at the raging shadow before him, "So will you join-"
Zoroark spat into his eye. Forcing him to reel back and frantically rub away the glob of saliva.
"Well" Ash saw him grin, "the Gods can not say that I didn't try."
The man pulled out a metal rod from his side and pressed a button on it. "I have witnessed your attachment to your family. It is a beautiful thing; I too share this affection to my family. The two of us are not so different really and perhaps, had you joined me, our alliance would have been a glorious one." He began to walk to Ash.
"But you said no, so let me leave you with a parting gift." And he pushed the rod through the bars of Ash's cell, a crackling sound the boy's only warning as he was shocked by a powerful surge of electricity that blackened his vision into a sea of nothingness.
His hearing became muffled until a familiar voice called over to him, "Get yourself together!"
He recognised the Voice that had tormented him, although in hindsight 'torment' was perhaps a little harsh.
"Come on, Pikachu's Face-Laser hurt more than this!" and she was right, she was completely right.
He felt the burning effect of the shock wear off as his hearing to the outside world returned. The relentless sound of claws striking against metal over and over again, making it sound as if a hundred drums were beating in the distance.
"Until we meet again my fair maiden." The man's smug voice called out from above the din "I shall continue on my noble quest to preserve the world."
"Jump off a cliff!" he heard his imaginary companion shout as the door closed with a thud.
Zoroark's efforts to breach the bars stopped. "Ash" she whispered worriedly before rushing over to the boy and holding him in her arms.
He groaned as he opened his eyes, seeing the unexpected expression of worry on the Pokémon's face as she held his head close to her.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
Ash nodded groggily, getting up into a sitting position "Had worse" his broken speech now coming out of his mouth without a second thought on having to speak a different language.
"Worse?" Zoroark blinked before looking at him with renewed worry, "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes" Ash nodded in confirmation, puzzled by this new series of emotions from the previously distant Pokémon.
"Ash?" his companion whispered in his head to which he responded with a small nod in hopes that it would not look strange to his cellmate who seemed to be examining his body for any lasting injuries, "how did she know that you were you?
He blinked, remembering that it wasn't too much of a stretch for Pikachu to have recognised his best friend, but Zoroark. They barely knew each other.
Unfortunately, it seemed as if the Pokémon had noticed the worry form on Ash's face as she asked, "What's wrong?"
"How you know I am me?" Ash asked, unable to contain his query for a later time.
"I am me?" Zoroark echoed, puzzled slightly at the broken syntax in the question that Ash had just asked her.
"How this is me" Ash clarified.
A sense of realisation seemed to dawn upon her and all of a sudden Zoroark began to look uncomfortable. She took a moment, composed herself then looked down at him with a comforting smile. "It is easy to tell our kin apart from one another. Especially as we are part of the same family."
"Family?" Ash echoed.
"Yes, you see, our kind are few in number, and when we meet one another, not hidden behind the Veil of Shadow the meeting is usually ended with blood. But when there is peace between two of our kin we become bonded, family. You, me and Zorua are family, do you see?"Zoroark explained.
Ash looked on with glazed eyes as he tried to process this information. The mechanics of it all feeling very alien to him and at odds with his already existing family.
But then again he reminded himself of his relationship with his Pokémon, and wondered if they weren't family in a similar sense.
He looked at Zoroark with childish curiosity, "Pikachu family too?"
He received a non-committed "hmm" as the dark type turned around to the back of the cage where the bars dug into the stone wall.
"I'm guessing that you heard my little conversation with the prick" she asked turning around to see Ash nod his head, "I thought so" she grinned.
"You see, he'll have made the cage out of something that we can't break. The walls however are a different story" and with that she charged her claws with an ethereal energy before striking at the masonry. Several small chunks of rock launching away from the force of the impact.
"Now, I think it's about time that I taught you how to use that body of yours."
Ash perked to attention as she began, "From the way you speak I take it that you only learned recently?" Ash nodded.
"Zorua taught"
"Hmm" she said lost in thought for a brief moment. "She had similar problems when she first learned…" she snapped to attention, "Regardless, is it safe to assume that you know nothing else?" Ash nodded his head. "Very well."
"The first lesson is maintenance and augmentation. You're young and weak so these things are especially important for you." She held out her claws as Ash held down his protests at being called young and weak.
"The 'shadows knives' technique, or 'sharpen claws' as your former kind call it." She said as her large dagger like claws were bathed in sheen of crimson energy, letting out a sharp sound of steel striking against steel before it dissipated, leaving the Pokémon's claws looking longer, sharper and all the more dangerous.
"The dark energy flows from you and heals you." She explained, "Let it come from your core and assist you."
Ash stood frozen for a moment before he realised that she wished for him to try the technique out for himself. He closed his eyes and tried to send a burst of dark energy to his claws as she did, but opened his eyes to see that nothing had changed.
"Your first mistake" Zoroark explained without missing a beat "Was closing your eyes. Don't do that, it's a bad habit that many fall into alongside the habit of calling out the names of their attacks before they launch them. So make sure you don't do that either." She paused for a moment, "although I'm surprised that your instincts haven't taught you this technique already."
Ash remembered hearing something about instincts before... Something about forgetting his human ones? He wondered who it was that said that.
Was it like when he was learning how to talk? Like trying to call upon his emotions to help add added meaning to his actions?
He decided to try again. Paused briefly to stop the temptation to close his eyes and searched for the primal power inside of him. Deeper and deeper until all thought had died down and nothing was left but instinct.
Instinct. It washed over him like a wave of warm water, wrapping him up in its care, holding him tight like a new born baby. Ash felt it surround him, his heart singing praises of joy, the dark prison cell no longer dark but inviting, a warm blanket that would keep him safe.
He felt as if he could get lost in this sensation forever, but a fading voice called for him to wake up and the sound of steel striking against steel brought him back to the waking world that he had begun to drift out of.
He looked at his claws now lengthened and sharpened, a series of vicious red knives. Then looked up to the beaming face of Zoroark as she said "good, you learn quick but then again you were a human. Now, one more lesson and then we're breaking out of here."
He strode forward, the mask on his face hiding his identity perfectly well even now.
Zoroark had spotted him, but then again if it was going to be anyone, it was going to be her. After all, who best to detect an imposter than another imposter? The universe had a sense of poetry about it, that much was for sure.
It wasn't much of a setback to his plans. Those others who had interrupted him the first time had been taken out of the loop by his ambush. Those interfering children placated by the words of an 'official' and given the two minor Pokémon to deal with.
The major comfort of it all was that he hadn't been set too far back in his plans. After all important moments like this demanded the existence of contingencies.
Because he wouldn't be the Champion of this noble endeavour to protect the world from the shadows if he wasn't prepared for when things didn't go his way.
The appearance of the other Zoroark was a little surprising, as was the knowledge that the two dark types could speak the human tongue with perfect clarity, without having to use the crutch of telepathy.
If they could have been recruited to his noble cause it would have been magnificent… but alas. Perhaps the purple haired Zoroark would make a fitting addition to his organisation, and maybe when one joined, the rest of the family would soon follow.
Regardless, he had a mission to complete. The Guardian of the Forest Celebi was notorious for two things, the ability to breathe life into plants, and the ability to travel through time. What people didn't know was that Celebi used one to do the other, specifically the raw energy of the time stream to encourage growth rates in nature.
It was that converted energy that he wanted, energy to return him to youth. To allow him to continue to build his Empire.
A small town was worthless in comparison to the safety of his life's work.
The children and beasts had stopped him previously. But they were occupied now and clueless about how, even now the time vortex continued to exist. Spilling residual energy into the surrounding area.
It would take little time for him to reverse the internal flow and reopen the vortex as having two lifetimes worth of experience and wealth behind him had placed many resources into his hands.
And patience, if one was to deal with the raw force of time one would need patience.
Patience was one thing he definitely had.
Success was all but assured.
Ash should have guessed that it would only be a matter of time before she returned.
"Ooh I would dig five hun-dred miles and I would dig five hun-dred more."
But fortunately he had the ability to ignore her singing by concentrating on work. He and Zoroark had taken shifts in digging out the masonry with one repeatedly striking the wall with the 'shadow claw' technique whilst the other rested whilst using 'sharpen claws' to restore their chipped and bruised claws to strength. It was gruelling work made all the more disheartening when Ash noticed that his attempts only made a fraction of progress in comparison to his counterpart's efforts.
"Just to be the girl who dug a thou-sand miles to live un-der your floor."
But what was strangest of all was that as long as he ignored the lyrics in the Voice's songs, they actually helped to get him into a decent rhythm.
He swapped positions with Zoroark as she walked into position and began to hammer the wall with a relentless ferocity that Ash could only hope to match, drowning out the singing and replacing it with a noise that reminded Ash of a jackhammer.
He looked at her arms, blazing with black and crimson energy. The 'Shadow claw' technique powering her up with an otherworldly strength that he could never imagine wielding, not outside of the superheroes that he saw on T.V. and even then. A technique that she had taught him by using her existing lesson as a base, the 'Sharpen claws' technique but altered to be more ferocious, more primal in its execution.
He slowly began to realise just how powerful Pokémon were and it terrified him slightly to think that he now had this power in the palm of his hands.
She stopped her attacks and walked away from the corner to reveal a nice gap in between the space where the bars stopped and the wall began. More than enough to let a human through, but a tight squeeze for his new larger frame.
Then again, time was of the essence and the two had to squeeze themselves through the small gap that they had made, breathing a sigh of relief when they finally made their way through to the other side.
They quickly moved to the door, Ash opening it and jumping outside. Then sopped as he felt the sensation of fire wrap around him, blinding him, he wanted to get out!
Then it vanished and he discovered that Zoroark had dragged him back inside.
"What, what" Ash panted.
"It's the sunlight." She explained. "You've probably become oversensitive to it because of the time that you spent sheltered in here." He took another look at the now open door and felt the sight of the midday sun reignite a ripping, burning sensation inside of him. "Now now, it's nothing to be afraid of, we all find ourselves scorched from time to time; it happens to all young Zoroark and Zorua."
But I'm a human! Ash wanted to scream.
"Try again. Move forward slowly and it will be fine" Zoroark soothed, holding out a paw that Ash tentatively took to help him return into the painful outside world.
His eyes slowly adjusted to the glaring light and with every step he took closer to the light he felt himself become weaker and weaker.
Then it was all dwarfed by the moment he stepped outside and into the path of the suns golden light. It cut through him like a knife, ripping him apart, boiling him alive. Taking him away from this world as if he was some demon to be vanquished.
He distantly felt someone grab him and move him, but none of that overcame the overwhelming fury of the sun.
Eventually his struggles died down. The sensation of burning had slowly dissipating until it became bearable. But the light still felt oppressive, brutal. As if it was strangling him. What kind of creature had he turned into?
He noticed that Zoroark was holding him tightly in a bear hug and felt her loosen her grip when she noticed that he had returned to the land of the sane. But it still hurt, burned all over, twisted his mind like he was dizzy and made him feel weak on his feet, ready to topple to the ground.
"Are you alright?" Zoroark asked finally, her voice faintly registering with him. Ash shook his head.
"Oh, I'm… can you stand for much longer?" Ash shook his head again. "Does it hurt that much?" he nodded.
"Alright then" she continued as she grabbed his paw and began to guide him back inside where he felt immediately revitalised like he had been put under a cold shower. "Wait here" she needlessly ordered, "I'll be right back." And promptly ran off, covering herself in the crimson aura of a forming illusion.
Ash took this time to rest and listen to the sounds from outside. Feel the soothing balm of the shadows grant him comfort and clarity as he listened to the sounds of the birds, of wind blowing through the trees and… cars?
He looked outside and into the blinding light. Waiting for a moment for his eyes to adjust so that he could see the sight of nature directly outside along with a small dirt path leading away from the door. The sounds of cars made certain that they couldn't be in the forest, that much was certain. There was almost no regular traffic so close to the outside of the city. And inter town road traffic was often sparse or used other methods.
But then- "Must be a park" The Voice suddenly answered for him, making him wonder once again if she was reading his thoughts. But a park seemed like a strange place to put a… bunker? Whatever this place was.
Did it matter? He wondered, the doubts of the little boy crying inside of him. You're all alone and there's no one here. You're dead, no one's going to look for you and no one will care that you're gone. You're a Pokémon now and you'll never fulfil your dream!
"Hey!" the Voice called out to him, "Get up, now's not the time to space out!" and he knew that she was right.
There was a bad guy out there that needed to be taken down. Another crazy person who wanted to use the world for his own gain. That took precedence over his worries. Over his worries for others. They could be worried about him as long as they were safe.
And for them to be safe, the bad guy had to be brought to justice. As always. There was no room for doubt.
He heard some noise in the distance and instinctually moved into a hiding space.
He saw a red haired lady coming down the path with a cart in her hands before she came to a stop before the doorway.
She was bathed in a crimson light that reviled her to be Zoroark and told Ash, "Quickly, get into the cart." Which Ash did without a second thought. She then proceeded to cover his body with a thick cloth so as to hide and shield him from the sunlight that he had briefly exposed himself to.
He then felt the energy of Zoroark's illusion as it reasserted itself and with that the Pokémon in disguise picked up the cart and began to make her way towards her prey, and her vengeance.
Well Ash finally knows an attack… took long enough. I still feel bad about this… I honestly didn't think that this would stretch out for so long. Seriously! This was supposed to be two chapters, maybe three. But then I asked why do they do this? Why is that happening? Should I add some more explosions? Does Ash need to go into prison again? And I eventually created this multi-chapter monster.
As always I'd love to hear your reviews. Feel free to tell me your thoughts, suggestions, ect and if you reeeeeally love me send some money. Nudge nudge, wink wink, wiggle wiggle. :P
Next chapter's not going to be a quick update. It's my first epic scale battle sequence in this story and I don't wanna screw it up. (But reviews may help speed things up)