Chapter 22 – Foundational Lies

"I think we all had secrets we wanted hidden, or forgotten about. But the further we pushed them away and locked up the doors, the more pain they brought because they were lies festering in the shadows out of sight." Ash

[00:50AM] – 27th May 2011 – North Of Victory Road - Somewhere

They gathered around as Dragonite winged his way into a soft landing, thumping down on the soft earth. He fluttered his wings, before tucking them in against his body, cooing as Lance patted him on the head. "What do you have there then?" the champion asked his prize dragon.

Mewtwo stayed back seemingly wary of the close-knit group. He'd isolated himself for so long he was loathed to mingle, but Latias had no such qualms, greeting the Dragonite cheerfully, touching noses. She watched, golden eyes bright, as Ash pulled a package from the bag, something hard and wrapped with cloth. It clinked slightly, the sound of two crystals bumping together softly, a pure, clean note.

"It's the gears." Lance realised before Ash had even unwrapped it. "The ones from the Pewter Base – oh thank Rayquaza I wondered how we were going to get them." He paused, scratching his head guiltily. "Actually, May phoned earlier during the rocket chase and I cut the call. She might have been about to mention something about gears."

"No worries." Ash shrugged, "We've got them now – Psychic, Bug and Ground."

"Here," Misty pulled her own from the inner pocket of her red hooded jacket. "Put them all in that bag together."

"Really..?" Erika raised an eyebrow. "I think we should keep them separate, so we don't lose them at the last minute. Here," she gestured, "Give me some, and give Lance some, then we all have a few and we know they'll be safe."

Ash nodded in consent, although Misty still looked at the dark aura guardian, slightly distrustful. "Alright…" She conceded, finally. "How many do you have?"

"Three here," Ash gestured, dropping to the ground and placing the unwrapped package on the ground. The emerald, the rose and the brown gear flashed, glowing with their own innate light. "Psychic, ground and bug – and my own little collection..." And he turned his back upside down, promptly emptying his onto the ground.

"Ash-Shads..!" Erika was scandalised, barely able to change the name in time and Misty glanced at her sharply. Oh crap, how could the Cerulean Gym leader miss that? "Can't you be a little more careful Shadow?" she asked, trying to repair her mistake.

The elite however didn't notice, sorting the gears out and murmuring under his breath. "Here, Erika, you take the Grass, Bug, Rock and Ghost." He pushed the two green gears and a grey stone coloured one, along with a sickly purple gear towards her.

The nature loving princess flinched. "Nu-uh... No way. I know where you got two of those from, and I don't want to touch them."

Shrugging, Ash didn't bother arguing, "Fine then. I've got the fighting because it's Luca's gear from Orre, the electric because Zapdos was hell to get past, the normal from Pallet and the rock gear from Lavender." He grabbed the gears, putting them back in his pack, the maroon, yellow, purple-grey and stone coloured creations vanishing from sight.

Rai chirped a complaint. "RaiAi AiChu RaiChu Rai." (I'm never, ever visiting the power station again.)

Next to him, Va let out a light snort, "Reon." She chided (Grumpy)

Rai flicked his tail at the Flareon, chirping softly, as Chu pawed softly at his waving tail. "ChuRaiAi RaiChu ChuKaa KaChu Ai..!" (You would be too if you got electrocuted by a Zapdos!)

"Dibs on the dragon..!" Lance fished up the navy gear, examining it and seemingly pleased, kept hold of it. "Which other ones..?"

Ash pushed a clear, translucent gear, a steely metallic looking one, and the one Erika recognised as the ghost type gear from Lavender tower. "Here." He motioned to them, "Flying, Steel and Ghost. From Mount Silver, Mount Coronet and Lavender respectively."

"When were you on Mount Silver?" Lance queried, picking up his gears.

Ash shrugged, grabbing the pink rose stone and holding it out to Misty, along with the fiery red one. "You already have the water and ice?" he asked, as she took them.

She nodded. "Cerulean Cape and Seafoam Islands…"

Ash nodded, "That leaves Erika the poison one we nicked from Saffron, the bug from Viridian, and grass from Vermillion Harbour and the ground from vermillion cave."

The gym leader preferred these choices to the previous set.

From where she was sitting, Va tilted her head to one side, form shimmering into an Umbreon. "ReonBre UmUmbreBreBreon." (We're still missing the dark gear.)

"That leaves the dark." Ash hopped up, translating the dark fox's words, "I'd count that as pretty good work personally."

"We have all except one," Misty sighed. "One, final gear… How are we meant to know where it is?"

"It's at Indigo." Ash told her, waving off her worries dismissively.

"How do you know?" she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, glancing at Erika and oh dear, she so heard the grass type user's slip up. Erika shifted uncomfortably, as Misty's gaze slid back to Ash.

The hooded man titled his head to one side. "Because I discovered their locations..." He told her slowly, patronisingly. Why couldn't she trust him on this? Then again, she didn't know who he was…

The Cerulean gym leader scoffed. "Don't lie. Ash did, not you. You're from – where? – Sinnoh? You have that northern drawl that makes you sound like you think you're better than everybody else."

"Darling, I am better than everybody else," Ash smirked, brushing of the dirt from his gloved hands. "I just don't want to make you feel inferior so I don't point it out to you."

"Shame your big head's just been burst with a pin; crash back to earth, because you didn't discover any of this."

"I just told you," Ash repeated, frustrated, "I located all the gears. It was my project. Research the legends and locate the gears of time…and I set some friends to help me… did you think I just got lucky in finding the time gears I did?" he paused, something clicking in his head slowly. Misty had just said Ash found them, and he had just disagreed. Thinking of himself in third person was bad, but even worse when Misty still considered them separate persons and he had just blurred the line. "Wait – who did you say found them?"

But it was too late – the damage was done and Misty was staring at him with wide eyes. "Drop your accent."

"What? How can I just, 'drop my accent'?" he blustered, trying to twist the conversation. This was not how it was meant to go dammit!

"You had that stupid accent when you came back from Sinnoh – why didn't I recognise it – and it was your project – of course you know where they are – the Raichu, the Eevee evolutions…" Misty was killing herself. She could be completely wrong, seeing Ash is this Shadow of all peoples but there were too many coincidences. Not to mention Erika kept calling him 'Ash'. Now he had practically admitted it… could it really be him? She glared at him, anger bubbling through her. She no longer knew what to think.

The aura guardian took a step back at those turquoise blue eyes narrowed at him. "Are you feeling okay Cerulean?" slipping into the mocking use of naming gym leaders by their city. He glanced to Lance, eyes pleading help. "Is she always, like this?" he asked.

There was a crack, as Misty's fist collided with Ash's face, sending him reeling backwards, and his hood, dislodged, slid off. The dark haired man rubbed his jaw, remaining half turned towards Misty, not glancing back to meet her gaze. Erika had let out a surprised squeak at Misty's punch, and now her face had crumpled into a mixture between laughter and relief. Mewtwo watched amused from the side-lines.

"I think I deserved that." The guardian told Lance, glancing sideways.

"You always do you prat." Lance shook his head, glancing at Misty who, despite putting the puzzle together, didn't seem to believe it.

"Ash? Ash Ketchum?" She was staring at his face, the eyes shifting in colour, just as she remembered and the messy black hair.

"That's my name Mist. Don't wear it out." Was his glib response, but sensibly he remained out of punching or mallet distance.

"But you died!" she cried, turquoise eyes damp, "You died up at Indigo and your body fell off a cliff. You're not… you can't be him." She shook her head in denial, trying to ignore the chirping Raichu and black eared Eevee (it was the same dammit, why hadn't she seen? It even had the same nickname… of course Va was short for Eva…). "Who are you?"

"Misty." Lance began, taking pity on his friend, whose shoulders were stiff, still refusing to look at Misty. "Misty it is Ash. Just… hear us out." He added. "Please."

"You knew?" Misty cried, whirling on him, "You knew… you all knew and you didn't tell me? What sort of twisted plot is this Lance? You let me think he was dead!"

"I am dead!" Ash spun around, eyes blazing gold, "I died Misty! I'm dead, gone! Don't blame Lance and Erika, they only found out recently. I specifically didn't want this happening!"

"Didn't want what happening Ash?" Misty snarled, anger flaring in response.

"This!" Ash gestured. "You shouldn't have found out like this. Hell, you shouldn't even be here!" he glared at Lance who refused to look guilty. "You were meant to be safe at Cerulean, not running around chased by morphs and monsters!"

"I don't need protecting!" Misty snapped. "Least of all from you… If anyone it's you who needs protecting, lest you go off and get yourself killed again…" her voice choked off, tears beginning to run.

Ash laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I got myself killed. Then two years later I get resurrected by the gods and set to 'save the world' again." His voice was laced with poison. "You don't think I wouldn't have returned if I could?" he asked, "You don't think I didn't want to spend every moment with you after all that time?"

"Then why hide!?" Misty exclaimed. "Why hide and run away with that hood and stupid accent you robbed off Riley?"

"You don't understand!"

"No, because you never explain..! It's all the same, you running away from questions leaving nothing but more questions!"

"I didn't want to leave you again!" Ash burst out, eyes flaring silver and fading back to their normal brown. His exclamation seemed to stem Misty's anger as she fell silent, watching him.

Erika and Lance observed, feeling like intruders in their own little world. Rai had retreated to sit with Latias, and the rest of the Pokémon were sitting on the side-lines, watching with various degrees of amusement and pity.

Misty was silent, staring at him, the familiar features, the shifting colour of the eyes. "Ash?" she asked, still not daring to believe.

He met her gaze, trembling slightly. "Misty."

"Prove it."

"How..?"

Turquoise eyes studied him, so full of pain and he wondered what had happened to his brave, strong, quick tempered red head?

Then he realised. He had happened. He had died and left Misty alone in this cold, dark world. And she had fallen, lost and alone, fierce fire diminish and cold.

He couldn't blame her.

"You'd know." She insisted, eyes full of hope, even as her lip trembled. "If you really are Ash, then you'd know." The rush of anger had gone, but he knew it would return, after the emotion of relief had washed through her.

"I owe you a bike."

She continued to stare at him.

"I gave you a Feebas, who evolved into a beautiful Milotic."

It was beginning to dawn, but she didn't seem to want to believe it.

"After I lost my memory, you told me how we met and travelled around Kanto. I told you about Gary, Leaf and I – our childhood nicknames."

Ash paused, swallowing, and purposefully didn't glance towards Lance.

"I was helping with SECTION and you and Lance got drunk and slept together after Lily and Violet, your sisters were killed. I agreed to play spy for Giovanni. He threatened you, bombed Pallet, killing my mother. The deal was for me to spy provided that you, Lance, May, Brock, Max, Riley and Dawn were left alone. He didn't keep to the deal and I was shot. I lost my memory."

"Ash..?"

He nodded, slowly, eyes brown, and staring into her, the wide, ocean blue with hints of green. Seconds later he found himself with an arm full of Misty, and despite all the hiding, his wish (noble and chivalrous, Lance had grumbled) to keep Misty safe and happy, fell apart at her just being there… was it really possible to miss someone so much that you only ever felt half there?

Erika sidled over to Latias and Lance. She crooned at the pair, aweing softly, "Aren't they cute together?"

The eon dragoness nodded her agreement, gold eyes playful. Lance just shot the two girls an odd look.

"You're an idiot," Misty said, between hysterical breaths, head buried into his shoulder, "And when I finish hugging you, I'm going to borrow Lance's sword, set it on fire, kill you with it, and then bring you back to life because you still owe me a bike you moron."

"Why's it always about the bike?" Ash sighed into her hair, pulling her closer, prepared to lose his self in the moment, and deal with any later thoughts Misty may harbour about killing him or severely injuring him later.

[01:27AM] – 27th May 2011 – North Of Victory Road - Somewhere

Misty refused to let go. If she let go, he might vanish again, or die and she didn't think she could bear having her heart broken twice.

"Misty."

"What?" she mumbled into his shoulder.

"Misty, let go. I need… I have to tell you something."

Over her shoulder Lance was emphatically shaking his head, and even Erika looked like he agreed with her. Ash gazed at the pair for a heartbeat, before looking down at the red head in his arms. He had to tell her, she'd kill him otherwise… but he'd already by dead, and time would be safe. He knew what her response would be (well then time can stay stopped, as long as you're still here!) and he couldn't put her through it.

"About what..?"

And he decided, if he couldn't tell her the truth about the future, he could at least tell her the truth about the past.

"About the labs..."

Lance stopped and stared, and Erika flinched, and Misty stiffened in his arms.

Ash sighed.

Now was as good a time as any.

[01:29AM] – 27th May 2011 – North Of Victory Road - Somewhere

The group was curled up, about a mile away from the still unconscious rockets. Va had started a fire, and then huddled down next to Rai. Sensing the older mouse was depressed, Pichu had been pulling faces at him, to cheer her older adopted brother up, and the mouse had reluctantly perked up slightly.

Latias had been talking to Erika's Chikorita, and Luca and Mewtwo seemed to have made a pact to be grouchy and silent together. Lance kept shooting Ash odd looks, his Dragonite had flown off again to take a note back to the Viridian and Pewter crew, while Golduck just waddled along behind them, trying to keep up.

Now they sat by the fire, and Ash was staring at the flames, trying to work out where to start, and how to tell them the truth. Misty was curled into his side, unwilling to let go, and she had to keep glancing at him to remind herself he was real. During the short journey to get there he had explained his task by Arceus, and why he was alive again, and why he couldn't see her, and she had accepted it. She had been willing to accept just about anything. They had, however, skirted clear of the topic of the immediate future and its consequences.

It would just make it harder when the time came.

"Do you remember…?" Ash started, "When you broke into the lab?"

Misty nodded in affirmative. "There was a dead scientist in that main room. Apparently Adrianna, Archer and Petrel were all panicked…" she paused, as Lance interrupted.

"They were?" he asked, surprised. "I… wasn't there, remember?" he spoke to Ash. "At Cinnabar, I stayed behind at Viridian. But that's not my point, in Saffron you met those three elites and the moment they realised you were alive they agreed to leave, just like that. Why?"

Ash shrugged, "I think I scared them a bit." He admitted. "Proton was the exception, then again, and he wasn't actually around in Saffron."

Erika shuddered, "Don't talk about that monster." She spat, "If he had his way he'd have cut me up and made me into a freaky Pokémon morph like those hell hounds!"

It took a moment before her words sunk in, and then heads swivelled back to Ash who was staring resolutely at the flames. "Not quite that bad." He shrugged. "At least I still look human – huh?"

"But your eyes change colour." Misty pointed out. "And you can teleport … how long have you been able to do that?" she breathed.

Lance's eyes widened. "You told me back in Saffron that you could do it since the labs, you just didn't tell anyone. But what Pokémon…" He paused, in realisation. "Mew... There were files on Mew all over the place."

[08:35AM] – 7th November 2006 – Kanto – Cinnabar Island – Cinnabar Laboratory

The man woke up.

His blue eyes flickered at the harsh white lights. His breathing was ragged, wheezing against the chemical tainted air. His limbs felt like lead, weighed down by something… heavy and cold. He swallowed; his throat dry and parched, his lips cracked and broken. He tried to find strength to move but he felt like all the fight had done out of him. It was like someone had punched him in the chest with a thunder punch, knocking all the fight out of him and paralyzing his muscles at the same time.

There was movement somewhere in his peripheral vision. His eyes rolled as he tried to see the person or thing around him. His head refused to turn.

He tried to talk, his throat grating and sore and his voice was cracked, barely recognisable. A small cough rose in his throat.

Then the pain hit him.

His sapphire blue eyes flashed closed, wincing at the flood of feeling through his nerves. It felt like his body was on fire, burning and freezing at the same time. His whole body screamed.

Something was missing from this world of confusion and pain. The raven haired man opened his eyes, blinking in the harsh white light. His muscles screamed in agony and he let out a rasping breath. Something was missing. Someone, or something…he couldn't remember what.

Then it struck him, like someone hitting him over the head with a mallet.

He couldn't remember.

Vainly he searched his burning fragmented mind for the images, the pictures of his past.

There was nothing there.

He searched deeper, delving past mindless thoughts, stupid knowledge and unrecognisable fragmented shadows. Curios, souvenirs and irrelevant images flashed to the surface, but nothing of any significance. He closed his eyes and opened them again.

Who was he?

Through the haze of pain, he tried to search for imaged of his past, and somewhere between there and here, he slid back in merciful unconsciousness.

[09:47AM] – 7th November 2006 – Kanto – Cinnabar Island – Cinnabar Laboratory

When he next awoke from the darkness, it was to muted voices drifting through the walls. The pain was still there, but muted, as if he was used to it, and after a cautious twitch of his fingers, he realised he could move, albeit slowly.

The fire in his blood had subsided and overcome by a sudden panic the man sat up. The world spun and he clenched his eyes closed, drawing his knees to his chest. He tried to control his breathing, calming the feeling of nausea and of utter confusion that reigned. Slowly, like a rocking boat the waves of pain and sickness began to subside. He cracked open one bright, pale blue eye.

The man wasn't in the same room as before. The lights here were yellow and soft, gentle to his sore gaze. He was sitting on a soft mattress, with a single blanket that must have just been casually tossed over his sleeping figure. A single chair sat in the room, and soft light pooled in through the window. The man stared with only mild curiosity at the bars that crisscrossed the gentle sunlight.

He was wearing… well… not much in that department, but there were clothes scattered on the chair. He picked them up, running a hand over the fabric. They were clean, but somebody had failed to wash out the bloodstains out of the blue jacket, and there was a rip in the black t-shirt. He disregarded that, grabbing the clothes which he recognised as his own.

There was a horrible sense of irony to that. He knew they belonged to him, but he didn't know his own name.

Awkwardly limping to the door, he let his full weight rest on the frame, muscles beginning to seize up again. He tried the handle, silently snarling when it did nothing.

He was locked in.

He was a prisoner.

Well if he had it his way, he was going to get out sooner rather than later.

As if responding to his mood, the door handle glowed blue briefly, the lock clicking open. The man grinned to himself, and tried to slide through silently.

It worked all right for the first three steps, and then he tripped on something and found himself sprawling on the floor, unable to get up again. There were voices echoing around him

"I thought I told you to lock the door."

"I did! It's not my fault he's a bloody aura guardian."

An aura guardian; the man tucked that thought away for future reference. He was an aura guardian. The term came with images of rocks and blue spheres, energy, flowing through him like living fire, but not burning, muted and soothing like an ocean. Beyond that though, he had no clue.

"He's a what?" Someone else obviously wasn't entirely sure of what it was either. "Why didn't you tell me? I have Lucario cells I could have used!" The voice complained, as the supposed aura guardian sat up, leaning on a filing cabinet and realising that even if he managed to climb to his feet and get out now, these people would get in the way.

He wasn't strong enough for that. Yet.

"Where am I?" he asked instead, glancing up and around the room. It was a series of science desks, with Bunsen burner taps and large lockers and shelves dotted around it occasionally. At the far end there was a large metal table, with cuffs to keep somebody chained down.

His blood ran cold.

A person appeared in his sights, wearing a white suit, with a red R on one pocket. The man blinked. That had to mean something. The person tilted his head, examining him, his hair a bright blue, one hand stroking his chin thoughtfully, but not speaking.

A woman marched up to him, a white dress similar to the suit making the raven haired man think it was a sort of uniform. Her red hair was shoulder length, cascading down around her shoulders. It was pretty, but something inside him told it was the wrong colour, too deep, too red and not enough orange. The raven haired man narrowed his eyes at the two of them.

The woman cast a sharp glance at her partner then smiled all too charmingly at the hurt man. "You're safe. We're in a lab somewhere."

"Safe?" he laughed, "Is that why I was locked in?" he glanced up at the red R, wondering what it meant. R. Must stand for something. Although why he pictured a talking cat and two more strangely dressed people reciting a poem was beyond him.

"Cinnabar." He gasped out, not knowing why. "Cinnabar Island, Kanto South."

He at least knew what region he was in, thank Arceus. (Arceus? Wasn't that the big… thing… for lack of a better word, which tried to kill them? He wasn't sure who 'them' was, but then he wasn't sure of a lot of things.)

The two of them flinched, "How did you know?" the teal haired man asked, trying to be nice.

"No idea." He laughed. "I can't remember. Did you do that too?" he latched on to any images he could to try and taunt them. "What do you do here anyway, other than lock people up? Cloning? People? Pokémon? Mewtwo?"

The last name he could actually recall quite clearly, what with that business with a storm and clones, and some sort of big battle. It was the clearest thing actually, that he remembered, yet he had a horrible feeling that before he came here, he had no memory of that incident. The rushing images made his head ache, and he closed his eyes.

"What did he say?" The whiny voice hissed. "What does that mean…that name…Mew…two…" he seemed puzzled.

The raven haired man opened his eyes, looking slowly towards where an elderly man, frizzled hair and wide, grey eyes was stooped over; glasses perched on the end of his nose.

Another man with purple hair and a crooked back sneered, "Probably another failed experiment that your senile old mind has forgotten."

"Shut up Petrel!" another man snapped his hair turquoise and a black cap resting on his head. He stalked forwards and glanced at the raven haired man who had started shivering slightly, glaring defiantly around at the five people.

"You can relax," the teal man said. "We're friends."

The raven –haired man curled his lip. He wanted to laugh. "No you're not." He disagreed. "If you were I wouldn't be locked up, and you'd have answered my questions. I also wouldn't get this horrible feeling that you're going to steal my Pikachu." He paused, musing over his own words. "I have a Pikachu." He repeated, blinking.

The four with an 'R' on their clothing glanced at each other. Teal hair shook his head, "No you don't."

The man blinked calmly at him. "Don't patronise me. I have a Pikachu. Give him back."

They looked at him. He glared back. Purple-hair turned and shuffled away, not seeing the annoyed looks that his companions gave him. The red-haired woman rocked back on her heels, crossing her arms, "His attitude hasn't improved," she commented tartly. Her golden ear rings jangled.

"What can you recall?" the teal haired man asked, curiously.

The aura guardian glanced up at the considering. "Well I don't know who you are." He admitted. "Although I think the scientist idiot is called Fuji. The one who lost his daughter."

The scientist blinked, "I don't have a daughter," he commented, dryly.

The man on the floor smirked, "Oh he made you forget that too did he?" he asked, but provided no further information. He glanced up at the 'R' wearing people. "You're Rocket Executives." He noted.

"My name is Archer." The teal haired man introduced himself. "This is Proton." He gestured towards the turquoise haired man, "And Arianna." He motioned to the woman. "The other moron is Petrel."

"Hey!" Petrel complained re-entering the room. He dropped a blanket on the floor, kicking it forwards, and there was a pained cry from within. "Damn rat." The purple haired man skulked over to Archer. "Nearly shocked me before I could get the insulation blanket over him."

"KaChu," (Moron!) the mouse shook of the blanket, insulting the man with a beady glare. The raven haired man blinked.

"Rai"

The mouse turned around. Its fur was yellow and its ears spiky. The ear tips were tipped black, and the tail was notched through the middle with a large scar. Brown stripes rested on the mouse's back and two red cheek pouches sparked weakly with electricity. The base of his lightning shaped tail was also brown.

It was a Pikachu, but the blue-eyed man ignored this for a more important fact.

It was his Pikachu.

Although why he had nicknamed it after its evolution he wasn't sure.

"PikaPi?" the mouse asked. (Brother?) It blinked and shook its head, as if there was a fly buzzing around it, "KaPichPikachu," (I can't remember anything) it announced sadly.

The man sighed. "I can't remember anything either." He glanced sharply at the men around him. "That was you too – wasn't it? Wiping my memory?" When there was no reply he threw out more questions, "Who am I? What is my name?"

"Well your mind wiping worked slightly," Proton remarked to Fuji, eyes gleaming.

Adrianna winced. "Slightly. He remembers enough not to trust us."

"Trust you." The man laughed bitterly, "Yeah, I'm going to trust someone who locks me up and experiments on me and my Pokémon, stuffing Rai in a cage and forgetting to feed him.

The scientist blinked, peering through his round spectacles, "You can understand him? Wonderful," he began to make notes.

Blue-eyes flickered distastefully over him, "I could always understand him," he commented and the scientist dropped his pencil in surprise.

Archer interrupted before the elderly man could begin to ask questions, "What did you actually do to him?" he asked, referring to the half dead looking aura guardian, but asking the scientist.

"I'd like to know too," the man remarked dryly, and with dignity for his current position, propped up against a filing cabinet.

The scientist pushed his glasses up his nose from where they were sliding off. He cleared his throat. "Well, we discovered some old fragments our Team had retrieved of Mew, preserved in rock. They were found on one of our abandoned labs on an island, called New Island..."

"Isn't that the place that was mysteriously destroyed?" Petrol interrupted.

"I barely escaped with my life." Fuji assured them. "Traces of DNA were achieved from the eyebrows of this legendary Pokémon and have sat in our system for who knows how long…" the scientist blinked, the confused look coming over his face again before he continued, "Well, we wanted to see if we could create a human poke morph. You were nearly dead when these four brought you to me. Two bullets lodged in your chest…" he whistled in amazement.

"You refused to die. Well, we expected you to anyway, and introduced these cells into your body. No idea what effect they will have," Dr Fuji sounded all too cheerful about this.

The man narrowed his eyes, his gaze dropping and looking in his reflection in a steel cabinet across from him; blue eyes and black spiky hair. He frowned, running his hand along his hair, eyes narrowed. The blue seemed wrong, unnatural, but almost as soon as he thought it, the blue shimmered into a brown hazel colour, colour shifting.

"Well what now?" the Executive repeated his question. "We have this man with no memories, who can do who knows what. Is he recovered?"

"I'm not going to work for you if that was what you intended." He remarked dryly, still leaning heavily on the filing cabinet, one hand supporting him on the ground. "You rockets can burn in hell for all I care." He winced, his muscles till felt like lead. The Pikachu had crawled over to him, chirping softly.

Dr Fuji shrugged, "You'll come around to our views in time," He blinked.

The aura guardian raised an eyebrow in doubt. "Really? I'll work for someone who forces Pokémon to evolve against their will and splices people's genomes with legendary DNA?"

"We didn't actually get your Pikachu to evolve." Fuji protested, "The thunderstone broke and reformed into what we call a light ball. I've never seen one made before and it was remarkable."

He said this as the Pikachu showed a golden sphere materialising on his tail. The inside swirled with electricity.

"A Light Ball," the blue eyed man murmured. Then his gaze flickered up to the scientist, "Can I see the Eevee too?"

The elderly man nearly fell over in shock. "What Eevee?" he blustered. "Didn't know you had an Eevee?"

He blinked calmly, "I do now," he spoke softly. "I'd like to see her now, before you chop her up to feed to any more of your monsters."

Archer flinched at this, blank face flickering with emotion before blanking again. "Just give him the damn Eevee. It's one thing less for us to worry about," he snapped, and Petrol scuttled away again to do his bidding.

He returned shortly, bringing a metal cage with a small brown fox perched inside, snarling and trying to bite his fingers. It succeeded and the purple haired man dropped the cage with a squeal. It clanged on the floor, and the fox struggled upright as it rolled sideways.

The fox was brown, but it had major faults, marking it out as different from others of its species. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice whisper 'clone' but the thought was quickly gone. Its tail was black tipped, as were the tips of its ears. Paler fur, like the colour of its fur collar ringed its ears, separating the black and the brown, and its paw tips were the same colour. Its dark eyes stared angrily around at the grunts, a vicious snarl ripping through its teeth.

"Hey there," Red sat up, wincing and with one hand he opened the cage. The small fox's eyes widened.

The people expected it to lunge for his fingers as they worked the clasp. But it crouched there, "VuiEve?" (What are you doing?)

"Helping."

The cage door swung open. The fox blinked. Then it leapt over to where Pikachu was sat. Its ears were pressed back against its head and its eyes were wide but it squeaked something at the raven haired man. "Evee Eee Vui," It nodded its head in respect towards the raven haired man. (You're different from the rest.)

He smiled gently at it. She trusted him.

Archer stepped forwards, observing how the small brown fox snarled slightly as he passed. He reached out a hand to help the man to stand. "You need to get up on your feet. Otherwise you're not much use for anything."

The guardian accepted the hand but his eyes narrowed. He winced as he stood and stood there for a few seconds before staggering sideways. Archer moved forwards to help.

"Dammit."

Archer blinked. The man was no longer in front of him. Instead he was now standing across the other side of the room having just knocked over a pile of papers to lean on. His hands clutched at the desk and his head span dizzyingly. He was swearing. His blue eyes glared angrily at Dr Fuji.

"What the hell did you do to me?"

[01:44AM] – 27th May 2011 – North Of Victory Road - Somewhere

"How ironic..." Mewtwo was the first to speak, "That the only human I ever trusted is no longer that, but more like a brother than a friend."

"I'm glad you find it do amusing." Ash sighed.

"I don't care." Misty said, determinedly. "You're you, and even after the incident, apart from the memory issue nothing had changed. I don't care."

"Thank you."

Lance was staring at the Glaceon, curled by the fire. "Va is a clone?"

The fox flinched, shifting back into her normal, defected brown self. "VuiEve Ev Vui!" (I'm my own self!)

Ash merely shrugged. "Va is Va. Or Eva, as she is actually named, but Zo misheard it and then we all got into the habit." He smiled at his four Pokémon team. "She's an Eevee and my friend, nothing more, nothing less." He glanced at Mewtwo, "Even clones are their own being, and not just a copy. Everyone deserves life, regardless of their birth right." The clone bowed his head gratefully at him.

Rai shot a grateful look towards his trainer, before pressing himself to Va's side.

"So how did Rai evolve?" Misty had to ask.

"His light ball reacted with a thunderstone that quite literally fell on top of him – landslide – and the combined electrical input was making him sick. What a thunderstone and other evolutionary stones do, is increase the Pokémon's aptitude for their element, such as increasing fire potential, or electricity levels, until their bodies have to change to adapt. The first time, Rai managed to harvest the stone's power without changing form, creating a light ball, but the second time, he couldn't handle it. He refused to evolve though, almost too overcharged, and so Zekrom had to siphon of some of the power, so his body could change, and then give it back to him."

"Zekrom..?" Lance blinked. "A legendary dragon..?"

"Legendary electric dragon..!" Ash snapped, and for a moment the pair seemed to be silently arguing about who had rights to that legendary. Lance gave, shrugging. Ash smirked triumphantly and nodded. "And yes, although what he was going in Sinnoh I don't know." He blinked. "Although there was this weird dude with green hair skulking around, but he vanished pretty quickly and I never saw him again."

"Rai was grumpy for weeks." Zo muttered under her breath. "Shocked everything of course, including himself."

The group laughed, and it seemed to ease the tension that filled the air, easing their hearts and easing their minds.

"Can you shape shift?" Mewtwo asked curiously. "Because my sister can change her form, and I wondered if you could too…"

"Can you shift?" Ash asked the clone. The psychic shook his head silently.

Erika leaned forwards. "What about psychic abilities?" she asked. "Like Sabrina… although she said you were dark typed…"

Ash glared at her slightly, and she glanced at Misty once. "Slightly." He admitted, still glaring at her. "I have these… well I suppose you'd call them visions of the future. The psychic for the most part played havoc with my aura, overpowering everything and tainting my aura with its type. Aura is usually un-typed… just pure energy. Riley used his aura to enhance normal punches into fighting typed mega punches…"

"So that's all aura is?" Lance asked, "Pure un-elemantalised power." He paused.

"That's not a word." Erika told him. "But we know what you mean."

"How do you know it's not a word?" Lance challenged her.

"It's got one of those red squiggly lines under it."

"As I was saying…" Ash continued, ignoring the interruption. "You can give aura a type. Psychics like Sabrina and those Hoenn twins are already typed, and can't 'un-type' themselves to use aura. Riley tended to favour the use of types, usually steel, fighting and normal, while I favoured electric, fighting and dark if I had to, preferring to keep it un-typed. After I died…" he paused, glancing at Misty to check she was alright with this. "Dark and ghost type effects became easier to use." He admitted. "The psychic for a brief time played up…"

"That's why everything kept exploding!" Lance realised, "And you said it was the gas!" he threatened Ash.

The raven haired guardian didn't even look guilty. "It wasn't my fault." He shrugged.

"You said aura was the basis of all attacks." Erika frowned. "Does that mean you can use Pokémon attacks?"

Ash raised an eyebrow at her. "Does it look like I can breathe fire?" he asked. "No, I can't use Pokémon attacks. But I can type some of my spheres…" he held out a hand, letting a black aura sphere settled on top of it. Blue spun within, but was lost in the darkness of it. "Dark or ghost," Ash told them. He was frowning in concentration. "I can't do the fighting as well any more…" a little bit of blue crept into it but faded almost immediately. "Psychic still works a bit…" the sphere grew purple, growing hazy around the edges. Then it shimmered and died as Ash lost hold of it. "It's not easy though." He admitted.

"So that's why you teleport," Latias concluded. "It's the way you channel the ability to not interfere with your aura, but still releasing it, so as to prevent a build-up of harmful psionic energy."

Lance seemed to be the only one who understood some of the terms, but then he was used to spending time around May. "Makes sense." He nodded.

"No it doesn't." Erika and Misty said, simultaneously, before meeting each other's gazes with a smile.

[05:58AM] – 12th December 2006 – Cerulean City – Nugget Bridge – Underpass

"No not again!" Ash sighed, as the sphere in his hand shimmered violently and exploded. He had moved out of the way, but the flare of power still made him wince.

"Try again. I'll contain the blast." Tristan told him, watching nearby.

Ash glanced warily at the Gallade. He remembered rescuing the Kirlia, but not when the psychic had evolved. Regardless, he obeyed his instructions, frowning at the air between his palms, watching as a blue sphere materialised into sight. Once again it was struck through with purple, but as he stared, it faded back to the original blue.

He grinned in triumph, losing his focus as the psychic bled through, and sending it spinning out of control…

It phased out of existence with his dual type's eyes glowing blue, condensing the attack.

"Sorry." He muttered, sighing. "Lost focus…"

"PikaChu." Rai reassured him happily. "KaPi!" (No need to worry! It's better!)

"Vui Ee Ee! Evee!" Eva squeaked happily. (It's really impressive. Better than my shadow ball!)The cloned brown fox twitched her black tipped ear. "Eevee…?" (Are you okay?)

"Fine," Ash winced slightly. "It's just a headache. All these images floating around…" he shook his head, as if to rid himself of them. "Lance is still avoiding me."

"Pikachu." The mouse seemed depressed. "KaaPiChu." (Of course he is. He doesn't know how to act.)

"None of them do." Ash sighed, glancing at Tristan. "Thanks for the help." He said, slightly awkwardly to his Gallade.

The green and white Pokémon inclined his head. "I try my best." He communicated telepathically. "I hope I don't make you feel awkward…"

Had he always been so formal? "Nah," Ash shrugged it off. "It's fine; at least you're not constantly bugging me with questions." He sighed, closing his eyes tiredly. "Shall we go again?"

"When you are ready…"

April 2013 – This is the moment somebody tells me that Mew can't use teleport. So I it up and discover that they actually don't learn the move at all, but I'm refusing to change this. According to Bulbapedia, it could learn the TM in Gen1 (it can learn ALL TMs on that note), and it, along with Mewtwo, teleport twice in the movies it stars in. And let's face it, would you rather have a spliced DNA with a Spoink or a Mew? (okay, so Spoink don't learn teleport either. Abra? Natu?) Yeah, that's what I thought.

I think that was the chapter everyone was waiting for. It's why Ash can teleport, that he's got a mucked a DNA with mew genes spliced over his own. It doesn't affect him, except the eye colour changing, like mew changes shapes, and the psychic ability to teleport, however because Ash doesn't accept that ability, his teleporting doesn't always work (normally when they need to get somewhere).

I've writing the prequel and forgot that Gallade hasn't been introduced. His nickname is Tristan. That's all you're going to get out of me though. The bold/italics are him, communicating using telepathy if that's not clear…

Next chapter they're up at Indigo and it's the beginning of the end! Hold on though for the ride's not over yet! Erika breaks the fourth wall again, she's getting rather good at that…

'It's only just beginning…' (Blatant Doctor Who, quote just there. A virtual cookie if you can tell me what episode its from.)

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks to everyone who reviewed!

~ Eclipse