By the time that the others started waking up, Ash was completely hyper focused on his research. He and Ace made a surprisingly good team. They had learned a lot, and, had gotten very lucky. If they didn't have a direct link to the Professor's PC via his phone, there was no way he could have hacked it. Ace was still too young and too unsure in its abilities. Which made sense, they were supposed to learn. While his Porygon had helped, most of the night had been taken up by the two trying to find their stride.
But he had learned. More than he ever wanted to. He was absolutely horrified, disgusted, mildly terrified by an old email the professor hadn't managed to fully delete.
The truth was a funny thing. He'd always said that he wanted to know the truth about his family. He had wanted to know if someone had screwed up and messaged the professor.
He'd always known people were never what they seemed to be, but he'd never realized how far the deception had truly gone. Ash let himself zone out further, fully detaching from reality as the horrible truth sank into his very bones.
The professor had known three months before the cruise even started that it would be a target of the Controllers. Samuel Oak had boarded the ship with his grandson and friend, knowing that he would never see dry land again. He'd known that he was leading himself, Gary, Ash, and Delia into a watery grave, and hadn't said a damn word to stop it.
Professor Oak had set up an automatic email about his will that went out less than an hour after his own death. All of it had been planned, and Oak had allowed himself into the position that would lead to so much death.
And for what?
Apparently, the Congregation had kidnapped Daisy Oak, the older of the professors grandchildren. They were going to kill her if he said a single word to anyone. But, after the SS Alice went down, the Professor received an email. It had a single picture attached. It had been dated a month ago, long before they had boarded, even if it was just sent. The picture showed a room, and made of stone with no windows. Positioned in a chair laid the corpse of Daisy Oak, with her own head staring blankly from her lap.
End the Oaks.
That was all it said.
Of course they wouldn't have let her go. Why the professor hadn't seen that, be didn't know. As sick as it made him, seeing the girl who had basically been the big sister to everyone for years decapitated and holding her own head, he knew it could have been a lot worse.
The professor had been playing a loosing game long before he even realized it.
How was he supposed to tell Gary? How was he supposed to look Gary in the eyes and tell him that his grandfather has sacrificed them in hopes of saving a girl who had been dead for a while? How was he supposed to tell the boy that his family was being targeted? That the SS Alice had been bombed, in part, because of his grandfather's cowardly actions?
Had the professor known that they would make it out? No, Reggie had convinced them to leave, because they had been ignorant of how bad it was. Had Reggie known too? Had anyone else?
Looking back, the older teenager had been strangely prepared. What were the chances that he had so many water types that could support a kid? What were the chances that all of them had been gifted strong, capable Pokémon without any sort of payment? And the Pokémon that Reggie just so happened to have with him? It didn't add up.
A realization forced its way into his brain. Reggie had to have the bag when they were talking, already filled with the Pokémon they would get. There was no way Reggie had time to find Paul, Gary, and Wally, and still have time to grab his own Pokémon. No, Reggie had his team already.
But then, why had Reggie wanted to talk in his room? Why had he wanted to go somewhere else when the Pokémon he wanted Ash to meet was already with him?
Reggie had known too. Except, unlike the professor, Reggie had decided to give them as much help as he could without telling them why. Reggie must have been watching them for days, agonizing over which Pokémon would be strong enough to keep his brother safe. Reggie had known too.
Fuck.
Was he overthinking things? Was he...
A harsh pain dug its way into his skull, making him drop his phone so that he could hold his head tightly. It came on so quickly that he didn't have time to do anything but hiss under his breath.
What was he doing, he asked himself, mind going foggy. He had no idea that his golden eyes had gone hazy or that he swayed in his spot. Ash had no idea that Wally had screamed his name when he blacked out, or that both Paul and Gary had come running.
He didn't see the first glimmer in Ace's eyes either, a sign that the Pokémon was learning and gaining a personality all its own.
No, he knew nothing but darkness.
Awareness came slowly to him, he had no idea where he was, but he knew he wasn't where he was supposed to be. He had been outside, at camp, not in a weird cement cell with only a pile of torn cloth and a bucket.
He also knew that the person in front of him wasn't supposed to be there. There was no way this was real.
"Finally." The stranger muttered. "You have a stubborn mind, did you know that?"
The boy, Ash guessed it was a boy, in front of him had long, floor length raven black hair that had clearly never seen a pair of scissors. He was skeletal, pale skin stretched uncomfortably over bones that stuck out too much. He had mismatched eyes, one a striking gold, while the other was a milky white and had a scar going diagonally through it.
He wore rags, the leftover of a shirt that was both way too big and about as old as he looked.
Ash felt himself stop breathing at the sight, before he realized that he actually couldn't breath. He panicked and reached up to grab his throat, only to realize that his body was translucent.
He could feel his heart racing, even without a body. Was he dead? Had he been more hurt than he thought he was?
"Relax, big brother. You're not dead." The boy told him, voice so quiet he could barely hear it.
Relax? How was he supposed to relax when he was just a disconnected spirit?
Wait.
Brother? Had the boy called him 'big brother'? No, it wasn't possible. It couldn't be, could it? Now that he was looking, he could see just how similar the other boy felt. He knew who this was, because he could feel a part of their bond that had been pulled too tightly from time and distance finally starting to relax. It was only a little bit, but he knew that his soul was complete.
"Salix?" He mouthed, unable to speak.
The boy twisted his lips in a sad attempt at a smile. "Hey Ashford. We don't have much time, big brother. You're need to give me up. You need to stop looking for me. I appreciate it, I do, but its useless. We need to break our bond before it kills you."
Ashford. No one called him that anymore. His mom used to, when he was younger and in trouble, but everyone knew him as Ash, which he preferred. Of course, they'd been separated so young, Ash hadn't really had a preference towards his nickname yet.
"What do you mean?" He questioned silently, lack of a voice box not stopping him from needing to understand.
Salix looked away for a moment. "I'm not... neither of us is really here, Ashford. We've always been connected, but they did something that made it more. I know I'm going to die, but I won't let them kill you too."
"Who's them? Where are you?" He mouthed. He couldn't decide if this was real, or just a dream. He'd never really dreamed about how his brother would look by now.
The lost boy simply shook his head. "You'll figure it out eventually. But I won't tell you anything thats going to lead to you being stuck here too. You want to save me? I know you do, I can see you sometimes. But Ashford, you're too weak to save yourself, and I'm in it a lot worse than you are. I don't even want to think about what I am, let alone what would happen if I died when we're like this. We were born connected, and its gotten worse every year. I'm so sorry that I can't be saved, but I want you to live. Do you hear me? I want you to live with your friends and your team. I want you to run as far away from this cursed region that you can before its too late."
Ash shook his head. "I can't leave you. You need me!"
The same bitter, twisted smile came back. "You don't know what you're talking about. I am not living, Ashford. My body is not mine. I can't control it, can't move it, my heart is still beating, for now, but its not me. This," he swept a hand, gesturing to his body, "isn't me. Its what I could have been, but its not real."
"I don't understand!"
Salix's lips twisted in a frown. "You can't understand. The truth is dangerous, Ashford. You know that. Do you really want to see what I am?"
No, he didn't want to know. He couldn't process this. It had to be a dream. He had to be hallucinating. This couldn't be real.
But.
If it was.
He nodded sharply, wishing that he could actually talk and not just mouth words. Ash needed to know what his twin had gone through in order to understand exactly how badly he had failed Salix. He needed to see what had happened to make his twin insist he couldn't be saved.
Salix swallowed harshly, but nodded. "Fine. We're in my mind, right now, I'm stuck here, but I can show you what I was the last time I saw myself. Its... not pretty, Ashford, are you sure that you want to see?"
"I need to." Ash insisted, knowing that was true. He didn't want to see exactly how different his twin looked compared to Ash's own memories. But he needed to know.
Salix nodded, and gestured to a newly formed door. "Fine." He agreed, "lets go."
It didn't take long for Ash to realize that, even in here, his brother didn't walk. He floated. Weird, but not impossible, since this wasn't the real world. He followed, almost bemused by that. Was his brother a psychic? That would make sense as to how Salix had used their bond to get him here.
That feeling was quickly erased as he took in the new room. It was a weird, futuristic lab, filled with large cylindrical tanks that were covered in wires and alarms. He had no idea what the things inside were, only that all of them were large, and had some strangely familiar features. They were Pokémon maybe?
He was led towards a thinner tank, the Pokémon much smaller. His mind froze. The creature was a little bit shorter than Ash, with a sharp, fox like face. Its entire body was covered in blue and white fur, some of it was darker. Its body should have been rounder, he realized with mounting horror.
Someone had combined a Mr. Rime with an Alakazam. He could see it now, could see that each and every one of the creatures in the tanks were some sort of twisted hybrid Pokémon.
But why had...
"No." He said firmly, even if he couldn't hear himself. "No."
Salix gave him the twisted, wired grin again, before gesturing to the Rime/Alakazam hybrid. "Look."
He backed away a step, then two, because the creature had the same gold and white eyes as Salix.
"Look at me, Ash. I'm not human anymore. I'm not even a Pokémon. I'm just an abomination that shouldn't exist. Even if you could get me out, I'd be dead as soon as I came out of the stasis tank. Humans aren't supposed to have so much power, and this is the cost of it. The only way I can be saved if I'm killed. Do you understand why you need to let me go?"
Fuck. Fuck. This couldn't be real. He had to be having a nightmare. "Who... who did this?" He asked, thankful that his voice couldn't come out as broken as he felt.
"I don't know the name of the organization, but I know dad worked there. Do you want to say hi?" Salix asked, tilting his head slightly, in a way that suddenly seemed very fox like. He didn't bother waiting for a reply and simply moved over to another tank. "I got lucky, I had the potential to be a psychic, you know. They mostly mixed me with dad's Mr. Rime, you know, but I also have some Alakazam DNA, and about six others too. Dad didn't get so lucky. He screamed long enough that his voice box shredded. They mixed him with his Golem. You know, the Alolan one? When he started growing the rock scales, he went insane. It got worse when his shell formed. He died before they finished his integration. Look."
Ash didn't want to look. He didn't want to see it, but he owed his dad. Sure enough, his dad was actually recognizable, having the same humanoid shape. The face and hair looked almost identical to his memories, but the expression of unimaginable pain, eyes squeezed shut and mouth open in a scream, revealing a tongue that seemed less than human. A half formed rock shell covered him, from the back of his neck down to his thighs. The scales weren't fully made of rock, though, no, at least half of them were flayed human skin.
He felt himself gag, jolting back to his body just in time to throw up violently. He wrapped an arm around his stomach, holding it tightly while the other shook in an effort to hold him up. In that moment, he forgot about everything else. Everything but what he had just seen.
Another wave of nausea drowned him, making him puke again and again, unable to breath or speak. Tears streamed down his face, unknowingly to him. Not that he cared. No, how could he care about anything when people like that...
He didn't want to think the word 'monster' but it was the only one that fit. The people who had done that were monsters. Abominations. They should never have existed.
He refused to think about how many tanks there had been in the room (around twenty, his brain chimed in unhelpfully). He didn't want to know how many of them were filled with what had once been people. No. He didn't want to know.
Today, he might have gotten the truth, if it was real, but that truth was...
He wished he'd gotten a lie instead.