..Red Light, Green Light..
Celestic Town
2:00 PM
"Thank you for the meal." Said Ash after he finished his food. "That was great. You sure are an amazing cook, Cynthia."
"Oh, it was nothing." Cynthia said. "I'm glad you liked it."
After helping Cynthia with the dishes, she suggested that they go for a walk, to which Ash gladly accepted.
The two walked to the park in the middle of the town, where the ancient shrine, the heart of Celestic Town, was located. There they sat down in a grass slope facing the shrine, watching kids play.
"They look like they're having fun. It's rare to see kids playing outside nowadays. Then again, this isn't a big city." Ash commented while setting himself up to lie down on the slope. "What game do you think they're playing?"
"I think they're playing statues." Cynthia answered.
They continued to chat while watching the children play, joined by Ash's Pikachu shortly after they started talking. Before they knew it, hours had already gone by and it was getting dark.
"I have to go now, grandmother must be waiting for me." Cynthia pushed herself up. "I had a good time today. Thank you for coming all the way here."
Ash sat up and rested his arms on his knees. "No problem. I'd go anywhere to see you." He said with a smile.
"Ah, you." Cynthia chuckled, a faint blush on her cheeks. "Always with the cheesy lines."
Ash replied with smile. "I mean it, though."
"I know you do." She smiled back. "I'll see you later, Ash."
"Ah, wait." Ash spontaneously grabbed Cynthia's hand, causing her to trip and fall. He instinctively caught her to cushion her fall. "..Well, this is a rather embarrassing position." Cynthia ended up on top of him, their faces merely inches away from each other. He lifted his head up and closed in for a kiss, with Cynthia doing the same.
"Aah! Cynthia's doing naughty things!" One of the kids shouted not far from them. The couple immediately separated from one another. "I'm so telling the Professor.." another one said.
"L-let's not do that, now.." Said Cynthia, attempting to change the children's minds.
Futile as it was, the children ran in the direction of the research center. "Nope! We're telling her! Catch us if you can!"
Cynthia stood up, but the children were already too far to chase. "Geez, this all happened because you pulled me.."
"Ah yeah, about that." Ash stood up and opened his pack, pulling a hat. He placed the hat on Cynthia's head. "For you."
"This hat is.." She took off the cap and looked at it. "The hat you wore while travelling in Sinnoh?"
"Yep."
"Why are you giving this to me?" she asked.
Ash stroked his chin while looking for an answer. "I don't know myself. I just felt like giving it to you."
Cynthia looked at the hat again and smiled. "Thank you. I'll take good care of it."
"I'll walk you back home." Said Ash after putting his arms around her.
Cynthia's house was a close walk from the research center. After seeing Ash off, she went inside her house to be greeted by her grandmother.
"Did you have a good time, dear?" the Professor asked. "I didn't know you liked men younger than you."
"Oh, please don't tease me." Cynthia protested as she took her coat off.
"As long as you're happy, dear." The professor added.
Cynthia looked out of her living room window to see Ash still in sight. "That's weird." She said.
Professor Caroline also came to look out the window. "What is?"
"I didn't know Ash had that Pokémon."
Indigo Plateau
7:00 PM
"What? Ash is alive?" A woman with orange hair shouted in the lobby of the hotel. "Are you serious, Brock?" she yelled while shaking the breeder's collar.
"Yeah, yeah, he is, Misty! Stop shaking meeee!" Brock yelled while trying to get himself out of the grasps of the Cerulean Gym leader.
Misty stopped, and pulled him closer for further investigation. "Are you sure? One-hundred-percent sure?" she asked.
"Yes, yes! He even had Pikachu with him! Look, I wasn't the only one, ask Dawn and Max!" he answered while pointing at the two fellow trainers. Fortunately, he was released when Misty turned her attention to Dawn and Max.
"Is this true, Max?" another voice asked.
"Yep, totally true, sis. He looked as healthy as he could be, and he's gotten pretty tall, too. Even his voice changed." Max answered to his sister, May.
"I wished we could have gone with you guys." Misty said dejectedly.
"You could, if you weren't in such a hurry." Brock Chimed in. "It was pretty cool, we even get to see a Moltres and her egg."
"Ooh, why do all the cool stuff happen when I'm away." May commented.
"So, more importantly, where's Ash now?" Misty asked Brock while sitting down.
Brock shrugged. "I don't know, he went somewhere with a friend of his right after we finished the second round. Carmine was his name, I think." He explained. "They were in quite the hurry."
Misty sighed and massaged her forehead. "So let me get this straight. Ash is alive and well, he's in this Conference, and he's going under the name of Thanatos." The others nodded in agreement. "So why has he kept the fact that he's alive a secret for the last four years?"
"I'm sure he has his reasons." Brock tried to come up with an answer. "But we could also just ask him the next time we meet him."
"That's a must!" Max said while standing up. "The third round is only two days- well, one and a half days from now! We can just ask him the questions later." The youngest trainer suggested.
"I guess we can do that." Dawn agreed. "We can also watch him battle, now that we know the schedule for the third round. Who's his opponent?"
"Let me check.." Max grabbed his PokeNav and opened the tournament website. "It's.. Morty."
"Morty? I've heard that name before.." said Brock while trying to remember the name.
Max sighed and gave a know-it-all shrug. "Don't you know your fellow Gym Leaders? He's the Ecruteak Gym Leader. It seems the majority of people that found the objectives are the well-known trainers, I guess. We were lucky to have been with Ash. We even found it before Misty and May."
"And we were so lucky, too! The Master Balls we found were the last two!" May added.
"Anyway, I'm off to train." Max abruptly said. "I want to get ready for my next match." He then left proceeded to leave to hotel.
Brock stood up and went after him. "I'll go with you, Max!"
Misty turned to look at Dawn and May. "Are you going to be joining them?" she asked.
"No, it's way too late for that. I'm going to get some dinner!" May answered cheerfully.
"That's a good idea." Dawn and Misty said in unison.
Celestic Town
7:10 PM
Ash continued his walk with his Pikachu on his shoulder. He was in no hurry, since he had nothing to do the next day. The quest for the Time Gears would have to be stalled, since he had to look for the key to the Rainbow Bridge. He was taking his time admiring the old fashioned town, which preserved the old ways of life. It was impressive, to say the least.
He arrived at the park he was at with Cynthia earlier, seeing the ancient shrine in the middle of the park next to a tree. He spent a couple of minutes staring at the shrine, before sensing that he was not alone there.
Having sensed it too, Pikachu jumped off from Ash's shoulder and got ready for a battle. "This time I'm sure it's not just my imagination."
He looked around the shrine to see if there was anything out of the usual. Fortunately, everything seemed to be in order. He stepped down a little bit on the slope to get a better look. Squinting his eyes, Ash leaned forward in hopes to see what was startling Pikachu. Pikachu ran to the shrine and jumped on top of it and readied and electric shock. "Pikachu, is there something there?"
"Pika Pi, Pika!" cried Pikachu in agreement.
Having decided to check the shrine, Ash stepped forward yet again, going down the slope. Making sure that there was nothing behind him, he turned around to see, only to find a red eye staring down at him. Startled, he stumbled backwards and rolled down the slope. Recovering fairly quickly, he stood and looked up. To his surprise, there was nothing up the slope. Worried, Pikachu got off the shrine and ran towards Ash to check if he was okay.
"..Green light.."
A voice was heard from the direction of the tree next to the shrine. Quickly turning around, he could see a humanoid figure facing the tree. Not enough light was present to completely deduct what exactly the figure was.
"..Green light.."
"This isn't funny." Ash said, annoyed. He started to walk to the figure, trying to make sure the identity of the source of the voice. "I don't want to play the statues game so late at night. Show yourself."
"Red light!" the figure shouted. In a split second, the figure turned around.
Ash was frozen in place. He could not help but to stop, his instincts were telling him so. Fortunately, he had gotten close enough to see what the figure was. "It's a Dusknoir". He thought to himself. The Dusknoir slowly started to turn around again. "I have two choices." Ash continued to talk to himself in his mind. "I can either run, or finish the game."
"..Green light.." The Dusknoir continued.
Ash slowly walked forward. "..Of course, there's always a third choice." He looked at Pikachu and nodded.
"..Green light.."
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash yelled while pointing at the Dusknoir. Pikachu let out and continued an incredible surge of electricity while the Dusknoir receives it without flinching.
"Red light!" The Dusknoir shouted again, and just like before, it turned around in a split second.
"Pikachu, stop the Thunderbolt!" Ash told his Pikachu.
The Dusknoir opened its previously shut eye and revealed one red eye. It shifted its gaze from the ground to Ash. "What do you want?" Ash asked the Dusknoir. The Dusknoir stayed silent and moved towards Ash, which seemed like an eternity at the time. "I'm talking to you. What do you want?" Ash asked again.
"..You moved." It answered.
"What?"
"..You have lost the game." The Dusknoir continued.
"Yeah? What about it?" said Ash, antagonizing the ghost Pokémon. The Dusknoir stayed silent once more, approaching them in an increasing speed. Ash reached out for his belt and regretted the fact that he did not bring more Pokémon with him. "Pikachu." Ash called out. Pikachu looked up at his trainer. "Run."
"Pika?"
"This thing isn't normal, run!" Immediately after saying that, Ash turned around ran with Pikachu on his side. However, Ash was stopped by the Dusknoir that was now blocking his path. "I supposed you won't be as kind as to just move out of the way?"
"..Damnation to the ones that intervene.."
"You're not making any sens- Ugh!" Ash was quickly interrupted by the Dusknoir who quickly grabbed him by the neck and smashed him into the tree at an unbelievable speed. Ash cried out because of the pain. "How the hell can this thing touch me when I can't touch it!" he tried to make contact with the Dusknoir but was only greeted by air.
"..Damnation to the ones that intervene.."
"P-Pikachu, run!" Ash yelled out to his partner. He was starting to suffocate because of the Dusknoir's hold. He could see that Pikachu did not want to leave him be. "Go to Cynthia and ask for help! Quickly!" He shouted with the little energy he had left because the lack of oxygen in his blood flow.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu shouted, while dashing in the direction of Cynthia's house.
"G-good.." Ash smiled. He struggled to take off his glove and revealed his metallic hand. "If I can't t-touch you, then let's see if I c-can blow you away.." Right as he finished speaking, the Dusknoir opened what seemed to be a portal, and started descending, dragging Ash with it. Ash quickly tried to activate his arm and absorbed some wind into his arm. He lifted his arm and stretched it in front of the Dusknoir's face. "Take this, you bastard!" The arm released a strong gust of wind, which startled the ghost Pokemon, however, leaving it unfazed. Having used the last of his energy, Ash fainted.
The Dusknoir successfully dragged Ash into the portal, closing it as they both have entered.
"Ash!" Cynthia cried out right as she arrived at the park, led by Ash's distraught Pikachu. "Where could he be..?"
Pikachu ran to the tree that Ash was pinned on, and found no traces of his partner. "Pikapi.." the Pikachu said as he looked for Ash. He found a glove not far from the tree. "Pika pika!"
"What is it, Pikachu?" asked Cynthia as she came over. She saw the glove and picked it up. "Ash's glove.."
