It was hard to get my claws on you, little Pariah. The Others were so determined to defend you, but in the end they had no choice but to give in.

Ash looked down at the Pokeball in his hand. He sighed, releasing the Pidgey from it. The Pidgey came out, puffing up her feathers, eyeing Ash and Kindle nervously. Ash knelt down in front of the Pidgey, which looked up at him. Ash noted that Kindle growled a bit at the Pidgey, as if warning it.

"Sorry for attacking you like that early," Ash said to it, "Well, for making you bleed like that..." He glanced at the Pidgey's wing, which was covered in dried blood, "I didn't want to hurt you like that, can you forgive me?"

The Pidgey gave Ash a strange looked, then started preening her bloody feathers. She made no movement to attack Ash, in fact she was inching away from him. He sat down, sighing a bit. He unslung the unfamiliar bag off his shoulder, peering in. He pulled out a purple potion bottle, glancing over it, then glanced at the Pidgey.

"This might help," He said, offering the bottle. The Pidgey looked at the bottle doubtfully, and Kindle yipped something to the Pidgey. Ash reached out his hand, and the Pidgey hopped back, a frightened look entering her eyes. Ash inched a bit closer, ignoring the Pidgey's wide eyes and trembling as he sprayed the potion on the wing. The substance foamed up at it came in contact with the wing, closing the wound. The dried blood remained, along with the slash marks, but it looked much better. The Pidgey stopped shaking, sitting still for a moment.

Ash scooped up the small bird, who started shaking again. Kindle followed him Ash went deep into the forest, looking around.

"Kind of quiet," Ash muttered after a minute, "I thought there'd be more Pokemon, especially since Trevor and Tierno were attacked when they came through..."

Kindle frowned, taking notice of this as she drifted in Ash's wake. But she didn't know much about wild Pokemon habits, she had been raised by humans her whole life and had spent most of her time in a Pokeball. She found the idea of her walking by her trainer with no sign of an upcoming battle strange.

The Pidgey had stopped shaking, she was just sitting is Ash's arms. She had come to the fact that he meant her no harm, but she had never been near a human her whole life. Now being healed and carried by one just felt wrong to her. But she wasn't concerned by that- she was concerned about the noise, or lack of it. She kept glancing around, but she saw no Fletchling in the trees, or Caterpies crawling on the bushes. Typically the forest was crawling with Pokemon when she passed through it, but now it was unusually quiet.

"Panpanpan!" A shrieking voice overhead chattered, then the forest came to life. A Panpour, flanked by a Pansage and Pansear came swinging down from the trees. Several Fletchlings swooped down, and several dozen bug types scattered from the undergrowth.

"Ember!" Ash cried, and Kindle leapt forward, spitting fire at the bugs that were coming at them. Ash looked down at the Pidgey, "Could you use Gust, please?" He asked, wondering if the newly caught Pokemon would side with the forest Pokemon. The Pidgey threw herself into the air, and whipped up a gust of wind. The small gale knocked the Fletchings off course, giving the Pidgey the opportunity to Tackle a Pokemon that had snuck up behind Ash.

The elemental monkeys didn't join the fight, only watching from the sidelines as Ash's two Pokemon attempted to hold off a dozen. Luckily the bug types didn't seem to eager to come near Kindle's flames, most backing off after their comrades were burned. Pidgey wasn't having nearly as much luck- her Gusts were keeping the flying Pokemon at bay, but they were far from defeated.

Kindle aimed her Ember up in attempt to help Pidgey, but then she caught the Panpour's eye. Kindle froze up, staring at the Panpour, whose eyes flickered as it recognized her, "Pan," He growled, taking several steps forward. Kindle's ears went back whimpering. Ash took one glance at the Panpour, who looked like he'd been in several fights, and Kindle's reaction.

"Is that the Pokemon that scarred you?" Ash asked Kindle, who nodded. The Panpour sprang forward, slashing at Kindle's face, she stepside the attack, firing an Ember. The unfazed Panpour kept coming, firing a Water Gun. The water attack blasted into Kindle, knocking the Fennekin back. The other two monkeys tried to attack, but a chirp from Panpour kept them back- this was his fight.

"Kindle, Scratch," Ash said, and Kindle rolled out of the way of another Water Gun, charging at the Panpour, who swung his tail around, tripping her. He lashed out, his own Scratch hitting the back of her head. He prepared another Water Gun, but Ash charged forward, kicking the Pokemon away. The Panpour landed a few feet away as Ash scooped up the bleeding Fennekin, "Stay back," He snarled at the water type, "I won't let you hurt her!"

The Panpour glanced at the other two monkeys, who crept forward, ready to attack Ash. Ash had nothing to defend himself from the Pansage's claws and the Pansear's fire. Ash shielded Kindle closer, despite her attempts to escape to continue fighting, even with her own blood staining Ash's arm and shirt.

"Jet, Bubble!" A voice cried, "Robin, Peck! Anne, Tackle, let's go!"

A Froakie charged out into the clearing, firing a water attack at the Pansear, while a Fletchling dove into a Peck attack, taking out the Pansage's right eye. A Bunnelby slammed into the Panpour, who kicked her off, slashing with Scratch.

Serena came up, standing next to Ash. Ash stared at her as she gave her Pokemon more orders, "Anne, don't just sit here- attack! And you," She snapped at Ash, "Do something!"

Ash then realized that Pidgey was flying above him, waiting for orders. The other flying types had backed down after making no progress of getting near Ash and his Pokemon, "Tackle the Panpour," Ash said, since Serena's Bunnelby was struggling against the water type. Pidgey went into dive, knocking the Panpour away.

Serena's Froakie was winning the battle with the Pansear, blood covering both Pokemon as the Froakie leapt up, bringing down a Pound on the monkey's small neck. Ash cringed as he heard bones snapping and the fire type made a gurgling noise. Jet backed away, looking to Serena for further instructions.

Ash watched the Pansear, but it didn't move. It took him a moment to realize that it was dead. Ash's hand went to his mouth to cover a gasp, he had just watched a Pokemon get brutally killed.

"Peck!" Serena said, and the Fletchling swooped down once more, driving it's beak into the Pansage's chest, "Jet, go help Anne and that Pidgey!" The Froakie turned, now making it a 3-on-1 for the Panpour as it struggled to hold off Pidgey and the Bunnelby. Ash knew he needed to interfere, but the Fletchling was quicker, driving another Peck into the Pansage's chest. Ash looked away as it fell to the ground, dead.

Ash looked over at the struggling Panpour as it realized it's companions were dead, "Pidgey, use Gust!" He cried, and the blast of wind knocked the Panpour away from Serena's Pokemon. He quickly pulled out a Pokeball, throwing it at the Panpour before Serena got a chance to attack it. Ash let out a sigh as the Pokeball dinged, catching the Pokemon.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Introducing: ?

Panpour: male

Level 4

Caught at: Santalune Forest

Nature: Brave

Loves to eat

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

"Why on earth did you catch that Pokemon?" Serena asked, surprised, "It appeared to be the one that organized the attack."

"I-" Ash stopped, knowing that she would probably laugh if he said he didn't want to watch another Pokemon die, "I... I thought it looked strong," Ash said, picking up the Pokeball, trying hard not to look at the two dead Pokemon. Ash noted that most of the other wild Pokemon were now nowhere to be seen, "You saved me," Ash said, looking at Serena.

She rolled her eyes, "You may be naive, but I'm not going to let you die."

Ash scowled a bit, and his Pidgey landed on his shoulder. Ash looked at her, it seemed she was as loyal as Kindle, who was still laying in his arms. Ash sat down, digging through 'his' bag once more, finding another potion. He sprayed in on Kindle's head from where the Panpour had attacked. The cuts quickly sealed themselves, leaving only faint marks that would fade. Ash wanted to wipe off the blood, but he had nothing to use.

"Thank you," He said to the Pidgey, knowing that if she hadn't held off the aerial attacks they would have been in much worse condition. He glanced once more at the dead Pokemon, he needed to distract himself... "I guess I should name you two," He said to the Pidgey, glancing at the Pokeball.

"Pid!" She chirped, and Kindle curled up in his lap. Serena sat down next to Ash, returning all her Pokemon except Froakie. Ash ignored her, he couldn't believe that she had just killed two Pokemon without a second thought.

"Um..." How did the others come up with names so quickly? He thought of Shauna and her Chespin, Chesa... "How about Chester?" He said to the Pokeball, "And..." He looked at the Pidgey, "Aura," Saying the first thing that came to his head.

"Aura?" Serena said, "That thing Lucario does?"

"Some humans can do it too," Ash said, not liking her tone. She rolled her eyes again.

"Yeah, sure. Do you really believe silly legends like that?" Her eyes flickered to Ash's chest, "Apparently you do."

"What?" Ash asked, glancing down. On his neck was a red leather cord with a black gem. His heart skipped a beat, he could have swore he had taken that off not long before, "How-"

"Do you really believe in the Kalosian legend? Sorry, but that's stupid," Serena said, holding back a laugh, "You even have a replica of amulet! Don't let Shauna see that, she might actually believe that you're cursed!"

"Cursed?" Ash said, fingering the pendant, "Legend? What are you talking about?"

Her gray eyes scanned him, "You know, the legend of the Kalos War? With the king and Yveltal?" She said slowly, like he was a kid.

"No," Ash said, "I'm not from Kalos."

Serena blinked, "Then why do you have that amulet?"

Ash glanced down, "I... found it?"

She muttered something, "Well, it's not a happy symbol. The only people that wear them are nerds that are obsessed with the legends. I wouldn't go prancing around it in, besides, it doesn't look good on you at all."

Ash frowned, "Can... Can you tell me the legend?" He asked.

"Sure," She said with a shrug, "It starts off with Yveltal... You know who Yveltal is, right?"

"Yeah, the legendary dark type," Ash replied, a bit annoyed that she treated him like he didn't know anything.

"Like a Pokemon like him could exist," She muttered, "Anyways, the legends say that Yveltal is the... Sentinel of death. He keeps it in balance with Xerneas's power over life," She chuckled like the idea of Pokemon controlling life and death was ridiculous, "So basically, when someone cheats death, Yveltal gains a power over them, and to keep things in balance he's allowed to execute a punishment, which is usually a cruel death.

"But as the legends go, there was a man, the ancient king of Kalos: Alphaus Omegan. We called him AZ for short nowadays, much easier to remember."

"Where did 'AZ' come from?" Ash asked, confused.

"Alpha and Omega, the first and last letter of the ancient alphabet. A and Z, the first and last letter of today's alphabet," She explained slowly.

"Oh," Ash said.

"So during AZ's time there was a huge war, many people and Pokemon died during these times. The war got so bad that AZ stopped leading his troops into battle, he stayed in the castle. But it got to the point to where he had to sent his personal Pokemon into battle because the war was so bad. But during the Floette's first battle she was killed. AZ was overcome with so much grief that he became a shell of his former self.

"In desperation he built a machine that was designed to bring his Pokemon. They said that he used Xerneas's life power and the life force of hundreds of the Pokemon to power this machine, and it worked. His Pokemon was brought back, and in the process he and the Pokemon were granted eternal life.

"That's when Yveltal comes in, according to the legends he came to the king because he had defied the laws of life and death, bringing the Floette back. Since the Floette was brought back by the king's will, and not hers, the king would pay the price. But since AZ couldn't die, Yveltal couldn't kill him in punish him with death, so Yveltal came up with another way to bring justice onto the king.

"Yveltal forced the king to use the machine once more, but this time using Yveltal's power instead of Xerneas's. The result ended the war, but killed hundreds of thousands of men and Pokemon. AZ then realized the damage the machine had done, it had become an ultimate weapon. But Yveltal wasn't done yet.

Serena nodded at the necklace on Ash, "Legends go that Yveltal made an amulet like that one, but a real one of course, and AZ was forced to where it. He couldn't take it off or destroy it. The amulet marked AZ as a 'Pariah', or an outcast. It was a mark to show that Yveltal had control over him. Part of Yveltal's curse was that AZ would never find a home or friend, and he had lost his kingship after the war. He would wander until the day he died never having shelter or a friendly face. But you can see the problem was-"

"That AZ couldn't die," Ash said, "It would last forever."

Serena nodded, "But Yveltal was determined to make AZ's life miserable, since he could not take it from him. So Yveltal turned the Floette, AZ's only friend and companion, against him. The fairy type left the former king's side, truly making him alone. It also added a bitterness to AZ's heart, because he was going through all this because he had brought the Pokemon back to life.

"That's basically the end of AZ's story, that he is still wandering around today, trying to find his Floette, his only joy. But the legend continues, saying that Yveltal now treats all those escape death differently. Instead of killing them, he marks them as 'Pariahs', giving them the same amulet as he did AZ. While this amulet is on them then that person belongs to Yveltal."

Ash gulped, "M-meaning...?"

"Meaning they must pay the price for cheating death. Yveltal confines them to the worse thing they can imagine, the thing that will hurt the person the most. They go through a trial while facing this- if they can past then Yveltal has no hold on them."

"If they don't?"

"Then Yveltal kills them," Serena finished. Ash stared at her, she scoffed, "It's a legend, not real. It's only a story, you know, 'One who escapes death will answer to Death himself,' and all that. Just throw out that necklace and move on, we have gym leaders to face."

She stood up, recalling her Froakie and made her way through the forest. Ash watched her go, shaking. Slowly he reached to take off the amulet, and he tossed it into the grass.

"One... two... three..." His hand went to his neck. The cord was back. He gulped a bit.

'Yveltal confines them to the worse thing they can imagine,' The worst thing he could think of was the idea of Pokemon dying for entertainment...

And if anyone had escaped death, it was him.