Thank you guys for the feedback I got last chapter. :)

Enjoy chapter sixteen!

Day Nine

"Braixen brai!" Kindle chirped happily as Dr. Fuji entered the office. He gave the fox Pokemon a small smile as she ran up towards him. His ankle had been wrapped up tightly, and the scientist now had a crutch to help him walk. He grunted with each step, stumbling towards his desk. Finally he reached the chair, slowly lowering himself into it. He let out a sigh of relief as he sank down into the chair, placing his crutch onto the desk.

"Well, it's nice to see you too," Dr. Fuji told Kindle, stroking the top of her head. Fuji looked towards Ash, eyes flickering between him and the Braixen, "Well, it seems things aren't as tense anymore between you two."

Ash snorted, "I suppose you could say that."

"Xen?" Kindle whimpered, looking towards Ash, panic in her gaze. He stared at the fire type for a moment, before glancing away.

"Things are no better than before," Ash muttered, hands clenching, "The only difference is that I was the one in the wrong, not Kindle."

Kindle's ears fell, realizing that Ash wasn't doing any better. But instead of being angry with her, he was now dealing with the guilt of what had he done. She took a few steps towards him, but she wasn't quite sure of what she could do. Kindle had already forgiven Ash, knowing that this hadn't been his fault, but how could she make someone forgive themself?

Fuji sighed, "Don't be hard on yourself boy. I may not know your full story, but I don't believe you've done anything horrible. I don't know why you were dragged into this world, but you are far too young to have deserve... all this, if the Sentinel is truly behind our situation."

"Don't call him that," Ash snapped, "His name is Yveltal, he doesn't deserve any special titles," He looked down at his hands.

"That's what the locals call him," Fuji replied with a shrug, "I am Kantonian, so I wasn't too familiar with the legends surrounding Kalos until I was brought here."

"Same," Ash replied hollowly, "...Well, with being from Kanto. I knew about Yveltal, but only because I was in Kalos in my world, before... everything happened," Ash shifted, "...It doesn't matter if we 'deserved' this or not though- Yveltal seems to find any excuse to drag people here. I'm sure you haven't done anything either."

Fuji looked away, "Well..." He shifted, "I wouldn't think too highly of me, Ash. I have had the last few years to look back on what I have done, and I don't think I deserve a better fate."

Ash looked up at Fuji, blinking, "...I'm sure you haven't done anything that bad. No one deserves this."

Dr. Fuji shook his head, "If you are from Kanto, well... a Kanto if there are truly different worlds, then I'm sure you're familiar with Team Rocket, correct?"

"Yes..." Ash replied uncertainly.

"Well... I was never officially apart of them..." Fuji sighed, "But back in my world I was a scientist, and I was working on... on something most wouldn't consider ethical. Looking back it does sicken me, but those times were hard. Team Rocket was interested in my research... And I needed the funding..." The older man shifted, unable to make eye contact.

"Oh..." Ash said as he took this in, "What did were you doing...?" He trailed off as he saw the look on Fuji's face, realizing that he was pressing on a sensitive topic.

"...I had a daughter..." Fuji whispered, and he tugged on his topaz amulet, looking down at the gem fondly, "Her name was Amber, and she was the the light in my life. I loved her so much, but..." He choked up a bit, "B-but... I- I don't want to talk about what happened, but she's d-dead."

"I'm sorry," Ash said d, tone somber.

"I was torn apart by my grief..." Fuji muttered, not acknowledging Ash, as if he had to keep talking to keep himself together, "That grief turned to b-bitterness, and I was determined to bring my daughter back. My wife... she was disgusted by my actions, and I don't blame her, but she left me because of what I was doing... At the time I didn't even care about that..." He gulped, "This was around the time I managed to awaken some sort of consciousness of my Amber."

Kindle looked startled at this, stiffening up as Ash cried out in shock, "You managed to bring her back?!"

Fuji flinched, "At the time, I believed so. Now, looking back, it may have not been her consciousness at all... perhaps it was more of a memory... I didn't care at the time, I just wanted little A-amber back... I needed a body for her... That's when Team Rocket took interest in me... You see, they were interested in my attempts to clone Amber a new form... They wanted me to clone a... a certain being for them. I needed the money they were offering to work on bringing Amber back, so I accepted their request to clone Mew."

Ash frowned at this, but Fuji only continued on.

"There were so many failed clones..." Fuji muttered, "Some simply died, others couldn't hold their form and were released... Strange creatures they were, they had little themselves but could mimic other forms," His lip twitched, "After this I took a step back, I couldn't let this happen to my daughter. Instead we started cloning basic Pokemon, and eventually we succeeded in keeping clones of the three Kanto starters alive for a time. That's about when we returned to focusing on cloning Rocket's creature. We realized the DNA we had been using had been too unstable..." Fuji shifted again, eyes casting down to the floor, fingers twisting together.

"What happened to them?" Ash asked quietly, a quiver in his voice.

"...We managed to stabilize the Mew clone by using the DNA other than just a Mew's," Fuji muttered, "In it's case I decided to use human DNA..."

Ash leapt to his feet, "Mewtwo has human DNA in him?!"

Fuji jerked his head up, looking just as surprised as Ash, "You know of Mewtwo?!"

"Xen!" Kindle hissed at them to be quiet, looking towards the bag where Erica was sleeping. The Axew shifted inside, but didn't awaken.

Fuji glanced at Kindle, and lowered his voice, "Y-yes, it does... I used my own DNA in fact to create it-"

"Him," Ash snapped, "Mewtwo is a him not an it."

Fuji hesitated, "How do you know of... him? That thing is... uncontrollable, a m-monster-"

"No," Ash muttered, clenching his fists, "Mewtwo is my friend, he's not a monster. Maybe he has a hard time trusting people, but that's because of what Team Rocket did to him... What you did to him..." Ash muttered, looking at Fuji as if he had just made this connection.

Dr. Fuji lowered his head, "I won't deny anything, what I did was wrong. When it first awakened we treated it as nothing but a science experiment... That's what made it- him- angry. H-he was intelligent enough to understand us when he first awakened, but we didn't treat him like that..." He shook his head, "Mewtwo attacked moments after that. Destroyed the entire lab with its psychic powers. Everyone was killed in the blast... everyone except me."

Ash didn't move, "How did you survive?"

Fuji leaned back, "...Well, I believe that's where the Sentinel comes in... I should have died in the explosion, but I didn't. I managed to make a recording to warn people of what we had done, then the creature turned on me..." He bit his lip, "After that, everything went black. I thought I was dead... but thinking back I remember a voice. I don't remember everything it said, but then I woke up here in A-ambrette town... And you know the rest. I can't leave the area, and so I spend my days working in the lab here, digging up fossils..." He laughed bitterly, "We used a Mew fossil you know, to get the DNA to make Mewtwo. I'm stuck doing the same thing that got me caught up in this."

"Ambrette town..." Ash muttered, "...Your daughter was named Amber."

Fuji nodded solemnly, "Yes, everyday I live here I am forced to remember that."

Ash snorted, "Yep. Sounds like something Yveltal would do," Ash buried his face into his hands, "I'm surprised that you don't have it worse, if you've been here for six years..."

Fuji looked away, "...So... Mewtwo... Is he... um- happy?" There was a twitch in his hand as he asked this, as if afraid of learning the answer.

Ash shifted, looking over Mewtwo's creator, choosing his next words carefully, "Er- He's pretty cold, tries not to show his emotions..." Ash laced his fingers together, keeping his eyes trailed to the floor, "Team Rocket is always after him, but he can take care of himself. He takes care of a bunch of other cloned Pokemon, I don't know where they came from... more 'experiments' of yours?"

Fuji shook his head, "No. Mewtwo was the only one to survive."

Ash frowned, "I wonder where they come from then."

Fuji shrugged, "Team Rocket could have had more experiments going on, more than I was aware of. The Mewtwo was highly intelligent, I wouldn't be surprised if he found more."

Ash bit his lip in thought, "...It seems like we both know of the same Mewtwo..." Ash looked up at him, "...Do you think we're from the same world then?"

Fuji nodded, "Yes, it does seem like that. From the same world, and both brought to this world for whatever reason."

"So after Mewtwo was free," Ash muttered, leaning back, "It seems that Yveltal came for you, and since the other scientists weren't taken I'm guessing it wasn't for the cloning, but rather for messing with death. For trying to bring your daughter back."

Fuji flinched, "Y-yes, that does make sense... I suppose that awakening her consciousness overstepped the delicate balance of life and death," Tears formed in the man's eyes, and blinked them away. He slide a pair of glasses off of his face, setting them down. Fuji hesitated, "...Well, now you know my story, you know what kind of person I am."

"Was," Ash said after a moment, "I- I don't think you're that person anymore, as you said you regretted what happened."

Fuji gave him a tight smile, "That doesn't change what I've done, but thank you for the kind words. It's nice to be able to talk freely to someone about what happened," He tilted his head slightly, "If you don't mind me asking... what got you caught up in all this?"

Ash sighed, "It's a long story... but basically I've died before," A looked of clouded interest formed in Fuji's eyes, flickering over Ash, who shifted, "Um... I keep getting revived though... and not by my choice either, but Yveltal doesn't really care. He... He doesn't really like me, and I think he's just using this as an excuse to target me," Ash frowned, "Or at least using me as a way to target the other legendaries..."

"Are you... close to the legends?" Fuji asked, not sure of what to make of the very question he was asking.

Ash scratched the back of his head, "Well... I guess you can say I've done them a few favors..."

Fuji stared at Ash, "...How does someone your age anger the very being that controls death, does so called 'favors' for the legendaries, and befriend a clone whose first instinct was to kill?"

Ash simply laughed. It wasn't a bright and happy laugh, nor a bitter one, but still, it was a laugh, "I've come to realize that I've done a lot more than most people will do in their lifetime."

"I'll take your word for it," Fuji muttered, looking over Ash with interest. He drew his chair in close to the desk, opening a drawer, "Hmm... Why don't you take this?" Fuji asked, pulling a small object out of his desk, "I found this in the cave a few years back, it gives off some sort of energy."

Fuji placed the small object near the edge of the desk, and Ash stood up, reaching for it. Kindle looked up, interested as Ash scooped it up, looking over the object.

It was a rock.

The rough stone was about the size of a shrunken Pokeball, dull and gray in color. Frowning, Ash turned it over in his hand, noticing a small gleam. He looked closer at the small indents in the stone, where you could see small glittering crystals buried under the simple rock. Ash shifted it a bit more, watching the many colors that reflected from the hidden gem, much more than one would expect from one crystal.

"What is it?" Ash asked, stiffening slightly as Kindle care over to peer at the small stone.

Fuji shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine. In the lab it gave off energy, but we could never find a use for it. Eventually the other scientists gave up on finding what it could be used for, shifting back over to studying fossils. But I've had more than enough fossils in my lifetime, so I held onto it. But being stuck in this town I could never study it further. Since you're able to travel perhaps you could find out more about it."

"Thank you," Ash said, about to slip it into his bag, but he paused. The bag was connected to Yveltal somehow, due to how he could seem to put anything into it and pull anything out of it no matter the size. If he put something into there who knew if he'd see it again. He settled for putting the stone into his pocket, hoping that Yveltal didn't have control over that as well. Ash shifted, "I... I need to get going."

"Yes, I suppose you've had enough of me," Fuji said.

Ash shook his head, "No, it's not you. If I stay in one place too long or put things off..." Ash's throat tightened, "...Yveltal targets my Pokemon if I don't move on..." Ash whispered.

"So your punishment is to travel?" Fuji said with a frown, "Do you not like that or something?"

Ash snorted, "Are you kidding me? I love traveling! Adventuring, Pokemon battles... I loved it all," He sighed, picking up his bag, "So Yveltal took the very thing I love and turned it into my worse nightmare," Ash fell silent, knuckles turning white, "...I have to participate in the league here, where my Pokemon can die..." Ash shivered, "But if I don't do it and don't keep moving he'll kill my Pokemon..."

Fuji's gaze softened, "I'm sorry. I've never seen many battles here in my time, since I can't leave this little town, but I've heard plenty about it and that alone makes me sick..." He shifted in his chair, "I know you don't want to take risks, but it's getting late. I'm sure nothing will happen if you stay in town for the night."

Ash chewed on his lip, hesitating for a moment, "...Alright. But only because my last time camping out didn't end well..."

Fuji smiled, "You can stay at my place if you wish, but if you're not comfortable with that there's always the Pokemon Center."

"Thank you," Ash said, rising to his feet.

Fuji shook his head, "No, thank you. You've given me the peace of mind I have been seeking for a long time now."

Day Ten

The beach along Route 8 stretched on for as far as the eye could see, towering cliffs lining the east, while the vast ocean rolled up the shore from the west. Ash sighed as he stepped along the white sandy beach, eyes fixated to the north. The early morning sun was climbing overhead, and Ash honestly hoped that Cyllage City would be far- because that's where his next gym battle would take place.

Despite his promise to himself not to have more than one Pokemon out while traveling, after what had happened to Chester, Ash found himself reaching towards his belt, pulling out three Pokeballs. He glanced at Kindle, who was standing aways off from him. She still had her Pokeball buried the leather bag she had gotten from somewhere, and she seemed to have no interest in returning it. Ash quickly torn his gaze away from the fire type, guilt building up in him with how he had treated her.

"Axew!" The small Axew popped her head out of the bag on Kindle's back, flinching at the sunlight pouring down on her. The dragon type retreated back into the bag, whimpering. Kindle took the bag off her back, letting out small chittering sounds. The Axew peered back out, "Axe?"

Ash held his Pokeballs in one hand, using the other to expand and release the Pokemon one by one. Aura was the first to be released, the Pidgeotto spreading her wings as her feet hit the sand. The bird flew up, landing on Ash's shoulder, peering at his face, then glancing at Kindle, who was still trying to get the Axew to come out of the bag.

Mulan was next, her single eye glaring at Ash as she was sent out of the Pokeball. An angry hum in Ash's head made it clear that she wasn't happy about being withdrawn mid-battle- even with her life at risk. Ash avoided making eye contact with the living sword, but it was hard to as she drew herself from the sheath, deliberating dragging her blade through the sand, her eye focused on Ash.

The fox is here, Mulan noted coldly as her gaze shifted to Kindle. Ash released Scape, who glanced around as if expecting a battle. When none came she looked towards Ash uncertainly, until she saw Kindle. The Skiddo's eyes lit up happily, and looked like she was about to run at the fire type, but paused, looking back at Ash.

"Yes," Ash said slowly, putting the Pokeballs away, "Kindle is here... I..." His voice cracked slightly, "I was w-wrong."

Kindle finally had managed to draw the little Anew out of the bag, "Brai!" She said happily, picking up the hatching, whose eyes were narrowed in the sunlight. The Axew buried her face into Kindle's chest, twisting her front claws into her fur.

Wrong about what? Mulan asked, the cloth on her hilt twisting in annoyance. And who was the one that let her near that young Pokemon!?

"Stop," Ash snapped at Mulan, but the other Pokemon jumped, not being able to hear Mulan in their minds like Ash could. Closing his eyes, Ash took in a deep breath, "Look... Guys- um... girls..." Ash muttered, realizing that for the first time ever, his entire team was female, "Kindle is... umm..." Ash closed his eyes, not sure of what to say, "I'm the one to blame, alright? Kindle has done nothing, and I had no right to leave her behind..." Ash turned away, "Just... just treat her well, alright?

At this announcement, Scape let out a happy bleat, then charged through the sand towards Kindle. Axew let out a startle cry, while Kindle smiled as the Skiddo ran up to her. Scape lowered herself to the ground playfully, clearly happy to be with Kindle once more.

Aura and Mulan on the other hand, didn't seem as welcoming. Aura stayed perched on Ash, coldly glaring towards Kindle, while Mulan hovered right in front of Ash.

And what brought around this sudden change? Mulan asked.

Ash looked at Kindle, who was currently showing Scape the little Axew she had brought from the Zubat Roost. Scape was tickling the little dragon on the belly with her vines, who in turn was trying to claw at the vines which were playfully moving around her.

"I let Yveltal get the better of me," Ash said quietly, "I'm not going to let that happen again."

If Mulan could have snorted, she would have, The Sentinel is far more powerful than you'll ever be. Focus on your survival, not your morals.

"The only thing I'm going to be focusing on is this next gym battle," Ash said, and he turned his gaze towards Aura, "You and Kindle are both out of this match- it's a rock type gym. Chester was going to battle here, but..." Ash cringed, trying not to think of the small Panpour, "Mulan, I know you don't know any steel type moves at the moment, but you do have a resistance to rock attacks."

I'd be more than willing to lead the charge, Mulan said, her blade gleaming in the morning sun, It has been many lifetimes since I have been in a true fight to the death! Those jesters in that last cave don't count- they were easy to defeat.

Ash frowned as he thought back on Team Flare, he had dealt with many organizations like this before, but never under the current circumstances he was in. He felt it would be best to keep his distance for now, even if the heroic side of him wanted to stop whatever they had planned. But with his Pokemon at risk, he would never step into an unnecessary battle. Unfortunately gym battles were now necessary- Yveltal would make sure they died if he didn't battle.

"Scape," Ash called uncertainly, and the grass type looked up, "Are you still willing to battle in the next gym match?"

"Skid!" She nodded, lowering her head respectfully towards Ash, before turning her attention back towards Kindle. Ash took a deep breath, trying to find comfort in the fact that he wasn't forcing anyone into the upcoming battle, but a sickening feeling had still taken root into his stomach. He reached for his Pokeballs, deciding that it wouldn't be worth the risk to linger any longer. As much as he wanted to avoid Cyllage City, he knew that would only bring in worse results than heading to the gym.

"Alright," Ash said, "I'll be walking with Kindle for now, but I promise to let you guys out once we reach the Pokemon Center- or maybe for a battle if we're forced into one," He tried to keep his voice upbeat, but his Pokemon could hear the waver in his tone as he quickly recalled each Pokemon back to their Pokeballs, quickly draping the beach into silence, "Kindle?"

"Brai?"

"Thank you," Ash said quietly, "For staying with me... even after what I did to you," He gripped one of his Pokeballs, "...Why is it suddenly so hard to be around everyone...?" He asked himself quietly, gritting his teeth.

Kindle frowned, then picked up Erica from the beach. The little dragon yelped as Kindle marched towards Ash, holding out the baby Pokemon. Ash blinked as the hatchling was suddenly forced into his arms, the Axew going stiff as she was placed into the stranger's arms. Erica quickly called out to Kindle, clearly asking for her to come back as Kindle turned away. She scooped up her bag that she had gotten from Hoopa, and began walking towards the north.

"Ew! Ax-ew!" Erica called, twisting in Ash's grip as he struggled to keep the young Pokemon from jumping out of his arms.

"K-kindle?" He called, fumbling after her, "Where are you going?"

"Brai~" She called, turning and smirking at him as he tried to keep ahold of Erica.

Ash was forced to stick his Pokeballs into his pocket, not able to take the time to put them back onto his belt with the lashing dragon type in his arms. Despite being young, the Axew's claws were no joke, digging into Ash's side. He wrapped two arms around the dragon, not quite sure how to hold her as he followed Kindle down the beach, towards Cyllage City.

"I don't think she likes me!" Ash called to Kindle, holding back a cry of pain as the dragon bit down onto his arm. The Axew pulled back, before locking her jaws around Ash's wrists, claws digging into him. Ash bit his tongue, grateful for his fingerless gloves that were protecting him from worse of the claws. Kindle didn't respond, only skipping happily ahead, and Ash couldn't help but allow a smile to flicker onto his face.

"Axe..." Erica growled at Ash as he headed after Kindle.

Ash held up one arm, the Axew still gnawing on his hand, "I'm just glad you don't have any teeth," Ash muttered, eyeing the Axew tusks uncertainly.

Finally.

At long last, we will be at the second gym next chapter, and we'll finally enter the part of the story where the gyms are reasonably spaced!

Thank you for sticking with me this far!