Chapter 19

(Final Chapter)

dash

Dash slowly wakes up in a black room with no walls and Penny and Scouter laying next to Dash but also a dewott standing in front of them looking into the distance of the black room almost as if the dewott was waiting or thinking. Penny and Scouter are both black and white and not moving. Dash sits up and looks at Penny and shakes her black and white body slightly. Penny makes no response. Dash shakes Scouter. Scouter makes no response. "Where am I?" Dash thought. Dash looks at the dewott. He stands up. He notices that he isn't having any trouble moving or any pain moving. He examines himself and realizes that he has no injuries. No cuts. No stained blood on his fur. It was like he never was in a fight. Dash slowly walks towards the dewott. Each step felt like there was nothing under him. Almost like he was walking in a vacuum. Dash stands a few feet away from the dewott. "Dewott?" Dash asks.

"Yes I'm a dewott," the voice said softly still facing away from Dash, "but I'm not the dewott you know."

"This isn't the dewott I thought I knew." Dash thought, "This dewott is a girl. Who is she? Why is she here? Why am I here?"

"Where am I?" Dash asked.

"You're dead. This is where you go when you die since you have the dash across your face."

"What about Penny and Scouter? They don't have the marking like I do. Why are they here?"

"Penny is your mate and the one you trust the most. The marking brought her here with you. Scouter was the main source of your dark magic, he was brought here too since you also trust him."

"How do you know so much about them?"

"I've been following you since before you were even kicked out of the oshawott clan as you call it. I would have communicated with you but you locked out others so they couldn't damage you thus locking me out from communicating you. I don't blame you, you were experiencing a lot of pain and confusion. I just wish I could have communicated you though. I knew that dewott wasn't the true you. I wish I could have told you."

"That's kind of disturbing that you were following me every where."

"I sorry, I wanted to make sure you were safe."

"Why do you care about us? You're just a random dewott."

Dewott was clearly shaken by these words. She doesn't respond right away. It takes her a few minutes to recover from those words. She finally said, "Because it was important for you to live for as long as possible."

"Why is that? What makes me different from the others?"

"Because you have the dash marking."

"So? Does it even do anything?"

"Alone no but it does if it has something to work with."

"What does that mean?"

"Well the dark magic you were using was highly advance too advance for an inexperienced magic user as your self. That power actually passed on to Penny slightly although not as much. She was able to use light magic daggers which is pretty advance. Another thing that your marking did was that it allowed you to use dark magic despite the dark core being down. Basically the marking breaks rules but it needs something else in order to break those rules. If you didn't learn dark magic than the dash would basically do nothing for you. Some marking holders before you have experienced this. Also the marking helped you fight off the dark magic poison because it helped you control the dark magic inside you. It's arguable that you shouldn't have been able to learn dark magic."

"Other marking holder before me?"

The dewott nods. "There have been many holders of this mark before you. Some good, some evil, and some neutral. This marking isn't really learned about until after death. I had the marking before you. The fact is I was the one to give you the marking."

"Why would you do that? I'm a random oshawott to you."

"It's not really my choice. It's just how it happened."

"Then how did I get it?"

Dewott pauses picking her words carefully. It became clear that she couldn't figure out a way to avoid something any longer. "Dash..." The dewott pauses and turns towards Dash. "Dash," She continues, "I'm your mother."

Dash visually shocked says, "N-n-no..." Dash slowly tears up but holds in the tears trying not to cry.

Dewott looks at Dash, "I know this is a lot to take in but I am your mom. That's why I care so much about you and your friends. The reason we haven't met until now was because I was killed before you had hatched. Oh what I would have done to be with you to hold you when you were just hatched. To hold you when you were scared. To hold you close when you you were cold. I wanted to be apart of your life especially when you were dealing with the pain and confusion of being kicked out of the clan. I wanted to be there with you."

Dash stares at the ground holding in the tears trying to process the information that was just told. He is confused, deciding whether or not to believe the dewott. "You're- you're not messing with me. A-are you?"

"No hunny. I'm your mom."

"T-then who were the oshawott taking care of me when I hatched."

"They were friends of me and your dad. They were going to take care of you until we get back but, had I known that they would have abandoned you like that, then I would have chosen a different oshawott or dewott to take care of you." Dewott sighs, "I'm sorry that I started you with a bad couple."

"It's fine, you didn't know. Where did you and my dad go?"

"Your dad took me on a date but it was a trap. He took me down to a beautiful river where the water reflected back the image that looked into it. But..." she shakes her head, "The pretty environment distracted me from what he was really planning. You see, our relationship was it's last strings and we both knew this. Although I tried to see if we could make it but I didn't know his secret at the time. He was having an affair with another dewott. He probably had this plan in his head for a while. He attacked me. He wanted to get rid of me so he could be with her. Even though I fought hard, I was killed by him. I'm glad he didn't kill you. Had we brought you with us, he would have killed you too."

Dash shakes head, "So I was living my life in a lie."

"Dash..." Dewott walks closer to Dash and picks him up, "I wish I was there with you. So you didn't have to start your life as a lie. Once you started your life has a lie, the truths and lies blended together making it impossible for you decide which was what. I-If I could have... had another chance... I would have been there with you to love you, to take care of you, to make your start your life in the truth. I love you son and I feel terrible that you started life so badly. You really missed out on having a parent with you to be with you, to take care of you, to teach you, to love you. I wish I could be that parent for you. Your father wouldn't but I would. I was excited and looking forward to your hatching but one dewott took that all away. I wanted to be there for you son."

Those held in tears that Dash had starts rolling down Dash's face. Dewott starts to hold him close letting him cry on her shoulder. "I'm- I'm sorry," Dash said through the tears, "This is a lot to take in... at first I didn't believe you. I thought you were lying b-b-but I'm starting to believe you as I put all of the information together... mom"

Dash's mom smiles softly, "I'm glad I'm able to get you to believe some of the truth son."

After a minute of sobs Dash finally controls his tears. He looks at Penny and Scouter, "Why are they in that state?"

"I haven't allowed them to move. Their souls are there but I have locked their souls there in place. I wanted to talk to you before I freed them. Just you me. I think we had a great talk." The same marking that Dash has glows slightly on her face. Dash looks at the marking glow in amazement. "She is really my mom," Dash thought.

The colors in Penny and Scouter slowly come back. The marking on Dash's mom fades back into the color of her face. Penny and Scouter open their eyes and look around. They see Dash being held by the dewott. Dash makes eye contact with Penny then Scouter. Penny examines herself noticing that she wasn't hurt. Scouter stands up and walks to Dash, "Long time no hear Dash," Scouter said, "I'm sorry what happened to you."

"Don't feel sorry for me, " Dash replied, "What happened, happened. Nothing you did hurt me."

Scouter looks at the dewott, "So who are you?" Penny gets up and walks over to the group.

Dash looks at his mom, "She is my mom. My true mom."

Penny and Scouter look at Dash, "How do you know she is your mom?" Penny asked.

Scouter looks at Penny, "Sometimes you just know. Plus why else would she be here. Not only that their energies are very similar. Hello Dash's mom. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Dash's mom said, "Nice to met you Penny."

"Nice to meet you Dash's mom" Penny said, "Are you really Dash's mom and not the ones who abandon him in the clan?"

"I'm really his mom. Those oshawott in the clan were friends of mine. They were eggsitting when I was killed so they took care of Dash and sadly abandoned him."

The air remains still for a little. "I hope Sparks doesn't do that to our child." Dash finally said.

"I'm sure he won't," Scouter said, "He may be hard, but he keeps his word. If he can't do it then he won't say he will do it. He'll take good care of your child even though it may not be the way you two would do it but he'll take care of your child."

"I sure hope so," Penny said, "I don't want our child to be abandon. I wish I could be her."

"Well," Dash's mom said, "There is a way but it wouldn't be by a physical connection, more like a mental connection. You'll have to wait until after your kids hatching. Let's hope your kid doesn't lock everyone out like Dash did."