Chapter 5 is here.

Answering a guest review who thought that Spiritomb was Cynthia's main Pokemon, the answer is no. Garchomp is. But when she battled Paul she didn't use her most powerful Pokemon.

Once again thanks to LightningBlade49 and FieryDarkWrath for all your help. FieryDarkWrath submitted the most helpful review I've ever received, and I'm eternally thankful for that. Be sure to check out his Pokemon fic "Aura of Betrayal", especially because Cynthia will be in that story, and Cynthia is hot, and hot is good.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Surprise!

~ ~ ~ CHAPTER 5 ~ ~ ~

Ash had never been so confused in his life before now. Not even when Professor Oak told him that he and a friend had taken down all of Team Rocket when they were younger. He was baffled, but his confusion at the moment couldn't be put on a scale. The whole situation seemed surreal, there was Cynthia, a women who had just been on death's doorstep, now moving at blinding speeds attempting to murder his best friends. The Sinnoh Champion was known for her cool exterior and ability to remain impassive and calm, so seeing the attractive 28 year old blonde in a crazy killing spree was definitely new.

'This isn't happening,' Ash thought with dread as he attempted to get his stun baton working. He froze as Cynthia dispatched Brock by intercepting his attack with the end of her blade, cutting into his wrist and forcing Brock to drop his only tool of defense. Brock was brought to his knees by a gut shot that knocked the wind out of him, and now he was on all fours trying to breathe. Cynthia crossed her arms on front of her and prepared the killing blow, seeming like she was going to cut of his head with two diagonal backhand strokes at once.

"Pip!" the small water-type said angrily as he rammed into Cynthia before she could finish the former Gym Leader, effectively knocking her to the side. Ash couldn't help but wince as she landed on a cracked rib, but she didn't seem to notice. Dawn had gained her bearings and had her quarterstaff out at it's full length and she stood protectively in front of Brock. Apparently her reaction time was much better than Ash's. He took this moment to converse with his friend from Twinleaf.

"Dawn! We can't hurt her, she's just not herself. We can't risk reopening her wounds!" he exclaimed. Dawn didn't appear to agree.

"Of course, but our lives come first. That's not something we can risk either." she pointed out. Ash saw nothing wrong with the logic, but Cynthia had recovered, and Ash decided to take the first move.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail! Strike faster rather than harder!" ash instructed his faithful companion. The yellow rodent charged towards the fully recovered woman in black. Dawn was thinking of a plan while keeping an eye on Cynthia, so Ash took this time to analyze the Sinnoh Champion.

'She's favoring her right leg, so clearly her body isn't completely healed. But she doesn't appear to feel pain either, so something's messing with her head. Pushing her into some frenzy. Maybe she'll tire out? Regardless, she shouldn't be able to walk, much less keep up with Pikachu's Iron Tail.' Ash realized what he just thought and looked back to the action. Pikachu was using the fastest Iron Tails he ever had before, flipping in midair, never staying in one spot. Always moving, always attacking. He felt proud of Pikachu, but his joy quickly turned to ash when he saw that somehow. Cynthia was somehow keeping up with the electric rodents super speed attacks. She was clearly strained by the continuous focus, but she had managed to avoid being hit by a single one.

'She can't move that fast!' Ash's world seemed to freeze when Cynthia blocked him in midair again, but this time Pikachu's lost balance in midair. The black-clad champion spun around and kicked Pikachu. Hard. "No!" shouted Ash as he bolted into action, hearing Pikachu let out a squeak of pain. Cynthia jumped up and prepared the final blow, only to be body slammed a second time as Ash rushed to intercept her. His body slam knocked her out of the air and her midsection hit the ground hard, but Cynthia staggered back to her feet with a grunt of annoyance. Her attention was solely focused on Ash now.

Of course because of this, she was wide-open for Dawn to strike with her quarterstaff. As Cynthia was hammered by Dawn's practiced strikes, Ash ran to Pikachu's side hoping nothing bad was done. Pikachu appeared to be stunned, but otherwise alright. Hearing a worried cry he turned back to see Dawn returning Piplup to his poke ball seconds before Cynthia's attack followed through. Apparently Cynthia had grounded Dawn before attacking Piplup, but Dawn was now back up and expertly swinging here quarterstaff around. With a snarl Cynthia charged her, only to be clobbered in the side of her head halfway there.

'Dawn's quarterstaff! Cynthia has no defense against it's range!' realized Ash. The two females charged each other and continued their duel, although it was clear that Cynthia was on the defensive, trying to counter whenever she could. Ash saw that he couldn't help, a downside of the quarterstaff was that it required a lot of space, and he would only get in the way. He could only hope his blue haired friend could defeat the Sinnoh Champion. He saw Cynthia block a strike, but it turned out to be a feint as Dawn whacked her in the face from the opposite side, forcing Cynthia to give a demonic yelp.

Ash couldn't help but be feel speechless by what he saw. Dawn moved like an angel, and of course Cynthia's tattered black clothes only seemed contrast against Dawn's fluid movements, driving the angelic image further into Ash's head. He watched as they continued to block and counter each others attacks and counterattacks. Anyone could see that both were skilled with their weaponry, and on closer examination Ash noticed that even though Cynthia was likely the more skilled of the two, Dawn held a huge advantage because the older woman couldn't compete with her range.

Dawn had grown into a beautiful young woman, a very curvy young woman. And there was the fact that she always seemed upbeat and was nice to everyone she met. Ash blinked.

'What the fuck am I doing? Cynthia's trying to kill us!' with this he was brought back to reality. He had no room to get involved but now it seemed a though Dawn had taken a few hits as well. Ash felt like there was something on the edge of his mind, but he couldn't reach it and didn't know what it was. Yet something about the whole situation seemed... familiar. The whole thing had a... Lavender Town vibe to it.

Cynthia showed her flexibility as she ducked backwards underneath Dawn's swing, spinning around and sliding her blade across the back of Dawn's legs as she rose. Almost immediately Dawn cried out in pain and fell forward, managing to catch herself with her hand and knee. Cynthia finished her off with a knee to the jaw and a right hook to the side of her forehead. The Champion was then greeted to a sharp pain in her forehead.

Ash continued taking advantage of Cynthia being stunned by his first hit and pressed on with his attacks. Every single one hit and she couldn't muster any defense against the constant bombardment of Ash's baton. She was being forced backwards with every hit, and Ash wasn't letting up. A few moments later he stopped to catch his breath, and he looked to see Cynthia on her knees was panting heavily. She sharply looked up at him, and from her demented eyes Ash knew the fight wasn't over.

Before he could move Cynthia let out a cry of anguish, hatred, and anger. It sounded monstrous, and seemed as if Cynthia had four different voices. Ash was thrown backwards by some dark energy that seemed to be emitting off Cynthia in waves. He hit the ground painfully and looked up with a groan. He was now 20 feet away from her, and the darkness was still pulsing from her. 'What is that? Some kind of Dark Aura?' . He pulled himself into a sitting position with another groan, and he noticed that the 'dark aura', as he was now calling it, was nowhere to be seen. Not only this but whatever had happened had clearly affected the champion as well, who was hunched over in pain. Only her hands and knees were keeping her from the ground. Slowly, she managed to stagger to her feet, and Ash would never forget what happened next.

Cynthia looked towards Ash, and he watched as a look of realization crossed her face, before quickly turning to rage.

"YOU!" she yelled at him in that demonic voice, and for some reason it seemed like her eyes were beginning to bleed tears. Ash had never seen a more hateful expression in his life than the one that he saw on Cynthia's face right now. "You! You... Oak should've killed you along time ago! You and your fucking organization! You took everything from me! But no more, today you die Giovanni!" she yelled.

'Giovanni? She thinks I'm Giovanni? But... I only know one Giovanni... oh shit...' horror dawned on him as he realized that the Boss of Team Rocket must've done something terrible to his blonde friend.

Her cloak was torn, and was flowing behind her, making it seem like some kind of demonic cape. The look was reenforced by her glowing red eyes. She looked like something out of a horror film. The world slowed down for Ash as she took a step towards him.

"Clair." was all she said as she took another step. "Ethan." another step. "Lyra." with every step a new name was spoken. "Kris." "Leaf." "Red's father." at this point she was louder and her eyes were brimming with tears. She kept going. "Mom." her voice was shaking now "Dad." she took another step.

"Sarah." she was practically weeping at this point, but continued shouting in rage, "Everyone who lived in Pallet Town, along with anyone else who lost their lives for you and your fucking quest for power!" she was right in front of Ash, but he was too shocked to move.

'Lost their lives... Oh my god... Cynthia... Giovanni killed your family. I'm so sorry. But was she listing off people that Giovanni killed? That's what it sounds like but... wait a minute! She said "Red's father"! I thought Red was just a myth!' he looked up at her shaking form, and now knew that Cynthia was much deeper than anyone could think of. He never would have guessed.

The Sinnoh Champion stood above Ash pointing a knife at his throat. She snarled "I should've been the one to kill you. I deserve to kill you! Red may have- UGHH!" she cried out as she was flung backwards into a tree by an invisible force. To the right was Spiritomb, who was looking guilty at the moment.

The ghost type shot a dark energy at his trainer, and Ash winced as hit hit Cynthia's unmoving form. The energy started circling and surrounding her like a Pidgeotto hunting a Rattata. Then the darkness rushed into her body, which caused her to spasm around and her nose to bleed. After ten seconds she went completely limp, but Ash suspected she was back to normal as the energy left her before evaporating.

"Let's move her back too camp," suggested the boy who went to check up on Dawn and Brock, who were stirring. Spiritomb agreed and lifted Cynthia with his psychic powers and carried her back to camp. 'When she wakes she'll kill me when she learns what happened here.' he knew that he was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

A couple hours later everyone was patched up but tense, making sure to not let down their guard. They were packing up when Cynthia stirred.

"Ughhh, my head..." she said groggily, trying to sit up against the tree she was laid against. She blinked but instantly brightened when she saw who stood across from her. There were three young faces that belonged to trainers she hadn't seen in a while. "Ash and Dawn! Brock! Wow, I never thought I'd be seeing you... guys?" she asked carefully noticed their cautious and hostile expressions. The blue-haired woman in her late teens from Twinleaf had her quarterstaff extended. The tension was steadily increasing as Cynthia tried to read the trio's expressions to find out what was going on. Finally Brock broke the silence.

"Cynthia, what's the last thing you remember?" he asked in a soothing yet cautious tone. This made the Champion think back.

'Let's see, I was fighting on a cliff. It seemed like Team Galactic. So what... Oh...' her faced turned beet red as she remembered being thrown off the cliff. 'Fucking Saturn!' she thought in anger. She realized that they were still looking for an answer so she decided to just get it over with.

"Heh heh, I was fighting Team Galactic and... may have been punched off a cliff." she said while looking at the ground and scratching the back of her neck nervously. Dawn raised an eyebrow and Spiritomb snorted in amusement. Ash came forward.

"You went into a crazy frenzy, attacked us, and nearly killed every one of us and our Pokemon. Right after we saved your life too." he said bluntly, as him and his two friends relaxed.

"I what?!" said a shocked Sinnoh Champion, as she took a moment to think of the possibilities and causes for how this would have turned out. She narrowed her eyes and glared at Spiritomb, who was looking as guilty as an ethereal shadow ghost monster could. Cynthia tried standing up "What did you d-arghhh!" she cried out mid sentence as she fell down. Apparently she was feeling pain from all the previous wounds.

Ash's first instinct was to run and help but stopped as Brock and Dawn rushed to her aid. Something in Ash's head had gone off, like a trigger, upon seeing Cynthia fall. While Brock was asking medical questions and testing her eye coordination, Ash noticed Dawn was looking at him strangely. 'How does she always know when I'm thinking about something important?' he thought, shooting her a disarming smile as her turned around to think. Ash knew she wasn't fooled, but at the moment he didn't care. Something was on the edge of Ash's mind and he had the need to discover what it was. Ash decided to consider the events of the last day closely.

'First, we found her almost dead and incapable of moving. When she woke a few hours later she seemed fully healed and was in a frenzy. But now that her consciousness has returned she can feel the full extent of her injuries. So whatever it was it must've made her temporarily immune to pain. But why does Spiritomb look guilty? Did he do something to her? And why in the name of Arceus did she think I was Giovanni?!' he shook his head. There was too many unanswered questions.

'Maybe I should contact Sabrina, she's good at mental stuff like this. I'll see what she knows. Besides it'll be good to catch up with her. I wonder how things are in Kanto...' thoughts of his home took over his head. He sighed, it was times like this that he missed Pallet Town. But he was still curious about Cynthia, but more importantly, Red. She had mentioned Red's father, but Red wasn't real, right? Maybe she was just delusional at the time and was just saying random things. He dismissed that thought soon 'Those things she said were really personal, no way she just made them up. But where does Red fit in?'

Ash grew up idolizing the man known as Red, who was said to have become Kanto Champion. But he had learned that Red was just a bedtime story for kids, like Santa Claus. He had always dreamed of becoming a Pokemon Master, and now he was more determined than ever. He was going to find out if Red was real, and then he would challenge him. If Red were real than Ash wouldn't stop until he could beat him.

'But if he's real than Giovanni killed his father, or at least Cynthia thinks so. Eh, I'll ask Sabrina about that too. But she said something about Pallet Town too, what could that be about?' Ash remembered when he was younger that Prof. Oak had told his mother that Pallet Town had once been burned to the ground, and had only been recently rebuilt before she moved in. He shook his head, getting more confused and curious with every second. 'I really need to speak to Sabrina.' he thought.

He noticed that everyone was almost packed up. "Where are we going?" he asked to nobody in particular. Brock was the one to respond.

"We're going to a Pokemon Center to make sure Cynthia's ok. Celestic Town is nearby anyway." the older man said. Ash responded with a nod and helped the others pack up.

They arrived at Celestic Town, which was said to be the most peaceful place in Sinnoh. The people were very kind, and that was something Ash didn't mind at all. The Pokemon Center was located right by the edge of town, which was pretty convenient. Cynthia wanted to go visit her grandmother, but she lived on the other side of the town, so she was outvoted and was forced to go to the hospital first. Why Cynthia wanted to walk all over town in her condition was beyond Ash, but maybe it was a champion thing.

Surprisingly, Cynthia wasn't mobbed by fans or anyone really, and it seemed the people of Celestic Town didn't think of her as 'above' them, which was something Cynthia seemed to enjoy. They spoke to her like she as a neighbor rather than a celebrity. She was soon being led into an examination room by the local Nurse Joy, who was enjoying chatter with the Champion. Dawn sat down on the bench and Brock was... on the floor, hand twitching, and being dragged out the door by a small purple frog-thing. Ash rolled his eyes. He quickly excused himself from Dawn and asked the Pokemon Center assistant if he could use a video phone. Soon he was led into a booth that with a glass door. Like all Pokemon Centers in the Sinnoh Region, this one had private booths for people using video phones. This mean that the glass surrounding the video phone was soundproof. He close the door and dialed the number of the Saffron City Gym.

His curiosity had reached a breaking point so the thirty seconds it took for someone to answer the phone felt like hours. Finally someone picked up. Standing there was a young woman who was clearly in her very late teens. She had straight black hair that curled up slightly behind her, and she opened her eyes revealing deep pink iris' that held a mysterious power behind them. Standing before Ash Ketchum was none other than The Mistress of Psychic Pokemon, with whom Ash shared a close friendship with since they were 12.

Her eyes brightened as they recognized the nineteen year old in front of her. "Ash!" said Sabrina gleefully "by Arceus it's been forever! How are you guys? Where's Pikac- Ash?" her expression changed to one of confusion at the young man in question. He had appeared to zone out when he caught sight of something on Sabrina, er... two somethings on Sabrina. She was attending a party later on and as such had a rather low cut dress on, that seemed to fit her hourglass form perfectly.

She rolled her eyes. 'Well, at least he's not a complete idiot anymore.' the psychic master thought, thinking back to Ash's oblivious nature. She returned him to the land of the living when she she moved her arm in front of her chest, blocking his view of her breasts.

"Huh?" said Ash, blinking, very confused as to where he was. Standing in front of him was a beautiful young woman his age with a smirk plastered on her face and an eyebrow raised in amusement. They stood like this for a few more seconds, before Ash's mind caught up to the situation and they both simultaneously burst out laughing.

"So Ash, glad to know I don't have to give you "the talk" again. Said Sabrina while laughing, causing Ash to go red with embarrassment at the memory.

"Hey! That's... that wasn't my... it's my mom's fault!" he managed, clearly flustered. He shuddered at the embarrassing memory. When he was 13 he decided to revisit everyone who helped him on his journey through Kanto and Johto before he left for Hoenn. He had reached puberty and had grown quite a lot, but still was completely oblivious to anything to do with human relationships.

Misty and Sabrina had the 'bright idea' to try and seduce him just for laughs, simply to see how he would react. What resulted was likely the most embarrassing moment in Ash Ketchum's life. After that Sabrina had decided to explain to him "how the world worked".

He was brought out of his thoughts by Sabrina's next playful question. "So, have you slept with the bluenette from Twinleaf yet?" she said with a sly wink. He was caught off guard but Sabrina wasn't done. "Of course you haven't, because you're you. 19 years old and you haven't- you know what? Not my problem. Have you at least told her how you feel yet?" said Sabrina with an exaggerated eye roll and a huff.

Ash responded with a red face "What?! No no Sabrina you got it all wrong! I don't like Dawn! I swear!" he exclaimed, shaking his hands in front of him for emphasis. Sabrina didn't respond, only narrowed her eyes and looked behind him. Ash turned around to see... nothing. Perplexed, he turned back around but Sabrina was still looking behind him as if looking for something. Another ten seconds passed before the psychic mistress spoke.

"... the fuck?" said the Gym Leader. Ash's confusion had peaked by now.

"Ok, what's going on?" he asked, earning a scoff from his longtime friend.

"... in Arceus' name..." she kept muttering frustratedly before turning to Ash and responding. "Ok look, I've seen this situation happen like fifty times, and every time someone is denying their feelings for someone else out loud, the person in question always walks by and overhears. It's practically a cliché at this point, and they get all upset and then drama and ughhhh do you know what I mean?" she finished.

Ash had no clue how to respond to that, and just then Dawn walked by, presumably to call her mother.

"HA!" claimed Sabrina, pumping her fist in victory "I knew it! I knew it!" she said happily.

Ash just smirked and tapped the glass behind him. "soundproof glass." he said straightforward. Sabrina gasped.

"That's cheating!" she said, but Ash just shrugged, and explained to her that every Pokemon Center in the Sinnoh Region had private video phone booths. They exchanged small talk a bit more before Ash got serious.

"Sabrina, do you remember the time you taught me about ghosts? Right before I went to Lavender Town?" he asked. Seeing that he was serious, the psychic mistress thought back and nodded.

"Ok, well can you remind me what the symptoms and side effects of possession are?" he asked. Sabrina thought for a minute before responding.

"Someone who is possessed is completely under the control of ghost, and nothing really happens until after they're possessed. Anywhere from 2 to 8 hours after the possession, the person might twitch uncontrollably during rapid periods of time. This is the bodies nervous system reacting the lack of consciousness controlling it. Often nosebleeds will occur during this period of time as well, and they can keep happening up to a day after the ghost has left the body." she said after collecting her thoughts. Now it was Ash's turn to think.

'Ok, well that's definitely Cynthia, but what about the other thing? She went crazy!' he thought.

"What if the person were to go into a sort of... "rage mode" where all logic and reason loses them and they attack everything in sight? Is that from ghostly possession?" he asked the psychic master. Sabrina thought for a second before what she recognized what he was talking about.

"Sometimes, if a ghost-type pokemon were to possess an unconscious mind, a strange thing will happen when the ghost leaves. Instead of the consciousness returning, it will stay dormant until the person would have awoken. Something else fills the void when the ghost leaves. The person's darkest thoughts, feelings and emotions sort of... manifest into something that resembles a consciousness. This takes over the body. But this can only happen if the person's mind is weak or if the dark emotions are extremely strong. This is very rare though. Is that what you mean?" she asked, looking at the boy in the blue pokemon cap. He nodded, but was now thinking about earlier.

'So, that means that all those things she said must've happened in the past, and she never moved on internally.' he decided to speak up.

"Yeah, that's it. Just happened to a friend of mine and she almost killed us." he answered, causing Sabrina's eyebrows to rise.

"Really? Who?" she asked with interest.

"Cynthia." he replied bluntly. Sabrina looked shocked.

"Your friends with the Sinnoh Champion?" asked Sabrina.

"Yeah..." Ash said slowly, "we've been friends for a while now."

"And your saying that she... wow..." said Sabrina, clearly troubled. She then narrowed her eyes. "Ash, I've worked with Cynthia before. I've seen her mind, and it's one of the strongest on the planet. If what you're saying is true, then that means Cynthia's emotional damage must be very severe. Did she say anything when she... ya know... anything that might've revealed what's going on?" she asked. Ash nodded.

"Yeah, and I think Giovanni must've killed her family. She was naming off people that Giovanni had killed." he said, causing Sabrina's face to turn from confused to shocked.

"Giovanni? Impossible, the man's been dead for years. She would've still been young around the time he died. Why would he target her?" said Sabrina. Ash's brow furrowed in concentration. He was on to something, and the pieces all fit too perfectly to not work.

"I don't think he was targeting her. But it gets even weirder. She named Red's father." said Ash, letting that sink in.

"What?!" Sabrina was almost struggling to keep up. 'Red? He's just a myth? But... what if he's not. Did Cynthia know Red?' she blinked out of her thoughts when Ash spoke up.

"I've pieced together what I could, but I don't know enough. I haven't heard Red's story since I was younger, and I don't remember any of the details. And anyways isn't it a ghost story? Do you remember it? What was it?" demanded Ash, who had theories climbing up and down the walls in his brain. Cynthia was such a mystery.

"Ok, shut up already! Yes, I remember it, and yes I'll tell you. Now shut up and listen." said Sabrina in a joking manner. "The myth is basically that Red was a young boy who beat all 8 gyms and became Champion of Kanto in less than a year, but that's not the extent to it. Supposedly he had a vendetta against Giovanni and became a hero to the people of Kanto. Why the vendetta? Nobody knows. Many believe that Red lived in Pallet Town and wanted vengeance because Giovanni burnt Pallet Town to the ground. Even though some people think he's from Sinnoh. Anyway I'm sure you've heard of the story that a huge fire spread through Pallet, and although it was labeled an accident, many people believe that it was Giovanni trying to get revenge on Professor Oak for stopping him in the past. In any case Oak's children, children in law, and granddaughter died in that fire. In any case, Giovanni somehow became Champion of Kanto, even though decades earlier he had publicly announced that he was Team Rocket's leader and he was going to take over Kanto and Johto, right before he murdered Clair the Dragon Master. She was the gym leader in Blackthorn City, and did you know that it turns out she was Lance's older cousin?" she paused, seeing if he was still with her.

Ash remembered overhearing Professor Oak telling his mom how Pallet Town had been reduced to rubble. He nodded to Sabrina to show he was still listening, and she continued.

"The problem with that myth is that another myth states that Red wasn't even in Kanto or Johto at the time, he was somewhere up in some mountain range training with some people. Who's to say which one's right?" said Sabrina, "In any case, Red took the Pokemon League Challenge and got all the badges and beat the Elite Four and Giovanni, technically making him Champion, but then Giovanni fled. The next part of the myth says that Red hunted down and killed Giovanni, and then went up Mt. Silver, where supposedly he still is." she finished. Ash was even more confused now, but before he could comment Sabrina spoke up.

"Before you start believing any of that nonsense let me say this. A couple years ago a went to Mt. Silver and did a psychic scan of the place. Nobody had been there for centuries. I even climbed to the peak and looked around up there, but I got the same result. Nothing. Red probably never existed." finished Sabrina. Ash almost seemed disappointed.

"But if Red doesn't exist, then what was Cynthia talking about?" he muttered out loud. He looked up to see another playful smile on his psychic friend's face.

"But here's the catcher," she started "Kanto and Johto have different Elite Four, but Lance is the Champion of both, right? Wrong. If you look at the official Pokemon League, Lance is marked as Champion of Johto, and temporaryChampion of Kanto. Now why would that be there? Who holds the actual Champion's seat? Maybe Red existed and the people were so thankful that he killed Team Rocket's boss that they kept his Champion's seat open?" Sabrina finished with a smirk. Ash was thinking deeply.

"Professor Oak told me that and a friend ended Giovanni's original campaign when they were younger. Years later, Giovanni revealed himself to the public again, and according to the myth, set Pallet Town ablaze. Oak's family was killed, including his granddaughter "Leaf". I saw her gravestone behind his house once. Maybe the other people Cynthia mentioned where his children and children-in-law. So let's say Red's family died too, that still doesn't explain how Cynthia fit's in. She must've been Red's friend, but she said that Giovanni killed her family too. Why?' Ash was all but stumped. He knew that Cynthia had a grandmother around Oak's age, maybe... 'Maybe her grandmother was Oak's friend! And so when Giovanni burnt down Pallet he also wanted revenge on Carolina, so he had her family murdered, and that explains Cynthia! And because Red killed Giovanni, that means Cynthia never could avenge her family! That explains her inner anger!

Ash's mouth was wide open as he realized what he had discovered. But did Cynthia and Red know each other? Where they friends? Where they enemies? Ash realized it didn't matter, he had learned so much and was satisfied for now. He was gonna find Red someday, and then challenge him to a battle! He wouldn't stop until he beat him.

AN/: This chapter was gonna be so much longer, but I'm literally stuck now. I don't know where to go from here. So I typed up what I had and poof, here we are.

If anyone was wondering about 'aura-ash', the answer is... im not sure. I was planning on that but much better ideas came and so far I haven't found a way to make it work.

I literally have nothing else directly after this, so review or send me a PM with your suggestions.

What did you think of Ash's relationship with Sabrina? Do you think it works? Should she appear again?

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to REVIEW!