Ch 52: Ghosts
It was a warm morning in the Seafoam islands and the air was calm. One of the smaller islands a few miles from the main islands was filled with dense rain forest that had several large streams and rivers moving through it and a mountain in the center.
The island itself was surrounded by a lagoon and a barrier reef. Inside the lagoon shallows was a resort of condos connected by docks in the water that lead to the beach. The condos may have looked like old shakes on the outside, but inside they were well designed and crafted rooms, with old designs mixed with modern comforts.
Inside one of these condos was Pikachu who slept on a pillow in the second bedroom with Charizard and Charla, Venusaur, Misdreavus, Absol, Aerodactyl, Nidorina, and Scyther. Inside the center of the room was a square opening that lead to the shallow and clear water below. Sleeping comfortably in the water were Croconaw, Blastoise, and Vaporeon. Since they knew they were coming to the seafoam islands, Ash brought Croconaw along knowing he'd love it.
In the main bedroom, Ash and Serena's cloths and underwear were sitting on the floor beside the bed. Ash and Serena were both under the sheets in each other's arms.
As more sunlight filled the room, Ash's eyes slowly opened.
It was the second day into their honeymoon in the Seafoam islands and the two were having a great time.
Not wanting to wake Serena, Ash kept himself still. He was also still a bit tired from everything they did the day before, and the night before.
As he was about to close his eyes when he felt something strange in his aura.
That is when he saw something. Something moving in the apartment, something or someone transparent like a ghost.
"What the?" He said before the figure turned to him and then walked out the door.
"Huh?" He shouted confused.
This woke Serena who saw Ash's expression.
"Ash? What's wrong?" She said.
Ash looked at Serena then turned back to the door to see the figure was gone.
"Nothing, I just thought I saw something." He said dismissing it as nothing.
"Alright then." Serena said as she rested her head back against his chest.
"So what's the plan for today?" Ash asked.
"Well I was thinking we could spend some time in the lagoon, then do some hiking."
"Sounds good." Ash said.
When Serena let go of Ash he slowly got up and she saw the 3 scars still across his chest. In all the excitement she had nearly forgotten he had them.
Ash got up and put on his boxers and shorts as Serena put on her underwear.
The two walked into the other room where they saw all their pokemon still fast asleep.
When the door slowly hit the wall, Pikachu's ear moved slightly before he opened his eyes and saw them.
"Morning Pikachu." Ash said.
"Pika." Pikachu said smiling before he ran over and climbed onto Ash's shoulder.
Slowly the other pokemon began to wake up before they saw their trainers.
"Grauu."
"Saur."
"Sol."
"Ni."
They heard back.
Scyther poked his head over the opening and shouted.
"Scyther!" Telling the other 3 to get up.
Moments later 3 water guns flew through the opening and hurled Scyther onto his back.
"I'm guessing Croconaw, Vaporeon, and Blastoise didn't want to get up yet." Ash said as he , Serena, and Pikachu sweat dropped.
Scyther got up with a red face as he flew over the opening.
"Scyther! Scyther!" He shouted waving his blade arms.
"Easy guys, we're on vacation. Let's not fight." Serena said before Scyther slowly flew away from the hole.
Blastoise slowly climbed up the hole followed by Croconaw, and Vaporeon.
"So our plan for today is to swim and hang out in the lagoon for a while, come back here and uh. Rest." Ash said sweat dropping with closed eyes.
At this point each of their pokemon knew what that meant and all sweat dropped.
"After that we're going on a hike." Serena said.
Charizard, Charla and Aerodactyl sweat dropped.
They weren't much for swimming , or hiking.
"Charizard, if you Charla and Aerodactyl want to go off and do what you want while we swim." Ash said.
The three let out relief breaths.
Then Charla realized if they sent Aerodactly off she and Charizard could be alone.
"Grauu." Charla whispered into Charizard's ear as his face turned red.
A few minutes later Ash and Serena changed into their bathing suits before leaving the condo with their pokemon besides Charizard, Charla, and Aerodactyl.
"Are!" Aerodactyl shouted as he flew up and over the lagoon to watch them from a distance without having to get in the water. Venusaur and Nidorina , unable to swim well stayed in the shallower areas while Misdreavus and Scyther flew close over the water.
Vaporeon , Blastoise, and especially Croconaw, were having a great time in the water as it got deeper.
When the Lagoon got deep enough they could see Magikarp and Goldeen swimming about beneath them.
"Oise" Blastoise said as he motioned his head down.
"He said we should check out the bottom of the lagoon." Ash said as he tossed her a pair of goggles. Serena put them on as Ash put on a pair.
They then held onto Wartortle's shell as they and PIkachu took a deep breath before submerging underwater.
With their goggles on, Ash and Serena could see the water pokemon and the bottom of the lagoon perfectly. It looked beautiful and full of life. Across the seafloor were several crabby and a few Kingler.
As Blastoise swam further down, Croconaw and Vaporeon quickly swam past them.
Ash could see Croconaw having a great time under the water, accidentally scaring off several of the magikarp with his fun. Serena, however, noticed Vaporeon moving more gently through the water, not scaring off any Goldeen.
As they got closer to the bottom of the lagoon, Blasoise noticed a large shipwreck at the deepest part of the lagoon. Ash , Pikachu, and Serena soon noticed what looked like an 18th century frigate wrecked at the bottom of the lagoon with the worn remnants of a Blue navy flag at the top of the now broken main mast.
They noticed many Magikarp swimming in and our of the wrecked ship before Ash used his aura vision.
Inside the ship he saw something as Blastoise felt it.
He stopped when he saw a pair of large eyes moving out of the large hole in the side of the ship.
Croconaw kept swimming at it as Blastoise tried to warn him.
Moments later, a Gyarados moved it's massive head out of the ship and roared under the water.
Serena and Ash gave freaked out looks as Pikachu did the same.
Blastoise would have normally stood his ground against a challenger, but not with Ash, Pikachu and Serena on his back and running out of air. He quickly made his way to the surface with Vaporeon beside them.
Ash looked back at Croconaw who kept moving around happily in the water in front of Gyarados.
"Croconaw get out of there!" Ash said to him via aura message.
Before he could get a response, Blastoise reached the surface and his 3 passengers quickly gasped for breath as Vaporeon came up to.
Swimming not to far away was Absol.
"Croconaw!" Ash shouted in concern before they felt something moving beneath them. Moments later the water burst as the Gyarados flew into the air and landed on a sand bar not far with swirly eyes as it landed.
Moments later Croconaw also burst out of the water with the same happy expression on his face as he swam around and leapt out of the water.
"Oh Croconaw." Ash said as he, Serena, and Pikachu smiled and sweat dropped as Blastoise and Vaporeon just sweat dropped.
Further away in the large Lagoon were a few other tourists swimming with their pokemon or on jet skis.
Fourty minutes later, Ash and Serena were in a less deep area of the lagoon with their pokemon all beside them.
"Ok I'm ready." Ash said as he had his arms around Croconaw's body and Pikachu held onto Ash tightly.
Moments later Blastoise burst out of the water smiling before he slammed his massive shell and body back into the water, creating a wave that grew larger and larger until it reached it's peak and had a crest.
Croconaw quickly swam up and through the wave before bursting out of the top with Ash handing on tight.
The water crocodile kept swimming across the crest before leaping off as Ash and Pikachu let go and flew down beside Croconaw before the 3 splashed into the water.
They came out with excited expressions.
"That was awesome!" Ash shouted.
"Ready to give it a try?" Serena asked Vaporeon.
"Vap!" Vaporeon shouted excited.
Blastoise burst out of the water before crashing into the water again.
Serena and Vaporeon began ridding the wave as Ash watched them.
"You got this Serena, Vaporeon!" Ash shouted before he felt the same sensation he felt earlier that morning.
His vision felt a little dazed as he saw what looked like the ghost of a huge charizard that looked like a charizard from the age of the romans. Riding on the back of the ghost charizard looked like another two ghosts, an ancient Lucario, and an arceon wearing a guardian robe.
Ash soon realized that the Arceon ghost was the same one he saw back in the condo. But why was he seeing this.
He kept staring at the ghosts as the Arceon ghost stared down at him and then motioned towards the mountain as the Charizard ghost flew towards it.
Soon Pikachu, and Croconaw noticed Ash looking dazed and is he saw a 'ghost'.
"This is great Ash!" Serena shouted as she and Vaporeon rode the crest of the wave until they both saw Ash staring up at nothing.
"Ash?" She said as Vaporeon looked too. However, as Vaporeon looked at Ash, he didn't realize he swam off the end of the crest and fell into the body of the wave with Serena.
"Yahh!" Serena shouted as she Vaporeon were sucked up and thrown around in the wave.
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted as he tried to get Ash's attention when he saw the wave coming right at them.
"Huh?" Ash said as he turned to see the wave right in front of them.
"Oh boy." He said sweat dropping as Croconaw jumped around sounding excited.
The wave crashed into all 3 of them and carried them back several yards before all 5 of them came up coughing water except Vaporeon and Croconaw.
"That was, unpleasant." Ash said.
"Ash what happened back there, you look like you saw a ghost?" Serena asked.
"I don't know I thought I saw something." Ash said before he looked up and saw the ghosts were gone.
"I think I'm ready to be done swimming for today." Serena said.
"Croc!" Croconaw moaned sounding disappointed.
"We'll go back in the water tomorrow." Ash said
"Naw." He said.
When they made their way to the underside of their condo they were about to help each of their pokemon climb inside, when they realized something.
"Actually, why don't you guys stay here in the water." Ash said.
"Croc!" Croconaw shouted full of excitement as he swam off.
Pikachu on the other hand knew what was going on and sweat dropped before climbing onto Blastoise's shell.
"After you." Ash said before Serena pulled herself up through the opening.
A few hours passed before both were fast asleep and their pokemon quietly returned to the condo. Ash began to slowly move around in his sleep.
He kept hearing 2 voices, one he knew, another was knew.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because I am the creator's chosen."
Ash opened his eyes to see the aura guardian ghost he had seen before standing in front of the bed. However, this time the guardian stood in the flesh, not transparent.
When Ash looked up at the guardian standing down at him , he realized it was Altair.
"You aren't whole." He said.
"What!?" Ash screamed as he closed his eyes and rubbed them before opening them again to see Altair was gone.
Serena awoke when she heard Ash yell and saw him covered in sweat with a freaked out expression breathing deeply.
"Ash what's wrong, did you have a nightmare?" Serena asked as she put her hands on his shoulders.
Ash put his hands on his forehead.
"I don't know what's going on Serena, I keep seeing Altair. At first I saw what looked like his ghost, now I looked like he was standing here in the flesh. When he looked like he was a ghost, it was like he was trying to lead me somewhere, then when he was here and told me I wasn't whole." Ash said.
Serena could feel how stressed and uneasy Ash was.
"I don't understand why this is happening?" Ash said before Serena kissed him.
When she pulled her head back, she kept her head nudged against the side of his head and her hands on his left shoulder.
"I'm here for you, everything is going to be alright. Can you think of anything that might be causing this? " Serena asked.
"I don't know, I'm not facing anything big. I guess they're Kal who's still out there, but my dad and the other guardians will find him soon enough. We just got married, so the stress of waiting is gone, I have my 8 badges." Ash said.
"I don't think it would be anything like that. I mean if you think you keep seeing Altair it probably has something to do with him." Serena said.
Ash thought more about what she said and realized she was probably right.
"Now that you mention it, I've been trying to read the last of Altair's memories, but for some reason I can't. It has been bothering me." Ash said.
"That could be part of it." Ash said.
"Why don't we rest some more before the hike. Maybe it will clear your mind." Serena said rubbing his chest.
"Alright." Ash said before he laid back down and Serena rested her head on Ash's shoulder while still rubbing hist chest.
Forty minutes later they were ridding Charla and Charizard wearing hiking gear. Serena had done her hair up in a pony tail and had a water container on her belt, while Ash had Pikachu on his shoulder.
As Ash looked down at the rainforest and the mountain in the center, he realized he hadn't seen the mountain from this angle. Seeing it from this angle , it was almost as if he had seen it before.
Once Charla and Charizard saw a clearing they set down and let their trainers off.
"Thanks Charizard, Charla. You guys can rest for a while, we know hiking isn't your thing." Ash said before they returned them to their pokeballs. They let out Venusaur, Absol, Misdreavus, Nidorina, and Scyther.
"Alright guys, we're going on a hike through the rainforest and up the mountain." Serena said.
"Pika!".
"Scyther!"
"Saur!".
"Sol." They said excited.
The group made their way through the tropical rainforest , taking in the beautiful landscape. The countless trees with thick foliation, vines, and bushes around them. The many streams, oasises from waterfalls.
"This place is so beautiful." Serena said.
Ash could feel all the living aura around him and pokemon. It was almost overwhelming, but at the same time so freeing. Ash felt the anxiety he had from the ghost of Altair drift away. Serena was right.
They saw many pokemon, some caterpie, Butterfrees, Spearow, Pidgeotto and Pidgeot, Ekans, Nidoran, Oddish, Bellsprout, even wild pikachu.
Pikachu noticed the wild Pikachu, many whom stared back at him. One of which was a female with a flower under her ear who gave Pikachu a wink.
"Pika?" He said as his face turned red.
After nearly an hour of hiking through the rainforest, the group stopped in front of a small lagoon with a waterfall feeding it.
Serena took out some food and gave each of the pokemon their lunch.
As Serena put Nidorina's food down she noticed Nidorina was keeping off her front right leg.
"Nidorina, are you ok?" She asked as she touched Nidorina's leg.
"NI!" Nidorina grunted.
"Ash I think Nidorina twisted an ankle." Serena said.
"Hold on, let me see if we have any Potions." Ash said as he looked in his bag.
Ash looked in his bag and found some of the potions that Serena had bought , when he realized they weren't potions.
Ash sweat dropped.
"Serena , you bought full heals." He said.
"Yes, to fully heal your pokemon." Serena said.
"Serena, full heals are status restorers, not health restorers." Ash said.
"But I've used the one's you've gotten us before and they restored health." Serena said.
"Those were full restores, restores." Ash said as Serena sweat dropped.
"Oh."
"It's alright, Pikachu and I can find some natural healing plants around here. You stay here and watch her." Ash said.
"Thanks." Serena said before Ash and Pikachu split up.
Pikachu searched the ground while Ash parkoured across the tree levels.
As Pikchu sniffed around the ground he heard and smelled something else. He looked up to see the same female Pikachu who winked at him earlier.
"Pika." She said as Pikachu's face turned red and he gave a nervous expressions.
"Chu." She said as she rubbed Pikachu's face with her tail, then motioned him in another direction before running off.
Forgetting about the healing plant, Pikachu followed the female Pikachu.
Elsewhere in the rain forest, Ash was still searching through the tree levels when he finally found some oran berries growing in a tree.
"Here we are." Ash said as he picked them.
He saw a pile of leaves and vines below and performed a leap of faith into them before safely getting out.
"Alright now to head back." Ash said before he saw he was at the base of the mountain.
"Huh?" He said as he saw the mountain before him. Now the mountain looked even more familiar. He saw the passage that lead into the mountain and knew he had seen it before, in Altair's last memory from the time flower.
He nervously sweated as he felt the strange sensation he felt from the ghost return as he held onto his head. His vision began to change like when having an aura memory, only he wasn't seeing it through a 3rd person POV of his ancestor.
He saw Altair and Lucario like ghosts again in the trail ahead of them. The trail also looked different, like it did in the memory.
The phantom Altair and Lucario looked at Ash before rushing down the trail.
Ash almost wanted to turn away and go back, but his vision began to grow more stranger as he felt he was almost compelled to follow them.
He went down the trail as his head began to hurt more and the trail looked more and more like it did in the past.
Back at the lagoon, Serena saw Pikachu come back to the camp with a strange happy expression on his face.
"Pikachu, there you are. Did you find the plant?" She asked.
"Pika?!" Pikachu said sweat dropping as he remembered.
"No, well maybe Ash did." Serena said as she and the others waited a while. She stared at the water before turning to her pokemon.
"Now I'm getting worried, it's been over an hour." She said before she heard something.
"Huh?" She said as all the pokemon looked up at a tree near the waterfall.
Serena looked up there and saw an aura guardian with a green jacket robe and dark skin perform a leap of faith into the water and then climb out. Moments later a large Pidgeot flew down and landed beside him.
"What are you doing here, humans don't normally venture this deep into the rainforest." The guardian said.
"I'm Serena, my husband and I were just hiking towards the mountain, but my Nidorina twisted her ankle and he went looking for medicine." Serena said.
The aura guardian looked at Nidorina's leg.
"I have a potion." He said as he took one out and spayed Nidorina.
"Thank you." Serena said.
"No problem, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I'm one of the …'guardians' of this rainforest." He started.
"I know about you aura guardians. My husband Ash is a guardian." Serena said.
"Is he." The guardian said.
"But he's been gone a while, I'm worried about him." Serena said.
"We can find him easily. Pidgeot fly over the forest and mountain." The guardian said as Pidgeot nodded.
Eventually they reached a gate that looked thousands of years old at first, then his vision changed again and it looked brand new. He saw the Altair and Lucario ghosts stop as a dozen ghost like figures came around them with short blades and some kind of pokemon beside them.
Altair and his Lucario made short work of them as 2 of the ghosts came by Ash.
His head hurt even more before he tried to slash the ghosts, only to have nothing happen. Ash realized they weren't real, but every moment he spent on the trail it seemed more real.
Altair and Lucario climbed over the gate as Ash did the same and saw them continue to run down the trail.
The further down they went, the more his vision faded and looked more like the past with white flashes.
"Ahhh." He groaned as he held his head.
Finally they reached the top of the mountain where Ash saw a massive ancient castle that looked as good as new. Only Ash couldn't tell if this was part of what was happening to him or not.
Ash saw the Altair ghost walk through the gate and into the castle before he walked up to the gate, but saw no way in. He then scaled the side of the castle wall before reaching the bulwark. He slowly walked across it as he felt his feet grow heavier and his steps grow more unsteady.
He held his head as he heard more voices.
"Let her go."
"You can't do this, I am his chosen!"
"No, you never were."
Ash closed his eyes and tried to regain control of his aura, but it was as if Altair's aura had taken over and was altering everything inside his mind.
He held his head and grit his teeth as he backed up to the edge of the Bulwark.
Ash then felt something else, another aura. He slowly opened his eyes to see another guardian in front of him, this one ,however, wasn't a ghost.
Before Ash could say anything the guardian unleashed a burst of aura that hurled Ash off the edge of the Bulwark and sent him hurling down the side of the mountain before he crashed into the lagoon around the island.
The guardian walked to the edge of the Bulwark and watched as Ash , sank under the water. Moments later the Guardian's 2 pokemon walked up beside him before he took a deep breath and walked back into the castle interior with his pokemon beside him.
In the water, Ash was locked up with his eyes closed and his mouth open as he sank closer and closer to the bottom of the bay.
Before he hit the bottom, a massive Gyarados saw him and began circling around him before catching Ash in his mouth.
Moments later, the Gyarados burst out of the water and carefully placed Ash on the beach before he kept his head over him.
That was when another young aura guardian wearing blue and red robes walked over Ash and knelt down beside him.
"Well done Gyarados, you saved another drowning person." The guardian said before he noticed Ash's hidden blades and his eyes widened.
"By Reduka, he's a guardian. What happened to him?" He said before he felt Ash's aura.
"Oh no." He said.
Hours later, Ash was laying in a bed inside the medical area of the local guardian guild.
The guardian master healer was looking over Ash as Serena stood beside the guild master and the guardian who found Ash.
"What's wrong with him?" Serena asked as she and Pikachu gave gravely concerned looks.
"He's not unconscious, it's worse than that." The guardian healer said.
"Worse?" Serena asked.
"Pika?".
"He's caught in what we call an aura induced coma."
"That's certainly not good." The guild master said.
"That's what I was afraid of." The other guardian said.
"What's that?" Serena asked.
"When a guardian connects with their ancestor's aura, it temporarily brings their ancestor's aura out. However, if a guardian does this too much without fully syncing with it, it can be dangerous. Their ancestor's aura will begin to overpower their own and they won't be able to tell the difference between reality and the past. Their aura and their ancestor's aura will want to sync up, and will try to get the guardian to do so. Eventually if this doesn't happen, they will fall into a coma until the aura is synced." The guild master said.
"Ash said he never finished Altair's memories from the time flower." Serena said.
"Likely because he wasn't ready to. His aura had already fallen out of balance with his anscetor's , wait did you say Altair!" The healer started before he saw Serena and Pikachu's angry expressions.
"Right, sorry." He said.
"But what about Ash, can you help him?" Serena desperately asked.
"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. It's up to him, he must be able to reach deep inside his ancestor's aura and sync up to it on his own. It's the only way." The healer said.
PIkachu leapt onto the bed and stood over his partner's face.
"Pika." He said before Serena mover her head over his before tears started to come down her face.
"S'il vous plaît , revenez à moi mon amour ." She said.
Author's note
So the first cliffhanger in a while, next chapter will wrap up the Altair memories as we see Altair's final confrontation.
I'm sure many of you have questions and I'll be happy to answer them via PM.
Also I have another idea for what happens after this story. I will do a 3rd arc that will take place many years later and involve Ash's son in Hoenn, but would you guys like to see a short story in between, maybe 5 to 10 chapters long as a bit of a transition.
So until next time, please review, comment, suggest, or ask(via PM)